HE 2791 .UsUs OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY OLIVER AMES, PRESIDENT. THOMAS . DURANT, VICE-PRESIDENT. JOHN J. CISCO, TREASURER. CHARLES TUTTLE, ASSISTANT TREASURER. HENRY B. HAMMOND, SECRETARY. lass. lass. lass. owa. lass. lass. "ork. JESSE L. WILLIAMS, Indiana. SAMUEL McKEE, Pennsylvania. JAMES S. ROLLINS, Missouri. JAMES BROOKS, New York. TRUSTEES FOR THE BONDHOLDERS. HON. E. D. MORGAN, New York. HON. OAKES AMES, Mass. GOVERNMENT POMMISSIONERS. MAJ. WILLIAM M. W T HITE, Connecticut. GEN. FRANK P. BLAIR, Missouri. GEN. N. B. BUFORD, Illinois. GEN. G. M. DODGE, CHIEF ENGINEER. COL. SILAS SEYMOUR, CONSULTING ENGINEER. Hoc. ft PROGRESS WEST FROM OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ACROSS THE CONTINENT MAKING, WITH ITS CONNECTIONS, AN fr0m i\t EIGHT HUNDRED AND TWENTY MILES COMPLETED SEPT. 20, 1868. OFFICES, No, 20 Nassau St., New York, PUBLISHED BY THE COMPANY. [Pamphlet Edition, September 20th, 1868.] C. A. Alvord, Printer, 15 Vandewater Street. X PAGE. INTRODUCTION, .- 3 OF THE ORK, 4 CHARACTER^ OF THE WORK, - 6 DIFFICULTIES OF CONSTRUCTION, - 6 HOW THE ROAD IS BUILT, _____ 8 IS THE WORK WELL DONE? - - - - 1O j^ESOUR^CES, - l8 TIMBER, _______ 2O MINERAL WEALTH, - 21 GOLD AND SILVER, _ - - - - - 21 COAL, ________ 22 IR^ON, - - - 22 MINERAL SPRINGS, - - - - - _ 2<$ BR^ANCH AND CONNECTING ROADS, - 24 THE IDAHO, OREGON AND PUGET's SOUND - THE BF^ANCH TO MONTANA - THE DENVER AND THE CENTRAL PACIFIC, 24 RESOURCES FOR N PONSTRUCTION, - 26 THE MEANS SUFFICIENT TO BUILD THE R^OAD, - 28 ^UTURE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY, - 29 ITS SAYING AND PROFIT TO THE GOVERNMENT, 52 THE ^"AY BUSINESS --- ACTUAL DARNINGS, - 34 JHE PNION ^ACIFIC RAILROAD POMPANY'S J^IRST ^LOP^TGAGE J30NDS, - 36 THEIR SECURITY AND VALUE, - _ _ _ 36 PRINCIPAL, AS WELL AS INTEREST. PAYABLE IN GOLD, - 36 AF^E THE BONDS SECURE? _ - - - - 37 A PERMANENT VALUE, - '.' ; "-' - ' '- - - 38 WHAT ARE THEY WORJH AS AN INVESTMENT? - 39 (0 Bancroft BEYOND the Missouri river, the American Union stretches for almost two thousand miles to the Pacific ocean. In previous pamphlets, we have discussed the importance and the practicability of constructing a railroad through this region, from Omaha on the Missouri to San Francisco on the Pacific. Such discussions are no longer necessary; events have superseded argument facts have taken the place of theories. No one ever denied that the road was important, while but few admitted that it could be built, unless at a fabulous cost of time and money. The slow and enormously costly routine of a " public improvement " was not to be thought of. For obvious reasons, the Government could not do the work, and pri vate capitalists would not ; and it was only undertaken when the interests of these two parties were united. The Government agreed to lend the national credit, to the amount of fifty million dollars, and it has already saved far more than the annual interest on its loan in the diminished cost of transporting its troops and stores. This credit was loaned to THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, building from Omaha, on the Missouri river, West, and to THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY of California, building from Sacramento, East, until the two roads shall meet. The dis tance from Omaha to Sacramento is 1721 miles. More than eleven hundred miles of the distance are now traversed by a first-class rail road. The Union Pacific Company have completed over 800 miles, and the Central Pacific Company about 325 miles ; and the Union Pacific will doubtless have nearly if not quite 200 miles more in running order this season. There will then remain but 300 or 400 miles more to be done next year, and the whole line will be com pleted one or two years earlier than was promised by its most sanguine friends. There is no longer any doubt that the road can and will be built, nor that it will yield a remunerative profit upon the capital invested. Little faith was at first felt in the success of the Pacific Rail road enterprise, and it was with much difficulty that a sufficient subscription to the capital stock was obtained for an effective formation of the Company. The national charter was granted in July, 1862, and a preliminary organization made in October, 1863. Shortly after, the formal organization was made, with a board of fifteen Directors, to which five Government Directors were added, according to the stipulations of the acts of 1862 and 1864.