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MISSION

OV TIIK

NORTH AMERICAN PEOPLE,

GEOGRAPHICAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL.

ILLUSTRATED BY SIX (HARTS

DELINEATING THE TIIYSICAL ARCIIITECTURE AND THERMAL LAWS
OF ALL THE CONTINENTS.

WILLIAM GILPIN,

I.ATK GOVKItXOIl OP COLOH.VDO.

P H I L A D E li P n I A :

J. B. LIPPIXCOTT & CO.
1873.

J.//,S-^"2'

Entered, aceorilinj; to Act of Coii(;i'eci<, in the year ISTJ!, by

WILLIAM (ill-l'IX,
In the Office of tlie Liliniiiiin of I^Jii^^rc.'s at \Vii>hiii;;l()n.

DeN'VEB, Juill

INTRODUCTION.

This voluiiu! is tlic nprodiittion nf its i)reclcceHHor, which nppcareil
in IHIIO. Tiiis short interval, aitliinij;h olieciicred by war, is ilhmiinated
by stupendous achievements in the direction wliithcr the encrj^ies of the
people were invited.

The vivacity with which hdor, intcUij^encc, and n'oderation, in concert
and ulliance, march and expand in force and volume, is amazinj; and
<;;lorious. Nothinjr in sijrht jiredicts any serious check to this fufal flood,
on which is borne every department and detail of I'ltodUESS.

The aim hcj'e is to {?rasp facts as they arc ; to reject delusions which
have grown senile. No special chapter is here assigned I :> the Wcstmi
Cvr<h7f<T(t (the Sierra Nevada), because its general profile, its (Jwrmal
features, and its continuity are everywhere referred to and described.

Much that luis been jtroposed and asked from the people in tlic former
volume is now fully completed and has gone into history. J^verything
else is coming w^ith assured certainty and celerity.

In the former preface I have given expression fully to my faith and
hopes. These I retain and repeat with fortified confidence and con-
viction.

Denver, .luiie 1, 187.3.

SOME N

THE

CENTRAL GOLD REGION.

THE

GRAIN, PASTORAL, AND GOLD REGIONS

NOETH AMERICA.

SOME NEW VIEWS OF ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, AND OBSERVATIONS
ON THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

WILLIAM GILPIN,

LATE OP THE VNITED STATES ARMY.

B'lUST FTJ BlilSHEX) I 3Sr I860.

Every

Their con
voluntarily
half centu
and policy
Kcstrict
as belongs
energies, c
of the Pa
Asia.

This nic
its advanc
l)rogress j)
effect to t
lilieral un
expansion
energies n

I have
suggested
midst of t
clear open
I distinj
interval w
This defin(
The ma
gress assei

PREFACE.

EvERYBoiiY is acquainted with the history of the American people.
Their comuionweakh, commenced at first by a few republican families
voluntarily exiled from the Old World, is now, at the end of two and a
half centuries, a republican empire of established continental dimensions
and policy.

Restricted heretofore in its development to so much of our continent
as belongs to the Atlantic, a point of progress is reached, whence our
energies, overflowing towards the west, expand to embrace the regions
of the Pacific Ocean and establish direct and familiar relations with
Asia.

This movement, long in preparation, now engages so large a force that
its advance daily acquires volume and celerity. Federal lejidation, to
progress i^ari passu with the people, is demanded upon a basis to give
effect to the great central movement resulting from their energies. A
liberal understanding of the mission of our people, counsels a genial
expansion of the federal system to the grandest dimensions which their
energies may reach.

I have condensed into a small volume, the memoranda and reflections
suggested by a residence of twenty years in the wilderness : and in the
midst of the pioneer people who occupy the foreground of progress, and
clear open the track of empire.

I distinguish, as the most essential present ground of development, tho
interval which separates the ^Mississippi Basin from the Pacific Ocean.
This defines itself as the "Mountain Si/steni" of our geography.

The magnitude of the obstacles which it ojiposes to the forces of pro-
gress assembled on its two fronts, sanctions an appeal to every form of

PliEFACE.

lu'lp clisfeniiblc to the patriotic licart. This uoedcd help is, in short, the
construction of tlie Continental Jiailwud.

Two auspicious elements in human civilization, by their rapid j!;rowth
in power and importance, fix our attention, — the indefinite multiplication
of gold coin, and international jtuhlic works.

These tivu elements, so operating as to mutually stimulate and sustain
each other, iinmiise to enthrone im/'K^frial vr<j<iu!:.<it!on as the ruling
princijile of nations.

America leads the host of nations as they ascend to this new order of
civilization.

Her intermediate geographical position between Asia and Europe and
their populations, invests lier with the powers and duties of arbiter
between them. Our continent is at once a barrier which separates the
other two, yet fuses and harmonizes their intercourse in all the relations
from which yi^rce is absent.

Human society is, then, upon the brink of a new order of arrangement,
inspired by the uuiversal instincts of peace, and is about to assume the
grandest dimensions.

Fascinated by this vision, which I have seen appear and assume the
solid form of a reality in le.xs than half a generation, I discern in it
a new power, the People occupied in f/ie u-i/dmiess, engaged at once in
extracting from its recesses the omnipotent element of ffold coin, and
disbursing it immediately for the indnsfricd con(juest of the world.

William Gilpix.

Indepknde.nce, April 7, ISGO.

p is, ill short, the

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CIIArTER I.

this new order of

THE MOUNTAIN FORMATION OK NORTH AMF.RICA — TIIK (DR DIl.I.KR AS^TIIK I'l.A-

TF.AU — THE NORTH AMERICAN ANDES.

l\r,y.
Urc'iultli— Lt-iigtli— ninck Hills— ('(HiUllcni of ilu' Sifira Mailri — (iiil,l-|iioiliuiiit;
(Jninitp — Pares — I'hilcau (ilTaMo I,aiiils— Xot (.Miin|M('li('ii(U'il liy tlio Aiiiciicaii
I'l'oiile — IJasiii of City iif Mi'xit'o — Molson ili Ma|piiiii — Xn iJniinago — Siona
Mimbrt's — liiisin ol' llic \>v\ Nditc — lia.^in uftlio Culdiacld— Canon of the Colo-
rado — liasiii of the Salt Lake — l>asin of tlio Coliiiiiliia — llasiii of !•' razor's Hivi'r
— DeliciiHis Cliinatc of the I'laloau — ^Its Ki'riility — Coiilillcra of tlu' Aiiili's —
Pacific .Maritiiiio Kroiit 1.')

CIIArTKK II.

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE — THE EASTERN CORDILLERA.

LLiAM Gilpin.

M'Uiitain S_\ ritom of tin- (lloln — Tlu' Andes — Tlu'ir Icnjrth. aKitmle. unci aiirilVrous
vealtli — Chain of the Mollicr .Monntain — Its Uivcrs — Caiions — Mesas — liules —
jlanos — liiiyoiis or Pares — Klcvation — lireadth — Wiml lUver Moiintiiin — South
)ass — Tlic Alps and their ])ass — Lava IMain of Snake Kiver — liowl of the Yel-
Iwstone — Plain of tlie South Pass — Sweetwater lliver — Tahle iMouutain — Pla-
ors of jjolcl and |ireeious stones^Xortlu'ru Pare or Bull-iien — Favorite winter
liuue of tra)i|iers — Streams, meadows, flowers, i;roves, ete. — .Middle Pare —
M)uutain simrs. rocky streams, cloudy atinos|ihere, snow-clail summits — liOUfj's
Puk — Southern Pare — Pike's Peak — Mountain harrier — Xo transit — liayou
Pm Luis — Suhlinie scenery, luxuriant fertility, ajjricultural seasons — Valley
of Cashmere — Secondary mesas, or '• LIiiuiih" — Levid surface, jioor soil, rainless
atiiivsidiere — -Perjdexity of [uililic mind — Llano Kslacado and Llano of the lial-
sifcta — A continual terrace — Kansas Basin 21

CHAPTER III.

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMERICA.

rts area nd chnrnetorislies — The column of central iiro<,'ress — Plateaux of tlie OM
AVorld-PIateau of American Talile Lands not underst(vod — Its basins — Climaf."
uniforlly vernal— Fertility of soil— (Jrasses nnike natural hay — Immense
herds f cattle — Auriferous f,'ranite and }rold placers — Irrijration — I'repared
for an mmediate dense population — Its physical characteristics — (U'olojrical
formatiii— Mineralogical resources— Zone id' civilization — Lino (d' progress

10 TABLE OF COX TEXTS.

CIIArTKR IV.

THE SilEKRA SAX JUA.V.

VKQT.

Till' gdlil mill silver ]ini(hicliiiii of tlio wmlil — AiirifciMiis or i;i)lil-l)caring forinn-
tinii — ChIi'iiiciius I'liiiiiiitioii — Iniii, ciiiiiicr, Icml — KimmI I'liliiiiiiiitinns of thi;
Sii'iia Mailn — Pike's I'lak — Tlu- Sirna Miinlni's — Miinn;; in thi" AinlfS —
Slii|icMilcins ffl'futs iif till' inti'iiial vult-aiiir iiuwcr.-' of llii' j^lolii' — Aljiiiiilanci' of
tliu ]irci.'ii)iis iiii'lals — (.'afmii of the ColinaiUi — (iorgcous variety of seenery —
I'liiloiiuiiliy of inetiilliferiius ileiiosits — "tireut Xorth Amprieiin iJcHert" does
not exist — Itiinibolilt's views — The (iieat IMateau tlie peat of cmjiire of the
ancient Jlexieans — Heniaikalile foeal eiilniinatiun of the Siena Minilires in tho
Biena San Ji mi — The colunin of jiioneers npon its tliiesliuiil 4-'

CIIArTKR V.

THE SOITII PASS OF AMKHIfA.

Rontc from Paris to Pekin — Distance ami time reiliueil — Tlic Plateau and two Por-
ililleras the only im|i"iliments — liasin of the .Mciliserranean and liasin of the
JIississi]i|ii — The former .salt water — The hitter rich, calcareou)', iinil iiralilo
8iiil — The former sii]i|iorteil a |io|inhitionof one liniiilreil anil thirty-one millions —
The latter cajiahlc- of twelve hnnilreil millions — l!olh the .«eats of cmiiire in their
r(s|ieetivc continents — liotli traverseil hy the zmliac of civilization — The South
Pass — Its slia]ie, size, ami surface — Distance from Astoria ami St. Louis — The
only jiass throu;;li the Mountain Formation hence to Tehuantcjiec — The j^rcnt
trail of the butValo |iasse.s throu;;li it — Uiiiiiterrn)itc(l ]iassa}fe hy the bed of great
rivers both to the Atlantic and Pacific — I'niforniity of climate from sea to sea
— The great Continental line of empire here — The Pillars of Washington 54

CHAPTER YI.

THE GHEAT ItASlX ol' THE JllSSISSiri'I.

It3 great river — It? surface n r-ch and deep sediment — Its climate — Line of tinibr
— Line of grasses — Capacity for ]ioiiulatioi. iJcographical centre of the ]!aui
and North American Continent at same point — Hetwcen and e(|nidistinf
from the l.'.V.l,Om).non iio|)uhitioii of Kurope and the O.'id.OdO.fKIO population of
Asia and Polynesia — Surfaeo of Europe descends outwards trom its cent)! —
Also of .\sia — Surface of Xorth America like a bowl, gathering and cenral-
izing whatever enters within its rim — The Basin of the Mississijiju the aiuihi-
theatre of the world C4

CHAPTER VII.

I'ASTORAT, A.MEKIfA.

Great Plains of America md deserts — The I'astoral Ciardcn of the woid — Tts
surface a gentle slope to the east — Abounds in rivers — Covered witi thick

TABLE OF COX TENTS.

PAOC.

Iicaring forinn-
latidiis of tliL'
1 the Andes —
-Abmidanee of
y of si'i'ner.v —
n llcsert" 'Iocs
ciniiiri' of tlie
Miiii))re» in the

nutritious grasses and swarming with animal life — Soil not sandy, hut a flno
calcareous mould — Convenient to navigation — (.'limato dry, and temperature
even — Herbage perennial, edible, and nutritious throughout the year, and cured
into natural hay upon the ground — Sujipnila one huiulicd iiiilUuna of iiild catlle
— Xo tires as in j)rairies— Turkeys, chickens, water-fowl, fish, and game in great
variety, abundant — Ample proportion of arable land for farms, fuel, building
materials, etc.— t'linnite favorable to health an<l longevity — Animal food three-
Jifths of that of tlie human family — How jiroduced spontaneously — Very little
labor necessary for support — Pastoral agriculture on a large scale eomjiara-
tively a new order of industry to our people — Destined to be of immense im-
portance 71

CHAPTP]Il VIII.

■an and two f'or-

iiil liasin of the

us, and arable

y-oni' iiiilliniis —

empire in their

ion — The So\ith

St. Louis — The

epec — The great

• the bed of great

■ from sea to sea

asliington OJ

' — Line of timl.?r
litre of the Bain
and e(niidistiiit
11(1 population of
rom it? cente —
ing and eenval-
fiijilii the aiu)hi-

if the woid— Tts
vered wifc thick

THE SYSTEM OF THE TARCS.

The Definition of Pare — Their Beauty and Grandeur — The Pares of Colorado —
San Luis Pare — Ease of Entrance and De]iarture — Mountains — Rivers — Extent
— Climate — Valley of the City of Mexico — Pasturage of San Luis Pare — Alpine
Vegetation — The Precious Jletals — Normal Structure of the Cordillera — Of the
Sierra Mimbres — Craters of Extinct Volcanoes — Peilrigals — Cerritos — Walls of
Lava — Productions of the Pares — ^Medicinal Waters — Hot Springs — Irrigation
— Accessibility — Health — Mexican Population 77

CHAPTER IX.

THERMAL AMERICA.

Magnitude of the New Powers and Fresh Forces — Thermal Science — Belt of Pro-
duction — Aqueous Atmosphere — Aerial Atmosphere — Ethereal Atmosphere —
Maritime Climate — Continental C'imate — Kegion of the Piedmont — InBuenoo
of Vapors — Unfavorable Influence of Thermal Laws in Europe — The Gold
Fever — The Land Question — Government Credits — The Financial Problem —
Jlistaken Legislation — Pastoral Agriculture — Industrial Organization — The Cos-
mopolitan llailway 91

CHAPTER X.

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

The Pioneer Army — The Continental Mission — The Southern Andes — The North-
ern Andes — Eastern and Western Cordilleras — Profile of the Andes — Sim-
plicity of Structure — Longitudinal Position — The Calcareous Plain — Plateau —
System of the Pares — Enumeration — San Luis Pare — Alps of Europe — Convex
Surface of Eurojie— Concave Surface of North America — Climate of Colorado —
Isothermal Belt — Climate and Civilization

TAULt; OF CUSl'ENTS.

C II APT Ell XL

TUE NORTU AMEKKAN MISSION — COXTIXLED.

rAQI.

The Oriuntiil Slujif ul' Asia — China — lis Iiujicil't'ct Iisollii'iuml Zimo — The Isotlicr-

uiiil Zone of Ndi'lli AiiK'ricii — Liiii^^iliidiiiiil Muuntiiiiis — l'()|jiihiliiiiin of Asia

aud Eurojif — Ainciic-ii liilunin'iliali — Wii.v-Tiavfl of Ihe Iliiiiiiiii llaoi — (joo-

grajihical Progress — Soc.ul Progress — (JoM l)iseoveries — City of Iteiiver — .March

of the Pioneers — Overland (Jourjuests — System of Naliiral Porees — Pastoral

Agriculture 1U7

C II APT Ell XII.

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION — CONTINUED.

Geological poriiiatiou of Ihe Anierieiin Amies — Alinospheres — Maritime Climate —
Contineiilal Climate — Uiehness of Almosjiheric Color — Vernal Teiu[)eraturo —
JJcuver Cosiiiojiolilau — ■Trans|iortiitioii liy Kaihvays — Tidal ^March of Pojiula-
tiou — lionilou and the Oriental Commerce — Prosiiective Oriental Commerce of
>' rtli America — Traufactcd and I'niransactcd Mission of the North American
People — Conclusion 117

APPENDIX.

MEXICAN WAR.

Remarks of Slajor AVilliam Giljjin, at the Barbecue given the Cole Infantrj', at
Jefferson City, Thursday, August 10,1847 125

II.

SFEECII OF COLONEL WILLIAM CIILI'IX ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PACIFIC

RAILWAY.

First S]ioken at the Canij) ol' Fin: Thnnmind California Kmigrants at WnhcruHa
(now the City of Kawrenee . Kansas, l{e]ieiited at Indejiendence, Missouri, at a
Mass Meeting of Ihe Citizens of Jackson County, held November 6, 18411 136

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

III.

PROCEEDIN(iS OF A MASS MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF JACKSON COUNTT,

PAOE.

At Indcpeiidi'iu^o, iin llic .'ith of November, IS 11), to ri'ijioiid to the Action of
the Great N'litioniil Hiiilroiid Convention, held in St. Louis on tho V.A\\ day
of October, Is 19 165

IV.

pike's I'EAK and THE SIERRA SAN JUAN',

Extracts fro;i un Address l)y Colonel William (iilpin, delivered at Kansas City,
November 15, 1858; on the Gold I'rodnetion of America and the Sierra San
Juan 168

OEOGRAMIICAL MEMORANDA ON THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
Reproduced from the Pamphlet of 1S50 178

VI.

THE nEMP-GROWING REGION.
Reproduced from tho Pamphlet of 1856 202

VII.

AN ORATION.

Spoken by Honorable William Gilpin, to tho Quests of tho Fenian Brotherhood,
at Denver, Colorado, July 4, 1868 209

olc Infantry, at

OF THE PACIFIC

LIST OF MAPS.

MAT OF NORTH AMERICA.

Hilinpiitinj,' Iho " Momitniii Sy.^tciii" and its d'-tnih, Tlio "Great Calcareous Plain'
as a unit, auJ tLu euutiiiuous eiiciiulirij; " Maritime yelvage."

II.

MAP OF XORTU AMERICA.

In which are delineated the "Mountain System" as a unit, The "Great Calcareous
Plain" and its dttaiix, and the continuous encircling " Maritime Selvage."

III.

THERMAL MAP OF NORTH AMERICA.

Delineating the Isothermal Zodiac, the Isothermal Axis of Intensity, and its ex-
pansions uji and down the " Plateau."

IV.

MAP ILLUSTRATING THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS

And the domestic relations of the "Great Plains," the " North American Andes,"
and the Pacific " Maritime Front."

MAP OF THE WORLD.

Pclineatint; the Contrasted LonijiUnIiiKil and Lntiluiliiial Forms of the Continents,
thi Isothermal Zodiac and Axis of Intensity, round the World, and the Line of the
Cosmopolitan Railway and its Longitudinal Feeders.

YI.

MAP OF THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS OF COLORADO.

P s.

eat Calcareous Plain"

bo "Groat Calcareous
Sclvago."

ntensity, and its cs-

ARCS

rth American Andes,"

ms of the Continent?,
, and the Line of the

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I'acific

THE MISSION

'Si

OP T II K

NORTH AMERICAN PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

THE iMOUNTAIN FORMATION OF NORTH A.MKUICA — TlIK CORDILLERAS —
THE PLATEAU — THE NORTH AMERICAN AXUES.

I HAVE elsewhere given a sketch of one of the cardinal subdivisions
of our continent and country, the Great Plains. I now proceed to
s'.ri'tch what is beyond them, and fills the sjiace out to the Pacific f^ea.
This is the immense Mountain Formation of North A.mkrica.

I approach the attempt to classify and set down this region with a
degree of trepidation which I find it difficult to master. During the
years of war and exploration which I have passed among them, every
hour has kept alive the awe inspire' by the immensity of the space tlu y
occup3', the grandeur of their bidk and altitude, and the sublime order
and symmetry which pervade them as a .system, and in the detail.'^.
3Ioreover, no one, not even IIuMnoLDT, has ever attempted to reduce
them to a classic system, or assented to what I have done in the hydro-
graphic map of 1845. These indelibly-graved impre.ss'ons perpetually
recur whenever my memory reverts to that time, and warn me to s| cak
of countries so novel to a public little curious and uninformed, only after
condensing their portrait with the maturest meditation and with nicely-
guarded caution.

The mountain formation of Xorth America is that distinct subdivision
of its area which occupies the whole space from the Great Plains to the
Pacific Sea, and covers two-sevenths of the continent. In its superficial

MOVKTAIN FORMATION OF XORTII AMLltlCA, FTC.

contents, bulk, nunibor und variety of the niimntaiu niaf<s<es, it e(iuals she
aggregated mountains of all the other eontinents. It has peculiar char-
acteristics, which render it more interesting than them all. Travelling
transversely across from east to west along tht! thirty-ninth degree, the
breadth is l(i(l(l miles ; the length, continuous from Tehuanteiiec to the
Arctic Sea, is \7)M) miles ; the direction is regular from south-south-east
til n(irth-north-west. From east to west the traveller enters and crosses
live jthysical divisions, as distinct in order and succession as are the pris-
matic streaks of the rainbdw to the eye. These are : 1st. The Black
Hills, or Eastern I'iedmunt ; 2d. The Cordillera of the Sierra Madre
(Rocky Mountain ) ; Ikl. The I'lateau of the Table Lands, with its moun-
tain chains; ^th. The Cordillera of the Sudwy Andes (the Sierra
Nevada) ; oth. The Maritime Piedmont of the Pacitic Shore. These
divisions are parallel to one another like the .streaks of the rainbow, and,
like them, run throughout from end to end of the iitoinifdiii/oniuitioii, in
which they are blended together in one endjodied mass.

Beyond the longitudinal centre of the (Jreat Plains, the undulations of the
surface begin to swell \i\), imtil tiiey become elevated into secondary moun-
tains, with tinilier, and crowned with rocky escarpments. These are the
Black Hills. They :ire the outliers of the Sierra 3Iadre, are in the
Basin of the Mississippi, and, masking the mountain crest, break and
graduate its descent. They are 300 miles in breadth, are perforated by all
the great rivers, and are washed away and tortured into fragments by
their channels. They have rocks of ])orphyritie granite and sandstone,
but are for the most jjart formed of the sulphat eof lime, as gypsum or
plaster of Paris.

Snme of them are paved with petrifactions, and ollicrs, being composed
of light mould, form the suspended matter of the rivers, wliich goes
down to make the alluvial bottoms and delta of the Mississippi Basin.
They have but little snow or rain, a scattered growth of dwarfed timber,
and a pictures(iue and fantastic scenery. They are an importnat part
of the j)astoral region, are clothed in perennial grasses, and abound in
aboriginal cattle. Perjjetual sunshine, fertility, perfect liealth, pure and
abundant water, ever-varying scenery, and infinite animal life, will, in time,
attract and fix here the densest po[)ulation.

Over the Black Hills rises the CouDiLLKKA or tiik Sikkra Madre.
This supreme Cordillera may be defined as the backbone of the world ;
it is the " divortlii (Kjiionnti' of the American continent, From the
snows of its immense crest and flank,s descend the rivers that irrigate
either face of the continent out to all the oceans. From it also branch
off all the other mountain chains. Where the irrigation from the snows

:ilJCA, ETC.

MOUNTAIN FORMATIOX OF NORTH AMERICA, ETC.

is sufficient, immense forests exist ; elscwliere the mountains arc naked.
The core or basis of the Sierra Madre is red porjdiyritic granite, from the
innnense naked masses of which comes tlie popular sol)ri(iuet of '• llocky
Mountains." This is the gold-producing quartz. The Sierra Madre has
precipitous mural flanks, which protrude outward as promontories, or
recede to encase the courses of rivers and valleys. It has peaks, conical
in shape and culminating by a sharp apex.

To those who view it in the horizon from below, this is its general
appearance ; but to those who ascend its ragged front and surmount its
highest crest, this is found to be a Mesa or indefinite table land as level as
a water surface. This Sierra Madre has its own cliaracteristics, which are
all of the grandest order. I am unable to illustrate it by comparison,
because it stands supreme and alone, the standard to which all other moun-
tain masses nnist be submitted. It is of the original mass of the globe,
and has neither lava, nor craters, nor active volcanoes, nor traces of the
igneous foi'ce within. It is par excellence primeval. Scooped out of its
main mass are valleys of great size and beauty, which have received from
the trappers the name of Pcircs. These occur at regular intervals, alter-
nately upon either flank, and mark the sources of the great rivers.

Those which I have seen are the Plain of the South Pa.ss, surrounding
the sources of the llio Verde : — the North Pare, upon the Northern Platte
or Nebraska Kiver: — the Middle Pare, upon the liio Grande of the
West : — the South Pare, upon the Southern Platte : — the Pare of San
Luis, upon the Rio del Norte. These remarkable valleys are all secluded
within the main dorsal mass of the Cordillera, and are of great size, fer-
tility, and beauty. They resemble those reservoire of the Alpine torrents
of Switzerland (Geneva and Constance), out of which issue the rivers
Rhone and Rhine : and the valley of Kashmere, through which the Indus
flows ; though they contain no lakes.

They are the paradise of the aboriginal hc-ls, with which they swarm
at all seasons, and are the favorite retreats of the Indians. To define the
exact width of the primary Cordillera, and mark the line where it fades
into the Black Hills upon the jast, and into the Plateau of the Table
Lands upon the west, is not ea.sy ; but it varies from 100 to 250 miles,
according as it expands into salient promontories, or recedes to give
passage to the rivers.

We next descend on to the third division, which is the Plateau op
THE Table Lands. This expands onward to the Cordillera of the Snowy
Andes. I speak again with great difllidencc, but of all the departments
into which science has arranged the physical geography of the globe, this
appears to me the most interesting, the most crowded with various and

MOUXTALS FOIIMATIOS OF NORTH AMERICA, ETC.

attractive foatuivw, and the most certainly destined eventually to contain
the most enlightened and powerful empire of the world.

At present it is no more known or eouiprchended, as it is, by the Ameri-
can peo[)le than was America itself to the poet Homer, and is to them as
much a myth as the continent of Atalanta. Nevertheless, it is of such
great urea as to contain within itself three rivers which rank with the
Ganges and Danube in size, and five great ranges of primary mountains.
This will be seen exactly defined upon the hydrograpliic map of IS-l.'), as
the immense longitudinal region encased within the Cordilleras and
extending from Tehuautepec to the Northern Sea. It would exhaust a
large volume to recite in detail the interesting features of this region, all
worthy to be known.

The Plateau ok the Table L.inds is a succes.sion of intramontune
basins, seven in number, and ranging successively from south to north.
The .solid mass of the Andes debouches out of the Isthmus of Teluian-
tepce, and forks immediately into the two Cordilleras. Advancing along
the Western Cordillera into the state of Jalisco, a mountain chain issues
from its inner flank, and, traversing the Table Lands, plunges into the
Sierra Madre, in the state of San Luis I'otosi. This .'uts off" to the
south the " Basin of the Cifi/ of Jfc.vici," which is the Jirst, the smallest,
and the mo.st .southern of the mountain basins.

Further north, a .second mountain chain crosses from Durango to
Coahuila, and cuts oif the " Basin of the Jiolson di Mapimi.'' This is
the second mountain basin. The Cordilleras, which flank the.sc two and
fence them from the seas, have so great an altitude that the ocean vapors
never surmount their crests, nor do any clouds pass outward over them.
These basins, therefore, have no outward drainage, nor any rivers run-
ning to the sea. Stagnant lakes alternately receive the drainage from
their surrounding mountains, and yield it to them again by evaporation.
This last chain is known as the "Mountain of the Kio Florida;" the
former as the " Mountain of Qucretaro."

Pursuing still the Western Cordillera through the state of Sinaloa, a
third mountain chain, dividing ofl^, traverses the Table Lands due north,
and plunges into the Sierra 3Iadrc, between the Pare of San Luis and the
Middle Pare. This is an immense and remarkable mountain, is 1300
miles in length, and divides the waters of the Del Norte and Colorado.
It is the fmiioiis Sierra Jlimhres.

The area thus cut oft' between it and the mountain of the Rio Florida
is drained by the rivers Del Norte, Pecos, and Conchos, which, uniting at
the western base of the Sierra 3Iadre. perforate it by a aiiiion, and, escap-
ing into the external maritime region, form the llio Grande of Texas.

ERICA, ETC.

eventually to contain
i-hl.

<s it ix, by the Anieri-
er, and i.s to tlieni as
theless, it is of such
,'hich rank with the
' primary niountains.
)hic map of 1845, as
the Cordilleras and
It -would exhaust a
•es of this region, all

sion of iiitnonoHtane
I'roni south to north.
Isthmus of Tehuan-
s. Advancing along
nountain chain issues
lids, plunges into the
This .'uts off to the
the Jirst, the smallest,

3S from Durango to
7 Mapimi.'' This is
I flank these two and
that the ocean vapors
! outward over them.
I, nor any rivers run-
\-e the drainage from
again by evaporation,
he Kio Florida ;" the

he state of Sinaloa, a
ible Lands due north,
•c of San Luis and the
)le mountain, is 1300
Norte and Colorado.

lin of the Rio Florida
;hos, which, uniting at
y a ainan, and, escap-
j Grande of Texas.

■^

MOCyTALV FOIiMATtOX OF NOIiTIl AMERICA, ETC.

This is tlie only wator-course which perforates the Sierra >Iadro between
Cape Horn and the Arctic Sea. It is lierc that a profound and distressing
error pervades all the existing charts and delineations of our continental
geography. These, omitting the great Sierra .Madre for (iOO or 700 miles
of its Icngtli, and assigning its name to the Sierra Minibres, locate the
Rio del Xorte and its vast basin with the .system of Atlantic rivers. Yet
the Sierra Mimhres abounds in pedrigals of lava, craters, and volcanic
phenomena, and the geological altitude, configuration, and a thousand pal-
pal)le characteristic features of the ba.sin of tlie Del Norte, locate thi'm
upon the Plateau of the Table Lands. This blunder of transposition is
more foolish than to construct a map of Europe and forget the Alps, or to
draw for the people a ])ine-trce growing erect in the middle of the ocean,
whilst doli)hins graze upon a mountain slope ! The vast basin of the
0el Norte is then tlie third in order of the mountain basins of the
Plateau.

The Western Cordillera continues to traverse Sonora, and, passing
round the Gulf of California, rea])pears in sight of the ocean in the State
of California. Opposite San Bernardo another numntain chain branches
from its eastern flank, traverses the Table Lands by a northern cour.se,
dividing the waters of the Colorado and Great Salt Lake, and plunges into
the Sierra Madre between the .sources of Green River and Snake River.
This is theyoHr^/t great moiuitain chain of the Table Lands, is 1000 miles
in length, and is the Sieura Wasatch.

Between it and the Sierra Mimbres is included tlie immense Mountain
Basin of tiik Colokado, which is tho fourth subdivisicm of the area of
the Table Lands. This basin has an immense area, great altitude, an
infinite perplexity of mountains, and is redundant in striking and wonder-
ful novelties. The Rio Verde, Rio Grande of the West, and Rio San
Juan, collect its upper waters, and, uniting against the inner flank of the
Cordillera of the Snowy Andes, gorge it diagonally through and through,
and escape into the Gulf of California. This sublime gorge is 557 miles
in length, and is known as the " Canon of the Colonido.'' It is through-
out a narrow mountain chasm, traversing, without interruption, the very
bowels of the Andes, having perpendicular mural .sides, often many thou-
sand feet in altitude.

Other important aflluents of the Cohn-ado (the Mohabe, the Little Colo-
rado, and the Gila) force their way into it by an infinite labyrinth of
gorges, similarly scooped through the bowels of the mountain mass.
These two remarkable basins, then, — the Del Norte and Colorado, — lie

linst the Sierra Mimbres, as a back!)

)ne. The waters of tlie first uortre

the Eastern Cordillera to the Gulf of Mexico; those of the second the

MOfSTMN FOllMAl'lOy OF SOHTIl AMh'ltlVA, ETC.

Wt'storii Cortlillora to the Gulf of California ; but no yorjr'e unites them
tliiouj,^! the .Siona Miuibn s, wliiuli is uniierfoiatoil.

Tlu'si- lia.sin.s arc both lonjiitutlinal in shajic and jiosition ; thoy overlap
one another, an<l thereby multiply the luiniber and complexity of moun-
tain barrier-s. Amoiiji the jihysieal jihenomena of the ^'loiu', this '■' Cunou
iif tlif Colorado" is an isolated fact, unicpie and sublime in interest.

These two basins are, /mr i.mi/t iht, the metalliferous dei)artment of
the world, and are in/nsiil thro\ijihout with utoinitdiiis of the precious
stones, and precious and base metals — of lava, obsidian, and marble — of
salt, coal, and with rivers of thermal and medicinal waters.

Let me hasten to other subdivisions of e(puil interest. Near the forty-
second dejiree of latitude, the Western Cordillera throws oflf the Ji/th
mountain chain of the Table Lands. This has a serjjentine course, mainly
east and west, is 12(H( miles lonjr, and forms the division bi'tween the hasin
of the Stilt Ltiht; iunX the htis'ni of tlif. Coliiiiil/fd. It joins with the Sierra
Wasatch, and immediately at the point of junction, plunges with it into
the Eastern Cordillera.

This great basin, containing in one of its depressions the Salt Lake, is
the counterpart, on our continent, of the Caspian of Asia. It is, like the
first and second basins, encased all around with an unperforated mountain
wall, and neither sends nor receives water from any sea.

Nearly oj)posite to I'ugctt's Sound, a >ii\vth chain of mountains, break-
ing oft" from the eastern flank of the Western Cordillera, traverses tlie
Table Lands by a due northern course, and sinks into the Eastern Cor-
dillera, closely enveloj)ing the sources of the Columbia Iiiver. This is
called the Uk?;n.\aua\ ^Iolntains, and divides the waters of the
Colnndjia from those of Frazer's Kiver.

The Basin of the CoLUiiiUA is the sixth in order of the basins of
the Table Lands. It is the most admirable ol" them all. A splendid
circular configuration and two primary rivers. Its size, position, and con-
figuration, relatively to the Mississijipi Valley and the Pacific Ocean,
make it the elite of them all. It extends all across the Table Lands from
rim to rim, as do both its great rivers — the Snake Iiiver and the Colum-
bia — which, uniting, gorge the Western Cordillera at the Cascades, j)cnc-
trating through them to the Pacific in 4(5^ l\)'. They run from east to
west, and connect exactly by convenient and single pa.s.ses across tlie East-
ern Cordillera, with the great rivers flowing down to tlie Atlantic. It
partakes of all the cardinal characteristics of the other basins, liaving, in
addition, mighty forests, navigation, a larger share of arable qualities, and
a superior economy in its topographical siuface and position.

Such are the six primary basins and mountain chains v;hieh checker

IL'/tlt'A, ETC.

MOUSTAIN FOliMATION OF XOIITII AMERICA, ETC.

IK) j;(H<j.'l' uiiiti'S tliciu

Misition; they overliip

cdiiipk'xity of luoiin-

lu' <.'!obi', tl\is ^'C'tiiiou

ime in interest.

t'erous (li'imitiuent of

il((iiis of the jjiveioiis

diaii, and marble — of

waters.

rest. Near the forty-
i tlirowB t)flf the fifth
jicntine eour.se, mainly
isiun In'tween the hanin
t joins with the Sierra
1, plunges with it into

isions tlic Salt Lake, is
f Asia. It is, like the
unperforuted mountain
f .sea.

n of mountains, break-
Tordillera, traverses the
i into the Eastern Cor-
unibia River. This is
des the waters of the

order of the basins of
tliem all. A splendid
I size, position, and eon-
ind till! Paeilie Oeean,
s the Table Lands from
L' River and the Coluni-
a at the Ca.xcades, j)ene-
They run from east to
J passes across the East-
VII to the Atlantic. It
other basins, having, in
I of arable qualities, and
id position.
I chains which checker

and arrange them.selves into the Grand Platk.M' of tiik Tablk Lands,
as I have seen them and become familiar with them. There is a scn-iith,
the ba.sin of Frazer's River, with which I am acquainted only from the
reports of others who have reconnoitered it. It has the same general
features, though .smaller, longitudinal in direction, and narrow.

We may now, then, return to the third elementary division of the
mountain formation of North America, namely : TiiK Platkak ok Till;
Taulk L.vxds. We may understand its variety and vastne.><s, yet handle
it as a unit. The lowest sedimentary points, where the waters accumulate
into the lakes of Mexico, jNIapimi, Gasman, and Salt Lake, have an
average altitude of G(HK) feet above the seas. Tlie ir/m/f P/iifiaii /kis tlim
the clictitiim of a prlnutry iiiituiitnlu. It is (iverywheri! fertile, being jtas-
toral for the most part, but arable where irrigation is adopted.

JIvery geological forniiition exists on a Titanic scale: volcanoes, colum-
niu- basalt, and pedrigals of crystallized lava; porjdiyritie granite and
.sandstone, and secondary basins of tin; sulphate and carbonate of lime. It
is universally a rainless region, and nctwhere is arable agriculture po.ssible
without artiKcial irrigation. Pa.storal culture is the prominent feature,
wherein it rivals the Great I'lains. The air is tonic and exhilarating —
the atmosphere resplendent with perpetual sunshine by day and with stars
by night. The climate is inteusely dry, and the temperature variant and
delicious.

Habitations are not essential in this salubrious and vernal clime; the
aborigines dispense with them. During six years that I have ]ia.ssed ujion
the Plateau, I have rarely slept within a house or beneath any canoj)}' but
the sky, infinitely spangled with stars. Upon this Plateau has existed,
within our memory, the populous and civilized empire of the Aztecs, and
in South America that of the Incas. Timber grows upon the rivers and
upon the irrigated mountain flanks. To arrange the arable lands for irri-
gation is not more co.stly than our system of fencing, which it supersodej?.
No piu'tion of tlu' globe can maintain so dense a population.

But the fourth subdivision of the " ^lountain Formation of North
America" is the SxowY Cordillkra of the Ande.s. Everybody is
familiar, from childhood, with the South American Andes. This of ours
is the same, unchanged in any characteristic, except an increased and
superior grandeur. Let us restore to it its ancient and illustrious name!
Let us iiupiire how it has come temporarily to be lost.

The Andes traverse the American continent, in one unbroken and
uniform mass, from Cape Horn to Behring's Strait. Towards the ocean,
to who.se indented .shore they are parallel, and from which they are every-
where visible, they present a precipitous front and immense altitude ; they

•to

MOi'XTAl.y FOItMATIOX OF NOHTU AMEltWA, ETC.

uverywhure suniiouiit tlii; line; of jit'ipotual Miiow. I'imhi this front, wliidi
ruct'ives tlie perpetual wimls f'roiu tlio (ictaii anil is liatlu'il witli its va]ior.s,
KiiuWH and iori'St.s ari-uinulatc as u|i(in the Alii.s. But on tlu'ir suinniit of
|»'r|K'tual eongclation, tlii'se vajiors, (•oiiilrnsed to iee, are as solid, as |it'r-
jK'tiiai, as tlie granite rocks. No vajiors jiass over to the hiittr rejiinn,
whiih is naked of snow, tiniher, or irrijiation. Heme has ;-oni(! this dis-
tinetive Spanish sobriipiet of this sulilinie sea-wall — Cordillera Xniii/n de
los Andes (the siiuiri/ ehain of the Andes) — to define it s|)ecilieaily from
the naked masses within! Thus, sinee this aneient and familiar Anuks
has come to he domesticated in our repuhliean empire, within the States
of California and (►re^on, has it been thoughtlessly jiluiidered of its
name, defineil only hy an expletive, snoin/, and incontinently ii;nored of
its supreme, coronat ■d rank in the mountain system of the world.

U\ then, you rt^juire from me a description of this /mnf/i subdivision
of our mountain foimation, I bid you to ]ierusea^ain the tiiscinatin^r pa<res
of I'llK.snrn' and his predecessors ; the nmiautic historians of CditrKZ,
Al.V.VH.VlK), and I'lZAUlKi ; and, above all, ihi' oracular inspiration with
which tile illustrious lIt:.Mi«)LUT lias analyzed the };i'oi:raphical wonders
of this Cordillera of the Snowy Andes, and tinted tiiem with divine
elo(|Uence !

Finally, I am bewildered how to speak of {hv ji/fli subdivision, which
is the Pacific Mahiti.MK KiuiNT. 'I'his brinjis us out to meet the ocean,
to blend tojrether the varieties of sea and land, and where, auion<; tho
assembled climates and countries of the ^lobe, Cornucopia jiermaiiently
dwells with her ever-redundant and overtlowiny horn of ripening beauty
and plenty.

This Pacific Maritime Front is the c/unterpart of that outside of tho
Allejihany and upon the Atlantic. ' is the tide-water rejiion. Tho
Atlantic Front has an area of 271,00(1 ,s(piare miles, this of 420,0(10 ; it
is not mucli broader from the mountains to the sea, but has a greater lon-
gitude. In every detail of climate, vegetation, soil, and physical forma-
tion, there is between the.se two seaboards the complete.st contnist.

On the Pacific are blended, beneath the vyv., and swejit in at one sight,
the sublime, castellated masses of the Andes — their bases are .set in tho
emerald verdure of the jtlaiii, rising gently al)ove the sea-level — their
middle flanks are clothed with the arborescent grandeur of pine and cedar
forests. Naked above, and towering into the upper air, their columnar
form of structure resembles an edifice designed to enclose the whole globe
itself; but from this foundation, and rearing their snow-covered crests
another mile into the firmament, shoot u]i volcanic peaks at intervals of
one hundred miles, encasing the throats of the inner world of fire, and

MKItK^A, ETC.

MOrSTMX FOIIXATWX OF SOUTH A3!EliICA, ETC.

coruscatuil in ]n'ri)etiial snow, bL'uwith contnutH uf vulcanic smoke and
flames.

Tlie siililimest of tlie oceans; majestic rivers more worthy to bo deified
tlian tlie (lan,i:es or K;:y|itian Nile; the j^randcst and most eU'vated of
eartli's mountains ; sn|)erlative forest everj^rcen ; an emerald verilnre and
cxniierant fertility; a mellow and delicions atmosjdiere, imbued with
jiur]ile lints reflected from the ocean and the mountains ; a soft vernal
tempcratup' the ytar round. Whatsoever can be cond)ined of massive
and rnuiicd mountains, |)ietnn'S(|U(! land.scape, and a verdant face to nature
shininji under the richest sunii;;ht : a climate soft and serene; whatsoever
of idl tlicse, blended and enjoyed in combination, will acc()m|ilish to j;ive
grace, elevation, and refinement to the .social world, are here united to woo
and develop the {renius of our ccmntry and our people.

In all these natural favoi"s our ins/irn seaboard front i.s supremely more
gifted than the classic shores of the ^lediterranean and the Asian Seas,
for fifty ci^nturitjs the favorite tlunne of history, inietry, and song. The
emliellishmcnts which old society and the accunmlating contributions of a
hundred .successive generations add to nature, are not yet there; but these
iri/f v(iiiii\ and to us who fan the career of our great country whilst we
live, the future, which jwsterity will po.sscss and enjoy, is full of the radi-
ance of trui' glory.

Such is a honu'spun and laconic di^tail of a few e.s.sential fact.s neccssjiry
to com])rchend tlu; ^'Mountain FaniKitlnn of JVorfh America" and to
know where anil what it is. The subji^ct is above the reach of imagina-
tion or ornament, and of a higher level. Intelligent research and candid
judgment mu.st supply the rest and fill up the portrait.

CTIAl'TEli II.

THE CORDILf.KIlA OF THE SIEKHA MADUE — THE EASTERN COHDIM.EUA.

This is an iinineiiso department of our icmntry, of primary Hif,niificanco
and interest. Vaj^uely dennminated the '• Stony or lloeky jMountains,"
oeeupyinjr an inlio.'fjiitalilu wa.stc l)eyond the enerj^ien of soeial adviMitnre,
manivind lias lieretofore heard the name with indifierence, and ail minute
detaiL with dogmatic aversion. To establisii it.s title to esteem in the
poi)ular oj)ini()n of the world, the complete reverse of this, is my object.

Prominent in the " Mountain Sy.sti^m of the (!lobe" is an immen.sc
girdle of mountains, {granitic in Ibrmation, crested with snow, having vol-
canoca on its flanks, and auri/eroiiH thrt)Ughout. This commences at Capo
Horn, travcTses the whole length of America to IJehring's Strait, tra-
verses Asia and Eurojie to the Pillars of Hercules, traverses Africa and
appears in the islands of Madagascar, Australasia, and New Zealand. If
the single strait of Hercules were closed, and Suez opened, this continu-
ou.s mountain crest woidd exactly contain all the .salt and frt'sh waters of
the JJasiii of the Pacific Ocean in a closed circle, and divide them from
those of the Basin of tlie Atlantic.

This continuous girdle becomes, in some localities, very much conden.sed
in breadth and altitude, as at the Istlimus of Central America, and in
France. Elsewhere it a.ssumes immense expansion in area and altitude,
spreading out and elevating itself into the continental plateau, which occu-
pies the whole of Central Asia, and the still grander " I'lateau of the
Table Lands" of our North America.

The " M'iKiilni'n Formutian of North America" is, then, an important
section of this innuensc girdle, which bisects all the continents.

It has an area, a massiveness and altitude, a position an • climate, a fer-
tility, a variety which blends all the peculiarities of all other sections : a
simplicity of configuration, aud a sublimity of profile ',hich transcends all
the rest.

Thus, in tlie " Cordillera Nevada dc los Andes" is found the full equiv-
alent of the South American mountains, volcanoes, active and extinct,
crowned with glaciers and of immense altitude, battlements of columnar
basalt, pedrigals of lava, subterranean and thermal streams. The plateau
24

''€4

and its prim
and Asia c(
Finally,

Belvi's surpii
the inniicn^
cloud-conipi

'• The ("1
award*- ••: •!
of the oceu
the sujircm
th(! Uio (in
the Norlhc
the Amazo
slope. Is I

The IVcsl
by evaporal
Sirini Mix
the atui isp!
flanks.

i?ut let 1
our own CO
to my eye,
westwanl ti

It is wh
Tehuantcpi
continue to
gives its fo
Pass of M
serves a ve

At the I
canon of t
through ail
rowing a c
maritime r
This gorge
which the
of the con
that of tin
and only w
the .seas.

The Cor

rilE coinHLLKUA OF rilK SIEItUA MADItE.

ASTKRN COUDIM.KUA.

and its primary cliuiiw outrival in area and interest those of South Anieriea
and Asia conihincd.

iMnaliv. the stern and stniicndous masses of the Himalaya fnid them-
selves surpassed liy the primeval hulk, the prodijiious leii^iih and hreadth
tlie innnense mesas, the romantic pares, tlio far protruding' llanos, and the
eloutl-eomiiellinf^ iey peaks of the Cordillera of the Sierra Madre.

'The Chain of the Mother Mountain" is the <:enerie iianiewliieh piety
award'. ••' Mils eoutinuous crest, down whose flanks descend all iIk? feeders
of the oceans. Let me name them : tin- Athahasea, the Saskatchewan,
the supreme Missouri and Mississip[ii, the St. Lawrence, the Texan rivers,
the llio (irande del Nurte, the Frazer, the (,'oluml)ia, and tlie Colorado, in
the Northern continent. In the Snulhern, the Ma^dalena, the Orinoco,
the Amazon, the La Plata, the I'atajronia rivei-s, and those of the Pacific
sloiK'. Is not this Cordillera then ri;;htly called the Mother ol' ilivors?

The fresh waters of the earth come from the clouds; the clou<ls come
by evaporation from the expanses of the oceans. We shall know that the
Siei-ru Mmlre divides and ndes the meteoric powers and aerial fluids of
the atm isphere, equally as the waters which we sec descending; down the
flanks.

But let me at present restrict myself to the Cordillera as it runs athwart
our own country, and define its varied features as they display themselves
to my eye, looking out as I now am from the area of the Great Plains
westward to the l*acific.

It is where the mountain mass debouches north from the Isthmus of
Tehuantej)ec, that it bii'urcates into tbe two primary Cordilleras, which
continue to expand from one another. The .Mother Mountain, on the east,
givt'S its form to tlie (iulf of Mexico, who.se shore it pursues nearly to the
Pa-ss of Monterey and Saltillo. Hence to tlie Arctic Sea the crest pre-
serves a very regular line to the north-northwe.st.

At the point of entrance into our present territory, it is gorged by the
cafion of the Rio Grande del Norte. This caiion is a gorge cut obliijuely
through and through the bowels of the Cordillera, where the river, bur-
rowing a cha.sm l!ir> miles in length, accomplishes at once its exit into the
maritime region and its descent from the '^Plateau of thr. Tabh: Lands."
This gorge, impracticable for common uses, is the only water curnnit by
which the Sierra Madre is perforated anywhere between the extremities
of the continent. I have elsewhere .spokcM of this canon, together with
that of the Colorado and that of the Columbia, as the three remarkable
and only water-gaps whereby the plateau discharges its surplus waters to
the seas.

The Cordilleva of the Sierra Madre enters our territory in latitude 29°,

■ju

!.■>!

MAP OF

NORTH xVMERICA

ill which ar(MU'liiu'aU>cl IIk'

MOUNTAIN SYSTEM ASA UNIl
WuiAWAl ( AL( AllKOrSlMAlN and ils DETAILS,

f//n/ Ihc t on /inor.s nirirri i n fi

MAR VV i .V( i'", v^ b\ i, \\\ I> l-'. .

10.-.

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

longitude 103°, antl passes beyond the 49th degree, in longitude 114°. Its
length, then, witliin these linnts, exceeds IGOO miles. It nuiintain.s an
avenige distance from tlie Mississijipi Kiver exceeding 10(10 miles, and
has the same distance from the beach of the Pacific Ocean ; it forms,
therefore, a continuous sunmiit crest parallel to and midway between them.

All the varieties of formation which distinguish the mountain chains
of tlie continents here follow one another, or are blended in groups, and
exist on a Titanic .scale of magnitude.

Mrs(i>i exist, being mountains of immen.se base and perpendicular walls,
whose summits have the level surface and smoothness of a table : Bntis,
which are conical peaks wrought into perfect .symmetry of contour by the
corroding power of the atmosphere: JJ<iH<»i, being mesas of inferior ele-
vation prolonged outward as promontories protruding from the mountain
flanks, and separating from one another the descending rivers : Ciinniin,
chasms walled in on either side with mural jirecipices of mountain alti-
tude ; 7)'(n/o(/.s, or jxnr.s, valleys scooped out of the main dorsal mass of the
Conllllcni, within which they are encased, each as an amphitheatre.

This mountain crest, exhibiting all these varieties of profile, has, when
seen against the horizon, the resemblance of a saw or cock.s-comb, whence
the sobri((uet Sirrrn ; the continuous ma.ss on which they rest resembles
a chain of links or cord with knots, whence the name ('ordilknt. Thus
is seen the expressive definition wherein thefir.st jMrmneans, the Sjmniards,
our predecessors, have comj)ressed this supreme mountain feature of our
continent, CunUlkra dc hi Sierra Mmhr .'

To bring the mind to an easy and familiar understanding of this sub-
ject, embracing so many details, it is necessary to ascend to the s>immit
crest at the forty-ninth degree, from hence to follow its sinuous 'jdge to
the south, to skim from point to point of the .serrated jmitile, and, from
this elevation, to extend the vision outward on either flank to where it
subsides into the general foundation of the continent.

From such a position the eye continually overlooks the " Pfatcau of
the Tabic Lands" on the west, the '' Bas'n of (lie Misumijijir on the
east.

The average elevation of the crest is 12,000 feet above the sea ; that of
the broad pediment, from whose longitudinal axis it rises, 0000 feet ; the
breadth across is 300 miles; so stupendous in area, bulk, and solidity, is
the mass of the Sierra Madre !

Every one has built card houses in childhood, having a second story
over the centre ; such a structure illustrates a cross section of the Sierra
Madre in its primeval form.

This regularity of form has disappeared under the corroding influences

'iA MADIiE.

THE CORDILLERA OF TI/E SIERRA MADRE.

r the corrodiim' iiifluencca

of the atmosphere, operating durinjj; countless ages, and the abrading
powers of a tliou.sand rivers, carrying down their attritions to the sea.
What is left presents an immense labyrinth of mountain summits, under-
mined and channeled to a profound depth by the yawning gorges of the
streams.

Advancing then along the Mother crest in the direction indicated, the
whole eastern flank to the 4;}d° of latitude, and lOOth" of longitude {the
Sutitli Push), is striped with the rivers which converge to form the Mis-
souri proper and the Yellowstone. These are the 3[ilk Kiver, the Mis-
souri, the Wisdom, Jefferson, IMadison, and Gallatin forks, all converging
into the Mis.souri ; the Yellowstone proper, the Wind, I'okeagie, and
Powder Rivers, all converging into the Yellowstone.

These rivers, each having its complement of aflluents, are all of great
length, and pour down an immense volume of waters. A very small pro-
portion reaches the sea, for where they debouch from the mountains at
the lowe.st altitude, these waters are consumed by evaporation, rising to
qu'"i'h che thirst of the arid atmosphere and surface of the great prairie
ocean. But down the western flank, within the same limits, descend
rivers of equal number and magnitude, going to traverse the elevated
" liasin of the Cohimhid ;" these are the Columbia proper, the Cottonais,
the Fliitbow, Pcnd-oreilles, Spokan, Salmon, and Snake Rivers.

These rivers have a more immediate descent to the sea than those upon
the east ; the mountain spurs between them are, therefore, more numer-
ous, abrupt, and of greater altitude.

It is easily discernible that over this serrated crest, whence so many
rivers radiate as from u single knife-edge, there are many depressions or
passes, liaving every variety of altitude and accessibility. The gorges
which lead outward from these passes, all eventually converge to the Mis-
souri and to the Columbia.

The more southern portion of this mountain crest, where it divides the
waters of the Yellowstone and Snake Rivers, and is seen from the great
road of the Soutli Pass traveled by our people, has the local name of
"Wind River Mountain." Tlie mountain crest, curving to the east, and
describing a semicircle, envelops the whole basin of the Yellowstone as in
a ciit-(Ir-s(u; and, subsiding gradually in altitude, disappears upon the
bank of the Mis.souri.

It is by this jteculiar configuration that the mountain crest here practi-
cally disajipears, and leaves the open depression of die South Phhh, into
which we gain access by the Sweetwater on the east, and by Snake River
on the west, pa.ssing, by this means, coun)letely around the arc described
by the Wind River Mountain crest.

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

A similar configuration to this exists, on a small scale, in the Alps
dividing France fifim Italy, which may be mentioned here on account of
the aptness of the illustration and the familiarity with which history has
for twenty centuries invested it.

It is where the Alpine crest, under the successive names of Savoy Alps,
IMount Ccnis, and Maritime Alps, sweeps round in a regular arc from
Geneva to Genoa, and thence subsiding into the Apennines, bisects Italy
lengthwise to the sea.

Within this arc is embraced the basin of the Po, oalled once Liguria,
but now Piedmont. Around this arc marched the armies of Brennus and
Hannibal ; those of the Romans passing into Gaul by the plain of the
Rhone ; and here also still pass the armies and people of France and the
modern J]uropeans.

Upon Snake River is developed the most northern of the pares. As
thi;. river descends from the Sierra Mndre, it debouches into and bisects
an immense plain of the most novel and remarkable features. This is the
Lara Plain. It is an elliptical bowl, embraced between the Salmon River
and Snake River Mountains, 325 miles in length and 95 in breadth. It
is a uniform pedrigal or flat surface of vitrified basalt, melted by volcanic
fires, and congealed as into a lake of cast iron.

Along its longitudinal axis stand isolated peaks, known as the '• Three
Butes " which erect themselves to the snow line, like volcanic cones pro-
truding above the sea. Cracks of profound depth traverse this plain,
whose blasted surface is without vegetation or water. It is traversed
beneath by subterranean streams, which issue from natural tunnels in the
wall of Snake River, plunging into its bed by magnificent cascades.

Bald nakedness, rather than sterility, is the extreme characteristic of
this \Tonderful plain, which has around i\s rim a fringe of little " oases"
upon the streams bubbling from the mountain base, of exquisite fertility
and of the most perfect romantic beauty.

When we call to memory the interest attracted in every age to the
diminutive formations of crystalline basalt upon the north of Ireland, near
the city of jMcxico, and in Southern Italy, we are struck with awe at the
repetition here of these same phenomena, on a scale of stupendous grandeur.

Upon the alternate flank of the Sierra Madrc, the bowl of the Yellow-
stone properly classifies itself as the second in order of the pares, having
its oval ft)rm streaked longitudinally with many parallel and narrow moun-
tain ridges gorged by parallel rivers. This pare is very fertile, of the
grandest scenery, and a delightful climate.

Such is a partial sketch of the Cordillera of the Sierra Madre, from the
49th° to the 4i{d° of latitude. .V few denominating features only are

I A MA DUE.

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

pointed out ; the serrateJ crests, altenuitoly rising into peaks and mesas
above the snows, and depressed by passes ; tlie flanks gorged by descend-
ing rivers or branching out into mountain spurs between them — the pares;
the general direction is south-southeast.

I omit to speak of the regions around the liigher sources of the Mis-
souri and Columbia, and still onward to the noi-th, not because they are
less interesting and attractive, but because I have not myself seen them,
and because they are of identical features, and are as yet remote from the
coUunn of progressing empire.

The third Jim c is the plain of the South Pass. Although adjacent to
the other two, it is in perfect contrast to them in all its characteristic
features. Its surface of clay has the perfect smoothness of a water plain,
over which tlie eye ranges without interruption, llain is rare, and the
vegetation of grass and artcmisia .scanty and uniform.

Upon its south front rises again the Cordillera, under the local name of
Table Mountain. This forms an immense arc, similar to the Wind Kiver
Mountain, but in the opposite direction, for, turning to the southwest, it
subsides to the Rio Verde, which is the great Colorado. These two arcs
approach one another within thirty miles, forming a double corner over
the gorge through which the Sweetwater escapes. To mark the conti-
nuity of the mothei crest, a gentle crown traverses the plain from one
mountain corner to the other, only traceable by tb-^ perfect division which
it makes between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

In the Table Mountiiin the ConU/leni rises agiiin. It resumes its direc-
tion, configuration, and altitude, which it preserves with uninterrupted
uniformity clear through the continent to Tehuantepec. As far as the 38th
degree of latitude it sheds the waters of the greo.t Colorado from its western
flank ; those of the Platte and Arkansas Rivers from its eastern flank.

I am admonished here to pause and fix attention on the number, gran-
deur, and variety of the physical elements combined around this culmi-
nating ] oint of the mountains and the rivers of our continent.

Nature liere, more perfectly than at any other point upon the globe,
unites into one grand coup-iVml all her grandest features, which, liaimo-
niously grouped, present to the mind a combination of superlative sub-
limity.

These contrasted pares, so different, yet so close together ! the intense
massiveness of the Cordillera ! the number and proximity of great rivers !
the brilliancy and .serenity of the atmosphere in which they shine ! the
awful storms whicli at long intervals brew among and shatter the iced
mountain tops ! the graphic conviction ever present to the mind of the
immediate presence and presiding omnipotence of the Creator !

THE COnniLLERA OF THE SIEItliA MADUE.

The impression left with mo, ami made by the peculiar irrit and appear-
ance of the soil which overlays the plain of the South l*ass. is of a
'• placer of kaoline," resembling- the biscuit from which porcelain is burned.
This is disintegrated, and washed down from the bald mountain flanks of
porj)hyritic jxranite. Whether there may be also here concealed immense
placers of jrold an<l precious stones, cominjj; from the same source, is imt
yet tested ; but such ought to be the fact, from the pure auriferous mate-
rial of the mountains.

To resume again the pursuit of the mountain crest. This continues to
recover its altitude. Soon upon the eastern flank the Northern Pare, or
Bull-pen, reveals it.sclf ; along whoso centre meanders the great Platte
River, here running to the north in a direction contrary to the mountain
crest. This is the fourth in number of the pares, but has been the tir.-<t
and best known in popular reputation.

Being very large, very central, and easily accessible to us going out from
the lower ]Missouri, it became the first favorite winter home of the early
trappers and explorers. It is an amphit'ieatre of large area, whose moun-
tain walls, covered with soil, vegetation, and scattered forests of evergreens,
slope gradually up on every side. Its level plain is laced with streams
and checkered with meadows, sparkling with flowers and romantic grovi's.
in perfectly graceful alternations ; its atmosphere is genial and exhilara-
ting, and the temperature mild throughout the year.

Innnediately beyond the highest extremity of thejoiirfh, but upon the
west or alternate flank of the mountain crest, the eye drops into the bowl
of the f/fh or Middle Pure, expanding to contain the confluent streams
which form the grand river of the Colorado.

This pare is larger in area than t\\Q fourth^ but is vexed with far-pro-
truding mountain spurs, narrow streams rattling over rocky beds, and a
cloudy atmosphere, made fitful by the altitude and close jn-oximity of snow-
dad mountain backs. This pare has its mouth towards the Pacific.
Towering up from the mountain crest, where it divides these two pares,
rises the snowy head of Long's Peak, who.ic eastern front beetles over the
Great I'lains. from which it is seen for fifty leagues by tho.se who travel
up the Basin of the Kansas.

Still immediately follows on the eastern flanks the Bai/ou Sahtdo, or South-
ern Pore, which is the sixth. This is the mountain's bowl, scooped out
for it.self Vjy the Southern Platte, as it desceiuls from the snowy cap of
Lincoln's Peak. This pare has the same general characteristics as the
fourth, but is greatly inferior to it in size, fertility, and climate, being
closely heilged in by great mountains. I'rom whose snows descend ince.'^sant
storms, and a i'ebrile dampness infesting the atmosj)here. From the same

I- AM MADRE.

THE conniLi.EiiA of the sierka ma due.

pcfuliar grit and appoar-
tlie South Pass, is of a
ivhieh jtnroolain is buriii'd.
! l)ald iiiduntain flanl<s of
licrc cfiiicoaU'd iimiu'iise
11 the saino source, is imt
the pure auriferous mate-

glacier which surmounts Lincohi's Peak descends the Arkansas River upon
the reverse sk)pe. The river has no pare ; it defiles into the plains throuj-h
a canon.

Here is discernible in the mountain crest tlie .same eurviliuear sweep as
in the Wind lliver mass. Here occurs a similar concentric knot of moun-
tain crests, rivers, and pares. But here the mountain crest, having curved
outwaid to accompli.>h the separation of the Platte and Arkansas, con-
denses into the snowy promontory of Pike's Peak, and terminates in an
abrupt precipice to the Great Plains.

At both of these remarkable focal points, nature seems to have insti-
tuted a primeval conflict between the abrading power of the rivers and
the stubborn resistance of the porphyritic durability of the mountain
barrier. At the northern focus, the triumph of the rivers presents a com-
plete harmony of the pas.ses, which enter at all points upon the plain
of the South Pass, and connect across it. At the southern focus, the
unscathed impenetrability of the mountain porphyry presents on every
front its mural precipice of undiminished altitude ; here, then, the aus-
tere rigidity of the mountain mass triumphs and admits no transit direct
through.

To complete the perfect counterpart resemblance between these foci,
opens from the western flank of the mother crest, the Bayou San Luis,
which is the seventh pare.

This is, in physical formation and in every detail, the exact twin
counterpart of the pare of the " Plain of the South Pass.' The Sierra
Mimbres bounds its western edge, along whose base flows the Ilio Bravo
del Norte.

Elliptical in shape, level as the sea, equal to the third pare in area,
encoinpas.sed by the sublimest scenery, abundantly irrigated by streams,
6500 feet in altitude, it has an alluvial soil of luxuriant fertility, and
seasons eminently propitious to agriculture. It is in this delicious " Bai/
of the Sirrrns' that the current flow of time will find renewed, identified,
and developec' all the charms with which Oriental narrative and .song
have invested the lovely Valley of Kashmere !

The Spanish Peaks outflank the mountain crest under the 158th degree of
latitude. From hence to the 2'Jth degree it .sheds the waters of the Rio
Bravo del Norte from its western flank ; from the eastern flank descend the
Arkansas and the Red River, flowing to the Mississippi, and the rivers of
Texas, flowing directly to the Gulf.

The whole front is masked towards the east with a screen of secondary
7H(',sv(s (tables) termed distinctively Unnos. These are immense triangular
terraces, of half the altitude of the Sierra, resting against its flank, pro-

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

truditi}^ uutward many hundred miles, gradually dwarfing in breadth until
they terminate in an acute angle.

They have an uninterrupted level surface of calcareous soil, a scanty
herbage, and rainless atmosphere, an imperceptible dip towards their ter-
minations, where they present an abrupt wall of many thousand leet in
altitude, suspended above the Great Plains.

All al(jng these mural flanks come out innumerable streams, which go
to form the Arkansas, the Red Kivcr, and all tiic rivers which traverse
Texa.«. Thus is explained the coui'usion which perplexes the public mind,
struggling to arrange the physictd configuration of this immense region,
as yet only partially explored.

To the Mexican people who inhabit the higher mountain region, this is
known as the lower plain ; by the people of the maritime region, who see
from below its ragged front, it is designated as the Guadaloupe .Moun-
tains, and by other names.

But this system of llanos, seen most distinctly in Texas as the LImio
Eatiicudo and the Lhtno of the liaki/ata, has an extent and magnitude
on a scale commensurate with all the other distinctive formations. It is
the coiitinu(jus screen or Piedmont which graduates the immen.se declina-
tion in altitude from the summit crest of the Cordillera to the smooth
expanse of the Great Plains. It ajipears from above as a depressed mesa ;
from below as a series of ragged mountain chains. Geologically it is, as
it were, a continental terrace or steppe, or bench of the sulphate of lime
(plaster of Paris), elevated iibove the Great Plains, which are carbonate
of lime ; deprc.s.sed below the Curdllkra, which is porphyritic granite.

I may with propriety pause here to speak of the Basin of the Kansas,
both on account of the fitness of the opportunity, and because this delicious
country, surrounding the very navel of our continent and embracing its
geographical centre, has from that fact a perpetual and paramount interest.

The Kansas River has its extreme sources beneath the roots of Pike's
Peak, where they have ceased to interrupt the plains. The Platte and
Arkansas envelop it; and form a line of drainage between it and the Cor-
dillera. But in front of the Kansas Basin the screen of the Piedmont is
interrupted and disappears, so that the Great Plains stretch up to the base
of the naked Cordillera, which reveals at one sight the towering masses
of Pike's and Longs Peaks, and the curtain of snowy mountains which
connects them.

A similar coup-iToeil is seen, as presents itself to an Italian standing
upon the Po above Milan, whose eye sweeps the Plain of Lombardy, and
ascends to the snowy summits of the highest Alps, without any interven-
ing objects to interrupt the vision. A similar resemblance to the Alpine

THE CORDILLERA OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

formation which characterizes the parti.'.lly-explored masses immediately to
the west, has acquired for them the local name of " TIelvetiaii Mountains."

From these two peaks, — Loiijr's Peak to the nortli. and Tike's Peak to
the south, — as from twin radiating points, the riedniont expands from the
eastern flank of the Cordillera, like a half-ojien fan. Towards the north
are the Medieine-Pow 3Iountain and the Laramie Plain ; towards the south,
the U.itono Mountain, the Llano Balsiffeta. and the Llano Estaeado.

Such is an effurt to delineate and ela.ssify the ]>roniinent physieid features
of the Miilhir (^>r(/iflrrn of our country; the .serrated axis which forms
its core; the system of pares; the system of river.s and mountain spurs;
the jieaks and mc.sas ; the system of llanos. Its m.'iterial mass is primeval
granite. Volcanoes, active or extinct, craters and their i,<iiieousdi.schar<;es,
are not found. (The.sc exist upon the Pldtcnn and in the Andcn beyond.)

This Cordlllfra is auriferous throughout. It contains all forms of
minerals, metals, 'H.;nes, ,«alts, and earths ; in short, every useful .'^hape in
which matter is elsewhere found to arrange itself, and in all the geological
gradations.

The prominent agricultural feature of the Cordillera is fertility — pastoral
fertility. Stupendous peaks and battlements exist, extreme in bald and
sterile nakedness ; plains there are blasted with perpetual aridity and con-
gealed by perjjctual frosts.

The space thus occupied is small ; indigenous gra.sses, fruits, !'nd vege-
tables abound ; it swarms with animal life and aboriginal cattle ; food of
grazing and carnivorous animals, fowls and fi.sh, is everywhere found ; the
forests and flora arc superlative ; the immense dimensions of nature render
accessibility universal. An atmosphere of intense brilliancy and tonic
tout! overflows and embalms all nature; health and longevity are the lot
of man.

It is necessary to be condensed and brief. A million of interesting
facts are left unraentioned. Then the Cordillera of the Sierra Madre is
but a third part in area of our " moiiufain formafion." If the inquiring
spirit and jiatriarchal fire of Jeff'erson and of Astor .still burn in the jiop-
ular lu'art, the continental mission of 1770 will revive and reanimate our
generation. Counterfeit geography, promulgated with official dogmatism,
will cease to be fashionable, or to defeat the divine instinct of the people.
Patriotism, pioneered by truth and genuine science, will reveal and com-
prehend our fOH^('«^)j^r? geography as if is. huge in dimensions, sublime in
order and .symmetry, a unity in plan. Our political and social enqiire,
expanded to the same dimensions, harmonized to the same checkered
variety, will assume a similar order, a like ,«ymmetry, and crown hope with
a similar solid and enduring perpetuity.

CHAPTER III.

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMEUICA.

It is now twenty-sevon years, nearly a full generation, since I suliniitted
to the scrutiny of science and the public "^t Ilyilrographlc Map of
Xoiih America,'' exhibiting in daguerreotype the cardinal physical archi-
tecture of our continent. Upon this is exactly defined the Moinifuin
Formation, inclosing the Plateau of the TaJ)le Lands. This subdivision
of our country, amounting to one-third of the whole area, conies now in
the bounding march of empire, to have a necessary, an intense, a pre-emi-
nent interest to our people.

Undoubtedly the scheme of Independence, inaugurated in 177t), sus-
tained through the fortitude of the Revolution, and consummated in the
Union of 1787, contemplated and conimeiieed a Continental Republic!
In the ripening of time, we are now called upon to receive into this con-
tinental Union the indc.-pcndcnt ai.d equal States of the Plateau, and to
construct across it a complete system of co)itinental railwai/.

How it is that immense facts, dormant since creation, and noticed only
to be unanimously rejected by human society, flash suddenly out of mid-
night obscurity, and by a single step plant themselves upon the very
throne itself of public attention, may be thus illustrated : Columbus,
intent upon discovering a direct route by sea to Oriental Asia, died with-
out any thought of the new continent, or knowledge that he had seen It.
Amerigo Vespucci, a younger navigator, identified the new continent,
established its existence in the popular mind, and gave to it his own name,
America.

Thus, in 18-42, commenced to agitate itself throughout America, the
energetic geographical movement, to reorganize the column of central pro-
gress artificially stagnated in Missouri since 1820.

Exploration, conquest, the conversion of the wilderness, have since
advanced with intense celerity.

As is the case with all normal instincts: war, peace, domestic and
foreign schemes of opposition, have each contributed to precipitate its
advance and fire its activity.

The American people are, then, now advancing, victoriously to plant
34

MERICA.

nenitioii, since I submitted
A Ilydrngraphic Mop of
lie eanlinal jiliyf^ieiil iirclii-
tly defined tlic Moinifnin
Lands. This subdivisiuu
whole area, comes now in
sary, an intense, a pre-emi-

inaugurated in 1770), sus-
1, and consummated in the
I a Continental Republic!
jn to receive into this con-
ites of the Plateau, and to
ental raihcay.
B creation, and noticed only
flash suddenly out of mid-
themselvcs upon the very
ms illustrated : Columbus,
Oriental Asia, died with-
(vledge that he had seen it.
intified the new continent,
nd gave to it his own name.

f throughout America, the

3 the column of central pro-

?20.

the wilderness, have since

war, peace, domestic and
ntributed to precipitate its

ncing, victoriously to plant

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Here is

inspired civ|

systems of

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Porpetuate el

the earth anl

THE i'i..\TF..\r OF yoirrif amkukw.

ili'tnocrntlc einjiirc co-ctiual with tho area of tlu> CDntiiiciit. Tl..- utiiihI
iKiVflty wliii'li rises in t'nmt. is tlic /'/ufimi nf flir Tulilr Luiulx. Tliis
I'latiMU, iiiL'losi'd widiiii tlu- ('unlilli'ras nf tlio Muiiiitaiii Foniiatinii, pns-
HosHtw eliaraftcristics now to niankiiid, and about to arre;*t the attention and
sway the mental enerjiieH of Anieriea.

Ill tli(! first jilacc, it is necessary, l>y reference and coniiiarison, to ideji-
tity tiiis Pliilidii ; to discover wnat and whiTC it is; and tlience to tro un
and demonstrate its area, its climate, itH capacity, and its ^'eofrrajihical
jiower in the world.

Asia contains two jilateaux ; Smith America, one; Noiih A»nerica. one.
Europe and Africa have jixeat mountain chains, ])ut no jilateau.

Tiie immense I'lnfpnii of Asni oecupies the central rejrion of that con-
tinent, cxtendin}; ea.st and west from the I'ontic Sea to Middle Chiiin. It
is iiurloscd hetween the Himalaya IMountains and those of Siheria, em-
hracinii the uiiper and lower jilains of Thihet anil the prcat lakes, the
Casjiian Sea, the Sea of Aral, and the IJalkash Sea, witli the rivers that
flow iiito them.

This !j;rcat space is fenced im])erviously from the oceans by a circuit of
]irimi'val mountains: it extends cast and west 4S(I() miles, between the
latitudes ;{5° and r)0°. Its average breadth, north and south, is 1200
miles.

Such is the immense cimtinental plateau of Asia, of which our knowl-
edge is imperfect, as to its po]iulation and the grade of civilization they
fill. We know that from jirimcval time, periodical swarms of conquering
barbarians have descended down its flanks and delngcd all the continents
to the seas, convulsing cmjiires and disjilacing all organized societies.
These convidsions have extended to the extremities of China, of India,
of Kurope, and into Africa.

Such is a short and significant memorandum of this plateau, remarkable
for the high antiquity, the numbers, and the uniform barbarism of its
populations. It is entirely north of tlu' isothermal temperate zone.

The Phifcait of Syria occupies the .space between the Vcrsian and Keil
Seas : the Dead Sea is within it and the peninsula of Araliia : it has no
large rivers, but is flanked by the Euphrates, the Nile, and the Mediter-
ranean. It lies across the Isothermal temperate zone from edge to edge.

Here is the original birthplace and cradle of human history ami
inspired civilization. Down its flanks have descended all the ethereal
systems of the world, which enter the heart of men and inspire true
religion, true knowledge, political liberty, and which erect, enlarge, and
perjietuate civilized .society. Hence have gone forth to the extremities of
the earth and to the human i-ace throughout all time, the genuine oracles

Tin: PLATEAU OF XOllTIf AMKIUCA.

(){' < 111(1 ri'vcaliiif: rclipmi and lihcrty. to acliiovo tho eonqufst uf iJolatry
anil Ijaiharism, and disjilace tlu'ni from tlie luiman heart.

IJcncath tho e((iiator, upon the summit of the Peruvian mountains, is
the I'/iifidii (if thr Aii(ff- ilcrc was tlic delicate empire and system of
the Incas, wlneh w'''.iered before I'izarro and tlie Spaniards as a vine
before the tropical siroc. It contains ilie Laki, of Titicaca, ami is witliout
larjre rivers. Of excessive elevation and aridity, small in area, arduous
of access, and approachable only thnui^h torrid lieats which .surround its
base and flanks, this Plateau is entirely vithoiif the belt of the isothermal
temjierate zone.

Such are the three other I*lateaux. We now approach the fourth — our
own — the P/oterin of Xorth America.

I have heretofore written of this Plateau : " I speak witli preat diffi-
dence : but of all the departments into which science has arranged the
physical geography of the globe, this appears to me the most interesting,
the most crowded with various and attractive features, and the most cer-
taiidy destined eventually 'o contain the most powerful and enlightened
empire of the world.

•' ^\t present it is no more known or comprehended, ns it is, by the Ameri-
can peojile, than was America it.self by the poet ITomcr. It is to them
as much a myth as was then the continent of Atalanta. Nevertheless, it
is of such great area as to contain within itself three great rivers which
rank with the Nile, the (Janges, and the Danube in length, and five great
ranges of primary mountains."

The A ndes. where it issues from the Isthmus of Tehuantepee, divides
into tlie two Cordilleras of the north. The one pursues the shores of the
Mexican Gulf; the other, the .shores of the Pacific Ocean. The Cordil-
leras, .ontinuing to open from one another, run, with gre^it uniformity of
I'v.!!: :!n;l altitude, through to the Polar Sea. At the 48d degree of lati-
tnile they are 1 400 miles a.«under, which is here the breadth of the Plateau.

'i'he riiafirii CanUVcra is the Sierra JIadre (the ^lother Mountain);
the in.tfmi CordilJvra is the Sierra Nevada de los Andes (the Snowy
Andes \

T' i ;. ili(>n. the whole immense area encased within the Cordilleras from
Tehuaritepee to tlie Polar Sea, is the I'lateau of Nfirth America ! The
Cordiiloras have a general altitude of 12,000 feet ; the Plateau, of (JOOO.
The I'la'oau is 4000 miles in lengili. having its direction from .southeast
to nortliN^e.st ; its superficial area is 2,000.000 sfpuire miles. The portion
within our territories is one-third of the whole country.

Such. then, are the geographical position, the t.rea, and the altitude of
the I'/dtuni. Its lo)iffitv(h'nnl position is remarkable, having its extremi-

THE PLATEAU OF XOHTJf AMERICA.

y^^{ of idolatry

n mountains, is
ami system of
liarils as a vine
, aii'l is without
in area, arduous
Icii surround its
1" the isotlicrmal

the fourth— our

with ?rrcat difli-
has arranged the
most interesting,
ind the most cer-
and enlightened

t ,\ by the Ameri-
cr. It is to them
Nevertheless, it
rreat rivers whith
gth, and five great

huantepec, divides
the shores of the
can. The Covdil-
re-it uniformity of
43(1 degree of lati-

idth of the Plateau.

