ssion of 1835, when a memorial on the subject of
railroad communication between Lake Michigan and the Pacific Coast,
was presented by Hartwell Carver, up to the present, the Pacific
Railways have been ever present in Congress. The Catalogue of
Government Publications gives one hundred and eighty-five having the
Union Pacific, or Pacific Railroads as their subject.

It is not necessary to recount the many schemes for the construction
of these roads that were proposed to Congress. We have already
outlined the principal ones previous to 1861.

At this time our country was in the midst of its greatest
difficulties. The North and South unable to harmonize over the slavery
question, had recourse to the arbitration of arms. The Union forces
had met with numerous and severe reverses. The people of the Pacific
Coast were loud in their demands for better means of communication.
The Government was straining to what seemed the breaking point, their
credit and resources to carry on the war and as a Government
enterprise the building of a Pacific Railway was out of the question.
All were convinced of not only the desirability of such a line but of
the absolute necessity thereof, and it had resolved itself into a
question of ways and means. Previous discussions had thrashed out the
chaff and it now remained for Congress to winnow the wheat. Government
surveys had demonstrated the existence of five feasible routes through
or over the Rocky Mountains. The Northern, now followed by the
Northern Pacific Railroad, the South Pass, Snake and Columbia Rivers,
now traversed by the Union Pacific Railroad to Granger, thence the
Oregon Short Line and Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The
Middle Route-Union Pacific Railroad in connection with the Southern
Pacific Company (Central Pacific Railroad). The thirty-ninth parallel
route, now followed by the Santa Fe Route and the Southern via El
Paso, now followed by the Sunset Route. The first two while available,
could be eliminated owing to their not reaching California direct, as
could also the two latter, on account of their traversing in part at
least, country that was then in a state of insurrection.

These reasons were in themselves sufficient to determine the
selection, but with the many other arguments advanced, there was no
trouble in bringing Congress to adopt practically unanimously the
"South Pass" "Middle" "True Pacific" Route as it was variously
called. For years this had been the