* The authorized capital is One Hundred Million Dollars, of which $13,243,800 have been paid in upon the work already done. The first contract for construction was made in August, 1864; but various conflicting interests, connected with the location of the line, delayed its progress, and the first forty miles were not laid until January, 1866. Since that time, the road has been built more rapidly than any similar work in the world. On the first of January, 1867, 305 miles were finished; on the first of January, 1868, 540 miles; now 820 miles are in operation, and the road is expected to reach the vicinity of Great Salt Lake by Christ mas. The passage of the Eocky Mountains has been much more easily accomplished than was supposed possible before Gen. G. M. DODGE, Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Eoad, surveyed the route and found how completely nature had prepared the way for the locomotive. In crossing the mountains there are no grades exceeding 90 feet to the mile, and these extend for but short distances, while an altitude of more than six thousand feet is at tained by an ascent so gradual as to be entirely imperceptible to the traveler. * The various Congressional Acts and their amendments are too long to be recited here, but copies will be furnished free on application in person, or by mail, at the Company's offices, No. 20 Nassau Street, New York. The following table shows the distance from the eastern termi nus of the road to the prominent points along the line, with their elevation above the sea level : DISTANCE ELEVATION STATION. FROM OMAHA. ABOVE THE SEA. Omaha, . . . . miles. 967 feet. Fremont, ..... 46 1,215 Columbus, ..... 91 1,455 Kearney, .... 190 2,128 North Platte, 290 2,830 Julesburg, ..... Cheyenne, . . Sherman, Summit of Black Hills, 377 517 550 3,557 6,062 8,262 Laramie, ..... 576 7,134 Benton, ..... 690 7,534 Green River, ..... 820 6,092 Fort Bridger, .... 845 7,009 Weber Canon, ... 995 4,654 Huraboldt Wells, .... 1,218 5,650 Humboldt Lake, .... 1,493 4,047 Big- Bend Truckee, .... 1,534 4,217 Truckee River, ..... 1,60X5 5,866 Summit of Sierras, . 1,616 7,042 Cisco, ...... 1,624 5,711 Alta, ...... 1,652 3,625 Colfax, 1,667 ' 2,448 Sacramento, .... 1,721 56 Stockton, ..... 1,766 22 San Francisco, .... 1,845 Parties have sometimes expressed a fear, that a railroad con structed so rapidly as the Union Pacific, must be imperfect ; and others, from various unworthy motives, have endeavored to dis parage a work whose risks they were unwilling to share. The Union Pacific Eailroad is built rapidly because twenty thousand men are at work upon it ; because care has been taken to provide all necessary materials, and have them where they are wanted when they are wanted, and because there are abundant means at all times in the treasury to pay the cost. The road is examined in twenty- mile sections by sworn Commissioners of the Government, who do not accept it unless it comes up to the standard of a first-class road in every respect. A party of gentlemen connected with the leading daily press have recently returned from a trip along the line, and we surrender a considerable portion of our space to their graphic descriptions. They were invited to describe everything exactly as they found it, and to draw their conclusions from their own observations. DIFFICULTIES OF CONSTRUCTION. It must be borne in mind that when the building of this road was begun at Omaha, that place had no railroad connections with the east, and hence all materials to be used in the construction of the new road could only be obtained at great disadvantage and extra cost. Concerning the difficulties which had then to be overcome, the correspondent of the Boston Journal says : " The Company commenced operations at Omaha, then a small town, destitute alike of the skill necessary for the practical construction of such a public work, and desti tute even of the mere manual force necessary. Mechanics were needed, laborers were needed ; if they were summoned from abroad, boarding places must be found, and some kind of homes extemporized. There were no shops in which and no tools with which to labor. Shovels, spades, picks, plows, axes and other implements were to be purchased in Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, New York or Philadelphia, wherever they could be found best in quality and cheapest in price, and transported to this new point of departure. And here again was another obstacle to be contended with, for as yet no rail track had been laid nearer than about 150 miles of the east bank of the Mis souri river. Over this distance, therefore, all men and materials had to be transported by the slow and expensive process of wagon trains. The engine of 70 horse power, now propelling the Company's works at Omaha, was thus carried in wagons from DesMoines, on the river of that name, that at the time being the only available means of getting it through. Again, west of the Missouri river the country is almost entirely desti tute of trees, and excepting a limited supply of cottonwood, similar in fibre and strength to the old Lombardy poplar of the east, there was nothing from which rail road ties could be obtained. East of the Missouri the forest conditions were quite similar, so that in a short time it came to pass that the very ties on which the rail road has been constructed