Mother Mountain);
\ndes (the Snowy

,c Cordilleras from
th America! The
, Plateau, of (3000.
tion from southeast
miles. The portion

•y.

•in<l the altitude of
having its extremi-

ties within the equatorial and the polar zones ; but its groate.st breadth
and area is across tlui Isothermal tempei'atc zone. Its whole western front
is closely flanked by the Paeifio Ocean; its ca.stern front by the (iiilf of
Mexico and the Calcareous Plain. It erects it.self continuously along
between these, and either connects them together or separates them
asunder.

The I'latiMu has a general configuration, simple as a unit in the physi-
cal geography of the globe ; the details are infinite and eomplicated, all
marked by a grandeur in harmony with its va.stue.ss. In the elements
which attract and perpetuate the social bust of civilized men. no other
region can assert or hold communion with it. It denominates as a stand-
ard, which can have no ecpial.

It is subdivided into seven great basins, which succeed one another in
order from the south towards the north. The basin of the city of Mexico
is x\\ii first and niosi ...lown. A central lake collects the waters of the
basin, which has no drainage to the sea.

The secuiiif liMsin is the Bolson de Mapinii. The Laguna d(! Majiimi
collects its waters, and is also unconnecti'd with the sea. Thesi! basins
are divided asunder by the Sierra of Queretaro, which connects the Cor-
dilleras acro.ss.

The flihd is the basin of the Rio Bravo del Norte, which is divided
from the second by the tran.sver.^e mountain chain of the Ilio Florida.
Tills innn(Uise basin is drained by the rivers ])A X(jrte, Pecos, and Conchos,
which, uniting against the Sierra 3Iadre, gorge it by a canon and form
below the Rio Grande of the Mexican Gulf

The_/o(';'^/( is the basin of the Colorado. The great Sierra Mimbres
divides these two basins asunder after the manner of a backbone, from
which their waters dt-scend down the reverse slopes. They are longitu-
dinal, ])arallel, and overlap one another. Distinguished by stupenilous vol-
canic phenomena, they ])re-eminently constitute the inrtolJifrroiii^ rf't/inii
of the world. The cijnfluent rivers of this basin, where they unite to form
the Colorado, gorge the Andes by the wonderful canon of that name, and
debouch into the California Gulf.

Tile ///!'/' is the basin of the Salt Lake, divided from the itist by the
great Sierra Wasatch. Within the vast circuit of its mountain rims are
contained many stagnant lakes receiving rivers of fresh water. This basin
hius no outlet to the sea.

The si.rfh is the Itasin of the Columbia. The transverse chain of the
Snake River Mountai'.is parts these two last busins. Here is .seen a n;.»st
wonderful display of natural phenomena. Tiie Snake and Columijia Rivera,
coming from opposite directions and penetrating immense mountains, unite

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMEfllCA.

together, gorge the Audos at the C'liseades, and debjuch into the North
Pacific lUeean.

Th<! HiiTiifh is the basin (jf Frazcr River. The 01ynij)ian chain divides
it from the Cohinibia. From henco the Phitear. continues its direction
through a region as yet but little known, and opens out upon the I'olar
Sea.

If a thread be drawn longitudinally through the Plateau, e(|uidistant
from the Cordilleras, it will bisect a line oi' sedimentary lakes resting as
in the bottom of a trough. These are the Lake of jMexico, the Laguna,
Gusman's Lake, the Great Salt Lake, the Pend-oreilles and Okanagan
lakes. These waters have an average elevation of (JU(((( feet above the
sea. The whole bulk of the Plateau has then the altitude of a primary
mountaiii.

If the stupendous features of nature are allowed their solenniity of
impression, atid the ni.ijestie length and bulk of the {\)rdillera! be
admitted, we may now understand what is the immense subdivision of our
iiintinent enca,«ed within then. We may receive and handle it as a unit,
assign to it a name, '• The Plateau," and identify its extent, its distinct-
ive profile and position.

The climate of the Plateau is local and pectdiar, but very uniform. The
Cordilleras, by their altitude and remoteness from the sea. exclude the
ocean vajiors fmin the Plateau. A rainless atmosphere, ])erpetually dry,
tonic, and transparent, is the normal condition throughout the year. Alti-
tude and aridity united, teni])er the heat towards the e(|uatorial zont ; the
same causes temper the cold towards the polar zoiic. The extiemes of
tenij)erature for the day and for the night arc great ; lor the .seasotis of
the year, scarcely ])erceptible. In one word, the tempeniiure is uniforndy
vtriial. Thus the genial and propitious climate of the isothermal tem-
penite zone extends up and down the sunnnit of the Plateau, and is felt
to both extremities!

The soils of the Plateau are of the highest order of fertility, alike upon
the mountains, the valleys, and the mesas or extensive i)lains. The dry
anil serene atmosjihere converts the gras.ses into hay, and, preserving them
without decay, perpetuates the food of grazing animals around he year.
This gives to pasforai agriculture an infinite capacity for production and
superlative excellence. Meat food, leather, wool, fowls, fi.sh, and dairy
food are of spontaneous ])roduction.

The soils, accuniulat<:d from the attrition and decay of lava and of
carboniferous and sidphurous limestones, possess an exuberant fertility.
Spots of arid sands are K'W and insignificant ; such as exist are from the
uuril'erous granite, and contain jilacfv- «ii' gold. Thes^e soils, then, com-

TnE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMERICA.

into the North

lie of a primary

posed of the essential elements of fertility and production, and warmed
by an uiuluuded sun, need only irrigation to ferment their activity. For
this, nature has i)rovided in the configuration of the surface and the infinite
abunchince of snowy mountains, of streams and of rivers descending from
their glaciers or bursting from their flanks.

The descent from the longitudinal crests of the mountain ranges to the
lowe.st levels, is everyAvhere by terraces or steppes arranged agiiin.st the
mouutain mass. Across these are channeled the gorges of the descend-
ing waters, coming from the gradually melting snows above. To guide
these waters out upon these terraces and distribute them over the surface,
involves neither excessive labor nor intelligence. It is understood and
practiced by the aboriginal people.

The laborious systems of culture to provoke germination, the uncertain
yield common to our people of the maritime region of timber and uncer-
tain seasons, are here unknown and unnecessary.

A perpetual sun and systematic irrigation (im in Egj-pt) dispense with
laborious manual tillage ; the use of the plow is not indispensable : the
waters for irrigation descend Irom a higher level and are constant. The
laborious extenuination of the primeval forest ; fuel and refuge from the
inclement seasons of heat and cold ; periodical and uncertain inflictions of
drought and saturatii)n ; dependence upon an atmosphere ever changing
and forever fickle and treacherous ; none of these vicissitudes are seen or
known upon the Plateau.

The adobe brick, of unburned clay, constructs fences and houses, iidiabited
more for domestic .-leelusion and convenience than from necessity.

Upon the high mountain flanks, within the influence of constant spovt,
exist abundant forests with the rank summer grasses and vegetation ; the
proportion of these is ample and harmoniously distributed. The Plateau
presents itself, therefore, prepared and ecpiipped by nature in all depart-
ments at eviry ])oint, and throughout its whole lengtli, for the immediate
entrance and occupation of organized society, and the densest population.
Of this we hav,' an absolute illustration.

It is where, upon the terraces surrounding the Oreat Salt Lake, three dec-
ades of years have de^'eloped in the wilderness a powerful people, possessing
in practice all the elements of mature and sta'ile society ; moreover, in the
ease with which a numerous army has transported and sustiiined itself,
without disaster or calamity, at the same remote destination.

Accessibility on to the Platiau is wonderfully facile and unobstnicted
over a tranquil ocean on the one hand, by the Great Plains on the other.

Amidst the checkered variety which distinguishes the surface of the
Plateau, the most systematic order is discernible. The tran-sverse moun-

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMERICA.

tain chains are parallol to one another. They, as well as the great rivera,
have tlieir eourses due north and south, and are longitudinal in direction.

The only excej)tion is Snake Kiver, and the Snake Kiver chain of
mountains. They exhibit a stupendous display of volcanic convulsions,
extending over the basin of the Salt Lake. This is such as to excite the
conviction that in primeval times the Blue Mountains of Oregon were
unperforated, and between them and the Sierra Wasatch flowed a great
river, discharging into the maritime basin of C^difornia.

If this were so, the harmonious contiguration of the Plateau, from end
to end, would be undeviating.

The great mountain chains, six, in number, enumerated as the Sierra of
Queretaro, of the Kio Florida, the Sierra Mimbres, the Sierra AVasatch,
the Snake Eiver Mountains, and the 01yn\jiian chain, all I'orm continuous
divides across from one Cordillera to the other. They are unperibrated
by any running waters, and block ofl" the area of the Plateau into the
seven isolated basins above named.

Other mountain masses, branching from these sienus, protrude far out
into the basins, are caj)ped with snow, and rival them in bulk and altitude.
Such are the Sierra La Plata, the Humboldt Mountains, a!id tlie Blue
Mountains of Oregon. Spurs and minor mountain chains appear every-
where.

The central regions of the basins are occupied by great plains, surround-
ing the sedlnicntavy lakes, or forming the inmiense troughs of the rivers;
\\c purcH are amphitheatres secluded within the sierras, around the sources
of the great rivers. The most remarkable are the Pare of San Luis, the
Middle Pare, the South Pass, and the Lava Plain of Snake lliver.

Elsewhere the great rivers assault the flanks of the sierras and gorge
them athwart, traversing them by profound chasms, and foam for liun-
dreds of miles between jjcrpendicular walls of rock. Such caiions are
seen upon the llio del Norte, the Colorado, the Snake Kiver, and the
Columbia, especially where they gorge the CordiHeras to reach the seas.

Such is the infinite assemblage of mountains, plains, great rivers, in
every variety and nuignitude, that unite themselves to form the immense
area of the Plateau of America !

The features of its geology arc equally various, vast, and wonderful ;
both mountains and plains promiscuously ajipcar, of carboniferous and
sulphurous limestones, lava, porphyritic granite, columnar basalt, obsidian,
sandstone, accompanied by their appropriate contents of precious and
base metals, jirecious stones, coal, marbles, earth, thermal and medicinal
streams and fountains ; and all of these adorned by scenery forever vary-
ing, fascinating, and sublime.

THE PLATEAU OF XOUTH AMERICA.

For agriculture, both jiiistoral and araljlo, no n'i:ion of tlie world is
niort' iiroj)iti()us, not even the Basin of the Mi.ssi.ssii)i)i, whiuli is by its
side. One remarkable charactcvistie pervades idl the rivers: their waters
are supplied (as are tliose of the Nile) from the high mountains whence
they descend. Such rivulets as abound in maritime countries are not
known, but subterranean streams burst forth and again disajjpear. This
systematic feature at once demonstrates the porous nature of the soils and
the fertilizing character of the waters.

To revert again to the characteristic climate of the Plateau. It is con-
tinental as contrasted with the nmvithiie climate's of regions open to the
iufluenc's of the oceans and overflowed by their clouds and vapors.

The Plateau is secluded from the presence of these clouds and vapors
by the uninterrupted envelope of the CV)rdilleras, surmounting the line of
pcriictual snow. These clouds and vajiors lodge themselves upon the sum-
mits of the Cordilleras, and of such of the Sierras as have suflQcient alti-
tude. From these the rivers are fed and descend to traverse the lower
altitudes, and upon their summit are observable the atmospheric changes
of maritime countries.

Out upon the Plateau these changes do not reach. Here tlie constant
alternations arising from rain-clouds are not felt. The atmosphere has a
perpetual vernal temperature, unvarying, rainless, transparent, splendid,
and serene.

It is along the axis of the isotherinal temperate zone of the northern
hemisphere that revealed civilization makes the circuit of the globe.
Here, the continents expand ; the oceans contract ; this zone contains the
zodiac of empires : along its axis, at distances scarcely varying from one
hundred leagues, appear the great cities of the world, from Pekin, in
China, to St. Louis, in America.

During antiquity this zodiac was narrow ; it never expanded beyond
the North African shore, nor beyond the Pontic Sea, the Danube, and
the llhine. Along this narrow belt, civilization planted its system from
Oriental Asia to the western extremity of Europe, with a more or less
pel feet development. 3Iodern times have recently seen it widen, to embrace,
with an imperfect fire, the region of the Baltic Sea.

In America, it st:irts with the broad front from Cuba to Hudson's
Bay. As in all previous time, it advances along a line central between
these extremes, in the densest form and with the greatest celerity. Here
lire tlie chief cities of intelligcTicc and power, and the greatest intensity
of energy and of progre.«s.

In 1S20, this middle column of the centre had reached tiic western
frontier of Missouri, and ojiened trails along to the Pacific Sea; the

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMERICA.

flanks were then behind, in New York, Lower Canada, and in Gcnrpia.
In the uverwhohninj: revulsion of all previous political jtreeedcnts, which
pervaded our Federal councils I'roni 181(i to 182S, atitniJ ]>rojiress was
forcibly interdicted. Abruptly stopped by an Indian barrier and Draconic
code, and forced to recoil for forty years, the flanks have come up to an
even front upon the rijjrht and upon the left.

Science has recently very ])erfectly established, by observation, this axh
of the isothermal temperate zone. It reveals to the world this .>^hining
fact, that alonjr it civilization has traveled, as by an inevitable instinct of
nature, since creation's dawn. Finm this line has radiated intellijience of
mind to the north and to the ■<oTith. and tmairds it all people have strug-
gled to converge. Thus, in harmony with the supreme order of nature,
is the mind of man instinctively adjusted to the revolutions of the sun
and tempered by his heat.

Behold, then, in the geographical position and features of the J'fufcnu
of America, a crowning mercy and a miraculous liglit disjtiayed by God
in our front, to illuminate for us the safe line of march and the whole area
of expanding empire !

The central column of progress has already ascended on to the Plateau by
the entrance of the South Pa.ss, and established itself on the fertile terraces
that surround the Great Salt LaVe ; it is established in New ]Mexico, upon
the Upper Del Norte ; it prepares to enter by tli. passes of Pike's Peak
and the Arkaasjia into the delicious pares that surround the gold region
of the San Juan ; it is upon the Columbia and Frazer Rivers ; it has al,«o
passed over the Cordillera of the Andes, and it presents itself fronting to
the east and entering from California.

Such is the Pluteau q/*^l?H^r/r<;, transcendent in jiosition, immense in
area, superlative in climate, fertility, and variety of configuration.

Here are blended all the elements which distinguish the other plateaux
of the world. Its longitudinal form ; the rainless character and ])ereiinial
brilliancy of atmosphere ; its perpetual vernal temperature ; its alternate
basins, ])arcs, and snowy sierras ; its great rivers ; its indefinite and pro-
pitious capacity to produce and to sustain population ; its gold, metals,
and gems ; finally, its dimiinant position, beetling over the Asiatic ocean
on the one hand, over the Calcareous Plains on the other hand, continu-
ously from the Polar Sea to the equatorial belt. These all arise succes-
sively and together to announce to the American people their accession to
the most attractive, the most wonderful, and the mo.st powerful de]iartment
of their continent, of their country, and of the whole area of the globe.

But the Plateau has the prestige of antitpiity to commend it to favor.
It was liere that Cortez and the conquerors found the gorgeous empire of

THE PLATEAU OF NORTH AMERICA.

tlie jMuntczuHiiis ! a polished people, highly cultivated, numbering many
niilliiinM, and martyrs to their lieroic devotion to the arts of peace ! The
.siuie marked characteristics still show themselves undiminished in the
existing aboriginal people, thinly scattered to the extreme north ; curious,
intelligent, and credulous, heroic and timid, vibrating quickly from super-
stitious veneratio:> to despair.

They invite and receive the white man as a new divinity, and then
recoil, to shun him with hate implacable till death.

This is my understanding of the Plateau of America, condensed to a
general but a compact view. At my first entrance upon it in 1843, my
impressions were far otherwise. Everywhere appeared novel phenomena ;
nature wore an impenetrable complexity of features alternately fantastic,
sublime, bizarre, and incomprehensible.

Time, reiterated exploration, study, and meditation, have revealed it to
me as it is, — in architecture transcendent, in an:itoiny symmetrical and con-
sistent in every detail. It is necessary to ponder long before we may pene-
trate the deep designs of Providence, or be permitted to comprehend the
austere and perfect order with which natuvc is everywhere replete.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SIERRA SAN JUAN.

To command the gold and silver production of the world, and combine
this with an intelligent policy, is to rule the world. The present ability
of the American people to do this, will become manifest so soon as the
geography of the North American continent shall become correctly under-
stood by tliem, ar.d its economical development made a systematic policy.
A few standard facts in physical geography and geology being currently
grafted in to guide the popular mind, the ease with which the people of
America will rise to the pinnacle of power and empire, and the necessity
inc'imbent upon them to do so, become both simple and luminous of
comprehension.

I have in a former chapter defined to itself the " Great Plateau of the
Table Lands," and enumerated the primary mountain chains, the rivers,
and the elevated basins (seven in number) which checker its immense area.
This whole aroa, together with the great flanking Cordilleras, is of the
primeval, auiiferous formation. Although immense sa-idstone and cal-
careous formations are frequent, and elsewhere igneous rocks have over-
flowed thousands of square miles, these overlay a luiiform pediment of
porphyritic granite, as uniformly yielding gold.

The primeval gold-bearing formation, therefore, very equally divides the
area of the continent, half and half, with the calcareous formation, which
latter abounds with the base metals. Thus, within the present tfritorics
of the American people, the precious stones and precious metals, pla.inum,
gold, silver, quicksilver, exist in tl:e im yet partially deveit (i^l aalf, with
the same abundance and universality ofdistrilution as do tl . ^'ate metals,
minend fuel, and calcareous rocks, within the States.

Investigation within " the great calcareous plain" has so far progressed,
that we trace along its diagontd axis a metallif 'lous band traversing con-
tinuously from the neighborlniod of Mior, en the Kio Bravo del Norte, to
the junction of Coppermine IJivcr with the Arctic Sea.

This band, reseuibliiig a .-word-belt suspended from the shoulder and
knotted upon the hip, faver.^cs Texas in a direction ni'rth-nortlicast ;
crosses Arkansas .-'.ud iSuuthcrn MiH:«ouri diagonally ; Noitliern Illinois,
44

THE SIERRA SAX JUAN.

rid, and combine
le present ability
3t so soon tis the
> correctly under-
jystenuitic policy.
^ being currently
ich tb.e people of
and the necessity
and luminous of

at Plateau of the
ha ins, the rivers,
it^ immense area,
ddleras, is of the
idstone and cal-
rocks have over-
inn pediment of

quilly divides the
formaUon, which

present tcritories
melals, plaanum,

,xu [" 'I half, with

lo tl : 'xii-e metals,

;o far progressed,

id traversing con-

avo del Norte, to

the shoulder and

1 iKirth-iiortheiuit ;
Xdrtlieni lUiiiois,

Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and, brusliiiig the extreme shores of Lake
Superior and Hudson's Bay, sinks into the Arctic Sea near the Magnetic
Pole.

Everywhere within this band the calcareous rocks and soils are )iemie-
iiteJ with veins and native masses of the base metals, existing in a pleni-
tudi' and purity . ufficient to snjiply the world forever. AVhat is seen and
known upon the .'iiirface, indicates a sy.stcmatic order throughout in the
relative jto.sitions of the dift'crent metals and their accompanying rocks and
earths, as also in the localities where each exists in excess and may be
said to culminate.

Thus in the State of Misi^ouri iron appears protruding above the general
level, over an immense area, attracting extlu&ive attention and the appella-
tion of Iron Mountains, by reason of the immense formation of this metal,
which displays itself for many hundred sfjuarc miles above and below the
surface, la mass miu In ponltion. '"Jojiiier may likewise be said to cul.ni-
nate, where it displays itself around the extreme waters of the St. Law-
rence, in mam and in position. Thus likewise of lead, where it appears
in indefinite abundainte by itself, in Wisconsin, Misi^ouri, and Arkansas.

Tbe existence nf tiu- base nu'tals of native jmrity in ?«a.s.< mid in pnsifion,
on an imnu'n.^i! scale and within the calcareous fovnuition of the basins of
the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, is now become established. Tbe ques-
tion arises, tberi.forc, whether there exists within the primeval formation
any jarallel phenomenon, or any possibility of the existence, accessible to
hu Man research, of tiie precious stones, of gold, silver, and tlie kindred
j.rccious rif^tals, in mass and in position.

Tiie po.ssibility, and, even more, the prohability of .such a develojimcnt
resulting from persevering exploration among the sieiras of the Plateau
of the Table Lands, becomes distinct as their geological configuration is
' evealed,

We have seen, in a former chapter, that the Cordillera of the Sierra
Madre presents within our territory tW(.> ri'inarkable foca) culminations, —
the one grouped around the Wind River ^lountain, the other surrounding
Pike's Peak. These are about four hundred miles apart; th^y are con-
nected by the continuous chain of the Cordillera, as by a curtain.

Either one, contenijdated by itself, fills the same significant place upon
our contiuent, as does the Alpine gror;- surrounded by tin; kingdoms of
Europe, in the topography of that continent. A parallel altitude, grander
bulk, larger rivers, the sublimest scenery, a rainless atmosphere, and a
foundation of bro.'ub'r and more •iriHddini'iisions, distinguish our 'ontinent.

Tnd tlie gre:'.t phans in the iwighborhood of the 39th
degree of latitude, tbe snow-crested mu.-s of Pike's Peak, 15,000 feet in

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MARITIME SELVAGE.

II.

THE SIERIiA SAX JVAN.

altiludo, and seen at a (listaiiec of 10(» miles from its base, is a prominent
object. Tliis iKiik beetles over the jilains, jirotrutlinfiout as a promontory
froni (lie Ciinlillera. with whieh it in fiijrnif'ted by an elevateil ri(l^:e.

Krimi tlie nnrthirn flank nl' this ridjru det^cend the waters of tlie t^outh
I'latte. which, first forniinj: the Pun; of the liaynu Sntddo, flow out into
the plains to the northeast ; from the southern flank descends the Arkan-
sas, which defiles by a cailon and issues forth into the plains towards the
siiuthcast, The Cordillera, from whoso eastern flanks both of these rivers
descend, curving towards the east, divides asunder the waters of tlie two
great rivers, the Arkansas and the Kio Bravo del Norte. From the west-
ern bank (jf the Curdillera, opposite to Pike's Peak, j)rotrudcs similarly
aninimcn.se mountain iiru-nontory toward the .south ; this is the SlEKKA
San JlAN, the local name jjiven to the northern culmination of the Sierra
Minibres.

The Sierra Mimbres, departing from the Cordillera under the 39th
degree of latitude, traverses diagonally athwart the Taltle Lands, having a
due southern courae. It joins the western Cordillera in the Mexican State
of Durango, in latitude 23° 30'. Its course coincides with the 109th
meridian. It is 1200 miles in length. It is a continuous mountain mass,
dividing the Kio Bravo del Norte from the great Rio Colorado. The
immense basins of these rivers rest against it as a backbone.

The Sierra Mimbres is a mountain chain of the first order in length,
massiveness, and altitude. It is entirely within the area of the Platea uf
the Table Lands. It abounds in volcanic phenomena and pedrigals of
lava. Its eastern bank is scored by canons descending to the Del Norte ;
its western flank, by the affluents of the Colorado. The variety and gran-
deur of iN geological features and metalliferous qualities surpass all other
mountains. It produces the precious stones.

Within the States of Chihuahua and Durango its flanks are mined for
silver, and contain twenty-one known deposits of that metal, which for
three cetituriet; have supplied the silver and silver coin to the world. But
the labors of the Spaniards have not penetrated beyond the Gila River.
It is the poraon north of this river and within our territories which is
most interesting.

Throughout the whole system of the Andes, it is upon the plateaux
and high mountain flanks that mining is profitably pursued. Such is the
fact in Chili, Peru, Brazil, and Mexico. It is upon the Plateau of the
Table Lands within our territories that the metallic resources chiefly
abound.

The whole system, then, of primeval mountains, occupying the western
half of the New World, is uniformly auriferous. It is where the mountain

THE SIERRA SAX JVAS.

siuiiniit ftprendH out to cnibruce the jiro(lij.'iu\i» oxpnnso of the three con«
tiiruiius imtuiitaiii bawiiis of the Del Norte, C'dloriulo, and SaU Ijiike, that
till' iiitcriiiil Vdli-aiiie powers of the globe exhibit their effects upon the
iiKWt stupoiiilou.s scale,

Friiiii this pediment, haviiifr an altitude of 70()() feet, rise the two bisect-
ing: mountain chains of the plateau, the Sierra Mimbrcs and the Sierra
Wasatch, by which it is subdivided into these three specified elevated
liasins. This immense expanse of continent, presenting; a unilurm mass
of the elevated auriferous rocks, places the equally prand abumlance of
the precious metals beyond conjecture and above doubt.

Hut the Rio Colorado gathers into its one channel the larfre rivers
within its basin, namely, the Ilio Verde, the Rio Grande of the West, the
Eagle, Dolores, and San Juan Rivers. It launches its whole force against
the interior flank of the western Cordillera, perforates this Cordillera by a
ciinon, tunnelled diagonally for 557 miles through the very roots of tho
mountain mass, and reaches the ocean at the head of the Gulf of California.

It is this solitary fact in physical geograpliy, new to human research, and
of transcendent interest, that here arrests and fixes the attention of every
mind. The dorsal mass of the Andes, thus perforated through from base
to base, and athwart its course, by a river of the first magnitude, is formed,
to its snowy summit, of the upheaved auriferous and igneous rocks f

Nowhere else throughout tho globe has nature waged so stern a conflict,
nor are similar phenomena elsewhere seen. Upon the other continents,
great rivers are seen descending from the flanks of primeval mountains,
and gorging their outflanking spurs ; here only is this universal law of
nature defied, and the arcana of the inn.'^r world revealed, surrounded by
details of the austerest sublimity.

Such is one of the stupendous novelties of our own mountain forma-
tion, which arrests tho attention and summons the enthusiasm of science
and the energetic ambition of our people. Nature here abounds in a
vast variety of formatioP3, '^ajh upon the same miraculous scale, and all
sublime.

Volcanoes, whose flames and eruptions appear to have ceased but yes-
terday; immense plains of aelem'te, fringed with fantastic mountains,
called cristones (pendent cockscombs) ; mesas, surmounted by prairie
plains of wonderful fertility ; vast regions of forest upon the irrigated
mountain flanks ; crests of perennial snows ; pares of secluded and
romantic beauty, having a perpetual verdure, and the temperature of per-
petual spring; canons, incagcd by perpendicular mountain walls of roseate
sandstone, wrought by corrosion into every form of sculpture ; mountains
permeated with broad veins of gold and silver ; others having emeralds

THE SI Ell HA S.\X J VAX.

and tho riibv ; f|uicksilvcr is known to giisli forth and deposit its globul(«
in t'lc r(uif:li meadows, ealled '■'• s'.cmirkas."

Tliennal streams of all varieties of sanatory waters burst, as subterra-
nean rivers, from Ixiicath the ovcrhanginfj: peaks and mcsfis ; niduntains
of porphjTV and of rock salt an numerous ; vast niouiitain ehains (tf car-
liniiifernus limestone, ehaniiiuir tbroufrh all variefi".. of the richest marbles ;
iron is I'ound in moimtain ma.sses ; copper is scarcely less abundant.

Petrifii-tions, obsidian, <-arnelians, agates, and chalcedony pave immen.9e
regions. Fuel of coal develops itself in beds of unrivalled extent, depth,
and conipactiiess ; caves sparkling with transparent frescoes of crystallized
selenite.

An abundant flora of the most delicate forms, colors, and fragrance ; a
perennial pasturage, overrunning the mountain flanks and sunnnits, on
whicli millions of aboriginal cattle subsi.st round the year, as tisb wilhin
the sea; a i'at fert.lity in the soil, at once uniform and universal; rivers,
streams, and fountains, absolutely inhnite in number and of miraculous
convenience and distribution.

Over all this nether world, so checkered with a gorgeous variety of
forms and jiroductions, both upon the surface and beneath, floats the aerial
atmosphere, shining with a perpettial .'ipicii lor unknown in regioIl^= of less
altitude and less remoteness from the sea. ])ry, tonic, and exhilarating
to the taste, infused with the direct solar warmtli, filtered through the
ether that surmounts the atmo.'siilierie vapors, the embalming atmosjibere
t'v t" :dl nature with a silvery splendor, constantly shining, and constantly
» ene.

The night.T have an opposite, jienetrating coolness when th" solar rays
are withdrawn and his direct beams are (juenched ; the canopy of resplen-
dent stars has a parallel sublimity with the day ; the transparency of the
utinosphereand its serenity are the same.

Klectrif storms, short in duration and at long intervals, periodically
renew the irrig.iting snows upon the niountains, refresh the air, temper its
dryness, and restore the rivers.

Why those busim and sierras of the Plateau should be especially metal-
liferous, becomes evident ])y reference to a few radical principles of geo-
logical research. If ((uicksilver. water, oil, and alcohol be poured into a
hollow pil!ar of gla.ss, these licpiids will subside, according to their specific
gravities, into iayei-s in the ..bove order. If gold, iron, wood, and feathers
be thrown in, ihey will similarly sink, the gold to the bottom, the iron to
the (|ui(ksilver. the wood to the water, the leathers to the oil.

If this eobinip becomes solid by congelation, the .same arrangement will
remain, the gold being sedimentary to all, the iron beneath the stratum

THE SIEIillA SAX JUA.X.

t its <ilobul(«

of frozen water, the wood beneath the oil. Everybody is familiar with
tlie manufacture of shot ; each globule of liquid lead precipitated through
the air is formed, by gravity, into a sphere.

The globe of the earth, 8000 miles in diameter, is similarly formed, the
congealing substances arranging them-selves, as the shells of an onion, from
the centre outward, according to their several specific gravities.

I have often boiled rice in an open camp-kettle, when traversing the
mountains and my daily march was done ; the rice finally subsides in
mass to the bottom, but the water remains of a milky whiteness. This
whiteness is caused by minute, buoyant particles of rice, of altered specific
gravity, suspended throughout the water ; congelation into ice fixes in
solid form both the mass beneath and the suspended particles.

This homespun illustration makes clear the cause of the diffusion of
grain-gold throughout the auriferous rocks. To be found in nuigx and in
position, it must be sought sedimentary, beneath these rocks. All that
we have as yet found is granular, in scales or minute lumps, set free froir.
the upper rocks by disintegration or corrosion, and descending the moun-
tain flanks with the sands abraded by the torrents.

But we have seen that the Cordilleras and the Sierras of the Plateau
are formed of the auriferous rocks broken from their horizontal beds and
the edges vertically upheaved some two or three miles in altitude ; more-
over, the Cordillera of the Andes is gorged athwart its roots by the cafion
of the Rio Colorado. Is it not, then, possible — even probable — that
sufficient exploration may here reveal to the miner the precious metals
in mass and in jyositiori ?

The scientific writers of our country adhere with unanimity to the dog-
matic location somewhere of ^^ a great North American desert.' Trav-
el lers, under their promptings, especially search for it. It has been located
sei-iatim in advance of the settlements, in Kentucky, in the Northwest,
ill ^Fi.ssouri, upon the Plains, in California. No explorer or witness who
hat failed to find a desert is allowed credence or fame.

Yet there is none, either in North or South America ; nor is the exist-
ence of one possible. On the contrary, the least fertile portion of our con-
tinent is the silicions maritime slope of the Atlantic States, whose climate
is .' iso the most inhospitable. Yet here is no desert, and none anywhere
else exists. This dogmatic mirnffe has lately receded from the basin of
the Salt Lake ; it is about to be expelled from its last resting-place, the
basin of the Colorado.

The anatomy of a dwarf or an infant is identical with the anatomy of a
giani. The details and relative proportions are the same. Habituated to
a common medium standard, it is the size which is marvellous to us.

rilF SIEIillA SAN JUAX.

Our senses are bewildered by tlie novelty ; our judf^inents wander — ^but
the object seen is a reality.

To antiquity — even to t'.e modern day of Columbus — the Atlantic
Ocean was a mysterious abyss, an impenetrable Tartarus. By degrees the
field of the eye expands, the mind dilates, fact by fact is .surmounted, as
an acclivity is made ea.sy by a stairway. The miraye is dissolved, the
higher standard is reached, grows familiar, is approved, and is firmly
embraced.

It is to European minds that we owe the as yet elementary sciences of
physical gcogra]>hy and geology. The founders of these sciences have
reared them by hiving the slowly-developed details of nature, collected by
exhausting patience within the small basins surrounding the cities of their
residences.

Thu within the small basins of the Thames, the Seine, the Arno ;
upon the flanks of the Alps, the Apennines ; in Calabria, and around
Fingals Cave, have heretofore been found the most popular illustrations
to nurse the infancy of these sciences.

More than si.xty yeare of intense meditation has inspired the cosmo-
politan genius of IIi'.AiiJOLDT to scan the terrestrial globe with an expanded
vision. He only has s])oken worthily of America to her own peojjle. In
him we recognize the intrepid pioneer who invites us to understand the
gigantic proportions of our own great country, its order, its s^ynimctry, and
itx grand simidicity of configuration.

As Columbus led forth navigation and commerce, from its lengthened
tutelage in the Mediterranean Sea, to expand itself over all the oceans and
to every continental and every island shore; so now, this venerable pioneer
of phj-sical science and the arts, marshals us on to penetrate the arcatin
of the land, to fit .society to the broad foundation of the continents, and
rear a comity ol" civilization coe([ual with the globe.

It is in Europe that CoLUMnus and IIu.mbo'.dt have had their nativity
and their residence. It is for America that t.i^y have lived ; to us they
belong ; apostolic citizens of our destiny !

The area of the department of the Platrnti of the Tahh Land, embracing
the three elevated basins of the Salt Ijake, the Colorado, and the Rio Bravo
del Norte, is ef|uivalent to France. Austria, Switzerland, and Cisalpine
Italy combined ; its rivers are equal to the Danube, Rhine. Rhono, and
Po : its metalliferous mountains are pre-eminent in bulk, number, and
granileur.

In rcadiiivss to receive and ability to sustain in perpetuity a dense
|io])ulation. it is more favored than Kurope. Fertility of soil of the high-
est order is the dominant and unil'orm characteristic of this immense

THE iilEUHA SAX JViN.

wander — ^but

region. The mouni-iins are rarely abrupt or rugged. Tliov are sur-
mounted by mesas, descending by giijantic terraces called tiwuMiK. The
densely crystalline primeval rock'* yield but slightly to atmospheric corro-
sion in the regnlarity of a continental climate and seclusion from the sea.
It is the decay of lava, selcnite, and carboniferou.xlinu stone ilmt forms the
soil.

The pastoral fertility is developed by nature, which sustain* its aborigi-
nal herds as fish in the rivers and in the sea. The arable fertility needs
the care of man, and awaits the economical development of artificial irri-
gation. For the reception of this system, the whole structure and contour
of the surface is fitted, and the natural waters abundant.

Reflection will recfdl to memory the magnificent empires of peopie.
possessing a highly-advanced, but imperfectly-organized, civilization,
found established along the .summit of this Plateau, con(|nered by Ct)RTEZ.
.•Vlvau.vdo, and 1'izarro. On the summit of the Southern Andes, in
Chili. Peru, and around Quito, on the Northern Andt's. in Central
America, and Mexico, dwelt twenty millions of popnlati,)n in the aggreg-ate.

Three centuries of subjugation have dwarfed this aboriginal people to
one-half of their original numbers, and radically altered their religion,
their lancruasje. and traditional manners. Tliev have touched the lowe.«'t
point of decadence, from which they will again slowly ascend.

This peojile had no fixed science in physics, religion, or politics, to prop
and protect their system from the shocks of time; no na'igation. no prin-
ciple of perpetuity. Tlu..«e have now come to them with the EiirojH'at!
column, bringing with it the ark of regeneration. The peciUiar agricul-
tural and social sy.stem of the Mexicans under the Montezunias, extended
up the basin of the Rio Bravo dci \ort«' to the ba.se of the Sierra San
Juan. Our people are marching to the same | oint fnnn an opposite diiec-
tion, bringing with them the social habits of the isothermal zone and a
maritime climate.

I have spoken of this remarkable focal culmination of f lie Eastern Cor-
dillera, fronnvhich two snowy promontories protrude, back to back ; Pikes
Peak to the northeast beetles over and subsides into the Plains; the
Sierra San Juan, to the south, beetles over the Plateau, and subsides into
the Sierra Mimbres.

Radiant mountains and streams diverge from this point in every direc-
tion, and form abundant pas.ses, direct and practicable, to and fro, betwet-n
the basin of the Missisisipjii and the Plateau. The three reniarkable purrs
— the Middle Pare, the Rayou Salado. and the Mayou San T.uis — all
approach close together the dividing crest of the Easti'rn Cordillera, over
whoso summit they imujedialely communicate.

THE SIERRA SA\ JVAS.

I know not hew adequaU;ly to delineate this knotted group of all the
colossal elements of nature. To subujit the unenibellislied facts is all that
is necessary, were this possible, where the elements in "ompact contiguity
are so many, so varied, and each of such colossal granuour. To exag-
gerate is far from my intention ; to enumerate the detiiiis t)f nature, as I
have seen them, with austere simplicity, is my aim.

Heboid, then, to the right, the Mississippi Basin; to the left, the Plateau
of the Table Lands ; beneath, the family of Pares ; around, the radiating
backs of the primeval mountains ; the primary rivers, starting to the seas;
a uniform elevation of 8(MI() feet; a translucent atmosphere, a thousand
miles removed from the ocean and its influences ; a checkered landscape,
in which no clcnunt of sublimity is left oat , fertility and food upon the
surface ; metals beneath ; uninterrupted facility of transit !

Behold the sublime panorama which crowns the middie region of our
Union, fans the fire of patriotism, and beckons on the energetic host of
our people. The American j>eople number fifty millions in strength. Two
millions change annually tb.eir place of residence. The oracular instinct
of conquest burns in every heart ; this is the continental mission of '7ti,
proclaimed from the traditions of Jamestown and of Plymouth Rock, and
thence becjueathed to posterity !

The column of pioneers (engaged during several years in planting the
St^ite of the Kansjis basin) has pas.sed over the rim of the Calcareous I'lain,
and debouched upon the base of the primeval mountains. Gold has been
found at the fii-st trial and upon the threshold at Cherry Creek, upon the
eastern flank of Pike's Peak, and elsewhere. A few seasons have sufticed for
them to ascend, by the Arkansas and the Bayou Solodo, to the mother
crest of the Cordillera, whence the basins and sierras of the Plateau
expand beyond :

" The I'loHils nl'Pve us to the whifo Alps fond,

And wo must j ieroo them, and survey whate'er
Mny be permitto i . ns our steps we bend

Ti) that most great nud growing region, where

Tho earth to her embrace compels the powers of air."

Let us here pause to reflect whether the traditional history of our race
does not, on its very front, ilhistrate what ])roniinence awaits this Imiffi-
tv(h'u<i( Pfafrnn of our continent, descending thus by terraces into the
Mississip])i Basin on the east, to the I'acific Ocean on the west !

The exi.stence of the em])ire8 of Montezuma and the Incas exhibits
upon these Table Lands the only examples where our aboriginal people
rose above tin absolute btirbarism el.'cwhere, upon the lowlands, as universal
and as level as the waters of the seu.

THE SIEIiRA SAX JUAX.

mp of all the
acts is all that
act continuity
IT. To cxaji-
)f uaturu, as 1

■ft, the Plateau
, the radiating
iig tt) the seas;
sre, a thousand
jred landscape,
food upon the

I region of our
crgetic host of
strength. Two
racular instinct
mission of 'TU,
iiuth Rock, and

in planting the
dcareous IMain,

Gold has been

>eck, upon the

ave sufficed for

to the mother
i)f the Plateau

oiy of our race
aits this longi-
rraees into the

AVOSt !

Incas exhibits
joriginal people
ids, as universal

All around the head of the Mediterranean Sea, where it penetrates the
Asiatic continent, its basin is encircled by a j)latca\i. or amphitheatre of
elevated plains extending round from Suez, ((tntiiiuously through Syria,
Asia Minor, and into Greece. This descends by terraces to the sea-sl<ore.
Upon this I'lateau have been, among others, the cities of Babylon, J*al- .
niyra, and Dama.scus ; upon the sloi)es to the sea, Alexandria, Tyre, Jeru-
.silem. Tarsus, Byzantium, and Athens!

What cardinal element have we, in the immense ment^il systvui of our
civilization, which has not come to us and with us from thence? Hence
(^from this I'luteau of Syria) have resounded through all time and into
every heart, the direct oral teachings of Jehovah and of Jesus ; hence
have issued forth the miraculous alphabet and the numerals : hence have
come the cereals and animals of our ayjriculture, wine, and fruits : hence
our religion, law, social manners, history, music, i)oetry, anil arts: from
hence, as from tiie cradle of nativity, iiavo issued forth for our inheritance,
to abide with us forever, " the unconquerable mind and freedom's holy
flame !'

Everybody is acquainted with the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic Ocean.
This colossal strciun, recoiling round the circular sea of the troj)ics, and
receiving the oozy sediment of the Amazon, the Orinoco, the Magdaleua,
and the Mississijipi, launches out into the middle ocean. Its silent current
roils the tepid waters and sandy delin'.s of two continents a thousjind
leagues ahuig the bottom of am ocean : it banks them up upon the margin
of the Northern Sea, to form the submerged continent of Newfouudlaud,
and the tvbyraphtc pluteau.

Similarly has flowed, for fifty centuries, a'iong the isothermal axis, the
human current, wliich bears with it the immortsvl tire of civilization
r-vealed to man. This central current has reached the Plateau of America,
vp which it will ascend to plant the sacred fives over its expanse and
shine upon the world with renewed elfulgence. Such is the res])lendent
era and the gorgeous jiromi.se unveiled to huntanity. The arrival of this
is nmr announced by the indefinite gold i)r('Juction and jiastoral power of
the interior, domestic region of our continent and country.

CHAPTER V.

THE SOUTH PASS OP AMERICA.

From the previous chapters, it will })e perceived that one who travels
from Paris to Pekin, by the direct route of New York, Kansas City, and
San Francisco, traverses these physical divisions : 1st. The Atlantic Ocean.
2d. The Atlantic 3Iaritime Slope. M. The AUc^rhany Mountains. 4th.
The Basin of the Mississippi, 'jth. The Cordillera of the Sierra Madre.
r>th. The Plateau of the Tahle Lands. 7th. The Cordillera of the Snowy
Andes. 8th. The Pacific Maritime Slope, ilth. The Pacific Ocean.

This route brinjrs into immediate juxtajxtsition, ii/i>ii</ t/w fuDf/imiKil
nxi.s. the great permanent reservoirs of human poiiulatiou and activity —
Wegleni Kurojte, America, and Oriental Asia,

If it be practicable to accommodate all tlie international transjtortation
of the three continents by tliis route, a prodigious conden.sation of economy
in the interchanges of the products and jieople oi' the world Avill be accom-
plished at a blow.

The distance of transit will be reduced from the circumference of the
glol)e to the length of its diameter — the time to oiie-teufh. Steam by sea and
land will form an uninterrujited trip by two ocean ferries, connected by a
transit niilway. Thus will be solved the geographical problem which has
agitated the world Itefore and since CoLfMHlTS.

Practical experiment has long since exhausted all discussion as to the
pa,«sage of the two oceans by .steamers, and of the American continent by
railway, so far as tlie Atlantic Maritime Slope, the Alleghany, tlie Basin
of the Mi.s.si.'^sippi, uj) to the wall of the Cordillera of the Sieira .Aladrc,
and the Pacific Maritime Slo])e, are concerned. Serious arguments of any
difficulties within the.se divisions of the whole distance have been long
.settled and have ceased.

All that remained i-nigmatical to the public mind, and unresdlved, when
the.xe notes were lir.>*t ])enned, was the interval occupied by the C )rdillera
of the Sierra Madre, the Plateau of the Table Lands, and the Cordillera
of tlu' Sierra Nevada, which conjointly form the •' tuinmtnin fonnathtn oj
North America," extending continuously from Tchuantepec to the Arctic
Sea.

How this cc
breadth, is to i
lislinieiit of the
them. It is b
people and the
that of exit oi
now and in all

There exists
sixsijipi, a perf(
prestige, and hi
furnish a lumii
•iVmerican peop

The area in
of the surface i
Pontic, Propon
Danube, the Ni
imperfect navi<j
sulas of Asia 3
full with moiin

The sea surf)
short and detici
where harbors
rugged and isol

Yet, from th
to the Pillars w
has existed a t
and commercia

The vestal
has sore^ul out
tem of the Bon
It has overrun
who are the di

The " /iasin
The ctuinterpar
everywhere cli;
is cverywlu're ;
shore is in lei
arable, of inexl
no mountain, n
uniform ]irodu(
the universal n

THE SOUTH PASS OF AMERICA.

t one who travels
Kansas City, and
10 Atlantic Ocean.
Mountains. 4th.
the Siena Madre.
lera of the Snowy
'aeific Ocean.
Kj tfiv isothermal
on and activity —

nal transportation
sation of economy
irld will be accoiu-

ctnnference of the

Steam by sea and

es. connected by a

•robleni which has

iscnssion as to the
vican continent liy
ejfhany, the Basin
the Sierra Ma<lre,
I arfjunients of any
CO have been long

1 unresolved, when
1 by the (' .rdillera
and the Cordiileni
iitiiinformati'itii oj
U'pec to the Arctic

How this complicated barrier of immense mountai.is, 1000 miles in
breadth, is to bcf surmounted, has obtained its illustration by the estab-
lislinieiit of the Mormons in Utah, and the military expedition sent against
them. It is by tlie iiouth Pans, which ia the gateway of the American
people and their commerce to Asia, as has been the Strait of Gibraltar
tliat i)f exit out into the Atlantic, to the nations of the Mediterranean,
now and in all ages past.

There exists between the Basins of the Mediterranetin and of the Mis-
sixiiijipi, a perfect identity in position, physical characteristics, historical
j)restige, and social concord. A comparison of the one with the other will
furnish a luminous illustration, to explain the present generation of the
.American j)eopIe to itself, and to guide all future generations.

The area in s(|uare miles of tliese two basins is the same. Four-fifths
of the surface of thu /on)irr is occupied by the salt-water expaii.se of the
Pontic, Propontic, Adriatic, and Mediterranean Seas, into which flow the
Danube, tlie Nile, the Po, and the Rhone, rivers having narrow valleys and
imperfect navigation. Protruding out between these seas are the penin-
sulas of Asia Minor, (jlreece, Italy, Spain, and the Afri(^in coast, all filled
full with mountain vertebne, rugged and ])oorly adapted to agriculture.

The seu surface is stormy and dangerous to navigation : the rivers are
short and deficient in channel : the shores arc imjiraeticable to land except
where harbors are constructed ; and the inhabitable lands arninged in
rugged and isolated masses.

Yet, from the first jtioneer voyage of Hercules down the Mediterranean,
to the Pillars wliicli still immortalize his energies, to the present age, there
has existed a certain imperfect compact in the political, social, religious,
and commercial relations oi' the people of the Mediterranean.

The vestal fire of civilization has never been entirely (|uenched. It
has s'ii(>ad out to illuminate the whole area, both under the political sys-
tem of the lloinaii J'jnpire and the religious system of tlie l{<>i»ii!! Church.
It has overrun the brim, and is inherited by the mod-jin European nations
who are the dispeisi'd progeny of Home.

The " Basin of tlu; Mississippi" fills more perfectly the temperate zone.
The counterpart of the salt water surface is a delicious, undulating plane,
everywhere channelled by rivers navigaliU; to their very sources: navi!',:<tion
is every wliere as safe and constant as iij)on a canal ; the line of accessible
shore is in length absolutely infinite; the soil is uniformly cali^nreous.
arable, of inexhaastible fertility, and suflliciently irrigated from the clouds;
no mountain, no sheet of water, no swamp is anywhere found to bre.tk tlie
uniform productiveness of this ininiiin.se expanse; no rapids to interrupt
the univei"sal navigation of the rivers.

THE S'jf'TH /\! «• 6 ^ AMERICA.

Europe is bisfctedhy h Ij.i^u! fi;;iri!:;iiii ciuiii traversing it continuously,
ecut and wtM, from (Jiln.iltar ( - ,^i)K!rit!, imderthe names of the Pyrenees,
Al|ii-, ('iirpatliiau!*, and called Ity the !'<■ 'riH "-^ dliditia aqiKinnit" (the
divide of waters). What, therefore, u outt<iJe of the Basin of the Medi-
terranean is, for the most jiart, in the iidionpitable " Basin of the Baltic,"
its climate and general features not unlike Labrador.

All alon;.' thii iiort/t(i)i front i)( tha '' Mississij)j)i Basin," expand beyond
an impen(|itible barrier, the • Basins of the St. Lawrence and Sas-
katchewan," similarly calcareous, similarly alioundinj; in navijjation, and
only moderately inferior to it in fertility, in geniality of climate, and in
area.

The surface, then, of the Knropeati Basin is salt-water and mountains.
That of the Aincrivmi Basin a plain of calcareous, arable soil. The former
has 8 maritime climate, the latter a continental climate, superior in dryness
and ssilubrity. The former has a restricted and dangerous, the latter an
abundant and safe, navigation. In land-transportation the eontrast is still
more strikingly diverse and favorable to the American Baain.

The Basin of the iMediterranean, under the rule oi'the Roman Emperor
Tka.ian. attained a po]>ulation of one hvndrea <nui thirty-'me miUions.
This was then chiefly ccngregated in the eastern half; it is now in the
western half, in which direction t\\c prest^ure always preponderates.

xVt present the Basin of the Mississippi contains fir/htecn millions of
inhabitants. Itwi;. conveniently su.stain cii/lttcen /(«/m//'«^ millions. This
?',■« now an imminsc empire. Comparisons drawn I'rom hi.story or existing
empires, are very feeble illustrations of what is to grow uj) on this already
radicated foundation.

All the features of nature, all the principles of progress, social and
political, are here original. This undulating plain, uniformly and nni-
versally calcareous; this circular configuration, running flush out to the
repelling lines of the Arctic and Torrid Zones; this miraculously-bal-
anced variety of temperature, climate, prairie, forest, land, rivers, rain,
and sun.«hine. minerals and contiguous expanses — now nvdile and now
pastond — all these constitute an original order of physical facts, simple
and symmetrical, but sublime.

The rising of consecutive States out of the wilderness, erected by spon-
taneous industry ; the unabating deluge of men daily pouring forth and
daily jmshed onward by the hand of God; the rushing march of empire;
the profound internal order and systematic economy which [Krvad<'s and
guides this mass, more numerous than many armies ; the instinct of dis-
(ipline and .<elf-govcrnment everv where felt and always obeyed ; no cen-
tral military or religious jiower aiiywhcn; seen — all these array themselves

to announce tli
int<'ns( ly poten

JS'i'mory will
has bei'U the c(
wlioK' African
has been so ui
its jierniaM' nee

Contrast tlu
Europe from (
Iludsons Bay,
ing natio':alitie
liarniiiny. no u
the latter is a <
in civic concoi
having one (jlo

Such are tlu
the other. Tli
In the niytholo
of that struggl(
ing its element
terrujited act.s.

In this dran
Alexandria, B^
among a thous
Actium, licpai

From histor
ye^ii-s, is appar
in the niajorit;
the minority,
martyrdom.

It has been
first colonial o
administration
the whole sclu
its arrogimce,
hypocrisy and
tice. which sli
divine code of
of the stable

This missio
characteristics

T/IE SOVTir PASS OF AMRHICA.

to aniiouiu'c the presence of principles and power intensely wr»y/;io/ and
inti-nsi ly potential in social ami jiolitical inHnences.

I^iL'niory will su<rj;est how slow and narrow, until (|uite modern times,
has been the coiumn of or<;auized civilization on the old continent. The
whole Aliican coast of the Mediterranean is s«tcially seuii-barliarous, and
has been so uniformly since the delu<.'e. Ujion and beyond the Daindie
its jiernian' iice is tjuite recent and its lij^ht still crepuscular.

Contrast the elements of society and their history, tillinj: the face of
Europe from Gibraltar to Norway, with that of Amei! 'a from Cuba to
Ilud.^ons Bay, both fronting t(» the west ! In the former ajipear distract-
int: natio -.alities, dome.stic fonie and fraud, no systematic union, no moral
Iiarmony. no uniformity of races, no intelligt'ut concord in religions. In
the latter is a compact front, where all the?e elements rnvermd are Ijlended
in civic concord, fired by a common hope, inspired by one destiny, and
having one (iod, one httart, one aim, and one supreme ambition.

Such are the characteristics ol' the two basins, contrasted the one with
the otlier. They both slope to the Atlantic Ocean, and are face to face.
In the mythological liistory of Hercules we reed the first intelligent record
of that struggle for dominance over the Mediterranean, and a xi/xtem hold-
ing its elements in harmony, which has been ever since a drama of unin-
terrupted acts.

In this drama appear tlie tragic sieges of Troy, Tyre, Atliens, Carthage,
Alex.indria, Byzantium, Rome, Hhodes. (Jibraltar, Malta, and Sebastop*»l ;
among a thousand combats by .sea and land the naval victories of Salamis,
Acttum, Lepanto, Aboukir, and Trafalgar.

From history, which is the narrative of this struggle of four thousand
ye4ii"s, is apparent tlie perpetual incubation of military brute force always
in the majority ; civic virtue and nmnicipal independence as uniformly in
the minority, checkered by heroic resi .aucc and jjcrpet ;all_j -recurring
martyrdom.

It lias been the design of the American continental republic, from its
first colonial origin, to rever«<! this doom ; to elevate civic concord to the
administration of political power ; to su.stain it there ; to dispense with
the whole scheme of military despotism without respect to its antiquity,
its arrogiince, or the heretofore universal success of its subtle union of
hypocrisy and force ; to inaugurate for mankind a code of j)olitical pnic-
tice. which shall l«ring the science of government into accord with the
divine code of morals and religion, cradhid 1S7I^ years ago in the manger
of the stable r)f Bethlehem !

This mission of cine empire has for its oraetUar principle the physical
characteristics and configuration of our continent, wherein the liimn of

. i

THE SOUTH PASS OF AMEHICA.

tJie MtMninsipjii |(it'(li)iijiuatoH tm supreiucly ius tlio huh iiiminj: the
plaiu'ts.*

'I'lif Ua.^iii fil" till' .Mcdit.tTiiiieiiii is, tht'ii, a surface of Imnrii sen, witli
iiiouiitaiii nia.sM's, iiiij'iTlV'ctly HiU'tl for pojtulutiiui, jinitrudiiijf almvo it ;
that of lln' Mis-sissijipi is a tah-arcous ]>hiiii t)f hiiul, every wliero iiiterhuetl
and raiiiitied with iiaviu'ahle arteries, lioiu i.re traversed centrally by the
r.i)(/t'(ic (if ( injiircM within which the current of civilizatiun has fluwcd in
all a;;c!< /'/■"/;( t(i:<l tit irist.

This current, descenJing the Mediterranean, and drawn in hy the con-
verjiin;.' continents of Kurope and Africa, pours forth its whole concentrated
Volume thnMiLih the su]irenie ]iass known now and in all a<res as the
" J'i/dtrs of III rni/cs."

What is acconiiilished hy this eonverj^encc of the conti.'ients of the Old
World, in reducinji all the outlets of navigation, and con>ei|uently of all
coumn ice, to the !<ingle Pass of Hercules, is aceouijilished lor our conti-
nent by the " Mountain Formation." This is the .South l*a.-<s of North
America, the exact etjuivaleut giiifflc pass, in uur continent of /(//((/-l(i(sins,
to the iffi/f/-pa.s» of (.libraltjir among the water-basins of the Eastern
hemisphere. The latitude is iu'^ 2V. the longitude 10!)^ I'O'. This is
the .same latitude as Jki.ston, Bayonnj, and 3Iarseilles, in France, and of
Trieste and Constantinople.

To delineate the features of the tSoulh Push, so that the topograjdiy of
tli(^ plain, the prodigious sierra.s whicli surround it, the jivers radiating
out of it, and the gorges by which they coninieiice ibeiv gentle declina-
tions to the seas, may all be grouped in oiw <jliinci',iis a jiortrait in daguer-
rcotyjic, is not easy to be done.

The pl.-iin is elevated 7501) feet above the sea ; it is beyond or mst of
the ("urdillera; its .suriace of clay is so ab.solutely smooth as to admit
of iinintcirui)ted vision, as over water ; it is in .shape a triangle, having
very acute angles at the northern and southern jioints, and one very obtuse
at the .source of Sweetwater, which is the eastern point.

The western side, li(M( miles in length, corresponds with the bed of the
Kio Verde (Green River), running directly from north to south, to which
the whole plain slants. Immediately along its western bank rises the
Sin-ni ]\'(iscitvli, forming a continuous mountain barrier towards the west;
opjMisile the centr<' of this hypothenuse is the gorge of Sweetwater, envel-
oping the eastern jxiint of the triangle ; the remaining sides extend lience,
the one to the northwest, the <(tlier to the southwest.

• Tlio North .Aiiicricnn rontinciit ic in rorm a fuhliinc niii]ihitb)'iitro, buiiig voncava
in oonfigunitioii. All the other uoiiliui'Uts iiro vunnj:.

THK SOUTH PASS OF A ME It IV A.

in iiinoii''

I lias tluwi'il ill

litre, l)ciiij; coiicufa

Alon^ the foniit!!', in longtli \y)*d miles, risos tlio .stnponJous luass of
the CiiiililliTii, known lion; iontl/i/ us tho " Wiml Uivi-r Mi)nntain." Almig
the lattiT u tiiiuilur mash (if tin; Cuidillera, but of inl't'iiur uititnilc, known
IdciiUjj aa the; '• Table Mountain."

The area of the Plain of the South Pu«s is about e(|uivaleiit to that of
New Jei^sey. Its surface is of clay, resembling kaolino. of whieh jioree-
lain is made, ami has the absolute smoothness of that material tiltered
through water and eomjiacted by pressure.

From the three angles of its rim issue the Sweetwater, flowing iii^t into
the I'latte and to the Atlantie; the Snake Kiver, flnwing nortliiciitt to
Walla-Walla, and thence with the Columbia to the North I'acitic ; and
the Ilio ^'erde, south into the Bay of California ; by whose westera
ufllucut also. Black Fork, exists the eii^iest ogress into the Basin of the
(jrreat Salt Lake.

JMost probably no spot on the globe has groujicd into one view so mach
of intense grandeur in the variety and number of its physical wonders.
From a single ice-crowned summit of the Wine/ River Mtiuntain are seen
the gorges of the Missouri, Yellowstone, Platte, Colorado, and Snake
Kivers, all radiating from its base, and each the equal of the Danube in
length and the volume of its waters.

Five primary chains of snowy mountains here culminate together to
this central ujiex, from which they radiate out between the rivers ; the
dorsal mass of the Cordillera reaching towards the north to the Arctic Sea,
and towards the .south to the Antarctic ; the Sierra Wa.satch, the Snake
River chain, the Salmon River Mountains, all crested with snow, and each
having an unbroken length of 1()(K) miles.

The South Pass is 1400 miles from Astoria. It is the same distance
i'rom St. Louis. It is, then, in the middle region of the continent. It is
the o/i/y ,s("«yfc p«.s.s through the '' Mountain Formation" from hence as far
as the Isthmus of Tehuantejiee. From this comes the name South Fans,
as being the most southern jkiss to which you may a.scend by an aflluent
of the Atlantic, and step immediately on to a stream descending uninter-
ruptedly out to the Pacific.

This name is as ancient as the Pass itself Into it concentrate the great
trails of tlu; bufl'alo — geographei-s and road-makers Ixtfori' the coming of
man. The Indian, the Mexican, and the American, successoi-s to one
another, have not deflocted from th*" instincts of the buffalo, nor will they,
whilst the primeval mountains last in their present unshattered bulk.

This is the continental highway of the ]ieo])le, through whieh millions
have already poured to and fro with their children, their frei; principles,
their cattle — assembled in caravans, on foot, and mounted — with wagons,

THE SOUTH PASS OF AMEKICA.

Imiid-curtB, kiiupsuelct, iiixl lirinfiiiijj with tlu-in tlifir huuHt'lmlil god«, iind
the tuhiTiiucIc of civil mid ri;lij{i(ius iilu-rty.

Tlio South Puns is par fjxellince th»! continnital puM. The outlet tit
the ea.stttrii aii^'le is known as the fjorge of the Sweetwater lliver, whieh
dcHcends til tile IMatte; tliat ut the nortliern angle as the gorge of (Iros-
vcntro Uiver, which descends to the Snake River. These are both short
and slender mountain streams, ucerim|)lishing their descent in lieds uf the
extremest sinuosity, hut without abrupt waterfalls. They l>otli flow fnuii
chasms in the flanks of the iniineii.se mass of the Wind Uiver Mountain,
which here forma au urc fronting to the west, und issue out upon the
plain.

But the plain ia traversed by a gentle d!clil<\ [lanillel with the iiioiintain
base, und no more distinguishable than the bevel given by eiigineeis to
any ordinary street. Against this these two streams are deflected into
opposite courses, the former to burrow its way around the urc of tiie moun-
tain to the southeast, the other towards the no it Invest.

To one who observes this from the plain, there is presented a similar
miraculous configuration of the land, such us displays itself to oik^ who,
naviguting the Propontic Seu, beholds the Dardanelles upon his right
hand and the Bosphorus on his left. Moreover, the sky is vithout clouds
and rainless, the atmosphere intensely brilliunt, temperate, .I'.id screiu-,
encompussed round by scenery of the austerest sublimity.

But we have seen that the elevation of the South I'ass is 75(10 feet,
and that Snake River runs continuously out of it by the most direct and
favorable course, of 1400 miles, to the Pacific Sea, tuiinelliiig consecu-
tively the Blue or Salmon lliver range of mountains, the western Cordil-
lera, and all other transverse ranges and obstructions.

Here is, then, an uninterrupted water declination through and across the
whole ^'^ mountain formatiou" descending by a plane dijiping Jicv J\tA to
the mile !

From the adjacent eastern rim of the Plain uf tlic Sonth I'ajss runs out
Sweetwater into the Platte, »¥hich, tunnelling consecutively all the out-
lying ranges of the eastern Cordillera, forms a similar uninterrupted water
declination, in a very straight line of 1400 miles to St. Louis, descending
by thti simie average dip i>i five feet per mile.

Everybody is familiar with the existing railways, which, radiating from
St. Jjouis and pursuing continuously the plains of the Ohio and St. Law-
rence, outflank the Alleghanies between Syracuse and Home, and descend
by the Ilud.son lliver to New York.

The .Mieiiees which delineate ami explain to the human understanding
the details of matter, i»s it fits itself in myriads of millions of variegated

forms to fill oil
intt^resting to t
physical geogra

This line of
our I^iiion fron
:tt;oil miles in I
ri'os.sing one ri
It ]ire>eiits to II
nieiicing at the
and debouehiii)

From the Si
out. Tllcy, to;
tudinal, ]iariilli
a])proa(-li the .hi
Hanks, which n
barriers.

Nowhere, wi
dividing barrie;
pa.ss. Nowlier
crest, and a cor
east and to the

The South I
some l.'iOO )n
atmosphere is
Hence an Intm
tonic and .saliil

Along the n
time climate a
.scale as the sin
so nearly ap]iri
]ilenitude.

Human socii
periods of barl
feet. Manner!
opposite, as tli-
this harmony
buleiit force di
is lo.st ; as we
empire ri.se.

Nature here
of configuratio

THE sorrn r.iss or amkiiha.

forms til till ant tln! Niipromi' onlt-r nf tlio univereo, develop nothing so
iiit(;rc.stiii^ to tlitt lit'iirt of civilixcii niaii un tlii.s xiii^lf Hul)liiiie t'uet of
pliysital ;;('<i;iiiipliv in tlic sujiri'iii'' rii^iiu'trinj: i>f tliu Creator.

Tliif* iiiif of gentiy-iinduiuliiig river-gradet* fiirdles tin- iiiiddif zone of
our Union from sen to sea, in one sniooth, continuous and unliri>ken cord,
■'{(idd miles in iengtii. It fits t/i> Imtthtrnuil f/.r/jt of the temperate climates,
crossing one river only at St. liouis, and outflanking all tin- nmuntains.
It |irc.-cnts to us the counterpart of that water-line of the Old World, com-
mencing at the extremity of the Kuxiiie, passing down the Mediterraiieau,
and dehonching out into the ocean.

From the South l'a.ss to Mexico the primary mountain ehaiim spread
out. They, together with the great rivers wliich divide them, are longi-
tudinal, parallel, and uiiperforated. The rivers grow deeper as they
ap|iroach the .sea. increasing the altitudi and ahruptness of the niounlain
flanks, which overlaji one another, and incrcjise and c(»niplicatc the mural
harriers.

Nowhere, within this interval, uro the mountains reduced to a single
dividing harrier, nor are there jiresented anywhere the essentials of a single
pa,ss. Nowhere is to he found a sufficient depression in the mountain
crest, and a continuous gradation from the summit-crest, prolonged to the
east and to the west, down both (h'clinations to the seas.

The South Pass is elevattid 7')'MI fet^t above the seas, from whieh it ia
some 1 '>(•(» miles remote. It has, then, a rontiiundil clliiuitf, whose
atnio-sphere is tempered by tin? altitude and by tin; absence of moisture.
Ileiiee an interne screuiti/ is the |*rominent feature, jierpetual sunshine, u
tonic and .salubrious air, a vernal ». iiiperature.

Along the roiitiiinittil //«rthe chHi,_'es from the continental to the mari-
time climate and tire rvriid, gradual themselves with the Siime delicate
scale as the surface slopes. Untfonnity u/ climate, from seu to 8e4J, is then
so nearly apjiroaehed, that it actually exists ull along this line in absidute
plenitude.

Human society, in the current course of ages, vibrates to and fro through
periods of barbarism. God and Nature endure con.stantly eternal and per-
fect. Manners, religions, policies, change and becom<! barlarous or the
opposite, as tluiy harmonize with fiod and Nature. Sciein-e devcK.ps how
this harmony may be known and practised. As we recede iVom it. tur-
bulent force dominates, lunnbers are dwarfed, civilization withei"s. liberty
is lost ; as we approach it, civilization expands, charity snnles, order and
empire ri.se.

Nature here for us. upon our Omiinrtit. amidst a stupendous vastness
of configuration, preserves an austere simplicity, which guides the instinct-

(\':

THE sorrii PASS of AMKltirA.

'wo glinicf (if ('injtiit' witli uncrriiiff certainty. Hen! is tlmt continental
lin", tlu' (liMCovcry nC wliidi mankind lian awaited with tlie keenest
curiosity.

In tlie n|ieness of time the liope of humanity is realized ; it is liy this
that our jieople are idtout to construct tlie (oiiti'iinitdf liiiihniij. Jiike the
re*':"lMent L'irdle with which anti((uity hound, in one chorus, the sister-
hood of the Ura<;;-;, we will hehold united, hy one zone, the three sister
Continents, Eurojie, Anicrica, and Asia.

Hero, tl'.roufrh the heart of our u^rritory, our jiopulation, our Stat««, our
citie>, our farms and habitations, will traverse the hroad current of com-
merce, where [la.ssenjrers and carjioes may at any tinu- or jilace emhark
ujion or leave the vehicles of transiiortation.

Down with the parricidal trea.son which will hani.sh it fnun the /<»;«/,
from amontr they"V(y//»', to forc'c it into the /«»/•;•<•« ovcun. outside of society,
thiouirh i'orei^n nations, into the torrid heats, along solitary « in nitons
routes, im|irisoned for months in great sliij)s !

This i'mttnuntitl liaihrni/ is an es.sential domestic institution, more
powerful and more jterniaiient than law. or popular consent or jiolitieal
cnnstituiions. to thorouirhly comj)lete the great system of fluvial arteries
wiiich I'raternize us into on(> people ; to hind the tim sra-lxmrdH to this one
continental I'nion, like ears to the human head; to radicate the founda-
tions of the I'nion so liroa<l and deep, and estahlish its struetrire so solid,
that 111 jiossihle force or stratagem can shake its |iermaneiice ; to secure
such si'ope and sjtace to progress, that erpiidily and jnosperity shall never
be imjiaired or chafe for want of room.

The ]iions veneration sjiontaneoiisly awarded by the human heart to
men. whose lives exhibit exalted devotion and exalted success, iiispii-jng
and jierpetnating in society the '' priiiriji/r of virtur (ihmyn in t.rnn'xr,"
has placed Hercules, the pioneer ol" the system of the ModiterraiK-aii, in
the number of the immortal gods of anticpiity : a ((mstcllation in the
ethereal caiio] dinrnally rciiev/s his mr>mory, his name, and his actions.

Modern linn s. accepting the tradition, behold it stamped upon the coin
of .S|)ain and the Indies, to obtuin a circulation as universal and i'amiliar
as the human ra<'0.

The American people pursue the planting of empire, advancing with
intense celerity ; moving to the front according to a system understood and
self-disciplined ; marching with the eudenco of an army of innumerable
legions, uniting in one homogeneous order, with the same energies, a
single aim. and rrshing to eonsuinmate a cnmmon ilestiny. .^'hining in
the front of this marching hast, the pioneei and excni]il;ir. •'///-.</ in nnr.
JirsI in judcr, anil Jirxl in ifiiliinifn uf his i<iHntrijimn." a|ip<'ai°s the t'orm

THE suvru pass of ameiiiva.

of WasiiinOTOn, whose (inicular wisdimi and intrejiid (;onsfancy inspired
tlie noniial ciiuiuils \vlu'»-o its iiioultl was cast, its strategy lixod, and its
uiialtcnililc niissiiin first iiiau^uratod. Let tliis name, tlun, find a nxmu-
nietil around whose base the condensed column of jirogress shall tile to
and ' ' t'uring all future ages !

N\ here the summit-crest of our continent is found ; the focal source of
its rivers and its sierras ; where the cloud-conijiellin'i Cordillera culmi-
nates over the "Gateway of emjiires ;" let these commemorate this iudhc
iiniiHirtally, while the <j;rass shall grow ami the waters run. as lirm and
enduring as the loftiest mountain. Let the chililren of the world be
taught to say : Bihold the Pass and the Pillars of WASUIN'dTON !

The history of the human race arranges and gauges itself by genera-
tions. Tliirfy-t/irii years are estimated to be tin; pi.-riod of ccuitrol exer-
cised iiv t'aeh generation over the long lil'e of a nation. As each sueceids
its preileces.ior, ihe wcnk of i)rogre8s is reinvigorated, and fresh jiower and
new coiKjUe.Ht.s accumulate. The present is the fi(jhlif-»l.rtli year of the
Federal Constitution, and inaugurates the thinl generation of our united
|)eo|ile.

'\'\w Ju->il gave to us this sacred Union and foundeil our continental
Ke|iul)lie. The xnoml has filled u]i the Atlantic half of the continent
vith States, secured the maritime connections with that ocean and with
Kuro|ie, and has bla/.ed for ns the way atio.ss tlie continent to the I'acitic
an 1 to Asia. We, the /Am/ generation, receive I'rom them the jiious task
to plant State's onward to that ocean ; to complete the zodiac of fraternal
nations round the globe, and to set deep and firm to their outward dimen-
sions the foundations they have laid.

As we a.-^sume our task, illuminated by the example of their wisdom,
energy, and glory, intent to equal them in the first and surpass them in
liir rest, may we not repeat this invocation to the luminary of the universe,
i.s he depiirts to usher in another day : —

I ■

'■ 1 ho wcnry sun halh iiiinlc n hoMpd «<•?.
AnJ, by tliu brij;lit truck itf liis fiery car,
Qivos token of a gomlly ilay to-morrow !"

h'I

CHAPTER VI.

THE GREAT HASIN OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

TllK most olividiisly roniiirkanlo pliysiral feature of America and of the
iiiliabitt'tl j:l(il)e, is the Jinsiii of tin- MkmMlppi. Ah yet tlio pojmlar luiml
doe.s not clearly comprehend its diinen.-^ion.s, and tlie underHtandinj; of it.-
phy.sical characteristics is indistinct and vague. It is bi.sected througli its
eemrc hy a supreme artery, which above St. Louis has received the uuuie
of tlie Minsoiiri, and below, the MissigHipjii River.

This is r»(l()() miles in length, and its surface is a continuous inclined
plane, descending .seven inches in the mile. Into this central artery, as
into a common tioiiffh, descend innumerable rivers couiing from the great
mountain chains of the continent.

All of the immense area thus drained, forms a single Ixisln^ of which
the circuniferent mountains form the rim. It may also be called an (imphl-
tlii litre, embracing 1,1215,100 sfpiare miles of surface. This has been,
during the antediluvian ages, the bed of a great ocean, such as is now the
Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean, above the surface of which the
mountains jirotruded thenLsclves as islands.

(Jradiially filled up by the filtration of the waters during countless iiges,
it has reached its jtresent altitude above the other basins, oV(^r which the
oceans now still roll, and into which the waters have retired.

The " Jidxiit of the Af{itsliisi'j>pt" is, then, a j)avemcnt of calcareous rock
many thousand feet in depth, formed by the .sediment of the superincum-
bent water, deposited stratum upon stratum, compressed by its weight and
crystallized into rock by its chenncal fermentation and ]iressiire. Jt is in
exact imitation of this sublime process of the natural world, tl at every
housewife ( > 'ipres-ses th(> milk of her dairy into solid cheese and butter.

It is, therefore, a homogeneous, tindulating plain of the g/onii/iin/ or
sedimentary formation, surmounted by a covering of soil from which
springs the vegetation, as hair fnmi the external skin of an animal.
Through this coating of soil, and into the soft surface strata of rock, the
de.'^cending fresh waters burrow their channels, converging everywhere from
the circumfi'rent rim to the lowest level and pa.ss out to the sea.

In this sy.stem, which is the sanu> as the circulation of the blood in
64

animal life, the
garden fountain,
correspontling oi
of contour in th(

Such is this vi
simph>, homogen
The vegetation i
and are mon; vai
oceans, and with

The in.sular si
feet el(!vat*!d abo
coming from the

The plain of
T.OOO feet above
raiidess and witli

Such are the (

Through the i
one to the other,
sensilile to a tni\
who does .so, the.>
the diurnal alti>i
the grasses indie
palpably as tin

All that porti
River and th(' .'
Indiana, IlliiioiH
Arkan.sas, and S

An irreguliir
south and west i
this iiue and tin
ened liy .sliowers

I'eyond this
nourish tim!>er.
narrow lines of
and in thi. is!nn(
and soft, arablt;
of vegetation.

The tcrminati
the first, where
about l.'iU mile
tised, nor ncec.^s

THE OIIKAT DASFX OF THE MISSJSS/PPr.

iiniiniil life, the MiKsoiiri Ilivor and the mimitoHt rill that flows from a
gjirdeii roiuitaiii, lias each it.*« siieiific and c•(lns|)ieuou^ place. Heme the
correspond in}^ order In the unijjiilations, the variety, and the complexity
of contour in the surface and in its vej^etation.

Such is this vast Basin, whose transverse diameter is 25(tO miles, and so
sinipli!, homogeneous, and clear is the system of its <reolo<ry and its waters.
The v»'<j;(!tation and climate have a like consistent order of arninfrenient.
and are more varied. These vary with the latitude, the distance from the
oceans, and with the altitude.

The insular site of New York (Mty is upon the hank of the sea, is iti.rti/
feet elevat»!d ahove the .sea, and is constantly irrijrated hy the evaiMtralion
coming from the .sea; it is in latitude 41° IW north,

The plain of the .South I'ass is 2(100 miles from the sea ; is elevate*!
7500 feet above the sea; has no va|ior from the sea; hut an atmosjdiere
rainless and without d(!W ; it is in latitude 42° ."50' north.

Such are the contrasts in the elements ufieeting climate and vegetation.

Through the interval between thest; two cxtrenu's Nature changes, from
one to the other, by a graduation .so delicate and uniform as to be scarcely
.si'nsible to a traveller who goes /rsx than the whole distance. Yet, to oni?
who does .so, the.se changes are as pal])al)le upon the face of Nature, as an*
the diurnal alternations of light and darkness. The timber, the floni. and
the grasses indicate tint prese?iee and abs<'nce of atmospluric irrigation. a<
palpably a,s the sun indicates the day. and the stars the night.

All that portii^n of the Mississippi Hasin lying between the .Mi.«ssissippi
River and th(! Atlantic, is densely timbered, excepting only u |M»rtion of
Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin ; so also are the States of Louisiana,
Arkan.sas, and South Mis.souri.

An irregular line irom the head of Lake Erie, running towards the
south and west into Texas, dtifines the cesiSiition of the timber. BetWtM-n
this iiue and the sea exi.st« a continuous forest region, perpetually moist-
ened by .showers from the ocean.

I'ey.ind this line, and deeper into the eonlineii*. the upland cea.ses \o
nourish timber, which is replaced by luxuriant aenual grasses, though
narrow lines of forest continue upon the .saturated bottoms of the rivers
and in &.i islands. This i.s the I'lairie r. ^;iti;; '.'.', luxuriant annual gn.'^ses.
and soft, arable .soil, over which the fires iuinmdly sweep after the decay
of vegetation.

The termination of this belt is marked by an irregular line [Nirallel u>
the first, when^ t!ie rains eea.se. and the t'lnber entirely di.sapiH'ars, It is
about I'lO miles in width, and witliin it artifii iai iriigatioi\ ,> not pnu -
tisod, nor necessary, it being everywiiere .soft, arable, and fertile.

Tin: tiith'AT //.1.S7.V OF riii: Mississirri.

