Lawrence to the east, and, on a higher ridge, the Columbia River to the west. The rise of this plateau (1,570 feet above tide) from lakes Michigan and Superior to the falls of the Missouri, and near to the portage to the Columbia River, is 1,350 feet, or about eighteen inches to the mile. The divide, or lowest summit, that can be conveniently passed over, through the Rocky Mountains, to the head-waters of the Columbia River, is 5,500 feet above tide, from whence the waters of this stream and its branches drain into the Pacific at Astoria, with a distance for a northern railway of say 750 miles, and it is a very direct line from Chicago to the divide of 1,100 to 1,200, or say 1,850 to 1,950 miles. This line was first pointed out by Mr. Edwin T. Johnson, C. E., in his able report of 1853, "of its general character and relative merits," and was corroborated, in a remarkable manner, by the "Report, Explorations, and Surveys," made by Governor Stewart, 1854, under the direction of the Secretary of War. See Ex. Doc. No. 91, 33d Congress, 2d session. This line British and American capitalists should unite in constructing forthwith by private enterprise. It may be aided only by alternate sections of land, to be donated by the United States Government. This important and necessary steam communication to Japan and China is needed, as well as by the Amoor River to St. Petersburg, and thus to belt the world with steam. Nearly two-thirds the distance from Quebec and Portland, or say from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is accomplished, leaving but about 1,400 miles of railway to be constructed. Of this distance, we learn 230 miles, from Cedar Rapids to the Missouri River, to strike the same in latitude 42° at Decatur, about 50 miles above Council Bluffs, is secured by grants of land from the General Government to the State of Iowa, and by this State to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad Company. No doubt the General Government will grant alternate sections of miles by miles on each side of the proposed road to Astoria and the Straits of Fucca, with a branch on the Pacific to San Francisco, as well as by the South Pass to the same point. With the proposed route completed, to use steam on land three-fourths of the distance round the world, and one-fourth on water, a trip could be made round the globe in 45 days. Will this be done? Yes. When? In this fast age it should not exceed 15 years. But we have digressed. We will return to the drainage from the Appalachian Ridge to the Atlantic, which commences in Tennessee and proceeds to the northeast corner of Maine and New Brunswick. Starting from and east of the Father of Waters, we have, among the main rivers in the United States falling into the Gulf of Mexico, the Pearl, the Alabama, the Tombigby, the Chattahooche, and the Appalachicola. Draining into the Atlantic, we have the St. John's, the Altamaha, the Savannah, the Santee, the Pedees, the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the Pimlico, and the James rivers, up to the Chesapeake Bay. This bay is formed by the Potomac and the Susquehanna and its affluents, draining the east side of the Alleghany Ridge, up to the Delaware Bay, formed by the Schuylkill, the Lehigh, and the Delaware rivers. Then comes the noble Hudson, or North River, as it breaks through the Alleghany Ridge at the Highlands, and is the only stream that forces tide-waters north through this ridge, 170 miles from the ocean. At this point it receives the Mohawk River, also having pierced the Alleghany Ridge at the Little Falls -1,488 feet above tide-in a remarkable manner. The Mohawk takes its rise near the Black River, a stream falling into Lake Ontario, and in its course south, by the town of Rome, it mingles its waters, in the spring, with those of Wood Creek, draining, by the Oneida Lake and Oswego River, into Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. The sources of the Hudson River are to be found in the northeast part of the State, on mounts Marcy, McIntyre, and Adirondac, while from the same mountains the Racket River drains into the St. Lawrence on the north, and the Saranac River on the east into Lake Champlain, situated 96 feet above tide, that falls into the St. Lawrence by the St. John's River. A dam of 150 feet high across the North River from Catskill to the town of Hudson, will turn the waters of this river, with those of the Mohawk, into the St Lawrence, by the Champlain Valley. Proceeding north and eastward, we have the Connecticut River, running south from near the head-waters of the St. Francis into the Sound. Then we have the Blackstone, the Merrimac, the Kennebec, the Penobscot, and the St. Croix River, our northeast boundary. The water-shed, draining into the St. Lawrence River, is very limited, until we come to Central New York, or the west side of the Alleghany Ridge. Here we have the Seneca and Oswego rivers, the outlet of seven considerable inland lakes. Then comes the Genesee River, heading 1,488 feet above tide, near the State line of Pennsylvania, also falling into Lake Ontario. The Alleghany River drains southwest from a spur of this mountain into the Ohio River, and thus into the Gulf of Mexico. So does the Great and Little Kanawha; also the Kentucky, the Green, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee rivers, all small rivers as compared with those draining from the east side of the Appalachian Ridge direct into the Atlantic, as above stated. The