had to be cut in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and teamed over the country at an expense sometimes of two dollars and sev enty-five cents per tie. Then it should be added that the supplies necessary for the support, clothing and maintenance of the laborers were also to be purchased far east and transported as before. In less than a year these difficulties were confronted and conquered, and the great work begun in serious earnest." And the correspondent of the New York Evening Post says up on the same subject : "The great obstacles were, first, the fact that everything necessary to building the road must be brought from the east. There was no railroad for nearly two hundred miles from the Missouri river, and that river itself formed a barrier to overcome which would cost often as much as it would cost to carry materials hundreds of miles in the east. Every stick of timber, every spike and rail, had to be wagoned for one hundred and seventy-five miles. It cost more to transport the spikes, chairs, &c., than they originally cost at the foundry before the war. The cost of some of the pine timber used was $275 a thousand feet. The ties for the first three hundred miles cost $2 each. The engine used now in the machine shops was hauled by mules one hundred and seventy-five miles. There were no workmen all had to be sent from the eastern cities ; labor cost from 50 to 150 per cent, more than in the east. Missouri coal cost at the levee $11 per ton. Wood cost from $3 to $14 a cord, according to locality. Such was the lack of confidence in the enterprise, that at first tLe Company could get no responsible persons to take contracts for building the road. After the railroad was finished to Council Bluffs, and the great delay and expense of wagoning was at an end, the river rose so that they were compelled to go up some eight miles, and a four-mule team could only drag three rails. With all this, for days they em ployed a hundred teams, and took over rails for a mile of road a day one hundred tons of rails to the mile. The first great necessity the one thing on which the ulti mate success of this road depended was the vigor and rapidity with which it should be pushed. Until it was evident that they had got too far in the desert to come back, there was no certainty that there was a bona fide intent to build the road to the Pa cific. Till this was settled no assistance could be had from the public. Government might authorize them to issue bonds, but until the public would buy them there was no assistance. The men who undertook the task were equal to it ; they saw that rapid work was the first essential. There was no stone for hundreds of miles ; there was no wood for ties except cottonwood, so they made their culverts of wood, and treated the cottonwood ties by Burnetizing, making them, it is claimed, as durable as other wood not so treated, and pushed on their road. When the railroad from the east came to the river, they no longer used cottonwood ties, but contracted for oak from the east. All this time they were pushing ahead into a hostile Indian country ; the surveyors and engineers were attacked or killed, the working parties harrassed, and the subsistence of the working parties had to be wagoned to them. The en gineers and graders kept from fifty to one hundred miles in advance of the track layers. The bridges are all contracted for, built in Chicago, brought to the end of the track, and carried in teams beyond and set up, so as to cause no delay in laying the track. It is this constant prevision, this providing for everything months and miles beforehand, which demonstrates the genius of those who direct this great work, and enables them to push on the conclusion so rapidly. It is a knowledge of this fact that has removed the doubt as to the durability of the road, based on its rapid construction ; hundreds of laborers and months of work have preceded the little band of lightning track-layers who are throwing their iron filaments across the continent." HOW THE ROAD IS BUILT. The building of the Union Pacific Railroad with the extraordi nary rapidity which has characterized the work, has been so contrary to all previously received opinions respecting railroad construction, that those who have not themselves examined the process can have no adequate idea of its magnitude. In January, 1866, 40 miles had been built; in January, 1867, 305 miles were in operation; in January, 1868, 540 miles were finished, and on the 20th of Sept., 1868, 820 miles were complete, and the track-laying is steadily progressing at the rate of three or four miles per day. The completed railroad will reach the vicinity of Great Salt Lake by the end of this year, and by the national anniversary of 1869, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific will have met at some point from one hundred to two hun dred miles west of Salt Lake, and railroad communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific will be an accomplished fact. No such marvelous work could be done without the most perfect system of organization, combined with tremendous energy. Of this semi- military organization the editor of the Baltimore American writes from the end of the track: " The scene did not disappoint any of the imaginings created by what had been told us. We found here an army of men, systematized and drilled to perfection, living hi boarding cars that each day advanced over the newly laid rails to the very spot of their labors, supplied with regularity with all the means of subsistence, and finding always ready for them the material of construction by which their work is advanced toward completion. "As the great idea of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific came to fruition during the throes of rebellion, so also to the men who conquered that rebellion is its rapid realization to be ascribed. Without the men who fought in the ranks of our army, it is to be doubted whether this great enterprise could have been a success. Nine out of every ten of the men who are now working on the line of this railroad have been in the army, and from there have brought the habits of discipline, the tem per of hardy reliance and the love of an adventurous open air life which has made them the best railroad builders in the world. One can see all along the line of the now completed road the evidences of ingenious self-protection and defence which our men learned during the war. The same curious huts and underground dwellings which were a common sight along our army lines then, may now be seen burrowed into the sides of the hills or built up with ready adaptability in sheltered spots. The whole organization of the force engaged in the construction of the road is, in fact, semi-military. The men who go ahead, locating the road, are the advanced guard. Following these is the second line, cutting through the gorges, grading the road and building bridges. Then comes the main line of the army, placing the sleepers, laying the track, spiking down the rails, perfecting the alignment, ballasting the rail, and dressing up and completing the road for immediate use. This army of workers has its base, to continue the figure, at Omaha, Chicago, and still further eastward, from whose markets are collected the material for constructing the road. Along the line of the completed road are construction trains constantly pushing forward ' to the front' with supplies. The Company's grounds and workshops at Omaha are the arsenal, where these purchases, amounting now to millions of dollars in value, are collected and held ready to be sent forward." The laying of the rails upon this ever-advancing railway is a constant marvel, and a scene of fascinating interest. The descrip tion which we quote is from the editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin. He writes : " We were soon off from Benton to the end of the track. It was a beautiful morn ing, and presently we all doffed our hats respectfully to the Seven Hundred Mile post on the U. P. R. R. Ten miles further, and we are brought to a halt by the construc tion and boarding trains at the end of the road. The advanced limit of the rail is occupied by a train of long box cars, with hammocks swung under them, beds spread on top of them, bunks built within them, in which the sturdy, broad-shouldered pio neers of the great iron highway sleep at night, and take their meals. Close behind this train come loads of ties and rails and spikes, &c., which are being thundered off upon the roadside to be ready for the track-layers. The road is graded a hundred miles in advance. The ties are laid roughly in place, then adjusted, gauged and leveled. Then the track is laid. " Track-laying on the Union Pacific is a science, and we, pundits of the Far East, stood upon that embankment, only about a thousand miles this side of sunset, and backed westward before that hurrying corps of sturdy operatives with a mingled feel ing of amusement, curiosity and profound respect. On they came. A light car, drawn by a single horse, gallops up to the front with its load of rails. Two men seize the end of a rail and start forward, the rest of the gang taking hold by twos, until it is clear of the car. They come forward at a run. At the word of command the rail is dropped in its place, right side up with care, while the same process goes on at the other side of the car. Less then thirty seconds to a rail for each gang, and so four rails go down to the minute ! Quick work, you say, but the fellows on the U. P. are tremendously in earnest. The moment the car is empty it is tipped over on the side of the track to let the next loaded car pass it, and then it is tipped back again, and it is a sight to see it go flying back for another load, propelled by a horse at full gallop at the end of sixty or eighty feet of rope, ridden by a young Jehu, who drives furi ously. Close behind the first gang come the gaugers, spikers and bolters, and a lively time they make of it. It is a grand Anvil Chorus that those sturdy sledges are playing across the plains. It is in triple time, three strokes to a spike. There are ten spikes to a rail, four hundred rails to a mile, eighteen hundred miles to San Francisco. That's the sum, what is the quotient? Twenty-one million times are those sledges to be swung twenty-one million times are they to come down with their sharp punc tuation, before the great work of modern America is complete ! 