El 'l

To th

IS HUecci'ds till- Mil

init'iisi! rin'tiffSH wh'mu onwiird to tlio niouniaiiis,

cxclusivfly JiiiKtiiriil, (il'a coinjuut noil, eoiitod with the iJ\vart'ltuft"iiiojj;rii88,
witliout trt'cs, aii<l tlic alioiic of thcahori^rinal CMttlc. That no tK'S<'rt docs
or ran exist witliiri this liasiii. is inanit'cst t'roiii tlic ahiindaiicc and nia<;-
nitndr nC tlic rivirs: the iinilidin (idcaicous t'orniatii)n ; the alisontt' of u

tro|ii(Ml sun

its li

in<ritudinal position across

thi^ t«

ni|it'rat(; zono ; an

d the

^^n-atncss and altitude of the imiuntaiiis on its western ri

ni.

'I'iie river system of the .I/Z.vx/.'.d//*/)/ /{iisiii resernldes a fan oi' [tahndeaf.
Tile stem in the State i(f hnuisiana rests in the (iiilf; almve, the aftluiMit
rivers euiivertie til it fitini all parts of the compass. Krom tin; tasl come

the II.

ihitto. the Ymzim). the Ohiii. the llliiinis, and the I'luier Mis-

sissi|ipi.

I-

rmn the ms/. the Ked

IVel

pp,
the Washita, the Arkansas, tht

White. St. Francis, jnid Osaire Kivers. the Kinsas, the Triple IMatte, thi!
Jilviu ipii Ciinrs. and the Vcllowstnne, all naVifiahln rivers of great length
and importance.

These rivers present a continimns navigalile channel of 22,5(10 miles,
having t.*>.<M)ll miles of slmre, an anmnni of navigation and coast eiiual to

th<' Atlaiilii- Ocean.

The area nf the Mississippi Basin classifies itself into oiu'-and-a hali-
fifths III' compactly-growing forest, the same nf prairie, and twndiftlis of
great plains. Throngh ail of these the river .system is ramilieil as minutely
com|ilc.\ as are the veins ami arti'ries of the human .system.

The population is -M present I S.(l(l(l,(l(Ml, The capacity for population
is indclinite. Comparison will illustrate this interesting fact.

Society erects itself into o//y(//v.s- in order loarrixc at strength, civilization,
and pcrmam-ncc. The most periect examjilc is the cm|iire of the /'unnnis,
whose history we familiarly po.s.sess complete, of its risi'. culmination, and

slow d

('(■line

This

s emiiire oc(

u|>ied and fused into one political and social

i-ysicm the /(usin nf lln Mn/ih irniititii, whose ari-a is l,l(i((,(> () sijuart

n iloH.

i •olli

'.( o*' this they ne\('r passed, except into the corner of (Janl and

Urita:

lit !(

•ted llicinsclvcs to the .NIe(literranean and I'oiitic Seas,

to the .Vile, to the Manuhe, and (<> the Ithone. 'i'his em|iire, emiiraeing
'.\ V ;i!mi\i, arc; . coi t. lined under 'I'r. .in and the Aiitoiiiues l!!! .(MMI.(IO(( of
jMtpiiMi inn, .Miii lli.ii.e i.self, it; tiie gi'ograpliical centre, had a diameter (d'
;"jtl oiiie:* and !■; till. (Mill of iiiMaliilanlsI

l»ii >h< Hrea oi'this Uasiii is. for the iiKisi r.irt, a salt water waste, into
Avhici pHt'.riwi 'i.e |" linsiilas of Asia Minor, (ireece. Italy, and S[iaiii,

U"ll>

'1 with

I mountain vertehriv, .ind al.so a i\'W islands. Spaeo

for hal'/a i' i .■■ and ilie iirodiiciion of fooil is. therefc

irce

le e(piivaleiit, with us, ol' this salt surface and rugged mouiitaiusj is

overywherc, an
productive, Th
and the front o
amount and acci
easily contain at
inhaliitaiits !

If the eaicarec
fronts, and the n
Europe arid Asia.
the existing hum
This I'asin is
ihe (Sulf, at the I
produced. On th
/one. Between
we descend from
ill posiliiiii it i
the West bank o(
and fertile prairii
hy their confluent
once of the N'ortli
The circle de.^c
pns,H throuirh Vd
Hudson's ISay, t
Cni.j. and the ci(
will pa.ss throiigl
therefore, thci/.-o
tlie Basin of the
It is also e(|u
hlocked out into
sites in (he iiow-e
exactly in the mi
tiiictly concentrat
to the nnniher i
occupying On'riif
Europe has al
wrsf dehouchinir

AJii

tlio niouiiiaiiis,
irf buffalo ^rass,
t no di'scrt (looa
(lance ami niaj;-
lic alisoni't' of a
; zone ; and the
1.

iin ol' pahii-lcaf.
ivo, till- artlut'nt
n till! fist foino
the rpiii'V MIh-
(' Arkansas, the
ri|ilc IMatto, the
' of jnrat lenj^th

•f 2-2jm\ iniUvH,
nl I'oast (Miual to

) oiu'-and-a-half-

nil two-liftlis of

ili<'(las niiniitoly

y for ]iopiilation

act.

i;tli, civilization,

of the lioiiiiiiis.

iilniinatioii. and

lilical and s'H'ial

.!(i(»,<l (<.iuarc

ncr of (iaul and
ind Pontic Seas,
ii|iirc, cniliracin;;
; llil.lMMI.OlMI of
ad a diameter of

water waste, into
taiy, and Spain,
islands. S|iaei!
•ii'nrcc.
I A mountains, is,

THE OliEAT liAS'X OF THE MfSSfSSfPlf.

pverywhore, an undulatinjr. ralcarr im plain, unifonnly inhabital)li> and
productive. The rivvji-s surpass the .sea i\ir the frei</hta<^(! of conunerce,
and the front of land upon them exceeds the coasts of tin; oceans in
amount and aece.ssiliility. The JinKi'ii of the Afissixxiiipi will then more
easily contain ami feed ten timcH the pf>pulation, or l,;ilO,()00,000 of
iidiahitants !

If th(! calcareous ])lain extendin/ Ut *ho .\rt^\f ^^a. the two niiirl'linc
fronts, and the mountain formation, Im> •I'l/i^d. »ti4 tin- whoh' compared '/>
Europe and Asia, 2,tM)U.()(M),(MM) will easily Am^ rf/Kfitt n ^.^btion d<*uW«
the existin<r human race !

This Hasin is all within »he T,mfufate 7/,,*^ , %¥ «ym dx* 4MMW4f
ihe (iulf, at the level of the sea. tropi<id fruitM. dow'er' }t*ii4 Si'0itlikmWK
produced. On the hii;h mountain sIo|M's //'>»*< the V'e/<vf>^i/<« <^ ^t^ fitt^
Zone. Ihftween the.se arc 'ourid every kin4 <»f ii>rric,«|kur.il ^<A*it^vm, urn
wi' descend from the extremes to fin- central Hi<''liuin.

In position it is (•^■»ii<tiy iiiitr'ilx>> the continent. ,\'ot ft*r n^iw/^ (I'ttt
the West bank of the Missouri Hiver, in the Imisohi of romarnfie '-ttt^y
and fertile prairie, ia a H[K»t where the Smokyhill and I{<'publicii« Kiv«'«K.
by their confluence, form (he Kan.sas. Thi* is Mu' <:eo;iraphieal centre at
omc of the N'orth American continent, and of tin Hasin of the Mississippi.

The circle described from this centre with a radii»^ to San Francisco ^vill
pass throutrh Vimi'iinir tm the Cohnnbia, the |«>rt of Srvr/it Jliver on
nud.>;on's I'ay, throujih (/n'lin-. through UtiKton, throuprh lliir'nm. Vera
Cni::. and the city of Mv.rico. With a radius to flie A'M\t <J/-,'ree, a circle
will pa.ss throULdi Afo/n'/r, Xcto Oilraiis, ,ind M>ilifj,.rilii This spot i«.
therefore, thi' </i oyni/i/iunl critfn of tha North Aineriean Contiiienf and (tf
the Hasin of the Mississijipi, both at once.

It is also «'((ually the centre of th(> American Union, ;m it is now
lilocked out into exi.stin^ States and into prospective States, to oceujiy
sites in the now-existing TiTritories ! .Moreover, it is e(|uidi.stant from, and
exactly in the middle between, the two halves of the huunin family, dis-
tinctly eoneentrated ; the one half (Miristians, occnpyinir Western Kurope,
to the luimber of :i ">!>,( MM),0(»( I of population; the other half Papins,
occupying Oriental :Uia and Poh/nvsia, to the number of t!r)<l,(IO(l,(IO(> !

Kuro]ie ha.s all the outlets of its iidand seas and rivers towards the
vent, debotwhing on to our Atlanlic front, towards which its whole surl'ace
slopes. Asia similarly jire.sents to our I'acilic front an On'mtd/ s,'nj,i.
containing her great rivers, the densest mas.xes of her poimlation, and
detached i.slands of great area, den.se population, and intinite pro<luction.

The distance IVom the Knropean to »he A.-ian shores (from Paris t(
I'ekinj, travelling .strai<:ht by the continuous river liiv of the i'olomac.

THE (iUK.KT IIASIS OF THE MISSISSII'l'l.

Ohio, ML-i-sduri, IMiitlc. aixl Snake lliverH, and uitohh the two rci'ans, m
only 10,000 ^'(•(•<:ni|iliic inilus.

This Htnii^'ht line is tlie iltU of that temperate zone of the Northern
Hcniis|ihLTe of the ^.'lolie, thirty-three deforces in witUli, which contains
four-tifths of tlic hind, ninc-tciiths of \\w {icople, and all tin; white races,
coninicrciid activity, and iiidnstry of the civilized world.

When, therefore, this interval o*' North America shall he filled up, the
affili.ition of mankind will V.; accomplished, proximity recof>;nizcd, tii< dis-
tniction of intcrvciiin<r oceans anther and fu.si'd into one universtJ uud convenient
system of immediate relationship.

Such are ,s(ime of t! •niordinary attractions presented to mankind, as
a social nia.-'s. hy tlu; {xisition and conli;niralion ol' the MixHt'iisi/ijii linnni.
There is anuther and superlative prospective view. This jircsciits it.self
in contrastinj; the physical conlif^uration of North America with the
otiier continents.

Europe, tlu' smallest in area of the continents, culminates in its centre
info the icy ma.sses <if the Alps. From the {glaciers, where all the jireat
rivers have their sources, they descend the declivities and radiate iv the
difl'crent seas.

The Danube flows dinntly ea.st to the Pontic Sea ; the l*o, to the
Adriatic; the Khone, to the Sea of Lyons; the Uhiiie, north to the
German Sea. Walled off" hy the I'yrcncan and ('ar-,uithian .Mountains,
diverfreut and isolated, are the Tajius, the Klbc, and other Hingle rivers,
affluents of the Baltic, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the I'imtie
Sea.

Descend in}r./V«m common nidinnt jHiints wnd ilivc^iu^ every way from
one another, no intercommunii;. nm exists ay, ,y^ the river» of Kun>|M'
towards their ."ourct's ; nitWuation is) \,\ lUulfwlie. Art mid ommi tvc
have never, durinu thiii> t-cnturii!* \itiiu-d so many suihII vulluyti. uimotvly
isolat«'d hv im|K<netralile harrii^rw.

Hem-* .iponeach river dw-lls a disiimt people, difft uiij; IVnm«li ih«*n>»l
in n«>« lanjruac*', reli-jion, iiitor^'sts, ami hahits Thou>;h oIUmi fx-hh^^iNi/
amalpiuiatrd )>> cuit<|ue(«t. tli' apiiu rclapM' into frnpuentx. IV^iii iiMMiu
i;eo^niphii ' iiicohiTeX'' u'< /iy/oti« crvi dn und tnjjifmiir^ foriu no iu«4\i
enduriiit; ' ^

Thi t.ii t i «)»«•»*' nation- ' .1 ^tatjf of pei^'tual war, of mutual
exu-rib itm an ip|«iilliug di»MHuti< cMUihtpie of a tew splendid xyttw
iii*« er.-lun^ uiuliiiudin<>us aiitlioiivoi Hubmissive and unchronidcd H(>it«.

KudH Hiniilar to Kiiidjm. though grander iu hik and {Ktpulatiou, a

THE uhkat hasis of the MlSSISSiri'l.

*;:«

e two rof'uns, is

From tli»( Htu|wiid(>UH cciifnil Imriior of the llinialiiyaM run tin- lour
great rivvrs of China, duo caM, to ili.schar<;o tlu-nisclvt's umlcr tlic ri«in}r
hum: towards tlie smith run tlie rivori* of Coeliin Cliina, X\w (Janp-s, anil
tile Indus: towards tlu; inut, the rivers of tlie Casjiian: and hmf/i,
throujrh Silu ria t« the Arctic Sea, many rivi-rs of the first ma^rnitude.

I>uriiii,' fifty centuries, as now, the Alps and Himalaya Mountains have
|iroved insu|)erahl(^ barriitrs to the amal;;aniation of tlu> nations around
their ))at<eH and dwelling; in the vaUeys that radiate from tlieir slopes.

The continents of Africa and South America, as far u« we are familiar
with the details of their surfuces, uru evuu more tlian theue perplexed into
dislocateil frafiiiients.

In contruHt, the interior of North America presents towards lieuven an
cxpandeil, roHcnvi: bowl, to receive and fuse into Inirmony whatsoever
enters within it« rim. So, each of tJu- other continents prcsentin;; tlie
cDiiri.r surface of a howl reversed, scatter everytliinn from u central apex
into radiant distraction.

political societies and (-mpires havi; in all aj;eH conformed themselv(!s t(»
emphatic p'ojjraphical facts. This lh-m<irriit!r /i'ljnili/inni fiii/ii'rf of
North America is, tlmn, /nn/isfiini/ to expand and fit itself to the coi.ti-
ncnt ; to control the oceans on cither hand, and eventually the contitient.<!
beyond them. Much is uncertain, yet through all the vicissitudes of the
future, this much of ett-rnal truth is discernilile.

In p'ograpby th(! unfit/iisix of the old world, in society we an; and will
be tlu' reverse. Our North America will rapidly accumulate a population
cc|ual!ing that of the rest of tlu! world combined : a people nno and indi-
vi.sibh', identical in nninners, lanpiagi;, customs, and impulses: ])reserv-
ing the same civilization, the same religion ; imbued with the same
opinions, and having tlu! same political liberties.

Of this we have two illu.st rat ions n<tw under our eye, the one passing
away, tlic other advancing. The uliunijliitil Indian nice, amongst whom,
from Darieii to the Ks(|uimaux, and from Florida to \'ancouver's Islaiul,
cxinfc II |M'rfcct identity in hair, complexion, features, religion, st^iture, and
huiguage : and, woNf/, in the instinctive fusion into one language and into
<jne new race of immigrant (icrmans, Knglish, Norwegians, Celts, and
Italians, whose individindities an- olditerati-d in a single generation.

Thus, the perpetuily and ilestiny of our sacred I'liio!) find their con-
clusive proof and illustration in the bosom of nature. The ])olitical storms
that periodically rage are but the clouds and sunshine that give variety to
the atmosphere anil checker our history as we miireh.

The |Misheshion of the linnlii i>f t/ii' Misnissi'ii/ii, thus held in inn'fi/ by
the American people, is a s<ipreme, u crowning mercy. Viewed ulone In

I !

77/ A' lilt EAT IIASIX OF THE MISSIfiSIN'l,

itn woiKlcrfiil jKisitioii tiiiii cuiiacity iiiiion^ the eoiitinentH nnd (lie natittnH;
Ti«-Wf<l. aliso, aH tlic (IciiiiiiKitiii^ |i:it°t (if tlic gnat ciilcarrdiiH |ilaiii i'Dniicd
of till (•oiifrriiiiiiiiiis Ma.siiis nf tlif iMis'^is-'iiiipi, f>t. liawiriicc, Ilinlsdn'a
Bay, ami Atlialiasia. tlu; aiii]>liilli(>ati'f of the wuilil — licir i,s Hii|ir<'incly,
iiitli!i'(], the uioKt uiagiiifii-cnt (l\V('lliii<r-]jla(r> niarkiil nut fiy (jod for man's
aliodc.

Bcholil, tlicii, ri.>-iiin now and in the ftitnic. tlir iinjui' which imhi-ilry
and !-<lf-goV(rnMicnt crcat*;. The growth ol' half a imlnry, hewed nut if
the wihh-nu'tw — itw weapons, the axe and jihiw ; its taetii-, hdior and
energy; its sohliers, free and eipial eitizeiiH.

Ueliold tlie oraeular goal to which our eiigles march, and whither the
thalan.N of our States and |ieo|ile moves harmoniously on, to ]ilant u nun-
(fffil Slultn and consummate their drit; greatnewM.

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CHAPTER VII.

PASTORAL AJiERICA.

There has been a radical niisiipprelienslon in the poimlar mind as to
the true character of the " Great Pldiiis of Aiiim'cn,'' as complete as that
wliich pervaded Europe resjiecting the Atlantic (Jeean durinjj; the whole
historic period jirior to CoLLMHUS. These J^LAINS a"e not th'scrls, but
the opposite, and are the cardinal basis of the future empire of conmierce
and industry now erecting itself upon the North American Continent.

They arc calcareous, and form the Pastoral (Jarden of the world.
Their position and area may be easily understood. The meridian line
which terminates the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa
on the west, forms their eastern limit, and the llocky Mountain crest their
icesfern limit. Between these limits they occupy a loniritudinal parallel-
ogram of less than 1(M)() miles in width, extending fnmi the Texan to the
Arctic coasts.

There is no timber upon them, and single trees are scarce. They have
a gentle slope from the icvsf to the east, and abound in rivers. They are
clad thick with nutritious grasses, and swarm with animal life. The soil
is not silicious or sandy, but is a fine calcareous mould. They run smoothly
out to the navigable rivers, the 3Iissouri, Mississippi, and St. Lawrence,
and to the Texan coast.

The mountain masses towards the Pacific form no serious barrier
between them and that ocean.

No portion of their whole sweep of surface is more thari lOOO miles
from the most facile navigation. The prospect is everywhere gently undu-
lating and graceful, being bounded, as on the ocean, by the horizon.
Storms are rare, except during the melting of the snows upon the crest of
the Rocky Mountains.

The climate is comparatively rainiest; the rivers serve, like the Nile,
to irrigate rather than drain the neighboring surface, and have few afflu-
ents. They all run from iccst to east, having beds shallow and broad, a!id
the basins through which they flow are flat, hmg, and narrow. The area
of the " Great Plains" is e(|uivalent to the surface of the twenty-four
States between the Mississippi and the Atlantic Sea. They are one homo-

:ti^;

•li'i

72 PASTOIiAL AMERICA.

gcncous formation, smooth, uniform, and continuous, without a single
abrui)t mountain, timl)cred space, desert, or hike.

From their ample dimensions and position they define themselves to he
the pdntiirr-jit/ffs (if thf world. Upon them I'ASTOHAl, AOUlCLLTLllE will
become :i separate grand department of continental industry.

The ])astonil characteristic, being novel to our people, needs a miimte
explanation. In traversing the continent from the Atlantic hcch to the
South Pass, the point of greatest altitude and remoteness from the sea, we
cross successively the timbered region, the prairie region of .soft soil and
long annual gras.scs, and finally the Great Plains. The two first are irri-
gated by the rains coming from the sea, and are araUe.

The last is rainless, of a compact soil resisting the plow, and is, there-
fore, 2>o-'<toral. The herbage is peculiarly adaj)ted to the climate and the
dryness of the soil and atmosphere, and is perenni(d. It is edible and
nutritious throughout the year. This is the " gramvia,' or " buffalo grass."
It covers the ground one inch in height, has the appearance of a delicate
moss, and its leaf has the fineness and .spiral texture of a negro's hair.

During the melting of the snows in the immense mountain nuusses on
the western frontier of the Great Plains, the rivers swell like the Nile,
and yield a copious evaporation in their long sinuous courses across the
Plains : storm-clouds gather on the summits, roll down the mountain
flanks, and discharge them.selves in vernal showers. During this tempo-
rary prevalence of moist atmosphere these delicate gras.ses grow, seed in
the root, and are cured into hay iqyon the ground by the gradually return-
ing drouth.

It is this longitudinal belt of perennial pa.sture upon which the buffalo
finds his vinter food, dwelling upon it without regard to latitude, and here
are the infinite herds of aboriginal cattle peculiar to North America —
buffalo, wild horses, elk, antelope, white and black-tailed deer, mountain
.sheep, the gri.sly bear, wolves, the hare, badger, porcupine, and smaller
animals innumerable.

The aggregate number of this cattle, by calculation from .sound data,
exceeds one hundred million. No annual fires ever sweep over the Great
Plains ; the.se are confined to the Prairie region.

The Great Plains also swarm with poultry — the turkey, the mountain
cock, the prairie cock, sage chickens, the sand-hill crane, the curlew.
Water-fowl of every variety, the swan, goose, brant, diicks. Marmots, the
armadillo, the peccary, reptiles, the horned frog. Birds of prey, eagles,
vultures, the raven, and the small birds of gjuue and song. The streams
abound in fish. Dogs and demi-wolves abouiul.

The immense population of nomadic Indians, lately a million in num-

PASTORAL AMERICA.

ly a million in num-

ber, have, from inimeniorial antiquity, subsisted exclusively upon those
aborijiinal herds. They are unacijuainted with any kind of agriculture or
the habitual use of vegetable food or fruits.

From this source the Indian draws exclusively his food, his lodge, hia
fuel, harness, clothing, bed, his ornaments, weapons, and utensils. line
Is hi.i aohi dcpeuilena; from the heginning to the end of his exisfeiwe.
The innumerable carnivorous animals also subsist upon them. The buft'alo
alone have appeared to me as numerous as the American people, and to
inhabit as uniformly as large u space of country. The buflalo robe at once
suggests his adaptability to a winter climate.

The Great Plains embrace a very ample proportion of arahk soil for
farms. 'Y\\Q ^^ bottoms' of the rivers are very broad and level, having
only a few inches of elevation above the waters, which descend by a rapid
and even current. They may be easily and cheaply saturated by all the
various systems of artificial irrigation, azequias, artesian wells, or floo !-
iiig by machinery.

Under this treatment the soils, being alluvial and calcareous, both from
the sulphate and carbonate formations, return a prodigious yield, and are
independent of the seasons. Kvery variety of grain, grass, vegetable, the
grape and fruits, flax, hemp, cotton, and the flora, under a perpetual
sun, and irrigated at the root, attain extraordinary vigor, flavor, and
beauty.

The Great Plains abound in fuel, and the materials for dwellings and
fencing. Bituminous coal is everywhere intcrstratitied with the calcareous
and sandstone formation ; it is also abundant in the flanks of the moun-
tains, and is everywhere conveniently accessible. The dung of the buffalo
is scattered everywhere.

The order of vegetable growth being reversed bv the ar'dity of the
atmosphere, what show above as the merest bushes, radiate themselves
deep into the eartli, and form below an immense arborescent growth.
Fuel of wood is found by digging.

Plaster and lime, limestone, freestone, clay, and sand, exist within the
area of almost every acre. The large and economical adobe brick, hard-
ened in the sun and without fire, supersedes other materials for walls and
fences in this dry atmosphere, and, as in Syia and Egj'pt, resists decay
for centuries. The dwellings thus constructed are most healthy, being
impervious to heat, cold, damp, and wind.

The climate of the Great Plains is favorable to health, longevity, intel-
lectual and physical development, and stinmlative of an exalted tone of
.'ocial civilization and refinement.

The American people and their ancestral European people have dwelt

PASTORAL AMERICA.

Ill

for many thousand years oxclusivcly in countries of tinihcr and within
the regio'i of tlio mtiritlmc atniospliere : when; winter ai.nihihites all ve<re-
tatidu annually for half the year: where all animal food must lie sustained,
fed, and fattened hy tillajre with the ]p1ow : where the tsa'tial neeessities
of existence, food, clothinji, fuel, and dwellings, are secured oidy hy con-
stant and intense uuuiual toil. ,

To this peoj)le /irrrfi>/ore, the immense empire of pasforaf (trpicn/finr.
ut the threshold of which we have arrived, has been as completely a hlank.
as was the present condition of social development on the Atlantic Ocean
and the American Continent, to the ordinary thoughts of the antiipie
Greeks and Romans.

Hence this immense world of plains and mountains ; occupying three-
fifths of our continent ; so novel to them and so exactly contradictory in
every feature to the existing prejudices, routine, and economy of society,
is unanimously pronounced an vnlnhahltahle desert.

To any reversal of such a judgment, the unanimous public opinion, the
rich and poor, the wise and ignorant, the famous and obscure, agree to
oppose unanimously a dogmatic and universal deafness. To them, the
delineations of travellers, elsewhere intelligent, are here tinged with
lunacy ; the science of geography is befogged; the sublime order of Crea-
tion no longer holds, and the supreme engineering of God is at i'.tult and
a chaos of blunders !

The P. .STORAL Region is longitudinal. The bulk of it is under the
Tempera' J Zone, out of which it runs into the Arctic Zone on the north,
and Into the Tropical Zone on the south. The parallel Atlantic andde
aiA maritime region flanks it on the east ; that of the Pacific on the west.
The Great Plains, then, at once separate and bind together these flanks,
rounding o-it both the variety and compactness of arrangement in the ele-
mentary details of society, ttJiich enables a continent to govern itself with
the same ease as a single city.*

*■ Such an internal adjustment of society, expanding itself uniformly over the
whole area of the continent, accompanies incidentally and of necessity its grand
architecture.

The physical anatomy, auspicious and consistent in all its details, the intense range
of variety, the neighborhood and compactne.»s of these elements so various in configu-
ration, warmth, altitude, and production, all conspire to dictate fusion and order.
They correct and render impossible what is hostile and opposite to them.

The contciiliuiialitica which anticipate tumult will assert, establish, and perpetuate
themselves.

The experiences of history arm us with precedents for our guidance, and instruct
our judgments. They predict for us a wholesome employment of our energies, accom-
panied by a subtle and zealous dii-ciplinc competent to anticipate and to restrain
disorder.

rrangcmont in the ele-
t to govern itself with

PASTORAL AMEIlfCA. 75

Assiuninfr, then, that tlie advaiiciiijiuohiinn of progress, having roaohcil
nnilt'stalilisliL'd itsolf'in force all along the easte'-n froiitof the frnnf I'/niiis,
from Jjonisianu to Minnesota : having, also, junijied over and flanked them
to oeeujiy California and Oregon : —

Assuming that this eolnmn is ahont to dehoiich to the front and ocenpy
them with tlie embodied inipulse of our y(/i'_y millions of population : liere-
tufore seattere<l uj)on the flanks, but now converging into jihalanx upon
the centre : some reflections, legitimately made, may cheer the tiiniil, and
confirm those who hesitate from old opinion and the prejudices of adverse
education.

It is well established that six-tenths of the food of the human family ia,
or ought to be, animal food, the result of jMistoral agriculture. The cattle
of the world consume eight times the food per head, as compared with
the human family. Meat, milk, butter, cheese, poultry, eggs, wool, leather,
honey, are the productions of pastoral agriculture. Fish is the sponta-
neous production of the water.

Nine-tenths of the labor of arahle culture is expended to produce the
grain and gra.sses that sustain the present supplies to the world of the
above enumerated articles of the pustornl order. If, then, a country can
be found where pustoral jjroduce is sponttnieomly sustained by nature, as
fish in the ocean, it is manifest that arable labor, being reduced to the pro-
duction of bread food oidy, nniy condense itself to a very small percent-
age of its present volume, and the cultivated ground devoted to grain and
grass be greatly reduced in acres.

By the census of 1850, tlic pastoral cnltnre of the American people
resulting exclusively from the plow, exhibits the following aggregate : — ■

Cattle of all kinds 18,378,907

Horses and mules 4,80r),0,'>0

Sheep 21,722,220

Swine 30,334,213

Value $655,883,658

It is probable that the aggregate ahoriginal stock of the Great Plains
still exceeds in amount the above table. It is all spontaneously supported
by nature, as is the fish of the sea.

Every kind of our domestic animals flourishes upon the Greai Plains
equally Avell with the wild ones. Three tame animals may be substituted
for every wild one, and vast territories re-occupied, from which the wild

The ancient discordances between urban and rural populations, manners, and tem-
per, will find their asperities mutually modified. Society, rectified by reflection from
the propitious powers of Nature, will insensibly ascend to an exalted level, illustrating
the perpetual dominance and activity of peace, industri/, and concord.

PASTORAL AMRKICA.

Illl

stock lias been cxfenninatcd by indiseriininatc sliiuglitcr and the inc^aso
of tlic Wolves.

The American peo[ile are about, then, to inaugurate a novel and immense
order of industrial jnoductioii : Pastoral AauiciLTUUE. — Its fields will
be the (IikU /Va(';M intermediate between the oceans. Once commenced,
\t will di'Veloj) very rajiidly.

We trace in their history the successive inauguration and sy.stematic
growth of several of these distinct orders : The tohaccn culture, the rlcn
culture, the cottou culture, the innnense provision culture of cereals and
VKiifs, friil/irr and uoiifj thc'/oA/ culture, ((((c/y^//'^/; external and internal,
cotiiitieire ^'xternal and internal, tmnspuftdtion by land and water, the hemj)
culture, t\ic Jis/teri'es, munHfuctum.

Each of these has arisen as time has ripened tbe necessity for each, and
noiselessly taken and fillud its appropriate place in the general economy
of our iiii/imtriiil empire.

This fuiHtoral property transports itself on the hoof, and finds its food
ready furni.shed by nature. In these elevated countries fresh meats becoyie
the preferable food for man, to the exclusion of bread, vegetables, and
salted articles.

The atmosjdiere of the Great Ploiiin is perpetually brilliant with sun-
shine, tonic, healthy, pungent, and inspiring to the temper. It corrcsjxmds
with and surpasses the historic climate of Syria and Arabia, from whence
we inherit all that is ethereal and refined in our .system of civilization, our
religion, our sciences, our alphabet, our numerals, our written languages,
our articles of food, our learning, and our system of social manners.

As the site for a great central metropolitan city of the " Basin of the
Mississippi" to arise prospectively upon the developments now maturing,
Kansas City, at the mouth of the Kansas Kiver, has the start, the geo-
gi'aphical position, and the existing elements with which any rival will
contend in vain.

It is the focal point where three developments, now near ripeness, will
&nd t\w\T river jwrt. 1. The pastoral development. 2. The gold, silver,
and salt production of the Sierra San Juan. 3. The continental railroad
from the Pacific.

These great fields of enterprise will all be recognized and understood by
the popular mind, and will be under vigorous headway within the mature
life of the existing generation.

There must be a great city here, such as antiquity built at the head of
the IMediterranean and named Jerusalem, Tyre, Alexandria, and Constan-
tinople ; such as our own people name New York, New Orlean3, San Fran-
cisco, St. Louis.

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tiress now ca
researches ii
awed by the
grace and c(

The Moi
the most stii
innumerabk
nificance.

These arc
their s(jurc(
battlements

Each is I
rectitude o:
mountains,
generous w

In the h
tinents, the
wanting, or
in Asia: C
These bowl
tion.

The Tai
of superlat

KADO.

This Sys
Mortised c
tcned cone
surround t
radiate to i

Here is
America !

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS.

In proportion as curiosity, warmed by the expanding energy of pro-
gress now every wliere palpitating with activity and fresh fire, extends our
researches into every detail of our entire country, we are astonished and
awed by the splendid magnitude of its architecture, and by the I'aultlesa
grace and consistency of its anatomy.

The Mountain System sparkles everywhere, and is checkered with
the most startling beauties. The special recurrence of Parcs, which are
innumerable, and are lavishly scattered over its area, has pre-eminent sij^-
nificance.

These are charming valleys, accompanying the rivers. They surround
their s(jurces, or expand from their channels, between the mountain
battlements, among which they flow.

Each is an amphitheatre. They maintain everywhere an undeviating
rectitude of pn^portion, fitted in size to the volume of the rivers and
mountains. Fertility and enchandng scenery mark them all. The most
generous woalth of streams and vegetation are unfailing.

In the latitudinal courses of the mountain structures of the other con-
tinents, the favorable sunshine being absent, this form of valleys is either
wanting, or they are unattractive. Those known to fame, are Kashmere
in Asia : Constance and Geneva, encased within the Alps of Europe.
These bowls are occupied by water surfaces, :md are unfitted for habita-
tion.

The Parcs of the North American Andes find their culmination
of superlative gi-andeur in the System of the Four Parcs of Colo-
rado.

This System towers over and crowns the whole Continental structure.
Mortised down, many thousand feet, into the ample expanse of the flat-
tened cone, encircled by all the other North American mountains, they
surround the sources and shed out all the grand arterial rivers, which
radiate to all the seas.

Here is the supreme dome, which surmounts the heart of North
America !

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S rSTEM OF i»Aau\s

//if

BmESM RELATIONS Of TmQmT PLAm,
IHK XOin 11 AMKUICAi ANDES,

UIhI lli(>

PACIFIC MARATmE rtRONT.

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■SB"

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAllCS.

Favored by tlioir immense dimensions, rad screened by an uninhr-
rupted envelopo of primary mountain edifices ; the climatic elements
happily balanccjd ; j^ive to their atmosphere a i)eri>etual venial temperature ;
intense serenity and the most gorgeous splendor.

They are bisrctcil successively, through and through, by tlie o«e Iiun-
drcil and sixth meridian.

Each one siiii/fy is of marvellous size, excellence of form, and eminent
beauty.

Th(! group, as they are blended into one system, '? miraculous! This
springs from its dominating continental position: from the juxtaposition:
from the immediate contact : from the intense variety and supreme grace
illustrating every detail and i)ervading the entire structure.

Kestricted especially to the System of the Fouk Paucs of Colo-
rado, the S<iit Luis Pare is readily entered at the extreme north
through the Puncho Pa.ss, penetrating the Cordillera from the Arkansiis
Kiver. This pare, of ellii)tical form, and immense dimensions, is envel-
oped between the Cordillera and Sierra Mind)res.

It has its extreme northern point between these two Sierras, where they
separate l)y a sharp angle and diverge ; the former to the southeast, and
the latter to the southwest.

The latitude of the Puncho Pass is 38° 30', the longitude 100°. It is
one hundred and twenty-five miles saiithccst from Denver, and thirty-
seven miles due icest from Caiion City.

Emerging from the Puncho Pass, tlic waters begin to gather and form
the Sun Luis Jiivo: This flows to the south, through a valley of great
beauty, which rajiidly widens to the right and left.

On the east flank, the Cordillera ascends abruptly and continuously,
without any foot-hills, to a sharp, snowy summit. On the west, foot-
hills and secondary mountains, rising one above the other, entangle the
whole space of the Sierra Mimbres.

The Sawatch River has its source on the inner (eastcni) fhmk of the
Sierra Mimbres, about sixty miles south of its angle of divergence from
the Cordillera, and, by a course nearly east, converges toward the lower
San Luis Eiver. It enters upon the pare by a similar valley.

These two valleys expand into one another around this mass of foot-
hills, fusing into the open pare, whose centre is here occupied by the *S'"/(
Luis lAthc, into which the two rivers converge and discharge their waters.

The San Luis Lake, extending south from the point of the foot-hills,
occupies the centre of the pare for sixty miles. It forms a boid without
any outlet to its waters. It is encircled by immense saturated savannas
of luxuriant grass.

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAllCS.

Its water surface expands over this sncnnna during the season of tlie
multiiin' snows upon the Sierras, and shrinks when the season of evapora-
tion returns. From the flaiilvs of the Cordillera on the east, at intervals
ijf six or eiu'ht miles asunder, and at very e((ual distauw^, /uitrtecn streams
other than the San Luis, descend and converge into the San Luis Luke.

The belt of the sloping plain between the mountains and the lake, trav-
ersed by so many parallel streams, bordered by meadows and groves of
cottduwood-trees, has from this feature the name of " Los Alamos," It
is sixty miles in length and twenty wide.

On the opposite (^western) side from the flank of the Sierra ^Mimbres,
similar streams descend from the west into the lake, known as the Sa-
Kutcli, the Oinicro, and the (rarcfa.

Tiio confluent streams thus converging into the San Luis Lake are iiine-
(ei'ii ill luunbor. The area thus occupii;d by this isolated lake and drained into
it by its converging affluents, forming distinctly one-tliird of the whole
surface of the pare, is classified under the general name of '' lUncon."

Advancing onward to the south along the west edge of the plain, ten
miles, from the Gareta, the Eio del Norte Iliver issues from its mountain
gorge. Its .source is in the perpetual snows of the peaks of the San Juan.,
the local name given to this stupendous culmination of the Sierra
Miiiibres.

The Del Norte flows from its extreme source due east one hundred and
fifty miles, and having reached the longitudinal middle o'.' \.\\c pare, turns
abruptly south, and, bisecting the pare for perhaps one hundred and fifty
mi/if, pas.ses beyond its rim in its course to the Gulf of Mexico.

All the streams descending from the enveloping Sierras (other than tlie
Alamos) converge into it their tributary waters. On the west come in
successively the Pi'ntada, the Bio del G.cfa, the liio de la Gam, the
CoiKJos, the San Antonio and Piedra.

These streams, six or eight miles asunder, parallel, equidistant, fed
by the snows of the Sierra MimLres, have abundant waters, very fertile
areas of land, and are all of the very highest order of beauty.

Advancing again from the Rineon, at the eastern edge of the plain
along the base of the Cordillera, the prodigious conical mass of the Sierra
Blniica protrudes like a. vast hemisphere into the plain and blocks the
vision to the direct south. The road describes the arc of a semicircle
ai'oiiiid its ba.se for thirty miles and reaches Fort Garland.

In the immediate vicinity of Fcn-t Garland, the three large streams, the
Yuta, the Sangre de Cristo, and the Triuchera, descend from the Cor-
dillera, converge, unite a few miles west, and, bleiiding themselves in the
Triuchera, flow west twenty-four miles into the llio del Norte.

^^i

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAIICS.

The lino of the snowy Cordillera, hidden behind the bulk of the S!<rni
Blanca, here again reveals itself pursuing its regular sunthcast course and
direction. Fourteen miles south is reached the town of San Lni\s, upon
the Ciilehrti River ; seventeen miles farther is the town of Coitilfa, upon
Costilla River.

Fifteen miles farther the town of Bit o Colorado is reached : elylitxn miles
farther onward the Arroyo Hondo (between these is the San Cristoval ) ;
from the Arroyo Hondo to Taos is fourteen miles; twenty miles beyond
Taos is the mountain chain whose circle towards the west forms the
southern mountain barrier which encloses the San Luis Pare in that
direction.

The San Litis Pare is then an immense elliptical bowl, the bed of a
primeval sea which has been drained : its bottom, smooth as a water sur-
face, and concave, is 9400 square miles in area. It is watered by thirtj-
five mountain streams, which, descending from the encircling crest of
snow, converge nineteen into the San Luis Lake, the rest into the Rio del
Norte.

An extraordinary symmetry of configuration is its prominent feature.
The scenery, everywhere sublime, has the ever-changing variety of the
kaleidoscope. Entirely around the edge of the plain, and closing the
junction of the plain with the mountain's foot, runs a smooth glacis,
exactly resembling the sea-beach which accompanies the conjunction of
the land with the ocean.

From this heacli rise continuously, all around the horizon, the great
mountains, elevating their heads above the line of perpetual snow. On
the eastern side the escarpment of the Cordillera rises rapidly, and is
abrupt ; on the ivestern side the crest of the Sierra Mimhres is more re-
mote, having the interval filled with ridges, lessening in altitude as they
descend to the plain of the pare.

This continuous shelving flank of the Sierras, completing a perfect
amphitheatre, has a superficial area equal to that of the level plain which
ii envelopes, and gives to the whole enclosure within the encircling band
of snow an area of 18,000 square miles.

At an elevation of five or six thousand feet above the plain, a level line
upon the mountain wall marks the cessation of arborescence, above which
naked granite and snow alone are .seen.

To one who ascends to this elevation at any point, the whole interior
of this prodigious amphitheatre, displaying an elliptical area of 1 1 ,520,000
acres, is scanned by the eye and swept in at a single glance. Aided by a
glass, the smallest objects scattered over the immense elliptical area beneath
are discernible through the limpid, brilliant, and translucent atmosphere.

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS.

bulk of the Sierra
iiif/iatsf course und
of S(tn Luis, upon
n of Costilla, upon

hed : eighteen iiiilofj
he San Cristoval ) ;
enty miles beyond
le west forms the
Luis Pare ill that

30wl, the bed of a
oth as a water sur-
watered by thirly-
ncircling crest of
3t into the Rio del

prominent feature.
;ing variety of the
1, and closing the
a smooth glacis,
he conjunction of

horizon, the great
petual snow. On
es rapidly, and is
imbres is more re-
in altitude as they

iipleting a perfect

level plain which

le encircling band

1 plain, a level line
snce, above which

he whole interior
rea of 11,520,000
nee. Aided by a
)tical area beneath
icent atmosphere.

Two facts impress themselves upon tlie senses : the perfect symmetry
of configuration in nature, and the intense variety in the form and sjjlen-
d(ir of the landscape. The colors of the sky and atniosjihere are intensely
vivid and gorgeous ; the dissolving tints of light and shade are forever
intorcliaiiging ; they are as infinite as are the altering angles of the solar
ravs in his diurnal circuit.

Tlie average elevation of the plain above the sea-level is G-lOO feet.
Tlic highest peaks have an altitude of 1(5,000 feet above the sea. In the
serrated rim of the pare, as seen from the plain, jtrojected against the
canopy, are discernible seventeen peaks, at very equal distances from one
anotlier. Each one differs from all the rest in some j)eculiarity of shape
and position. Each one identifies it.self by some striking beauty. From
the snows of each one descends .some considerable river, as well within the
pare, as outward down the external mountain back.

We recognize, therefore, in the San Luis Pare an immense elliptical
basin, envelojiing the .sources of the Kio Bravo del Norte. It is isolated
in the heart of the continent, 1200 miles from any sea. It is mortised,
as it were, in the midst of the vast mountain bulk, where, rising gradu-
ally from the oceans, the highest altitude and amplitude of the continent
is attained.

This pare spreads its plain from 3G° to 38° 30', cand is bisected by the
lOGth meridian. Its greatest length is 210 miles; its greatest width is
10(1 miles ; its aggregate approximate area is 18,000 .square miles.

Such being the gcoyrapliical position, altitude, and peculiar unique eon-
figuration, these features suggest the inquiry into parallel peculiarities of
meteiirolorjfj, geology, physical structure, agriculture, mineralogy, and the
economy of labor.

The Anieri< an people have heretofore developed their social system exclu-
.sively on the borders of the two oceans, and within the maritime valleys
of moderate altitude, having navigation and an atmosphere influenced by
the sea. To them, then, the contrast is complete in every teature, in these
high and remote altitudes, beyond all influence of the ocean, and specially
continental.

There is an identity between the " Valley or Pare of the City of
Mexico" and the San Luis Pare which ought to be here mentioned. They
are similar ticin basins of the great Plateau, classifying together in the
physical structure of the continent. Mexico is in latitude 20°, longitude
99°, and has an altitude of 7500 feet.

The width of the continent is here 575 miles from ocean to ocean, and
the divergence of the Cordilleras is 275 miles, which here is the width of
the Plateau.

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAIiCS.

At the yOtli ck'jireo, the continent expands to a width of U^OO miles
between the oceans ; the Cordilleras have diverj^ed 12U0 miles asnnder,
and the Platkau has widened to tlie same dimensions. In liannony with
tlie great expansion of tlie continent are all the details of its interiur
structure.

The •' J'aic of the Q'ti/ of Mexico" is but one-tenth in size and ;^r;in-
deur as compared and contrasted witli the 8an Luis Pare. It has an area,
including tlie water surface of five lakes, of 1,278,720 acres. Of identical
anatomy, the former is a pigmy ; the latter a giant. The similitude as coni-
]) 'uent parts of the mountain anatomy is in all respects absolute, as is also
tiiie of the other pares, which occupy longitudinally the centre of the
State of Colorado.

In .METKOKOLOGY the atmo.«i)herie condition of the San Luis ])are, like
its scenery, is one of constant brilliancy, both by day and nigiit ; obey-
ing steady laws, yet alternating with a playful methodical fickleness.

There are no prolonged vernal or autumnal seasons. Summer and win-
ter divide the year. Both are characterized by mildness of temperature,
A-fter the (iiittininal c([uinox, the snows begin to accumulate on the moun-
tains. After the vernal equinox they dis.solve. The formation of light
clouds upon the crest of the Sierras is incessant.

The meridian sun retains its vitalizing heat around the year ; at mid-
night prevails a corresponding tonie coolness. The clouds are wafted away
by steady atmospheric currents coming from the west. They rarely inter-
rupt the sunshine, but, refracting his rays, imbue the canopy with a sliining
silver light, at once intense and brilliant. The atmospliere and climate
arc essentially cuntinental, being uninterruptedly salubrious, brilliant, and
tonie.

The flanks of the great mountains, bathed by the embrace of these irri-
gating clouds, are clad with great forests of pine, fir, spruce, hemlock,
aspen, oak, cedar, pifion, and a variety of smaller fruiL-trees and shrubs,
which protect the sources of the springs and rivulets.

Among the forests, alternate mountain meadows of luxuriant and
nutritious grass. The ascending clouds, rarely condensed, furnish little
irrigation at the depressed elevation of the plains, which are destitute
of timber but clothed in grass. These delicate grasses, growing rapidly
during the annual melting of the snows, cure into hay as the aridity
of the atmosphere returns. They form perennial pastures, and supply
the winter food of the aboriginal cattle, everywhere indigenous and abun-

lant.

An infinite variety in temper and temperature is suggested as flowing
from the juxtaposition of extreme altitudes and depressions ; permanent

snows, runnii
rivers. Nat i
is propitious

The foiifji/
anil of the e\
suiinuits; tin

Within th
when the sun
mlder atmos
atmospheres
each one tem

The snows
accumulation
tion, as in a
manner temp
•stantly main
maturity.

Storms of
uiiiforndy d
soothing sen
ually exposec
seen. Moder
tact of elem(

The critic
scrutinizing
variety of na
healthy aetit

There is
health and
compelling ]
inhaled, and
the atmosph
rupted, stim
All of thes(
salubrity of
tonic taste s
petual activi
As to its
degree inter
and in ordei
science and

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAliCS.

8:5

ndth of 9500 iiiilea
1200 niilus asunder,
In harmony with

jtails of itH inti'iinr

til in size and uran-
'arc. It has an area,
acres. Of idi'ntiual
ic similitude' as com-
ts absolute, as is also
y the centre of tlie

; San Luis pare, like
y and nijjiit ; obey-
lieal fickleness.

Summer and wiu-
uess of temperature,
nulate on the moun-
3 formation of light

\ the year ; at mid-
uds are wafted away
. They rarely inter-
anopy with a shining
losphere and climate
brious, brilliant, and

mbrace of these irri-
[ir, spruce, hemlock,
iiiL-trees and shrubs,

s of luxuriant and
lensed, furnish little
which are destitute
ses, growing rapidly
hay as the aridity
)astures, and supply
adigenous and abun-

mggested as flowing
ressions ; permanent

gnows, running rivers, and the coneentrie courses of the mountains and
rivers. Nature is benignant a. graceful throughout her wliole plan, and
is pro)iitious in the working of all her laws and in every element.

The /oiii/itiiifiiKif Sierras receive and absorb the glory of the morning
and of the evening sun upijii their fl:.iiks, the noontide beams upon their
summits ; they cast no chilling shadow.

Within the bowl of the pare, the heat of the shining sun accumulates;
when the sun has .set, this heatud atmosphere ascends ; simultaneously the
colder atmosphere descends from the engirdling rim of snow. These
atmospheres permeate broadcast the one the other, through and through ;
each one tempers the other by this play of natural transition.

The snows of the altitudes are constantly attacked and their excessive
accumulation defeated : no glaciers form to enclose the rf)cks and vegeta-
tion, as in a perpetual tomb. The heat of the concave jilaiii is in a 1 e
manner tempered to a genial standard ; irrigation and the streams are con-
stantly maintained; vegetation con.stantly and as unitbrmly nuraired d
maturity.

Storms of rain and wind are neither fro(|uent nor lasting. The air is
uniforndy dry, having a racy freshness and an exhilarating taste. A
soothing serenity is the prevailing impression upon those who live perpet-
ually exposed to the seasons. Mud is never anywhere or at any time
seen. 3Ioderation and concord appear to result from the presence and con-
tact of elements so various.

The critical coiu;lusions to which a rigid study of nature brings the
scrutinizing mind are the reverse of first impressions. The multitudinous
variety of nature adjusts it.self with a delicate harmony wMch brings into
healthy action the imhixfriid energies.

There is no use for the practice of jirofessional pharmacy. Chronic
health and longevity characterize animal life. The envelope of cloud-
compelling peaks: the seclusion from the oceans: the rarity of the air
inhaled, and tlie absence of humidity: disinfect the earth, tlie water, and
the atmosphere of exhalations and niidswas. Health, .ound and uninter-
rupted, stinudates and sustains a high state of mental and physical energy.
All of these are burnished, as it were, by the perpetual brilliancy and
salubrity of the atmosphere and landscaj)e ; whose unfailing beauty and
tonic taste stimulate and invite the physical and mental energies to per-
petual activity.

As to its GEOLOGY and minerals, the San Luis Pare is in the highest
degree interesting and remarkable. It is found to contain, intermingled
and in order, a complete epitome of all the elements of which geological
science and research take note. Its intramural locality between the jiri-

rUK SYSTEM Of THE I'AKCS.

iiii'Viil crests (if tlu! ('(irdillora, on tlic cKsf, and tlic Sierra .Miinlircs
(In re (Mtlk'tl tlu^ •• Suit Juan' ), on tlie u:<nt, iuiiUi|iliL'S tliU variety iiiilel-
initely.

'I'lies(> iin'nnin/ Sierras, se)ianite(l by tlit; ]iare, face (iiir amttlier in full
si^iit, as tliey rear their flanivs Irmii tlie (ipiidsite edjjies of the concave
phiiu. The successive |)o. iods a?id stiijiendoiis forces whicli liave cxiicndcd
themselves to jirodiiee what is in siuht, and then subsided to an ttcrnal
rest.eacli jiarlicularly nianifiwts itself •

'J'lie ciiiitl) <>/ t/ir Si'crni jiresents the j)rodijj:ious jilates of jirluirnd
jiorphyry driven u]), as the sul)S()il of a furrow, from the lowest teiTestrial
crust and protrudinj;' their vertical edp's toward the sky.

Till' summit, yielding to tins corrodintr forces. ])res«'nts a wedj^o toward
the canopy; is arranged in lu'aks resemlilini: the teeth of a .siw, is above
all arborescence, and is either c'ud in jierjietual snow, or is bald rock.

Again-st this is lapped perpendicularly the s«wond stratum, less by many
thousand feet in altitude, its top forming a liinn or bench. This IkikIi
being the rended edge of tlm erupt<'d stratum, softer than the first and
receiving the debris from above, has a deep, fertile soil, a luxuriant (///////<■
vegetation, forests of tir and aspen, and is the /ily/iist region of arborescence
and vegetable growth.

This is the region (if rocks, when^ thci metals, rsjK'violli/ ijolil tiiul sifnr,
ab(»und in crevices charged and infused with the richest ort-s. It is from
hence that the gold of the gulches is disintegnitcd and descends. Here
are springs of water and the sources of rivei-s. The timber is excellent
and the pastures of various grassi>s luxuriant and inexhaustible. Swept
by a.scending currents of vapor, irrigation is constant.

This elevated (tench is a permanent characteristic of the mountain
flank, continuous as the continent Itmlf ; a colo.s.sal stairca.se, whose step.s
are themselves of mountain magnitude. It is here, at these surfaces of
contact of the erupted jilates of the lowest terrestrial crust, that the
thread of the ^^ gold belt' is revealed and found. From this thread, as
friiuj a core outward, the precious metals taper in quantity and become
diluted in the immensity of the rocks, as a hill of rock salt di.sapjiears
to the eye, dissolved in the immensity of the ocean.

The top of this continuous bench is undulating, broad, and occasionally
crossed by transverse ridges and the chasms f)f water-courses descending
from above. The front flank of this bench forms the stujiendous esca.p-
meiit of the mountains, everywhere lofty and precipitous. It is cut through
by imuuuerable streams, up whose g*" i ?es access to the upper regions is
attained, and the internal contents, the intestines, as it were, of the rocks
arc revealed to sight and search.

THE SYSTEM Of THE rA/lCS.

lit' Sicrni Miiiilircs
s tliirt variety inild'-

oiii iinofhcr ill lull
}X('ti of tlu' cinicavo

I it'll have oxficiiditl
).>*i(lftl tti an i'tt'i'iial

Jilatos of ]in'itirnil
it> lowest torTL'-Htrial

vV.

iits a wt'ilgt^ ttivard
I tif a siw, is aliove
or is V)ald rock,
ratuin, less l)y many
ln'iiih. Tliis /itiiili
than tlu' first and
a luxuriant ii//iiiii-
fiitui of urbttrcsft'ia't)

nfli/ f/»/(/ fiinf si/rrr,
?.st ores. It is from
ntl descends. Here
tiinl)er is excellent
'xhauHtil)le. Swept

c of the mountain
airease, wliose steps
it these surfaces of
rial crust, that the
•om this thread, as
lantity aiitl become
t)ck sidt disajjiiears

id, and occasitmally
-courses descend i n^

stujtendtius esca.p-
^. It iscut throufrh
he upper regions is

were, of the rocks

Forming the pediment tif this stupentjoiis mural escarjiment i* the
ficDinl liinii or /i)iic/i (being the lowest) in the general mountain descent.
Here the approailiing elevation ttf tlie plain: the iinrease in >ize of tlie
streams: thi; aeeuinulatiiig di'-biis fntm above, ami the iiierea.'M-d atmo<-
iiheiic aln-asitin ; all unite to til)literite the an^'ularitv of the rocks, and

impair the striking distinctness of forunition.

l-'oi'ests of pine anti tlecitlutiiis trees prevail. The flora ami vegt-t.-itioii
is aliiintlant and varit)us. The atnitisjiheric irrigation becomes uneertain.
anil tlu? rocks are covereil with soil or tht! fragments of their own siiper-
ticial ilestniction. Immetliately following is the hni'd space occupietl by
the fusion t)f the mountain ba.se and the plain gen ..scemling to meet
it. Here is a profile infinitely imU'iitetl ami broken : alternately tlie slop-
ing ritlge.s ]irtitrutle their ribs into the ]>lain, aiitl the plain a<lvanees its
valleys between them, to receive the streams. This is the region of the
j)(iiri'rs. wliere is cheekeil in its tlescent ami lotlgetl beneath the alluvial
soil the free goltl washetl down by torrents from the overlianging >iimmit.-.

This skett'ii of tl

le iniiiiK

//structure ami eonfiiruration of the Conlillera

is illustratetl by a checkered list t)f tletails in its minute element>. The
jirimrral rocks, K.atetl to ineamlescence. rest in their vertical jMisitimis un-
alteretl frtuu their oriiiinal form ; thev have been roasted but not li<iuefi)'<l.

isuni, ui>

|U.

liftetl on lii^'h but imt tit

Original strata of limestone ami gyj
strtiyed, re.st ujioii the summits as a tt)rii hat. (lypsum. limestone, .slates,

clavs. sluue, ear

ths

d salts are thus found near the hiirhest summit.s

The ilecay of the secomlary rocks gives extraortlinary fertility to the
niiiuntain flanks, ami tt) the alluvial btittoms below. Hence the luxuriance
of the arboreseenee, the pastures, and the flora.

The altituile of the summits gathei-s ami retains the snows, whos«^ gla-
ciers give birth tt) innumerable rivers. These gash the jirecipitous flanks
with chasms, up which mails ascend. The ct)m{)osition of the rotk.-* i>
here revealetl ; the mysteries of their interior contents are unravelletl. ami
the set^retion.s of nature subjected tti the human eye and hand.

Thus, then, erects itself the prlutfrnl C't>rdillera. constructed of hori-
zontal plate.s, vertically thrown uj) by stupendt)us volcanic forc»»s. parvially
altered and rt)asted by incandescent heat, but neither destroyed nor recjLst
ill form. The secondary rocks are tos.sed and scattered high in the up|>«T
regions, but are ni)t calcinetl by flame.

The metallic ores are as various as the variety of the rocks, fnrtflud by
heat and exposed by upheaval and corrosit)n. Xo lava, no pumice, no
obsidian, nothing of melted matter from the Plutonic region is seen. This
furrowing of the terrestrial crust has alone occuiiied and exhaustetl the
stupendous volcanic throes of the subterranean world of fire.

|j|d

t ■

s ^B^^^H

>i-

, ^■•r(SP

^ ;mi^3*

•'"ffi

•f'

Ual^

J^^AiwIw

wlilKi

L' .. .

/yP^

;lsi

r4#K --'i

THE SYSTEM OF THE PA II OS.

The Sierra Mimbhes, forming the western envelope of the Pare, is
not dissimilar to the thnllUcrd in its origin, composition, and configura-
tion. Rising from the level of the great Plateau, it is of inferior bulk
and rank. It forms the backbone from whose contrasted flanks descend
the waters of the Rio del Norte, on the cast, and the Rio Colorado, on
the tcvst.

Craters of extinct volcanoes are nunun'ous ; streams of lava, once ]i((uid,
abound , pedriijah of semi-crystalline basalt submerge and cover the val-
ley into which they have flowed, and over which they have liardened.

This Sierra, then, has a general direction from north to south, corre-
sponding with the lO'Jth meridian. It has all the characteristics in minld-
tiirc of the Cordillera, but is checkered and interrupted by the escape of
subterranean fires, having areas overflowed and buried beneath the erupted
current. Where the nascent springs of the Rio del \orte have their birth,
the Sierra Mimbres culminates to stupendous peaks of perennial snow,
local/// named Sierra San Juan.

The concave plain of the San Luis Pare, begirt by this clUpttcal zone of the
Sierras, thus capped with a ragged fringe of snow projcicted ujiward against
the canopy, is the receptacle of their converging waters. It is a bowl
of va.st amplitude. It has for countless ages re(;eived and kept the sedi-
mentary settlings of so prodigious a circuit of the Sierras. It is builded
up with every variety of form, structure, and geological elements elsewhere
found to enter into the architecture of nature.

Hither descend the currents of water, of the atmo.sphere, of lava. The
rocks rent from the naked pinnacles, tortured by the intense vicissitudes
which assail them ; the fragments rolled by the j)erpetnal ])re.S!<ure of
gravitj' upon the descending sloj)es ; the sands and .soils from the founda-
tions of rocks and clays of every gradation of hardness; the liumm of
expired forests and annual vegetation ; elements carbonized by transient
tires ; organic decay ; all these elements descend, intermingle, and accu-
mulate.

This roiicavc plain is, then, a bowl filled with sedimentary drift, covered
with soil, and varnished over, as it were, with vegetation. The northern
dej)artment of Rincon, closely embraced by the Sierras, and occupied by
the San Luis Lake, is a va.st savanna deposited frouj the filtration of the
waters, highly imj)regnated with the mountain <li'lnis. Beneath this soil
is a continuous pavement of peat, which maintains the saturation of the
super-soil, and is admirable for fuel.

The middle region of the j)lain, longitudinally, displays a crater of the
most perfect form. The intericn- pit has a diameter of twenty miles, from
the centre of which is seen the circumferent wall forming an exact circle,

and in height fiv
lava, pumice, calc:
obsidian.

This circumfen

departure of the 1

traverse the nortl

]iy this and ot

into isi)latcd hill

dinary beauty of

filled up with tlu

introduced by tl

bevelled by thesi

drained through

Fivm this cri

Pare exjiands ov

volcanic activity

Rio del Norte, \

or caiion of per]

feet, where it di

the village of L

Such are thi

which nature hj

pansion of the 1:

Toward the no

defeated eflPort t

Such is an in

ras. Its physii

of nature piled

mony ; its eloi

portions ; its c

brilliancy, tonit

excellence, grai

mines and miu

salts, and fuel ;

fruits, meat, \

ment which bit

voke, stimulate

Entrance ar

convenient pa:

pass and ever

structed at an

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS.

and in height five hundred ft'ct. This wall is a barranca, composed of
lava, luunice, calcined lime, metamorphosed sandsftone, vitrified roi ks, and
obsidian.

Tliis circuniferent barranca is perforated through by the entrance and
departure of the Rio del Norte, the Culebra, and the Costilla liivers, which
tra.crso the northern, western, and southern edges of the interior.

]{y this and other forces of corrosion this barranca is on three sides cut
into isolated hills, called cerritos, of every fantastic form and of extraor-
dinary beauty of shape and tints. The bottom of the crater has been
filled up with the .soils resulting from tlie decay of this variety of material,
iiitroducefl by the currents of the water and of the atmosjdiere. It is
bevelled by tliese forces to a perfect level ; is of the fattest fertility, and
drained through the porous formation which underlies it.

Fr(j))i this crater to its southern rim, a distance of sixty-five miles, the
Pare expands over a prodigious jjt(//vV/(//, formed from it in the period of
volcanic activity. This pedrigal retains its level, and is perforated by the
llio del Norte, whose longitudinal course is confined in a profound chasm
or caiiou of perpendicular walls of lava, increasing to the depth of 1200
feet, where it debouches froui the jaws of this gigantic flood of lava, near
the village of La Joya, in New Mexico.

Such are the extraordinary forms and stupendous dimensions with
which nature hjre salutes the eye and astoni.shes the imagination. The ex-
jiansion of the lava is all to the .-outh, following the descent toward the sea.
Toward the north, repelled by the ascent, are waves demonstrating the
defeated efl'ort to climb the mountain base.

Such is an imperfect sketch of this wonderful amphitheatre of the Sier-
ras. Its physical structure, infinitely complex, exhibiting all the elements
of nature piled in contact, yet .set together in order and arranged in har-
mony ; its cloud-v_.upelling Sierras, of stern primeval matter and pro-
portions; its concave basin of fat fertility; its atmosphere of dazzling
brilliancy, tonic temperature, and gorgeous tints ; its arable and ixmtoral
excellence, grand forests, and multitude of streams ; its infinite variety of
mines and minerals, embracing the whole catalogue of metals, rocks, clays,
salts, and fuel ; its capacity to produce grain, flax, wool, hides, vegetables,
fruits, uieat, poultry, and dairy food ; the compact economy of arrange-
ment which blends and interfuses all these varieties ; these combine to pro-
voke, stimulate, and reward the taste for pliysical and mental labor.

Entrance and exit over the rim of the pare is everywhere made easy by
convenient passes. Roads re-enter upon it from all points of the com-
pass and every portion of the surrounding continent. These are not ob-
structed at any season.

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS.

On the north is the Puneho Pass, leadiuji' to the Upper Arkansas River,
and into the South Pare, On the enat, the Moscha and Sanjiio di Ciisto
Passes debouch iuiniediately ujm)ii the Gnat PlaiiDi. On the sniith is the
channel of tlie Rio del Norte. On tlie west, easy roads diverjic to the
rivers Chanias, San Juun, and toward Arizona. In the nurt/iircxt tlie
Coclia-to-pee opens to the Great Salt Lake and the Pacific. Convenient
thoroughfares and excellent roads converge from all points, and diverge
with the same facility.

T/ie si/sfem of the four pares, extending to the north, indefinitely anijdi-
fies and repeats all that characterizes the San Luis Pare. Smaller in size
and less illustrated by variety, each one of 'lie three by itself lingers be-
hind the San Luis, but is an e(jual ornament in the same liimily. Their
graceful forms, their happy harmony of contact and position, make their
aggregated attractions the fascinating charm and glory of the American
continent.

The abundance and variety of hot springK, of every modulation of tem-
perature, is very great. These are abo equalled by waters of medicinal
virtues. It has been the paradise of the aboriginal stock, elsewhere so
abundant and various. Fish, water-fowl, and birds of game and song and
brilliant plumage frequent the streams and groves. Animal life is infi-
nite in (juantity and abundantly various.

The Atmosi'HERic curre.nts, which sweep away every exhalation and
all traces of malaria and miasma, have an undeviating rotation. These
currents are necessarily vertical in direction and equable in force, alter-
nating smoothly- as land and sea currents of the tropical islands of the
ocean. The sileuee and serenity of the atniosj)here are not ruffled ; the
changing temperature alone indicates tlie n:otion of nature.

All around the cWy>^((Y*/ circumference of the plain, following, as it were,
its shore, and bending with the indented base of the mountains, is an un-
interrupted road of unparalleled excellence. This circuit is five hundred
miles in lengtli, and is graced with a landscape of uninterrupted grandeur,
variety, and beauty.

On the one hand the mountains, on the other hand the conatvc plain
diversified with groves of alamos and volcanic cerritos. At short inter-
vals of five or ten miles asunder, are cro.ssed the swift running currents
and fertile meadows of the converging mountain streams. Ifot spriii(/s
mingle their warm water with all ihese streams, which swarm with delicate
fish and water-fowl.

The works of the beaver and otter are everywhere encountered, and
water-power for machinery is of singularly universal distribution. Agri-
culture classifies itself into j'untimii iu\d (iriM-j the former subsisting on

THE SYSTEM OF THE PAIICS.

the iierennial grasses ; the latter upon irrigation everywhere attiiined by
the streams and artificial aze<(uias.

Tliis concarc eonfiguration and symmetry of structure is remarkably
projiitious to economy of labor and jiroduetion, favored by the juxtaposi-
tion :uid variety of material, by the short and easy transport, and by tlie
benignant atmosphere.

The supreme excellence of position, structure, and productions thus
grouped within the system of the Paucs of Colcirado, occujiying the
heart of the continental home of the American people, is conclusively dis-
cernilile. Here is the focus of the mountains, of the great rivers, and
of the metals of the continent.

The great rivers have here their extreme sources, which interlock and
form innumerable and convenient passes from sea to sea. From these they
descend smoothly to both oceans by continuous gradations. The jtarcs
occupy the for fifth ilct/nc, and offer the facilities for a lodgment in force,
at the highest altitude. JJcie the .supreme divide of the continent exists,
half-way between the trough of the Mississijipi and the Pacific shore.
Being immediately approachable over the Great Plains, their m'nes of
precious metals are the nearest in the wt)rld to the social mas.ses of the
American people and to their great commercial cit'.es. Their accessibility
is perfect.

All the elements of a perfect economy, food, health, geographical posi-
tion, innumerable mines of the richest ores and every variety, erect, assist,
and fortify one another. Within and around this parr, so grand in dimen-
sions and harmonious in structure and locality, is preparing itself the
mining laboratory of the world.

The rare economy in architecture, climate, inter-oceanic convenience,
prolific food, miscellaneous materials and metals, constitute and locate here
the pi I riit/oti iiufeed of all geographical positions.

The San Luis Pare has tivintij-four thousaml population. These j)eople
are fif the ^lexican-Anunican race. Since the conquest of Cortez, a.d.
1520, the JA',»/<v/H peoj)Ie have acquired and adopted the language, and in
modified forms, *he ])olitical and social systems of their European rulers.
A taste for seclusion has always characterized the aburiyinal masses, height-
ened by the geographical configuration of their peculiar territory.

Upon the Pl.ATKAi:, elevated 7000 feet above the oceans, and encased
within an uninterrupted barrier of snow, reside 9,000,000 of homogeneous
people. An instinctive terror of the ocean, of the torrid heats aiul mala-
rious atmosphere of the narrow coast on either sea, perpetually haunts the
natives of the Pi.ATKAir.

To them navigation is unknown, and maritime life is abhorrent. The

THE SYSTEM OF THE PARCS.

industrial enorjiles of the people, always active and elastic, and always
recoiling' from the sea, have expanded to the north, following the longi-
tudinal direction of the great rivere. T]t!s column of 2)ro(jri:.ss advances
from xDiitli to north ; it ascends the Rio Bravo del Norte ; it has reached
and permanently occupies the soutlwrn half of the San Luis Pare.

At the same moment the column of the American people, advancing in
forc(! across the middle belt of the continent, from cast to iccsf, is solidly
lodged upon the eastern flank of the Cordillera, and is everywhere enter-
ing the pares through its passes.

These two American populations, all of the Christian faith, here meet
front to front, harmonize, intermarry, and reinvigorate the blended mass
with the peculiar domestic accomplishments of each other.

The Mexican contributes his primitive skill, inherited for centuries
without change, in the manij)ulations o^ jiastoral and 7/(/;(//(^ industry,
and in the tillage of the soil by artificial irrigation. The American adds
to these machinery and the intelligence of expansive progress. The grafted
stock has the sap of both.

As the coming continental railways hasten to bind together our people
isolated on the .seas, A LONGITUDINAL RAILWAY of 2000 miles will unite
with these in their middle course, bisecting the Territory, States, and cities
of 10,(100,000 of affiliated people. This will fuse and harmonize the iso-
lated populations of our continent into one people, in all the relations of
commerce, affinity, and concord.

tic, and always
iviiig the loiiyi-
yress advances

it has reached
is Pare.
e, advancing in

west, is solidly
erywhcre cnter-

lith, here meet
10 blended mass

d for centuries
iiiiin(/ industry,
A)iii:ricaii, adds
ss. The grafted

!ther our people
miles will unite
tates, and cities
nionize the iso-
10 relations of

I.">0 ll.'i ltd Li.". L!" l-'i l.'l' ll.'> 111* In:, 11)11 !).•. Ml) Jl.'. iU>

)im^

<aSmSy.

iio

it>

^P*.syif ^

4-'

■j5~-;v

..,v<'

rfV"^

i^wfV'

To the Aniei
our I'litirc c(juii
stood, ii vision

Tlu'ie is rev(
jiiissed, an iiscci

It is here tlii
CAN 1'KC»1'LE I
heart a j)ious p

Here are uni
fnrcca. All of
turo of a poll I
attainable hy o

P^niinent am

Tf a navipit
v>rtlcnJ})j into
one, de<jrre of
altitude of 2;

At or about
perpetual zero

Tf he shall
north pole, it
miles, to expc
has been encoi

AVe will
changes pecul

One who ti
citrcoim plain,
the sugar belt
cattle, and s\v
At length, the
consequently

CHAPTER IX.

TIIKKMAL AMEKICA.

To tlie Anicriciiii who onnniihfrs in'f/iiii his minful yhuicr cvory detail of
our entire country, from a position correetly seleeteil and riulitly under-
stood, a vision of unjiaralleled splendor is unveiled.

There i.s revealed to him a nasseent supremacy over all iliin<rs that arc
pa.'^sed, an ascendency to which futurity can evolve no hojieful rival.

It is htre that the ])re-eminently divine jiifts, vcmchsafed to the Ameri-
can People hy God throvgh Xatiirr, speak out and enforce from every
heart a i)ious prayer of thanksjrivintr.

Here are united, in sjieeial majiiiitude, a variety of iinr ponrrs and fWsh
forces. All of these combine to dictate, and are auspicious to, the struc-
ture of a political society of vast dimensions, upon the hij^hest level
attainahlc hy energetic intelligence, — order and mental culture.

Kminent among these gifts is TiiEii.M.\L Sciknte.

If a navigator, in the mid-oeean and beneath the ecpiator, .shall ascend
rerticn/hy into the atmosphere, as in a balloon, he will experience a fall of
one degree of annual menu lieat, as evidenced by the thermometer, at the
altitude of 259 feet.

At or about an altitude of 20,000 feet, he will find the temperature of
perpetual zr.rn., where animal life and vegetation cease.

If he shall then weigh anchor and sail along a ineruh'an line to the
north pole, it will be necessary to traverse a full degree of hitltiitle. GOV
miles, to experience along the sea-surface the same reduction of heat as
has been encountered at 259 feet of ?c?Vw// altitude.

We will learn from these facts the special combinations of climatic
changes peculiar to and peculiarly favorable to North America.

One who travels by a mcriduin line along the cinieave of the great cal-
cnreoMs platn, from Cuba to the Arctic Sea, crosses in regular succession
the sug-ar belt, the cotton belt, the belt of Indian corn, hemp, tobacco,
cattle, and swine, tlic wheat belt, oats, rye, roots, the gra.sses, and barley.
At length, the j perpetual Arctic fro.sts stop all vegetation, all culture, and
coiLsequently all habitation. Such are the palpable changes ascribable to

If U

I : I

Til EH MM AMEIttCA.

I(il!tii.<li . ii|iiiii tlic niiitiiii'iitiil area i>(' small altitiuK' alxivo tlic Hoa, and
within the iiinn'tiiiif fliinatcs.

If the same traveller, f'acin.i:' to tlic left at the l(»th de-rree uf latitude,
adherini;- tu this line, elinilis tlie ;:ra(liial ascent \\\' tlir (Imit l'!n!tis. snr-
niounts the S.Nuwv XdltrilKKN A.NDKS, and reaches the l'acili<' ( ►ceaii.
he ciicmmters a similar «utTes.sl(in of heltw of ve^'etation and animal life,
fireatly foiniiressed in arrangement, and a.serihahli! to increasinii' niilinl
altitude.

TiiKiiMAL Science, iishiistcd by its haiidmaid mitioi-ohnji/, explains for
us tlie iitiin>sj>/i(jrix which successively envelop the j^lobe of the earth
outside, handles them, and fi.xes them witliout ohscurity.

The filolie is closely enveloped by a shell of water, a.s the jiulp of an
oranjre by its rind, throujrh which the continents and islands elevate and
protrude them.selves. This is the AQCKOfs (ititinsjihrrr. ^'isillle to the
eye, dense and viscid, the ranpe of its elasticity is measured by the sur-
face undulations, liy the disturbances caused by winds and cyclones, and
by the ri.se and fall of the tides against its sliores.

Enveloping; tliis, aiul e.rfrnmf to it, is the AEHIAI. (ifnioHji/n'iY. This is
invisible to the e^e, and highly elastic. Into it ascend tlie vapors ex-
haled from the .surface of the sea and the land. These vajiors, variously
condensed, float through this atmosphere in the form of clouds, and thus
reveal themselves to vision.

At an aliitude of 4(t0(l feet tliis AERIAL atmosphere terminates, being
as the siToiid rind of an orange enveloping and external to the ^firsf. It
ceases fun- as absolutely as does the iiquimis atmosjdiere under our feet.

External to the «»'r(Vf/', and similarly enveloping it, is the ETIIKKEAL
afmoxplicrr. This has the position and similitude of a third rind to an
orange. Here the region of space is approached, where animal life, vege-
tation, and clouds cease to exist.

Physical geography defines those portions of the earth's surface within
the <u'r!(d atuKtsphere, to possess a ji.vriti.me climate; those jiortions
within the vtlwinil atmosphere to possess a CONTlXEXTAli climate.

It is in the neighborhood of the l(l2d meridian, the eastern boundary
of Colorado, where the altitude of 400(1 feet is attained and the region of
the c'liifiiuiifii/ climate is apj)roaehed and entered. It is clear, then, that
the whole prodigious .system of the North American Andes is within
the eflirri'ii/ atmosphere, and in the region of the conti.N'ENTAL climate.

Upon the region of the plohnout which extends casdrun/ from the
abrupt base of the Cordilleras, are discernible counterpart phenomena as
occur upon the shores of the oceans and illustrated by their tides.

The highly clastic aerlnl atmosphere is .sometimes, by external pressure,

HI;

"ivo the sea, and

TIIKItMAL .\MEIU('.\.

(1,mmI(i1 up til the very ha.-e of the Cunlillcia. This eausfj* the coni-ave
siiitiiie i>t' tlie etliei'eal atiiKisphiTe. also liiirlily fla.-tic to asicinl. AIt«T-
iiatcly, the (ti rinl atinusjilicre t'lihs liaek to its iKinnal h-vul. Thus is
exiieileiieed, within this inarj:in. einliiaeiiif; the eonjuiieti<in of these two
atinos|pheivs, an alternate play, as in (le|tri'ssed hinds wliieh are overflowi-d
an>l then h'ft (h'y liy tlie tiiU-s ol'the sea.

We have seen tiiat tlie ^Vo///i Aim icon Amliswxv lun;iitudinal in thtir
direetion, reeeivinjr favorahly the hutting power of tiie sun uii all tlair
flunks and evtTy siinnnit. Tht? outll.inkinjj; Oinlillini* fxalt their su-
jiri'inc heads aljnve the line of ]K'r|i('tual frost. They winimw fniui tlie
air all the vajiurs of the iiiiin'tiiiir world, and totally e.veludf tin-ir entraiiee
witliiii. on to the Plntvnu. Carhonic aeid, liydrojren, nitroiit-n, are h-ft
hclmv. Pun^ient, tonie, iiealth- and life-hei-towing oxygen remains to
jKi.'^scss unadulterated and su]irenie dominion. '

These favorahle luoditieations of the tin rni<il laws, aetinir hx-itUij. hut
over a stujieiidou.s area, f^ive and eoinhine warmth, dryness, u diminution
of atniospherie pressure, a sun never elouded, serenity, and profase arljo-
reseenee and vegetation.

These influenc-es are expanded up and down the pntlirtni Plateau : tlu-y
oviileaj) the narrow limits whieh elsewhere restriet tlie inDf/nrin'if Z'xli'u- :
tlity push the favoral)le conditions of the isotiiermal axis, to the north
and to the soutli, up and down the Plateau, in both directions, to its ex-
treme limits.

A sublime arcliiteeture acts through the vi.-ion. It exalts the heart
and refines the taste of man. \ittinv is graceful, winning, and uninter-
ruptedly friendly in every feature. Xow the vfitlvnl tin nnul Ix-lts. side
by .--ide with the lion'::niitiil belts, comjire.ssed as a rainbow, are join.-)!, and
the two thermal scales blend their areas. They expand from one another,
augmenting manifold the auspicious thermal varieties.

The stupendous mountain mass is elevated above the maritime and
into the ctlunul atmosphere. The battU'iiieiits and summits pres<-nt con-
secutively every front to the luorning. to the meridian, and to the de-
scending sun. The fire of tht? sun perpetually pours down his heat through
the pungent air and unclouded canopy. This warmth condeuses and
exerts a favorable power round the year.