land on the east side of the Appalachian Ridge, to near the summit, is generally of good quality. The amount of water-power, and the supply of coal for fuel and to produce steam-power, is incalculable. So also is the number of artisans, manufacturers, and commercial population on the east side of this ridge it is capable to sustain and employ. So also the millions of agriculturists on our Western prairies, it will require to feed them, with our Southern planters and their operatives. The cotton cloth, and the cotton required to make it, will give full employment to the population of the South to produce the cotton, and to the operatives of the North to manufacture the cotton cloth. There should be, therefore, no antagonism, and there will not be with sound thinking men, to the North, the South, or the West, as to the class of labor in each region. They are all dependent on each other, and bound to each other, by noble lakes, rivers, canals, and railroads. The West, to reach the seaboard, to supply the sea coast and foreign operatives and artisans, will command the peace, and enforce it, as between the North and the South. And he who has read the late work of Mr. T. P. Kettell, entitled "Wealth of the South and the Profits of the North," must be convinced that there should be no hostile feelings engendered by profligate and corrupt politicians as between the labor of one region and the other. We are all dependent on, and necessary to, each other, from the peculiar formation of our country, which we have endeavored, in this and our last article, to present for consideration. J. E. B. Art. VI.-OUR TRADE WITH THE WEST. THE following table shows the extent and condition of the several works over which the Western trade with the Atlantic is carried : BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. Total Tonnage Years. tonnage. 1855.. 626,589 1856.. 1857.. 1858.. 1854.. 833,938 145,549 Tonnage Receipts from freights. 39,225 $3,103,154 85 40,164 3,712,953 31 67,887 3,884,736 46 54,774 3,174,607 69 66,470 2,928,411 16 Total.. 4,054,013 674,404 288,595 16,803,802 47 3,385,646 35 20,284,503 91 677,129 27 4,066,900 78 1855.. 465,006 103,407 PENNSYLVANIA CENTRAL RAILROAD. 65,566 $2,749,695 24 $1,240,628 28 $4,270,015 56 1856.. 454,042 88,709 76,456 3,175,701 56 1,198,925 40 4,720,015 71 1857.. 826,518 44,905 77,168 3,196,046 76 1,244,828 40 4,855,669 76 1858.. 1,045,889 141,268 79,942 3,262,228 01 1,345,735 02 5,155,330 65 1859.. 1,170,240 129,767 103,839 3,419,494 10 1,419,603 31 5,362,855 21 402,970 15,803,165 67 80,544 3,160,633 13 NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 6,447,820 31 22,393,564 92 1,489,164 06 4,478,712 98 1855.. 842,054 113,330 42,138 $3,571,711 96 $1,698,670 15 $5,488,993 37 1856.. 816,964 152,105 78,622 4,545,981 86 1,656,674 66 6,349,050 15 1857.. 1858.. 1859.. 978,069 157,828 80,271 4,097,601 12 1,495,360 96 5,742,606 51 61,069 3,843,310 77 1,182,258 27 5,151,606 43 1,154,083 54 4,394,527 84 NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 1855.. 670,073 165,915 75,640 $3,187,602 90 $3,242,229 19 $6,563,581 14 1856.. 776,112 172,781 80,507 4,271,289 20 3,229,751 86 7,773,069 50 1857.. 838,741 179,647 113,230 4,559,276 88 3,147,636 86 8,027,251 41 1858.. 1859.. 765,407 229,278 83,133 3,700,270 44 2,532,646 55 6,528,412 70 113,833 3,337,148 82 2,566,369 71 6,200,848 82 566,343 19,157,688 24 113,224 3,831,537 64 NEW YORK CANALS. Tonnage 14,758,674 17 35,093,163 87 2,951,734 83 7,014,682 51 Receipts from Lumber, Agric'l produce, east. west. freights. tons. tons. 504,696 $2,805,077 1,534,954 1,047,344 573,733 2,748,203 1,478,674 1,192,673 1857.. 3,444,061 1,617,187 340,176 2,045,641 1,364,662 767,370 1858.. 3,665,192 1,985,142 287,072 2,110,754 1,232,968 1,279,891 1859.. 3,781,684 2,121,672 317,459 1,723,945 1,542,036 816,784 5,104,052 ..... In the foregoing detail it will be seen that the increase on the Baltimore and Ohio Road has been steady, with a pretty fair inference that it will continue until it has reached its ultimate capacity. Its average "through" tonnage (192,585 tons per year) is equal to 233 per cent of the entire tonnage of the road; and of the amount in the easterly direc tion we have 165 per cent, while that to the West is 71. In the receipts from freight, the average presents a favorable comparison with either of its competitors, and when it is understood that the connections with the Ohio have only been completed within the last five years, it must be regarded as a work of importance. It is, however, a Baltimore conception -a Baltimore enterprise--and under Baltimore management it has cost less money-it has encountered more difficulty, and is in better condition than some of its prominent competitors. At its western terminus, it has three connections with the river, and at the eastern end its connection with the Chesapeake Bay, and thence with the ocean-with the Eastern market, inwardly or outwardly-brings it prominently before the trading community. In the Pennsylvania Central we have also, in the detail, the evidence of its present and future importance. In the column presenting its annual tonnage, notwithstanding its initial condition--its want of connection--its increase in every department is without a parallel. Its through tonnage, (192,750 tons,) precisely the figures of its neighbor, is 247 per cent of the gross tonnage, and towards the East is 14 per cent; westward, 10. Its receipts from freight and from passengers are alike satisfactory, and