10 " On they go. Fifteen minutes from the moment that the rail is dropped upon the track, it is adjusted, spiked, bolted to its predecessor with the 'fish-plate,' (there are no ' chairs ' used,) and ready for the advancing train. It was worth the dust, the heat, the cinders, the hurrying ride, day and night, the fatigue and the exposure, to see with one's own eyes this second grand 'March to the Sea.' Sherman, with his victorious legions, sweeping from Atlanta to Savannah, was a spectacle less glorious than this army of men, marching on foot from Omaha to Sacramento, subduing un known wildernesses, scaling unknown mountains, surmounting untried obstacles, and binding across the broad breast of America the iron emblem of modern progress and civilization. All honor, not only to the brains that have conceived, but to the indomitable wills, the brave hearts and the brawny muscles that are actually achieving the great work !" IS THE WORK WELL DONE? This is a point of the highest importance. The unprecedented speed with which the road is being built is a matter of astonishment to every beholder ; its solidity, permanence, and safety are questions in which every financier, and indee.d every American citizen is di rectly interested. The large grants made by government in aid of the Union Pacific Kailroad make it so peculiarly a national work that the finished road will be our national pride or humiliation, according to its character. But to the emigrant, the miner, and the investor in the Company's bonds, the question is more practical. Is the road so built that it will transport the vast products which will ere long be developed along its line ? Is it so strongly and carefully built that it will secure and keep the tide of travel to and from the Pacific coast? Has such skill in engineering and con struction been employed that a small percentage of its earnings will keep it in prime condition, or will its receipts be swallowed up in constant and heavy repairs and renovations ? These are points to which the especial attention of the recent editorial party was direct ed, and every possible facility given its members for forming an intelligent opinion. What that opinion was, after examination, may be seen by the quotations below. Hon. CHARLES A. DANA, late Assistant Secretary of War, and now editor of the New York Sun, says : "A party of thirty gentlemen have just returned from an excursion to the present terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad at the Rocky Mountains. Their unanimous opinion is that the road is constructed in the most thorough and solid manner, and that it is superior in firmness, smoothness, and capacity for rapid run ning, to any other new road which they have ever seen. This is true of the parts of the track which were laid only the day before the excursion train passed over them, as well as those at the eastern end of the line which have been in use for some two years. 11 The work is well done, both as respects the judgment with which it is laid out, and the thoroughness of its construction ; and there is no part of it which could, under the circumstances, be better than it is ; all reports to the contrary are erroneous and mistaken." He also says : "The examination of the Union Pacific Railroad was thorough. The train was stopped at every important point, and nothing was anywhere hidden from observa tion. The universal opinion was that a more solid, useful and satisfactory railroad than the Union Pacific has never been constructed in this country." The correspondent of the New York Tribune writes : " The astonishing rapidity with which this railroad has been built has become the subject of general wonder throughout the country. Nothing like it has been seen before. Two hundred and thirty-five miles were built in 1867, and the track-layers are to-day more than 200 miles in advance of their starting point in April last. Can a road built with such tremendous speed, and that, too, in a district where every tool, every laborer, every appliance to aid in the work, has to be brought hundreds of miles from the eastern manufactory, be well built? This is a vital question, and one upon which the people want the most unequivocal information. I have seen and examined more than 700 miles of this road, and 1 believe it thoroughly