The area of most auspicious isothermal unrmth is here expanded to the
most immense dimensions and comj)rehe'.isive variety. The surfac-e is
most favorably undulating. It v^ burnished with diss<jlving colors of the
richest hues, and checkered with bewitching .scenery.

The latitude is most favorable. The lomjitude is equally so. From
this centre all the <,rand rivers radiate and descend uninterruptedly to all

3 m

IE ^i:

•u

TIIKIiMAL AMKHH'A.

the eiiciiiiidiiciit iMciiiis, fvorywlu-n! coiiffaliul fnmi >ii:lit licvund ilir
ciicirdiiru iKirizini.

All iiiliiiliiliilili jiltiliidcs Huccct'd (iiic iiiHitlici'. 'I'licy arc jiniccl'iiilv
McikIciI Mini cciiiiliiiinl, iis lire llio .stiviiks of the riiiiilMiw. Tlicv iimiir-
(iiatcly tiiiicli and rest ii|i<iii ihk; aiiutlicr. All altitudoH arc ('i|ually upcii
fill- individual clcctinii.

This s|il('iidid ^Inictiirc anil tlirsc ](ruli(i(' jiil'ls arc jpnipliciic nCa mi-
cicty inspired liy incnlal energies of the highest standard and reinliireed
with iniiirejiiialile jiuwer.

Here is diswrnilili! a treiiehant contrast and deficiency in architectural
cconoiny. The Kuroiiean basins of the Mediterranean, the Haltic, the
I'ontic and I'mjiontic have their calcareous Imttoins liuried, as in a
tiiinli. Iiciicatli a sterile salt cxjianse. The interveninir ami ruiijicd nmnii-
tliiii lands only are left dry and inhahitalile. This lullhuliiutl ex|iaii-c
of sea, pniloiittcd fmni (iiliraltar to tlie Caucasus, incorrijiilily isolated
Kurope from tropical Africa. This latter and ncighhoring continent liasi
remained thus cut of}', unused and undcvelojicd.

Tin; people of the iinrt/imi shore circumnavigato the glohe to liriii.;
their jrrocerics from the Ornnfu I Wistirii Indii's.

The llii iiiiiil liiiis have here operated since the liirth of time with un-
releiitiiig hostility, and superadded their blasting power to the unfriendly
anatomy of the land and water.

In America, the jirolonged /V'^^r//^ surrounds .and envelops the Mex-
ican an<l Carilibeaii Seas. It carries the isothermal warmth and railways
into the very lu'st of tropical productions. Thus the widest extremes
are iiropitiously combined in a single neighborhood and united in one
domestic home.

A special feature of this vast expanse within the rontinrii/iif climate is
prntoral ogriciiltuie. Here the dryness and the unfaili'ig sunshine curl
the grasses into hay upon the ground where they grow. Preserved thus
from dt\cay, thi'y furnish tn'iifrr food, dispensing with the labor (if harvest.

For (iniUf culfiu-f, which has the highest grade of excellence and the
widest range in quality, variety, and f|uantity, a corresfionding economy
is discernible in the univer.sal necessity and use of artificial irrigation. The
waters, coming from the snows, descend from above. LnJinr is not liar-
assed by mud or by the Injstile interruptions incidental to a fickle canopy.
The .sloi)ing surfaces of land and water arc neighborly and friendly to each
other: this relation is continuous from the highest altitude to the .seas.

All civilized po]iulatioiis have been intensely sensitive to cl!m<it!c
power, and iustiuctivcly oblicjue from excessive heat, cold, and damp.

The latituJln d backboue which bisects the Asiatic-European continent

from '•""' '" "
upon its !tinilli>
The iKiillii I'
iiUy. without ni
which in concei
North Amcrici
The ouniiiiotcn
nr.'ativc, chilli
The mental
cliisivcly restri
force has uiiiti
nicnts. A SOU)
ii febrile llnri
tiociety univcr-
the absence ot
without elastii

rnlill'rilf (I

To the Ameri

)/■(,/■/(/ are ilec(

nii.ssive multit

established it

without cmer;

There is di

who are now i

strife, an idol

tion and to d

people. To

and curb it t

it to this f/e

with them.

The grand

Ocean, have

poned in J(

frt<ii<lli/ sile

Tl!KR.MAl

cepted, offer

iuforce the c

having solii

of our nati

cuncaitvlc i

verge on tli

i«r'-r-tiii

Til El! MM. .WIKItir.K.

>i,:;Iit l.cvdii.l tl„.

t! K'*''"' U\ \)y\\\<'

from niKt III inst ri'ccivi'S tllc llfiltin^ ]«i\Vfr nl" tlic >llll. nml nil iif it,
uiKiii its Kiiulhirii i Ii>|H' iiliiiir.

TIk' iiDif/irrii sl(i|u'. asf^i^riicd to |Hr|iftUitl xliudc. receives us |ier|ietii-
ally, witliniit iiiitipitiiiii, tlu; liyiM-rliDreaii lijinr. Tlie iininiatiii;: siiii-Iieiit,
wliieli is ('DiicOiitratc'*! itiid eonileiisid witluiut t\\v rtmaivf atiipliillieatre of
N'liifli Aiiieiiea, is here seatteri'd and dis>i]iate(I liy a liii<*tile nnin.r ro<il'.
The iiiinii|Miteiit jMiwer nl'tlie l)eni;riiaiit flu rimtl Junrs is liere iiuivi'rsally
iie^'ative, eliilliii;:, and linstile.

Tlie mental liirccs and Hpcciilatiniis of the <iii/ii/iir wdiIiI Iiave heen ex-
(lusively restriete(l to the eonte.ii|ilatiiiii of y</V/;«// states. The anareiiy of
I'urce has uniforndy aeeoiii|ianied a convex j:eoi;rii|>liy of incoluTcnt fraji-
iiicnts. A sour, saturated soil ; a dismal atmosphere exdusivtsly ninn'/iiiir ;
a felirile llirnnnl condition; monotony: all these have ineuhated over
Niciety universally and witli unrelieved jierpctuity. Society, dwarfed liy
tile ahsenci^ of any jjjenerous inspirations, has been Hhiirfiish and vi'^etated
without elasticity.

I'li/i/iciif (1)1(1 social science liave found it inipo.wsihle to have hirth.
To the American, experiences .sought for and derived from the nnlii/ne
vorlil are deceptive, sombre, and di.scourajiinir. War, monarchy, and suh-
niL-^sive multitudes oidy are seen. I'Icll lllicrtij has never permanently
cstalilished itself. Societies luive firown to be polished and enervated
without emerj;inf^ from senn-savajre barbarism.

There is discernible in the temper of the p'neration of our statesmen
who are now jias.sed away, and who have; seen our country saddened by civil
strife, un idolatroua adulation ol' Europe; a proclivity to view with trepida-
tion and to dwarf tin; aspirinir };enuis and elastic energies of tlie pioneer
jieopht. To bridle the continental mission of the North American pcojile
and curb it to the sway and dimensions of the Atlantic nhore, to restrict
it to this geographical selvage, has not ceased to be a cherished policy
with them.

The jirand North American Andis, and the noio to us doniestir Pacific
Ocean, have roceived oidy faint appreciation and acknowledgement ; post-
poned in development from insufficient and stingy lej^islation or Ity un-
friiiiillij silence.

Tdku.mal Science, coming to be rightly understood and to be ac-
cepted, offers itself to correct the general judgment and to rectify and re-
inforce the cotKjuering forces of wund progress. The grand pioneer urmij,
having solidly established its lodgments around tlic whole encircling rim
of our national territory, gathers its columns faces inwards, a.>isumes a
concentric movement, departs from the seas and from river-lines to con-
verge on the centre. These columns unite by their flanks. They per-

'Hi

w m

TIlEltMM AMF/nCA.

petuiillv iiKToaso in nuniliers. prossuro, and activity. The iiistinc/ nf
gravitation, onliiilitonod liy TIIEH.mal SCIKXCK, jiains vohicity, .stciidi-
ness. anil victory without tumult.

The traces of frcop'aiiliical rniaiThij abate rajiitlly. They are aliout
finally to be extiniiuislied forever, by the riiieninjr niovenTent which will
soon re-annex to us the area of the Mexican Kepublic, on the one flank;
the whole area of the Canailas. on the other flank.

All that is necessary for this achievement, lonjj in preparation, ap-
proaches its accomplishment. To fold to us these <lfn. csfic winp:s, too lonj^;
stretched out and setrreuated from us, will fill out to the ocean bounds,
and occupy tliroui;h all its solid dimensions, as well the stuiiendous
architecture of our country as the perfectly graceful anatomy of it.s
comjiact I'xpan.'ic.

It is the discovery of inexhaustible precious metals within a projntinns
thirmal 7M\\c that gives perjietual success to the (ioLl) Fkvkr. This
defines itself as " the indefinite supply of koiiikI money for the peo]»le.
by their own individual and voluntary labor." This is the discovery of
the profound want and necessity of human society. It is the final and
exhausting .solution of the heretofore enigmatical question, " What is
the function and what i.s the power of finance in human organized .socie-
ties ?" The FIX> NCIAL PROBLEAI, cs.sential to the healthy growth of every
other problem in the scheme of civilization, is revealed, identified, and
solved.

The land area of the Territory of Colorado is 75,rOO,<:nO of acres. To
reduce this area to use and private possession requires §100,000,000 to
be paid by the penp^r to the Federal government. This immense sum is
wrung from the meritorious and self-sacrificing labor of the pioneers — it
is all carried forth and disbursed elsewhere. This is a ffahcl tax ; uncon-
stitutional, aecumnlative over all other taxes, crippling, and atrocious. If
this sum may be retained among those who pay it, the gain will lie to
them 8200,000,000. It may be retained to reinforce and enhance the
creative power of the pioneer army.

If the State of Colorado, and other similar Territories, be sanctioned and
self-government established, this may with ease be achieved. Let the
sy.stem of land surveys and the price be untouched, but the payments
enter the Sinte treasury. The disbursements shall be restricted to the
construction of a complete net-work of railways ; to universal and per-
petual education ; and to fit the lands for the production of food, by
canals of irrigation and drainage.

Within the State, integrity will be sternly enforced. These generous
public benefits will be paid for and constructed by the people tliemselves.

They will be per
the will u'hI «"!»
Tims }tnin'r!iii
cultivated. Tr;i
Civilization and
blc and erects it.-
eiiiiit'ihly i-itlm il
dethroned.

This public
mutually emplo}
It may be transj
of the seas.

Militari/ orgn
embraces or enij
Lidiiatfial 01
continually, wil
Behold, then,
America, unite(
birth of *('('-■ an
The existenc(
possible or untl
forces suddenly
reverse their fr
overwhelming s
By the Lan(
urcvl off' in the
and tijipres.ied
of them to use
The Gold I
indiviiJiKd and
mull ipUcat ion
in form, abund
Government
plified universi
elements.

The Cali/oi
has in a decad
Peak. It ha
regenerate, to
impregnable \
Its inspirii

■K«lirl

THERMAL AMERICA.

They will be perpetually owned by, and used and guarded for and under
tlic will and supervision of, the peojile.

Thus viiinrsdl railways come into existence. The lands are idiivfrsul/i/
cultivated. Ti'an.s])ortation and travel /iiki; nations and populaiions.
Civilization and c/r/'f order and civic discipline, for all, beconie.s po.ssi-
blc iind erects itself. It maintains universal authority and power. Litlor
iqiillithlij fiihn itself, and tlir political mid Jinancitil roltx'r is pcnnnncntli/
dtlhi'onid.

This public policy will combine idle populations and idle lands, to
mutually employ each other and to lire up the stajinant torpidity of both.
It may be transi)lanted into Siberia and into all the coutinents and islands
of the seas.

Mi/itari/ organization, essentially monarchical and which but partially
embraces or employs a whole j)opulation, will go out of existence.

hidiistriid oryanization, which employs ALL LABOR, uniformly and
eoiitiiiually, will displace and supersede it.

Behold, then, in the novel and ausjiicious THERMAL splendor of Xorth
Antiric-a, united with its physical confku'RATION and position, the
birth {){' ncir and overwhelming powers and //v.s7( forces!

The existence of thcsi,, or their comliination, has heretofure been ini-
pcssible or unthought of in human experience. These fresh jwwcrs and
forces suddenly unveil themselves, ferment and modify all societies and
reverse their fronts. They dictate a cosmopolitan comity and assume an
overwhelming sway.

By the Land System, the idle lands throughout the world are me.as-
ured off in the small. They are made attainal)lo for starving multitudes
and (ippres.'.ril lab(*rers. An avarice for the possession and e(uiversion
of them U> use in this form is kindled throughout all population.^.

The Gold Fever is the indefinite production of sound money by the
individual and voluntary labor of the people. This is fret tnouei/ ; tlie
nuiltiplication of money capitals in the small, independent and indicidnnl
in form, abundant in quantity, and prospectively indefinite.

Government credit, rightly understood, reduced to discipline and am-
plified universally, becomes available to combine and utilize these popular
elements.

The California Gold Fever had its invention and birth in 18-18. It
has in a decade of years trans])lanted itself to Australasia and to Pike's
Peak, It has permeated mankind as an electric fluid, to animate, to
regenerate, to exalt humanity. It permanently fortifies pkouress with
impregiuible power and activity.

Its inspiring democratic genius has, within a quarter of a century.

iff

• %t

■«

TIfEIiMAL AMERICA.

covered the continents with railways and with telegraphs. It economizes
navigation by its reduction to steam ferries upon the oceans and tele-
graphic cables upon its profound bed.

Immortal railways extend ♦'temselves, to become a universal sy.stem. nver
all the land of the globe! The dwarfing power, the waste, the piratical
temper, the monopoly of sea navigation is at an end. Its despotism and
arrogance over the rural populations is absorbed and reversed.

We have seen the energies of the American people, bringing into line
and into use thc^c new powers, span their continent with the Pacific
Railicai/, as with the rapidity of lightning from a mountain cloud.

Availing themselves of the favorable thermal warmth upon the Phitrau,
and ujion the inmiediate sea-coasts, bathed by the Asiatic Gulf Stream
(the Suro-Siwo), they will continue to expand their work to Behring's
Straits, where all the continents are united.

This will prolong itself along the similarly propitious thermal selvage
of the Oriental Kussian coasts, into China.

To prolong this unbroken line of Cosmopolitan Railavays along
the latitmlinal Plateau of Asia, to Moscow, to Berlin, to Paris, to
Madrid, and to London, will not have long delay.

The less significant and isolated continents of the Southern Hemi-
sphere — South America, Africa, and Australasia — will be reached by
feeders through Panama, Suez, and the chain of Oriental peninsulas
and islands. The whole area and all the populations of the globe will be
thus united and fused by land travel and by railicays.

Behold what a short quarter of a century in time has sufficed to
originate and accomplish, in an age awakened and armed with the subtle
democratic power of free and abundant gold !

"What celerity of motion ! What vivacity of progress ! What victo-
rious, what triumphant, what sublime energies ! What works of magni-
tude ! How benignant to mankind ! How prophetic of the future !
How charitable to universal humanity 1

wmmm

us thermal selvafre

Railways alou<'
rlin, to Paris, to

CHAPTER X.

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

Ix the current of ages, mysteries become sciences. Vafruc speculation,
long f'crnientintr, and jierjilexod by obscure doubts, produces facts. These
crystallize into precious truth. From the blind conjectures of Astrol-
oay has dawned the science of Astronomy ; from Alchemy has come
Chemistry.

The American jyeojyJe now reach and cross the threshold, where they
cnuTse from the twilijiht of the futile world of thought behind. They
enter into the full and perpetual light and promise ofpolllical and socia/
science.

A glance of the eye, thrown across the Xortli Americnn continent,
accompanying the course of the sun from ocean to occaji. reveals an
extraordinary landscape. It displays iuunense forces, characterized by
order, iictivity, and progress.

The structure of nature — the marching of ? vast population — the crea-
tions of the people, individually and combined — are seen in infinite vavieties
of form and gigantic dimensions. Farms, cities, States, public works,
define themselves, flash into form, accumulate, combine, and harmonize.

The pioneer army perpetually advances, reconnoitres, strikes to the front.
Empire plants itself upon the trails. Agitation, creative energy, industry,
throb throughout and animate this crowding deluge. Conclusive occupa-
tion, solidity, pemianence, and a stern discipline, attend every movement
and illustrate every camp.

The American realizes that " Progress is God." He clearly recognizes
and accepts the continental mission of his country and his people. His
faith is impregnably fortified by this vision of power, unity, and forward
motion.

As es.sential to all clearness of illustration, familiarity with the geoy-
rapJii/ and physical structure of the American continent seems to me
indispensable.

Assuming the division of the Northern and Southern Continents to be
at Pantima. from the same point depart the northern and southern systems
of the Andes. These two systems of mountains assume special forms of

•ill

; t

100

TI/E KOHTH AM ERIC AX M/i\SIOX.

ondi

ith the

structure, each one cor

Tliey form the biickboiie of the skeletons upon which the continents are

several y constructed.

c Southern Atide . risiiijr out of the ocean at Cape Horn, traverse
withotit interruption from south to north the whole length of the conti-
nent. They form a continuous escarpment not remote from the shore of
the Pacific Ocean, and curving with its indentations.

Approaching the eipuitor, an expansion to the east forms the Peruvian
Plateau, and is prolonged into the triangle of Brazil. The prolongations
in this direction extend to the Atlantic, and separate asunder the radiant
basins of the La Plata* Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalcna Kivers. The
shape of the continent, enveloped all round by the sea, and that of the
mountain system, are reciprocally fitted to each other.

The Xorthcrn Amlin, departing from J'uikiiiih and contracted by the
seas, traverse Central America to Tehuantepec. From hence, an inmiense
expansion in width of the Northern Continent is accompanied by a cor-
responding increase i:. the magnitude and altitude of the mountain
system.

An immense I'hitaiv, flanked by the Cordilleras, expands from sea to
sea. On the cant the Cordillera of the Eocky IMountains rises flush from
tile shores of the Mexican Gulf On the iveat th., Cordillera Nevada
rises from the shores of the ocean and the California Gulf

The Sierra Nevada, the Western Cordillera, like the Southern Andes,
erects itself eontiiuunisly from the Pacific Ocean, whose indented shore
it accompanies to Behring Strait.

The Eastern Cordillera obliques from the IMexican Gulf, where the
latter is curved to the east by the immense increasing amplitude of the
Northern Continent. This Cordillera is flanked lienceforward along its
biise liy the ^lissi.ssippi basin, whose indented shore and plain it con-
tinuously overlooks.

In tlie neighborhood of the 40th degree of latitude, the maximum width
of the Northern Continent is reached. This continent differs from the
Southern in the intense magnitude of its anatomy. Its whole area, alike
with each of its composing details, is thus magnified. The radiant basins
of the Mississipjti, the St. Lawrence, the Hudson's Bay and Athabasca,
depart from it. The Northern Aiules here attain a breadth of 1200 miles,
and assume their most stupends dimensions. They include many snowy
sierras and a multitude of peaks.

From this latitude of greatest expansion, the nuiuntain system contracts
towards the north : the Cordilleras converge at Behring's Strait as at
Tehuantepec : tluy are again condensed into one. The system of the

Northern An

area of Nort

Defined Ijj

on all point>

lengtli, and

north-northw

identifies the

This simil

systems. Tl

and Chili t

diverge with

ruvian Plate

New Granad

and the exte

If, then, t

be arranged

five years, tl

America in i

This simp

the mind, it

the stupendt

all the radia

radiate or d

condense tlu

This stuj

into two he

Atlantic, tow

Here is the i

To this ci

basins, is at

march to m

We have

plete dimen.'

of north hit

characterize

on either ot

confluent ri

protrudes it

focal region

the confine

outflanking

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

101

Northern Andes thus occupies and elevates itself aljove one-third of the
area of North America.

Detiiied by itself, it is a prolonged diamond-shaped parallelogram, faced
on all points by the Cordilleras, lonyltudliiid in position, IKMIO miles in
len"'th, and 1200 in width. It has a direction from south-.southeast to
north-northwest. Similitude in anatomical structure therefore perfectly
identifies the two continents.

This similitude of profile holds eqiuilly between the two mountain
systems. The Suntherii Andes exhibit in their cour.se through Patagonia
and Chili two summit ridges parallel and in close proximity. These
diverge with the increasing width of the continent, and enclo.xe the Pe-
ruvian Plateau and its extensions into Bolivia and the elevated plains of
New Granada. The same peculiarity is seen in narrow Central America
and the extension to the north.

If, then, the imperfectly developed anatomy of a youth of five years
be arranged side by side with that of his maturity at the age of thirty-
five years, the relative resemblances and contrasts of South and North
America in their whole anatomy will be familiarly illustrated.

This simplicity of structure pervading the whole .system, being held in
the mind, it is nianifest that the On-dillcra of the lioclij Muunfjiins is
the stupendous dor.sal foundation upon whose prodigious mass and solidity
all the radiant limbs rest. From this, including the Alleghanies, they all
radiate or depend as outliers. Into this they all ultimately group and
condense themselves.

This stupendous longitudinal Cordillera segregates the physical globe
into two hemispheres. These two hemispheres present the basin of the
Atlnitfic towards the rising sun, thatof tiie Paeijic towards the setting sun.
Here is the supreme meridian altitude up to which the whole globe slopes !

To this crowning ridge human society, emerging from the two ocean
basins, is at present climbing; the two halves i»3nt face to face; they
march to meet — to unite and harmonize over this summit !

We have seen that the American continent expands to its most com-
plete dimensions and amplitude where it is traversed by \\\q fortieth degree
of north latitude. A symmetrical harmony, perfect in every detail, here
characterizes all the departments of nature — an ample depth of seaboard
on either ocean — the sujireme expanse of the Mississippi Basin — its great
confluent rivers — the grand width of the mountain Plateau, which here
protrudes its extreme salient corners to the east and to the west — to this
focal region it rises in altitude, nni.ss, and dimensions, from every point of
the continental horizon. It here displays over its area, and in the
outflanking Cordilleras, a hundred snow-crowned peaks.

i-i

L'<>!

I.'H

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and lis (wpjmsioiis nn nud down Ihc
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110

1(1.-.

lOO

J B.Lippincott S Co.Pltitt.

102

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION

Here arise in cloud-coiiijiolling majesty the continental jiillars, Long's
Peak and Pike's Peak. 15(1 miles apart; through the intermediate sijuce
traverses the fo it it f/i liii/neot' north latitude. From their summits depart
the waters to seek the Asiatie and Euroj)ean seas. Hither the eontiiiental
slopea mounting upwards intni all the oceans converge and culminate:
from hence all the descending waters radiate.

Here, in the midst of the grand works of nature — multitudinous in
variety, suhlime in vastness, in order, and in beauty — are assemliled all
the natural gilts whicli human society needs, or may demand for the most
complete development. Here the supreme Cordillera envelo])s in its fnlils
a group of gigantic valleys known as the " S>/>ifini nf the J'liirf of Col,,
railu."

Of all the gems displayed here and there in the physical varieties
which checker the earths surface, this group is the most gigantic in
dimensions ; the most transcendently excellent in hitnUty ; the mo.-*t
wonderful, curious, and attractive.

The Pakcs hf.stiude the line of wav-tuavel of mankind at
a point of i'akamocnt control.

Here meet and mingle mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, in confluent
affluence, in immensity of proj)ortions, order, and graceful fori.is. The
pungent and tonic atmo.sphere preserves the highest standard of modera-
tion and excellence round the year. The oceans are not far off", and are
easily accessible over uniformly descending slopes.

Pastoral agriculture, mining, arable agriculture, manufactures, com-
merce — each of these has the essential elements of a couijuering power ;
— they are here all blended, each self-supporting, and each stimulating all
the rest. The affluence of nature and the prolific generosity of her pro-
portions are miraculous.

The Parcs occupy, longitudinall}'. the centre of Colarado, passing
through and through, from south to north. The whole area of Colorado,
lOT.OllO s(|uare miles (70,000,000 acres), is so folded around them as to
con.stitutc their frame and envelope, incapable of being segregated from
them.

These Parcs, thus mounting from south to north, one upon the other,
are of very nearly equal area. They are the San Lui" the South, the
INIiddle, and the *, -rth Parcs.

The elliptical area of the San Luis Pare is 18,000 square miles
(11,520,000 acres). Their similarity one to another, as members of one
family, is perfect. The internal details of structure, form, and scenery
are infinitely variegated. Kach one, examined by itself, seems to surj)ass
the rest in eminent convenience and beauty. The climatic geniality of

"mmmsmtmmm

THE NORTH AMEIllCAN MISSIOS.

103

L OF MANKIND AT

10 upon the other,

toniporaturc and salubrity have not a sinjrle blemish. They perpetually
pruiiiiit and .stimulate mental enerjry and j)hysical activity.

I am .struj.'f:ling to narrate faithtully the homespun facts of nature : to
exiiiiixerate is far from my intention. The .splendid ma;_'nitude of the
anliitccture — the faultless proportions everywhere discernible — the '.rrace-
fiil u'riiiipini^ of propitious and beni;^nant element.s — the far-searehiiij;;
vi>i(iii and re.sj)lendent panorama — all these unite to reveal to the judg-
ment that omnipotent nature here culminates her work, and has planted
the life-'rivin<^ heart of the terrestrial .scheme.

To illustrate this wonderful eontiguration, as with a model of dl-
mi'iiiifi've size, the Alps of Europe j)resent an example. A spectator,
from the .supreme summit of the Helvetian Peaks, beholds radiating
from his feet the diverging chainiels of the Po, the Rhine, the Rhone,
ami the Danube. As they depart, the small lake basin.s or pmcs of
Geneva and Constance gather the drippings of the glaciers ; and the
river basins open out to share between them the widening expanse of
the cciitinent.

The waters of the Mediterranean Sea are visible towards Genoa — those
of the Adriatic towards Venice. Biscay, and the German and Pontic
Seas, are more remote. Within a horizon whose diameter is 300 miles,
are, at present, congregated 45,0(10,000 of population, who occupy the
river basins and the rugged ground.

Since the wars of Julius Cte.sar, the progress of the people within this
area '>.is been sluggish and jiainful ; civilization yet continues crepuscular,
and its languid tire is maintained with difficulty. A hostile climatologj-,
forever incubating upon nature and man, saddens labor, chills its elas-
ticity, and .stagmites hope. The evil passions of force and despair rule ;
the energies of labor and virtue are crushed out by a perj)etually cor-
roding pressure.

The incessant vapors from the neighboring seas, brought in by every
wind, bathe perpetually the mountain altitudes : these are thus enciused
to their very roots with unfathonnible depths of ice, which never melts.
The soil of Europe, saturated by chilling tugs, and veiled by them and
by forests from the sun, is cold and sour — the atmosphere febrile and
inimical to life.

Seamed with mountain bones from west to east — pinched in and trenched
upon around its margin by the salt wastes of Biscay and the German
Ocean — by the Baltic, the Mediterranean, and the Portic Se;is — Europe
is a promontory pendent from the solid dimensions of Asia, having only
one-sixth of its area.

Its convex surface and ragged shores — its humid atmosphere — its large

1 I'J

1 1

104

THE NORTH AMKUICAy MISSION.

area, oxpaiuliiig from an I'djic nf \.\w tiiniiorate into the friijid zone of
wainitli ; — tlii'.so ilwaif an well the hnhistiy an the niiiul of ii>an.

Asia and JMir(i|ic iircscnt a (•(intiniiniis snow-crt'stoil wall,»(f.v^ nud n-fKf^
fmni China to (iilnaitar, risinjj; alimiitly and not liir ivinovcd from the
southern seas. From this coiiitx crest, to the nortli, descends as eon-
tinuously a hyperhoreaii slojje, withdrawn from tlie sun, and resting only
within tile oliliijue and ehillint: shadow of his rays.

In contrast, the li>ii<j!ti((lln<il direction and douhle structure of the
North American And<s opens them to the d'rectly seurehintr and om-
nijiotent jxiwer of the meridian sun : tlu'ir outward flanks receive the
temperinji glories of his morning and his evening heams.

TItnir oltl cdiitiiiriitH arc, in tlmir abstract j'urm (jj' struct it rr, convex a$
the camil's hack-.

The Cordilleras of North America and tlieir outliers, from north to
south in direction and ranging round near the oceans, give to the con-
tinent a vast ami sjifiii</i<i concave structure. This incessantly receives
and ahsorhs the direct solar rays.

North America is a sublinu! anqilu'l/icatre, of gorgeous fertility and
transcendent proportions. The vast surface of concentric ba.iins is uni-
formly c<ilcar<ous — it is scarcely less in expanse; of area, or more undu-
lating, than the oceans. This comprehensive area, mellow and .salubrious,
is fattened everywhere, and refreshed l)y the soils abraded from the moun-
tains. It may receive by innnigration, and sustain witliout surfeit, the
existing populations of tlie globe.

Cumulative with this is the ausjticious structure of the longitudinal
Sierras. Where Colorado embraces and arches over the extreme salient
corner of the Cordillera, is found the stupendous culmination in bulk and
altitude of the mountains, of the valleys, of the running waters, and of
the climatology of the whole continent.

To this supreme apex the whole continent ascends, by easy gradations,
from the trough of the Mississippi on the one liand, from the shores of
tlie Pacific on the other hand. Here is the summit altitude of a stuj)en-
dous cone of elevation, who.se diameter has a foundation of 20(tt> miles.

Into the summit area of this truncated cone of elevation are niorti.sed
to a profound depth the valleys which make up the " System of tltc Pares."*
These collect and send forth the fresh waters, like the arterial blood gath-
ered and distributed from the human heart.

From lience dei)art ten rivers : the North Plattti, to the north ; the
South Platte, to the northeast ; the Kansas, to the enst ; the Arkan.sas
and Canadian, to the southeast ; the Rio Bravo del Norte, due so h into
the Mexican (julf ; the !San Juan, Fiagle, and Grand Colorado Kivers, to

THE SOItTII AMEmr.W MI.SSIOX.

105

nicfiiir, cunvrx as

tlie nuKl/iiint, ii'to till! Uulf of ('alifuniiaj the CJret'ii IliviT, t»i the
Viirtiiiri'sf.

Tlic Ninth I'latto dcsiriuls, witlmiit ilcflrctiiiii. to the direct mirth for
.VMI miles to rcirivi- the Sweetwater. Kiniii this jtoint the \TatiT-«haniicls
(if tlii^ Vellowstiiiie, tlie Missnuri, ami the Saskatchewan li>riii a ruiitiiiii-
oiis iiiiil ea«y <:vadati(iii to JIiiiLioii's /{<ij/. 1'a.ssiiij: hy the (in-t'ii and
Siiiikc Uiveis, where their extreme sourees intersjeet, a similar cinitiniioiis
griidiilioii is tuiind out to llu' Xoilli I'mljlr.

Tims, upon this tiioiiiilnin xidiiiiiit uf CiAnntiln. the aseendin:: valleys
L'diivei'^e \\» HO many enormous wedges, ten in numln-r, arnin^ed with their
jKiints fiTouiH'd in (umtaet.

The passes over the Sierras, at the prolonired extremities of the:<u
valleys, re-enteriiit; thus upon one another, are numerous and easy. They
iiinipUte the throuj;h lines of jia.ssa};e ai-ross the continent. These make a
converiiciae here, from the two fronts of the continent, resemhlim; the
glolies of an hour-gla.ss communicating through the stem which unites
tlieiii.

The niiraclo of the.se hroadly exjianded altitudes is their cUnutt<Ji>gy.
Altituiie ahovc the seas; latitude and longitude ; seclusion from the .s-as;
coiuliine to perfi-ct the moderation in temjieiature. the drYnt>ss. the salu-
brity, and the splendor of the atmosphere.

The light and fire of the sun rule the day and night, the .seasons, the
tides, the vtigetatioii of nature, life and death uiMin the hind and in the
soa. IxittlicritHil urinivc thus explains how the mind of man, in harmony
with the supreme order of nature, intuitively adju ts it.si'lf to the revolu-
tions of the sun and is temjiered hy 1 s heat.

The iiortlwrn liemisphere of the globe ha.s around it all the continents
of tli(! land, holding the dimini.shed .seas in the intervals )x-tween them.
The races white in color inhabit and restrict themselves to a narrow K-lt
or zodiac, girdling this hemispliere of the continents round and ri>und.

This belt straddles an axis of Intvnulti/ whose annual mean tem|ierature
is 52 degrees of Fahrenheit : it has thirty degrees of hreadth. being
fifteen degrees to the south and fifteen degrees to the north of the axi.s.
Incorrectly delineated on the luiniature globes, this n.cis o/intfiisifi/ would
correspond with the 40th degree of north latitude, and the zone of tem-
perate warmth will embrace the belt of the globe fenced within the 25th
and i'l'ith degrees.

lint profound modifications of temperature are wrought by tlie alter-
nating presence and special configurations of oceans and eontinent.s: by
the power of atmospheric and of ocean currents ; hy the subtle forces of
electricity, gravitation, and the iiurcurial gestations of nature.

■H-'j

lOG

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

This iixIk nf iii/tiiHi'ty is, tluTcforc, an timlulatiiiy lino. It iiiclics
towards the (M|ual(ir, whcri! it travcrsoH the ileptlis of the contim-nt. It
arclics tdwards tlic luirtli iiolc over i\w ('X|)ans<'s of tlio nccaiis. Witliiii
tills isdtlicrinai licit, and rt'strictcd to it. tlu> cdlunni nl'tlic liuinaii iainily,
with whipiii aliidcs the .saciril and iiis|)iri'il tiro of civilization, indniijiuiii/-
1111/ t/ir sun, has marched from ca.st to wcwt, since the birth of titnc.

I'lion this ii.cin "/ iiifiiisifi/ htwL' been coiistrnctcd the jrrcat jiriniary
cities, which hiivc liei'n from a^e to a;re the /oc/ from which have nn/in/nl
intellectual activity and jiower. Jiiininls, and ctinverjiing uiion this axis,
have always ])reHsed the periodical mif^ratory and military movements of
the human masses.

These, recoiliiii.' alike from northern cold and from southern heats, .seek
instinctively a temperate and coniienial warmth.

Of this hiirhly artificial and disciplined .system of civilization wo
Americans form a part. It is transniittt;d from the very dawn of anticpiity,
and is inherited. History is the diary of its jreojrrapliical progress, of its
periods of hrijrhtness and obscurity, of its stru^jilcs and of its encr^iies.

When society lias attained its larfjest numeri(;al stronjith, accomiilisli-
in^ the hij.die.-t level of intellipMice and the lon>>;e.st duration, it is defined
to be an ritijn'rr. History occupies its»;lf with the biofrraphy of this{'
empires — their rise, culmination, and docadenci!. They form a xuccissioii
n\o\;'^ tin undulating zone of the n< *hern hemispliere of the ulobe,
within the isothermal belt. They for. wi .n it a continuous zodiac from
east to west.

These niijiins are the Chine.se, the Indian, the Persian, the Grecian, the
Koman, the Spanish, the IJritish, finally, the rcpnUlcnn rnijiirt: of the
peojile of North America.

These are tlu^ essential orjianizations which have received ; hold intelli-
jrontly for a few centuries each, the vestal tordi of civilization ; porjictu-
atcd and transmitted it with more or less fidelity. / rr/xitt nffulii tin-
fiK't, that this zone bolts the globe around where the continents expand
and the oceans contract: i* un<lulatos witli the axis of warm tomiioraturo
(52 degrees of mean heal) : it contains ninety-five one-hundrodths of the
white peojilc of the globe, and all its civilizaticui !

As a perj)etual and instinctive pressure tends to condense population on
to the i.srtt/irninif twis, so it thins out and attenuates in vitality and num-
bers — roj)ellod by ho.stile heats on the one hand, and by cold on the other
— until the edge is reached beyond which the white races make no perma-
nent lodgment in either direction.

On th(
vast niuui
where the
tion.

This fa%

exhibit a

Never seri

municipal

(doulile tin

in concord

Hut the

mountain s

crn I'iUropi

inclement ii

Houthcrn bi

Here th(

left unocci

dwarfed in

telligont ai

Everyw

(//r.s.s lii'iin

tiuns from

the Persia

the SDUthi;,

or the wat

and small

If, then

htistile i/ri

society ha

rassed, an

Tlu! sni

form, sho

uutliern lieatH, stjok

CilAPTKR XI.

THE NORTH AMKUIl'AN MISSION — CONTINUED.

().\ tilt! Orii 11/11/ Hlofv if AhIii, bctwi'un the ulirujit ti-niiiiiatidii (if the
\i\xt iniiiiiitaiii hulk iiiid tliu KuHtitrii Uceaii, in I'oiind an aiii|il(' ri-<;i<iii
whviv the wlujle width of the tcinp'-rtttr ;o/(c invites and I'liscs jHijiula-
tiiiii.

Thi.s favored nrwi is occupied hy tlic Chinese, who.sc institutidiis
e.Nliildl a fiiowtii of dcvclopuicut exti'iidiiij; over five tiiousaiid years.
Never seriously iiiterru]itt'd, jirojrress has .sn jierfeeted a h()iiin|.:ciie(ius
niuiiieipal system of laws and edueatiiei, that l.")((,(K)l>, ()()() of jwipulatioii
(doulile that of all Kurope) are united in one harmonious political .sy.stem
in concord and trani|uillity.

Hut the western frontier of f'lllNA is hloekaded hy the inhospitahle
mountain .system which prolonjrs it.scll" continunusly from In ncf to West-
ern Euntpe. The column of progress has recoiled abrujitly from their
incl(,'ni(!nt altitudes, aiid restricts it.self to the narrow niarjrin between their
southern base aiid the raji<redly indented sea-coast.

Hen; the northern half, or .srH(('-zone, of the isaf/irniKif luff, has been
left uniiccu])ied ; society is cut in half, crippled in territory, and fatally
dwarfed in variety and numbers. It hius vej^etated without elasticity ; iinin-
tellij:ent and .slugf^i.sh.

Hverywhere pinclu^d in or r- pelled by inland seas, tlif oiiii-iird pm-
(/n'Ks hiiivc to the in.stfni s/iorrs <>/- Kiimpr, exhibits only transient exemp-
tions from demoralization and disorder. Absorbed by the sterile areas of
the I'ersian Gulf, the Pontic, Projiontie and Meditern.aeaii Seas, land in
the muthurn half of the isothermal zone is here eitlier totally wanting,
or the water surface is only freckled by a stingy succession of peninsulas
and small islands, inhabited in broken links.

If, then, the area occupied l)y CiiiXA be alone excepted, the narrow and
hostile (jiogmithlail structure of the uiargin along which the column of
society has struggled through Asia and Eliiope, ex{)lains its slow, embar-
ra.s.sed, and fitl'ul advance.

The small empires which have partially ripened have been distorted in
form, sliort-lived ; disordered by anarchy ; heterogeneous and coiifust'd in

107

I ;•]

108

THE SOUTH AMERICAN MISSION.

eleuiciits. In Asia they appear emasculated by the loss of the nortlurn
temperate semi-zone; in Elroi'K, ly a counterpart deficiency of the
southtrii semi-zone.

As the great ocean chafes perpetually, and tortures itself anionfi the
narrow seas, only to become crij)pled in powci and turbid in color and
temper : so, a similar acrid turbulence, and loss of the inspiring instincts
of power and of moderation, have characterized the mutilated society
cramped in along the line of march through Southern Asia and the aotith
and west of Europe.

The sanguinary incubation of military despotisms over multitudinous
millions of passive and up chronicled serfs, presents a sombre canopy,
through whose darkness the lightning of intelligence has scarcely flashed.
Sanguinary monarchies and submis.«'ve subjects alone are seen.

The instinct of the American people has located and erected the grand
maritime cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, where our
continent receives the axis of the isothermal zone. Entering here from
the east, and favored by the auspicious architecture of our continent, this
axis of intensity traverses it athwart to the Pacific Ocean.

It deviates little from the fortieth degree of lat^ude, arching from it
slightly in the middle range towards the south. Here au.spicious nature
unveils every propitious gift. The energy of progress, always salient upon
this line, has located along it all the first selected and cliiof cities — Pitts-
burg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Leavenworth and Kansas, Denver, Salt Lake
City, Virginia, San Francisco. Here the intrepid energies of the pioneer
population have first and chiefly condensed themselves in force.

But we have seen that North America is a vast amphitheatre, and is
concave in configur."'tion. Its valleys, its mountain chains, its rivers, its
Cordilleras, its ocean boundaries; are all and all alike longitudinal.

The whole breadth of continent, beneath the isotherm (d zone from Cuba
to Hudson's Bay, presents an undeviating harmony. This longitudinal
expansion runs flush into the arctic zone, and into the equatorial zone,
absolutely without any barrier or obstruction to its undulating smoothness
of surface.

Nature is benignant and graceful throughout her wl ole scheme, and is
propitious in the working of all lier laws, and in every clement. The
longitudincj mountains receive the glory of the morning and evening sun
upon their flanks, the noontide beams upon their summits — they cast no
chilling shadow.

The sun's immortal flame is never withheld, hut perpetually instils his
meridian tire through all living nature, and into the hearts of men, of
women, and of growing children. Humanity, nurtured in this afllucmc

of divine wan

and immortal

The contr

(lisfcrnible.

perennial dis(

and condense

In Asia r

eordiint natii

by 1:57 indei

this vast arci

ism have bee

viduiil liberti

few, traii.'^ien

XouTii A

lilierties, sel

been normal

military desj

tinent.

The Indes
one by one,
suflicient nu:
advance fron
ignorance, ai
ileniorratic-r
perpetuated
As the col
in a closed c
oceiins and
being eipiid
HlKOl'K
vest, deboui
slopes.

Asia sin
contains hi
di'tached is'
I'ul of activ
The disti
the sun, is
These ar
these contr
America.

THE NORTH AMERICAS MISSION.

109

'qiiiitoriuf zone,
iiic sniootliness

of divine waniith, instinetively receives iinJ eultivatcs discipline, eliistieity,
and immortal pr0j.7e.ss.

The contra.sted structure of the continents is therefore familiarly
discernible. The one couvrx — its surface se<rregated — and afflicted with
jiercnnial di.^cord. The other coucnir — formed to concentrate all things,
and condense them into everlasting unity, order, and concord.

In Asia resides a pojiulation of 84(),()()0,(IOtl, distributed into ofiO di.s-
ciirdant nationalities. In Ei:rope 2r)9,(MKI,1»0U of population, distracted
by 1I>7 indeiiendcnt morarchies. Among these immense hosts, and over
this vast area, since the dawn of history, monarchy and military despot-
ism have been invariable and universal. The struggles to achieve the indi-
vidual liberties, self-government, and civilization of the people have been
few, trau.><ient, and abortive.

NdHTii A.MKRicA has a population of r><),0()(),(KIO. With them the
liberties, self-government, and civilization of the people are and have
been ncrmal and universal in principle and practice. Monarchy and
military di'spotism have been always unknown and absent from our con-
tinent.

The Indestructible jirinciple.s of social and political science are rescued,
one by one, from the chaos and rubbish of Europe. Tiiey are known in
sufficient nund)ers to perjietuate. to combine am; xbrtify themselves — to
advance from discovery to discover}' — from victory to victory, over force,
ignorance, and blind error. Rescued f'\iui the (piicksands of the past,
ihin<jcratlc-r".puhUcnupi)wcr, rightly un lerstanding itself, has here set and
pcrjK'tuated in the world its own indestroctible foundations.

As the continent.s and oceans of the n(jrth"rn hemisphere wrap the globe
in a clo.sed circle, Amfilcn /.s an islnnil. She is intermediate between the
oceans and the outward jjrotruding extremities of the other continent,
being c(|uidistant from them.

Ki'Kul'K opens all the outlets of its inland seas and rivers towards the
nrs/, debouching on to our Atlantic front, towards which its whole surface
slopes.

Asia similarly piv'sents to our Pacific front an Oiuiitiif slope. This
contains her great rivers, the densest masses of lier i>oi)ulation, and
ilctached i.slands of great area. Tb'" >: gorgeous archipelagoes arc brim-
ful of active populations, and of infinite production.

The distance from the KiimpcdH to the Asinn shores, as we accompany
the sun, is l((,(((l() geographical miles!

These ancient masses of population, (lien, fxivk to hack, and descending
these contra.sted slopes, both IVont America — they face one am)ther iicro.ss
America. The short line of mutual approach is the axis ol" isothermal

110

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

warmth, pcnotrating four-fifths of the land, and nine-tenths of the popu-
'ition of the {."■lobe !

lliia In tJie line of way-trawl of all the white races, of the coniwercia.
uctivity and industry of the zodiac of cicilization !

As, then, tliis interval of North America is filled up, the afliliation of
all niankird will be aceoniplished : proximity recognized : the distractions
of intervfiiiiig oceans and equatorial heats cease : the remotest nations be
grouped together and fused into one universal and hamionittus system of
fratenud relations.

Here, then, at this moment, by the arrival of the American people on
the summit of the Cordillera, ascending and conquering both its flanks
simultaneously, tlie most stariling fact of all time reveals itself — aus-
picious to the whole human race, and pregnant with tlie most portentousi
and immediate consequences.

Suddenly the mysteries of geograi)hica) progress are resolved — light and
victory substitute them.selves for '.arkness and distrust. Why the halves
of the human race, marching the one half towards the setting sun, and
the other half towards the rising sun, and ])erpetually departing a.sunder —
separated in the reai by insuperable physical barriers — broken apart by
hostile forces and ob.?tacles — have maintained feebly, and often entirely
lo.st, their mutual relations, is clearly revealed !

Now, at thix hour, this progress of mutual departure is complete, and
completely reversed. Upon the auspicious arena of the American conti-
nent and the I'acifie Ocean, these columns surprise one another in over-
wheh >ing force and numbers. They encounter, face to face, and front to
front. The mission of each and both manifests itself That peace and
charity are possible in the world is recognized — chronic war unnecessary,
and a consuming blunder.

The.se multitudes behold one another — the weapons of mutual .slaughter
are hurled away — the sanguinary pa.ssions of a consuming rapacity find a
check — a majority of the human family is found to accept and protect the
es-sential teachings of Christianity in practice.

Koom is discovered for industrial virtue and industrial power. The
civilized masses of the world meet — they mutually explain and under-
stand one another — they are m itually enlightened, and fraternize to re-
con.stitute human relations and institutions in harmony with nature and
with God.

The world may cease to be a unanimous military camp, incubated only
by the malignant principles of arbitrary force an<l altject submission.

A new and grand order in human iiffairs inaugurates itself out of these
immense concurrent discoveries and events.

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

Ill

The groat heart of American society palpitates with new fire.«, i ipelled
by a univei-sal instinct, inspiring discipline in action and rectitude of
purpose. Science illuminates their work ; circumstances favor and dictate
success to their energies.

A divine light, issuing out of the obscurity of the past, shines upon
our country and upon our people. It speaks out in the never-silent oracles
of Nature, in response to which each inilicidiial heart is free to re-echo and
reflect. A finite goal is unveiled to them, and distinctly seen — its pos-
ses.sion and fruition arc intelligibly revealed.

The (fratdr, from 1840 to 1850, has become forever memorable by a
crowning discovery made and victory won by the genius of the pioneers.
I mean the " OOLD FEVKR." Hie Imlffinite production tiiid inidtipli-
catioti of sound money hi/ the individual and voluntary labor of the
jieoplc.

Lnhor and industry construct their own empire and assume the adminis-
tration of governments. Steam upon the ocean and upon the land : more
potent than armies : conden.ses labor, and magnifies indefinitely its power
and its results. The ameliorating graces of commerce are rescued from
the despotic monopoly of riparian cities, isolated on the fringe of the sea.

They transport themselves in generous profusion to the homes of the
people, where they live in the depths of the continents. They are dif-
fused to them as the renovating rain of summer distils its drops to every
forest tree, to every blade of grain, and to each individual flower. The
consuming voracity of government : administered only in the interests
of trade and the engulfing rapacity of maritime cities : is uprooted.
Equality and equity in the administration of power are brought within
the reach and practice of RURAL populations.

Whereas the energies and the conquests of the pioneer army of the
people ; during the last quarter of a century ; have caused the most
significant and profound perturbations of society throughout the world —
as to them also, the City of Denver owes her location and her future
— it is necessary to illustrate the causes of this extraordinary freshness
and activity.

On July -Ith, 18-19, speaking by their invitation to the California emi-
grants about to depart from the Missouri River, I used this language : —

"Up to the year 18-40, the progress whereby twenty-six States and
four Territories have been established and peopled, has amounted to a
solid strip, rescued from the wilderness, 24 miles in depth, added annually
along the western face of the Union, from Canada to the (>u!f of Mexico.

" This occupation of wild territory, accumulating outward like the annual
rings of our forest trees, proceeds with all the solemnity of a providential

v:m

^y^

112

THE XDRTH AMERfCAX MlSSfOX.

ordiiiMiico. It is at tliis inomeiit sweeping onward to tlio Pacific with
accelerated activity and force, like a dchijie of men, risinj^ unalmtcdly,
and daily pushed onward liy the hand of (lod.

" Fronting tlie Union, on every side, is a vast arnii/ of ji!(mrvrs. This
active host, innnliering 50(1,0(10 at least, has the movements mid ohcys
the discipline of a jierfectly organized military force. It is momentarily
recruited hy single individuals, liy families: and in some instances hy
whole communities: from every village, county, city, and State oi' the
Union, and ])y immigrants from other nations.

" Eacli ))iitn in the moving throng is in force a platoon. lie makes a
farm on the outer edge of the settlements, whicli lie oceui)ies for a year.
He then sells to the leading files jiressing uj> to liim from heiiind. Ho
again advances 24 miles, renews his farm, is again overtaken iind again
sells. As hulivUlnah fall out from the front ranks, or fix themst^lvcs
permanently, others ru.sh from hehind, pass to the front, and assail the
wilderness in their turn.

" Pncloim to the recently concluded war with jMexico, this energetic
throng was cngaf:,od at one point in occupying the Peninsula of Florida
and lands vacated hy emigrant Indian tribes. At another point in reach-
ing the cojiper region of Lake Superior: in ab.sorhing Iowa and Wis-
consin. From this very spot had gone forth a forlorn hope to o((U])y
Oregon and California. Texas was tlius amiexed — the Indian cmnitry
presseil upon its flank.'^ — spy companies reconnoitred New and Old Mexico.

" Even then : obeying the my.sterious and inscrutable impulse which
drives our nation to its goal : a body of the liardiest race that ever faced
varied and unnumbered dangers and privations, embarked upon the trail
to the Pacific coast. They forced their way to the end : encountering
and defying difficulties unjiaralleled ; with a courage and success the like
to which the world has not heretofore seen.

" Thus, then, overland sweeps this tidal wave of population, a))Sorbing
in its thundering march tlie glebe, the savages, and the wild bea.sts of
the wilderness : scaling the mountains, and debouching down upon the
seaboard. Upon the liigh Atlantic sea-coa,st. the pioneer force has thrown
itself into ships, and found in the ocean fisheries food for its creative
genius. The whaling fleet is the marine force of the pioneer army.
These two forces, by land and by sea, have both worked steadily onward
to the North Pacific.

" They now reunite in the harbors of California and Oregon, about to
bring into existence upon the Pacific a commercial grandeur identical with
that which has followed and gathered to them upon ihe Atlantic.

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

113

" Hence have already come these new States : this other seaboard : and
the renewed vivacity of progress with which the general heart now pal-
pitates !

" Will this cease or slacken ? Has the pouring forth of the stream
from Europe ever ceased since the day of Columbus? Has the grass
obliterated the trails down the Alleghanies, or across the Mississippi ?
RiitluT let him who doubts scat himself upon the bank of the supreme
3Ii.ss()uri River, and await the running dry of his yellow waters ! For
sooner shall he see this, than a cessation in the crowd now flowing loose to
the Western seaboard !

'■ Gold is dug — lumber is manufiictiired — p.istoral and arable agriculture
irrow apace — a marine flashes into existence — commerce resounds — the fish-
eries are prosecuted — vessels arc built — steam pants through all the waters.
Each interest stimulating all the rest, and perpetually creating novelties,
a career is commenced, to which, as it glances across the Pacific, tlu'
human eye assigns no term !" . . .

It is to the infallible judgment and the intrepid valor of the pioneers
that the American people owe the selection of Colorado and the auspicious
cosmopolitan site of Denver. The one crowns and embraces the supreme
altitude of the continent, and majestically arches the Cordillera : the other
rests in the focus of the continental scheme of activity and fresh forces.

By the exalted energy and devotion of (he pioneer army, the imperiljed
Union has been saved from ob.sf'urc spcculatiims and blind theories.

We had beheld a period of repression ; during which our people had
been driven by malignant legi.slation in a maritime shell around the conti-
nent : its vast centre had been retained as a desert disc.

The patriotism and energies of the people, pent up and exasperated by
malignant politics, had become deformed and distorted by civil strife : our
.soil incarnadined with fraternal blood.

With the pioneer army rests the glory which has vindicated the mis-
sion of America : which preserves, enlarges, and perpetuates the con-
tinental union of the States; elsewhere rocked to its foundations, and
enervated by nepotism to the foolish fashions of Europe.

While European sentiment and its dismal political bigotry has every-
where fomented civil war and slaughter ; invaded Mexico ; bombarded the
West Indies and South America ; filled Canada with incendiaries, and
the ocean with pirates : ancient, bountiful, wise, prolific, and luxuriant
Asia, has cultivated and pressed upon us peace, friend.ship, sympathy, and
the affiliation of her redundant populations and productions.

Advancing to meet and embrace this fresh and splendid arena : march-
ing with the double puipose to a.ssiniilate with the Asiatic system and

114

77/ A' NO It Til AMKHICAX MI SSI OX.

activities, aiid to cinani-ipato ii.<c'If fnim the iiniioverisliiii}: and sterile
iiKiiKilKily of the Atlantic, iXxc pionar ttrni// selects Dkxvkii.

lleve the frcdif^rapliy and draiiia<j;e of the Atlantic conies to an cud ;
that of the I'acitic is reached. Infidlible instinct adheres to the tuotlifr-
mat axiit.

Here is the propitious point to receive the coluuin from Asia, de-
houchin^ from the ocean and the mountains to radiate and expand itscli'
tdsltcdn/ over the unobstructed area of the Mississippi basin ! We con-
sent to face about! The rear becomes the front! Asia in front; J-Aii-iqie
in the rear !

Dknvkr is ST') miles from Sacramento: 1401 from ^fcxieo City:
11(»() from St. Louis: and 2li(l(» fnmi New York.

It is, therefore, by proximity identified with the Pacljic Oaan and
with Mr.rki).

It is the salient point to which Asia and Polynesia will coini', seckiii;;
a central base; from which to distribute themsi'lves (jver the cosfmi area
oi" America and to Kurope. Thir selection thus fir.-Jt made by the in.«ipirc(l
and infallible judjiuient of the piiiiHrm <>/ t/ic wi'U/rriiiHs will forever re-
main unanimously acceptable to the American iteoj)le.

The iti.sfiiivf, the whole end)odied I'orce and pr<'. .»ur of intere.st, judg-
ment, j)ower, and j)atriotism of the jieople of the Pacific, v.ill construct
the ('ciitrii/ Railroad of North America, from San Francisco to Denver !

Why this onclusion dictates itself as eminently probable, is illustrated
by innumeraide shininj;; and concurrent facts of nature and experiences of
progress.

Dk.nvkk is in a focal point of impregnable power in the topof^raphical
configuration of the continent. It is a /wtil point for the great raiUnnt
riveis. six in nundjcr, whose channels form a multitude of uid)r;>ken gratles
descending to the Af/mifu: It is e(|ually so for tho.xe streams which,
scalping the escarpments of the Cordillera, prolong these gradients and
graft tluni. through and through, on the counterpart /<><'<i/ .system of the
rivers of the Pacific.

'I'lie symmi'trical propincjuity and ////i°r-radiation of the plains of the
Arkaii.sis and Platte liivers — enveloping and fusing into the jdain of the
Kansas — carry the Great J'/ains, like an undidating (K'can, sheer up to
the primeval (ord Hiiro. This is /urf Kiicin/iiirnissxl hi/ oiiffiiws.

The (!itK.\T Pl,.\iNs forma desceiuling slope to the longitudinal trough
of the Missi.s,sippi ]{iver, basking themselves in the ea.stern sun. liy their
intense fertility and immense area, they are about to give to our people
supremacy in the world.

The CJhkat Plains extend from tlie Mexican tiulf to the Arctic Sea.

, i

THE SOUTH AMERICAS MISSIOS.

115

o tliu Arctic Sea.

They iiro of a iinifi)rm drift formation, alluvial and diluvial ; tlicy have a
width, from west to cast, of 1200 inilcH; a h)nj;itudinal longtli of I),')!)!).

The destruction of the mountains forms their soils, in whieh every
active element of fertility and jtroduction is minjrled. This hup- area
owes its eoiistruction and its smoothness to the vast net-work of rivers
whiih meamlerdown its slope; hut still more especially to the atmonj^thcrlc
currents flowin}^ perpetually from the last.

In this work Xitture employs the industry of multitudinous myriads
of minute aniuials. The zo>>j)/iijtcs rrect conil infiiiKls from tlir afn/sK of
the (icnin. Here the ants, the marmots, tlie badgers, the loxes, the
wolves, everywhere erect their multitudinous nests from the powder and
minute jiravel of the sul)s<iil.

Dried hy the ?un and fanned by the urst iriinf, from each separate
hillock rises, to thf heij^ht of thirty feet, a whirlpool of soil. This travels,
from iirKt to >■>'„', a few liundred feet, hursts and sows itself broadcast.
I'fn'u(/irii//>/ come sand-storms of force and violence, which, to a less dis-
tance and similarly, transport the fine frravel and small boulders.

Tins s>/sfi'))i of niitiir-il/onTx, acting through countless ages, has formed
hy the afmospherlc currents this prodigious sloping glacis. As large in ex-
panse as is the Atlantic Sea, th(i winds sweep over and mould its surface
as (•' mplctely us they ruffle the water surface and drive tlie waves of
the ocean.

This poroim drift material absor})s promptly and hides the water coming
from the cloutls. These watei-s permeate down and underflow upon the
bed-rock foundation, which has the same })erpetual .slope and is jiarallel
witli the top surface. Elevated for irrigation by artesian wells, n/hr use
it again sinks to its home beneath, and is protected from evaporation.

Of the fattest fertility ; drained beneath ; everywhere supplied with
artesian waters, there is no interrujjtion to this i)i'opitious structure and
uniform adajitability to arable culture. Every acre of this ocean prairie
thus ofl'crs itself for the productiou of the cereals.

In their inuUsturhed nature these plaii.s are jtastoral : they liave, within
the knowledge of our people — within my own knowledge — sustained
lUO,()0(t,000 of aboriginal grazing stock, feeding them,selves upon the
perennial grasses, asjish In the sea.

Animal life is as multitudinous, and as various in kinds, as is the coun-
terpart marine population of the ocean ! Mineral fuel, and material for
buihling and fencing, are abundant and universally distributed. The
atniosjthere is uniformly moderate in tem])erature, favorable to health, to
longevity, to intellectual and jdiysical develoj)ment, and stimulative of an
exalted tone of .sott'../ civilization and refinement.

« , '. 'ft

116

THE SOUTH AMERICAS MISSIOS.

Such is the fi^ndeur which di: plays itself around us to the north,
to the 'mst. end co the south. Nature gioups her favors in endless
var'etipo, jp the most auspicious forms, and in tlic palmiest dimensions.

Towering above us on the west are the cloi:.d-compellin}» sunnnits of
the Eastern Cordillera. We have seen that the systt^m of the North
American Andes hero reaches its extreme departure from the oceans ; its
most salient anglo of expansion ; culminating also in supreme bulk and
altitude.

Enveloped vritl.in then arc the Pares : adjacent to and beyond these,
are the immense mountain basins of the Rio del Norte ; the Colorado ;
Salt Lake ; and Columbia : al' upon the expanse of the Plateau.

Ii. and around the Parcs is preparing itself the mining laboratory of
the world. The rare economy in structure, climate, inter-occanic con-
venience, prolific food, miscellaneous materials and metals, constitute
and locate here the paragon of all geographical positions.

us to the north,
avors in oiidloss
ost dinicnsioiiH.
llin<? summits of
ni of the North
u the oceans ; its
ipremo bulk and

id beyond these,
i the Colorado;
Plateau.
ing laboratory of
nter-oceanic con-
nctals, constitute

CHAPTER XIL

THE NOPTII AMERICAN MISSION — CONTINUED.

The discoverie,s of exact scicucn teach us conclusively what is desirable
to be known.

Everybody is familiar with the manufacture of shot. This is aecom-
piished by pourinjj; liquid lead at a hijrh elevation throujrh perforated
i?i()ulds. Each pellet of lead de.seending throiii^h the air is formed into a
sphere, as it cools, by the invisible force of jrravity.

The f,'lobc of the earth hius bad a similar orifjin ; once a liquid mas.s ;
now a solid frravitatinj; sphere of' 8000 miles in diameter, such as we in-
habit it. Geolo<ry exj)lains how the material mass of this {rreat sphere
has arrangeil it.self into layers or .shells, enveloping one another like the
successive coalings of an onion, or rather as the pulp of an orange with
many succcHsive rinds.

.S/H'(//?V y/Y/iv'/y accounts for the relative positions of these layers one
upon the other : it explains to us where and how to penetrate to their
nietalliferous contents. It is in the primeval roek^ exchmtrJy that the
jrccious metals and gems are found. The bas^e metals are found in the
ai/cinroiiH rocks.

Sprcifir (jrdflty guides us to discover the rocks in which the metals are
found and when they arc totidly absent. If into n hollow ]»illar of gla.ss there
lie [loured a cfuart of quicksilver, one of water, one of oil, and one of
alcolcl, these liquids will rest one upon the other in this order.

It a j)iece of gold, of iron, of wood, and a feather, be thrown in. they
will sink — the gold to the bottom, the iron to the (juicksilver, the wood
to the water, the feather to the oil. [f this whole ma.ss be congealed to
ice. this arrangement will remain solid and permanent. The gold must
be sought f, millinentiiry to the <|uicksilver ; the iron above it, but smli-
infiitiin/ to the water ; the wood resting upiin the water, but sedimentary
to the oil.

In the stnpendotis proportions and exact order of nature, a similar
arrangi'ment holds in the rocks which envelop the globe of the earth in
a jrust, as the contents of im egg are held within its shell. This crust or
shell IS known to be 125 miles in thickness.

117

I'll'!

118

THE sou" 11 AMEinCAN MISS 10 S.

Ill

Vi -il

These roflkH, onco nil 8oft or li((ui(l. are imw all iieriiian'.;nfly KoUd, in
the order of their relative speeifie j^ravitieM.

15ut, as the liottoiii eonteiits of a meadow-field are rijiped up hy the
(Irivinj^ force of* a siihsoil jilow, so the eoinpreitsed fires and chaotic
forces of the interior glohe, tearinjj throujih its crust, have thrown tiji the
ti'ltiiiir hiiiylliitUiiiil fiiriiiw which is now the eluvuted CoBDlLLKKA from
Cajte Horn to Behrinj^'s Htrait.

The lowest ro-ks, therefore, split asunder and driven up vertirnlly,
now form the summit of the ('iinli//n<i. The reiided facinjrs of tiu'
bottom jilates hecouu; tht; surmountiufi top of the Sierra. The warjied
sides, lient ujiwards, form the sloi)iiij; flanks of the Sierra. I'iled against
these, the superincumbent strata are lapped.

These appear as successive benches upon the flanks of the Cordi/lertt,
forming a rugged staircase, whose steps are each of coiifiiu iif<t/ magnitude
and dimensions. Such is tlie aboriginal j)rofile of the pnwcval Chr-
tiilUro, now rasped away and ragged by corrosion and the play of the
elements during countless millions of seasons.

IJut science, with efpial truth and simplicity, ascending upwards from
the earth's surface, explains the ATMosi'liERE!, which embrace the globe
outsiilc, and handles them without obscurity.

The globe is covered externallji with a liquid shell of water, through
which the contents protrude : this is the ocean, ntjveoiis atniospherc, being
dense and visible to the eye.

FcteninJ to this, and resting upon it, is the sliell of the mrrinl afntos-
pJinc. This atnu)sphorc is invisible to the eye ; but the vapors exhaled
from the land and the ocean ascend into it ; are condensed into mists and
rain-?louds, which float through it in visible mas.ses.

At an altitude of 4(100 feet, this dcrlal uhiioupJirre terminates as
abrujttly and completely as has the atpiemm ntmosphcn' at our feet.
Above its limit, or upper surface, the n«/H-clouds do noc ascend, but have
their termination and level similarly to the aqueous afmosphrre beneath.

/•J.rfrriKiI to ihc ncn'dl (If DiospJiere is the ETHKHKAh afniospliere, beyond
wliieh animal life, vegetation, and clouds cease to exi.st.

Physical geography defines those portions of the earth's surface within
the (ifirliij atmosphere to po.ssess a MARITIME climate; those within the
cfhirixif atmoi^phrre to possess a CONTINENTAL climate. The Plateaux
of North America, of Central Asia, and of South America enjoy a contt-
nental climate ; the rest of the earth's surface lies within the maritime
climate.

How perfectly the area of Colorado possesses a continmtal climate
and lies within the ithrcal atmosi)hcre, manifests itself to every observ-

THE SOUTH AM Kit WAS MfSStOS.

119

niiin-ntly mViH, in

rippod up l)y the
fires iiml chaotic
ve Ihiown up the
(tKIilLLKHA from

■II 'ij> vcrliciilly,

I faciii^r.s (if th^'

■ra. Tile wariied

•a.

I'ilod

lieu a''aiiist

f tho (WdUlcra,

noital uiaguitudu

e jirinicviil Cor-

thi! phiy of the

iifr upwards from
luliraco tlio globe

f water, tliroufrh
tmosjiherc, being

he amnl atmoa-
e vapors exJialed
d into mists and

? terminates as
'•«■ at our foot,
iseend, but liave
phrre beneath.
oitjihere, beyond

i surface witliin
hose witliin the
'he Pl^ATKAUX

II enjoy a contt-
1 the maritime

intntdl climate
• every observ-

iiij,' eyp. Tiie illustrations and proofs of this are i-oiuiuMve in t'V«'ry
dcimrtuient and niinuti; detail of nature — uiwin the surface nf thi- I'lains;
in the eauo|iy ov(;rhead ; in the mountains; in animal life; and in the
ve^rctatinn.

To the traveller who ascends from <<i.*i to wvjt/, at the |>;us>»a'.rt' of the
1(12(1 nieridiaii, tlut metamorphosis over the whole landM-:i|M- is ciiniplele.
Tlie surface of tlit; earth is uniforndy dry, compact, ami fm- fn.in mud;
the forest has dis:ip])eared even from the rivers ; where irri-.riti<>n. "tlier
than that supplicMl from the clouds, is absent, wormwtMMl. the eacta". and
dclicale perennial gras.ses only grow ; the air is intensely pungent, tonic
to the tast«!, dry, and translucent ; the atmos])herie pn-s-Mire dimini>lies,
and animal digesti(jn is modified.

Across the canoj)y, which is inten.><ely bine in color and brilliancy, nish

itly, like Ixtrsed

>f th

<ili riouils. bi

>he<l with

couriers

and radiating silver tire. This gorgeous /;(/yr'y/-/f display of eloiid* i- multi-
tudinous and inces.sant round the year: they contain neitluT rain nor
electricity ; and descend over us with my.sterious and incidculabic v«l<K*ity in
the iicriiil <itm<isplii'rr.

TIk; ottion^phtric riirrriifs pour incessantly from tlie irttf — the moun-
tains gather but little snow — they are naked and dr}' at mid.'-umnier. The
rivers are without affluents, an<l e.\j>end their waters by eva]Mtnition. The
incessant pjissago of clouds does not obscure the sun, but ri'fracts and
intensifies his insj»iring light.

There are neither moisture, mia.smas, nor perceptible exhalations of any
kind. DiiM is not frequent. Serenity, moderation, and purity reiim within
th(! complete circuit of the horizon. The mind of man is .SMithetl. tem-
pered, and modified by this immense benignity throughout nature, whii-h
infuses itself, and a.ssimilatos everything but human avarice and nij'.ifity.

The su[H!rb richness of color and of dis.^olving ."hadi-s are infinitely
variegated and delicate. The visimi, aided by the continually inerea-xiiig
elevation, is far peiu'trating and distinct in its recognitions. Within and
among the mountains and upon the Platf \v. the niinh-ss character.
serenity, and splendor of the atmosphere are the sjime. All tht-se g«'n«T-
ous attributes gather in force, and are enhan<ed l)y the .^uiHTlativc U-siuty
and sublimity of their marvellous stnicture. magnitude, and iiunibe-

'Y\n'. preci.st' flirts which fix the supreme climatic excellent «»f Cotonido
are these : the latitudt! — the elevation above the sea — the remote seclu-
sion from the sea. These all attain here their ninximiim^ and unite har-
moniou.sly. This results from the astimishing and au.spiciuun c«inconl
between the grand laws of nature ; the comprehensive scale of the anhi-
tecture ; and the favorable /oml configuration.

120

riiK s-(ntrii amkuic.w mission.

Tlic Nmlh Aiiiiiivini A iii/m c\ cry vihcrv. prove tliciiixclvcs to liavc liccu
driven ii]i tliroii;;Ii the lied of it iiriiiu'val occiiii, of wliicli tint Mis.iis.sij,j,i
htisiii is llic still uiialti'riil liowl. Tlif Hodiiiicntiiry strata, liki' u nest of
Itowl.s iiiiiiij.' tlu' ahyss, are Imikoii off and tilted uj) along tlie indented
baHu of the iiioiintains.

A traveller wlio apjiroaelies t]w Aflmific sntf/minl, eouunj; from tlic
iiiiif, sees that ocean penetratinj; every hay, gulf, luirhor, and indentation
of the land, jireservinj^ an unalterahie li'vel. In the same way, wrajtiied
against the Cordillera, and meantlering its infinitely indented roots with
tiie same undeviating fidelity, are Keen the rended edges of the cii/ainiiiis
Htrata.

Kaeh stratnm iiaving its characteristic color, thin friinje of n (lipitrUd
ixiini is traceil without intermission lengthwise through the continent.
It is easily discernihle, as though a continuous rainbow were ]ilaited in to
mark the line of junction, where the sc'dimentary and primeval rocks join
together and depart in opposite directions, each to maintain exclusive
dominion.

Thus, ascending along the arc of the 4(lth degree of latitude, a dis-
tance of twenty miles from the I'/<iiiix, directly uj» to the summit of the
Cord if /nil, I'very elementary rock of the geological scale is crossed,
arranged in order and jilaced in jxisition. At the lower end appears
liiliiniil </ii/f, the top settlings of the sea ; at the other end t]\c priinvvul
2>"r/>/ii/ii/, upheaved from the lowest crust.

JIi II , in economical juxtajiositio and luxuriant profligacy, are found
every metal, every rock, every clay, every salt, every alkali, I'uel, arbores-
ceiiee, vegetation of gra.s.ses and flora — every and each element of the
g(Milogical .scale to which human industry ajjplies its .skill, or manufactures
and conv(!rts to social use.

I am awed by the.se marvellous facts <d" nature, which cannot esciipe
recognition. I liave not discovered that they exist, or cjin so exist, else-
where round tlu! earth's circumlerenci!, iu ..nysuch complete coudjination,
of such jiurity and magnitude, asliere — iiifrniiidi'nfr — upctn the condensed
track of way-travel of the populous and active zodiac of mai'cind.

A st4irtling and profound novelty here displays it.self and fixes our
attention.

All along the liinijltiiilliinl J'kifriin, altitude and the protection of tlie
Cordilleras temjter the hrnl towards the e(|uatorial zone ; the .same causes
temper the ciJil towards the polar zone. These extremes of teu)j)erature
for the day and for the night are great; for the seasons round the year
scarc(!ly jierceptible. In one word, the temperature is uiuforndy nriinl.

By this, the genial and propitious climate of the imtheimal zik/iuc is

THK SOUTH AMKUIt'AS MISS/OX.

121

proloii^'cil outward upon its north flank, and itn soutli flank : it oxtomU
up and down the arou of the fiuhnii, and is f'olt to hoth its extremities.

Tlius is iHustrated the severe tniifnisf ani(iii<; the eontiiients, North
Anitiica heinj; in its eontij^uration iniicnrf — all the otlu-rs coiiiix. Klse-
where, hostile strueture, perpetuating ineorrigihlu distraetion, segregates
soiiety and dwarfs its energies.

In Xuit/i Aniiricii. a. homogeneous unity of language, population, and
manners is unavoidable. This is henignantly amplified hy an undulating
variety of contour, pervading eijually tlu! mountain sy.stem and the jilain.s.
This hap]iy eomhination provokes tlu; highest development and diseiplinu
of energy, and tlie most e.xalted civilization.

As for the nite upon which the CiTV <•!•' Dk.nver is founded, it is pre-
eminently coHmo/xjlitan. It pre-oecupies the auspicious focus into whidi
Nature groups all her colossul elements. We are at the ha.se of the Kiii>t-
irii Cori/i/lira, who.se summit, nowhere jjenetrated hy navigation for ten
thousand miles, forms the phi^mcal mvriilian which parts and unites the
two hemispheres of the ghthe.

Here the vast arena of the Pacific basin fits it.self to the basin of the
Atlantic, edge to edge. The goal is reached where the zodiac of nations
closes its circle. The gap between the hemispheres is bridged over forever.

We are upon the isot/niiiKil iixis, which is the trunk line (the t/id/iifif)
of intense and intelligent energy ; where eiviliziition has its largest field,
its highest development, its inspired form.

There is an intoxicating grandeur in the panorama which unveils it.self
to the .sjjectator looking out from the crest of the neighboring Cordillera.
In front, in rear, and on either flank. Nature ascends to her highest
standard of excellence.

Behold to the right the Mississippi Hasin : to the lefV the Plateau of
the Table Lands : beneath, the family of I'arcs : around, the radiating
backs of the primeval mountains: the primary rivers starting to the seas:
a uniform altitude of 8()()() feet : a translucent atniosjihere, a thousand miles
' cuioved from the ocean and its influences : a checkered landscape, from
wliich no element of .sublimity is left out — fertility and food upon the
surface ; metals beneath ; uninterrupted facility of transit.

Behold here the pdnomiiKt which crowns the middle region of our
Union ; fans the immortal tire of patriotism ; and beckons on the ener-
getic host of our people !

Here, through the heart of our territory, our population, our States,
our citit's, our niini!S, our farms and haltitations, will travei-se the con-
densed commerce of mankind — where ])a.ssengers and cargoes may,'*? any
lime or j>litei; embark upon or leave the vehicles of transjKjrtation.

■* ■!

122

THE XOIlTIf AMKIifCAX }rfSSrOX.

ii ;'ii

Down with the parricidal policy which will banish it from the land —
from amoiif^ the broadcast dwclliiiirs of the pcojilo — t<i f jrco it on tci the
sterile ocean : outside of society, throu;ih foreifjjn nations — into the torrid
heats : alonfj; Holitary, circuitous routes : imprisoned for montlis and dwarli-d
in great ships !

Railways, miltiplied and spanning the continent, are essential dnnicstic
institution.:; !:.ore powerful and more permanent than law, or popular (un-
sent, or political constitutions, to thoroughly complete the grand system
of fluvial arteries wliich fraternize us into one people — to bind tlie firo
SKil/oanh to this one continental vni'on, like ears to the human head — to
radicate the 7-nral foundations of the Union so broad and deej), and
establish its structures so solid, that no possible force or stratagem can
sliake its permanence — to secure such scope and space to j)rogress, that
equality and prosperity shall never be impaired, or chafe for want of room!

To Denver is secured a career into which all these favorable^ facts of
position and circumferent area are now united. The North American
people numl)cr Ji/ti/ 7Htllion.t in strength. Two millions annually shift
their houics. This force is, j^'ir cxci Hence, the pioneer army of tlui North
American ])eople. This movement causes an uninteirupted jire.ssure of
the people from aist to west, resembling the drift of the ocean which
aecompani. s the great tidal wave.

Diurnally is the surface of the sea lifted up in silence and poured upon
the coasts of the continents. Exactly similar to this is the movement,
annually gathering force, and seen to impel our people through and
through from the easternio the uestern limit of the land.

The inscrutable force of (/raiifi/, which with minute accuracy holds the
planets in their orbits, or Ci. ises each drop of rain to fall, sways the
instinet of society. This gravitation pres.ses from all directions upon the
axis, and to the focus of intensity. This regular in.stiiict of movement
lias been transiently interfered with by the artificial passions and demorali-
zation of civil strife. It rapidly assumes again its tempe'- and its
regularity.

Our neighbors from California work up to us with miraculous energy
and celerity. They bring with tlu-m the ojien aven)ie to us from Asia.

The Mexican colunni reaches us from the south. On the )(irtli the
activity is great, and in clo.se contact. The.se several columns s multane-
ously converge upon us. They increase evert/ moment in numbers, weight,
and celerity of motion.

We no longer march into the blind wilderness, di'penih'iit upon and
chained exehisinli/ to Europe in the rear. We open up in IV'int (ho
gorgeous arena of the Asiatic Ocean

THE yOUTIl AMKIllCAX MISSIOX.

123

At ]>rt'si!iit, tlu! liuge city of Ldinlon iiunKtpolize.s the imports from the
Oriinfiit world. These arc stored tliere, and retiiihid to the people ro-
siiliiiL:' in tlie basin of the Atlantic.

Upon the labor of the American people, so far us thoy particij)atc in
the consumption of Orinifal witrra, is harnessed the frightfnl burden to
si'i'port the British peojile and the Britisli Empire, a id to be devoured
by their voraeiims despotism of trade.

The work of emancipation is accomplished by tlie intrepid enerj^ies
and (uniiuests of the pioneer army of North America. It only remains
to be appreciated and accepted by the people.