if we view its position in relation to the trade of the West, we must recognize it, with its colleague, (the Sunbury and Erie,) now being built, as the only effective competitor to the Grand Trunk line through Canada. Its connection with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad, and all the railroads diverging to the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, together with 15,000 or more miles of river navigation, gives it a position to command the trade. But as this fact has not yet reached the drum of our ears, and our eyes and interests have been fixed in another direction; and as the people of the State have experienced the folly of their predecessors, if not the hurry of their cotemporaries, in conceiving--in locating-in building their works, without bringing them to the touchstone of experiment, we will submit the evidence, and ask the reader to determine by his eye, by his reason, or by his science, the truth of the position. We ask him to stand before the map of the country, and after fixing in his mind the location of New York, of Philadelphia, of Buffalo, and of Pittsburg; and after understanding that the trade of the lakes is the trade of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, and that we have made a gridiron of the intervening States to reach it; he will discover that the distance from any of the distributing points on the Mississippi is from one-third to double the distance from Pittsburg to Philadelphia. Then, by tracing the route by the lakes, it will be seen that the distance to Buffalo is equal, if not greater, than that by the river to Pittsburg; consequently, at the usual charges made upon a railroad, a lake, or a river, the cost for transporting a ton of produce from the Mississippi to Buffalo will be about the same as to the city of Philadelphia. From Buffalo to New York, by rail and river, the average cost is $9 44 per ton. From Philadelphia to New York, by canal, the cost is $1, or $2 66 per ton by railroad. But as nature has given the position, and as the producer selects the route, it will not be necessary to pursue the detail. In the increased business we have the appreciation of the public, and in the cost of the work ($28,484,321, including the canal,) we have, besides the evidence of a faithful management, $2,231,617 06 as the net receipt of the year. We have also an increase during the five years named of $1,092,339 65 in the gross receipts, and in the tonnage about 805,234 tons. In the New York and Erie we have nothing from the figures to encourage a hope in the future. The falling off in the receipts being $2,125 88 more than the increase on the Pennsylvania Central, is at least an evidence of the extent of its capacity, if not the proof that its length, its location, its grades, and its gauge destroy its ability to sustain itself in a competing business. Its length, being 461 miles to Dunkirk, (108 miles greater than from Philadelphia to Pittsburg,) is of itself enough to determine the route of the traffic, and as the fact is sufficient to correct the impressions every where fixed on the mind of the public, by its officers and friends, in relation to the Pennsylvania route, we omit the argument on the grades and the gauge, and rest on the conviction that its location is the cause of its trouble. From New York to Pittsburg, via Philadelphia, the distance is 440 miles; thence to Cleveland 148, making 501 miles from Philadelphia to Cleveland; while from New York to Cleveland, via Dunkirk and Erie, we have 603 miles, leaving 102 miles in favor of Philadelphia. If, then, we take the average charge upon a railroad at 3 cents per ton per mile, we have from New York to Cleveland $18 09 per ton; while by way of Philadelphia and Pittsburg it would be $16 03, making a saving of $2 06 per ton. But as Cleveland is not in the line of the traffic, if we stop at Pittsburg the saving would be $7 50 per ton, and quite enough to determine the direction of the trade. The Erie, therefore, having no just pretension to the trade of the West, nor is it in a condition to retain even the local traffic of the route, we leave it in the hands of its nurses, and without importuning the benevolent action of its friends in the stock market we hope it may be tenderly dealt with. We have no objection to its success, but we desire that its importance shall rest upon its works, and not upon that of its neighbors. The New York Central is the next in our table, and as it is the only work of our State that has contributed to the object for which it was constructed, it may be viewed with more than common interest. It is located in the shortest pass between the lake and the river, and although saddled with several worthless "feeders," and threatened with legislative restrictions, it is the only dividend-paying work in the State. The length of the main stem is 298 miles. Including its branches, we have 555 miles to keep up and provide for, from the earnings of the main stem. But the State is the gainer, and as the canal must be sustained for the benefit of those who control it, it is but consistent to levy the deficit on the works that are prosperous; hence the schemes and clamors against the work. In the business, however, of the contending works, during the last five years, we find on the average that the Agricultural produce on the canal was 38 per cent; on the railroad, 38 per cent. Lumber 84 46 Aggregate tonnage on the canal, 3,844,929 tons; railroad, 776,940 tons. |