We are about to supply by direct export the food and precious and ba.se
metals to 8')0,()(K),000 of neighboring Asiatics ! To Japan : to (Jiiina :
to India. To the gorgeous islands of Borneo : Sumatra : Java. To tlie
Philippines: the Celebes. To the Archipelagoes of the Sooloo Sea and
Polynesia ! Tiiese are hirffer in aggregate area, and more populous, than
Euro|K' ; and arc nearer to tis.

Included witiiiri the eijiuitorial zone, but approached by us through the
kmp< i-iili zone, they ovei*flow witli mercliandises desirable to our people,
in multitudinous affluence. To us will belong the prodigious carrying
trade upon tlie seas for tlie.sc inlinite multitudes. The e((uatorial heats
arc outflanked and avoided. The conflict for dominion over the mul-
tiplied commerce of the world is fought, and the conclusive victory is
won tiir our country.

A large majority of tlie American [leople now reside within the Mi.s-
si.s.si|ipi Biusin, and in this Asiatic front of our continent, which is born
from us.

Na.scent powers, liereulcan from the hour of their birth, unv(!il their
forms and demand their rights. States for the pioneers ; self-govern-
ment for the picmeers ; untrammelled way for tlie imperial energies of the
forces of the Rocky .Alountuins and the Pacific Sea, may not long be
withheld by covetous, arbitrary, and arrogant jcalou.sy and injustice!

In the conflict for freedom, it is not numbers or cunning that conquers ;
but rather daring, di.>4tijiline, and judgment, combined and tempered by
the conden.sed fire of faith an<l intrepid valor.

As it is my hope, iti the.se notes, to contribute what may be valuable,
I adhere strictly to severe facts, and nject ab.solutely all theory and
.speculation. These facts are as indestructibly established as is the alpha-
bet, and arc as worthy of unijuestioning faith and credence.

That we may htok into the giitbering achievements of the near future,
without obscurity, and with an accurate prophetic vision, 1 may without
censure submit what is within my own personal experience.

\ M.

124

THE NORTH AMEItlCAN MISSION.

i ■ w

It fell to my lot, during the years from 1840 to 1845, alone and lu
extreme youth, to seek and chalk out, in the immense solitudes filling
the space from 3Iissouri to China, the lines of this dazzling enijiire of
which we now hold the oracular crown — to have stood by its cradle — to
be the witness of its miraculous growth.

It is not for me, in this season of gathering splendor, to speak tnmcju
upon a subject of such intense and engrossing novelty and interest. I may
properly here quote the concluding sentences of a report which I was re-
quired to make on the 2d of March, 1840, to the Untied Stntex Srnatr,
at that time brimful of illustrious .statesmen. What I said then and
there, in the first dawning twilight of our glory, I will now repeat :

" The calm, wise man sets liimself to study aright and understand clearly
the deep designs of Providence — to scan the great volume of nature — to
fathom, if possible, the will of the Creator, and to receive with respect
what may be revealed to him.

" Two centuries have rolled over our race upon this continent. From
nothing we have become 20,000,000. From nothing we are grown to
be in agriculture, in commerce, in civilization, and in natural strength.
the first among nations existing or in hLsfory. So much is our ihntiny —
so far, up to this time — tninsuctcd, accomplished, certain, and not to be
disputed. From this threshold we read the future.

" The vntransactcd destiny of the American people is to subdue the
continent — to rush over this vast field to the Pacific Ocean — to iiiiiniate
the many hundred millions of its people, and to cheer them upward — to
set the principle of self-government at work — to agitate these herculeaa
ma.s.ses — to establish a new order in human affairs — to set free the en-
slaved — to regenerate superannuated nation.s — to change darkness into
light — to stir up the sleep of a hundred centuries — to teach old nations
a new civilization — to confirm tlio destiny of the human race — to carry
the career of mankind to its culminating point^ — to cause stagnant peojile
to be re-born — ■. perfect science — to emblazon history with the con(|uest
of peace — to shed a new and resplendent glory upon mankind — to unite
the world in one social family — to dissolve the spell of tyranny and exalt
charity — to absolve the curse that weighs down humanity, and to shed
blessings round the world !

" Divine tmk ! immortal mixftion ! Let us trcjid fast and joyfully the
open trail before us ! Let every American heart open wide for patriotism
to glow undinnned, and confide with religious faith in the sublime and
prodigious destiny of his well-loved country."

REMARKS OF MAJ(

1845, alone and iu
ise solitudes filling
dazzling enijijre of

»J by its cradle— to

or, to speak tnmcJy
lid interest. I may
•t which I was re-
^ifrd Sfittrf, Sniolr,
t I said then and
now repeat :
understand clearly
uine of nature— to
:ceive with respect

continent. From
; we are grown to

natural strength.
•h is our detitlny—.
aiu, and not to be

is to subdue the
)cean — to aiiiniute
them ujiward— to
e these herculean
» set five the en-
ige darkness into
teach old nations
111 race — U) carry
* stagnant iie()j)le
vith the con(|ucst
ankind — to unite
yranny and exalt
lity, and to shed

and joyfully the
de for patriotism
the sublime and

APPENDIX.

MEXICAN WAR.

REMARKS OF MAJOR OltPIN, AT THE BARBECUE GIVEN' THE COLE INFANTRY, AT
JEFFERSON CITY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1847.

Happy are those who, after hopes long su.spended and hara.ssing
anxieties long and doubtingly endured, come to find their hopes con.sum-
mated by brilliant successes, their anxieties relieved by enthusiastic
praises and the shouts of triumph.

Such are the soldiers who, their trials ended and their long and ex-
hausting services at an end, are here assembled to receive the greetings
of the!- kindred, and listen to their flattering praises and their shouts of
victory and welcome.

During thirty-two years of peace, — a long period, which includes the
birth of nine-tenths of us, — our own State has joined the confederacy.
War came suddenly. With the same pen which signed the declaration
of hostilities between Mexico and the United States, the President di-
rected to Missouri the first requisition for the War!

It asked a slender force of 1 500 men, — all volunteers but 300 dragoons
— to cross the Great Plains and penetrate Mexico by the north.

Bounding forth at the sound of the war-bugle, in one month were as-
sembled at Fort Leavenworth, beyond the western verge of our Union,
the Ist Regiment of Missouri Cavalry, the battalion of Artillery fro > St.
Louis, the battalion of Cole Infantry, and the Laclede Rangers, 120o in
all, and forth they marched.

Wars had occupied mankind for one hundred centuries, but they had
been wars between adjacent nations — marches had been confined to inhab-
ited countries, where provisions abounded on the routes.

Here was a wilderness of u thousand miles to be traversed, and the enemy
to be encountered at home, in great strength, and abounding in resources.
A failure to transport with us complete supplies was certain disaster and
Starvation — a check received from the enemy at their threshold would

125

126

APPEXDIX.

I i

eventuate the same. This enemy was the pfople of Mexico, a sister Re-
public.

Years had hecii i-Ahausted in ingenious devices on our part to avoid
this conflict. Our citizens had been nia.ssacred in Texas amidst the very
orgies of barbarism — our merchants had been plundered and imprisoned
— our flag insulted in their metropolis — our citizens murdered, malt rcated,
and scofftul for their religion — debts accumulating during thirty yeara
unpaid — treaties contemptuously violated — more than all, an attemiit to
imitate fnir republican system, productive only of anarchy, stood as a bur-
lesque beside us on our own continent, furnishing to the malev(jlent food
for satires upon popular freedom in the Xew World.

Forth, then, into the wilderness plunged the little army of Mi.<souri to
encounter these enemies of their country — their country to them a/trat^s
right.

The plains were passed, and the rugged mountains which, dividing
from the Rocky Mountains, encircle Now Mexico, were reached. Tlioir
rapid progress had outstrijiped the provision-trains. Amidst fatiguinji;
marches, dust, solstitial heats, and scanty water, subsisting on onc-ipiarter
of the ordinary ration, they rushed onward to Santa Fe.

The army of New Mexico, in numbers three to one of our force, occu-
pying the impregnable gorge of Gallisteo, which covers the j-pproach to
Santa Fe, dispersed in dismay. On the 18th of August, three months
from the proclamation of war, made at Wasliington City, 2!500 miles dis-
tant, the statt! of New Mexico lay concjuered, and the American flag
floated over the Capitol at Santa Fe.

Occupied until the middle of September in securing the subjugation if
the country, the 1st Regiment descended the Del Norte to the lower set-
tlements, receiving the submission of the towns and people, and returned
to Santa Fe.

New Mexico contains 100,000 inhabitants, vast resources, and by its
basin-like configuration is easily defensible, and difficult to be confjuered
cr long held in subjection.

New Mexico is surroimded by powerful tribes of military Indians : the
Con.anelies, towards Texas — the Yiitas and Navajos in the Rocky Moun-
tains, and on their slope towards the Pacific.

Issuii.g fnmi the surrounding mountains, the.se warlike Indians strike
down the people, devastate the banks of the Del Norte, and driv(> \\w{\\
the stock. In years past they hav(; plundered from ^lexicans many mil-
lions of sheep and cattle. By the submission of New Mexico wo had
become the guardians of her people and territory. The pious duty re-
mained to tame her savage foes.

The infantry, J
fort was built to
made by the Coi
parted for the
one jienetrating t
the Vutas and
letta ; a third dei
bound eventually
The northern
tated villages, to
tion, and, reachii
the river Chamas
tjo Yutas, includ
With them w;
tliose Indians,
their farms and f
Supplies havii
prepared to pa.ss
up the Navajos,
On the 2d of
by tlie snows wJ
force, 300 stronjj
that led up to tl
which flows to t^
With us were
visions. In se\
altitude of 10,')(
of the " Grmt }
meiLsles scourgei
prey to its rava<
I'oUowing foi
with the sheep
the impractical
men), we descei
siou tif whicth a
Astounded i
trusted it couW
horees whl'h h
mission.

Taking with
ened toward tli

MEXICAN WAR.

127

loxleo, a sister Re-

our part tf) avoid
as amidst tlio vorv
L'd and iiii]iris()iied
rdered, iiialtivated,
uriiig thirty yem-s
iill, ail attoiii].t to
ly, st(Mid as a bur-
le nialovolont food

■my of Missouri to
ry to tlioiii uhniys

s which, dividing

e readied. Their
\niidst f-itiiiiiinj,'
ng on one-(jiiarter

four force, occu-
s tlie i'.pjiniacli to
list, three months
y, 2:}00 miles dis-
le American flasr

lie subjugation ,)f
to the iowor set-
pie, and returned

urces, and by its
to be conrjuered

iry Indians : the
lie Rocky .Aloun-

e Indians strike
and drive (i.ith
cicans many mil-
Mexico we had
e pious duty re-

Tho infantry, artillery, and dragoons remained to garrison Santa Fe — a
fort was built to command its approaches — a treaty was asked for and
made by the Conianches. The 1st llegimont, in three detaclnnciits, de-
parted for the recesses of the llocky ^lountains late in September : the
one j)enetratiiig towards the northwest by Canada and the Chamas against
tlie Yutas and Navajos ; another southwest by Albuquerque and Sabo-
lutta ; a tliird descended by the Del Norte, covering the American traders
bound eventually to Chihuahua.

The northern column passed out through a denuded country and devas-
tated villages, to which the fugitive Mexicans returned under its protec-
tion, and, reaching the recesses of the Rocky ^lountains by the sources of
the river Chamas, in one month delivered to the authorities in Santa Fe
Go Yutas, including their chiefs and chief warriors.

With them was formed a treaty of peace, since faithfully observed by
those Indians. This restored many thou.sand families of 3Iexicans to
their farms and firesides, and gave (piiet to the northern frontier.

Supplies liaving been with great difficulty collected, this same coluuui
prepared to pass the eternal barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and .scare
up the Navajos, reposing in security on their western slope.

On the 2d of November (in this climate the depth of winter, indicated
by tlie snows which enwrapped the surrounding mountains), this little
force, !J00 strong, abandoning their tents and wagons, entered the gorges
that led up to the " Pass of tlie San Juan,' the head of this great river
which flows to the Pacific.

With us were 7U Mexican allies and 100 pack-mules transporting pro-
visions. In seven days, contending again.st snow-storm* and ice at an
altitude of 10,'JOO feet in mid-winter, and unpalatable water, the i)assagc
of the "Gridt Mothi r Mountain" of the continent was accomplislied. The
mea.sles .scourged our camp. The brave boys, I'oster and Rryant, fell a
prey to its ravages.

Following for some days the great San Juan, leaving its banks swarming
with the sheep and horses of the Navajos, and crossing towards tlie south
the inipractii able mountain of Tunicha (never before trodden by white
men ), we de^icended into the cavernous region of Challa, amidst the seclu-
sion of which arc the forts and fastnesses of the Navajos.

Astounded at the appearance of an American force where they had
trusted it could never penetrate, the chiefs tendered presents, restored the
horses whl'-h had been stolen from New Mevico, and promised abject sub-
mission.

Taking with us nine chiefs commissioned to l)ind the nation, we hast-
ened toward the snowy jicaks which rose 200 miles to the east and barred

128

A rPEXDlX.

our return to Now Moxico. At the umtern ba3e of those, in the t-rritory
of the Zufii Tiidiaiis, wo awaited the arrival of tlie colonel coniniainiiii"
to whom the Xavajos' chiefs swore eternal friendship to the white jum.

Marching hence uiuhr the western edge of t\u) mountain crest, we
visited and smoked the jiipe in the city of the Zuni Indians. This
people, many of them albinos, one of the lost specks of the aiitii|iie
Aztec race, inhabit a solitary city in the centre of the immen.se plain
traversed by a northern branch of the Gila River.

Hence, reerossing the " Ciretit Mother Mountain" by the Zuni I'ass im
the four first days of December, we descended to the Del Norte. Jnyousiy
did we meet again our fellow-.soldiers, and soon the i.st Regiment found
it.self reunited at Valverde. 250 miles below Santa Fe, about to pass
onward to the conquest of El Paso and Chihuahua.

Thus, since our departure from Santa Fe. luid our little force under my
command reduced to peace the Yuta and Navajo nations, 40,(10(1 strong,
aecompli.shod a march of 750 miles, cro.ssed and recroseed the Sierra
Madre. pas.sed the Tunicha and Chiu.ska Mountains, and many rivers.

During many successive nights the cold descended to the freczing-jmint
of mercury : the streams were frozen solid : the pasture scanty : and of
fuel there was but a stingy handful of evergreen woods: — two bravo men
and many horses iiad perished : for the rest, their health was good, and
their spirits always gay and undaunted.

This is the first military force of our nation which, cromug the Rocky
Mountains and unfurling the national standard upon the uuiti r.^ <>/ the
Pacijic, has received for it the submission of u hostile people ; and this
was accomplished in the depth of winter.

A portion of our little army (the artillery and infantry) remained to
occupy New Mexico ; another, accompanying (leneral Keanioy, had gone
to secure the concjuest of California. The Indians having boon siVduod,
the Ist Regiment was now concentrated at \'alverde, on the lower edge
of New Mexico, meditating the conquest of the rich and populous state
of Chihuahua.

This was the 12th of December. Our regiment mustered 700 men.
The weather was intensely cold, the river ran with ice — we had no touts
— and our animals starved upon the harsh, dry gra.ss. In El Paso, 200
miles below, are comfort and plenty — wine and corn, and houses, and a
delicious climate; but there, too, are a regular force of 1500 Mexicans
and five pieces of artillery. Between the armies is the "Jornada, or
"Journey of the Dead," a dreary stretch of 100 miles, without wood or
water.

At the entrance of the "Jornada," awaiting our advance, were tiio

MKXICAX W.ifl.

120

Ami'ii<"ni nu

■itIhiiiIs. liaviiiu' lUtO wa-'ons. diariri'tl with 81.000.000 worth

tie force muhr my
>ns, 40.00(1 strmi"'
?ro.>«c(l tlio Sierra
<1 many rivers,
the fretzins-jKiiiit
re scanty : and of
: — two brave men
ilth was good, and

•roxslnrf tile Kneky
the utit(/s iif ike
people ; and this

itry) remained to
[car'iey, had gone
ing been si Slued,
)n the lower edge
nd populous st^ite

ustercd 7(tO men.
-we had no tent.s
In El Paso, 1>(I0
tid houses, and a
r 1.J0O 3Ie.\i(an«
e '"Jornada," or
without wood ipr

Jvance, were the

of uieicliiiiidisf. One hundred men under Captain Hudson suliscijuently
canio to us from Santa Fe. called tiie • Chiliuaiiua Kangers" — tlu-y were
drawn from the lid llegiment (Colonel I'riee'.sl. An exjiress was sent
baek to Santa Fe for one company of artillery, eommamled by Captain
Waitinan. Tliis company overtook us afterward.-' in Kl I'aso — abcmt the
1st of I'ebruary.

On tiic llith, a forlorn hope of HOO pa.ssed onward to open the pa.>*sage
through the "Jornada" — witii this were Captains Parsons, Waldo, Keid,
and Hodgers. We expected to meet the enemy as we should pass onward
from its jaws.

The pa.s.sage was accomplished — no enemy obstructed our exit at the
farther end — we descended to the river and ijuenehcil our thirst, con-
tinued during three days and nights. IJobledo is the nanu' given to the
lower mouth of the Jornada. Twelve miles below is the little town of
Dona-Ana — it has j)lenty of corn and ti<lO people.

This is the only settlement abovi! Kl i'aso. which is SO miles distant.
On the morrow we entered Pona-Ana. and there learned Miat the Mexican
army would advaiue to ineet us as we should descend to Kl I'aso.

On the lilJd, our whole force, having successfully pas.sed the Jornada,
reunited at Dona-Ana.

On the 21th. our march was 18 miles. On the 2.')th. advancing rapidly
ahead of the wagon train, we encamped at Hrazito, 1!> miles, al)out one
o clock. The camp-guanl, (!0 strong, the wagon-guards, and many men
with jaded horses, were in the rear. 77/ /s inm ChriMnids il/.

At two o'clock. th(! approa<-hing cloud (d' dust revealed the advance of
the Mexicans. The bugles sounding to arm.s. our fore(> was deployed in
a single line on foot upon the prairie in I'ront, and envclo}iing the wagons: —
we numbered 424.

T!ie Mexican.s deployed immediately in our front, in gallant style, and
rapidly :— they numbered IJ.'id. The veteran \'era Crn/ iMagoons were
on the right — the Ciiihuahua Cavalry on the left — in the centre, infantry.
Now it was that a black flag was flapjied in our eyes from the centre of
the .Mexican line. It was defied — the sbo>k of battle followed.

The Mexicans charged upon our line — 'heir cavalry converging to our
front, their infantry advancing. Our men, sitting down and receiving
many volleys from their artillery, nuisletry, and escopettes. decoyed them
clo.se — when suddenly rising and pouririg in a lurid sheet of lire, the enemy,
riddleu . 'erywhere. fleil liowlinL'.

Their artiliv'v was taken. (i;{ were killed, and a vast rpiantity ol' arms
taken from them. Those who escaped deserted from the Mexican army.

r.o

M'I'KSl'IX.

dicm h

ii- Clui.-tiiuix (lav, llic '.ttli aimivi'i-sar}' i»f Okciluilicc
issiiiiri viiiiiiitcci's i-oiitii'iii h|miii liim \\iv ymil llr uttcrcil aj:,i

lill.i

■ v i-xiiiiiiaiiilcr on lliat tiiiiin'i' dav.

a til

ta: U'lu'il iiur iiiaiclu

On ll

u' iiiiiniiii<^ II

lie -<lh, \Vi

•iili'icd

Kl I'iiMi. Awailin'' \\w ani\al nf aililliiv. wi' liiipiid >i.\ \vi'ik> in ll

(liliiioii.s M'ttlinicnt." nl" El I'

Aliinil 2(l.tMM( .Mcxiianw lui

It,'

f itlltl\;(lf

the jiiaiif. aiii! rnjuy innrii |piii>|u rit v ainl a driniuiis ilunatc.

On till' '.Mhiif Fi'luiiarv, we innvi'il i>n fi> Cliiliualiiia. Tin- intcival, Jxi
uiilt'>, it' M'cn iiy vmi whu inlialiil this nur vmlant laml, wnulil lie |ini-
iiuun(-i.'(l a liii\vlin<: (k'sert, >\\A\ is its aiistcn; aiul jiirliiililinii aiiilitv —
Saliai'a ilni's nut cxci'i'i

1 it-

illlS III'

i.» niiU's, williunt waliT, wiMic. or

^rass — j:iavt'l. sanil. ami iink> jmpsm'.'^;. it uuTcl^ — hi'nuiiiliing lolii at nijilit,
at iniil-ilay hut and ilitstv.

Uii the liTtli, wi; ivai-hotl Siiiix. 4(1 niilra iVnni Chihtiahiia

miiUvav

ht't

wi'i'u r*iins

and Chihuahua is Saciaimntu : lure is the unlv watir in

that whiilc liistaurr. am

1 lii't

wt'i'n lis

d il

ic iiji|Mirtanit} to .»lakr our

lak.

thirst,

was cntrt'iii'

hed

•M

I'xuan anuY.

On the atUrnooii of the iJSih, was j^aimil //(» iinnnlluiin rutm-i/ nj
Sucninii iitii, in w'lich your soldiers cuViTcd llu'insi'l\i'> with iniju'rislr.ililc
filory. < hi the toUowiny and siieeeediny da} s our whole coluinu enteivd
I'liihuahua.

At Cliiliualiiui we heard with exultation uf the pillunt eondiiet of (1u:
CoK' Ini'aiitiy and I''islier s Aitillery. at Canada and 'i'aos — ol' llnir f:in>il
discijilin.! a'.id jiivUant hearing whilst in •garrison at Santa l''e. I'licse wirt'
soldiei's' o\' thr jiist itqiiisiti'iii. »\ul tried with us tin- ojH'iiinji i'ainjiaij;ii ot"
the |irairie.s. Jiet u.s lu>re. then, as at Chihuahua, emwu with the sniiii!
(■ha|ilet the sohliers ol' IJrazilo. Sairanieiito, Canada, Taos, iiml 101 I'asu —
sharin<:; alike the lioimrs won iiy all.

|)urin,ir two nionth.'^ did the Missouri eoluinn Imlil undistiirhed pus-
.'-i'>sion III' the nietrii|iolis ot' Chihuahua, and control its de|iendem'ies.
lii>uri'eeliiiiis jilanned Imth here and at Kl I'a.so weri' antiei|iate(l anil
iii|i|ieil ill the iienn. Anieriean traders and nmssenjii'rs lravii>eil the Slate
iinharnied. It had lieeii sjiid that so small a lone eoiild not liohl Chihiiu-
liua. /f iiiis i/i,iir, and tiiat with a linn :inil lram|uil ^ras]i.

Hut the jieriod of our serviie neared its elose. From our own <riiverii-

ment not a whisjier

had

reai

hed

I I'll

Ul til

e oiitstarl — no pay — no amiiiii

n lion (our eartridues were made of |iowilei taken at iJia/ilo i- im
reiiiloreemeiil.s — mi mmiey — no remini.seeiiee oi' mir own e.vistrm-e wai^

iliseermiili

111.

General Woo! had delleeted from hi.-^ tiist iiitt iiti

oiis. ami III ll r tiitfinifiil
at Cliilni'tliiiii. On the liSth of Ajiril. Chihuahua was evaeualed, in oU;-

ME X re AX WAR.

i.n

( (kt'cllnlpff. 'J'llli.S
//> iittciv-l aj;.,iiisi

If 27tli, \w ciiicivd
■d >i.\ Wrrk.s ill il,^.

• iii.s luic iiilti\iitc

iiiialc.

'I'lir iiit( rviil. L'SO
mil, Wdulil In. |,|y.
liiidtliii^ iiiiilitv—.
lilt water. wiPiM;, (ir

iiij; lolilat iii;;lit,

liliiialiiia: iiiidwav

llu' uiily watrr ill

mil} to .-lake „ur

III III, UK n'rtori/ i,f

Willi imj)(ii,s|Kilp|.-

•lo ttiluiiiii iiitiivd

tilt ((.iidint lit" the
Hi!* — (if tlicir piiiil
H I'V. Tli( •^«(. Will,'
'iiiii}; <imi|iaijiiiot'
VII with ilu' siiiK!
I*-*, and Kl I'a.-c, —

iiiKiistiiilicd \K\^-

ilf* dt|iciid(ii(i('.s.

f aiiticijiatt'd and

raV( r>c(l t|i,. Stale

iiiil liid<i Ciiiliiia-

ilS]).

mir own '.'■"Vcrii-
" l''''> — II" •iiiiiiiii-
■il IJiazitd) — III)
VII «\i.-«iiii(f \\M

id //' II r iipfiiiiiiil
vacualj'd, in oU,'-

(litnic to ati order from rfciKTiil Taylor, that we *houhl join his column
at Hii<ii:i \'ista and Moiitcri'y.

Tilt' inaiili to .Moiitrrfv. I'>.')<> inilt'S. was a(<iim]i!i«hid in :.'ll ilay!*--i7
jiiccfs of aiiiilcry. witli their caissons, and a (tain of limt lii-.^ . v. ii/ons,
iii(iiiii|iaiiied lis. It was ii|ioii this descent from the tahje lilt Is • . he
iiiiiiilinie iciiion. that oi;rsiifl'eriii<fs. from hr.-ickish water. siiP- :iiiu ■!;. t,
iiiiilit iij.irches rendered necessary hy lonjr strelclies and li-'

r. LH-t

cxce.s-ive.

Here. too. at Kl Paso, lit "• the city of Parras. w: Vun irV ri >U!»
iictory ovcrtlu' ('amaiiche Indians. l>y a small hamlfiil i'' •"•^t'lant men.
icil liy Captain Heid : 17 Indiansl.it tlie dn-t.

From the oiit|iosts of the '•soiuhern arii»v." Iicvoiid liueiia \'ista we
reached ('ainarjro. on the Hio del Norte, in nine days — |ias.siiij: through
flic cities of Saltillo. .Monterey, and throii::h Ceralvo.

Since the de](artiirt' of the Missouri eoliimn from the (/(.</< r;i honler up
til iiiir return to oiir homes hy the I'ls/n-n honler of o'lr State, we havo
travciscil the full distance of 7.")1M( miles.

No jMisitioii of i'tjual imiHU'tance to that of ('hihuahua has over yet
hccii licM liy the I'niteil States in Mtxico. nor anywhere hy so small a
furcc. One thousand Mis.soiirians. oecu|iyiii>r ("hihuahu.i. cut off from
•Mexico, New .Mexico, ami the two Califoinias in their rear.

I'carin;.' j)er|ietiiiilly to he invaiietl. the States of |)nran<jro an<l Sonora
witlihcM iVoin the Mexican iroveriitiient all men. military sn|ijilies. or
fniaiii iai aiil. The amiile wealth, resources, mints, cannon, foumlries. and
mull rill i\\' Chihuahua were coiiverteil to mir uses.

Thus, ilicn. hy this nnfrul ]>osition, were held in check and .severctl from
the enemy three-tifths of the territorial soil of tin; rejuihlic id' Mexico,
ami ,')l)tl.tlilll ot' her |>o|iulation.

'I'lii.- |iii>iti.in. t commamls he pvat and maiL'nifieent road whicli leads

iliiwn the central tahli' lands, throuirh the c;i|iit.ils id' I>uraiip>, Zacateeas,
.\i:iia>('alientes, Leon, (iiianaxuato. and (^uerefaro. to the city of Mexico.
Tiiis route is unohstructed hy nnuintains. ami leads to Mexico thr<iU'^li an
idiuiiilant ami very healthy re;j:ion. If is the one hy which the trailers
fitim Missouri annually visit the great •' fair id" San Juan" ami the city of
Mexico.

Ill

It a|i|iears to me that the column of Mi>soiiri is the only one which has
ade war with eth'ct aiel olitainetl from it woitiiv rcMilts. To he sure, iiir
iveriiment lias tlirown them aw.iv, as uuworthv <d' notice, ami worthless;

hut th

IS does not k'.s.sen mir merits.

A;-l

In June. It), when the Mis>iouri c(dumii left Fort I.eavenwt.rth, (leii-
erai Taylor s column was at Camaigo, ready to march un Mexico hy the

I i'

•!^3

1:52

A ri'KSDIX.

route 111' S.iii liiiis INiiiisi. In June, 17, tlii' Missouri I'olimin, rrturning
til/ till (liilf. liiiiinl (Iciicriil Taylor's adviint'o posts at Hufiia \'ista, only
-SINK DAVs' MAltcil in advance ol' that same ('ainarj:o.

T^) Jie sure, Taylor's eolunin hail won Lrreat vietories ; Imt so also Ijnd

tin- colii.Min ol' Missouri, a^^ainst a variety of i-nein

les.

Tho southern army lay licliilesH u]ion an uiiiinportuiit cd^re of Mex

ICII,

heninied in liy jiuerrillas— sueh as we found it, its ex|>enses .mioiinted tn
.?i.(imi.(l(M) |,er vvt<'k. 7'),0IM» Anieriean soldiers had he.'U sent in :iii<i
out ol' Mexico in a single year in this direction.

The nuinl)ers of soldiers had borne a Hijiall ratio to those t'in]iloye(| in
iiieii-of-wur, in fleets of transports and steamers, at tlie depots, and with
wa^on trains. Fit\i\- mouths had been consumed advaneini: from the I)cl
Norte to Monter«!y, 2S(I miles. /'/»>■ months from Monterey to Saltillo,
80 miles. Ihnw forward i 11 has been eomjdete sta;^natiori.

le pn.«;se."<sio

MS of the .s('iithern army are strictly conlined to the citic

of Monterey and Saltillo. A whole army is consumed in L'uardinir from
ma.x.sacre and ile>truetion thi trains pa.ssintr alonj: the road that connects
them with the J>ei Norte, only \W\ miles.

T}ie ro/iiiiiii It/ ^fissoltri iiiifijt'irtcd tlmlf /nnii the Mr.ri,'ini jnirsft.
After fulfilling its orders co'.npletely. by the con((nest of the States of

New 3lexicn. Chihuahua, the two ("aliforni:i

iiKl iiuni

sllIuL'

many

Ind

Ian

nations — clo-iinir its onward pro<xress at Chihuahua, we have inai'ched tilMl
miles from the hear' of tl'e .Mexican territory, n/miin/ out te (ienerals

Tavl

or uiul

Wool.

Filially, one irreat result is proved by these various campaiirus. /t is lii/
till' riiUtr iij till iiliiliiy mill flir tilhh' IiIiiiIk nf Mr.riro <iM,Y. tlnil /lir Mfixi-
run iidtinii run In roiiifiirinl mill lirhl in nuhjrctltni hi/ the Aim rirmif.

The eonli^iiration of the country, the healtli, the fiupjilie.s upon the
route, its shortness, and tlu^ extraordinary results accomplished by the
.Mis.-oiiri column, di'iiionstrate this. The slender means and small cost of
our (jimpaiirii add more stronu' jiroofs of this.

/■r/littc-coiinfri/nicn a in/ Lmliix : The soldiers of the first rrijin'xiti'ou from
Missouri, exceptiiitr those who sleep forever beneath the shadows of th(
Sierra Madre, have returned to receive the frreetinirs of their friends and
kindred. We brinu with us the spoil of the enemy as trophies of our
victories.

asseuililie.s

bli

-th

erowils of fair women a>id brave men — flu

•omplinient.iry festivals an<l flatterinir woi<ls resoundiiii: in our ears from
every \ illauc and from every cabin, are the trratifyinjr rewards of our

■ft"ort,<

and our (

hvils

'I'liiis are our loiij;-susjH;nded hopes and painful anxieties consummated

MExrrw wm.

188

••I'lninii, rrt„r,,;„ff
{||<ll;i \'i.s(a, ()M,y

, Imu so nU„ lijij

It ('•L'-i' (.r Mr.xici,

■IISC.1 .iiiioiiiitid to

Im'cii .s(..|it ii, ;„„|

liosc ciniildycil ill

' <li'|M(ls. ;i||(| Willi

"■ii'.i: (V.iiii ill,. 1),,|
'iiti'ivy to Saltillo,
inn.

iliiicd til till, citi,,,.^

in -iiaidiiiL,' iV.im

roiid tliat coniictts

<•*■ flic States of

lini: many Indinn

liavo niarchod (i(»(i

/ "I'f (•• (lenorals

nipaiirns, // /,< /,y
i.V, //„!/ Ilir Mr.n-
"' Aiiiiriffiiis.
iil>l>lif.'< u|Hin till'
inij-lishcd l.y the
iiiid .iniall c().st (if

If ri'fpn'sififiii from

I' .sli.idows ot" fill

tlicir friends and

tro|ilii(.s (if our

•avi' nion — tlicsr
in our (>ar.s fmni
rewards of our

es coiisuumiafed

by a iliH>p and gratifying scn.sc of triiiin|ili. So bavu we in-rfunutil our
ta.'ik, and .>4Ui'li is our iiiunititvnt reward.

Suffer me to say, — as oiio elevated by their own suffnijri-s !<■ an iui|Mir-
tiuit loiuni.ind ;imoii;T tliem. — a.s well to my feliow-SKliJier' a.« t«> llur^- here
lircx'iit who have sons, or hrothi rs, or friends anions: theiii. that I r<>iin<l
at all times the numt adinirahlu di.sei|iline: the inorit {>r<iiii|>t and s|m)|i-
taneoiis oliediencc — at all tiujo.s a luode.st umussiiuiiti;; l>n«v«Ty, whieli met
thirst and eold and starvation and l .^haiistinL: niirht uiarehe;>. with .•Hin<r<
and ;-'iiyety and merriment.

I)is]ilayod on the tield and in the hour of battle hy a )|uiet anxiety for
the eliarge, and then |diin<rin<; down u|M(n the enemy with a fiery fury
which ovirwhelmeil them with defeat and stuie_' them witli di->|i:iir.
These (|uaiities they adorned with moderation after victory, and elemeuev
to the vaiH|nished.

But the eareer of your .soldiers, so hapjdiy he<nin. eloisii'S not heiv.
May they not yet devote their younir eiieiL'ies to a eountry whieh they
;i!iiently love, and whieh thus j;eiieiously illustrates it.^Jove for them?

War has been to our j>n»gre.ssive nation the fruitful .■<-at)on of general in<;
new offspring to our eonle<l«'ratioii.

During the Revolution, little armies, i.ssuing from tlie Alleghanit's. fia.s.<<><l
os'cr Kentuei;y, the Northwest Territory, and Tennessee. The?*- new eiiun-
tries had heen reeonnoitred and admired. With hanly frimes. eonfinued
health, and reeruited by a year or two of peaee. these soldier* returned
to oecupy the choice sjiots whi(di hail been their bivouac and cauijiiiig-
giounds. l''rom the campaigns id" war grew the settlements of |iea«T. and
jiopulous States dis|)la(;ed the wilderness. Another war came with another
generation — armies jienetrated Miehigim, uy<\)eT Illinois, and into MLvsis-
sippi. The great Mi.ssi.ssippi, ero.s.><i'il at many |M>iiits. eea.s«il to Ik? a l>ar-
n'er, and the steamboat appeared, plowing its yellow flow. Five great
States and 2,(MMI,((0(> of |)eople embla/on its western bank.

Anil ii'iir, (if/ain, have come atuithrr i/eiienifioii uml «/H»*/A»*r icar. Your
little armies have sealed the et<!rnal barrii-rs of the •• Mother Mountain"
of the New World, and, buried for a time in the maz^-s of 11* manifold
peaks and ridges, liave ibljuHclud at many points upon the briny Ix^eh
of the Pacific.

P.issiiig round by the great oceans, a military innrinf simultanoouslj
strikes the shore and lends them aid. Thus is the wihlem«>S!? r«fon-
noitred in war, its geography illustnited, and its conquerors di.«4.-iprtucd.
Your soldiers, renting for a time at home, will s;dly forth apiin.. and,
wielding the weapons of hus})andry. give to you rtKids that will nurture
commerce and a sisterliood of maritime Stuttit on thf imr-founJ r^tan.

I !|

i|!

134

AI'PK.MHX.

We return, tlu'ii, tu tin- liosoiii (il'tiiir lilnriMiiH State, to bury our liouiid-
iiig liearts iu tlie joys of responsive ^natulations. Coining tVoni arid
wastes and tlio unrelieved stttrility ol' mountains and plains, to sian a^iain
the verdant lields and niantliii'; forests of our niotlier-land, wliicli nt' us
ull tloes not apostrophize, with glowinj; hearts, our native scenes? — II nil to
Colundiia, land of our liirtli — hail to her niagnitieent domain — hail to
her generous peojik — huil to her matrons and her maidens — hail to her
victorious soldiers — <M hutlXa her im s/ir i".s — hail to the suhlime dc.xtiuy
which hears her on through |ieace and war, to make the limits of llm
uoutiuent her own, and to endure forever !

i I

IT.
SI'KKCK OF ('(M.. WIMJA.M (illJ'IN

(iS TIIK sriUK< T (iK TIIK I'.MIKH' IIAII.WAV KlItST SI'iikKN AT TlIK lAMI' tif
HVK TlliKSAMt ( AI.IKlillMA KM |i. II ANT.-', AT \VAKi:i(l-.\ SnW TIIK ITTY itK
I.AWUKM i;,. KANSAS. KKI'KATKli AT I N KKI'KNhKNiK. Ml»i'l Itl. AT A M \S.S
MKKTINtI iiK TIIK (TTI/KNS oK .lACKSK.N Idl NTY, IIKI.H NnVKMIIKIl ■., IM'.I.

It is willi |iriili)im(l |)li'jisur('. Mr. ('Iiiiiiiiiaii. lli.it I Mildnss my li'llnw-
titizi'iis lii'ic ii.ss«'iiil»l«>d to rt'M|Miii(I ii|i|in>viiij:l} to the Niitidiial ('niivcn-

tiiiii ii

t St. [

idlllS.

Iliiviii}; sliiind witli the itiniiccrs rrmn Mis.-'imii in tin; iiri;;iii:il ('\|iliir:i-
timi iiiiil sctllt'iiicnt of On-jroii mihI Califiiriiiu — liaviiii; since hi'di iini-
iiiiiDii^ tiiMsc holdicrs wlm t-anitil, iliiriiii; war, mir national fla^ iicni.sH
the Siena Maiiie, ami jilantcd it ii|i<iii tin- waters tli'.sccmlini.' to tlie Paeific
(never tliemi! t(i recede) — I j:reet willi enllmsiaslic jny tliese civic iimve-
nu'iits dl" tlu! iieiijde to ((insmiimale, with the frreat work.s uf peace, what
war and e\|ili)rati(iii have ii|ieiied.

I>i|il(iniacy and war have hron^dit to ns the ciiin|iletion of our territory
and |ieac«'. From this we advance to the iiKsii.TS. These results are,
tiir tlie present, the imperial expan.sioii of our repuhlic to the other ocean:
frail lity with Asia : and tlu^ const met ion acio.ss the et^ntre of our ler-

ritorv. 'loin ocean to oe«'a

to us

n, of

I ^rreal iron ]iatiiway. specially national
iriternatioiial to llie northern eoiitinent.s of America, Asia, and

'iiiriip(

III approacliiii>.; a discussion of a " Xatiiuial Railroad from the Missis-
ippi to the I'acilie," intinite in numlier and variety are the matters \.Ui-h.

d t

swarm up and deinanu to array themselves in its advocacy

.. do I

feel emliarra»sed how to .say such thinjis only as are true and .-e.i.sille in

th<

leiiiselves, iis well as interestiii'i to mv hearers : let me, then. Lei-h what

I may say uiuler the followiiiir head" :-

1st. Th(> national character of this work, and it

s iiirisxi

'.'/■

-d. Its pracli<al>ility. and the jiresent capacity of the nation.

• >d. Tlu^ time and manner of its eonstruetion.

I'ro^re.^s, political lilterty. eipiality. These, the most ancient iiiid car-
dinal rij^hls of human society. |ierple.\cd in the olt.scurily of military '\v»-
potisin, and almo.st lo.st for many centuries, are now struj:<;lin}X thioutrliout

iiHi!

13G

Al'I'KXD/X.

tlio wt>rl(l t(» if-('.stalili>li tlicir jiic-ciiiiiuiicc In Aimrica they occiiipv
the vaiita<j;o-^n)iiii(l ; liu- MiviTci^nly icsitli^ in tin- .siitl'ia|ro, anil witli us
it is universal.

I'ln^rcss, lliiii, in Aint-iica lias tiic intcnsitx oC tlic wlmlc ixuplc, ^jniw-
in^ itsvll' in toinis as intinitc as tho tluiuulits nl' the human n ml. Itut
it is til liiat (l('|iartnii.'nt tif]ir(ijircss which t-rcati's fiir us new Slates in ihc
\vil(|( rntss, and cxiiainis the ana »it" nur I.Jciiulilic, that 1 licit' restrict
niyscir. Let us umlerstand //((>■ ; what it is at the jnesent Imur — wliat

simulate:

k'hat retards it.

Since 1(1(IS wi! have ^irown Irnm nuthini: to 22,(MI(I,(MI(( : Irmn a i;;

ir-

deii-liatch, tt» lie thirty States and many 'i'erritiiries ! This, with aj;riciil-
lure, manutaulures, cDmmerce. |Miwcr. and hapiiiness, is mir jimtiros sc»
fiir.

The annual yield in inuney of this ajrriculture and manufactures is nnw
Sl',(I(MI.(MM».(KM». This enmmeiTo vexes all the waters and penetrates to
all the nations ot the earth. This jiower, tranijuilly coni|ilele on our own
continent, com|icls |ieaccrnl dercrence aliroad. This happiness, se hcncli-
ceiilly felt at home, ret ruit,« us with the oppicssed ol" all nations.

litit the lite of a nation is loniz. I'nlike human life, hrielly exlin-
"uished in the i;rave. a iiation lireathcs evei- on with the viuor of "viicra-

tioiis of men daily arrivinir at maturity, and then de|iartin^

nation

luiH then a iiiiniiiil law of

*th ; and il is this law which evcrv Aniericii

citi/en ou^ht familiarly to nnilersland. for iliedieiice to it is the first duly
of patriotism.

I'p to the year IS id, the proi;ress wherehy iwciity-si.N States and four
Territories had heeii estahlished ami peopled, had amounted to a solid
strip i)\' till III i/-/in mi/is in depth, added aiinmilly, alon^' the western face

)f the I'nion

I'liiii

Canada to the < iulf.

'J'liis occupation of wild territory, accumiilatini: outward like the
annual viiijrs of our forest trees, juoceedls with all the .solcinnily of a

I'rovidential ordinaiiet

II IS a

I th

IIS moment sweeping onward to tin

icilie will

■leiated acti\itv and forei', like a delu';e of men, rising

tnaliatedly, and daily )iuslie(l oiiwanl hy the hand of (iod.

It is from tilt! uliilisf

irs acel

iiiiulated in the hureaux at Washini't

(tlu' decennial cciimis, sales of piililii' lands, a.sse.ssmeiils of Static and

i.diice with ceilaiiilv the law of this deluj'e of

national taxe:

ihal

lal We 1

human heiiiys. which iniihin^ iiilerrnpls mikI no power can stop.

I'r.intinj: the I'liion on every side is ;i vast (//■/*/// of pioneers. Thi-
va«t hody, iiuinlierinu .'(IMI.IIUII at least, has the iiioveinents and olieys the
discipline of a |ierfecily oiiiaiiized military force. It i.-« momentarily re-
cruited liy siiijih' individuals, families, and. in sonic inslaneex. eoniniiinititis,

icrica tlicy (,(tu|,.,-
tlnip'. iiiiil Willi u>

Wllulc |M(.|||,., f.\u,\\-

nniiiiii II 11(1. ];„(

:.S 11, 'W SlMlcS ill (1„.

lal I licit, lohict
iv.sciit liDur — wjiat

•,0(1(1 : lioiii a u.,|..
Tliis, with a;;ii(iil.
is iiiir jiru;^ri','«.s so

laiiuf'acturcs is now

ihd iH'iictratt's in

iiii]il('lc (III iiiir (nvn

a|(|iiiicss, .sc liciicli-

II nations.

life, iiiicfly cxtiii.

Ill' viiiiir (if j:ciici:i-

•arliiif;. A iiatinii

icli fVi'i V Aiiiciiciiii

it is the first duly

• IX Slates ami fimr
iiiiiinti'd t(i a snliil

If,' till' Wl-isttTII liliv

imlwanl like tlir
H' sdlciiiiiity til" a
n.u iinward to the
ip' III' nicn, rising'
od.

IX at Wa.sliiiii^rfdii
■Ills (>r Stale and
of this (IcIiim;,. ,,|
ran slri|i.

f |pi<iiieer.s. This
iitM and olieys tlie
s iiioinentaiily re
lees, eonumiliiliiM.

77/ A" /M V/FIC It A IL WA Y.

137

from evei'V villafie. eounly, city, and State in the I'liioii, and by ouii-

raiit

Is fi'iiin other nations.

Eaili man in this moving,' thronj^ is in force a jilatoon. lie makes a
farm u|pon the outer cdjio of the settlements, which he occii|iies lor a year,

tin

i.m

1 tliiMi sells to the leading liles of the inasw inessing uji to him In

behind.

He aj;ain advances twenty-five miles, renews his farm, is again over-
taken, and again .sells. As individuals fall out from the front rank, or fix
lliemselviis |iermancntly, others rusli from ludiind, jiitss to tlm front, and

a.s8iiil tlie wilderness in tlieir turn

icvioiis to tlu! late war wi

th .M

ex ICO,

this I

HIS\

til

roll'' was entra'jei

lat

(iiie |piiiiit ill oecii|iyiiig the jieninsula of Florida and lands vacated liy
ant Indian trihi's — at another in re.'cliing the cojijier region of liako

ciiiil:!'

iSuperior — III al)Sor)iing lowu u

uid W

iscoii.''in.

I'liiii

lis v<'ry s|io

t liad •'one forth a forlorn hoiie to

oee

"10'

rc"(iii

and ('alitiirnia : Texas was thus annexed: the? Indian eounlry pressed
u|ion its flanks; and s]iy conipanies reeoniioitring New and Old Mexico.

Kveii then, oheyiiig that mysterious and iineoiitrollaMe impulse wliicli
drives our nation to its goal, a body of the hardiest race that ever faced
varied and unnnmliered priv.-itioiis and dangers cmliarked iipcn tlie trail
to the Pacific coast, forced their way to the end, cneoiinteriiig and defy-
ing dangers and diflieulties uiijiaralleled, with a courage and siii'ce.ss iho
like to which the World has not heretofore seen.

'fliiis, then, iivcrhniil sweeps this tide-wave of pojiiilation, alisorhing in
its tliiindering march the glebe, the sa\agi's, and the wild beasts of the
wilderness, scaling the mountains and debouching down upon the sea-
board.

I poll tl'.e high Atliiiillf sea-coast, the pioneer Ibrci- has thrown itst'lf
into ships, and found in the ocean-fisheries food for its creative genius.
The whaling fleet is the iiimiiir force of the pioneer army.

These two forces, by land and sea, have both worked steailily onward
III the North Pacific. They now reunite in the harbors of Oregon and
raliliii'iiia, about to bring into existence u|miii the I'a'ifie a commercial
grandeur identical with that which has followed them upon the Atlaiitiu.

National wars stimulate progress, for tiny are the coii.scinience of indis-
creet op|iositioii and jealousy of its inarch — and becaii.se in these jieriods
of exciteinent the advciitii.-oiis brush thrnngh the cobweb laws spun by
the metaphysics of peace. Then it is that the yoNiig yxVy/iryr.s, cnleriiig
til" armies ol' the iVoiil nr, rush out and reconnoitre llu' unpruiied wilder-
iie.xs.

J.'uriii- ihc lii till K til III. \\n\i' armies, i.Hs.«ing down the Aili'ghanie.s,

in-.l

■ii

^,!'i i|

ill

138

M't'i:.\hi.\.

jmssoil liver Kentucky, Tciincssir. aiiil tin- Ntirtliwest Territory. Tlicw
new ((luntries wen; rucdinmitred and ailuiired Witli hardy tVa

nies, I'dii-

iirined liealtii, and reeruited liv

year nr two of jieaee, tliese mi|(Ii<'i>

returned to oeeupy tlu- elioiee sjiots wliieli liad lieen ilieir liivuune iiiiil
eaniiiin^'-jrrouiid.s.

From the eani)iai<;nM ut' war grew the i^ettlenients ot'peaee, and |in|<nl<>ii.s
States diM|ilaeed the wiKh-rness.

Ahiitlier war eanie witli anoth<'r <;eia>r;ition. Annies ]ienetrated inin
Miiliij^an, u|)|ier lllinoi.x, and throu^li .Missis-^ipiii. Tlu' great .Mi»i»i|i|ii
IJiver, crossed at many |ioints, ceased to he a harrier, and the stcanilio:it
aj»iieared, jdowinjj; itHycHow flood, /'ar great Stales, yitv. Territories, ami
tlirir iiiiZ/iiiiis ol'|ief)jih' \u>w eml)hi/,on its western sidtt !

An.l

now again have come another "eneration and anotlier wai

our

armies liave scaled the icy harriers of tlie ".I/o/Ar/- Miiiiiif'iin' and llic
AiitltK. Hid tor a time in the mazes of their manitold |K>aks and ridges,
tliey have issued out at many points n|ioii the l>eacli of the hiue I'.icitic.
Passing round liy tlu' great oceans, a military tnarini- simultaneously strikes
th(( shore and lends them aid. Thus is the wilderne.vs reconnoitred in
war, itH geograpliy illuNtral<Ml, ami itts conquerors disciplined.

Your young soldiers, resting for a moment at home. rcMiming the civic
wreath and weapons of hushandry, have .sallied I'orlh again to give to vim
great roads lor commerce and a sisterhood ot" nuiritiiiir Stati's on tlu- new-

found

ocean.

Only four years ago, th(( nation, misled hy prejudic(-s artfully instillcil
into the general 'iiiud, regarded the great \V<'>lern wilds uninhahitalilc. ami
the lU'W ocean (Ut of reach. Why canu' : Itid.dlM) .soldiers, and as many
citi/,en8, went forth, penetrated everywhere, and returned to relate in every
<»p«'n ear the wonderful cxctdlence of tho climates and countries lliey had

8e(>n.

l/iiirr Inive oonu! already tliese new States, this other .seahoard, and the
renewed vivacity of progress with which the general heart now '.dpitates.
Will this cease or slacken ? lias the poiu'ing forth of tlw stream IVoin
Europ»iever ceased since the day < f Cohunhus? lias the grass uMiterated

the ti

rails down the Alleghanies or acro.ss the .>li,ssissip|ii

.Mi

Hath

ct I'iin

who douhts scat himself upon the hank of our magnitieenl river and await

running dry of its yellow waters;

for

soon

cr shall he see this, than a

cessation in the crowd now flowing loo.se to tlie iriftrrn seahoard !

(ioldisdng: Inmher is manufactured: pastoral and arahle agrienllurc
grow apace ; a marine flushes into existence: commerce resounds : the fish-
eries arc prosecul<'d : vessels are huilt : steam pants (lirough all the waters.

Kaeh interest stimul.aing all the rest, and prrpelually creating novel-

li,..v ;i career is i
human eye assig
Till' distance
wluiv >"" 1^'"^''
some l.'.iMI mil
riijiiiiu is very
(lie .-uurccs ot I
but more iniinei
Skilelnd li>
Aiidis, deliouc!
two primary ch;
(hi the /•/'//''
can tiiiir, divid.
hrok.ii water-sli
the ii-a.-t of the
aldiigthe coast I
terminates also
The ininicns
niontaiie liasins
whole forms th
/•'/V.>7, is the
drainage of ho
ocean, are disjit
Sir, ,11, 1, the
streams drainii
without any oi

77-//./. the

del Norte, the

Giande del N.

hurst through

gcoloi^ieal <'hai

all as>igii it tli

their waters ti

Fiiiirlli, the

incuse !iasin e

who'.e conllui

athwart from

i'onii I Into

eye has lU^VU!

(lies Nature i

of such migli

I'iifi'. and |in|,iil.>ii.s

i"» pciirtriitcil inii

md the .sIcjiiiilMut
''•' Ti'iriliii-ic.*. iiriil

iiillii'i- war. V.iiir
li>iiiit<iln" anil ilif
jM-aks and ridiii's,
«' tin" l.luc I'acili...
iillancdusly .Htrikis
<•* rc('(inn<ii(icd in

•t'Miinini: tin' civic

'^taU'.s (in the n

■< !irtrnlly instilld
iiiiidialiitalth'. ami
i<'rH, and as many
I til relate in evcrv
"nntiies tlu'v liad

W'lihoard, and tli

^'i-a.s.s i.lijiieraled
' liathe:' h't Mm
I' river and await

xonndfi: tlictisli

-di all the waters

creatinu' nn\e|.

THE I'M/FIC It Ml. 11. 1 )•.

i:5'j

tic,^. a career i.< cinuniiMiccd to wliicli, „.v it glances atTos.s tlio I'acilic, tlio
JiuniiMi eye as.«i^'ns nn term.

Tlic distance IVnm tile tup til' till- Sii iiii Miiiln ( Kdcky Mountain.s),
will I'c \ou leave lieliind the water.-* Huwinn to the Atlantic, is c\erywlu'ro
soMic l."iiH( miles. Tile t(ijioj;rai(liical cliaracler of this iillniii.oiitniw
rcfiii'ii is very f;rand and characteristic. It is identical with the reniun at
the .Hinrccs of the La I'lata, Ama/i)n, and Majidalena iil' Suulh Anieiica,
hut niiMc innnen.se.

Sketched hy its j;reat dutlincs, it is simply this: The chain ul' t!ie
Aixks, dehdiichin^' north from the Isthnuis, opetis like the letter V into
two primary chains (^0>nli//i nis).

On the /•/'//(/ the SiKKll.V .M.MiKK. trendinjr ahinjj: the coast of the .Mexi-
can (iidf, divides the northern continent almost centrally, formini; an un-
hrokcn Wiiter-,shed to {{••hrinj;'s Strait. On the //yl', the Anuks follows
the cna.-l of the I'acilic, warps aroiimi the (iiilf of California, and, passine
aloMu the coast of California and ( )re^on ( under the nameof Sjeiia Nevada)
terminates also near Hehrini^'s Strait.

The immciisi^ interval hetween these chains is a siu'ccssion of inlni-
inoiiiai:e liasins, sin n in nnndter, and ran^in^ from .south to north. Tliu
whole forms the (litK.vr I'l.vrK.vf mk tiik T.mu k L.vnds.

Firs/, is the " ISasin ol" the City of Mesico.' receiving' the interior
(Irainaiiv of hoth Cordilh'ias, which waters, havint; no outlet to either

ocean, are (Iisikthcm

rain

evaiioratmn

y eva]

Siiiiiii/, the '• i{(ilson de Mapimi. (ollectin;!; into tlm Lajinna tl
strcims draining.'; many States, from San Luis I'ottssi to Coahuila, also
willeiut any outMoiv to either ocean.

Thiiil. the " Has'ti of the Del .Norte." who.se vast area feeds the Ilio
del .Norte, the Conchos ami Pecos. These, concentrated into the i{io
(ir.iiide del Norte liehind the Sierra .Madre, have, hy their united volume.

hinsi ihrou!j;h it."

mil found an ontlrl towards the .Vtianlic T

^^'coloL'ical character of this liasin, its altitude, its ctuitli^uration and locality,
all as<.ii^ii it tliis pns.iiim, as distin<ji;uishine' it from all others conlrilnitin;^
their w.iters to th" .\tlantie.

/•;/i///A, the >• |{asiii of the (ireat Colorado of the West." This im-
mense !iasin emitraees ulinr, , the u-reat rivers Hio \'cii!e and IJio tirande,
who-.e confluent waters, pein'tralinji the miuhly Cordillera of the Andes
ath«Mi( from hase to h.i.se, disch.iriie themselves into the dull' of Cali-
I'onii I Int.) this sulilime eor;;r ithe Ca m of the Colorado! tin human
eye li.is never ssvi'pt, for an int, rval of .'»7r» miles: so stern a chaiacter
does Nature a.ssume where such stupendous mountains resist the pa.ssa^e
of such miirhty rivei-s.

140

APPfXDlX.

Fif'li- llif ■• 15ii-^iii "J" flic <«rt'ut Siilt Lako," like the Caspian of A

sia.

|!^lli'!

cuiitaiiiiii<^ many small basins within one ^neat rim, and losin<; its scattered

Walers liy cvaiporatimi. lias no outflow to either ocean.

Si.itli. the " Itasiti of the ('ohnnl)ia," lyini; across the northern ii;n,k»
1)1' the two last, and ;;rand ahove them all in position and eoiiliMnr:itiiiii.
Many great rivers, besides the tSnake and U]ijier Colnmbia, diMcml
from the i:reat an- of the Sierra Madre, where it circles towards the ikhiIi-
west from the j:{d to llu; Ttlid de;^ree, flowini; from east to west, and lon-
eentratinj; above the ('nsciiifrs into a single trunk. It here strikes the
mighty Cnrdillcra of lln^ Andes (narrowed to eiie ridge), and disgorges

il.-iclf thrnuyh this sid)li

lass at once ii

ltd th

l*aeili(

It is /«/•<, descending by the grade of this river t!ie whole distance
from the rim of the Valley of tin- .Missi.ssipjii and through the Andes te
the I'aciiic, that the great ilihuitvh of the American continent towards the
west is found. Ihn will be the pathway of future generations, a> the peoplt'
uf the Old World pa.ss down tin; Mediterranean and out by (iibraltjr.

Above, the "Basin of i''razer l{iver" Ibrms a srnnl/i of the T.nhi.K
Lands. This has burst a canon through the Andes, and like the fourth
and si.vth basins, sends its watt'is to the I'arilie.

W'nh the gi'igraphy of the mon; northern region we are imperlictly
ac(juainted, knowing, however, thai, from I'uget's Sound to I{eliriii.^(t
Strait, the wall of the Andes forms the beach itself of the I'acilic. whilst
the Sierra .Ma<lre forms the western rim of the basins oi' the Saskalduwaii
of Hudson Hay and the Athabasca of tin- Arctic Seas.

1'hus, ibeu, biielly wt! arrive at this great cardinal departnu'iit of the
geography of the emit inent, viz.: TllK T.\lil,K ii.v.VDs — being a longitudi-
nal section (alnuit two-sevenths of its whole area) — internicdiatt' between
the two oceans, but walled off from Imth, and having but three outlets fur
its waters, viz., the canons of the Hio (Jraiide, the Coloratlo, aii<l the
Columbia.

Columnar basalt forms the basement of this whole region, and volcanic
aeti(Ui is everywhere )iromiiient. Its general level, ascertained upon the
lakes oi' the different basins, is about WW) feet above the sea. llaiu
beldo'n falls, and timber is rure.

The ranges <if mountains which separate the Itasins are often rugged

hilst isolated masses of eri'jit hciiiht

and capped wit'' jierpetual snow, w

el.vate llieinselMs from the plains. This whole formation abounds in the

jirccloiis wrt(i/K. Such is the region of tlii' Tahi-K Laniks.

IJeyond these is the MAKlTi.MK region ; for the great wall of the Andes,
receding I'mm the beach of the Pacific, leaves belween itsilf and the sea
a hall- valley, as it were, forming the seaboard slope from San JJiego to the

iIk! ('ii,s|,ian of Asia
"1 losing its .sciuUTcd

•lie iiciflicni fliii.ks
>ii and <(.iilij.riiiiili„ii.

Collllllliiii, (IrMcrid

■M.pvviinls III,. ,„„.,i,.
•^t t.) West. jiihI ,.„„.
It iiciv .strikrs III,.
'.-'■), ;iii(l (li.sgdi'Nts
I'acili.'.

tllC wilolc (ii.st,||;ci.

ii<Mi-;li 111,. AiKlfs |„
*'iitiii,.|it tdUiiids til,,
ratitiii.s, .•i>tli,.]„.,,|,|,.
"lit liy tiiliriilt.ir.
'■"illl (>(■ 111,. T.Mll.K

, ami like tli,. foiinli

I we arc iiii|),ifi.,tly
Smiiid to i{,.|irii: /,s
il" til,' l';i,i(ic. uj.il.st
of tile Sii.skiili II, w.iii

I "Ii'iiiirliiiciii oC til,.
— I't'iii.u: a loiij;itii,li.
itcniicdiiit,. Iictvvifii
lilt till-,.,. oiiil,t,v t;,r
Ciilonitlo, and lli,.

•ff-'iiin. and volcanj,'
■i<'<'rtain('d ii|)oii di,.
'Vc 111,, sea. lluiii

!* aro oftt.n ni<r<,'<M!
it'."* tif firi'at, height
ion aixiunds in tli,.

wall of 111,. Andes,
i it.Htlf and tin; M'a
1 San Diogo to the

77/ a; i'lr/Z/r It. Ml. Ill Y

141

StraitH if Juan di l''iica. This is 12<MI miles in Icii'.'th and "jrid Kmad.
Across it disci'iid to tiic Mca u wrii's of fin,. riv(.rs, laiiuin^ fniin south
t<) north, likr thf little streams desi'cndini: from the Allci^hanies lo iht;
Athintie.

These are thf Han (jahriel, ihe Buenaventura, th< ."^aii .loakiin and
SaeraifM'nto, fli« H<»«^ue, TIaiiieth, and rm(|Ua livers, tht Wallainette and
Columtiia the (V/wlJtz Thekalis, and V-i-ifiually of Pii;rei .'^..iind

This re.icirM** mA Mawes th< niaritfwy slop,, of tin' Atlantir >ii|,. ,if
till- loiitineiH \mt H w taiifly kirjfer swp<'»<^i»lly : of rtk». highest a;rri-
ctflturKl ♦'xeptttvtX!,' Imni^'v m i-ztvivjA'^t^x : yi^titmA beyond (th<' Jik-wiis ol'
deserijiifiof, »lie !'(i'.S»'v ymii* mA V<iA*"IW»<«s <X flw Afllles heio'. A .ivwheri-
visilile rV"<ii r|ie M'A, 'i^viitt 1^ .tHumtt* >* eufi>>!f>ly rx'-m}^ fr<Hi> the frosts
iif winter.

.*^u(li. and s.> '/r»n<\. \^ our *<'if»rUf*0 f»»#iw»|« A* fn^idv. f,«'t us turn
<i»r /laiiee towards the Artiwitie ani4 .Sr^^i^iif ( h-t^ittm' aiiel «',«n tlie ;jiiiM:ra|ihy
in our front, /''imr jjjreat vaililey.-* w^^M <»:«eh "it^ dr.iiif't liy w river of
tlie tir-t ni;ij.'iiinide.

FiitsT The Mississijijij VaUey, •ftwiXi-^ in mut'/uitwlf. and nihraeiii}^
the lieart aij<l s|.l< ndor of fhi- eontinenf, ;.';ffhef>' <fc*> r/aters oi .'i(IO,(((Mt
stjiiare miles and i<h<-ds them into lli,. (iiilf uf Mt-x'i^'t

liil. Tlie St. F<awr< «ee, whose riv,'r flows into flw Vorth All lie.

.'M. The Xel,s<»ii »nd Severn Kivers, into iludsoii K-.^y

Mil The (,'reat valh y of th.e M'-Keiisi,' l{iv,.r, rusliin^ •' into the
llyjii cIkh'iih Sfil.

These valley*, evervwlief.* ^tthitrrnnti. have a iiniftiiui sini lei . f^eii'!\
rolling, hut dcstituf'' of niouniaiim, niid |hi«m into ««*<' inoth« r ly ilivliliioj
rlihfa. which distriliute its own w<''jt* info eiu-h Nut wh»««H' superior'
elevation is only distinjruisliahle aiiioii^' the frenei.u w 'ihitioiis. hy rtt»«»
water-sheds which they form.

Around tlie whole eoiitinoist. foIlowin<r tli,' coasts of ili. .-.-lans. ■)»» «
rim of mountains, frivinj^ the id, 'a id' a rnul (inijtliltlinitri Throiii;li this
rim jier.etrate towards the s,uith, cast, and north, tlie alio\.' ;rreat rivers
mill/, formiii;^' at their delioiichcs the natural (Ai'(/'.s o/'///* Inti riur ; hut no
stream penetrates vrst ihrou^di the Sierra .^Iadre, which forms an iiii-
hrokeii water-shed from Majrellan's to Hehrinji's Strait.

Thus we find more than t/irn-jij'tlis of our continent • consist of a
limitless plain, intersected liy countless n.ivinalile streams, flowiiii; cvcry-
whvw /mill the eireumfereiiee towards eoinmon centres: u'roiiped in dose
proximity: and only ilivided l>y what connects them into one homoj^eiieous
plan.

To the American petj/le, then, bcloii^^s this va.st interior ."pace, covered

1 4

iiiij
iiriij

i'li!

.1 /•/'/;. \7> /.v.

iiViT it« niiit'nrin miiImi'i' i,\' L'..tlMI, 011(1 >i|n.'iri' iiiilrs. willi tlic lirlnixt
ciitciiitiiiiK Miil : liiiirliiiijr llic hiiiiWM tdWiirils llic lunili, mikI iIh' ii.irid
Ih'iits ti>wiii'il> llir stiiitli : IiiiiiimI to'.'rllit'r li_v iiii iiitiiiitt' inli'iii.il ii;i\i'_ra.
timi: <>!' ii ti'iii|ii'r;iii< iliniati- : mikI ('iiii>(itiitiii!.'. in tlic wlmlc. iln' iiin>t
iniiL'iiirK'cnt il\viHiii}r-|iliM-f niiiiki'il mil )iv (Soil tor iiiiin's iiImm|<'.

.\> llif <ii||i|ilrti- licMfliiriiic (if till' Alliii'.'lilv Ii;i> tlllls i;i\cli Im i|,i,
ciiiitiiiviil, tin- ^Tfiil ii:itiir;il .iiilli'l> 111" llic Mi»«i-«i|,|,i

III.

. iirl">

III

re. II •.'I'l'iil .'irlilicial iiiiiiiunii'iil. an ii'im ji.tiji.
\\i sti rii >t'a.

1(1 llu- (iiill', iiiiil llic St. i,a\virncr *,,; tlir Ntiitli Aliaiilif, so is il li I'l t.
]>inii« ai:<l ^iriililnl |mii|i|i-. a|>|>r('iialiiit: tlii^ uooilncss. to constriKl tliioiijli
tin- piiL'i' oi" tin' Sirna Mail
a N ATliiN Al, HaiUvav to tin-

liri'c \Vf |iri'('i'i\ I', in till- Inrnialiiiii nl' \hf Xnii'rican tMiitini'iil. a ~iili-
linic siinplitiiy. a i iini|ili'lc rrnnnniv of arrani:<'ini'iit, ^linLMilai' In ii«ilt',
mill till' nvt i>r (if wliat ilislin;rui.slir>^ tin' ainii nl wmlil, T.i iiinh r-i:iii.l
tlii^. lit ns t'i>ni|>ari' llnni.

I'll llMl'K. tlir >niallr>l of the Miami ili\i,«ii>n> nl' tlic /<///</, <-ontaiii» in in
ccntri'. tin- uy mitssfs of tin' Al)>s; tioni aroiiinl tln-ir ilcdivitii* ni'/iniii
llif Lrj<' ii\ri> of tlial (niilinriil : tin- l>.iniilit' ilin-rtly i-a.-l I" ilu-
I'liixini'. llir I'll ami Klmni'. soinli t" tin' Mi'ilitrrraiiciin ; tin' Itliiin' li.

tlir Noltllrni ( )ri'an.

Wallnl nil' liy llif Pyrcnci's ami ('ar|iatliiaiis, iliviTLTiit ami i^nlalcij.
iiri' llir 'ra'Mis, llif KMir, ami oilnr >in'_'lt' rivrr*. artlmnis of the Maltic.

I nil

till' Allaiilir. ibi' Mi'ili'iriamaii. ami llir KiixiMr.

IK'Miiiilini: /';i/)/) t.>niiiion imliant |'ointx. ami iliviT;_'iii'^ ivi-ry way fi
(ino aiioiln'i'. no intfi'i'iiniitinniialiciii exists iM'twrrn tlir rivrrs of l'!iini|i<':
imvipition i» l^tty iiml ft'«'lili' : mn- liavi' art ami roniiiiircf. ilnrinu' ni:iii\
iTiilwti,* imrtMi' s<i iv,,h\ •mall vall<\- it innl'K i-diitfil liy ini|MiM nalili'
I

III 'Hers.

It'll- \^i«4l rat-h rivir •!». |In „ ili^ilu. i |N-«(k' )lifr('rin;r fV< .n all lli<'
nf4 VHt w«'('. lllll;J:l|j||^> Huliits. itn I iiiti'r\>M'> Tlioii^'li oHfii |»>lii1rally
MUkiiuaiiiiili'il \<\ <oui|ii«'«t till \ .'itfniii |^*Ia)m«- iiilti rrii^nii'lili>. from innate
If) iiiir<i/ifiiiiif iiiiii/ii II II X\\y hislniv >i| ihfse iiii*!oii< is a dnrv of

|>< r|M-ttiiil nar ami mniiial I'Meiiiiini^Uitit

Kxa. (ly '^iiiiilar lo Kmiii|n'. llioii^lt c*'«i"ii i in size ami |Mi|inhition, is

\siA jV'!!!! tlii> K.u|a>M<liiH* «vitlrui UtrriiT iif tin Himalayas inn ilie

lour 'jiti*! ♦ivcm of lliiiia .Itie •■mf. t- *^Iihiv< ihiin* Iv.^ ImimmiIi llir

ii«: ■ •«» <«i»aii|- He soulli inn tile y\^< i- 'f r<><|ii« fhiim. tlie llaiii.'i"'

ill! Im4i|o low. ml-- llii' i/>xMKv livorw ikf llic (\iN|iiaii ; ami north,

t)«i-<tiit/l "'iU lia to tile Arclir S<'a», liiitlix ii»fr»» of lit. Hr>t mapiinnlc

l>nrin^' fil>y 'i ninri.s, a> now. lli.- \l|»s tnnl Himalaya Mniiiilain^
huve |irii\'f«i iu»u|>i'alili' lmrru'n< (n tho Mliktl^.uii:ittiiti of the nalioiis

rUK I'M'iriC I! Ml. MM )',

143

''''•-■ Willi tl„. li,.),,,,,
• ""i-tli. :iii<l ih,. |,,i,i,|
itiriir.' ihtrtn.il n.ivi.M.

•ll'' mIicpI,., lllr |||,..,t

ii.iii'r* iiImmIi-.

Il.l'« tlllls 'z'wvW I,, 11,4
l<l> nC ||„. .Mi,.i-,i|,|,j
l:mtir. so is it ll fl t,, ;,

'" r>ll|>|l||, t (l,|nl|_.|,

iiMiiirnt. :iii inui |.,it||.
"•■••in fMiitiiiiiii. M -nil.

Mf. -illL-llljll (c. ii«,i('.
»"rli|. Til llllc|rl-t:;||il

If /'(;/./. rii||t.iill> ih ilM

iiir (Icclivifits i;i.li,ii^

'iiiiTlIy (.;,>( tu ilii-

lariiaii : tin- IMii„c t.,

ivcrpiii iiiiil iMiliid'd.

ffllK'MiS i.f (1„. Mjiiti,.,

•rL'iii-j i-vcrv \v,iv frmn

till' i-'MT- ipf Kiini|M' :

miiHTii'. i|iiiiii._r iii.'iiiv

ilaliij liv iiii|iiiii tialilc

ilifl'.liiiL' »V. ,11 all llir

"It'll unni |M.|il1,;|||y

'itjtuiuu. O'.in iiiiiali'
i(*.«tiii» ix a xinrv lit'

•• mill |Hi|iiilari<iii, is

IlillltllilV.-l.x Mill llii'
■ •111-- Iv.'r* lirliralll tile

ill Chiiiii. till' (iaii<jri'.M
• 'a»|'iai( : ami imrtli.
In fir^t iiiaj:iiiiiii|iv
liiiialava Minintaiii*
fi'Mi III" the iiatiiiii'-

ariiuis tlifir liases, ami ilwi-lliiii: in llir \allrys wliiili raiiiatr iVotii llu'ir

.•<lii]i •>.

Till ('.iitiiifiit III" Afkica. as I'ar as wc kiiuw llir ilctails ui' its surt'afc,
i>. I'vrii imu'i' (liaii tlicsi', s|ilit into ilisjniiitnl tVaiiiiimts.

Tliii>^ ill"' '"mi""'"'"" "I '!'♦'' "'' ^V"|■1'1 rrsi'iiilili' a Imwl ]ilairil Imltimi
ii|i\\.iril-. wliiili srattcrs fVci'ylliiii.L' |»iiiii'i| n|iiiii il, whilst Niuriii KKN
Amkiiiia. ri'.;lit siilc iiji. ren-ives ami iralluTs tnwai'ils its i-i'iiirr wliatrNiT
falls witliiii its rim !

IJi'linlil. llii'ii. llir ^'l ri UK 111' Aiiirrira, ;^ra\i'ii, in llu' iri''ii;'i'a|iliifal lini's
ami ailrrii's III' lirr sMiinnlriral. iiffaii-liuiinil i'.\|ianM'I IJi-lin'.il it fmi-
liilil in till' nrariilar ]irii|ilii'rii's nJ' past ainl [irrsriit |irii;ii'i'.ss.

In i;i'ii:;ia|ili_v llir niififli' sis iif ilii' Olil Wmlil, ill •:ii. V it will In- tin-
nvii-r. (fur Nmlli Aim'iifa will ia]iiilly attain li: .i . ilatinii iijiial-
liiij; llial i»r till- rest iif tin- wniM ciiiiiliiiH'il : tiiriniiiir a siiiji' |iiii|ilc,
iili'iiliral in nianiici-s, lanL'na;j;i'. rustmns. ami iin|Milsi-s : I'lTsi-rvin;^- lint
saiiir i'i\ ili/atiuii. tin' saim- rcliuinii : iinliiinl with llic saint' (i}iiniuns. and
liaun;/ llir same |iiilitical lilu'ilirs.

Of lliis wi' liavc twii illiislraliiiiis iiiiw nmlir niir eye : tlu' imi- ]iassin<j;
awav, till' iillicr ailvaiirin'_'. 'I'lif almri^inal Imlian rare, aimini: wlniiii.
ri'iiiii I'arii'ii III till' Ksi|iiiiiiai<\. ami rrnni I'luriila In Vam-niivi'i's Isiainl,

I'M

<ls a iii'irrct iili'iilily in llii'ir liair. niiii|il('.\iiiii, li

alniTs, staliiri'. an

laii;.Miai.'i'. Ami stii,ii<l. in tin- iiislim-livi' rnsiun intu mn' laii;iiia;.'i' ami
iiiir iii'W ''ari', lit' itiiini'.^rant tliTiiians. KiiL:lisli. j'ri'in-li, ami Spani^li. wlinsc
iiiili\ iiliialiiy is uliliirratril in a sinuli' L'l'ni'i'atiim !

Ai llii- imiini'iil. \\w iiinriliiiii y »«//;'<//. |ilanm'il willi ilark ui'iiius. ami ]iur-
siiiil with scni|iulous scltislini'ss. |ialls nur nianli. Nntliin.: liiliiml iis in
liisiniy at all rixals in ra|iiility nl' urowtli. in wrallli. ]iuwrr. ami s|ili'iiiliir,
lliiisi' Stall's iiiaskiii;: llic sralmanl. ami ralli'il at liuini' •■ ///'■ Ohl Tliirli i it."

Jli'Tc all' cities (ami a ureal niiinlier nf tlnni snr|iassint;. at inie een-
tiiry iilil. lliuse III' a tliniisaml years u|hiii tlie nlij luntinent-- !

Till' Slates have swelieil as t'ast. This ailniiial

ilr ;^^l'atnl■^s IS line In the

iiia>liry nt'the euniinenl wliieli ihey exeni^e Ky inajurities in the naliniial
eiiiineils, III the iiiiineiise imnine ni" leMiine which they thus iiilli<-t ami
Use. ami til their iminii|iiily ul' all I'nreii:!! inniiiierei'.

A new ami riv.il sealmanl — " '/ .V' /'• Tliirt'i n" — wniiM halve ami ilis-

Iriliiile all I

lli'l'iiS:

ll' these. It

was /((jv .>"•< // liinv |irii;jTi'ss, traveilin;.:' i< iilriilii/

s lh<> ciintiiu'iit. was striiliiiir ]iiiint-lilank tu this ciiiisiiininatinn. To
rrtanl this, imletinitelv. arn-i' the nniii/iiii' jinfiri/. invenleil tiy suj'histry,
aiiil siistaineil tiy nieta|ihysiis.

.^ir. .letVersiin haviiiu. with i nnsnniin.ite |ireseieiice, ailileil In uiir ilmnain
the liiiiiisiaiia iiiiicluiM' : llieimist s]<l, mliil jHirtimi of the haliilalile uluher

144

M'/'t:\itix.

Tlii.-f Wfic t iiii l»ri| ami iivinlirnwii \i\ llir ixi^cmir- nf liini'iii war.
Tliat iivcr. flu- ili.«t'iiMii<i(i <i(' a mini' In A>ia wai* nvivtul li_v llir |iir*s anil
ill ('((ii^rirs.M : A>i(ir siiii;.'!ii tnnn, w |ii,« cnfciiiriwH, ami aid wa«* iji-iiiaiiilni
IViim tin- uiivci'Mimiil liv (III' |>(ii|ilc (if (III \Vi.«(. ami liy iiairintic imli.
\itliiaU ill tlif Ka.>t. Tlii- w.is ri'lum'tl \i\ t\\i- yu\'u\ i,\' i'roi.lciil Mdiuni*
ailiiiiiii.Hiratiiiii ii- wii.isi laltiiict w«Tt' coiiinimil Mr.x.Ts, .1. if Ailainv nf
Ma.x-'acliiisclt,-'. aii"l .1 (' ( 'alliniin. of Sciilli Carolina — kiiIiiIc slalom. h
III' ilic iiiii-t pi'iirlraliiiL' tiiirsii:lil ami llir !iil'iii>l aiiiliilinii

I'liwrr ('iniL'i°a(> ■< a.>« liim' mils dh TIh' jh'IiIc ami t'aM'iiialinii nl' itx
piissrssiiiii liii^t-r Mi|iri'iiii'ly |Hit)'i.t in tlir Imiiian lu.irt. I'mni tlii« prii
tiiuiiil wmrrp Iiiim spriiii^ tlm niin|iiitalili' iinnlliiiii i>i>ll< i/. ariaynl a-iiinM
the nianli nf pniLTi-fs ami 'lir wrsiwanl iiiiirraliuii nl' pnwrr.

Tile /'//■»« (■ Stall'. Ma."->a<liii>('lt>^. Iiaii |ii'ni'lainiri| a iialimial war iimiiii-
Hiitiitiiiiial, ami iiiilialnl a( If.irttiinl tlu' pn |iaraliii'y plans (<> sirtili' I'rniii
aiiil (lis.sulvf till' riiinii. Tlic /iitti r, Smilli Camliiia, Iian (lom- llir suni'.
pmiiiiiimiii;; till- ;ri'm'ral pnvirnt' taxatimi iimiiiisiitiitiniial in a parliriilai'
i'di'iii ; ami nnw apiiii appiar llie same ili-raiHul llinal.x nl' " rnni' ami
torrnr. pmiiniimin^ unmiiilihitiniiiil a xpi'i'ilii' Ic^fislalinii I'nr tin- 'I'rrri-
tnrifs.

Ifrliinil till."* p»rp>ii nf iJMrin ( Xuf/ifltiifinii I, ami iinpfrrrivcij liy tin'
p'tii-rai iiiiml. laslii'il intn ilisinay ami ilislrarlril liy " trrmr ami liirri, '
tlirratcniii;; llic I nimi, llir siilillr iiinfillim /m/iri/ lia.s Ihtii rivrli'il i|ii»ii
Willlill the ynllllir Stales, llir pllMir L'li'lii' lias lii'i'li lii'lil liv till' II lillal
pivcrnimiit ami witlilnlil t'min laxalimi. Tims is Statr rrviiiiii' i lit nil

Tllt'.sc pulilii' laiuls al'r llrlil at a I \ raliliiral pi'ii r. t lir '-aii's inaili' ra>li
ilniiatiniis III' liniiii'.strail rights, pii'-i'iiiptinii. anil u'i'ailiiatinn itI'ii-i i|
Savages, cjii'ti'd I'rniii the nliirr States, lia' c lieeii liniiL'lil up ami plaiiinl
118 a wall alniii; the western t'lniilier ami aemss tlie line nl' pm^ress. TIiim'
are nietapliysieally ealleil 1'nreii.rii nalimis.

Heeelllly there lias lieell yiveli In the .snliliers nt'tlle liatinll a linlllilS nf
81UII ill niuiiey, nr 9-*HI in lami This is leuislative ileelariilimi that tin
Jiiiee is I (Ml per eeiit. alMive tlieir hij.'liest value.

The revt lis. i| frmn ihe iii.sinms is i nllieteil at the seapiirfs, where

the expenses nt' enlleillnli ai'e ilislilll'seil. Tin heav \ part nl' this I'eVelillr
is paid liy the a^ri' iiltiiristsnt'the West, wlm are theeniisiiliiers. ^.'t.tllKi mill
uniiiially ni'direet land revenue i> exiiii-ivris paid liy these latter.

Itiit where is this splendid imnim ..I >i in iiiiii nun. ihiis levied I'nr ili.

Tin: I'Aiinr ii \ii ir.i )■.

11."

' iIk' I';m ifi,. |.;,.
'I liv AMrm s ,(,(,.,.
r'"i(i' lii'tuiih i|„,

l'l'ri|M'lll'l|.

''- "f ('ini.;!! \\,,f

'I f'V lllf fill «. ^iinl

I li'l Mils ■I.'||i:iim|,,|

I I'V I'ilUi.itii' iiiilj.

I'li'.-iili'Ml Mmiioi. .i
r". .1. iy Acliiiii- ..f
Mllillc st:ili«iii,.||
liiiori.

kI til.siilllllillll nf i|«

"It I'lHlll lllj. |„,,

/'■','/, iirnivcd ii;:;iii|,|
|"i\vir.

riMliiiiiiil Will- iiiiK.ii.
pl;iiis rii >cc(i|c (Viiiii

llil"^ ilnlic (lie "iiliif,

ioiiiil ill a |iiii'tiriiliir
h'litM (iC " fiiriT mill
aliiiii I'm- ilir T.iri

iiii|ii'iiii\<i| |.\ ill,'
'• tfrnu- mill llnir, '
1 Imtii riviii'il duuii

Inlil liy llii' ci-nrnil
\U' li'Vrlillc cut nil.
Im' wiIcm inailc iii.li
.'riKJiiiiliiiii nrii'-Ki
I'-'lil ii|> anil |ihiiiiM|

I'l' |priii.>-iT». TliiHi'

IIIKinll a liiiUlil\ i.r

lt'<-lariiliiiii thai iIm
til*' H'a|M<rts, will n

iirl 111 llli>. ITVrllllr

■iiiiKTM. is:t,oii(i (Mill

In >!• latlii-

iliiiK U'vittl liir ill.'

niii-t |iarl fVi'iii Wi'.-'lcrii imliistry, ('X|icni|i'i| V To tin- imvy i« lirvnioil
^Itiinit.iHM) (all ii|Miii tin- tiili'-watcrs nt' tin- firaltimnl ). Tn the civil lixt
g,*) iMiil.iliM) — all ihirr al.mi. To ninhnnril iiii|ii°iivi'iiiciit'<, viz.: ni»loiii-
liiiii-.*, iiiiiit.x, liirlioiw. Itrcal •'••itci^, roililiiatioii^, navy yanl.-*, Ii;:lil iioimci*,
nii>i <iirvcy. |ioMl oDicci, iirinori(!.H, etc., 92.ri(Ml,tM)i). .\|| this tiHi it ii|m>ii

till' //'/( //!//< I\

To tlic army ?r»,(MMt,(»(HI — -tliJ!* i« rx|iiniliil mi ii inililary arailiiiiy, onl-
iiiiiiri' I'lMiinlri.M, I'oiir ariillcry regiment;*, cuijinccirs — nil ti]Hin \\\v >.i<ili<niril.
Tim it i-* ili:it a few Htiii^y ilrtail« nl' cavalry ami infantry arc ]M<-tci| in
Nhaiitii"4 ii|Miii tlic Western frniiticr, and a larp'.".'< of liall' a niillinii xiwid

fiiiinii': the

I ml

laiis.

lint llic Hiii'di' foitrcf.« III' (lid I'oini ('onilort

lia.x n»i more lliiin (!ie itiini total of Wcitci'ii military nlriictiirc^.

Tims do we collie at one cardiniii item of iiiniiiiiiii |io\ver^^lO,lHtl),<Mltl
niliiitid annnally from tliirly Staler*, of wliiili 8;i!).iMMi.tMlu i<. aiinmilly
liiiid out to ihirliiii null/! Such i> the inrniin which iii'iritiiiif fni/iri/
sciiiris to if.-iclJ" liy taxation.

iiiiiriliiiii StatcH, loo, rests the |iolilical lii:i«tciy of lh< litiliclil liccuus*-

they have tw yet ulwayH had the inajorily of the Ijoiiscs of Conpri "s, nnd
still retain that in the lluiise of HepresentalivcM. in i«|iii(> of the acce.-sion
III' Ti vas, Iowa, and Wisconsin, which have changed tlie I^ciia'c.

Ii i- the decennial census of Js.'id which will >;ive in the thirty-third
('iiuuresM a majority to this ;:reiit i:idi<.'enoiis Amerieaii |M-ople. residiii)<
within the mountains, in the ^reat haHiiiH of the euiitinetit. To them will
liclmc the glorious task lo u'ive to the piiMic doin.'iin its true, patriotic

ll-c

and root out the scorcliiii)^ tyraniiv. of which i; is imw the cn;.'i

lie

lo ma
HiiH'iit; the

ke taxation and the expenditures of revenue national and einial

Htat«

It and peop

le. T

II pay, not ^rind, tho pioiie<

(iial
i-n*. To revenw

till' u>c<< iif the national wilderness, so that it.t 'jlelic -hall he the lieiicficenf
Iniiiitaiii ot ^reat roads, iinliiiiiled ii^riciiltiirc population, eifiiiiiiivcc. and

./. T

o rn-iili-

riili ."^lates. In ifii'f iiA niuntnni' nni/ri/, miil n iinr lUiiliimn

cilc the white man and the Indian, now kept l>y infainoii.H Iuwh in a si ite

of iiiiplaealile feiids and mutual piracy.

Il is Very vviekcil that our ^'ivcriimciit. Ii iiij: repultlican. hiw ravislied

I )

II'

lie

AflhXIUX.

ri'](iil)lit'iin lilicrly ami linlils iVnin the liulian, Mini ri'-ciiacttil iiir lii- race
all tlu' (xlimis iii('(|iialitu<s ami iiiiiircssioii," tA' /iio/n/ifi/.

'i'llf set |ilir|Mi.sf ul" ///(//vV/;/)/ y«(//Vy to crUMll pPi^'lTRS (IfVclopcil its<'lt'

with tlic ailini

II into till' I'liiiiii of Mi.-soiiri. a State licvmiil lln' Mi

>.sili|ii, ami Kiili) III ii|ion liic loiitcs ami riM-is towards tlic I'aiilic
A wall of liiiliaiis was |ilaiit('il aloii<; the IVoiiticr troin tin' .Mi»<.iui tn

till' Kcd lliviT. Thcsi! j'orftijn im/ii

I'c |ilaiili'il ii|ioii Soil wliii'h

tlicy foi

ilil Hot Sill. CoiiiiiKi'i

•

iti'ii.

ami t ii<<

whit

t' III. Ill t'lir-

liiiliK;ii ciitram-i; iimlcr jiciiitiiiliary itii]irisoiiiiu-iit. Tin- army. it> ijutii'i
ifVcrscd, was withdrawn lioiii daiipr, and |ilaiit«!d on lliu linn to liayniu't
hack till! |ii(>niM'r».

|{y thcsi! nrl'arious so|ihi>tri<'S it was drsi;iiiiMl to fonrr mi-oss the
jtioiiiir iiniii/ ill J'lniil. lliish-inoni'y to tin- amount ol' !?>."», (MM(, ((oil was
jiaiil to p't ihi'sc Indians ont ol" tin- oldir 'latos for llu' use of tin- IVdii-
tiiT. Ill comliiiiation with this it was iii'n>sary to j:ain a ni'in'tiiin ix-
tttnsioii, and tin; national ]inrs(MVas opi-iu'd. A roiijili- of thoiisaml Indians

wci'i! ilisi-ovcri'd ;:i ilu'

irkct ol' I'last Florida — tlm Sfininoli's and .Nlirkii

sukics.

Trti years of" Icrrihli- war, diiriiiir wliirh l(((t,tMM( military riiii;^iaiit,'<
and $ir),(M)(l.tl(MI had su]>|ilii'd the material of a State to halaiiee .Miilii-
|j:an, hnniuht ahoiit a treaty allowing:: iho.se trilies to remain ammiu tlii!

'iVer.laili

i>iiriii'j; this time Indian itiraeies swarmed over the (i

/'A,

iiiK and ii|ion the ciiniim

ri'ial roads In Mexieo ami the nioiinlai

llii.

Many hundred whiles and iiiniimerahle Indians tell heneath the Imiia-
liiiwk. I'roteetioii. military poliee, and reveiijre were denied at \\'a>irnit;-
ton Not a dollar was //(■/■<■ disjpo.sahle, lor the.se terrors ufthe wilderiii',>s
heljied the [loliey which kept it so.

e rritiiiit.iiitiiiii ol' Texas was eoiisumnjated

IS wa.s a mil nil mi'

Slate, extendiii'.c the shell of maritime inl'.uenee farther round the conti-

nent.

I exa.s o'red (U

■l.t.s

-some

.tllMI.IKI.

Ill

er jiiihlii

lami

Were

s|iecious]y Idl to her to pay thoin — liOS,IMMI,U(MI of aenv*, hy valuatio
8li(;(l,(IO(l,OI(0, to.jiay 87,(1011,0011 of dehtw!

Is it. then, hy chaiiee or hy desi;.'n that the ^reat domain is t

O olll!

State the source of inijierial revenues and advancement, to another of

•t ]•:>

xjiress Jaws

of C

oujircsrt proi

luce these ex-

povorty and repression
trenies.

To understand this rijrlitly, let us exaniiiio it. The soil of Missouri is
held, until sold, at §1.;^.') per acre hy the central ;:^overnment. At present
.?(1(M(,000 iier annum is extracted in siieeic throu'di the land ofliei;s. Thii.s

are we in

ipoverished. Two-thirds of our soil is withheld from State taxa-

tion.

.\> real estate is the suhslaiitial source of Statt: revi

eiiue, no pu

77/ a; iwr/yir umi.wa r.

147

»'-cnii(t( (I lor |,i, raee

n-ss (lcvclii|M.,| i(s(.|c
lie l)fViiiii| ill,' .^|j5.
'If* lllr Tarili,-.

('mill i||(. .>|i»,,iiii to

I'll M|M.|| suil w||i,.||

'i" white III. Ill i;,,..

'I'll" ill-Ill^', its ,|„ti,,,
II tin- line lu lM\,,|„.t

In fflK-i- ;,i|(i>,s lli^

I "I' J?>^.'»,()(Hl,()(»o was

■ 111'' use (if the lioli-
pilll :i iiuiiifiiiii ex-

"t'lllClUS:||„i ||„||;„„

Niiiiimli'waiKl .Mickii-

II niilitarv r>iiiL;r,iiils

tf In li.llillicc Mitlii-

'» rciiiiiiii iiiii.,i|M ill,.

rillcil riVcr till' (I'inif

anil till' iiiiiiiniMiii.'s.
I lii'iicatli tlic tiiiiiii-
• tlciiiwl at Wa.sliiiiir.
•i>rs 111' tile wildtTiicss

riiis wa.i a iiiiniilinr

liiT niiiiid till' niiiii-

■ piililic lands wiiv

acii^s, liy vaiiialidii

t domain is ti^ t<\w

ipnt, to aiitiilirr .if

I'liidiicr llirsc (x-

e soil of .Missouri is
'iinicnt. At prcKi'nt
1' land (ifliccs. Thus
'Id I'roiii Slate taxa-
! rovcnui', no imliliu

i'!iti'r|iris4's,
lii:;li\vavs am

nil

p'olo^rifal surveys, im internal iiii|iruvi>iiH-iil», not evi-n

I l.ri.k

res. are jmssilile in .'lissoiin

(liir insi;rnitieant State and eoiinty revenues fall with <tn«>n>us veiirht
uiHiM li'ss than one-third of the '_rlelie lands. ii|Hin |MTx>n:il [>n>|«Tlv. :iihI
lireiises. The ilisastMiis wreek siiH'eri'd !>} .Mi.'vi.s.-iiiiii, Illinui*. and <'tlur
new Stiiti's is jiroof enou^di of ilii.s.

jli.w is this n'verst'd in Tc.vxs? An immense domain fill.- her tn-si.Miry
— she ta.ves and sells for ta.xes at will — unlimited enilit and nr««iun-«-<»

ill' her to enlist riii't the i^i'eatest Works, witlmul daiiu'er. |{v r«-<iiteiii<,;

iiiv
am

1 u'raduatiii': the jirieeof luiids, she invites fortli tlii>:iurieiiliuri>t> oftiur
States, and Warps |)i'o;:re.ss towards llie(iulf. Un tlie |ile<lt:« ••(' her puMic
lands she may herself almie |iroeure means to eniiotruet a niilnad !<■ the

Paiilii

-Vero.ss the western frontier is uiii>l>siruete<l :iev»-^« to lh<

8,111)11,111(1) of Mexieans ! Il'.^/f //t enmiiieree. then, wallitl in :iiid nuidi

jiiraey

in Missouri, crushed and |iei-seeut«'d

mill

*t miirratc ht-iiiv to TfXsi

Airain, war with .Me.\i(ii ainse. This was a land war of aniii<-s. U-
tweeii nations haviiiir :i eunimitn frontier of many thousand niil<-s. A
siiij.de Ameriean army of ill), 1)01) eavalry uinl !lyin;r artillery. niari-hin<; hy
the iiiajrniKeeiit roiid from Fort Ij4>jiven worth, {ta-ssin;; Ky the ::7i>sit laldc*
laiiil- !' ''m . Iiy i.f .^Il•xieo. and sultsistinir tlu-ir animals of I"-*! and
transportation u|ioii the pa.stiires, would have eoni|Uen-<l and held all llie
.Me.xieaii St;ites in eijrhteeti months.

Flirty millions of expenditure would have hrou<:ht ii^-aei- on our <i«rn
ilii'tatioii — trre:rl roads fur eoiiinieree would have Ix-eii estalili«he«l fon*v«-r.
and the disliiirsemeiits returned to us in the ledetj territury. A war thus
tTiinomifiif/i/ eondiicted. liowever. would have o|k'IkiI the aveiiue and
jilaiiled eeliti..! States to the new seahoard.

Hut fleets of lmis|iorls must plow the (iiilf. and the niariliiiie ."^tatt-s
of ,/iiriiitii and Sirrrii Mmlri- extend to einliraee Tampim. < Mie huiidre*!
thousand soldiei-s were sent to the impnutiealile eiiinine«- hy Sahilhi and
Piitosi — one hundred millions exjiended upon this army, whieh. si.iiriialiii'.:
upiiii the wateix of the Hio (Jraiide. never pass*-)! iM-ynrwl them: for
Saltillo is upon an affluent <if the Itio (iraiide. and ••nly -■*** mih-s from
its main hank. Thus was pioflij^ately re-inaeted tlie •Irutua of the State
of Florida.

The niiirltinir pof in/ hhuth tlie doiiltle ohjeet of Mocking np the inte-
rior, and extendinir the sealmard in a shell around th«' ointinent. For
this the navy is enormously iiureased and the army enutseulate"!. F'nter-
jirisis in tlie mi/nil States Jire marred, hut thoe<€ of the ttahntnl siis-
tained directly from the National Treasury. Of this let us lake a retvnl
illustration.

o^if

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

1.0

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1^'

2.2

I.I

2.0

1.8

1.25 1.4 1.6

■• 6"

►

Hiotographic

Sciences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

* m M

^^ ,%° MP..

,0 %

&»/

I'lr ii

,,,;i| ^M■'■"'
l!' ill: I '! 1

148

M'PEXDIX.

A jirnpn,.iti(m was sulmiittcd to tlu: Twi'iity-iiiiitli Coiijrros.-, early in its
first session (1845— Kl) to carry omvanl to tlio coast of California and
Oregon, and to Santa Fo, iiioiitJili/, tlu; mail wliidi comes tri-woekly to
onr city of Indci^endcnco.

A law antliori/.in<i' the I'ostnnistcr-Genoral to let tlie contract for such
an extended mail-route to the lowest bidder, in the ordinary way, was
alone required. Contractors were ready to execute the whole undertakinj;
for S')<>,<MI(I jier annum, carryinir the mails in fiftctn d(i)js, making the
time from ocean to ocean tirriity-fn-f days.

This proposition, admirahle for its practicahility, its economy in time
and cost, was belabored by orators and supjjressed. To this hour all ovcr-
hind mails are prohibited b}' statute.

At this same session of this same Congress, and under tlie prom])tinus
of these orators, the government was, liy statute, made tlic partner with
ship-building companies of New York City. To construct four mail
steamers, the sum of 81,250,(100 was ndvniiccd to these companies, to
whom was also given the monojioly of future government transportation
for ten j-ears.

The transportation of oc?' mails through the Isthmus is confided to the
Spnninnh of New Granada ! All this enormous expenditure lias pro-
duced at the end of four years, an uncertain monthly mail, outs'ule of our
country : and exposed to the hostilities of tlie whole world : wliich trav-
erses 9000 miles of sterile ocean in fifty days ! In the interval the con-
ti'iicts have been doubled in amount by doubling the size and cost of the
ships. It is a condition of these contracts that these " mail steamers"
may Iie apjiraised and purclias(id by government fir tlie navy. Thus is
the navy ehindesthieli/ increased by eight or a dozen war steamers.

Thus, whilst we may transport the domestic mails between our distant
jieojile and seaiioards through the heart of our territories, every inch u|ioii
our own soil, and 1000 miles iroiii any I'oreign foe or frontier — whilst this
can be done and is offered to be done, li'y our citizens, for jirices at which
the mails will yield remunerating revenues — whilst this admits of an in-
crease to daily mails at any time, and a reduction of time to one-half —
wiiilst this allows of innumerable way mails, telegraphs, and the most
intimate dnniestic intercourse — involves neither increase of military force
nor expenditures }iy sea or land, and avoids the jxissibility of foreign inter-
ference or molestation — opening roads and crowding them with ]iopulation
and settlements — concentiating to the seaport where it ri'aches the Pacific,
the American shijipiiig an<l business on that ocean, at once creating a great
American em]ioriuni.

Instead of ail this, which is sensible .iiid natural, and understood by our

THE PACIFIC RAIL WAY.

til CV)ii<nvs>, ciirly ill its
c'Dii.st of t'alifiinii;! jinj
icli fonu's tri-wooklv tu

ct tlio coiitriict for such
tlio (ii'tliiiiiry w;iy. wiis
tlio wlidk' iiiHlcrtiikliiir

iftiin ddijs, iiiiikiiiy tliu

ity, its cc'OHoniy in time
To tliis hour till ovcr-

1 iiii(h'r the proni]itiiii;s
iiiiido the j)artn('r with

To construct four iiniil
to tlii'sc companies, to

rcrnnicnt tninsportatinn

thnius is confided to the

s expenditure lias pro-
thly mail, oiifsfur of our
hole world : wliicli trav-
In the interval tlie coii-

the size and cost of the
: these " mail steamers"

for tlie navy. Thus is
en war steamers,
laiis between our distant
ritories, every inch ujion

or frontier — whilst this
;ens. f(*r jiriccs at which
st this admits of an iii-
II of time to one-halC —
Icjiraphs, and the most
icrease of Tiiilitary force
•sihility of ioreii:!) iiiter-
1,1: them with jiopuiatioii
•e it ri'aches the Pacific,

at once creating a great

, and understood by our

people, whoso cirnliiKif n'l/Iif it is to have the circulation of thi'ir domestic
thoughts and business tlirouuh home channels which are short, safe, and

cxpci

litioiis

Yes. instead of this, we are ta.xeil

mill

ions.

to hi

ive our

letters sent 'JOdU miles in fifty days, under the ecpiator, by sea, tliroiit;h
i'divimi nations: exposed to delay, dangers, and destruction in t'Very form,
ruffliiiii' the jealousies of rival nations, and exposed to their cannon — and
all this to fill the maws of maritime speculators and political ambition.

Such are a tew examples of a Jiolicy hourly influencinu our u'lorious
State for weal or woe, whoso efloct upon you, my fellow-citizens, fills mo
with the most puzzling' astonishment. You drop your own interests with
facility when fold they are difficult and inexjiedient, ami stand at ease,
whilst rival enterjirises, planned to destroy yuu, and a thousand times
more difficult, costly, and faiieifid, are finished comjiletely !

Mr. Chairman, elo(|uenec is not nurtured in the depths of the silent
wikloriiess, and t/iirr have I jiassed my youth. J)id [ possess tho.sc graces
of language and ])olished elocution, which many youths, my cotem[)o-
raries, trained in the court.s and halls of legislation, ought to do, then
should my voice .sound, like the nipinl beat on .John do Zitzka's skin,
into every cabin of our glorious State; to call forth her citizens, and,
roused from their ignoble ajiathy, animate them to resume their stolen
rights and vindicate their crippled honor. l-'or this a))atliy is, towards
tliis our State and our nation, the crime of the sentinel slumbering on his
post.

The configuration of the Sierra Madre {the Mothir Mountdin of the
wofhl) is transceudently massive and sublime. Rising from a. base-
ment whose roots spread out two thousand miles and more ; its crest splits
almost centrally the Xorthorn continent, and divides its waters to the two
oceans.

Xovcl terms have been introduced to define its characteristics. Mrxn,
expresses the level plateaux of its summits, Cdnon, the gorges rent in
its slopes by the descending rivers. Bute, the conical mountains isolated
and trimmed into synunetrical ])eaks by atmospheric corrosion.

Everybody has seen the card-houses built by children in the nursery.
Suppose three of these in a row, having a seciuid sfiu'v over the ctMitn^:
this toy familiarly delineates a transverse section of the Sierra ^Fadre.
This upper story represents the central. ]irimary mesa of the Cordillera —
its .summit a great plain, descending on both flanks by a perpendicular
wall of 6000 feet to the level of the xeco)iil Diexn or stei>pe.

Towards the wext the second mesa fills the whole space to the Andes,
who.se farther side descends abrn])tly to the tide-level of the Pacific. This
is again what has been before described at length as the (^iHE.\T Tahle

150

.■1 Pi'Kxnix.

' I'll
I'll

3* ^'1

V' '!

Lands. But towarJ.s tlio Ktaf, tlio .second ?«ts« forms a piedmont, rent
into peaks by tlie tis.sures of innunievable streams.

Tliis piedmont, ealled \>y us the lilaek Ilills, masks the front of tlie
■Sierra Madre, from end to end. So completely is it torn and rent by the
perplexity of water-eour.ses, that patches alone are left to define tlie orij;i-
nal idateau. These are the eastern envelope of the basin of the Yellow-
stiine, the Jiaramie plain (between the I'lattes), the llatone, and the Llaun
Estaeado of Texas.

Beneath this tlie fliinl nicsti (or t-tej)pe), is that superlative renion, tlic
Great rKAiuiK Plains, who.se gentle sIojh' forms a glacis to the Gulf
through Texas: and in front to the trough formed by the Mississippi
River I'rom Itasca Jiake to the IJalize. Neither are the other three basins
of the St. Lawrence, Hudson Bay, and Athaba.sca anything else but pro-
longations of this siima gliii IK, sloping towards the east and north.

It is this vastness of geographical configuration which leads the (/Iniire
of the engineer with unerring certainty to that line of natural grades from
ocean to ocean, the discovery of which mankind now awaits with the keen-
est curiosity, and along which the American nation is resolved to construct
the consummate work of art — fJie Asinfic mid Eiimpiiiii Rm'fiai//.

Advanciu"- north alonji' the comb of the Sierra ^ladre from below
31exico, you find at the sources of the Platte (Sweetwater) a wide gap,
where, tlie liigh me.sa suddenly giving out for the sjiace of forty miles,
the second mesa jtasses through from east to west, the continued water-
ridge being scarctdy perceptible among its gentle undulations.

This is the SoiTli Pas.s. It is so named as being the lufinf soiifJicni
pass to ivhich you mav ascend by an affluent of the Atlantic and step
immediately over on to a stream descending directly to the Pacific. This
name is as ancient as the pass itself

Into it concentrate the great trails of the buffalo, geographers and road
makers by instinct, before the coming of man. The Indian, the Mexican.
and the American, succcs.sors of one another, liave not improved or de-
fiected from the instincts of the buffalo, nor will they whilst the moun-
tains last in their j)resent inisliattered bulk.

The South Pass has a towering grandeur, in keeping with the rivers
between which it i.s the avenue (the Missouri, the Colorado, and the
Columbia), all of which, issuing from the wall of the "Wind Biver Moun-
tain, come out of it on to the second mesa, (if tlir xmiir /rrrl, and into
which they immediately commence burrowing their canons of descent to
the seas.

Ifin, thru, is the route, the Soiifhrni route, of the National Railroad,
ascending by the water-grade of the I'latte on to the top of the second

|< forms a piedmont, rent

iiiii.sk.s tho fn.iit of tho

it t(ini and wm hy the

[' li'f't to define tin; origi-

the I)a.siii of tl„. Yell„w.

le llatone, and the Lhniu

It superlative r('ni„i,, d^,
liiis a glacis to tiu! (;„|f
Jined by the iMisf^isMj.],!
1-0 the other three basins
:i iinytliino- else but pro-
east and north,
wliieh leads the yA,,,,-,
•■ of natural lirades fr^m
>\v awa,its M'itli the keeii-
1 is resolved to construct
iropnin Rtiihaii/.
ii-ra 3Iadre frt)in below
f^wectwater) a wide jm]),
lie sjMce of forty miles,
■'t, the continued water-
mdulations.

"■i"M' the mimt southern

the Atlantic and .^tcj.

ly to the Pacific. This

». geofi-raphers and ro;ul
I! Indian, the lAIcxican,
L' not inij)rovcd or dc-
tliey whil.st the mouii-

'ci)in,u- with the rivers
he Colorado, and the
10 Wind Iliver ^foun-
'' •'"'»'<■ fn-ej, and into
!• canon.s of descent to

lie National Kailroad.
he toj) of the second

THE PACIFIC RAILWAY.

151

iiiesii. wliere it forms the summit, following the level of this mesa alonjj
tJic b;isi' of the hii:h mesa, to the Columbia (Snake lliver), anil descend-
ing its water-j:rade clear out to the Pacific.

Tlic distance from tlie Platte to the Columbia has not been accu-
rately ascertained, though by the present wauoii road, which crosses a
corner of the Salt IJasin, it is less than iJdO miles. Here is that double
inclined jilane, to find which has been the first essential l.i every work of
art existinn- in the Avorld.

There is none south of this, because everywhere the basins of tlie Talile
Lands oveilap and envelop one another, so that the jia.^ses h'ad merely
from one of the.se into another : nor are there any natural tunnels through
the jirecipitous walls of the Andes, and between the basins.

The Columbia, running across the Table Lands from east to west, dis-
tributes the descent of 8500 feet, equally alonj^' its course of 1200 miles,
and tunnels the ureal ranges of Blue ]M(mntains and the Andes. This
whole course of the river is a continuity of rapids having three falls — the
American Falls of iJO feet at Portneuf, the Salmon Palls of 45 feet, 200
miles below, and tho Chuttes of 12 feet, near the Dalles.

This rivi'r-jirade is then as rapiil as the descent to be accompli.slied will
admit of; for, distributed into loni; levt'ls and steep t;rades, it would im-
mensely impair the utility of the whole work, and I'atally impede trans-
portation.

The jiivat Colorado runs diagonally across the Taulk Lan'D.s, debouch-
ing into the Gulf of California ; but ha.s its course and those of its <;reat
affluents, parallel with the mountain ranges, which are scored with un-
fathonied canons, perjtiexing the traveller with an infinity of impassable
ridues, among which the water-courses are cmbowelled.

North of the South Pass, however, exist many single passes where the
higher brandies of the Missouri and Columbia interlock. These circui-
tous routes have all the same termini as that of the South Pa.ss, for tliey
also descend the same two rivers to the seas. Thus between the South
Pass and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there exists no railroad route, owing
to the longitudinal eourees of the rivers, the comjilexity of the basins, and
the double barrier of prinutry mountain chains.

To the north, other passes exist, which future generations may develop,
anil ou which navitration may be used for four-fifths of the whole dis-
tance. True il is that i>otential fashion now exalts the little maritime
busiii of California, San Francisco Bay, into the haven of hope and fortune
of tho new seaboard, whilst the sublime basin of the Columbia, and its
magnificent ricer harbor, are banished from public favor.

The basin of Sau Francisco is small, tropical in climate, sterile, and tho

,LLl.,Li ,,

,..,,.

fli

II :i 1

'i:«-

152

APPEXDIX.

most isolated spot, to ruiicli J'nmi tin; intiTior, on the whole eoust of the
Paeifie. No great river gives it access to the 3Iississijij)i Valley, I'rom
wliieli it is cut oft' by the basins nl' the Salt Lake, the Colorado, aiul the
Del Norte, overlapjiiiig each other.

The Columbia is larger than tlie Danube, and eijual to the Ganges. In
size, climate, agricultural excellence, capacity for ])opulatiou, and its wim-
derful circular configuration, the basin of the Columbia surpasses Imtii of
these others.

The mouth of the Columbia, a saliint point ui)on the open '-oast, more
thau any other central and convenient to the whole North Pacilic and
Asia, is in size, depth of water, safety and I'acility of ingress or egress,
equal to San Francisco. As the mouth of the greatest river descending
from our continent into tlie Pacific, it is iniinitely before it. It is eight
degrees south of Liverpool, having the climate of Bordeaux, Marseilles,
or Savannah.

Why is not the deep sea navigation concentrated at Norfolk or Uamp-
ton lloads, the finest harbor of the whole Atlantic? Why rather is it
found at New York and New Orleans, accessible only through every dan-
ger that can menace shijtping? Why, because the former is the outlet
of the basin of the St. Lawrence, the latter of the Mississippi. The ship-
ping of commerce goes to where cargoes can be found.

Loss than iiftyyearsago,/tM7</o;t pronounced the little ravines of James
River and the Connecticut the proud spots of America, and held tlie great
uninhabitable wastes of the Mississijipi and its uiuuicii/atvd streams as
worthy only to balance axljixh ! This same splenetic spirit o( /iin/iion
now manufactures a similarly ridiculous misdirection for the energy of the
pioneers, by setting up what the geologist would call a '' pot-hole of the
Andes," ;■ gainst the grand Columbia.

Commerce, provident like every other department of industry, makes
her.sclf harbo" with charts, pilots, buoys, and beacons. The shallowest
chauviel of the Columbia has thirty-five feet water — the deepest of New
York, twenty-nine.

Climate distinctly controls the migrations of the human race, which has
steadily adhered to an hothermnl lino around the world. The extremely
mild climate of our Western seaboard is only the conseciuenee of tlie same
great laws of nature which operate in Western Europe. These are the
regular and fixed ordinances of the code of nature, to which the migra-
tions of man, in common with the animal, yield an instinctive obedience.
Within the torrid zone and up to 30° of the Northern hemi.><phere, blow
the tr(nlr iciiKlx and viiriaUcs, constantly from the east and northeast all
around the world; but the upi)er halves of elliptical orbits followed by the

Tin: PACfF/r n.ML mm y.

153

wiiiil.s lit' ill till- toinperato /(inc. i'nun l!.")^ tn (1(1°, witliin wiiicli tlic winds
fluw ((instantly tVoni the wost ani.! soiitliwost all arnuiul tliu world.

Tiii-.-c winds ivauli tlu' irrnti rii coasts of America and Eiiroiie alter trav-
ersing the expanse of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Warmed to the
same temiierature as tliese oceans, they imjiart again this same mild atmo^,-
iilicre to the maritime fronts of tlie continents wliicli receive them. These
■suae winds, passiiiir onward over great extensions of continent of low tem-
perature, covered with snow, or Irozen dnring winter, often warped ujiward
bv ni'inntain ranges, becoming e.vhausted of tlieir warmth, liave ujxtn the
eastern portions of both hemisjiheres an exactly oi)posite efi'ect niion the
climate.

ll(.'nce the variant temperature of New York and Li.sbon, which face
on(! another on the opposite coa.sts of the Atlantic — of IVkin and San
Francisco, similarly ojjjxisite uj)on the Pacific. At San Franei.sco and
Lisbon the seasons are but modulations of one continuous summer. At
New York and Pekin, winter su.spends vegetation during seven months,
whilst ice and snow bridge the land and waters. The.se four cities are all
do.se njion the same parallel of latitude, the 4Uth degree.

It is here manifest how in Asia the masses of population lie? />rIow the
-lUth degree, in Europe alutvc, and again (so far) in America, curving
downward on the eastern face of our continent, to rise again to the north
upon the warm coast of the Pacific.

Thus has the zodiac of nations, our own nation similarly witli the rest,
pursued a serjnjntine line of hjikiI tiniprnifiiir, ret;iining all around the
world similar emj)loyments, similar industrial ]iursuits, similar food and
clothing, retjuiring similarity of climate, and recoiling alike from tlie torrid
and the arctic zones.

The scieiitijic vwii of the nation oppo.se the National Railroad — so
did those of Europe persecute (lalileo and Columbus. Science, like
the army and nav; , is fed from the national revenues, which HKtritline
])olicy distributes to all that serve its ends. Science is rare ; the spurious
((uackery of science redundant. It is not the scientific doctors of the
schools, the bureau.K and military wings of government, that have hewed
out tliis republiL'un empire from tlie wilderness.

This has been reared by the genuine lieroism and sublime instincts of
i\\ii ploiuev f/ /'Hi'/, unpaid, unbles.sed, nay, scoflfed and loaded with burdens
by government and its swarm of dependents. To bridle proures.s has
lieen the pelicy of thirty years. To keep the people out of the wilderness.
T(.( refuse Territorial governments, and prevent Territories from becoming
States.

At this moment acicntljic men are especially busy di.stracting us with

il-iii

liiljilil{

ii'lii^jiiiij

>i% i

lo4

APPEXDIX.

iimltitudiiious mutes niul invented dit^icultios : devised to perplex und
scatter the energies of the eitiz.ins : \vli(jse unanimous resolve it is to
jiluw open a <rreat eentral trail to the I'acifie.

SciiiKi cannot unmake the eternal ordinanees f)f nature, and reset the
univei-ie to suit local fancies and idle fashion. It la the humble dut}- of
science to investigate nature im she /,s, and promulgate the truths discuver-
al)l(! for ihe guidance o. governments and men.

The experience gained from the great works eonstrueted by the la.st
generation, in digging through the Alleghanies routes for commerce to
the Atlantic, .settles for us the rules that shall guide «s across the Sierra
Madre to the Pacific.

In 1S18 the State of New York cut through the low and narrow ridgo
between Home and Syracuse, the former on an affluent of tlie Iludson,
the latter of Lake Ontario. Thus the first exj)enditures, perforating
the dividing mountain, let through that infant commerce, which in thirty
years has urown to such a grandeur of (|uantity and j)rofit, tliat this great
thoroughfare is itself ((uadrupled in capacity and lengthened out to .Mon-
treal, to Bo.ston, to New York City, and into Peimsylvania, towards the
east.

WrsfwitriL it reaches through Ohio and Indiana to the Ohio River : and
by the Illinois and AV isconsin Rivers to the Missouri and ^Mississippi.

What the single State of New I'ork, of 1,2(1(1,(100 population, acconi-
plished by her own intrinsic braver and resources, undismayed l)y ridicule
and unappalled by the then expt^' nnental character of .such works in a
rc.piiltHc and upon our conl'ncnt: — just such a work now invites the
national bravery, power, a-.d wealth of this iiiiptritd irpiiUic : namely,
to lay, over the dividing barrier of the Sierra Madre, along the floor of
its natural tunnel at the South Pass, fin iron piithn:ii/y : whicli, descend-
ing the grades of the Platte and Columbia to the highest p(jints of navi-
gation, shall let through the first infant stream of that supreme Orinital
commerce, whose annually expanding flood will, during our generation,
elongatti its arms and fingers through all the States and to every harbor
of the two seaboards !

Climate : the configuration of the continent : the location of our States
and people : the isothermal line of progress : the high latitudes of the ultra-
oceanic nations here locate the " National Railroad." The clinidte is here
most favorable : because the wliole region from the Missouri to the Colum-
bia, far removed from any ocean, is so dry as to be free from rains in
summer and snoics in winter.

Thus the snows within the South Pass itself are not so deep as upon
the St. Lawrence, or between J}o.stoii and Bufi'alo. Upou the Wind River

m^ 'i:

THE PAP/FIC RAILWAY.

155

(loviseil to iicrplcx am]
inimous resolve it is to

of natuiv, iiiid reset the
is the humble duty of
ate tlie trutlis discover-

construeted l)y the last

routes for euunucrei! to

lide Its aeross the Sierra

he low and narrow riduo
affluent of the Hudson,
ijienditureH, perforating
ninieree, whieh in thirty
nd i)rofit, that this great
■ngtliencd out to 3I()n-
nnsylvania, towards the

to theOliio River: and
Iniri and ^Fississipjii.
,'M)0 ])opulation, aeeom-
, undismayed by ridicule
ter of sueh works in a
work now invites the
cn'id iTpiihlic : namely,
adre, along the floor of
hiriii/ : whieh, descend-
highest points of navi-
' that supreme Orlnikd
during our generation,
tes and to every harbor

e location of our States

;h latitudes of the ultra-

The climtite is liere

^lissouri to the Colum-

be free from rains in

re not so deep as upon
Upou the AViud lliver

Mouutaiu tliere is no snow in summer, at an altitude where it is perpetual
oil the Andes beneath tlie eijuatur and near the ocean !

On the Talile Lands rain and snow are so rare that they may be said
never to occur. This obstruction, then, stated on theory to be fatal, has no
cxiste'ice — whilst this route, pursuing great rivers: all the way, has abun-
dance of water. Mineral coal is abundant from end to end. Ijumber ami
ruck intinite in quantity and convenient in jiosition.

It is, then, I repeat, thmugli the heart of our Territories, our popula-
tion, our States, our farms and liabitations, that we need this broad current
of commerce. Where passengei-s and cargo may, at any time or place,
embark ujion or leave the vehicles of transportation.

It is foul treason to banish it from the land : from among the people :
to force it on to the barren ocean : outside of society : tlirough foreign
nations: into the torrid heats and along ;• litary circuitous routes, im-
prisoned for months in great ships.

This central railroad is an essential domestic institution: more power-
ful and permanent than law, or popidar con.sent: to thoroughly complete
the great systems of fluvial arteries which fraternize us into one people :
to bind the two seaboards to this one nation, like ears to the human head:
to radicate the foundations of the I'nion so broad and deep, and render
its structure so solid, tliat no possible force or stratagem can shake its
permanence : and to secure such scope and space to progress, that pros-
perity and equality shall never be impaired or chafe for want of room.

What, sirs, are these pojmlous empires of .iapan and China, now be-
come our neighboio? They are the most ancient, the most highly civil-
ized, the most polLshed of the earth.

It was from Sinim (China) that the Jiulean king Solomon imported
the architects, the mechanics, the furnit.ire of his gorgeous temple.
Ifi iirr. the Tyrians brought tapestry, carpets, shawls of wool, cotton and
silk fabrics, wares of jwrcelain and metals, dyes, gums, and spices, jewels
poli.shed and .set.

Jlciice, came the climax of all human inventions, lettei's <tnd Jiyiars,
which fix language and numbers, making them eternal : astronomy, arith-
metic, algebra, deeimiUs, chemistry, printing, navigation, agriculture, and
horticulture.

All the.se, erroneou.sly ascribed as the inventions of the Arabs or to the
exiles of Con.stantinople. who brought them into Western Europe, are the
creations of Oriental genius and study.

Tea. sugar: the peach produced I'nim the wild almond: the orange
from the sour lime : the apjile from the crab : the fruits : the flowers : the
vegetables of cur gardens, are the crtationn of Chinese horticiiUiiral !n:iciu:e.

' ffl I

iWil

15(i

M'I'h'XOIX.

The horse, cnttli', the swiiic iiiid jMiultry df our farms, conie to us fmiu
tlu'uci'. Tlic cultiiro III" till' ccrciil iiraiiis, wli^at, rice, liarlcy lircail. wvu'
the olive ami silk, liavf ronic to us IVoin the laithcst Orient. !/< im ulso
caiiio guiipowiler, the inaij;noti(.; needle, and (iiicmiel. Tht; jialnts, varnish,
and tools of the art have come, and the reniedius used in pliarinacy.

Oar liistorie records, ciininniiiuii/ with the arrival of ])roL;res^i\e civil-
ization at the extremity of the .Mediterranean, relate IVoni traditiim tin;
anti(juc emjiire of Bacchus and the relijrion of Zoroaster u]ion the (lanjjcs
and tlio Indus. The Chaldeans of Mu; Persian Sea followed. I'Ircts
came from the extreme Ortmt into the IJi ii'j;al Sea, the Pcirsian Gulf, and
the lied Sea ; and caravans ovcrlai. i hy the Uxus and tho Caspian lirouuiit
tlio camel, the horse, cuttle, manufactured wool, silks, cotton, and metals,
aj;riculture, commerce, and coin.

Enijii exjiandinj^ westward along the Ganges, the Kuiihrates. and
the Nile, reached to the Mediterranean and Kuxine. From Egypt, I'Ikc-
nicia, and Colchis (Trehisond), .si)rang European Greece.

Sudi as Progress is to-day, the same has it been for ten thousand years.
It is the stream of the luiman race flowing from the cost to tlw mxt. im-
pelled by the same divine instinct that pervades creation. 15y this track
comes tlie sun diurnally to cheer the world. Thus come the tides of men
and of the waters: learning: law: religion: the plague: the smallpox ■
and the cholera. The sources of life and happiness — the pestilence that
saddens both.

These empires of which we have spoken have left upon the ground tluy
occupied their names, political society, their organized systems of gov-
ernment and religion. Does ncjt society, then, once founded beconu!
perennial ? It is within a belt of the earth straddling the -lOth degree
of north latitude that the greatest mass of land surrounds the world, and
where the continents most nearly aiijirouch.

Within this belt (from J](l° to 50°) four-fifths of the human race is
assembled, and here the civilized nations, of whom we ])osse.ss any history,
have succeeded one another, connnencing at the farthest extremity uf
Asia, and forming a zodiac towards the setting sun.

This succession has flowed onward in an even course, undulating along
an isothermal line, until in our time the ring is about to close around the
earth's circumference, by the arrival of the American nation on the coast
of the Pacific, which looks over on to Asia.

In this age and in this march of human race, as elsewhere: tin; bold,
energetic, and indomitable : the picked spirits of the world lead the van ;
and such is the piuuccr nrwij.

What means that expression in the Declaration of Independence, "life.

mtik

'• flinns, coiiiL" to us fiiiin
I'icf, l.iulcy l.iviid. wi,,,,^
ifst Oriciii. //,.„,., .||,y
Tlic jiaiiits, Vinnisli,
iiscfl ill ])liann.icv.
iviil of i.roi;rf.-*si\v civil-
■liiti; iruiii traditiiiM ih,.
niiistcr ii|ioii tlic(;;iiiL:,..s
II Si';i fiillmvi'd. Klirts
1, tlio I'crsiiin CJiiir. iiinl
"III tho Casjiiaii lin.ii-lit
ilks, cotton, and nictals,

:»'«, tlu; Kiiitliratcs. and
ic. From Ku3]it, I'lia'-
( i rci'co.

fur trn thousand years,
tllc rant to tin- vcat. m-
fivation. ]}y this truck
IS come the tides of men

Jihigue: the snialliiox-
less — the i)estilcuee that

ft upon the ground tlicy
;:inized systems of uov-
onco founded become
Idling the 40tli degree
urrounds the workl, and

of tlie liuman race is
we possess any liistory.
! fartliest extremity of
n.

ourse, undulating along
out to elose around tlie
can nation on the coast

IS elsewhere : tlie bold,
he world lead the van ;

:)f Independence, "life,

Tin: i:\rif ir iiMi. ir.i )',

157

lilicrty, ikI ihr pursuit <if /Kippinisa" .' What tuouulit tlie Civalii r> to
Viri;inia in 1(!0S? It was "the pursuit of lia|ipinc>s." Wiiat animated
the Pilgrims to endure the rigors of I'lyinoutli lloci; ? ^VIly, "tlie pur-

laillolis IiIuIIL:!!!'' il

Miit 111' liappiness." What sought Boone and liis coinp;

llii)ii-and miles into tlie wilderness? 1'his same ••pursuit of happiness.

Wliiit secret motives now brings foreigners to our shon

cs, ami imiieis our

■iti/eiis onward to tlic I'acitie? Again, it is " the jmrsuii of liappi-

ness.

/'/•"i/i'isn, tlien, is one of the immortal KKillTS saiictilied in the Charter

liberty. AVliy, then, is advent into the wildc

-the field

lit human liner

for the diseontent4)d, the oppre.ssed, the needy, tlu; restless, the ambitious,
and tli(^ virtuous, thus closed by a )iolicy at once sinister, nefarious, and
uiiroiistifutional ?

I'lHpiiet for our sacred I'iiion is this present time, when political
]Hiwer, about to cross the Alleglianies, sec-saws on their crests, counting
the d.ays that precede her eternal transit over them I

It is by the rapid propagation of new States: tlu' immediate occupation
(if the broad platform of the continent : tin; aggregation of the I'acitie
Ocean and Asiatic commerce : that impiiiitude will be swalloweil up. and
the murniurs of discontent lost in the onward siiiiinl of advancement.
Pisioiitcnt, distanced, will die out.

The immense wants of the Pacific will draw oil', over the Western out-
lets, the over-teeming crojw of the Mississippi \'alley. Thus will the
present seaboard States resume again their once ] rotitable monopoly
of the Kuropean market, relieved from the competition of the interior
Stat.'S.

The cotton and rice; culture of (leorgia and the Carolinas will revive.
The tobacco of Virginia ami .Maryland will again alone reach Europe.
Ships withdrawn from the Xorthern States to the Pacific, will regenerate
tile noble liiisiness of nautical construction in New Kngland and \ew
York.

The cstabli.xhed domestic manufactures of clothing ami metals will find,
in our great home (extension, that protection which they in vain seek to
create by uncipial legislation, nocuous and impracticable in our present
incomplete and unbalanced geographical finni.

Thus calmly weighed and liberally ajipreciated, does this great Central
Railroad mini,ster to the interests and invite the advocacy and co-opera-
tion of every section of our territory, and every citizen of our coinmou

countrv.

The exelu.sion of foreigners from Japan, China, and Cochin China
not then an institution of barbarism, but a domestic tariff of protection.

i ; • ;i

.♦■T

168

AI'I'ESin.S.

■1*

It is (lo-iuiicil. like tlic ('iiiiiliiiiiitiun of Cliristiim iiiidoiis ii'jainst
jiinicy, to ]iriit<'ct llii'ir nutiiiiijility ami riccdiuii iiuain^t tlin.si' licrcr inilitmy
nations (if Nuktiimkn, wlio for twenty (cntiirit's liavo rent Kuinj aim
Wcstoni Asia with jHTiK'tual inassai rr : wlio ransai k all tlic seas in ilnir
war-sliiji.s : stoic tlic rucks of tlic ocean witli niiinitions of war : cni>li tlic
millions of India witli cannon and tlic liavonct ; ]ilinulcr Africa of a niillinn
iiiinnall) of licr swarthy cdiihtrcn to rot in foreij;n slavery: and cmh
externiiiii.te one another in deadly strife when they meet anionu the ;iii-
ti]iodes. in the solitudes of the Southern Ocean.

When, however, utir di]ploinacy shall receive a wise direction — when
our fuolisli nepotism to Kurojit; sliall lie run out — when men ol' sense.
f<ueh as Franklin was of old, shall sail over from Astoria to I'ekin. ami
there converse, with tlii' Oiiiiilnl Cuiirt. of Re|iuli]ican America as she is
— when her civic jirowth and ]iacifie |policy shall he there understood —
when the central position . four continent slndl be known; formiiii: the
avenue for trade and harrier apiinst war with the Northmen of Kuropc —
tlien will mutual confidence hetween these, the oldest and youniicst of
the human fiimily, f/ic i.rtnrhits nut. show itself in the graces of a free
commerce, and the ties of an harmonious fraternity.

It is for you especially, jieople of Missouri, to .seek tlic.se new relations
with the Oriental peojile, with the zeal of faith and the fixed will oi' con-
viction.

It is arch mockery for us to he duped by the flijipatit caricatures of
these ancient and ]iolish(;d Asiatics: invented by British envy to mislead
us, and fed out to us by the British press to cloak sinister designs of suh'
jugation and world-wide plunder.

Rather let us take alarm at the tone and source of this monstrous flood of
calumny : and know that a direct inspection for ourselves will reveal to us.
in Asia, emjiires of people illustrious for their anti(jue civilization : ren-
dered enduring and perfect by political eijuality. and wi.se civic institutions,
winnowed and renovated during fifty centuries of uninterruiited exiieii-
dice — among whom the science and art of war. indt'cd, are decayed from
long disuse: but all iiseful sciences liighly perfected — with whom govern-
ment has reached the mildest form of patriarchal desjiotism, eliminatiiiir
political priestcraft and the disseminated tyrannj' of a patrician order —
"who have so admirably refined and perfected municipal government and
police that 4(1(1, 0(10, 0(H) of population (double that of all Europe) are
united under one harmonious political system in concord and trainiuillity.

It is among the.se swarming hives of ingenious people that we will find
markets on a s:ale commensurate with our own jirolific industry.

This is not now the case in Europe. The Europeans are in all tliini;.':

Tin: I'M'iiir UMi.WA y.

\Wd

lin>tl;ill IIMfM.llS ;|u,,|,„t

hin>t lll.,>r(i,,v,. „,ilit;,rv
Y 'i"vc ivht K„r,,j ,„„',
'SM'k all til.. s,,i.s in ,1,,,;,.
jiitiuiis ..Cwiir: cnoj, ,1,,,
JlMiHlcrAfi-i,„.,Ci, n,iili„„
|i<'i-ii slavny: aii.l rv,,,
]Il<'y meet ailKMl- tlir ,i,|.

a wis.. (lirocti..!!— wluii
lit— when nu'ii of s..ns..,
I" A.st..na fo I>,.ki„. ,„„|
ililiciin Anicri(.a as sli.. is
I ''<• lliiTt^ undcist,,,,.!—
bo kn.iwii: fiirmiiiir tin.
'■ Nortlmion ..f I-;iin,|„.__
"Idi'st anil }-.,iiiin,.,.f „f
'' ill tlie graces of a free

■'*i'ek these new r<.lati..iis
md til.; fixed will ofeon-

" flippant caricatures .if
: Britisli envy t.i misl. ad
k sinister designs ..f sul,.

)f this monstrous fl.iod.,f
irs..Ive.s will reveal to iis.
iiti.jue civilizati.in : reii-
d wise civic instituti.pns.
f uninterrupted exjieii-
id.'ed, are de..aje.| fnmi
'd — with whom govern-
despotism, eliminatinL'
of a patrician order —
licijial government and
l>at of all Eurojie) are
)ncord and tran.juillity.
'oojile that we will fiii.I
'liiie industry,
jieans are in all tliin-s

OP! rivals and conipetit.irs. Ar.. we ai;iicultur!' 's? So are th. y. and
wall oTour conipetiiion witli corn-law tariff*. Are miners an.l iiianii-
I'aeturcrs ? So arc they, and overtop us Ity abundance of labor and capi-
tul. Are we sliip-.iwn.'rs? So are thi.y. liaving an immense marine
cheaply navigated. They con. jUer and colonize foreign eountri.'s. . if whose
trade they make monop.ilies ! They are northern nations, whos.. clothing
is of wool and flax, consuming a very limited amount of cotton.

What they take fr.im us is to manufacture for exportation, Tobacco
is ]iiiiliiliit...l — h.;mp and metals tht.y exp.irt. The p.ipulatimi of Kurope
is l.'(ir),(MI(l.()(H)_of the Atlantic all roun.l, 2r):j,(i'MI,(M)(l.

On the Pacific, in front of us, are 4l)0,()0(),000 people of the tr.ipics —
Polynesians, South Americans, Soutli.Tn Asiatics — among wliom wli.'at
is not cultivated, and animal f.jo.l, other than fish and jmuliry, very
scarce. Their clotliing is exclusively cloth of cotton, grass, an.l silk.
Opium is excessively used among them. Rice, the plantain, lianana, and
fruits are their unsubstantial diet.

Here, then, will be the market for raw and manufactured c.itton. Ifere
our rank manufactured t.jbacco will substitute itself f.ir opium. Here
our substantial articles of food — flour, meats, and fish — will find purcha.sers
in all who eat. Lead and hemp will be .sold.

In return will come to us groceries, spices, teas, coffee, Ku.'iir — porce-
lain, Jaf)an ware, furniture, w.)rks in ivory — drugs, jiaints, dyes, medi-
cines — beautiful fabrics of silk, .satin, velvet, crapes; nankeens, tlie
delicate shawls of Cashmere, tlie carpets of Persia — jewelry, trinkets, and
toys — the hemp of Manilla — luscious fruits dried and preserved.

Tlie peojile of the Pacific have no marine adapted to cross the great
ocean — the carrying to and fro will be in our .ships, and a monopoly to us
— sliip-building and navigati.in will occupy our people of the new sea-
board, and the metals, lumber, and hemp of the interior find a -.rodigious
demand. The population of the Pacific all round exceeds ()45,n()O,(lu0 !

Will not then our people find in this, that certain panacea of ail tlieir
wants and wishes, namely, an infinite market of consumption ? Surely
this people, which has submitted to the nostrums of political (|uackery:
tariffs of protection : banks to make money plenty : home manufactures
and systems of internal improvement: all invented to create markets at
home, by changing our producing agriculturists into consuming opera-
tives : but all of which little experiments have produced industrial
anarchy and commercial bankruptcy.

Surely this people will not hesitate to construct for themselves this great
" National Highway," at small comparative cost : and leading as level as
a cannon to its blank : to a new ocean, teeming with 045,000,000 of

[GO

APPESDIX.

people, of WMiits unlimited, and having a genius aetive, intelligent, and cum-
mereial ! To efleet tliis, it is only necessary to untraniniel progress IVom
the snares and dead-falls of maritime policy.

To reopen the legitimate onward trail of the pioiirtr uritnj, and niu-
vigorate its march. The cause of the pioneers at this hour pre-eniinonily
ditnaii'ljt the undivided energies of Missouri. It is for us tliat the
jiiiinecr army is tiotc coiKjuering the vast wilderness that hems in our
Liiuiun'rce and blocks the frontier : for us it throws down the iierfiilinus
Indian wall: reopens the central trail of advancement so long insidiously
closed — and to us, for us, it re-establishes that crowning excellence of
position of which hostile policy has for thirty years bereft us.

It is not andjition that impels us, citizens of 3Iis.souri. to advance to
the advocacy of this great v.ork with our whole unshackled energies — it
is high religious duty.

Citilra/ to the continent, to its internal navigation, to its States, to its
commerce, and to its variety of agriculture : neutral to all .'^ectional antipa-
thies, and the converging heart of all interests: WE must occupy this
central position with power and dignity equal to its importance ; with a
strength of grasp and intensity of enterprise to cope with the tallest exi-
gencies.

Let us appreciate this, and stand up to the work with hearts of cmitru-
•cr.«y and sinews of endurance : that the fame of our glorious State,
sa. ing forth from her seat in the centre, may resound in and outward
all round from the centre to the circumfluent oceans !

Observe the foreign commerce of America, and the splendid marine
which it sustains ! This has grown up in two hundred years. But com-
pare with it the eonmierce and navigation of the interior, grown up in
less 'han forty years, for such is the age of steam navigation on the rivers
and lakes.

The latter already equals the former, for it transports internally what
i;: consumed at home, as well as what is collected at the seaports for expor-
tation. Thus, St. Louis, in the amount of tonnage arriving and departing
annually, is the fourth city of the Union, ranking next to Boston.

Indefinitely grand is this domestic, internal commerce. Let us com-
pare the two. The commerce between New York and Liverpool, 8500
miles asunder, requires powerful vessels of great size and strength to carry
much, and resist the storms of the ocean. The intervening space is a
clu.scrf iiyistc of salt water. A vessel of 000 tons must be filled with cargo
before her departure, to make so long a voyage profitable. She goes to
Liverpool and back — sails 3500 miles, touches only two points of land,
and carries two loads — four months of time, at least, is consumed in

THE PACIFIC IIMLWAY.

161

■•'. intolli,!j.oiit.iiii(lc,,in.
tniiiinu'l i)r(i<:rf.s.s iVdm

nnrir (iniii/, and nin-
li.s hour prc-eiiiiiH'iitly
t is fur u.s tliat the
■sf< that lu'iiis ill our
•■■s iluwu tlio iR'ilidiuus
■nt so hiiijr insidi((ii-sly
)Wiiin<j: exeellc'iicc of
bereft u.s.
-lissouri. to advance to
nshackled enorjiics — it

on, to its States, to its
to all sectional anti|ia-
\VE must occupy this
ts importance; with a
»e with the talle.-t e\i-

with hearts of contro-
of our glorious State,
sound in and outward

i the splendid marine
ired years. But com-
; interior, grown up in
ivigatiou on the rivers

*ports internally what
ho seajjorts for e.\por-
rriving and dejiarting
ext to Boston,
mcrco. Let us com-
itnd Liverjpool, ;>')(»()
iind strength to carry
itervcniiig space is a
it be filled with cargo
jfitable. She goes to
y two points of laud,
?ast, is consumed iu

tills. Such arc the voyages of ocean commerce — expensive, dilatory and

(laniiors.

Coiniiarc with this the river voyage. From rittsl)urg ( nr New Or-
leans; to Fort Union, the distance is liodd miles, by the Uliiu ami Mis-
souri Kivcr.s — a steamer of (j((() tons, chea})ly constructed and navigated,
peitiirnis the voyage to and fro, with perfect safety, in two and a half
iiiiiiiilis. and alisolutely without danger, along a continuous river chaiiiu'l.

This eiiannel has a double bank, so that tliis vessel coasts along a shore
of 14,0(((t miles, at any square rod of which she may take in and discharge
passengers and cargo. Thus it is jiossible that no single pas.senger or
cargo remains on board over ItH) miles, and yet the vi'ssel is full through-
out the voyage. These same advantages belong to rtiHr<in<h traversing
populous countries. Siu-h is our internal navigation — cheap, expeditious,
and absolntciy without danger.

Now the circuitous seaboard surrounding the Atlantic may be estimateil
at (lit, 000 miles, with harbors indenting it — but small ves.sels caimot navi-
gate the broad sea, nor large vessels enter all the harbors.

On the other hand, within the united basins of the St. Lawrence and
AIi><issi[ipi. is a continuous river navigation for ir).()0(l niiles. having a
double bank or !)(l,0(KI miles of coast, the whole extent of which may be
visiteil by the same steamer, whicli can land anywhere I

Such is one illustration of the supremely lieneficent Ibrmation of this
great inti'rior basin, of which our own State occupies thecentr(> and focus.
Let a railroad from the Missouri elongate this to tlu^ Pacific : carrying
population clear up all the rivers to tlunr sources and down those beyond
the Sierris; and behold the greatiu>ss of an ///^r^'?/ comnu'rce !

Everybody is acfpiaintt'd with the commercial intercourse between the
continents which fringe the Atlantic. Tlio life, the vivacity, the grand
energies which resound upon its buoyant waves. All this is the result of
the discovery of Anu'rica and its jiopulation with Euro]ieau stock — hiMice
all this has its growth !

Antifjuity had for its field tlie ^lediterranean, and galleys sufficed. This
was comnu'rce in its infancy, confined to the nur.«ery and content with
toys. Sinci! Columbus, America has become greater than the Europe of
rolumbiis — and as this ])eriod has expandeil the field of human activity
I'l'oni the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and .Me(literranean. IVoin Western
l']uro]H' to America and Europe, blending all this vast space under one
internal i(inal relationship.

So now we advance to consummate the blending of the Pacific with
these other seas: — Asia with these other continents — and urg(> to its goal
that exjtandiiig progression, which marches ou to complete the zoilinc of

-1:1

162

APPEXblX.

I II

the globe, iind lilonil into bonds of confrutoniity all the continents, all the
seas, and all the nations !

In the vast region of Nortlnvcstern Texas, traversed by the rivei's
Brazos, Trinity, ilio Uoxo, Canadian, Arkansas, and Del Ncjrte. exists a
fertile region nuieh larger tliaii France, the dryness of wbost' eiinmtc;,
whose red soils, impregnated with the sulphate of lime (jilasterj, and
wliose altitude, present in perfect combination the qualities for the culti-
vation of the grape and the production of wines.

These rivers all have their sources in jirodigious mountains of plaster.
from which the red tinge and the fertility of their valleys below is derived.
Natural vineyards, covering n:illions of acres, and annually pruned down
by the nibbling herds of butfalo and anteloi>e, here now yearly waste an
infinite vintage.

This has already become known to the German pioneers of Texas, and
soon will be seen rising a vine culture, rivalling in national importance the
cotton culture, the tobacco eroji. and even the jiroduction of jirovisions.
Then too will be seen the universal consumption of mild and healthy wines
by our pcojile, and the gay and exhilarating sjiirits which generous wines
inspire, will transjiose the fell passions and fiery madness of alcohol.

Again, the region oi'gold and jirecious metals and stones is not limited,
liut is absolutely infinite. It is over the whole extent of that primary and
volcanic formation extending from the antarctic to the arctic I'xtremitics
of America, inchuling in its expanse the Andes of South and North
America, the Sierra Mailre and the Table Lands.

This abundance of the mati'rial of coin, wrought and develojied by
sober American industry, is to the human race the supreniest gift of
Divine Beneficence.

Has not the American cotton culture obliterated liarsli aristocratic dis-
tinctions in dress, and thus democratized the costume of society over the
world? What cotton has done for ecjuality in dress, the .same will gold
effect fiu' individual ecjuality in property and physical comforts.

I^tudy how the stiff, icy servitude of European feudal times has melted,
since the conipiests of Cortez and I'izarro opened the sources from whicii
portable personal property has exalted itself above fixed and immutable
glebe land !

Beyond the Sierra IMadre, upon the Great Tal)le Lands, is a parallel vein
of thin mountains, whose masses consist of rock-.salt. As streams else-
where Ijring down gravei and soil, so here they liijuefy the rocks down
which they descend, and reaching the small inland seas and lakes, yield it
again in the cry.xtalline coverings which jiave their bowls.

In another parallel vein is a coniinm us line of jdaster mountains.

the continents, nil the

"•f<i' fhniatc;,
>f lime (j.liister). and
"lualitios t'(.r the culti.

mountains oi' iilastur.
alleys below is ilciiveJ.
annually jirun.d duwn
•i now yearly waste au

pioneers of Texas, and
tational importance the

xluetion of iirovisiuiis.
mild and Iiealtliy wines
< wliieh generous wines
^idness of aleoljol.
d stones is lu.t limited,
'lit of that ].riniary and
the arctic extremities

of J^outh and Xurth

harsh aristocratic dis-
me of .society over the
:'ss, tlie same will gold
•al comforts,
udal times has melted,
le sources from which

fixed and immutable

unds, is a parallel vein

lit. As streams elsc-

|uefy the rocks down

oas and lakes, yield it

owls.

aster mountains.

77/ a; PAf'irir n.MLWA v.

163

In another, a continuous line of tin

nf which are tlu? first ajipearani-e aiMive

having flowed hundreds ol' miles under plains of lav;

II riiiiii and mniirnini sjiruigs. snni<

d of snliterranea

n rivers.

tyccniiiiiii

III

rre

It size abiiund. having' freestone, niarb

anil

eiial formations — iron. lead, and the metals of the arts. All forms, indeed,
into which geology classifies matter, hen; follow one another in ajppro-

jinate jiositions and proportions, wi

th tl

U' rciiularilv o

f tl

le stripes o

rainbow: the wlnde deriving proininenee and distiuctuess of detail from
the immensity of the general .scale.

Thus, instead of inl'criority in al)uiidauce and variety of things used }iy
and useful to man, it is here that they especially abound in variety, good

(juality. and vastne.ss.

dl tl

lese must pa

y higl

iwav eonncctin^i

the two oceans, distributinu: outward the infinite natural resources of this

intra-montaue woi

Id.

Xo other i)ortion of tlu' W(n'ld will better accommodate a d

1
lation than these Table liam

eiise pojiu-

oii wine

faith

er south, is the ch

ief

P"l

lUla

tion of Mexico. In the dryness and salubrity of its climat(>. its extraor-
dinary pastoral oxcellence, and its mineral wealth, are the ei|uivalents of
the richer lands, but uncertain seasons and health of countries of h'ss

iltit

uile.

It,^

s intermediate iiositiou will secure iieriietual eominuiiicatioi

perp(

with tlie seaboards.

An admirable economy of arrangement given by nature to the iiiilia<fii/
of our jieople. points with great jiower to this central route, which also cor-
responds to the jMisitions and courses of the great navigable rivers.

In New Kngland and at tlie extreme north, where winter dwarfs agri-
culture, there are no planters, but sliijis are built, owned, and navigated.
Here are the marine of America, her sailors.

On the shores of the ( Julf, and where southern warmth invites men to
agriculture, no sliips are built, owned, or navigated — the people here j-lant
and produce cargoes i'ov the ships of the north — not a native sailor is
found in these countries.

Between these, occupying a broad central belt, are the farmers, pro-
ducers of food. Tlu'se latter eipial in number the other two combined.
The firmer recoils from a southern sun. where beat forbids labor, and
where the culture of wheat and swine languishes; in like manner, ho
recoils from the long winter of tlie north, where cattle ami Indian corn
cease to yield abundantly.

It is this CI iitriil Jiirniii'ij papiihili'iii which feed the commercial jieople
of the North and the planting people of the South, and support them-
selves and furnish for export. They jirecede all other occii] ants, and
liead the movement into the wilderness, where the first reipiisites are

I r

■I

mm il

:l» ''f'l

:i t ^'i

'<%

1(14

A /•/•/■: \f)/.\'.

t'tiDil tiiiil tr;iiis|M)it;itinn. Vet it is iiinoiiu- tlio ('aniiin<; j)o|)ul;iti(iii that
(luiiu'stic cuniincivi! liiids it.s jiivat vijluiiic of ennpldyincnts— and aiunnir
tliciii arc re(|uire(i. first and cliicfiy, tlic 'j:\vi\t ehamiels of trade wliicii
find tlicir termini anmnt:- tiie titlier two.

It is tiiis mass, wiiieli. sto]i])ed liy the artilicial net-work ol' in<iri/iiiic
IKiliii). is now riisliin^' thron^h and tearing its meshes from their I'aslen-
ings. Jn resnminu' their ancient vigor, coneentrated hy hing restraint,
they now demand a National llidlway to the ocean wiiicli they seek.

What I have here stated, .Mr. (!iiairman and f'eliow-eiti/.cMis, of tji-n-
ijrapliirdl fiictsf. ai'e of my own knowledge: lor with the works of Jiewis
and Clarke. Frenionl, JOmory, and lluiidjoldt, I have during si>: toilsome
years of war and exploration, traversed the countries they descrihe, and
the vast intervals between, which //c-y have never visited.

In these wanderings, undertidven of my own will, I have descended the
Amies to the I'aeitie and returned; crossed and recrossed Ity many routes
all the liasins of tlu! Taui.K ii.VNDS, excejiting oidy that of the city of
-Me.vico, and coasted along tlie hase of the Sierra Madre from 4.")^ to 'I'y' .

This •• niotiier range ' 1 have crossed and recro.ssed at si.\ diH'erent jiasses
in this long interval, and its su]ireme grandeur is stamjied indelibly in my
memory.

What I have said ofyc/Z/cy is from tlu! mouths of those eminent states-
men who have contrived it, and those eijually eminent who have unsuc-
cessfully oppo.sed it.

T iiave exi)re.s.sed my convictions very positively, hut not immodestly:
for in the terrible vastness of tlu'se solitudes, Nature speaks her iron will
from summits of t'ternal ice, and wlu-re she frowns upon our advances,
our foolish efforts shrivel into ashes. It is, then, this stern and certain
language of Nature that I have sought to penetrate, and hero struggle to
repeat.

.Many routes for a National Highway, cunningly contrived and speciou.sly
reasone(l out. ar(> before the jieople — all these will vanish beneath exact
<l(<iijr(iiiliic(d scrutiny, for they violate nature at haj)-hazard, with whom

hum;

in s

kill nnist act in unison. This unison is happily attainable, and

discussion will reveal it.

JiCt us. tlu'ii. understand Nature riuhtlv — let us cease fr

fli

'om conn let, am

feather our onward inarch in uiiisini with her beneficent aid and guidaiict

us "reat W(nk ntaxl come, aii<

1 <(>i

ne iiDir

to t/i,

us ijiniriitlitti.

iSo (

liffi-

culty lies in the enterprise itself — but such as will instantly vanish before
the coiiceiitrated will and energies of the peoi)le.

iiii;- iHijiulaticiii timt
iiit'iits — and iiiuuiiL'
lU'ls (if tnnlc Avliicli

t-work of iiKtrlliiiii;
IVuni tlu'ir fistcn-

1 l>y IdiiiT ivstraiiit,

licli tlicy Hc'i'k.

(i\v-i-itiz(!ns, (if ifa-

tlif \V(jrks (»f Jicwi.s

diirinji' six toilsDiiio
s tlk'y (k!.serilju, and
itt'd.

Iiavi' dt'sc('n(k'd the
sscd liy many mutes
• that of tho city (jf
IV from 45= to 25".
t ,six diflorcnt jiassos
qii'd indclihly in my

hoso fniincnt states-
nt wlio iiavo unsiu;-

iiit not immoch'stly :
sjK'aks lier ircni will
upon our advances,
lis stiM'u and certain
and here struugie to

rived and speciously
misli l)eneath exact
-hazard, witli whom
ipily attainable, and

w from conflict, and
It aid and guidance.
ncrnfiwi. 2no diffi-
tuntly vanish befoiv

III.
rilOCEKDINGS OF A MASS MKKTlNd

OF TIU; CITI/.KNS (IF .lACKSON ((IINTV, AT INDKI'IAHKNCK, ON Till: .iTII (iF MlVF.M
liKlf, IM'.i, To liKSl'OMI TOTIIK ACTION OF Till: (lliKAl' NAI'K IN AI, ISAILUOAD t'(.lN
VKNTION, IIKI.n IN ST, I.OI IS, ON TIIK l.-.TII HAY oF oCToliFli, ls4:i.

0.\ motion of .Mr. J. W. .Modie. Colonel .Jamks ('iiii.Ks was appointed
Chairman, and on motion of 1{. (J. Smart. Ivscj.. .1. |{. I'al.MKR was ap-
po

intt'd Secretary.

Colonel Wll,l,l.\.\i (iii.pi.N was then called ii]miii to address the nieet-
<i. and explain its oli

jl'Ct.

II.

e resiiolKle.

I to th

i- call in a speech wliieli

terested and occuiiied the attention of tlie mectinj;' for alioiit one hour
d a half; in conclusion lie moved the a]i]i(iintmeiit of a. coiiimittce of

to the

lonsive

twelve to writ(,' and re]i(irt to the inet'tinu resolutions res]
action of the ^reat Convention at St. Jiouis. The motion having:' lieeii
adojited, the Cliairman ajipointed as the Committee: Colonel William (iil-
jiin, A. Hrookini;-. (Jeiieral S. D. Lucas. Samuel Kalstoii. .Major lioliert
Itickman, Colonel .James M. Cogswell. .James I'attoii. K.s(|.. Colonel Oliver
Caldwell. 11. (I. Smart, Ks.p, William 1{, Singleton, Alexander Collins,

d S. II. Woodson, Es(|.

The (

omm

ittee, after consultation, reiiorted the followi

eport

in'i' res(

)lutions,

which were unanimously adojited : —

1. licnolnif, That we heartily and zealously approve of, and concur in,
the procecdinj;' of the '■ National Eailroad Convention." held at St Louis
on the L")tli ultimo.

2. lioiiilinl^ That in the great national work, that shall connect the
two si'alioards of our country, and the interior with the s(!aboards, wo
behold an enterprise as universal to tlu^ inhaliitants of our Ciiion as their
language, their politics, and their commerce — a lioiid of unanimous action,
and not a lione of contention and strili'.

;>. Jirsttlnd, That to tho people of the "Valley of the Mississippi,"
intimate and direct eiuineetion witli the seaboards and people of tlio Pacific,

IS as

essential and as interesti

ii"' as \vi

til those of the .\tlantic.

4. Rcsi'Iri'd, That, inasmuch

IS our people in tlieir natural progressive

growth have extended their habitations across thetMjntinent, and along the

l«o

lil'i

il:il

IGG

A ri'J:.\Di\.

Wosterii si'alioanl. it i?; mir diitv, and tlie duty (if our uiivi'riiiiK'iit, to pivo
til tliifs new .si-a hoard, fleets, iortitications, and arms lor dctt'iic-i' — liarlmrs.
liulit-liouscs, and marine iiolii'c, for tlie iMicourajiemcnt and iirotoction of
coiiimfrci' and lii<;li\va}> — and a military jioiiw to conKrm and make siU'
tlie connection with the interior.

5. llisiilrid.fnrtlirr, That a NATIo.\At< K.VILHOAI) I'rom tiie Missis.siiijii
to the I'acitic is the most direct, economical, and constitutional means of
ett'ectin^' the above objects.

0. RiKiiInd, Tiiat. wliereas tlie Almiulity has placed the territories of
the American I'nioii in the cknthk, between Asia and Europe, and the
route of tlie '• Asiatic and Euroiiean Railway' through the lu'art of our
national domain, it is our duty U) the human family to jirosecute. vigor-
ously, through its iii'W channel, that sujireme commerce between the Ori-
ental nations and the nations of the Atlantic, which history proves to
have existed in all ages, and to be neces.siry to keep alive comity, science,
and civilization among mankind.

7. J?(S(Jrr(Jj That, whereas the people of China. Japan. Polynesia, and
Southern America now receive from Hritish India (i<j rlcult n nil prwhuc
(raw and manufactured cotton, indigo, opium, ric.', wool, etc.) to the
amount of §15(1,(1(1(1,(1(1(1, annually; we believe these same people will
take from the Americans, //( jirrfrrinci', more than twice this amount of
agricultural jiroducc (substituting toliacco for opium, and flour and meats
for rice), so soon a.s the barrier of the J{ocky Mountains be removed by a
National Kailway.

H. I?i's(ifi((/, That, apart from the great benefits which shall accrno to
lis and the other nations of the Atlantic from this National Kailwaj', we
regard it as a beneficent dimnsfic v;i>rk, to open to our ])enjile access to the
immense and glorious domain of the Plains, the Sierra Madre, the great
Table Lands, and the Andes, known to alxiund in metals, mountains and
lakes of salt, mountains if plaster and marble, thermal and medicinal
springs, wild cattle, salubrious climates, sulphur, coal, lumber, arable and
])astoral lands of the finest (juality, and stajile productions uidimited in
variety and abundance.

1*. licxiihuii. That, whereas, during the last thirty years, the generation
of our fatlu'is has <;overed the eastei'u half of our continent with States,
and, commencing witli the; Xi'w York Canal in ISIS, lias everywlu're ren-
dered the connection betwei'ii the '• ^'alley of the Mississijijii" and the
Atlantic seaboard complete, and carried the comi'ierce of the Atlantic to
the grandest develoi)ment — it is the high and glorious mission and duty
of ii.s their sons and heirs, of the growing generation, //( l!lc<' iikiiiih r, to
cover the western half of the continent with States, to render complete

Git EAT KATIOXAL RAILROAD CO.S'YEyTIOX.

lt!7

with pvat works the connection of the " Valley of tlie Mississi]i|ii" with
the I'aeilic .seaboard, and expand upon the Pacitie Ocean a siinihirly niai;-
nitiicnt commerce.

10. Jus(i/rr</. That we earnestly entreat our fellow-citizt'ns, in all .■sec-
tions of our Union, to unite with us in this cnitntl domeMiv work in pref-
erence to di.ssipatinji the national energies upon circuitous routes, runninj;'
iRsu'the ('(juator, throufih f'oreij;n countries beyond nur control, and certain
to involve us in the competitions, the jealousies, and the hostile interests
of foreigners and rivals.

n. /iV,st</(V'(/, That we invite our fellow-citizens throughout the State
to a.ssemble in their counties and cities, and join in a general aiid unani-
mous resjionse to the St. Louis Convention, and unite with us in respect-
fully instructing our Reju'csentatives and Senators in Congress to vote for
suth nii'asures as maybe introduced at the coming session of our National
Legislaturi' to carry out the views embodied in the foregoing resulutions.

lli. Risiihrd, That the Secretary of this Ma.ss Meeting forward to each
of iiur Representatives and Senators in Congress a copy of these resolutions.

Mr. George W. Khoades offered the tbllowing resolutions: —

1. Rtso/vid, That Colonel (lilpiu be recpu'sted to write out for publica-
tion the s]ieech made by him to this meeting on to-day.

2. Nisofrcil, That the '• Missouri Commonwealth," and all other papers
ill this State friendly to a jiroject of constructing a National Railroad to
the I'acitic from the '• Valley of the 3.lississipiii," be recjuested to publish
the proceedings of this meeting.

! 1

'! i

i M

I"V.

PIKE'S PEAK AND THE SIERRA SAN JUAN.

EXTRACTS FltOM AN AlMIHK.vS I)Y COI.dXEL WILLIAM (JILI'IN, 1)KL1VF,I!I',I> AT
KANSAS CUY, NdVKMltKIl 15, 1858; ON TUK fidLU I'UODIXTIUN OF AJIKUIC'A
AND TllK SIKltltA SAN .IIAN.

I sruMiT to your inspection three iniqis. Tlie first is u " Ilydro-
liTiiiiliie Map of North America, " exhihitinj:- in dajiuerreotyjie the iihysical
divisions of our eontinent; the second is a niaji of tlie worhl, exhihiting
America in tlie centre, between Asia and Europe, and luiving delineated
upon it the Isothermal Zodiac of Nations, filling the north temperate zone
of tiie lilolie ; the third is a maj) of the '• Rasin of the 3Iississi]i])i."

Physical geojiraphy arranjics the suri'ace of the eontiiu'iits into basins
anil the mountain crests which divide them. Thus the basin of the Mis-
sissij)pi is that surface which, being drained by all the confluent branches
of this river, discharges its fresh waters into the Gulf of Mexico.

This surface is an undulating, calcareous plain of 1,2()(M)00 S((uarc
miles of area : it is eud)raced entirely within the temperate zone : occu-
pies the heart and splendors of our continent : and is the most magnifi-
cent dwelling-place marked out by God for man's abode.

Three more similar r<i/<(iirciis basins, each drained by a single system of
rivers : the basin of the St. Lawrence : the basin of the Saskatchewan of
Hudson Ray ; and the arctic basin of the Athabasca, resting upon one
another and ujion the liasin of the ]Missi.«sippi, form together one continu-
ous exjianse, geologically uniform and identical.

This immen.se expanse defines itself as the Cnlcareovn Plain uf North
Awcri'cd. Limestone, horizontally stratified, underlies this whole expanse,
being formed, like cheese from milk, from the sediment and pressure of
the ocean which once rolled over it, but has now retired.

This adcuirniis plain, thus forming a unit in jihysical goograjjliy, em-
braces four-sevenths of the area of our continent. It is encompassed all
round by a circuit of primary mountains, within which it forms an amjilii-
theatre.

1G8

These mou

diUeras of tlu

mouths of the

oceans. 'I'hi-

towards the

covers t\vo-se\

External t

by the mean

the third uni

the area of oi

Behold, tl

simple, comp

Mountain V<

The i/ruloi

magnitude o

('itli'ii'iiii.i 1

tally dciiosit

presenting t

elevated vert

ba.se partly i

Everybod

plished by ]

moulds. K;

cools, into a

earth has h

tating spher

Geology (

ranged itsel

successive c

Specijic ;

upon the t

metallit'eroi

precious mi

tained in tl

holds in th

tended dist

It is vol

production

Pikes Pci

Spicijic

metids ma

SAN JUAN.

Plk'ES PEAK A.\l> Tin: Sir.l!l!.\ .SM.V J VAX.

ir.9

Those mountains are the AUejihaiiics, towards tlic Atlantic ; the Cor-
Jillcnis (if tile Sierra Madre and tin- Amh's, tnwanls t I'acitic. Tlie
mouths of tile jxreat rivei> form tlie iluurs or outlets thrnujih tliem to the
oceans. This eireumferent wall of niduntains is of immense breadth
towards the Paeitie. It is the seeoiid unit in iihysieal ^eoj;' aphy, and
covers two-sevenths of tiie area of our eontinent.

External to the Mountain Formation is the Muritiim: Slu^ic, washed
by the oeeans, and jienetrated Ity the tides. This external division is
tlie third unit in physical geograjdiy, and fornix all round one-scveiith of
the area of our eontinent.

Behold, then, the pliysieal arranjioment of our continent ; at onec
siiii]ile. coinijlete. an ' sublime: — the Calcareous IMain, four-sevenths; the
Mountain Formation, two-sevenths; the Maritime Slope, one-sevntli.

The ijKilmjlail .strueture of our continent has the same order, a like
iiiaunitude of dimensions and arraniremeiits, a jiarallel simplicity. The
i'liliiiiiDHK I'liiln is a uniform .ecoudary formation of limestone, horizon-
tally deposited and stnititied. The Mitunlida Fonimtion is of granite,
jireseiitiiig the primeval crust of the globe rent by volcanic forces and
elevated vertically. The Mmifi'inc S/',pr presents the external mountain
ba.se partly revealed, and partly covered l>y the washings of tin; sea.

J]verybody is familiar with the manufacture of shot. This Is aceom-
jilished iiy jiouring liquid lead, at a high elevation, through perforated
moulds. Each pellet of lead, descending through the air, is formed, as it
cools, into a sphere, by the invisible I'orce of gravity. The globe of the
earth has had a similar origin — once a liijuid mass, now a solid, gravi-
tating .sjihere, such as we inliabit it.

Geology explains how the material ma.ss of this great sphere has ar-
ranged itself, in cooling, into layers eiiveloiiing one another, like the
succissive coatings of an onion.

Sjiccijic ff runt ff awownts for the relative position of these layers, one
ujioii the other, and explains to us when and how to penetrate to their
metalliferous contents. It is in the ^(c/y/** /v^n-ocks exclusively that thj
lirecious metals and precious stones are found. The ba.se metals arc con-
tained in the calcanons or secondary rocks. The same stupendous scale
holds in the abundance of the metals, their purity, and their widely ex-
tended distribution.

It is your request that I speak, specially, on this evening, of the gold
production of our country, and specifically of the reg'on surrounding
I'ike s Peak and the Sii r a San Juan.

Ayi'(//fc ^)VH(Vy guides us to discover the rocks in which the precious
metiils may be found, and where they are totally absent. If into a hollow

' i

1 :

'!)

170

APPESniS.

\)\\\-M 111' u;iit>s tluTi' 111' jiourcd ii ([uart nf (juicksilvcr, niio of wiitcr, diic df
oil, iiiiil one iit'iili'iiliiil, tli('S(! Iii|uiils will rest mic ii]i(iii tlic ntln r. in tliis
(inlcr : if w jiifcc dt" jiold. 'if inm, uf wuod. ami a feather, lie tlii'dwn in,
they will .»iiik : the jidld t(i the Lottoiii, the irciii t(i the (iuieksii\rr, the

• Kid ti) the water, the feather to the oil.

ifll

lis mass he emitie;

laled to iee, this iirrati"vment will remain sniiil

!II1>1

jierijiaiieiit : the ji'iild must lie .sdiiuht fur stiHiiicnturij to the <|uieksilver ;
the iiiiii aliuve it. but siilhin iiluri/ to the water; the wood sedimentary to

the oil. Ill the ureal oriler of nature,

u similar arraii^iemen

t hul

lis in till'

nicks whieli eomiin.su the ^lnlie of the earth, and in their cunteiits, ihru
all liiiuiil. lint now iiermaneiitly sulid in the order uf tlu'ir relative sjinijic

mil,

lur

Miles
lu,

(/i(iri/iis. It is the piliiuvnl mass, then, of the Mountain Fnriiiat
wliieh alone i.s imrlfcrunx, and within it only eau the jireeimis metals,
csjieeially uold, he .souj;ht for with Hueeess.

The Mountain Formation, whieli oeenpies the western iinrtiuii uf i
continent to the extent of two-sevenths of its whole area, etnisi.'^ts of tin
Cordillera of the Sierra Mailre on the east, the ("urdillera of the .\
on the west, and the Plateau of the Table Jiands embraced between tin
It ix uiiijoniili/ priimvdl niiil mrj/ic/urr (iiiri/'crnKs.

The JMateau of the Table Lands eomnu'iiees abovc^ Teluiantejiec. where
the Corililleras beiiin to mien I'rom one another. It runs tliiiiiiL;li the
continent to Behring's Strait, and is 1000 mile.s in width, in mir latitiulo
Q]\)°).

The general elevation of its surface is OUOd feet above the .sea; that of
the Cordilleras is 12,000 feet. The Plateau is traver.sed aeni.ss by ureat
mountain chains, which subdiviile it into basins. Thife of the.si' basins
contain, resjiectively, the jjreat rivers the Columbia, the Culoradu, and
tlu! Rio del Norte, whieli uor^v the Cordilleras and escape to the seas.

ither basins contain the stagnant lakes, the (jreat Salt hake, th

Lajxuna, and the Lake of the City of Mexico; these have no outlets or

Ira inane

to th

e seas.

Of tl

lese moun

tain chains the most interestiiin ti

is the Sierra Mimbrcs. This divides asunder the basins of the Colo-
rado and the Del Norte, which rest against it as a baekbone.

It leaves the wcufern flank of the Cordillera of the Sierra Madre in
latitude o!*°, and, traversing' the Plateau by a due southern course for
1400 miles, joins the Cordillera of the Andes in the Mexican State of

uraiiirii. Ill latitude

us mmintain chain is volcanic, coiitaiiuiii;

craters and the overflow of lava. The Cordillera of the Andes is also
volcanic.

e.sc mountain chains consis

t of the primeval rocks, broken fi

oni

leir

original positions, heaved up edgewise by the exjiansive power of the in-

■r, one of water, diic (,f

'il'oii the (.tiler, ill tlii.,

feather, I.e tliniwn in.

til tlle (|llieksilver, thf

lit will remain snjiil jnni
'"•y tilver;

the wiMid .sediiiieiitiirv tn

iaii;;-eiiieiit lu.id.s in th,,.

in their (•diiteiit.s. una'

if their relative K/mijic

3Iounfaiii Funnatinn,

the jireeidiis nielals, ;iiul

'■ we.stern ]i(irti(iii i,\' (mr
Kile area, (•(in.si.>ts ,,\' the
('•irdillera (if the Amies
rniliraeed lietween them.

ove Toliiiantcpec. wiiere
. It runs throii-h the
in width, in onr latitude

t above the sea ; tliat of
raver.sed aern.><,s hv i;reat
TliiTo of these hasins
iliia. the Colorado, and
<l eseape to tin? seas.
he Great Salt l.ake, the
ie.se have no outlets or
the most inti'restint; to
the basins of the Colo-
liaekbone.

f the Sierra IVfadre in

Hi soutliern eoiir.se tor

the Mexieaii State of

is voleanie, eontainiiiir

of the Andes is al.so

)ek.s, broken from their
insive power of the in-

I'lKF/S PEAK A.\n rilK SI Kit It. \ .s'.l.V ./f'.l.V.

tcriial tires of the jihilie, and revealed tu siL:ht and search

171

CoWado River, in e.scajiinj; to the sea, pirii'es the Cordillera of tlie .\ndes
diagonally, liaving rent its way by a eliasin boreil throie/ii tlie very bowels
iif the Cordillera, iithwart from base to base. This eliasm. HH) miles in
Ici'utli, i-* known aw tiie Canon of tlii' Colorado.

This eanoii presents the uni(|Ue and novel fact to inaiikind, that a pii-
iiiaiy nioiiiitain ehaiii whose summit is of the iiiiii/rrniis /v/c/.s, is thus
Mciij;ed to its foundations, many thou.sand feet in depth ! It is here, upon
the I'lateaii, in the areaiia of the mountain formation, ami the activity of
the stupendous forjxcs of nature, that the precious nietuls may be sought
in mass and in ]Misitioii.

Moreover, the Sierra Mimbres, where its southern lialf bisects the
.Mexican Slates of Duranjio and Chihuahua, contains twenty-one mines
iif.-ilver, which, wrought for three centuries by the Spaniards, have fur-
iii-iiied the world with its silver coin and bullion. Moreover, where the
Sierra Mimbres, in its course to the north, approaches to its junction with
tli'j Sierra 3Iadre, it increases to a prodigious bulk.

It rises to tlie altitude of [lerpetual snow, and a,ssuines for 2(MI miles
the local name of »SV''/vv< <S''/*/ Jimn. lle.e it is that the dislocation of
nature by volcanic forces, and the coiise(pient metalliferous develo|inieiit,
attain their hij^hest culmination.

What is about to follow the arrival of our pioneer people within this
region, may be exactly illustrated by what is already done within the
rei;io:< of the great Colcdnons Phtln.

We have seen that the ailcnni/iis plain, being formed beneath a great
ocean, condensed from its filtration and by its pressure, eontains only the
base metals, copjier, iron, lead, zinc. A metalliferous band of these metals
is traceil diagonally aero.ss it, traversing from Southwestern Texas, through
that State, throiigli Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, brushing the shores
of Lake Superior and of Hudson Hay, to the ocean shore opposite Green-
land.

Points of culmination of these various metals are found where they
reveal themselves above the general surface /// iiikss mid in jiositinn. Thus,
iron ajipears in 3Iiss luri in native jiurity, iirotruding in mountain masses
over many hundred sipiare miles of surface ; the .same is the form of
copjier adjacent to Jjake Superior ; so also with lead in Missouri and in
Wisconsin,

Now, the same arrangement characterizes the immen.se jirimeval forma-
tion which occupies our eontineiit from Cape Horn to IJehring's Strait, and
which is throughout im])regnated with the precious metals I As goKI is every-
where else found within it in the form of "rains or .scales, or minute

172 API'ESDIS.

Iiiiiilis : HO is it jHi.ssililc for it to culiiiinnfc in inas.-- mnl In iifisitinn. wluic
tlic aiirilrniiis nn-ks iirc uplu'tivcd to tiina tiic vcrticiil iiiiiss<'s ol' tiie
Sierra S.ni ilii.in ami tiic Andes, ami arc liifii gorj;t!d into tluir liiiwilsliy
tlu' eariiiii of tiie ('iilnrado.

'riic search fur udld lias lieretofore eoiitiiied itself to tlie cxtcnia! tlmiio
of tlu! jiriiiieval immiilains, wlicri' tliey fnnit the sea, and where the livcis
descend from (heir liack.s. Why it has Iiere hcen found onlv in ;zniiiis,
scales, and small lnni|)s may he thus illustrated; 1 (<ti|)|i()sc myself at iiiv
cainji-lire in the wilderness, enua.iicil in huilin^ rice: into a eam|i-kettli' df
boiliui: water I thmw a cu|i of rice. This rice, after a time. .M'ttlcs l.y its
siivctjlc i/ntn'fi/ into a .sedimentary mass heneath tho water — the water
above ri'tains a milky whiteness. This whiteness is due to the ineseiici'
of miniile jiarticles of rice; remaininjj; siisjiended throu.:h the Kody nf
the fluid. Being frozen into ice. this comlition remains ii.\ed in solid
form.

The |>resencc of the e-old in the auriferous rocks has had a similar mi-
gin, and iireseiits identical conditions. It is the attrition of the elements
ii]n)n the surface rocks and veins oidy that have as yet attracted at-
tention. It i.s hciititth tliatwe must search for tlie .sedimentary mass; the
possihility to do wliich now Hrst jir"sents itself as \\v advance within the
lal)yiinth of the volcanic masses and caMons (d'the Plateau.

My own ]iersonal exjierience, earned during three military cxiieilitioiis
made between the years 1844-49, rendered desperate from the then un-
known complication of the country added to the numerical strength and
savage character of the Indians, is not wit' uit value.

The facts then and since collected liy nn> are so numerous and so posi-
tive, that I entertain an. ah.soliite conviction, derived fl-om them, that
yuJil ill iiKtKs and ill posi/ion and infinite in ((uantity will, within the coming
three years, reveal itself to the I'liergy of our j)ioneers. All the jirecions
metals and precious stones will also reveal themselves in equal abiuulancc
in this region so propitious to their production.

Such a develonment has nothing in it speculative or theo-etieal. Tt
comes of necessity in tho order of time, ami as an intnitabh' se(|ucnce to
the planting of empire in Texas, in California, in Oregon, in Kansas, and
in Utah.

As these other develojunents have preced(Ml it in the order of time, and
encompa.ss it all round, this now comes to unite, to complete, to consinn-
mat(! the rest, and to give form and jiower and sjilendor to the whole.

Tlie inquiry which acqutiints us with the climate, the agricidtur(>, and
the domestic gefigrajiliy (d' this immense region, is still ei(ually interesting
and imjiortant as its metals. It was uiion the summit of this jilateau,

/'/

^vliiiv it trave
M(inti'/iima ai
every otlier p'
The distam-
l,y the :.:reat I
.,11,1 aMendin;.

iiiiiiiiiiiiin ''■'"
vise fiiiin belli

Pikes Pea
is the alirupi
|initniding c;
; tlier the

Wlure thl

,_,!■;, lid Jncil/ I

This /"">/ p

(;',!P>. is alio

'fh.'diivel

wesleni ilali

Peak, kiiowi

River of the

dl' their juii

fur 2IMI mile

waters of \')n

Tlie soiitl

Niirte IVoiii

Platte Hive

Miiiimit, i'roi

depart.

Upon tin
Cirande of
Uio del No
and Kagle
canons.

'flu! pan
riveis whic
(if singulai
one anotbi
of the rivi
Behold,
sunnounti.
variety of

' vcrticiil iii;,,ss,..H ,,r the
';:<'<1 iiitu their Im.wcIs |,y

"■»«' Hi,. ..xtniKil fl„„ks

"•'fl, .-Mill Whciv til,. |.j^.,,fj

■III Himid ,.iik ill -niiiis,

I SIljtJioM' lll_V>clf ;it iiiv

' : iiitoii cjiiiiii-k.nl,. „(■
't<'i' ;i time, settles |,v its
till! water— th,. «;ii,.,.
■'N is due to tlu" preseiKr
I tlirnll-li tlie ImmIv ,,f
1 rcinains fixed in >„,|i,l

•ks liiis had !i siiiiii.ir eii-
attrilidii (,f til,, ,.1,.„„,|„^
ave as yet attracted af-
10 sedimentary mass ; the
IS we advam-e within the
II' I'hiteau.

Iirce military oxi.editidiis
icrato Jroin the then im-
' muiierieal streii-ih and
iiluo.

•'• nmnerouH and so \h\A-
I'rivi'd fVoiii tli.'iii, that
y will, within the eoniiiiir
loors. All tlio precious
'Ives in oijiial aliiindaiicc

itivc or theo'-otieah It
I inovitiiblo soqiicnce to
Orc^'on, in Kansas, and

I the order of time, and
to comidete. to consiiiii-
^n(h)r to tho whole,
tc. tho aprictdture. and
still e<(iially interesting
iinnnit of thi.s plateau,

I'iKK's rt:.\K AMI nil: s/i:i;i;.\ s.\.\ ,/r.i.v. 17;',

wlnre it traverses Mexico aini I'clll. thai the sellli-civili/.cil enijiires of
Mniitr/iima ami the Ineas were found, wlien a sterile harliari^m peiNadccI
I'xcrv oilier portion of the coniincnl if .\nierica.

The distance hence to i'iki's I'eak is le>.-. than ViMI mile-.. It is readii'il
liV liii' great ro;id of ihc .\ikansas Itiver. traversing straight to llie west.
Mini ;i>cclidillg the inipeiceptilile grade of the (Ircal Plains clear to the
Miiiiiiii.'iiii liasr. liojil is here ili»co\ei'ed as soon as the primeval rocks
ri«c from heiicilli the calcareous plain.

J'ikcs I'e.ik. which rises to the ailitilde of I {..'illll feet aliove the sea,
i^ the alniipl lolossd termination of tiie nioiiniain proinoiitorv. which,
jii'iiti'iiding eastward from the Cordillera liHi miles, sunders from one
;iii(illicr the sources of the South I'lalte and llie .\rkaiisas liiveis.

Where this proinontoiy connects with the Cordillera is a supremely
i;i;iiid I'liiiil point of primaiy inoiiiitain chains, j.riniary rivers, and pares.
Tiiis /<'((// point is in the same latitude as San l-'raiicisco and St. Louis
(li'.C I. is ahoiit llfiX) miles from each, and in the centre lietweeii them.

The direction of the Coi'ilillera is from umtlitrisl tit sonl/nuxf. l''rom its
in flank protrudes a pronioiit(U'V, lialancing and similar to I'ike's

Wcsle

I'c'ik. known as i']lk .Mountain : it sunders from one another the (iraiid
llivei' of the Colorado and the Kagle, terminal it ig aliruplly within the angle
el' tliiir jiiiictioii. Jladiatiiig due south is the Sii/fi .)//'//////'.<, known
liir lilill miles liy the snowy pe;iks ol" Smi Jnuii ; this chain sunders tlu;
waters of Kagle River from the iiio del Norte.

The southern arm of the Conlillera sunders the waters of the Hio del
Nolle from the Arkansas Itivcr: the iioilheiii arm. tl.i' waters of tho
I'latte Itiver from the Jlio (Jraiide of the Colorado. Such is this focal
Miiiiinit, from wliiili live primary mountains and live rivers simullaneously
ileparl.

Upon tho Platte is the pare known as the I5ayou Salado : upon the l!io
(irando of tho Colorado, the pare known as the Middle J'arc ; upon the
Hio del \orte. the pare called the l?ayou of San Luis. Tlie Arkansas
and Kagle Hivers have no pares: they delile outward through stupendous
canons.

The pares, scooped out of the main doisil mass of tho Cc dillera hy tho
rivers which liisect them. are. each oiieof them, an immense iini/i/ii/lniitri'
of singular heaiity. fertility, and temperate atmosphere; they approach
one another where they rest againsi the Cor<liilera at thi' extreme sources
ui' the rivers.

IJehold, then, the panorama which s , lutes the vision of one who ha.s
surmounted this supreme i'ocal suiiiiiiit of the Cordillera! Infinite in
variety of features; each feature intiiise in the magnitude and the gran-

f: -1

171

Ar/'EXDrx.

:i '

lit}

dour of its mould; in front, in rear, and on citlicr hand. Xatur(> ascrndini'
in all licr ck'nicnts to tlic .xtandiird of superlative snliliniity !

]}eneatli, tlie family of Pares: around, the radiating- harks of the iiri-
meval mountains: the jirimary rivers startintr to the seas: aliuve. tlio
ethereal eanopy intcn.sely hhio, eflul<rent witli the unelouded sini liv dnv,
and stars liy niuht : to the east, the undidatini;- plains, expandin;^ nui' liim
dred leaLi'Ues. to di]i. like the ocean, heneath the eneirclinir horizon : to tin;
west, the sulilime I'lati'au, eheekeri'd hy voleanie peaks and nie.-as, eli;iii-
nclled as a lahyrinth hy the profound jrorgcs of tlie streams!

It is manifest with what ease the pioneers, alri'ady enpiL'ed in niiiiiii','
at the entraneeof the I?ayou Salado. wdl in another si'ason asi-end throiiiih
it to the Cordillera, surmount its crests, and descend into the Hayou San
Luis. They will dovi'lop at every stop gold in new and increasini;
abundanec.

Besides, access is e((ually facile l>y the Huerfano, an affluent of tlio
Arkansas coming down from the Siianish Peak, KM) miles farther to tlu'
south. From New Mexico, the apjiroach is by ascending the IJio liravn
del Norte. The snowy battlements of the Sierra San Juan form tlie west-
ern wall of the Bayou San Luis. From its middle flank the Sierra San
Juan projects to the southwest a chain of remarkable volcanic mountains,
known as the Sierra La I'lata (silver mountain). This chain divides
a.sunder the waters of the (Ireat Colorado from the Rio San Juan, ami,
filling the angle of their junction, forms the perpendicular wail "f tlio
Groat Canon.

It is to this remarka})le mountain chain, and its surrounding region.
that I have desired to conduct you, and here stop, in the mid-t of tlie
veritable arcana of the ^lountain Formation anil its metalliferous elements.

The Sierra La Plata is -idO miles in length, having its course v r;<t-,s(iutli-
west. Along its dorsal crest are volcanic masses penetrating to perjietna!
snow ; its flanks descend by immense terraces of carboniferous and sul-
phurous limestone. All formations of the globe liere come together,
mingle with one another, ac(|uiro harmony, and arrange themselves >iiK'
by side in gigantic proj)ortions.

Lava, porphyritic granite, sandstone, limestone, the precious and h.iso
metals, precious stones, salt, marble, coal, thermal and medicinal streams,
fantastic mountains called cristonos, or abrupt peaks, level mesas of great
fertility, canons, delicious valleys, rivers, and great forests; all these, ami
a thousand other varieties, find room, appear in succession, in perfect order
and in perfectly graceful proportions.

Benioteness i'rom the sea. and altitude, secure to this region a tonic
iitniosphere, warm, cloudless, brilliant, and serene. The aboriginal people

arc numeroi

Indians. T

of horses, c

porary housi

lli're, als(

half a centu

Mountain).

to an altituc

A iiure stra

liver Dolor

its lower co

million stn

iilternates.

Such, m

selected fo

Peak and t

engaged tli

more than

Ovcrsha

ments, wli

pioneer pt

actor whit

Who, a

people of I

nor of the

the Centi

admonish

which as;

Look
zodiac oi
homos ai
c(intinen
right ha
slopes to
Behol
islands,
seaboari
Thes(
the wor
occupy
and o-or

PIK'E-S Pi:.\K A\n THE SlEllHA SAX JTAX.

175

'■'■ '"""I- N'atiiro ns.rn.ling
• ' Mililiniity !

f f" tl... soiis: iilinv,., tho
tlic nnddiidcd Mill l,v ,l,.,v^

piiiiins, ox,, ;i„,ii„„. ,,„;,, ,1^;^'

•■"••ircliii.:- linn/,,ii : t„ tlif

till' .>;trciiiiis !
[Ircjidy ciiiriio;,.,! j), „uu\n-

rlKTsoiisoiiascciidilirnii-li
■M-cnil iiit(, til,. M;,v,,i, Siin
1 ill lu'W iiiid in,ivi,,si„^,

'I'fiiiK.. an iiffluciit ,,(■ tlR.
. !<»(» niilos fhrtluT t.Mhr
• iisiriidin- till. ]{,-,, H,..,v„

i^ini Juan fiirin di,. ^cst-
'1<1I<' fl;mk til,. Sierra S;iii
kalile Vdlcaiiic iiK.iiiit.iiiis,
i"). This c-liain divides
>' tli<- Kio San Juan, and,
iMTiiondieuIar wall .f the

I its siirrrundiii- iv-i„ii.
•^t.i]). in flu- ,„i,l,t „<■ the
its nietallifcrous .dcnicnfs,
t'iiig its course \(cst-soutli.

Iioiietrating t„ pfrpetiiMJ
if earbdnifl'ivuis and sul-
'»' hero conio togotli<.r,

i'lrangc theuisclvos side

N the iirooinns and hase
I and medicinal streams,
'ks, level mesas of L'reat
It forests ; all tliese. and
-cession, in jiorfeet order

to this region a tonic
The ahorigiiial jirojiie

arc numerous, robust, and intelligent. They are *hv Navajos and Vuta
Indians. They have skill in agricultui'e and weaving, rear great herds
of horses, cattle, and .sheei), hut construct neitlu'r jiermanent nor tem-
porary houses, so dry and favorable is tho atmosphere.

Here, also, occurs a remarkable, isolated mountain, known to riinior for
half a century, but only now locally identified. This is Cerro di Sal (Salt
Mountain). This rises among tho western spurs of the Sierra La IMata,
to an altitude of 0(100 foot, ajipoaring as an irregular cone of great bulk.
A pure stratified mass of rock-salt, its flanks arc channelled l»y the little
river Dolores, whose waters, saturated with liijuid salt, yield it again in
its lower course, in granulated beds of snowy whiteness, tinted with Ver-
million streaks from tho beds of solenite with which tho salt formation
alternates.

Such, my fellow-citizens, arc the facts and reflections which I have
selected for your attention in speaking upon tho .u'old region of I'ike's
Peak and the Sierra Sun Juan. Tho superlative character of this region
engaged the enthusiastic pen and patriotic instincts of President Jefl'erson,
more than lialf a century ago.

Overshadowed during this long interval by jiolitical and military excite-
ments, which have deflected elsewhere tho jirogressivo columns of our
pioneer people, it now recurs to restore the jire-emineiit ccnllni nlnl char-
acter which insjiirod the generation who founded our republican Union.

Who, and what, are these people that I now address? We are not the
peopli! of the North ; we are not tlie peoi>le of the South ; nor of the Kast;
nor of tho West. AVe are emphatically, and /«o- r.rcillriirr, the peo])lo of
the Centre ! Inspirations, oracular by their source and their antiiiuitj-,
admonish us to resume our distributive position, and develop the energies
which assume and keep tho lead.

Look upcjii this map of the world, -pon which science delineates the
zodiac of empires and the isothermal axis of progress! We have our
homes around the crnfru of tliis our northern continent, the rnitir of our
continental Union, the «'?(0'cof the Mississipjii basin. Behold, upon the
right hand, tho European continent, with its 200,000,000 of people ; it
slopes towards our eastern seaboard and faces towards the west !

Behold, upon the left hand, tho continent of Or'u'ntiil Add and its
islands, with its population of 050,000,000 ; it slopes towards our western
seaboard and faces to the cast!

These external continents, dividing between them the population of
the world, })oth face America and face one another across America. Wo
occupy tho middle space between them, and at once separate them asunder
and connect them together. From Paris to Pekin, travelling by our

h !::■!

176

AI'PEXVIX.

! I'i:

.'til

threshold, is Imt a jounii'y of 1(1,0(10 miles. It liisccts tli(> teiiiiicnite
zone — it is the line of himl ami way travi'l of niaukiiid.

But a faet of jirol'ouiid siunifiiaiiee to us, revealed liy jihysical geng-
rajiliy. reuiaius to he eoiisidered. It is aloiiu' the axis of the isotln niinl
zoitc of the Xortheni Heuiis]ihere. that the i>rinei[iles of reveal"d civiliza-
tiou make the ciroiit of the j:lohe. This Isntlnrnud r.oiie defleets from the
jreofrraiihieal /one (which is a fiat section of the silohe), umhdatini; to the
north and to the south, to preserve a constant identity of tem|ieratiU('.

Undt'r the influence of the warm iiKin'fiiiir climates, it rises IuliIi mIidvo
the 40th dejiTce of latitude ; under the influence of the cnntinriitnl i-UkkiUs,
it is depressed to the soutli of the 40th dejiree. With what lie liistdrv
of six thousand years iiracticall}' demonstrates, the jiroofs of pliysica!
geography agree.

Along this axis have arisen successively the great cities of China and
of India, of Baliylon, Jerusalem, Athens, I?ome, Paris, London, in tlio
older continents— upon our continent, the seahoard cities. New York,
Philadi'l]ihia, and Baltimore; Pittsburg. Cincinnati, and St. Louis. The
channel ol' the Missoiiri is its onward track to us: whence it passes liy
the Kansas basins, the Sweetwater, Snake Biver, ami the Columliia, to
Vancouver's Island, upon the North Pacific shore.

We, then, the pcop/c of ihr centre, are upon the lines of intense and
intelligent energy, where civilization lias its largest field, its highest devel-
opments, its inspired form. Along tliis line have come, from the plateau
of Syria, our religion, our sciences, our civilization, our social manners,
our arts and agriculture, the horse, our articles of food and raiment ; and
here is the eteriud fire from which is rekindled, when it has exjiired, the
.spirit of the ■• unconcjuerable mind, and freedom's holy flame. "

We have seen depart a perverse generation, distinguidied by civic
discord. An unscrupulous senboanl power has aspired to found a repub-
lic of tlie No. lIi; a repuljlie of the South; a republic of the Pacific
shores. A nefarious federal policy, operating for forty years, has occluded
with savages and deserts the delicious central ri'gion of the ])rairies, the
great plains, the plateau, and the mountains.

The physical geography of our country has been ofhcially caricatured,
concealed, and maligned. The solid continental republic, founded in ITTd
and completed in 1787, has Ijeen nullified by interpolated monarchies.

The Ijditil si/strm has cru.'<hed and jilundercd the continental jieoi>le
with the brutalizing pressun; of nieditwal feudalism.

The IiiiJIiiH Hi/ateni has walled u]). as in a Bastile, the whole central
meridian of our continent.

Forced out artificially upon tlie flanks, we liavc seen our pioneer energies

driv<'ii in fragi
into .Nliuue.'^ot:
States. i.-^olatiM
centre, an imn
Foreign \v:i
liaiisti'd. fcdcr
till' fctleral ct
niunarchical s
the continent.
yi,r tlie «
every form (j
suicidally ton
The found;
an invisible e
ju'tually m 'n:
and, lost to tl
the infuriatei
Our great
regenerating
It is to th
To exalt thei
Plateau to tl
heading the
With us a
ized by the ]
vindicated ai
Let us coi
mission of i
complete.

tlt^

)>isccts the t.'ini„.r;,te
ikiiid.

iilcd Iiy jiliysic-il -(.„g.
axis of the ixnthi rmnl
Ics of n«vciil"(l civiliza-
/ ~.<>)ie doflccts fniiii tlie
'»(■), uiidiiliitiiii:- t(i tho

y (if tciii]icriitinv.

ti's, it riso.s liidi iil.iivo

ic continnititl tUnititrs

With wliiit lie Iiistdi-v

111" jirodfs (pf jjliysjivil

cat cities uf Cliina and
I'aris, London, in tho
11(1 cities, N(;w Yorlc,
i, and St. Lonis. TIio
: wlu'iicc it jiasscs by
, and tho Colunihia, tu

c lines of intense jmd
field, its liijiliest devel-
cunio, from the ]iiafeau
in, our social niaiuiers.
tb(jd and raiment ; and
licii it has cxjiired, tho
holy fianio."'
Jistinguished hy eivic
•ired to found a reimh-
'piiblie of the Pacific
rty years, has occhided
un of the prairies, the

riKE-S PEAK ASD THE SIEUHA SAX JUAX.

driven in frafiineiits into Florida, into Texas, into California, into Orejion.
intii Minnesota. We behold on the one hand a tier of artilici d seaboard
States, i.-iolatcd upon the maritime slope ; on the other hand, tiie eoi;tinental

centre, a

II immense disc of howling: wilder

iiess.

Foreii:!! wars have been waned, federal rev

enues and patnmaire ex-

hausted, federal law and power stretched out to every di'vice of tyranny,
th(t federal eonstitution violated in every .sacr(;d prineijile, to erect this
monarchical .^'aboard power, and estiibli.sh it in perpetual dominance over
the continent.

For llie autre, civil wars, civil discords, false jreouraphy, calunmies,
every form of meretricious and deceptive politieal iigitation, have been
suicidally fomented.

Tile foundations of the Union, lost in the c^entre and scattered around
an invisible circumference : the Union it.self, incessantly a.ssailed and per-
petually ni 'tiaced : has seemed to apjtroach the twiliuht of its existence,
and, lost to the u'uardian care of the people, Inis been hi suspense between
the infuriated pa.ssions of extreme sectional fanatics.

Our fireat country demands a period of stern virtue, of holy zeal, of
nweneratinu' jiatriotism, of dv!Voted citizens.

Tf is to the people of tlie i^reat central State of Missouri that I spca':.
To exalt their intrepid enthusiasm is my aim. Open the track acro.ss the
Plateau to the other sea, and we are absolutely the leaders of the world,
heading' the colunni to the Oriental shores.

With us are the continental (Uigles and the continental cause, immortal-
ized by the jmrity of Washington, illuminated by the wisdom of Jefferson,
vindicated and I'estored by the illustrious Jackson.

Let us condense around these caj:;les and advance. It is the predestined

mission of mankind, confided to America to fulfil, to our generation to

complete.

Night wnnes, the vaitors round tho mountn'-s curled
Burst into morn, and light awakes tho world !

I ofllicially caricatured,
ihlic, founded in \'~{\
(dated momirchies.
ho continental people
1,

ilc, the whole central
sn our pioneer energies

GEOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA ON THE PACIFIC

RAILROAD.

CHAPTER I.

Inas.mucu as tlio fit'iioral mind yecins willing; to entertain with favor
and jndj^e candidly what maybe truthfully said of a National Rail-
road TO THE Pacific, and everywhere is indicated a growing taste for
whatever may solidly enhance the j)rosj>erity of our cotitlncntnl system, I
liave condensed into these few chapters the general views resulting from
a long experience.

This subject touches profoundly all the existing relations of the human
family, connecting tlnrr continents, and unites together, by a short line
o^ ten tlioumiid vii/ex, the ffiousiiml millions of j)eople inhabiting Ht koi'k,
Amkuica, and Asia. This sliort line traverses the middle of tin; north
temperate zone, perforating nine-tenths of the land, the jjopulation, the
production, and the consumption of the world.

I say, it is neci'ssary lor one who will write with dignity upon such a
subject, so searching and omnipotent, to gras}) boldly its immonse scope
of matter; to rely upon 'solid statistics; to face and l)ravc old opinions;
to repudiate the rul)bisli into winch thousands of years of staggering ami
abortive efforts have submerged it ; and to condense it to the tangible
form of propositions, which may be pracliaillij handled for a final solu-
tion.

The shortest trail whereby the Incal works, now on hand and proposed,
may be understood, the public- judgment matured, and opinion instriicteil
and concentrated f(ir (itfion, is to condense by rigid analysis, and draw
into one view, the nudtitudinous facts of geography, commerce, politics,
and j)rogre,ss under which the American people arc so rapidly erecting a
i<yprt iiir (hmorrntlc rrpii/i/irav rmpirr, and fitting it to the surface of the
northern American continent and islands.

And fraf, must be emancipated from the dogmatic European writers
(who, with Procrustean desjiotism, r" , up all other portions of the globe
to fit their own pigmy theories) the synnnetrical and sublime gcorimph-
tcal iiliin of our continent.
178

1 "1
1 if

JHEMOItASD.\ OX rilE IWCIFIC /{AlfJlOAP.

179

THE PACIFIC

Tliis, hcrotoforo veiled from the pul)lic mind l)y every furin of'eontdr-
tion, is rc'dueible to an exnet system, e:isily uiiderstdod and eternal. The
rftrw jreiifrraiihical form in wliieli onr enntinent is m()nld<'(l : tiie eontrast
of all the otliei-s : makes a new and orlijimil jrrandeiir of society, not oidy
possible, but compulsory upon us.

To disinfect ourselves of inane nepotism to Europe in other tliiiiL's as we
have done in jiolities : to ponder boldly on ourselves and our iiiimtimi. and
develop an indiL'eiious dignity — to appreciate Ai'in/ic science, civilization,
conunercc, and pojiulation — these are eHueii/inl preparatory steps to which
we must tone our minds.

This, then, is the simple jilan of North America: — The Ani)?;s, having'
traversed the whole lenj:th of S'ni/h America. i)assini:C out from the Istbnui.s
of Tehuantepee, continue to follow, luichaufrt'd in chai'acter, the ]'acific
shore of North America clear up to nehrin<r's Strait. Known successively
!is the Cordillera.s of Anabuac in .Mexico. Sfcrra Nevada in California,
and Ca.scade Mountains in Oreiron, it is all aloni; the .same mirlfi nms and
volcanic Andks. It lias a narrow base waslied on tlic west by the tide ;
immense altitude; sunnnits of perpetual snow; and is formed of the
columnar vulcan rock, or a molten mass of lava.

Between this continuous eseaqiment of rock and the sea, is the mm-i-
time rcjiion of the Pacific, which contains all the present American jiopu-
lation residin<r in California and Orejron. ujion the smaller rivers run-
niii2 directly into the sea, and j)arallel to one; another.

It resembles, and is the counterpart of, the inan'tiinr Atlantic declivity;
which contains the of<l thirtnn Stiifcs, ami which is shut off from tlie
valleys of the Mississii))ii and St. Lawrence by the AUcfrhanies.

But, at the Isthmus of Tehuantepee, the AxDKS bifurcates, throwing
alon<4 the coa.st of the Mexican (!ulf the great C(ir<l!Vtr<i of t/ic Sirrra
.]fii(l)p, which opens rapidly from the Andes, as the continent widens.
This a.ssumes in our territory the name of Jiocki/ Mmintinni^^ and traverses
north to the shores of the Arctic Sea. It is some 1400 miles a))art from,
and to the faxt of, the Andes, and forms the primary ih'rli/c, the '• i/iror-
tta nqvarvm' of Anu'rica.

The absolute scpardte existence of these tirn prodigious CoRDILLERAS,
must remain distinctly in the mind, if anyl)ody intends to understand
Ameriatn f)<'>>firitiiln/.

The interval between them, from end to end. is occupied by the Pl.\-
TE.vi: OF THE Table Lands, on which are alike the cities of Mexico,
Chihuahua, and the Mormon city of the Salt Lake. This Pi-ATEAU of the
Table L.vnds is two-sevenths of tlie surface of North America : is some
(JIJOO feet elevat4'd above the external oceans ; and gives as complete a

•i i

<\'.k

180

Ai'i'i:sinx.

si'pa.ation betweon the Cohdilleras on tlio flanks, as iloes tlic Atlantic
wIkisc wators mil Lcitwccn the Alleuhanics and the Aljis.

Tims that side of the Anieiiean continent whieh may he defined to
front Asia, and sheds its waters in that direction, has these i'onr cli;n'ac-
teristie divisions: — th(< Duirifinir front; the A.NDKS ; the I'l.ATEAU op
TI!I;Taiu,K JiANDs; and the SlKUltA >Iai»RK, all extendinu' the wliolo
lengtli from kdhI/i to narth. jiarallel to one another, and covering in the
agiiregate twa-fifllix of its whole area.

These two continuous ^)/-/H«r/_yinonnta in chains define tliomselves as the
^Vestkux and the Eastern CunHlli ms.

The remaining t/irci-ji/'t/i.t of the continent sheds its waters towards the
Atlantic. Hen; too the same siddime grandeur and simplicity of jilan
are discern ihle. From the Si(rr(i Mtnlic, the whole continent descends to
the seas hy immense planes, rest'mliling the glacis of a fortress, or a flat-
tened octagonal house-roof.

This plane, once the lied of immense oceans, (d' which the 8ierra Madrc
was the shore, and hevelled liy the action of the watery niass, now forms
the gentle slope down which descend, to rejilenish the oceans, the stnplus
waters of the Sirmt Mnlrc and the plane itself. Guttered everywhere
by these descending water-courses, seanung its surface as innumerably as
the veins which carry liack the blood to the human lu'art, these aipieous
channels flow down tlu! different faces of the great plane, proportiont'd in
length and size to the distances to be traversed.

Thus, down the snndler face, which fronts the 3Iexican Gulf, — at
jire.sent comjireheiided in Texas. — run the lowi'V Del Norte, the Nueces,
Cokirado, Trinity, and Brazos.

Down the (jrund edsfcrn front, called by us the " Great Prairie l^lains,'
descend the l\ed lUver of liouisiana, the Canadian, Arkan.sas, and Kan.sas,
tlu' Platte (with its three forks), and the siddime ^Missouri itself. All of
these, running due 'Y(,s7, parallel to one another, very straight and without
rapids, are received into the great cmtntl troiujli, the IMissi.ssipi'i, which
runs from nortli to south across their direction, and their aecumidated
waters are discharged into the Gulf.

From the Sixme foad point with the 3Iissouri, radiate two fronts. The
one is drained by the system of rivers tributary to the Saskatchewan,
(jpening to the imrt/icast, and widening to endjrace the immense inland
sea of Hudson Bay. The other is upon the Athabasca or ^IcKenzic
liiver, sloping due north, and occupying the vast hi/perlntrtan rtgmi
stretching to the Arctic Sea.

From an elevated swell ni the plane between the ^lissouri and Sas-
katchewan, protruding from the Si'-rra Mudrc eastwardly along the 4l)th

MEMOIl.WPA OX THE PACinc HMI.KOM).

181

U'fiiio thi'iusi'lvL's iis tlie

its w:it('rs tiiwiirds iho

ami siiiijilicity nf jilmi

t- eiiiitiiK'iit (K'^cciidsto

t' a lurtre.ss, or a ilat-

vliicli the Sierra Madn-
vatcrv mass, ikiw loMuti
till' iKraiis, till' siir]ilii.s
Giitti'i-('(1 overvwliuro
I'fiice as iiiminicrahlv as
11 heart, these a(|iieiius
I'laiie, liroiiurtiiiiied in

ho 3Ie.\ieaii Gulf, — at
Del Norte, the Nueees,

Great Prairie Plains,'
Arkansas, and Kansas,
ilissouri itself. All of
y straij^iit and without
lie ^Iississippi, which
iiid their aeeuniulated

liate two fronts. The
to tlie Saskatchewan,
■e the immense inland
thahasea or McKenzie
st Jii/pi.'rLortiiii r<(jivH

(he ^Missouri and Sas-
wardly along (lie 40th

degree, alioiit "(K) miles, issue the waters of the I'liftn- Mi.fsii<^ijq,i mnl
,SV. LiiinijiiT. The first ji'oes directly south to scoiiroiit ihv /imu/li nf tlie

continent. TMie latter flows down tlie narmw hasin nf tlie l;ik(

d t'

leir

river St. liawreiiee, to where the glacis reaches the sea and f'orins the

short

(f the uulf of that nam

Tlius, from the dividini; wall of the Si' rni Mmlii . the continent de-
scends uninterruptedly to the Gulf: tlu' North Atlantic; and the Arctic
Seas. The jierfect ji'entlene.ss of this descent, scarcely distiiiiKiisliaMe
from a level, is iierce]itilile from the rivers, which are entirely free from
rajiids and everywlien^ naviuahle when water is sufficient in their lied-.

The sublimest exaiujile is the watery surface of the .Missoi ui. whose
li(|iiid jilane, di]niii:i;- liy iierhajis tJiirfrcH inches to the mile, has an nii-
nifHt'd uniformity of descent tlironyfi its whole course of oOOd miles to
the .sea.

jilete this izcii.iii'aiihical delineation, there rises all

But to rendei

C(..ll

along the Atlantic, and parallel with its shore, the dividing range of
the Alleghany, uiiintcrruiited from IJaton Kouge to the (jlulf of St.
Lawrence.

External to this is the narrow Kriilmiinl ilaUrilij whicli first received
the European settlements, and still holds the densest jiojudation : Imt

!lh

villi III. a

reverse ijhirtK descends to the Mississijtpi and St. Lawrence,
filled with States to the central trough of the continent.

Practieaily, the /lushis of these great rivers are narrowed to mere jiasses
at their mouths by the points of tlie mountain diains which fence them
from the sea, expanding to an immense breadth in the interior, and fading
into one another, where they touch, by prairie divides of imperceptible
elevation. They form together one vast bowl, whose waters flow from tlu;
circtunference near the seas, inwards, to centres which are near and
already connected by art as at Chicago. This bowl or jilain is everywhere
cidcKi'coiix, being paved beneath the soil with an undulating covering of
limestone, as is a frozen lake with one of ice.

To recajiitulate and grave it upon the mind : as witli the style where-
with t]u> artist cuts into steel the deeply shaded lines of a picture : the
whole .l^Anf^'c side of the continent la mie ('«/tv/*r'^(/,s' jilain of many fronts.
Each front has a mighty system of arteries, demonstrating its gradual
slope, and carrying its surplus waters to the sea. Yet by the rising of
the eastern halves of the basins against the Atlantic barriers it is also a
sublime bowl, into which the waters have first a concentrie direction, as
they accumulate into the /miii/lin that conduct them to the sea.

The superlative wonder about this is, that here, in Xoiih Aniiricn, is
rolled out in one uniform exjianse of 2,800,1)00 square miles, an area of

|! ;i

W '

:??

182

APPEXDIX.

I ^ HI

arable land equivalent in siufaco to the aggroj^ate of the valleys of the
other continents, wliich are small, sinjilc, and isolated.

iYo/rorc/', the iiitorlafinjiof the rivers forms ovisry where a eomplcto sys-
tem of navijiation : blended into one by |inblie \V((rks of the easiest cdii-
struetion ; and forming;', by tliuir double banks, n ahon'-liiie eijiial in (.ittnt
to theciHisfs of (til the ovrdiis.

To master the yi'oi/rdp/iiml pnrtrnlt of our eontinent thus in its unity
of system, is mrrssdn/ to every American eitizen — as necessary, as it is to
understand the radical princiiiles of the Federal Government over it, and
of jiolitieal society.

Our country is immcnavlij grand, and to understand it in its simple
grandeur, it is not an extravagance, but is a homcs|iun matter-of-fact duty.
If we flinch from i\\\, duty, we recede from the divine mi.ssion chalked
out for us by the Creator's luuul, sink below the dignity of our ancestors,
and fall into the decrepitude of the voluntary, illiterate, and emasculate
siilnjects of Kurope.

To enforce these truths with yet greater stringency, ami to tempt or
la.sh the jwpular mind out of its cringing and criminal torpidity, .still
another illustratioi remains of the j)araniount sigidficanee to us of (jia-
yniji/u'cal facts. This is the cmttrast b tweeu our own and the other i'our
continents.

Euttoi'E, the smallest of the grand divisions of the land, contains in its
centre the icy masses of the Alps ; from round their declivities rddlntc
the large rivers of that continent ; the Danube directly east to tiie
Euxine ; the Po and Khone south to the Mediterranean ; the llhine to
the Nortliern Ocean.

Walled off by the Pyrenees and Carp-'lhians, divergent and isolated,
are the Tagus, the Elbe, and other sing' rivers, affluents of the Baltic,
the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Kuxine.

Descending y/'(<»i common radiant points, and diverging everyway from
one another, no {utercommHitication exists between the rivers of Europe:
navigation is petty and feeble: nor have art and couunerce, during many
centuries, united so many small valleys, remotely isolated by impenetrable
barriers.

Hence upon each river dwells a distinct people, differing from all the
rest in race, language, habits, and interests. Though often politically
amalgamated by eoncjuest, they again relapse into fragnujnts from iiniate
(/!'( )(/!■< I jt/u'c(tl incoherence. The history of these nations is a story of jier-
l)etual war ; of nmtual extermination ; and an ai)])idling dramatic cata-
logue of a few splendid tyrainiies, crushing multitudinous millions of
submissive and unchronicled serfs.

.\fE.VO/{A\nA ox THE PACIFIC KAILROAD.

183

Exactly similar to Europe. thoUL'li ;.'nuulor in size and pupulatinn. is
Asia. Frmn the stuiKMulous central harrier of the Himalayas nm the
four pvat rivei-s of China, due »a,s7, to (lisehar;:e themselves hcueath the
risinir sun: towards the .•";»/// run the rivers of Cochin China, the dauires.
and the Indus: towards the »rr.N7. the rivers of the Caspian: and iimtli
tliroUL'h Si/iiii'ti to the Arctic Seas, many rivers of the first maj:nitude.

])ariiii; tifty centuries, as now. the Aljis and Himalaya ^lountains have
proveil insuperable harriei-s to the anialiramation of the nations amund
their bases and dwellintr in the valleys which radiate from their slojies.
The continent of Akuica, as far as we know the details of its surface, is
even more tluin these split into di.xjointed frajrments. Such also, in a less
deuTce. is SiHTll A.MEltlCA.

Thus, whilst Xurthini Ann rica opens towards heaven in an expanded
bowl to receive and fu.se harmoniously whatever enters within its rim: so
each of the other continents, jiresentinir a bowl reversed, scatters every-
thinir from a central apex into radiant distraction. Political empires
and societies have in all ages conformed them.selves to these emphatic
gtiKjydphicitl fads.

The American Republic is then pmlisfini'il to e.^pand and fit itself to
the continent. Much is uncertain, yet throuuh all the vici.ssitudes of the
fiifinr, this much of eternal truth is discernible : In geoirraphy the aii-
titlii'gi's of the Old World, in .«ociety it is and will be the rcvrrnr.

Xorth Ainiricii will rajiidly attain to a pojjulation e((uallini^ that of
the rest of the world combined: forming a single people, identical in
manners, language, customs, and impulses: preserving the same civiliza-
tion, the same religion : imbued with the same opinions, and having the
same political liberties.

Of this we have two illustrations now under our eye : the one passing
away, the other advancing. The aboriginal Indian race, among whom,
from Darien to the Estjuimaux. and from Florida to Vancouver's Island,
exists a great identity in their hair, comj)Iexion, features, stature, and
language. And secmul. in the instinctive fusion into one language, and
one new race, of immigrant Oermans, English, French, and Spanish, whose
individuality is obliterated in a single generation !

It is thus that tlie holy ipiestion of our Union lies in the bosom of
nnf.iire : its perj)etuity in the hearts of a great democratic people, iud)ued
with an understanding and austere reverence for her eternal pnmiptings
and ordinances. It lies not in the trivial temporalities of political taxation,
Afru'iin sldirri/. loctd power, or the nostrums of oratore however eminent.
It is the truth, established by sci'cnci'. and not the deductions of meta-
physics, with which the people must fortify themselves.

184

APPEXDIX.

As |i()\vc'r loidfs in the indiilf and the siiffragr is its exercise, with
tlu'm al.N) must reside inteilijieiit and wise eounsel. To lie eertain that
the great iirin(i|iles nn wiiich they rely tn strengthen and jn iiictuatt'
linnian rigiits, are the trutlit'nl deiluetions nt' cxnit sci< iiri\, ntnl !ii Imninntij
vif/i iiiituir, is tlic individual duty of tlie citizen. To reject what is
otherwise, is the only safety I'roni usurjiafion and tyranny.

To assert that the mass ari! deficient in intelligence to e(ini]irelien(l and
use familiarly t/ic ti iif/i of »<■!< nee. is the language of tyrants and iitifictly
false. Behold an eternal exanijile of universal dissemination and faniiliur
use of acitiitijic ti'itthtt.

The aljihahet of tuciifi/six Irtttrn and the numerals of tai /!;/iiris are
the uiost jirofound, conden.sed, and sublime forms of abstract truth which
science lias or can give to the liuman race. How uiany ages and liuw
great a lass of intellectual analysis and research consumed it.self to reach
this alistract (y((//(/t'j>w.'/(tt' of truth, has not come to us with the inventions
themselves.

At sight of a volume printed, or a newspaper, the intelligent sa\age is
crushed with a sense of desjiair. not knowing that a few years of study
will render intelligihle to him this ma.ss of clniotic my.stery. The child of
civilized society, on the contrary, commencing with the aljilialjct which
science has discovered and be((ueathed, ocaj'ts it tltromjli faith, cuni-
bines letters into syllables, syllables into words, words into sentences, and
has opened to him, by an easy ascent, the knowledge which written lan-
guage has accumulated and perpetuated since its invention, some thousands
of years ago.

Believing tlnit abstract truth, wherever reached in other departments
of human afl'airs — ax fur instaitcc in gcoyraphy — may, in like maimer as
the alphabet, be universally received, trusted, and used by the iieo])le, I
have written these remarks and constructed the map which accompanies
them. They agree with the speculations of the ncientifc writers whom
I have been able to consult, especially Humboldt and Jefl'erson.

If this abstract of simjile <iri)gr<iplilc(d elements l)e trutli, then should
they stand the basis of political reason, as the Ten Comuiandmeiits stand
in the field of religion. Admitted to be true, the future of tlie A.mkhi-
CAN Bepl'HLIC, ex])anding to tit the continent, as the human foot within
a slioe, and brightening tlie world with its radiance, is familiarly dis-
cernible.

The general continental gcngvaphi/, filling up the details of its surface,
as the flcsli and muscles cover the human skeleton, will readily be con-
ceived ill the mind, and assume order and symmetry.

Variety of climates and of altitude : the consetjueut distribution of indus-

' )

m/-:m()/i.\.\1'.\ i>\ Till: i-m/i ir u.mi.udmk

1S5

.'/' is its exorciso, with
I'l. To lie rcrtiiiii tlijit
ij;llu'ii 1111(1 ]M rpiitiiitu

To rcjtrl \vli;ii is
>raiiiiy.

ice to e(iiii]in]irii(l iiiid
r tyraiils iind |i(if,.,.tly
iiiiiiiiitidii :iii(i liiiiiilijir

Ills (if t( II jiijitri)!. iire
'f abstract tnitii wiiidi
)W many ajivs and how
onsuuicd itself to reach
us with the iiiveiitiuiis

le inteilijiciit stnage is
t a few years of study
mystery. The child of
:li tlie al]dial)et wliich
V tUrouijh faith, cdin-
rds into sentences, and
tlji,e wliieh written hiii-
ention, some tliousiinds

1 in other deiiartnieiits
iiiay, ill like manner as
used by the jieojile, I
a]» which aceompani(\s
-wntijic writers wliimi
iii Jefl'erson.
be truth, then should
Commandments stand
future of the A.mkki-
lio liumaii f(Hit. within
ice, is familiarly dis-

details of its surfiicc,
I, will readily he con-

try : the immense commerce which will adju.-t the interchanges nt' so vast

irk-

distributiou of

indus-

tli<

II V ill

!i Mii'lacc, so Variously iicciijmiiI ; the uniiiii oy ]iulilic »vci
artcriis deneeiidiii;; o|iiMi.-ite sluiic- : the connections with the external
coiiliiieiits : and the forms of States, risiii" consecutively till they shall
imnilier (ink iir.NDRKl): All these successive events becoinc the ciiirciit
crcatiipiis nf a natural order :if |iroi;rtss, and will be the easy (Icdiicliniis
uf exact ealculatiou of tiuu^ from statistical data.

To com. fnally to solve the (juestion of the construction uf the I'dci/ic
Riiiliiitnl, it is necessary to aiialy/e the jireseiit condition of c<ininierce,
both of iiur own and external countries: liyw far it is friendly or hostile
to the imniense modificatimis such a new mute will engender: to probe
the temper and i'orce of political power and jealousies: to reason out and
balance the Irieiidly and hostile elements that bear upon it : and finally,
to subject to the most searching scrutiny thi; /Diifii/ni/iliicuf character of
the immense space of our continent interrupted by the •• Plateau of tlie
Table liiinds," the great mountain ranges of the Sit^rra Madre, and the
Andes, with their external slopes. To such a com])Ieto discussion, this is
prelimiiiiiry.

C II APT Eli IT.

I HAVE :nentioned in the j)recediiig chapter, in which I end(^avored to
delineate, in a condensed form, the ab.stract tjaiyraphical chiiniils of our
continent, that I had coiniiiled, with great labor, a map, exhibiting to the
eye, as it were in daguerreotyiie, what is so difticult to make comiu'ehensi-
blc in writing to the popular mind.

In truth, this simple classification has long ago suggested itself to mc,
resulting from observations made and facts collected during immense jour-
neys, which I liave made out to the rim of the continent, on all its coasts —
sometimes as a S(jlitary pioneer, and at others in the military service.
These wanderings have extended over thirty years of time, and more than
one hundred thousand miles !

X'ncertiiin as to the accuracy of these facts, long rendered indistinct and
liazy by the vastuess of the details — findirg myself everywhere repelled
by the soi-dimutt learned in science and politics; and being, also, without
the iiecuniary means to reach f/ie jiroji/r. it is only now that I venture
to apjicar before them. Neither do I rely upon my own reflections
exclusively.

183

AITEMilX.

The wiiiM 1ms Iiitcly received from tlic Icjinu'fl Tliiiiilioldt Ills tW" works,
" (ViMiiiw" and "Tile Aspeets of Nature." This ]ire-eniiiieiit vetenm in
Bcieiiee eoimneiicud isixty years aj;o to hive and condense the truths tinit
he now i:ives u.s in these small volumes. Nine years were then j:ivcii hy
him to c.\|iloration and .stmly anions the J/k/ci of Smtl/i Anuiini mid
Mi.iica, and sulisci|uently ten years ainon^' the Himalayas of Central
Asia. It is only now, ai the ap' of ilijhli/ years, that ho ventures to jrivu
to tin,' world the condensed ijiinitiMi'iia: uf ii wliole life of travel, intense
study, riuid analysis, and meditation.

Thou;;h not clearly known to liim (for he has not visited our country.
or been able to collect the material, to supply this deliciency, from others).
he luLs, in his delineations of I'eru and Mexico, exactly sketched our own
Andes in California and Oregon.

His descriptions of the jiTcat l>r,.\TK.\l X of Central Asia, the Caspian
kSea, and Thibet, with their snrroundin;; mountain chains, applied to our
continent, solve for us the enijinia of our own jieo}.'raphy. Indeed, if the
continent of Asia be turned at rii.dit anj,des, .so that Siberia should fiice
the ri.sin,L' sun, it would almost exactly resemble a ' "xplain all North
America included between the ti<iii<ih of the Mississipjii and tin- I'acifif.
In short, in these small volumes — ■• Notes on A'iruinia" and " Cosmos'
— of the brave apostles of truth, Jefferson and Humboldt, — in the.se wc
luive conden.sed facts enouf;h to iruiile us to the most distinct and perfect
solution of the whole scluane of our own confiiitiifd/ i/iui/niii/i//.

To resume, then, the discussion o\' giiiffraphmil J'<iil». and approach cau-
tiously, stej) by step, the location nuide by nature for the Conti.nkntal
Raim^oaii, we must have clearly in the mind the j;reat central crest of the
SiKititA ]Ma1)RK, and the two sides of the continent .sloping on either
hand to the oceans. Very many fjreat rivers, burstinjj; from the e:istern
mountain flank, descend, without rajiids, by the ^lissi.ssipjii to the (lulf;
by the St. Lawrence to tlie North Atlantic. Kven the Alle<;hanies. having
but 2(I0(( feet elevation, pri'sent but a secondary ol)stacle.

Abundant routes exist, therefore, whereby a railroad may pass up from
the cnsfcni coa.st line of the continent to the flanks of the SiKHRA Madkk.
"Whatever slijjht elevations may exist in the general surface, they are all
perforated successively by continuous rivers, whose banks offer water-
grades uninterrupted during the whole ascent. i\ o difficult)/ here presents
itself.

Bui " that side of the Anun'iean continent which may be defined to
front Asia, and sheds its waters in that direction, lias these four charac-
teristic divisions : the mo r it i me front, the Andks, the PLATEAU of THE
Table Lands, and the Sierra Madke; all extending the whole length,

MEMOItAShA O.V TI'E IWriflf llMl.lloMt.

187

"iilMiIdt lii.s twi. \M,ik.M,
'iv-eiiiiiiciit vctcniti in
'i'l«''i-<«' llic iniths that
■< Wfl-l- tlicii -ivrti l,v
Siiitlh Aiiuriiii I, lid
iiiialiip.s „f C,.,,!,.;,!
It lio venturer to uiv,.
if'o of fravi'I, iiitoiL^e

't vitiited our cdiiiitry,
liii<'iicy, (Vdin oflunin),
•tly .skctclicd (iiir dwn

trill Asia, the (".opja,,

cliains, iii.]i|i,.,l (,, ,„„.

'1'1'y- Intlird, if tl„.

K Siberia .should I'kv
' "xplaiii all X,„(h

^il'I'i and tlio Pauitic.

iiiia" and •' C.isuio.s"
inilidldt, — in (licsc wu
■*t distinct and jicrlkt
•( >/t''ii/rii/i/i//.
'■/*■. and a]i|ir(iii(Ii cini-
or tlle C(».\TI.\K.\TAL

Jat central ercst i if the
'nt nlojiinji- (III cither
iii.u: from tli(> c.istcni
<si.s.si|i])i to the (lidf;

Alleghanies. luiviii"'
acle.

ad may pass nji from
tlu'SiKKUA 3Iai»ke.
surfaee, they are all
banks offer water-
'ifficulty here presents

1 n)ay be defined to
f' these four charae-
e PlATKAU (IF THE
ig tlie whole length,

from smith to north, ]iiirallel to one another, and eovering, in the ajrirre-
wate, two-lifths of it.s whole area."

Tile iiiiin'tiiiir front is narrow, has many small streams in which ilu^
flowing tide reaches the lia.se of the An'UKS. and |iresents no obstacles of
any signiticaiice. Through the /('•/* Cordilleras, the .\m»ks. ami the
J^IKIiUA .M.MtHK, which H.jiik and elevate themselves above the level of
tlic TAiti.F. liA.NDS, are many ]ias.ses adniittiiig of the pa.ssiige of rail-
roads, but merely from tin? otitsidi! on to the Taiilc liands within.

The T.Mir.K li.VMis are. liowevcr, ribbed by latitudinal ranges of moun-
tains, of imnu'n.se bulk and iicight. The solutimi, therefore, condenses
itself to the discovery of a siii</le line, whereby the Sierra Madrc, the ribs
of the Tahi.k Lands, the lofty crest of the Andes, and its aiirupt western
wall, may all be continuously and eon.secutively overcome, surmounted, or
evaded.

1 ((uote from a memoir given to the public by myself, some years ago,
this description of the Table Lands ; —

The di.stanco to the I'acific from the top of the Sierra ^ladre (Rocky
Mountains), where you leave behind the waters flowing to the Atlantic,
is everywhere some lotIO miles. The ti>p<Kjr<ii>li!ttil characti'r of this
ultramDntiine region is very grand and characteristic. It is identical with
the region at the .sources of the J^a Plata, Amazon, and Magdaleiia, of South
America, but more immense.

Sketched by its great outlines it is simply this : The chain of the Andes,
debouching north from the /si7; *,/*.,•■, opens like the letter Y into two
primary chains (Cordilleras). On tlic right, the Sii'rra Madre, trending
along the coast of the Mexican (iulf, divides the Northern Continent
.ilmost centrally, forming an unbroken water-shed to Behrini^s Strait. On
the left, the Andes folhjws tlie coast of the I'acific, war|is around tlictJulf
of California, and, jiassing along the coast of California and Oregon (under
the name of Sitirra Nevada), txirminates also near Behring's Strait.

The immense interval between tlie.se chains is a succession of mtra-
montane liasins, srceii in number, and ranging from .south to north. The
whole forms the great Plateau of the Table Lands.

First, is the " Basin of the City of Jlexico," receiving the interior
drainage of both Cordilleras, which waters,, having no outlet to either
ocean, are dispersed again by evaporation.

Second, the " Bolson do Majiimi," collecting into the Laguna the
streams draining many States, from San Luis Potosi to Coahuila, also
without any outflow to either ocean.

Third, the " Basin of the Del Norte," who.se va.st a'-ea feeds the llio

188

M>i'i:.\i)ix.

del Norte, the Coiu'lios, and IV'fus. Tlu'so, conecntratod iiitd tlic Rio
Graiulf di'l Nnrto, lieliiiid the Sierra Maiire, have, hy tlieir >iiiited vipIuiiic.
bur.-it tiinmgh it.s wall and round ati outlet towards the Atlanlic The
yco/o^/ca^ charaeter of tliis basin, its altitude, its eontijiuration and incaiity
all assign it this position, as distinguishing it from all others eontriliutiiiL'
their waters to the Atlantie.

Fourth, the '• Basin of the Great Colorado of the West." This im-
mense basin embraces above the great rivers Rio Verde and Rio (Jraiidi',
whose confluent waters, penetrating tlie mighty Cordillera of the Amies
athwart, from base to base, dischavge themselves into the (lulf of Califdr-
nia. Into this sublime gorge {the Oinon of th.c Colorado) the liuniau
eye has never swept for an interval of 575 miles. So stern a character
does Nature assume wliere such stupendous mountains resist the passage
of sucli mighty rivers.

Fifth, the '' B;isiu of the Great Salt Lake," like the Ca.sjiian of Asia,
containing many small basins within one great rim, and losing its scattered
waters by evaporation, has no outflow to citlier ocean.

Sixth, the "Basin of the Columbia," lying across the northern flanks
of the two last, and grand above them all in position and configuration.
Many great rivers, besides the Snake and Upper Columbia, descend from
the great arc of the Sierra Madre, where it circles towards the northwest
from 43° to 52°, flow from e<i)it to iccst and eoncentra'^j above the Cas-
cades into a single trunk. This here strikes the mighty Cordillera of the
Andes (narrowed to one ridge), and di.sgorges itself through this sublime
pass at once into the open Pacific.

It is licrc^ descending by the grade of this river the whole distance from
tlie rim of the Valley of the ^Mississippi, and through the Andes to the
Pacific, that the great debouch of the American Continent towards the
West is found; and here will be the pathway of fature generations of the
New World, as tlie people of the Old W^orld pass down the Mediterranean
and out by Gibraltar.

Above, the " Basin of Frazer River" forms a seventh of the Taiu.k
Lands. This has burst a cafion through the Andes, and, like the fourth
and sixth basins, sends its waters to the Pa^-ific. With the geography of
the more northern region we are imperfectly acquainted, knowing, how-
ever, that from I'uget Sound to Belu'ing's Strait the wall of the Andes
forms the beach itself of the Pacific, whilst the Sierra Madre forms the
western rim of tlie basins of the Saskatchewan of Hudson Bay, and the
Athabasca of the Arctic Seas.

Thus, then, briefly we arrive at this great cardinal department of the
geography of the continent, viz. ; the Tahi.k Lands, — being a longitudi-

Ml'JM01!A.\J).\ 0.\ THE I'ACIFK; JiA ff.HO.i /).

189

Iio Wfst." This i,„.
'•'nlc and Ki,i (ii;,,i(i,.,
|>nlillcra of tln' Andes
|to the fi!iilt'(d'(';dii;,i-

'•'/"i-aJo) tlio liiiiiian
So .steni a cliaractcr
aiiis resiist the passatre

the Cii.sjiiaii of Asia,
iiid losing its sc-attoivd
in.

■s tlie nortlu'i-n flanks
Ion and confiiiuration.
ilundjja, descond from
towards tht; northwest
rurii'3 above the (hn-
iglity Cordillera of the
' tlirougli this siihliuie

le whole distance from
igh the Anrles to the
'ontinent towards the
lire generations of the
iN'Ji the Mediterranean

'■mtfh of tlie Taiu.k
i, and. like the fourth
ith the geograjihy of
inted, knowing, liow-
ic wall of the Andes
ra Madre forms the
fudson liny, and the

1 department of the
— Iieing a lonuitndi-

iial section (^ahout two-sevenths of its whole ai'ea ), intermediate between
the two oeeans, but walled oft' fnmi both, and having but finrc outlets
for its waters, viz. : the eanons of the llio (irande, the Colorado, and the
Cdbimliia. ("olunmar biusalt iornis the basement of this whole region,
and viilianie action is everywhere i)r(jminent.

Its general level, a.seertained upon the lakes of the difl'erent basins, is

aiMii

IVUILICS (

It (ilMIO feet above the sea. llain .seldom fi

an(

1 liml

ler IS rare.

if mountiuns which separate the basins are often rugged, and capped
with perpetual snow, whilst i.solated masses of great height elevate them-
selves from the plains. This whole I'ormati'in alxjunds in the precious
metals. Such is the region of the Taiu.k Ji.WDs.

IJiyond these is the Pacific .M.MilTlMK region. The great wall of the
AXDKS, receding IVom the lieach ipf the I'acilic. leaves lu'twei'n it'clf and
the st'a a half valK'y, as it were, forming the seaboard slope from San

Dieiiii to thi! Straits of Juan de 1'

uc;

This is iL'dd mill

m length, am]

2(in bi'oad. Across it descend U> the sea a series of fine rivers, rai
fror

iL;in<j

//// to north, like the little streams desccndinu' from the Ailes^ha-

nies to the Atlantic. These are the San (Jabriel, the linenaveiitura,

.load

iim aiut

'acrainen

to, til

ixmue,

'Hametl

I, aiK

1 I

nniHii

ivers :

the Widlamette and Columbia, the Cowlit/, .'hekalis, and Xasijually, of
Puii'et Sound.

us resemtiles am

bl.

id balii

mces tlu' iiiiirifiiiii

Sl(

if the Atlantic side of

the continent ; but it is vastly larger superficially ; of the highest agricul-

tural I'.xcellence ; ba.saltic in forniatio

d 1

iirand tiev'int

■y

,d th

] lowers o

description. The snowy jioints and voh'anocs of the Andes are every-
where visilde from the sea; whilst its climate is entirely exempt from the

frost

s of winter.

The configuration of the Gicrra jMadre (the ^lother ^Mountain of the
lentlv massive and sublime. IJising from a bas(>ment

world) IS transcen(

wlios(> roots spread out 200(1 miles and more, its crest splits almost cen-
trally the Xiiiihrrii Cohlhinil. and diviiles its waters to the two oceans.

Novel te

ms liavt! lieen i

ntroduced to define its characteristics. Misa,

e.Kprtsses tin; level jilateau.x of its sunnnits. dtnun. the gorges' rent in
its slopes by .he descemling rivers. Jhitc, the conical mountains isolated
and trimmed into symmetrical peaks by atmosiiheric corrosion.

Everylxidy has .seen the card-houses built by children in the nursery.

^Ullll(lse thre(^ o

'I'l

)f tl

lese in a row.

liaviim a second storv over the centre

this toy I'amiliarly delineates a transver.so section of the Sierra Madre.
The top of this upper story rejiresents the centn.i primary mrsn of the
Cordillera — its summit a greiit plain. desciMiding on both flanks by a per-
pendicular wall of (JOOO feet to the level of the nfoitf/ iinsn. or steppe.

Iff

lili

190

APPENDIX.

i|:'l

Towards the west the second mesa fills the whole sjiaee to the Andes,
whoso farther side descends ahrujttly to the tide-level of the Pacific. This
is again wliat has been before described at lengtli -is the GrtEAT Table
Lands.

But toward.s the cast tlie siroHd mesa forms a piedmont, rent into jieaks
b}' the fissures of innumerable streams. This piedmont, called by us the
Black Hills, masks the front of the Sierra Madre from end to end. Sn
completely is it torn and rent by the perplexity of w<(ter-couri<es, that
patches alone arc left to define the original plateau. These ai'c the east-
ern envelope of the basin of the Yellowstone, the Laramie Plain (between
the Platte.s), the Ratone and the Llano Estacado of Texas. Beneath this
the third ))n'm (or steppe) is that superlative region, the Great Pkairik
Plains, whose gentle slope forms a </Iticisto the Gulf through Texas, ami
in front to the trough formed by the ^lississippi Biver from Itasca Lake
to the Balize.

It is this vastn&ss of geographical configuration wliich leads tlie glance
of the engineer with unerring certainty to that line of natural grades
from ocean to ocean, the discovery of which mankind now awaits with
the keenest interest, and along wliieh the American nation is resolved to
construct the consummate work of art — the Asiatic and P]rR()PEA.v
Railway.

Adva'" hm north along the comh of the Sierra Madre from belnw
Mexico, you find at the sources of the Platte (Sweetwater) a wide gaji.
where, the high mesa suddenly giving out for the space of forty miles, the
second mesa passes through from east to west, the continued water-ridge
being scarcely perceptible among its gentle undulations. Tin's I'tt the
" South Pass."

It is so named as being the most southini pa.«s to which you may ascend
by an affluent of the Atlantic, and .^tep immediately over, to a stnani de-
scending directly to the Pacific. This name is as ancient as the pass
itself Into it concentrate the great trails of the bufi'alo, geographers
and road-makers by wsti'ncf, before the coming of man.

The Indian, the Mexican, and the American, successors of one another,
have not improved or deflected from the instincts of the bufi'alo. nor will
they, whilst the mountains last in their present un.«hattered bulk. The
South Pass has a towering grandeur, in keei)ing with the rivers between
which it is the avenue (the Mi.«souri. the Colorado, and the Columbia), all
of which. i.s,suing from the wall of the Wind River Mountain, come out
of it upon the second mesa, at the saiiic hn/. and into which they imme-
diately coniD'cnce burrowing tlieir caf.ons of descent to the seas.

Here, then, is the route, the sonthrrn route, of the Nation,:! Railroad.

ascending b^

where it for

of the high

water-grade

The dista

ascertained,

the Salt B

plane, to fit

tation exist

where the

so that the

there any i

between th

The Col

tributes th

and tunne

whole coui

American

feet, 200

This rivei

admit of;

immenselj

transporta

The gr(

ing into tl

affluents

fathomed

ridges, an

Here ii

great hei

explore o

1)1 a dire

Pacific, t

The ri

deep int'

sinific pa:

interlock

South F

Thus

exists n(

rivers, t^

MEMOIiAXDA OX THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

191

sjiaco to the Aiidof;,
|1 of the Pacific. This
'.-* the GijKAT Table

liiiont, rent into peaks
[iKint. calk'd hy u.s the
Tom enil to end. ^n
if w«ter-cour,>Jes, tluit
These are the east-
ram ie Plain (between
Texas. Beneath tliis
• tiie GrtKAT i'HAIlilK
If throuuli Texas, and
ver from Ita.>^ea Lake

liieh Iead,s tlie rihuici:
ne of natural grades
ind now awaits with
I nation is resolved to

TIC AXD ElRdPKA.V

a Madro from belnw
setwater) a wide ^'aji,
;ice of forty miles, the
I'ontinued water-ridue
ilations. Tim k the

hieh you may ascend
over, to a stream de-
aneient as tlie iia,«.s
buffalo, a'eorrrajiliei's
in.

.s.sors of one another.
the buffalo, nor will
lattered bulk. The
I the rivers Iti^tween
1 the Columbia), all
^fountain. ennie out
3 which they imme-
<> the Seas.
Xatioii,! Piailroad.

ascending by the water-grade of the Platte to the top of the second nie.sa,
where it fijrms the summit, following the level of this mesa along the base
of the high mesa, to the Columbia (Snake Eiver), and descending its
water-grade clear to the Pacific.

The distance from the Platte to the Columbia has not been accurately
ascertained, though by the present wagon-road, which crosses a corner of
the Salt Basin, it is less than 300 miles. Here is that double-inclined
plane, to find which has been the first e.s.sential in every line of transpor-
tation existing iu the world. There is none south of this, because every-
where the basins of the Table Lands overlap and envelop one another,
so that the passes lead merely from one of these into another ; nor are
there any natural tunnels through the precipitous walls of the Andes, and
between the basins.

The Columbia, running across the Table Lands from ea.st to west, dis-
tributes the descent of 8500 feet efjually along its course of 1200 miles,
and tunnels the great ranges of Blue ^Mountains and the Andes. This
whole course of the river is a continuity of rapids, having three falls, the
American Falls of thirty feet at Portneuf, the Salmon Falls of forty-five
feet, 200 miles below, and the Chuttes of twelve feet, near the Dalles.
This river-grade is then as rapid as the descent to be accomplished will
admit of; for, distributed into long levels and steep grades, it would
immen.«ely impair the utility of the whole work, and fatally impede
transportation.

The great Colorado runs diagonally across the Table Lands, cirhouch-
■incj into the Gulf of California ; but has its course and tho.se of its great
affluents parallel with the mountain ranges, which are scored with un-
fathomed caiions, perplexing the traveller with an infinity of impassable
ridges, among which the water-courses are embowclled.

Here is that immense and complex labyrinth of mountain ribs, whose
great height and arid character have heretofore defied every effort to
explore or penetrate. Its impenetrability cannot be made to yield to art,
in a direct line, owing to the whole space from the Sierra ]Madre to the
Pacific, bristling with parallel ribs of snowy mountains.

The rivers penetrate these diagonally, and are sunk in caiions, burrowed
deep into their roots. North of the South Pass, however, exist many
sinr/k passes, where the higher branches of the Missouri and Columbia
interlock. These circuitous routes have all the same termini as that of the
South Pass, for they also descend the same two rivers to the seas.

Thus between the South Pass and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there
exists no straight railroad route, owing to the longitudinal courses of the
rivers, the complexity of the basins, and the double barrier of primary

■i ! i< i

192

A/'PK.XniX.

mountiiin diiiins. To the iinrtli, other passes exist, wliich future uiiicra-
tions may ilevelop, and ou which uavipition may he used for I'our-til'tlis ot
the whole distance.

True it is tliat potential fashion now exalts tlie nairitinii husiii nf Cali-
fornia. 8an Francisco Bay. into tlie haven of hope and fortune of the new
.«eahoard, whilst the suhlinie hasin of the Columhia and its ma^iiiticent
rinr /mr/xirs iwo, banished from j)uhlie favor. The hasin of San Fran-
cisco is small, and an isolated sjiot to reach from the interior. No ureal
river gives it access to the Mississippi Valley, from which it is cut off Ity
the basins of the Salt Lake, the Colorado, and the Del Xorte, overlapping
each other.

The Columbia is larger than the Danube, and equal to the Ganges. In
size, climate, agricultural excellence, capacity for population, and its won-
derful circular configuration, the ))asin of the Columbia surpasses liotli of
these others. The mouth of the Columbia, a salient point upon the npcn
eoast, more than any other central and convenient to tlie whole Xnrth
Pacific and Asia, is, in size, dej)th of water, sifety, and facility of ingress
or cgre.^s, ecpial to San Francisco. As the mouth of the greatest river
descending fmm our continent into the Pacific, it is perhajxs more valuable.
It is eight degrees south of Liverpool, having the climate of Bordeaux,
Marseilles, or Savannah.

Why is not the deep sea navigation concentrated at XnrfulJi-, on Hamp-
ton Beads, the finest liarbor of the wliole Atlantic ? Why, rather, is it
found at New York and New Orleans, accessible only through every dan-
ger that can menace shipping ? Why, because the former is the outlet
of the basin of the 'St. Lawrence, the latter of the Mississippi. Th<! ship-
ping of commerce goes to where cargoes can be found.

TiCss than fifty years ajxo./iis/u'on pronounced the little ravines of James
Biver and the Connecticut the proud spots of America, and held the great
uninhabitable wastes of the ^Ii.<si.ssippi and its uHnavlffatcd streams as
worthy only to balance ci>if/ish .'

This same splenetic spirit of /'rs/i/o)( now manufactures a similarly ridic-
ulous misdirection for the energy of the pioneers, by setting up what the
geologist would call a '' pot-hole of the Andes," against the grand Colum-
bia. Commerce, provident like every other de]iartinent of industry, makes
herself harbors with charts, pilots, buoys, and beacons. The shallowest
channel of the Columbia ha,s thirty-five feet of water — the deepest of New
York twenty-nine.

Thus doea Xatuhk, piously appealed to, and calmly consulted, exhaust,
bring to a close, and settle, by eternal facts, the various oj^'nious which

wliich futuiv pvncra-
uscd fur iliiir-tirilis of

(irttltui Icisiii (it'Cali-
(1 f'nrtiine of tlio new
ami its nia<.niiK(('iit
Iiasin of ,<;m Fi-mh-
iiiti-rior. No o-roat
wliich it is lut of}' by
t'l Xorte, ovorlajiiiiug

al to tlu' Gaiiiics. In

lulatioii. and its won-

bia suvpasst's botli of

IRiiiit upon tlic ojH'n

to the whob> North

lind facility of ingvoss

if tlio iircatost river

■rhajis more vahiabie.

climate of Bordeaux,

it Xnrfi,!],-. on ITanip-
' Why, rather, is it
y through every dan-
fonner is the outlet
[ississippi. Thi; ship-
d.

ttlo ravines of James
?a, and held the great
tavi'gntcd streams as

ires a similarly ridic-
setting up what the
ist the grand Colum-
t of industry, makes
ms. The shallowest
-the deepest of New

,' consulted, exhaust,
ious opinions which

MEMOIIAXDA 0\ THE PACIFIC UMLItOAh.

perplex the public mind in locating the continental railroad. The national
will must wisely listen to an<l oln'y her jiromptings. Postponement, defeat,
and failure will overwhelm every effort to depart from the water-grade,
or to penetrate, perforate, or surmount in any other way the Titanic rigidity
of the table lands.

The obstinate advocacy of any other route is insidious and hostile in
the bi'iip to the worl entirely. The irnfrr-i/riK/r of flu' continent is simply
this : — The road, leaving the west bank of the Mi.ssouri. pursues the IMatte
Kiver along the facile a.scent of its south bank to the South Pass; this
is some Tod miles: thence along the smooth /m-/ of the South Pass. 250
miles to Snake Kiver: thence down tlu; facili; descent of Snake River to
the Columbia, U(K) mile.s. This route is the xhitrti'nt and best acro.ss
America ; it is, in practical fact, a /iir/ from end to end ; the grading is
conipli'te throughout ; the mountains are all tunnelled ; the climate dry
and projiitious.

There remain to be described the peculiarities of climate, and the bear-
ing upon our subject of the immense interests of ocean commerce and
political power.

CHAPTER III.

In two former chapters I have endeavored to grasp the geographical
view of the t(»NTlXKXTAL RAILWAY — to wiiuiow its immense com-
plexity — to shake loo.se a few simple /J/cAs' engorged in obscurity — aud to
stand face to face aud in council with Nature.

We have seen that Xatiire, thus candidly appealed to, leads us point
blank to the supreme pass of the continent, the SolTH Pass, and then i
traces with her unerring finger to the right, and to the left, the double
water-grade to the seas — by the Platte to the Atlantic, by the Snake
Kiver to d Pacific.

But public opinion is perplexed by a systematic obscuration oi' /nets,
long and vehemently repeated, in other things besides geography. This
route is pronounced northern; the climate hostile; accunuilated snows
are insisted upon ; the Indians impracticable ; the work itself herculean ;
population, provisions, material to build, and work for the road, wanting ;
the length of the road is pronounced insuperable, and its cost enormous.
These objections all tall absolutely before a ^i:\\ facts of nature, here emi-
nently clear and emphatic. Let us appeal to them and decide !

194

A PI'EXlJlX.

Climate controls the nii<:ratioiis of the huniiin race, which liave
steadily adlu'reil to an '• ixuthi rtn<il r.ndinc" or hjlt of equal warmth,
around the world. The extremely mild temperature of our visfcni sea-
hoard is the consequence of the same great laws of nature which o]ur;ito
in WcMcrn Europe. These are the reuular and fixed ordinances nf the
code of nature, to which the mijrrations of man, in common with the
animals, yield an instinctive ohedience.

AVithin the fonid zone of the glohe, from the etjuator to the liStli
di'gree of north latitude, hlow the tnu/e iciiK/a and vnridUcs, always /'/v-//(
the east and northeast, all round the world. IJut in the sueceedinu' licit
from 28° to (10°, the winds have an opposite or compensating uirection,
/riiiii the west and southwest, all round the glohe.

These latter wind-currents reach the insfcni coasts of America v.m\
Eurojje after traversinji' the expan.se of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Warmed to the temperature of these oceans, they iiiijidif again this same
mild atmosphere to the maritime fronts of the continents which receive
them. These same winds, passing onward over great extensions of con-
tinent of loAv temjierature, covered with snow or frozen during winter :
often warped upwards by mountain ranges, becoming exhausted of tlicir
warmth, have, upon the cusfirn expansions of the continents, an exactly
opjiosite effect upon the climate.

Hence the variant temperature of New York, and Li.shon, in P(n-tugal,
which face one another, on opposite sides of the Atlantic — of 8an Fran-
cisco, aud Pekin, in China, similarly opposite, upon the Pacific.

At San Francisco and at Lisbon, the sea.sons arc but modulations of one
contiimous summer. At New York and at IV-kin, winter annually sus-
jiends vegetation during seven months, whilst ice and snow bind up the
land and waters. These four citie.s arc all close upon the same parallel
of latitude, thojhrtirth degree north.

Thus is it manifest why in As'i the mass of population is congre-
gated on and south of theyo/'//(//i degree, and in Europe north of it. In
America it again curves to the south on the eastern face of our continent,
to rise northward again on the warm Pacific coast. Within this undu-
lating belt of the north fniiprrate zone, in breadth Jibout thirty-three de-
grees, are included four-fifths of all the laud and nine-tenths of the world's
population.

Hero has been the progressive march of the human race round the
world, eomineiicing in the farthest (Jrfnit,i\nd forming a zodiac of nations
towards the setting sun. In this have been retained similar tastes, simi-
lar industrial pursuits, similar food and clothing, requiring similarity of
climate, and recoiling alike fnnn the torrid and from the arctic zones.

MEMOllAXDA OX THE PACIFIC IlAILIiOAI).

VX)

If. tlu'ii, the iniiid irtains the sinijdc facts, that all our pivscnt terri-
tory between the oeeans lies within this /.diic, where the wimls flow always
j'l-um the west, we arrive at the solution, as well of the different nioditica-
tions of climate along the same parallel of latitude, as of the variety in the
veiretahle cuverinu' of the surface: — irhi/ the tusfmi pi/r/ioii is clothed
with dense fevests, the cnttnil jxirtinu with prairie jrra.«ses only, and why
the great fertile plains of the liigh mountains and of the Tn/iii Lunds arc
yet of an arid hardnes.s and naked of all inliorcicnifr.

Tiie amount of irrigating rains falling u]ion the face of the land from
the clitiuh, regulates this. The oceans are the reservoirs which supply clouds
to the atmosphere. The vapors, rising from the whole surface of the
ocean into the higher regions of tin; atmosphere, form tliemselves. at a cold
elevation, into natural halloons, or clouds.

These, carried })y currents of air over the land, and rising still liigher.
become condensed and distil themselves upon the earth in the form cif
rain. Those holding vapor in the form least concentrated, spill it out in
the regions near the sea. Others attain to a high degree of concentra-
tion, retaining the form of clouds until they reach the central regio.ns of
the continents and a great elevation.

But we have seen that the great snoin/ Cordillera of the Andes lines
the whole n-rsfrrn seaboard of Xorth America, lu-ing in sight f)f vessels
sailing up the sea, from the Gulf of California to l^ehring's Strail. The
winds coming from the u-rxf and over tlie ocean, blow against this wall.
On this elevated summit of perpetual congelation, water becomes ice. as
solid and permanent as the cold lava-rock. The irrigating influence of
the Pnci'fic Orran is liere abruptly sto]iped and entirely ceases.

The great rnsfirii slo])e ofaiir continent, however, descending by gentle
inclined planes to all the seas, receives, without any geographical inter-
ruption, the irrigating winds and clouds of tlmse seas. Tlu^ barrier of the
Alleghanies (finiiiu'sJus. but does not sfap, the inflowing of vapors. Hut we
have seen that the winds blow perpetually //'o/u the icpsf. The inwai'd
progress, then, of the atmospheric vapors is by this continually repelled.

The vvgctatum of the continent reveals to us the result of this conflict
between winds and the gradual exhaustion of the atmosplu-ric vajiors.
with an exactness as comi)lete as that with which the thermometer indi-
cates temperature.

The VKU-Ithne ilrrlh-if//. the Alleghanies, and the countries between thi'
latter and the troiii/hn of the Mississip])i and St. Tiawrence. are densely clad
with timber. So are the States of Louisiana. Arkansas, and Smitli 3Iissouri ;
receiving clouds from the Gulf partly, and partly from the Atlantic. ll'<>/-
wanl and norttnciird the tindier gradually tapers away; still following in

11»(5

Ari'KMUX.

i •

narrow lines alonj; tlio rivcrw, but Iwiviu}; tho uplands and riches (o the
luxuriant jirairic fiiassi's. Soon, liowfVt'r, the (iiii/wr abanddu.s its stiuf;-
jilc t(i firow, and ceases entirely.

Oiiuiinf, however, from tlie last fringe of tinilier, for some liinidicd
miles, the irrijiation continue.s to preserve the mellowness of the snil.
and a sward of tall, luxuriant j;rasses covers the wliole smooth expanse ol'
nature. Tiiis, in turn, gradually dwarfs under the decreasini: iniuatioii,
taperini; into the ileliwite curled gra.ss of the buffalo plains, which is scarce
half an inch in height, and resembles the wool of a lamb.

Fiii(i//i/, grass itself fails, and the general characteristic of the siwface
ol" the great Sierra Madre and the plateau of t\w Table Lands is total

nakedness of any nutritious vt'j

[■tabl

e coverini.

le soil is either com

I)actly hard, or resembles dry ashes. The surface is lu-re sparsely clothed
with dwarl'ed wormwood and the prickly pear, — funereal plants, whicli
seem as careless of moistiu'e ii.s is tiu' salamander of tire.

Such an; the great primary laws of Nature which decide the climate
and vegetation of our continent. !nt<'rruptions and modifications of tlie.'<e
laws are iniuimerable. Xa/iirr i< vrtn/irlurf in'xr. ('om]pi'iisations exist
in all the.s(; countries, so eccentrically novel to us, which will win iiir them
the densi'st populations. No de.scjrts of silicious .sand, like tho.se of Arabia

and

rica, e.xist in America, nor are sm-h possil)le

dyf

w. oidv iormation

)f silicious sand is the Atlantic declivity, whose .soil .soon wa.stes under

L-ult

ure

d the ocetin washes f/n'n

ii'cat bowl made up of the basins of the interior is everywl

lero

cii/cdiriiiis. The soil which covers the two great Cordilleras, the I'.Mti.K
liA.XDS and the Pacific declivity, is the intrinsically fertile decay of ba.saltic
and lava formations. Tliirxt (i/did- causes it« nakedness aiul a]iparent
aridity. Win re this thirst is quenched with a frugal supply of wat"i'. it
slmws an abumlant and inexhaustible fi;rtility. (ireat rivers are every-
wiiere full and convenient.

HIS »\V.

dl tl

U' SUCC(

.ssive varieties of climate. ve<ietati(

)n, an(

1 soil

explained by the gradual atteiunition of the rains, as we recede 'rom tlu'
ocean. Vicr rriKii, these conditions of the atmosphere and land atte.-<t
the ab.sencc of vapor in the ibrmer. .\ll secondary jihenoniena, such as

tin; annual fires of the great jirair.. if long gra.ss, are conse(|uences of
the aridity of the autumnal and winter atmosjihere, and not caiiurs of the
absence of timber.

A</in'ii, the elevation of the plain of the Smilli /\iss is 7S()(I feet above
the sea. The streams which c<illect and carry off its waters — Swi-etwater
to the east and Sandy to the west— are only larg<' rini/rfa. though their
courses are long. The amount of rain in summtir and xnoic in iciiiler

.i/a;.i/o/m.\7/.i o.v the pacjfiv nAiLiioin.

id:

irids and riches (o tlio
'(■/• iihamloiKs its stiuir.

r. for Sdiiii- liuiidnMl
Inwiicss oi' tlif soil.
)1(; siiiootli i'X|iaiist' df
Iccri'asiiiji' irriuatidii,
(laiiis, wliicli is scarue
mill.

tcri.stic of tli(! surliico
Tabic Lands is total
'lie soil is either ciini-
< here s)iars(Iy elolhcd
iinereal jilants. which
• Kre.

eh decide the climate

modifications of these

('oni|iensations exist

lieli will win flir them

d. like tlntse of Araliia

1 Tin- oidy flmnation

oil soon wastes under

nterior is every wliere
'ordilleras, the T.MiKK
ertile decay of hasidtic
kedness and apnarent
al sninily of water, it
reat rivers are eveiy-

. V(i:;e(ation, and soil
lis wo recede <rom tlie
)here and land attest
' |)li(!noinena. sucli as
are consefjuences of
and not nnisrs of the

/.V.S- is 7S(I(I feet ahove

■< waters — Sweetwater

vinihia. thoiiiih their

and tiiKiu: lit tciii/er

upon tlu" wafer-irrade of the Platte and Snake Hivers. and in the South
I'ass lietween them, is so in.-iirnificant as to hear no com|(arison in amount
with those between Hi»t<in and Uufl'alo !

Hut the .■ituiK-ndous ma.vies nf the Wind lliver .Mountains rise in the
northern hori/oii of the Soutli I'ass to an altitude of 14.0(1(1 feet. Their

ureal elevation draws down the va]iors lett in tlie atmos])liere. which
clothe their summit.'- with jierjx'tiial. and their flanks with winter snows.
The.se su|n>ly wators to tlie j:reat rivers, and cover the flanks and iroii^cs
of the ''reat mountains with immen.se forests. The same is the case

elsewhere w

ith the L'reat /niiinin/ mountain chains, siicli as the Ital

I or

Wa.sitch and tht

ilmon liiver

.Ml

iintains

lint th

,/,

le siriiiiiiiiri/ ninun-

tainsand |ia.s.ses are entirely naked of timher, havini; uiion them neither

rams nor snows at anv season.

Hut

an e.xtraordiuarv /</

./ 1

lere (

level.

it.self. If W

iim

]ioint

kliere the junction of .-ievcral small streams forms the Kansas Kiver. I2tl

iles due west from the Mis.-iouri River, tis a rrnfrr, a cin

lie 1

)e lU'scri

l.e.1

touching the boundary line of 41l^ as a tangent, the ojijiosite side
of the circle will ]>ass tlirough the seaport of Matagorda in Texas,

irouif

ii \ew Orleans and .MohiU

nt is. therefore, th

t' II iirri'.

tith and south, of our countrv. If from the sm

end

rr a larirer circle

he described, it will pass through San Franci.sco. and through ^'ancouver
City, on the Columbia, exactly grazing the whole coast between them.
The .same circle will jia.ss through (.fiiebec and Boston on the Atlantic,
through /Iiiriiini on thetiu"'. and through the city of Mc.i'iro. The same
point is then tlie r/-«/re between the oceans.

Thus, at the forks of the Kansas Itiver a ])oint exists, in latitude ."JS"

-t.j', and loiiiritude DT

Wl'

■it of (ireenwich. which is the Hva

KiK.Vl'IIKA!,

Ck.vtkk — north and .south, east ami west — at once of our whole national
territory, of the ba-sin of the Mississijipi, and of the continent of North
America !

'Hw /luf.t. then, which concentrate thenis(.'lves to locate the ('niifiiKii/nf
Riiiliriii/ at the line of wator-grades from ocean to ocean, sum them.selves
up conclusively in its f;ivor and against all others.

From Baltimore and New York, through St. Louis to Kansas, this
road is now under contract and construction. For this distance the route
traverses a country guttered with rivers : interruptcMl by the narrow and
abrujit ribs of the Alleghany chain : covered with timber: having a fitful
climate vexed with immense niins and snows: the surface infinitelv chan-

nelled with water-»iuii-s*'s and

itl

]u'rplexe(l witli innumerahle ravines, alter

blc

iiltc

nating with stwp am' narrow hills.

Yet this half of tho wliole road progresses over all the.sc difficulties

198

Ari'EXDlX.

with sufh ease und celerity, tliat armimeiit of it.s iiii|iia( tieal)ility is imt
tolerated. But a^;aiiist the remaining half (if the mad, from KaiiNis to
Astoria, these armuiieiits are tolerated, though in truth thej have all ceasfil,
and sueh ohst ructions and inijiedinieiits have no existence in inihiri .

The reniaining hulf from Kansas to Astoria crosses no river of any
niaj.'nitude, yet |»ursue.s tlie hanks of great rivers continuously the wlinj,.
distance. The hanks of these rivijrs, risinj;- hut a few feet ahove tin'
water surface, are of iniini'Mse width, iierfeclly hard and dry, and snmoili
a.^ a water levi'l. Such is the general characteristic uf the I'latte and
(.'oluiuhia from end to end.

The jtlain of the Smitlt /'ass is almost as .smooth and hard as a niiulilc
pavement, and is of a general lireadth e.\c(,'eding thirty niili'S. Not a
single eminence cxi.sts in the whole distance hut is tunnelled hy these
rivers tlown to the general grade. On the track everywhere is material
in every variety ol" i'orm and in tlii^ suhliniest ahundaiici'.

Jiumher exists in ahundance in the high mountains to the right and
left. Iron can he sujiplied at the ends and ujion the navigalile rivers,
hrought from Eurojie if necessary, as it now comes for nearly all the rail-
roads in America. Mineral coal is abundant from end to end. ixock in
every variety — granite, basalt, lava, limestone, and gyjjsum. The I'latte
jieiforates a great range of mountains of (/i/psiiiii ; the .Snake River a
less one of nivlc-ault.

This route is not lunthi rn. liut r.nictfi/ antnil. The sublime order
and fitness ol' Nature seems here jire-eminently to vindicate and e.\i'm|iliiy
it.self. Upon the Kan.sas River it jilunibs the giutgraidiical centre of the
national territory. From hence it curves northward to Baltimore, the
most Kiiiit/irni Atlantic city of great commercial activity. It curves
gently to the northward to the mouth of the Columbia. This is in lati-
tude 4()° I'.y, being three degrees .south of Havre in France, and eight
degrees south of Liverpool and Amsterdam.

Vet the climate of Western America is milder than that of Western
HuroiPC. It is al.so upon the coasts extending fifteen <legrees north of the
Columbia that the murine of the Pacific will be constructed, as lu-re are
combined the conveniences of sea-harbors and forests. It is in the Raltic
and British I.sles that all the vinn'tir of Europe is built and owned. It is
likewi.se on the St. Lawri'iice and in New England that the murine of
America is constructed and owned.

To speak of the obstruction of ImUanx ujion the route is a monstrous
hnr/isijKc. The whole aggregate nundier of men, women, and children,
within several hundred miles along the flanks of this rout-e, does mil
amount to nine tlioasand, or one-fifth of the pojjulation of Washington

ill

liiipriK ti(iil)ility is rmt

loilll, IVciIU K;i|isi.s t<i

111 till'} Iiiivcall ((ii.s,.,!^
|it('iif(! ill iin/iin .
lisM'M III) river (,{' miy
|Mitiminiisly tlic wliiil,.
li'W i'cct iilmvc ill,,
and (Irv, ;iiiil .siiio<>t||
fie ipf tlif I'liittc iiiid

and hard as a inailili.

tliiity miles. \,,t .,
is tunnelled liy these
verywhero is material
laiiee.

ins t(t tile ridit ami
the naviualde rivers,
(ir nearly all the lail-
nd to end. JIuek in
yi>siim. The I'hitte

the Siiako lliver a

The suliliiiie order
iidieato and o.\em|ilily
rajdiieal centre of tin-
rd to Iialtiiiiore, the
activity. It curves
I)ia. This is in lati-
iii France, and eitiht

hull that of Western
dcj!;rees north of tlu;

istiHicted, as liere are
It is in tlie Baltic

ilt and owned. It is
that the iiiiin'iie of

route is a monstrous
(imeii, and children.
;his rout«, does not
atlon of Wasliinntdii

MKMOliAMlA OS' rilE I'Alll-'li' llM/Jt()M>.

109

City! The most moderate pay would make of tliem valuable herders of
stock, and hunters. The ](asturet< now maintain meat u|ion tlie hoof, or
liiilfalo, Ut tile amount of many millions. A Inun/ni/ ini/lidiis of tame
cattle will niaintaiii tliemselvcH in the i)utl°alo country, fat in conditioii
round the year. Jin/ is the approjiriute food of these dry and lii^Ii
altitudes.

The riisfini lialf of this route, from Baltimore to Kan.sas, traverses very
centrally the densest ]io|iulation, the lar;;-est |iroduction and consumption,
and consei|uently tlie line of <;reatcst travel and coinmerci!. The same
will lie the case with the irixtirii Inilf as soon as the Imr/csi/nr of"' Indian
occupation" is hruslied out of the way. The immense mass of pioneers
in all the elder States chafes to issue out and cover this delij^'htful cimu-
try with rej)iil)lics.

The country emhraciiiLr tin- sources of the Sweetwater, Colorado, and
Snake Jlivers is a j;oId country, eiiuallin^ California or Hrazil, hut iiiac-
eessihle to ocean navij:ation. The climate does not, (M(iial!y as in the.sc
latter countrii's, pulverize and disiiitejirate ihe rock. The <£'M is in a
matri.x of (jiiartz. The hard jporphyry and lava will descend in iniiiien.se
(piantities, anil thus economize the paviiij; of the cities of the Valley of
the Mi.ssissippi.

One natural production of Ihe eastern edj,'e of the Taiii.e Lands will
soon re]>ay the cost of the construction of this road. This is SAl/r.

There are mountains near the sources of Snake Jliver, composed of
stratified nias.ses of rmh-stilt — just as other river bluffs arc of limestone.
This, ipiarried with liirht tools, and <rrouiid to jiowder, as grain is re-
duced to flour, is tlui pure alum salt of commerce. J')very living soul of
America u.si's salt thrice per day. Every animal r(.'(|uires it as frei|ueiitly.
Every ounce of jtrovisions is preserved with it. It is mixed with hay,
and preserves timber. It is u.sed in the manufactures and tine art«.
IJrought licnce down to tlu; focal jioint of navigation in .Missouri, this
State will become liie distributing point of this most valuable, greatest,
and most indispensable article of commerce.

By the last national census, the annual jiroduction of our country
reaches the value of thnr t/ioiisinn/ iin'/Zioiin of dollars. Seventy-five jier
cent, of this is/ooif, which finds no market among the comparatively lim-
ited jiopulation of Europe, 1^(1'), (100,(1(10, v.-ho feed themselves.

Around the Pncljic, in front of Astoria, are 745,000,000 of hungry
Ahiath's and Poli/insidiis, who have groceries, clothing, spices, and por-
celain, to exchange for meat and grain.

But the icfsfvrn half of this road departs from the bank of the Mis-
souri, to which :dl America has ac os at this hour by the navigable

I !

i'.i

200

Ari'h\\/)/x.

rivers; and rmiii Aj^toria tlicsi- inilliniis of coiiMiiiicrs iiiay Ix^ niiclu'J
directly, over a tniii((iiil oifaii ami iiiidcr a /i nijn mti aliiiiis|ilu'ri'; tlie
e(|uatnrial Iieat.s are diily eiicounteretl la^t and at the jilacc ul' tinai de-
livery.

No doubt, in the ]io]iulous, central, f'ood-jirotlucinf; States of lnwa, Mis-
siiiiri, .Vrkan.sas, and Illinois, /Imr Innidinl iiilllinns of dollars' wurlli ul'
produce of industry tidl annually to find a market, and the jirotit tlicreon
jierislies, for want of this road art from the centre to the /("////western
coast !

IJnl it is inijiortant that the jii'i/i/c receive with candor, and allow due
wcijilit to, the overwhelminjj,- and conclusive jiroofs in fuvor of this mute
of the water-^radi'S, which Nature, all recorded human ex|ierience. and tla;
solid sfiiiicc of civil enjiineerinj:', cons|iire to sulmiit to their judj:ineiit.
i\'</////v is the sujirenie engineer ; or/ is prosperous oidy whilst adhering
to her teachinjis.

We have seen in what a simple and suhlini" harmony the InrisHih I'nrco
of Nature eli'Vates vapors from the sea. forms tlu'Ui int ' clou<l halloons in
the upi cr atmosphere, an(W/////.>iy////7.s them on currents oi' air over the
continents; how these become condensed and distil themselves over the
face of the land in the form of irriuatinjj; rains.

This water havinji' jierfornu'd its renovating duty, by tilteiin.^' throuiih
the surface soil, be<:'ins a^ain to collect : first in remote hollows and un-
dulations : thewi unite into rivulets : rivulets into larj!,er streams: streams
into rivers : rivers into the great I're.sh-water //v/z/yZ/.s, which return this
drainajie from the land, to mix with the salt oi' the ocean, to be renovated
and perlitrm a<rain their jjart in the drriihitlnn of nature.

Now, the use of jtithlic irorhx to human society is the same as are her
works to Nature: to bring /'// and distribute clothing!; and groceries; to
collect and carry nut surplus food and jtroductions of every variety.

In the transferring to and fro of the waters of the univer.se, Nature
accom]>lishes a.s much heavy transportation in a few hours as will suffice
the social wants of Auuu-ica for a century. This, then, is all that is .sv////(/^
ill evil engineering, and comprehends all tlie good that it ////.s and caii
do for human society: — to select those uyifi-r-qrftdcs whew, in further
imitation of Nature, humar energy may smooth tlie asperities and econom-
ically adajit to use tlie curves and grades witli which slie lias everywhere
furnished the face of the land.

Thus, then, to recapitulate and sum up the array of facts wliich con-
centrate themselves to decide the locnfian of the Continkntal IIail-
WAY. Xdtiiri' and all sound human experience unite to select tlu; imtcr-
griide of the Platte and Snake Kivers, and against any departure from i*.

MKM(>ll.\Sh.\ nS Tin: r.MIFlc ItMI.UoMi.

.'01

■rs may I.,, iv.iclu'il
''' iiliii(isj,li,.|v: tlic
II' pliicc of liiiiil il,^

states ol" l,,\va, Mis-
il' ilnllais" wmtli lit'
llic jniifit ill,. I-

tllC /*'/;7//\\, .,1,.|||

iiliir, ami alluw ilim

aviir (iC tliis iiiiiti'

<'.\|u'i'it'ni-c, ami tlic

ti) tlirii' jiiiluiiicnt.

Illy wliilsl adliciiiig

_V tllC I'lirisilili riirc(;

t" fldiid lialldiitis ill
iifs ol' air (ivcr tlic
lieuiselvt'S over tlio

y fiitcriiif'' tlir(iiif:h
iifo Jiolliiws ami 1111-
L'l" .sti'oaiii.s : «( reams
, whiih rcfiirii this
'an, to \tv rciHivatcd
ire.
lie samci as are licr

and frrofcrii's ; to
very variety,
le universe. Xatiire
iur.s as will suffice
is all that is >^niiii,l
lat it Ikix and cun

wliere, in i'lirtlier
jrities and eediiom-
\\c lias everywhere

f faets wliieli con-

S'TI.NK.NTAI, li.VIL-

I) seleet tlus im/cr-
dejiarture from i*.

Tl'tliis route defleets at all I'l'om aji exact n nlni/i/i/. it is to the suul/i. and
not Inwards the north, that il Iicai's. Its Iwo halve,-, d.'.ci'uim: tVoni the
iinln. ^ive the almitiM lines to ihe sea, lhioiii:h the countiie> and |hi|iii-
iations when' tiie work to he done is the ;:i'eatest, and the nece»iiy lor
it iiio>l iiniiiediate. pressimr. and lasting;,

(hiihalf is located and under eiiiislruetioii. Asa lliruinili road it is
the s/i'iifist line across Nmlh .\nierica. must conveniently connectiiiu .\sia
and I'll lidl'K //'/ '/" jii ijii fiiii/ /iiii iif inii/ Irnri I n/' nil iimjifr. 'l"hoUi:h

iiieandei'ini: inii'nii/ imiiK^n.se mountain chains, it |iasset< thei
iiels eiini|ilelely iiiade liy nature.

l.v t

un-

Neil

ler snow niu' ram, nor ^reat rivers, enioarrass either ils eiin>liue-

tiun or i's al'ter-u.<e : the climate is ]ii'e-eniinently jirojiitious : matciial to

construct IS coiiveiiien

tly at

hand, at easv intervals on the rit^ht and lel't

fuel and water aliundaiit forever. The inititfirnl excellence of the whoUi
rciiioii, comhined with a dry almos|ihere and liealth, su|i|ilyiii,i: meat-food
and ti'aiis|)ortation indefinitely, will render easy the imincdiale iiiHiix and
residence of an immense ]io(iulation.

The vicinity where the i;reat Si< rnt Mailrr is ]ieneti'ated, and where
J'wi great rivers have their sources together, is ]irodigiously [irolilic in salt,
hard rock lor architecture and ]iavinu', medicinal hot siiriiijis, all the
jirccious metals and jewels, furs, lumlier, and the hides of animals.

If 1 have delineated with any success, and exiilaiiu'd correctly the fea-
tures (if Sittiirf. in gcojii'aiihy, climate, and topoiiraiihy, there remains to
ex-miiu^ the liearinj;' uiion this Viork of the comhined hostili' influence of

(/// commerce allied with iiolidi

Why tl

us jireat central route, suc-

cessfully ojicned in the time of ,Jetl('i'soii and hy the eiieruy of Aslor, was
attacked, stoji]ied, and finally xhiit ii/>, under President .Monroe, Ami
why ils reojieiiing is still hamjiered and iiostjioned by the sauu! remorse-
less and unrelentinu; eiiemie.s.

J t

■VI.

THE HEMP-GROWING REGIOX.

Thkuk i.s a rcn-ion of Mi.ssonn' and Kini.san oi' rapidly rising fame and
importance, gaining f(jr it.seif a State and a national repntation, wliieh we
will define as the '' licgioii of the Hemp Cultured Specially favored by
nature in its geographical locality, climate, navigation, and superlative fer-
tility, this region has become the seat of a hemp culture which has a
stiong, organized, and national foundation.

The hemp culture receives special attention in twenty counties of West-
ern Missouri, bisected by the Missouri lliver, and all adjacent to its t^vo
shores. '^1 jy form a belt t)f land east and west, enclosed between die
38th and 40f h degrees of latitude.

Here is the production of these counties in hemp, in order as they lie
along the river — census of 1850 :

JackboD,

Cole,

riatte,

Howard,

LKt'nyt'tte,

Cass,

Clay,

liiioiie.

Siiliuc,

Johnson,

Ray,

Clinton,

Cooper,

Pettis,

Carroll,

Kandolph,

Monitenu,

Miller,

Chariton,

liui'hanan

The iiggregatc of annual production being 14,173 tons, or 28,340,000
pounds.

Since 1850, the hemp culture has increa.sed in vigor, both in the hmd
assigned to its culture and in the application of machineiT to i'.o produc-
tion and manufacture. The production of that year, within the aliove
region, was 28,346,000 pounds, estimtiting the ton at 2('U0 pounds; and
that of the whole State 10,110 tons, or 32,238,000 pounds.

The cour.«e of the Missouri Kiver through this region of superlative
fertility may be compared to the Nile flowing through Lower Egypt to the
Mcditorraneiin. It is in the ability of an abundant and bountedus pro-
duction that this comparison holds, but not in temperature, climate, or
physical features.

In Egypt, the arable and inhabitable district is limited to the ravine of
the Nile, which is overflowed and irrigated by its waters ; beyond this the
202

primeval de

characterize

fertilizing \

ever-flowinj

which havt

But, on

ravine of t

gated cola

This uiidu

basins of t

So muc

exquisite i

the sea nu

Thecu

to south.

The M

lliver in

Missouri

length.

lines of

South 31

They

the Km

which tl

of Mex

This

thronge

Americ

Union.

nhich

progres

habitat

It is

that 111

THE lIEMr-GKOWISG REGIOS.

203

1, ill order as they lie

i tons, or 28,340,000

primeval desert reigns everywhere supreme. With us, the same fertility
characterizes the borders of the stream, whieh has the same abundauue uf
fertilizing waters, the same splendid navigation, the same solemnity in it^
ever-flowing channel, and the same redundancy of benignant attributes
which have deified the Nile.

But, on every side, from the gently elevated crest that bounds the
ravine of the Mi.ssouri, expands, with a radius of 1000 miles, that varie-
gated culcurcotis plain, which we define as the '^ Basin of the MinsisKijypi."
This undulating plain has an area erjual in capacity to all the other river
basins of tlie world, and conibines all their varieties.

So much does the mind revert to the ocean to explain by comparison its
exquisite romantic beauty, at once immense and regular, that this hymu to
the sea may with propriety describe it :

" Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
Calm or convulsed — iu breeze, or gale, or storm,

Dark heaving;- -Ijounilless, endless, and sublime —
The image oi" eternity — -the throne
Of the Invisible — . . . each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone I"

The curreia course of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers is from north
to south. The latter is so tliroughout its whole length.

The Missuuri, after a southern cour.se of 3000 miles, receives the Kansas
River in latitude 39', turns abruptly to the eauf, penetrates Uie State of
Missouri, and bisects it from west to cast, with a channel -it miles iu
length. Into the eastern moutli of this chainiel, all the grei-t natural
lines of travel coming from the Atlantic by the St. Lawrence, Ohio, and
South Mississippi Rivers, concentrate as rays to a focal point.

They iire altogether carried forward to the central west at the mouth of
the Kansas, where the unbroken prairie formation meets the river, and to
which the radiant land routes over their expanse, coming from tlie (iulf
of Mexico and tlie Pacific Ocean, similarly conccntrato.

This channel is now, and is destined prospectively to remain, the most
thronged and wonderful in the world. It is central, east and nest, to the
Americi'u Continent, to the Basin of the ML-^sissippi, and to th<> American
Union. It lies along tlie axis of that isatliernial tern) rate zane, within
which is the zoJi(tc of nations, and is also the a.els of the poi)ulation,
jirogress, travel, production, consumption, commerce, transj}ortatii)n, and
liabitation of the human race.

It is the highway from Western l-lurope to Oriental .\si:!. It is under
that line of /(f^V(/f?(; where all things northern and southern meet and blend

204

A PPESDIX.

I'^Wf

togetluT — where tlie day and iiifilit. the seasons of tlie year, lahor. the
growth of nature, and all the elenicMts of human society and of the \ cue-
table and animal worl'l, liave the widest range, the greatest variety, and
the highest development.

Having a double shore, this '-hannel has 800 miles of eoast. Tt lias
tlie familiar accommodation imu safety of a canal, a ra'iriad, or a strcrl.

Its de]ith of water and ea>iaeity for toninieree will receivi- and cany
forward the freiglitage of al! the oceans and all the continents. Similar
ciiannels have been known and used in both ancient and modern times —
such are the Lower Nile, the IJosjihorus. and J)ar<lanelles, the Strait of
Hercules, the English Channel, the Baltic's mouth, the Hudson from New
York to Albany — onl}' this has greater length, divides more fertile shores,
and connects more numerous hosts of nations.

Such is the Jfcmj) Itryloii. It has an altitude 1000 feet above the si'a.
a salubrity e(|ual to the Table Lamls, a fertility superior to the Delta of
Louisiana, an unlimited area, a navigation better than the .sea, a climate
exactly congeniid to tlic white man, a rural beauty forever graceful, fresh,
and fascinating

It is, on a va.stly magnified scale, the counterpart of that delicious and
cla.ssic Italy, traversed by the Po, dotted with cities, Venice, A'erona,
Mantua, Milan, of which SllAKSl'EAKE lias written, ami where ViittiiL
ami Tasso sung.

If an eiri{)se be described extending from the Osage mouth to Fort
Kiley, ^ >me 500 miles, an<l in breadth !i<HI, it will contain that distiict of
fat, lustrous soil, exub(>rant vegetation, graceful beauty, an<l abundant
streams, where Nature has bomitifuUy blended all her choicest gifts to
locate the nirol qiu'iitessi'iice of America and of the wo.ld !

Stimulated by the inspiring splendor of their natural position, the
vigorous pojiulation of this region have ])ursmMl agriculture, commerce,
and manufactures with an ambition and success which indicate a growing
empire in nothing unworthy of their prospective de.stiny.

Every department of production and industry has been tried, and all
thrive. Hemp, tobacco, flax, the grajie and wiiu;, silk, stigar, the cereals
and grasses ; cattle of the finest breeds ; agricultural nnichinery, flowers,
steam, and niining. Society exalts it,s tone by a taste for religious edifices
and elo<|uenc(! ; education receives great and universal care; mu>ic and re-
finement are zealously oiltivated.

Apart from these fascinating gifts i." Nature and the promise which
germinates lieneath their warmth, a jinsfii/r entwines it.self with and illu-
minates the history of this region. This runs back to the golden time of
thti jiii/n'iirc/iitl I'oiuiders of our cuiitiiuiifiif empire; it stretches over the

dark chasn

nous Auroi

of our null

We ha\

l{(i(iKUS (.

Lot IS X\

who li'd oi

twilight o

they have

To und

select out

which sta

niarkable

This s\

very anci(

IllSTOl

struggles.

and attaii

defined t(

Histor

their risj

depart etl.

the nortl;

ZODIAC t

The a

latitude,

climates

the Pers

the /''/>

in the i

It is hei

imist ne

This

the glol

extendi

edge t(

Europi

It is

the lui

front in

intcrco

Tin: iiEMP-anowi.Mi iiKdioy.

205

tJic year, lalmr. the
•ictj and of fl,,, vcn^.
greatest variety, niid

L's of coast. Tt li;,s
a'Ir)ail, or a strrcl.

I'fccivi' and cnnv
•""tiiicnts. Similar

nd modern times

iH'lli's, the Strait of
Hudson i'rom Xew
s more fertile sliores,

•• firt above tlie sea.
"or to tile ]),.Ita of
•1 tlio sea, a climate
i-ovor graceful, fresh,

f that delicious and
iof^, Venice, ^'erona,
, and where Vii{(iir,

'age mouth to Fort
tain that district of
'»ty, and aliundant
icr clioicest gifts to
p.ld !

itural position, the
ii-ulture, commerce,
indicate a growing
'J-

Ijocii tried, and all
, «»gar, the cereals
machinery, flowers,
iir religions edifices
•are; music and re-

the promise which
f.«<'H'with and illu-
lu' golden time of
stretches over the

dark chasm of sealxiard monarchy, and lias its fountain in the lumi-
nous Aurora and among the immortal patriots who limned out the jirotile
of our finitiiKiital vn\\n\\', and inaugurated the march of our destinies.

We liave here among us the graves of D.VNIKL 15(M)NK. (iKhrue
]{(MiKi{s Ci.AUKK, li.vrLKDK, and the names of .loiiN .lAtoH AsTttll,
]i(»lis XVI. of France, ].i.\SAI,I,K. and Dk Soto, great and intrepid men
who li'd or befriended tlii' iiioiieers. those stars which shone in the first
twilight of em]iire. To Jkkkkusox and Jackson wc were known, and
they have been known to us as \mY frlinilx.

To unth-rstand this pnsfiijf and its strength, it is necessary briefly to
select out and .set apart to themselves a few facts in the history of progre.s.s,
which stand along its path, and, like pyramids in the solitude, fix its re-
markable epochs.

This sy.stem of civili/ed .society, of which we Americans form a part, is
very ancient, and is in/n rifid.

IIlsToilV is the journal of its geographical pri>gress. its vici.ssitudes, its
struggles, and its energies. Where society has a.ssuiiuMl its largest form
and attained tlie higliest level of civilization and longest endurance, it is
defined to be an ciii^iirr.

Hi.story chiefly occupies itself with the biography of tlie.se empires,
their rise, culmination, and decadence. They have appeared, lived, and
departed, like generations of men. They lie along a .serpentine zone of
the north hemisphere of the globe, within mt lnothfrmdl halt, and form a
ZODIAC thirty-five degrees in width.

The axis of this zodiac alternates abovi' and below the 4()lh degree of
latitude, as the neighborhood or remoteness of the oceans modifies the
climates of the continents. These empires are the (.'hiiu'.se. the Indian,
the Persian, tlie (irecian, the Ifoman, the S|iani.<h, the Briti.sh, and, last,
the /'ifiiifih'iiiii Kiiij>iii' of North America. These are the essential tines
in the regular ordi'r of time and uiion the hereditary line of progre.ss.
It is here that the mass of land is the greatest, and where the continents
i"ost nearl}' ajiproach one another.

This ZODIAC of nations contains iiinc-ldit/is of the white jiopulatiou of
the globe, and all its civilization. The territory of the American iieo]ile,
extending across this continent, exactly fills this i.sothermal zone from
edge to edge, occupying the whole connecting space between Western
Europe and (Jn'rufaf Asia.

It is on tlie.^e two fronts of the old continents that the two halves of
the humau race are .separately congregated, both fronting America and
fronting one anotlier. face to face, across America. The straight line of
intcreourse between them, only 1((,()00 miles in length, pursues the axis

'Ij^-

206

APPEXTJrX.

of the isotliorniiil zone, out of wliieh it never deflects either into the torrid
heats or tht; frozen north.

Jlrrr. thi'ii. is the tenacious, the divine instinct of jiroirross and liherty,
whicli fired the .«oul of ConMHLS, of WAsmxfiTox. of Jkkfeuson. and
of Jackson. In this faith they lived; this faith they vindicated and
never betrayed ; and in this faith they died, to inherit among posterity a
supreme, untainted immortality.

T/iix fin'fli forms the inspiration of the Declaration of 177(». animated
the patriarchal generation, and was renewed and codified in the Constitu-
tion of '87. It .selected Jefferson in 1798, and Jackson* in 1828. Its
eagles are now erected among the pioneers out in the wilderness, in Kan-
sas, in Utah, in California, and in Oregon. Upon them are i'ml)o>si'd the
ancient rights of man, the continental union, the continental railroad, the
continental cause !

During the administration of Jeffersox, central ertmsion, pursuing
the isothermal axis through the continent, was prosecuted with great vigor
as the favorite policy of the government. Lewis and Clarke recon-
noitred and made known the character of the rivers, the mountains, and
the connections of the Basins of the jMissi.-isippi and Cohnnbia by direct
passes. John Jacor Astor planted trading colonies and paths through
the wilderness, and upon the bank of the othei' sea opposite to China.

The rapid creation of the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois,
and ^Ii.s,souri, carried forward the Union in a salient colunui, embracing
the water-line of the great rivers and reaching here to the r/ror/raphiral
centre in 1820 ! Up to that date the Jlanlcs had remained stationary in
New York and Georgia.

The design then was to go through with the parallelogram of central
States from sea to sea, and from this base to advance outward, planting
States simultaneously towards the south and towards the north. This
policy was criitpled during the time of Mr. Madison by the vicissitudes
t)f foreign war. It was abandoned and reversed by Messrs. ^Ionroe and
Adams.

Ill their time grew up the political divisions of North and South, and
a maritime policy inaugurated itself Since that date, central progress has
abruptly stopped, and great activity upon the flanks has brought them up
to an even front in Totca, and a greatly advanced position in Texas.

The central force has, howexcY, j'umjwd the continent straight to the
front, occupied the sea-coasts of Oregon and California, and founded the
new maritime power upon the Pacific and opposite to Asia.

Since the selection of the site of the city of Independence, in 1824, to
1854, a chasm in time of thirty years, central extension had rested as

stagnant as
and perpetu
tribes and f
tending froi
prairie foun
Hence is
formed of a
and surroui
Such are
legislates t
Mis.souri ai
The anti
out its hig
on the one
power to h
greatness t
In the J
had a woi
and has pi
spots. T
San Frani
tions by st
The fn
of the M
unrivallet
Region.

This 3

^lissouri

beetles o

tar at th^

It cov

the Stati

cago anc

ing the

to New

The

little fr(

passing

cisco, I

to all t

Her

■Jj^

I cither into the torrid

']»ro.uross fiiRl lil.crty,
\. of JkKFEUSOX. iiiid
they vindicated nnd
p'it among posterity a

jii of 1770, animated
[ified in the Constitu-
^OKso.v in \^2A. It.^
k wildenie.ss, in Kan-
K'm are end)o,ssed the
fi'iKiKal raih-nad, the

' ''■rf'im'oii, pursuing
uted with great vigor
1111(1 Cl.ARKK recon-
', the mountains, and
Columbia by direct
!S and paths tlirough
ppo.site to China. "
k.y, Indiana, Illinois,
t column, embracing
to the r/roffnip/iicil
iiiained stationary in

Hologram of central
e outward, ])lantin,"
s the north. This
f by the vieis.-itudes
lessrs. 3roxH(iE and

rth and South, and

y/ifriif progress has

s brought them up

on in 'jy.cas.

'lit straight to the

1- ■•Hid founded the

Vsia.

donee, in 1824, to

I'oit had rested as

r//i' HEMP-nnowixG reoiox.

207

stagnant as though our great river had been frozen at tliis point into solid
and perpetual ice. It had been stopjied by an artificial cimhni of Indian
tribes and federal law as effectually as by a continuous wall of brass ex-
tending from Loui iana to tho41Hh degree, and rising in altitude from the
prairie foundation to the clouds.

Hence is .seen the uni((ue and novel sight of a great continvutid rmplvr^
formed of a circular shell of States traced round the circuniferent seaboard,
and surrounding a hollow and vacant disk of desert coniwwnt.

Such are at present the //<eore/ic«/ principles upon which maritime "^oWcy
legislates for the great region of our country connecting the StaiL's of
Mis,souri and California straight across.

The antagonistic struggle is between the instinct of progress plowing
out its highway through the continent, along the isothermal axis by land,
on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the external shell of maritime
power to hold the continent in a maritime Jioop, and subject its industrial
greatness to an arrogant sea-pulieij.

In the great city of New York the active instinct of progress has always
had a working Vnality. Like Home, she has pursued an elastic policy,
and has planted her commercial colonies at the right time, and in the right
spots. These colonies, of the first cla.ss, are New Orleans, Chicago, and
San Francisco. With all of these she maintains or needs direct connec-
tions by steamers, railroads, and telegraphs, as also with Europe in the rear.

The ti'ue is rife for another selection, Avhith offers itself in the centre
of the Mississippi IJasiti ! A key-point of centraiity and radiance, and of
unrivalled excellence. This is Kansas City, the metropolis of the Hemp
Region.

This young and vigorous city, crowning the southern bank of the
Missouri River at the point of the angle where it deflects to the east,
beetles over the avenues to the prairies of the south and west, like Gibral-
tar at the Strait of Hercules.

It covers the rear of St. Louis, and confines her to the narrow field of *
the State of Arkansas. By the thrmigh railroad, coming by way of Chi-
cago and Keokuk, crossing the Missouri River at Biunswick, and ascend-
ing the south bank, an air-line road exists of only fifty hours' time hence
to New York City.

The river line of the Missouri, Illinois, and St. Lawrence deflects but
little from an equal straightness and a similar distance in miles. Railroads
passing onwards to Galveston into Texas and New >Iexico, to San Fran-
cisco, Utah, and Astoria, will be the shortest lines from New York City
to all these extremities and various regions of our continent.

Here will be found the shortest diagonal line wherewith to bisect the

'w\

208

APPENDIX.

protluctivo territory and pdpulittion of the rnioii t(i\*iir(ls the xniifjiirr^i^
thr(iuji;li tile firuin, hemp, and j)a.storal rej^ioiis, to tlie suj-ar of 'JV'Xjis nnj
tlie f;iild and silver of Mexieo.

It is shitrter to (ralvestoii than any roiit(! traversinj:' the nKiri/iim At-
lantic States and heiidinjr with the sea-eoast. It traverses a line of the
greatest variety of production and largest distrilmtion of groceries, dry
goods, and manufactured metals.

This /iriii/) rri/iiiii is not more celehrated for hemp than it is lor tuli.Kco,
grain, hlooded cattle, and wool ; only this former production is not shared
with surrounding regions, where the latter engross exclusive attcnticm.
The popidation of the liiDip iryion, in 1850, was 202,413; the assosej
property Sl05.44;t.(jr)5.

Here, then, i.s an immense and solid foundation wherefrom to grasp
•and control the exjianding developments //( front, con.si'ipient ui)on the
ohliteratioM oi" the Indian harrier, and the bursting forth of the pent-up
flood of a iitrnl pni'/nss. oiif over the prairies which undulate to Texas,
^lexico. and tiii! Moinifdins. The front wave of this flood-tide is already
in motion ; its s]iray s]M'iiikles the I'fdi'iin almost to the mountain foot.

The achievements of the coming dvciidf of yeare will differ from its
predecessor. It will exhibit a greater mass of energy, concentrated i".
one direction, occupied by a single object, and moving with immen,se
means over a very short line, which is perfectly straight and open.

Heretofore the active force of , rrign-ss has been operating round the
rim of our territory, on Lake Superior, in California, in Texas, in Florida:
in detached sfjuadrons separated from the base of (dd society, by the diam-
eter of the continent, or keeping up its communication round the cir-
cumference by sen. The opening (katde btholds a concentric ad\ancc,
flooding into the cenfrc and reducing all movements to the shortest radii !
Its career opens with a general force of 50,000,000 of population, having
gold i\i hand, railroads, steamers, and rivers with prairies on their banks.
The difficulties of the icUderness are overcome, the temptations every way
increased, the means of motion enormou.sly accumulated.

Such is the prosperous future which shines over the central nri^t, and
fills the atmosphere to the remotest horizon. This prospective view is
not too sanguine, it is not exaggerated, it is only in moderate and ap})ro-
priate proportion to the materi'id long accumulating and now b-^ginning
to stir with activity through its whole reanimated bulk.

Sound health, complete preparation, fresh and mature vigor, judgment,
and a defined and finite object, all blend themselves with the immense and
successful movement which closes in to occupy the centre of our country,
to reunite its flanks, and to adjust its true slw^ geographical balances forever.

•uanls (lie si,iif/,,rrsf
V suiiar ui' T.'Xm.s ,„J

iij:- the hKin'h'iiii \\.
•aviTw.s a Iiii(> .i|' tl„.
ion of ;^T<)c('rics, dpy

laii it is for fdli.icw,^

uctidii is nut .sliiuvd

exclusive atti'iitidii.

'^,4i;i; tlio assessed

wherefriiiii to i;ra,sp
'>nse(jiu'iit u|ioii the
t'urtli of the iieiit-uj)
1 undulate to Texas,
< flood-tide is already
^10 niduntain flxit.
1 will differ from its
i-jry, concentrated i-.
ovinj; with iuunense
ght and open,
operatino; round the
in Texas, in Fk.rida:
society, by the diani-
iitiou round the cir-
conccntric ad\anco.
o the shortest radii !
f popuhttion, liaving
iries on their banks.
inptation.s every way
ted.

he central utk/, and
prospective view is
iioderate and appro-
and now b':'":inninff
L

re vigor, judirnicnt,
;h the ininien.se and
ttre of our country,
:i(l balances forever.

■VII.
AN ORATION.

SPOKEN BY noX. WII.T.I.VM OTI.IMX, To Til K OrK.<TS OF THK FEXI.W BUOTnER-
HOOD, AT DKXVER, COL0U.\DO, JUl-Y 4, M)S.

Ladies and Gentle.men, Fellow-citizens, each one and all : —
The return of Independence Day brings annually together, both at home
and in foreign lands, the unanimous American people.

They unite to express and to renew the fire of devotion ; to burnish
afresh the Iioly flame wliich illuminated our natal hour ; that hour when
our sacred country was born to a mission of unparalleled liberty, virtue,
happiness, and glory.

We everywhere invoke Heaven, as we surround the innumerable altars
of patriotism, co fortify evtiy heart and every will of our now multitudi-
nous people ; to tone and forever in.spire them to perpetuate the founda-
tions, the standard, and the work erected by the patriarchal fathers ; to
emulate their energetic works and virtues, plain in form, intense in forti-
tude, radiant with political charity and exalted wisdom.

The solemnity of this day instructs us to look abroad, with hearts soft-
ened by a great love, yet stern with resolution, over our vast country
now encircled by the seas.

The august Congress of 1776 is seen, filled with heroic men, the choice
of an heroic people. Wisdom, resolution, calmness, unanimity, sway and
moderate their deliberations and tlieir acts.

With unfaltering faith and self-reliance in the rectitude of their inten-
tions and their cause, they pronounce the will of the American people re-
solved for Liberty and for Independence.

In condensed sentences, perfect for logic, .simplicity, truth, and eloquence,
they face and expel from the American continent tyrants and oppression ;
they summon and appeal to the virtue and sympathy of mankind.

Their resolutions and their acts, free from doubt, are ecjually daring,
final, and complste.

In the rancoroua and prolonged v-'onflicts of war, essential to meet and

14 20C

210

APPESinX.

quell the implHccble riige and avarice of power, war^ seen the same reso-
lute will a like impregnable ondui jiice, an equal faith, the same unfal-
tering fi<l"lity.

From tliis orJeal. sublime in all its aets and features, eamc forth a rctreu-
orated pen, .le. Regenerated ! Because unanimously born to liberty, the
menaces and blows of covetous power struck to dwarf its dimeiisioiis, to
blunt its freshness, to wring subjugation from inflicted tortures, had been
understood, resisted, and annihilated.

To LiBKUTY WAS APnET) Tnpjivendence. To liberty had accrued the
supreme power of self-discipline, self-protection, self-rule, self-perpetuation !

But the Congress of 177(i, having its origin and its authority from the
unanimous will and power of the people, declared itself to be the " Con-
tinental Congres, of the American people." In their name were erected
and maintained a continental army ; a continental marine ; a continental
currency ; a continental cau-^e.

Animated by the loftiest sentiments, unsullied by the meretricious taste
for power, the profoundly wise and courageous charity which declared and
established the independent liberty of the individual man, decreed also
that the geographical area of the continent should be dedicated and sanc-
tified to the exercise of his freedom.

Hence, from these preliminary triumphs, in harmony with them and
spontaneou.sly, sprang with ease the Union op the United States of
Amehica.

Liberty, Independence, Union — these were the benignant fruits gath-
ered and perpetuated by the American Bevolution for the American
people, and for the example of the human race forever.

From July 4, 1776, to the second election of Washin-ton, fifteen years
in time., that stupendous and benignant work had matured itself during
the maturity of a single generation.

A continent cut loose and secured to a new society ! A new soci ty
erected on fresh ground, novel in all its element", even in tlie seed from
which the plant firsD gei.:iinates ! The oracvilar centre of political faith
and power rescued from the huq;e city of Lom'on and transported beyond
the ocean to the rural shores of the Potomac 1

A complete and radical adjustment in the geographical foundations of
human institutions wa.s consummated.

Thought and speech were unchained, and the elasticity of mind disen-
t^mgled ; the daring spirit of inquiry set free from restraint ; the rights
of man, in practice, proclaimed and perpetuated; monijrchy abolished;
universal citizttuship and self-government made perpetual ; the artificial
barriers erectei! by bigotry to restrict reason and progress, disappeared, and

ORA TfOX.

211

hical foundations of

the horizun ull umund was iloareJ to their uiiobstructod expansion and free
vision.

From a whole po<iple. tluis Qisenthnilled and impelled b)- the lijrlit and
fire of univors;d ir<felliirenee, sprang the Constitution uf the United States
of Anieriei.

This constitution, in itself a sublime mental structure and edifice, marks
a point of culmination in the struggles and the conflicts of all preceding
time.

It registers a conclusive victory of the instinct of order, achieved and
recognized. It marks a point of departure into the future, new and fresh
as the continent which gives it birth. Condensed in size and form, it is
comprehensively complete in its details and e.xact in its dchnitious.

Consolidated wisdou; .>ihines from it, as light and lire from the sun in
nature. It provides for minute municipal goveriimcnts, and comniaiids
self-denial, euervn% c-oncession. uniformitv, und concord.

As in our holy ledgion we possess the Lords Prayev, the divine to.xt
from which flow all other fonns of supplication, and back into it, they are
agiiin condensed ; so from thr- profound principles fixed in the Constitu-
tion, !;overnments sound in form ma}' erect themselves, expand to diuicn-
sions ample jis the Iiuman family. They may be dwarfed or may decay,
but never can finally perish or be lost.

Such is the splendid vision which arrests our attention and fills full our
hearts with overpowering gratitude, when we devote this day to review
the immortal acts and ev.iitod wisdom of the people, of the statesmen, and
of the soldiers of our patriarchal generation.

Let us remember that the fourth day of July, 1 77(3, was a day of in-
tense daring, of unparalleled sternness and resolution in its declarations
and its acts.

By its antagonists it wa.« maligned as intended to unbridle the furies
and precipitate the world nto infinite and devouring discord. Yet we
cj'.nnot doubt, we who inherit and enjoy its benignant results and look
out over a world regencniicd by its oracles, that Divine Providence suffered
their heiirts to palpitate wi:h His essence and tempered their judgments
with His grace.

The life of a continental people, charged with an imperial mission, is
long. Unlike human life, a pigmy in force and swiftly rushing to the
grave, avast people ^.rows even on, aggregating and re-inv'goratcd by each
generation of men as it apwars, matures, and then departs. The life of a
nation has al o its extreme vicissitudes, its alternating periods of obscurity
and cf bright .ss.

The second <»eneration of American statesmen, >vhcthcr dazzled by the

212

M'I'ESInX.

brilliancy <if tlu'ir fathers, or stajrireri'tl to coin[ir(']u'iiiI coiiiitk'tfly the
liroComid ehaiijii's, the rapidity, and the imnien.se volume and novelty of
their works; whether a certain aweof tiiu jiast and reeoil, dictated a time
of lassitude and rest : yet this period is dimmed liy the departure of the
government out of harmony with tlio Constitution and the exalted deeluru-
tions of "7<i.

The divinity of pro<;ivss seemed to sleep : African slavery was expanded :
territory was dwarfed l»y the loss of Orep)n and Texas : all things were
repressi'd under thi' monopoly of the Atlantic Sea.

The grand pioneer energies were itrliitrarily curbed and emasculated; a
meridian wall of Indians extended as a Hastile from the Hritish northern
to the Spanish southern frontier; the land-system crushed agricultural
labor; immigration from Kurope was discnuraged ; a bank dwarfed and
destroyed money ; immense deserts, stony mountains, an iron-bound sea,
and death, were declan^d to Itjrni a fourfold and impregnable barrier to
j)rogress to the West.

A necessity to resume again tlu' chains of semi-servitude and monarchy
was i)roclaimed. Our immemorial continental mission, coeijual wit' the
grand geographical area and structure between the oceans, was lost to
speech.

Adhesion to rancorous jiolitical parties of the North and of the South
wa.s alone jiermitted. Tyranny had re-entered among us.

What dismal years of vivil war ; what innumerable and heroic battles ;
what slaughter and unfatlumiable griefs; what saugtiinary passions, were
seen! How nearly was the jirecipice approached, whence tiie wliole pyra-
mid of our glories — Unioii, rndependence, I/iberty — should be precipitated
and shattered in irreparable ruin !

It is heri', and upon this day, that we are admoni.^hed by pious patriotism
to reflect upon the consuming acrimony, rapine, and desolation of civil
war; what positive jiolicy or what lamentable neglect has subjected our
country to its dc-^tructive torch, and engendered anywhere among our
peo])le a chronic and inplaeable bitterness.

From hence, to ponder boMly. and to .see if to avoid it might have
been possible, and if its r<;currence may be forever averted.

As I am now here pennitted upon this anniversary to .speak to tlie
pioneers, s' rounded by their comjuests freshly won from the v.ilderness,
and advancing witli magic celerity ; so twice before it has been my for-
tune to be with them on significant oc'casions.

On the Fourth of July, ISilJ, I was /('(y ; on this present site of Deu-
ver : one of a small, but resolute and intrepid camp. Here were Carson,
Fremont, Fitzpatrick, Talbot. The American flag floatc>d over us.

OIIA TIllX.

213

|ivi'ry was cxiiand,,! ;
<:as : all tliiiij;>s wito

Wo hat! ivaclu'd the wi'stcni limit of tlic Anu'ricaii torritory, which
tlu'ii ulosi'd hori' in a imckot. fiinued by the suuiiiiit of tliu .Sierra and tlio
current of tins Arkansas Kiver.

In front, beyond the settinj^ jsun, were unknown mountains, strange
rivers, mysterious lakes, eonth-uined hy the uniiistrueted opinion of the
world and prosi-rihed hy its laws, — an oliseiirc and a fi.reiirn land.

Heyond there was an immense, silent, and unfrei|uented ocean: on its
outward shore were hundreds of millions of Asiatic jkoji'c, secluded and
mysterious euipirus, barred from the world, and only known to ex'st.

This summer season, a wagon-road was ojiencd, and blazed throujih and
tlirough from the Atlantic to the Pacific Sea. Our flair was !)a]ptizc(l in
the s]iray of the I'acifie Ocean. The line of way travel round the world
was revealed and ])roclaimcd.

The truth of jicoirraiihy triumphed over the craft of jpolitics; the mind
of the laboring; and industrial world awoke, iialpitatcd witli conf|uerinj^
fire, and struck for the emancijiation of labor, for its exaltation and its
power.

The cry <or Oivjron and Texas arose from the people. Durinjr the
years of war with Mexico, what enthusiasm animated the piom-er annit's,
what unparalleled marches, victories, and cxplomtions illustrated the anient
energies of our youiiir soldiers ! How complete the preparations made by
tliem for the advanciufr power and forces of the people!

Our continental area was doubled ; the American desert rolled aside ;
the vast .system of the lonfritudinal mountains revealed in sjjlendor and
benignity ; the prodigious arena of tin; Pacific thrown open, approjiriated
to America, and occupied in force and permanence! (hM fur the people
Willi (h'srot'ci'f'l (iiiif siciirctl !

To secure results so pregnant with empire, voluntary forces of occupa-
tion gathered to the 3Ii.<souri River. Assembletl, to the number of fiv((
thousand on the beautiful jmiirie where now stands the city of Lawrence,
on the Fourth of July, 184!), T was invited to address them.

Suffer me to repeat here now some sentiments then ^:poken : '• The
region of gold an<l precious metals and stones is net limited, but is alt-
solutely infinite. It is over the whole extent of that primary and volcanic
formation extentling from the Antarctic to the Arctic extremities of
America, including in its expanse the Andes of South and of North
America, the Sierra Madre and the IMateau.

" This abundance of the material of coin, wrought and du'elopcd by
sober American industry, is about to be to the liuinan race the supremest
gifl of divine beneficence.

" Has not tlie American cutton-culture obliterated harsh aristocratic dia-

214

Ari'ESDIX.

tiuctioiKS in dross, ami thus ilcinooriitizeJ the costuiue of society over the
worltl '.'' Wiiat I'otloii lias iluiu' I'nr iMiuality in (iivss, the same will j^ulJ
effect for imlivitlual eijuality in property and jiliysieal mniforts !

'• .Stmly liow the iey servitmh' of KurojHian I'emlal times has melted sime
the eoiii|Uests oCCiirtez and I'i/.arrn ojieried the snurces IVdm which ]"irt-
alile jierscinal jprtipeity has exalted itself ahove lixed and immutahle ylehu
lands !" And a^ain :

" I'mjuiet for thi . sacred Union is this present time, when jxilitical
jMiwer. alioiit to cross the Alle^hanies, si'c-saws on their crests, conntiiij^
the days that j)recede her eternal transit over tiiiin ! It is hy the rapid
propagation of now States, the immediate oeeu|iation of the broad plat-
form of the continent, the ajrj^rej^ation of the Pacific (^cean and Asiatic
connueree, that imiuietudt' will he swallowed uj), and the murmurs of
discontent lost in the onward sound of advancement.

•' Discontent, distanced, will die out. The iinmen.se wants of the Pacific
will draw off, over Western outlets, the overteemiu}^ crops of tlie ^lissis-
sippi N'alley. The estahli.shed domestic manufactures of clothinjr and
metals will find, in our great domestic extension, tliat protection which
they in vain seek to create by uni'qual legislation, nocuous and impracti-
cable in our present incomplete and unbalanced geograidiical form.

'• Thus cahnly weiglied and liberally appreciated, does tliis Continental
Railway minister to the interests, and invite the advocacy and co-opera-
tion, of every section of our territory, and every citizen c' our common
country !"

Looking out at that day from this spot, the eye ranged round for a
thousand miles over a silent wilderness, unpeopled and unsought fur;
beyond were sluggish people and inert societies. To-day, behold around
us the magic creations of the pioneer energies ! Seventeen new States
and eight millions of new people surround us ; planted over the area of
that wilderness.

What an immense geography has been revealed ! what infinite hives
of population and laboratories of industry been electrified and set in mo-
tion I The great sea has rolled away its sombre veil. Asia is found and
has become our neighbor. Her swarming multitudes, two-thirds of the
population of the world, and absorbing four-fifths of the wealth and indus-
try of mankind, assume motion and advance to meet us.

The world has faced about, and has found its true front.

North America is known to our own peoj)le. Its concave form and
homogeneous structure are revealed. Our continental mission is set to its
pereiniial frame, and the perpetuity of the American Union planted sym-
metrically upon its impregnable foundation.

OliA TIOX.

215

(if society over tlii'
^, till' siiim- will o(,|j
I'liiiiliutH !
jiifs hiin incited .>.iiice
I'l's IVoiii whicli |i(ii't.
Mid iMiimitalilc j-lcliu

[time, when jioliticiil
icir crests, cduntiii-'
Tt is liy the nipid
III of tile hroiul pliit-
!■ Ocean and Asiatic
lid tlie niunnurs of

wants of tlio Pacific
irojKS of the Missis-
res of elotliing and
it protection which
•tuous and inipracti-
•aiiliical form,
hies this Continental
voeacy and co-operu-
izon c our comniou

ranp;od round for a
and uiisoujilit for-
-day, hehold around
venteen now States
ill over the area of

what infinite hives
ficd and set in nio-
Asia is found and
i, two-thirds of the
3 wealtli and iiidus-
i.

•ont.

concave form and
uission is set to its
'11 ion planted sym-

Loaviu}; beliind the dual political parties on the selvajro of the Atlantic
Sea, we expand to the universal powers and fraternal sentiments of a con-
tinental people.

^'a^t j;c();iraphical and social diftcrcnces, ,strenj:tlienc(l lij- rivalry and
variety, are hh.'nded, balanced, and united liy permanent accord with the
older of nature.

Slavery is radically alioli.shed and e.viled forever from the confinejits of
America, Asia, and Kurope. Universal citizenship, education, and intelli-
gence create, expand, and perpetuate themselves.

The emancipated mind of the world, reinforced liy numbers and new
powers of self-;^()vernment, marches with majesty and moderation from
victory to victory.

Foreign con(juesfs on American soil are at an end. America beholds
a double human .sacrifice : Maximilian for the decadence of the Old World ;
Lincoln for the renascence of the New.

In the littleness of mortality we may yet recognize the divine miracle,
whicli clo.ses the cycle of conquest and slavery in the world, that human-
ity may enter upon a new departure, illuminated by universal freedom.

A new and grand order in human aftairs erects it.self upon these immen.«e
concurrent disclosures and events. New powers ajijiear, whilst old ones
are fondoiised and made active.

Our stupendous .system of longitudinal mountains and gold-licaring
sierras is a majestic power. Our broad plains, innnense valleys, and grand
rivers, all parallel, longitudinal, arranged in compact concord, and filling
full the temperate zone of warmth, are a power.

Our i.'<land form and intermediate position between the great oceans,
and between Western Europe am' Oriental Asia, are sujireme powers. Our
sister States and cities on the Pacific Ocean are a godlike power.

The American people, having their common home in the grand amphi-
theatre surrounded by the mountains and the external seas, will reach the
highest moral standard to which unity of language and manner, combined
with the genius of lilerty, intelligence, and propitious climate, can elevate
empires.

The moment is at hand when the traffic and travel of mankind — twelve
liundred millions in tbe aggregate — will condense itself to ferries on the
Northern seas and to transit roads.

These will be hugely multiplied in volume, and concentrated and devel-
oped here ; because they have heretofore been dwarfed to nothing by the
equatorial heats and the immense solitudes of the ocean circuit of the ghjbe.

To acc(jmplish this within a time reasonably rapid, the hoarded wealth
of friendly Asia will be lavLshly and generously bestowed.

21G

APPEXDIX.

We see united with us here to-iiay, wliiit Eun.pe hiis most worthy to be
hdiiofLil iiiid renienibered : the sons and daugliters ol" tlie Emerald Isle ;
Teutonic men and women ; tlie representatives of lier other hundred
States and peoples : they who liave had the great faith and energy to
leave lier ,nd come liCre, to unite themselves to us, to our country and our
mission.

Free Europe flows to us and abides with uh as fresh waters gather
to the sea, whilst ujonarchy has returned to her wrapt in the mournful
shroud of Maximilian.

It is thus that the great powere and forces of the external world gravitate
to the 3Iissi.ssippi Basin and the mountains, with irresistible pressure and
celerity.

It is proper that I speak liere to-day and to this audience with unre-
served sincerity and candor.

An exact and careful scrutiny will authorize the assertion, without fear
to fail, that tvhen the approaching centennial day of 187G shall come, the
American and 3Iexican people will be mutually harmonized and fused iuto
one poople.

Governments, withdrawn from the political foci of Washington and
^lexieo, will be condensed to tlie convenient and efjuit;;ble geographical
centre in the midst of the rural, the continental people, among the
grand prairies and on the rivers of Kansas, remote from and intermediate
between the oceans.

These events art-' 'c. V/e are in the midst of them. They surround us
as we march. They are the present secretions of the aggregate activities
and energies of the people.

You, the pioneei's of Colorado, have arched with this glorious State the
summit ridge and banner between two hemisplieres. You bring to a close
tlic unnumbered ages ^f their isolation and their hostility. You liave
opened .uid poss&ss the highway which alone connects, fuses, ami harmo-
nizes them together. Of this State you are the first owners and occupants.

You have di.sjjlayed to the vision and illustrated to mankind the sjilen-
did ciinciivr structure of our continent, and the infinite jjcwers of its
august dimensions, its fertility, its salubrious atmosphere and ever-re.splen-
dent beauty.

You have discovered the profound want and necessity of human society,
and your labor jirovides for its relief: (lold — I mean; "the indefinite
supply of sound money for the jnople, by their own individual and volun-
tary labor."

You occupy the front of tlu' pioneer army of the people; absolutely
tlie leadei's of mankind, heading the column to the Orieutal shores!

01{A TIO\.

217

idienc'o witli unrc-

The mysterious crisis between tlie clashing continents and civilizations
of tlie world, lu'ld and decided, three thousand years ago, by the three
hundred Sjiartans at Thernioiiylitf, now rests with the geographical States
and peojile of Colorado and I'tah.

Geogra}ihical integrity is the oracle of salvation and safety. You are
in danger of being partitioned by the Punic ambition of avaricious mo-
nopolies, and the covetous cities of the Atlantic Sea.

No fragment of the peojile of the North Anii-rican Continent can thus
suffer their geographical harmonies to be lo.'st and perverted.

The mining pioneers of the liocky Mountains, in vice untaught, yet
skilled wiiere glory leads to arduous ent<'rprisi', are fit to confront this
crisis.

Often distinguished by your favor, a witnes.s of your constant fidelity
and courage, it is my duty to sound to you this alarm, to invoke and
summon you to confront this danger with Spartan, with American will,
unanimity, and victory.

Our great country has emerged from trials intt'iisely exhausting and
jieriious. The energy and devotion of the jieople liave nut faltevi'd either
in defeat or victory. A cry of j<iy and admiration soumls over all the seas
and all the continents and islands. The piust is impregnabiy jireserved —
future progress safe, brilliant, and assured :

" Nigllt waiii'S, the va|i(iis mmul the iiic)Ulitiiiii!< ourliil
liiiriit into iiiurn, ami lijrlit awakes llii' wurn!."

Yielding our hearts to the vivid jialpitations inspired by this day, and
by the gathering glories of our country, .so young and yet .so great, let u.«
])ronounce to lier this ])arting salutation :

Hail to America, land of our birth ! Hail to her magnificent, her con-
tinental domain I Hail t(j her generous ]ieoplc! Hail to her victorious
soldiers! Hail to her matrons and her maidens I Hail to the sacred luiion
of her States ! All hail to her, </.< kIh' in! Hail to the sublime mission
which bears her on. through peace and war, to maki; the continent her
own, and to endure forever!

TIIK END.