built and fully equipped. For 500 miles the grades are exceedingly light, and the direction an air line. There the road was easily built, but nowhere indifferently or slovenly. The embankments are high enough to secure good drainage, and wide enough to make a solid founda tion; 2,650 ties are laid to the mile (the average on eastern roads is 1,700); the rails are joined by fish-plates, making a 'contin ous rail;' the water courses are spanned by substantial Howe truss bridges, or by culverts of timber, which is to be at once replaced by solid masonry, although the timber is good for at least ten years' wear. The road bed is being ballasted with broken stone and disintegrated granite, which is excavated in the passage of the Black Hills, and which makes as fine ballasting mate rial as there is in the world. The road is remarkably smooth. On the return trip, the run from Cheyenne to Omaha was at an average rate of 34 miles and a fraction per hour, and we ran 55 miles in one hour. In short, the road shows less signs of newness than nine out of ten new roads at the East, and is, so far as an intelligent observer can judge, a well-built, well-equipped, and well-managed railroad." The correspondent of the Scientific American gives this testi mony : "In regard to the road itself, the opinion of the editor of the Sun (quoted above) expresses just what we all felt after thorough examination. On our return, we made the run from North Platte to Omaha, a distance of 290 miles, at an average rate of over 34 miles an hour, and ran 55 miles in one hour. No railroad officer in the coun try would dare do that, or suffer it to be done upon his road, if the latter were not in splendid condition. This portion of our trip was made with as much comfort as any other part of the whole run from New York to the Rocky Mountains ; and I claim that this one fact will convince any candid man that it is a gross libel to speak of the 'absolutely unsafe manner in which the road is constructed.' Here are some of the details of construction: the iron is of the very best American manufacture; the ties number 2,650 to the mile (the average upon the railroads of the country is about 1,700); the rails are all joined by 'fish-plates,' of a pattern approved by the best railroad engineers; the road is being ballasted with broken stone brought from 12 the Black Hills ; the culverts are now built of substantial timber, which would be good for ten years' wear, but the contract is already made for replacing them with heavy dressed masonry. The equipment of the road is superb. The locomotives are of the best Taunton, Providence, Trenton and Paterson make, while the freight and passenger cars, which are turned out at the Company's own magnificently appointed shops at Omaha, are equal in every respect to any that I have seen in the course of many years active traveling." The correspondent of the New York Express says : "Figures will not convey, language cannot adequately describe the magnitude of the undertaking which is now being carried on in this far western region. Actual observation alone can serve to thoroughly convince the unbeliever of the vigor, the unflinching industry, which is being exhibited in the construction of this marvelous road ; and, what is more, constructing it well. Firm, solid, substantial, we have here as fine a track as can be found on almost any road in the country, while the traveling accommodations are full of ease and comfort." The correspondent of the New York Times writes : " The Union Pacific Railroad is built and equipped in the very best manner, at least as far as we have traveled over it, and we have thoroughly examined it at various points. * * * The first-class cars, manufactured at Omaha, are equal to any cars to be found on any of the eastern railroads, and indeed the whole rolling stock of the Company will compare with that of any other railroad in the country." The correspondent of the New York Evening Mail sums up his report of the trip in these words : " We went out, of many minds. But we went to examine for ourselves a great national work, of which we had heard and read all sorts of stories. We came back, of one mind. Our independent judgments had molded themselves into one unani mous verdict, a conviction which grew out of a rigid scrutiny and a practical test. The Union Pacific Railroad is a grand national success. In its inception, in the magical swiftness of its construction, in the substantial durability of the work, in the vigorous administration of every department of its affairs, in the great results which it is already accomplishing for our western world, it challenges the admiration and cordial support of every one who takes an honest pride in the success of a grand American enterprise. There is nothing superficial about it no veneer, no pinch beck, no sham of any sort. ' And so say we all.' " The correspondent of the New York Observer says of the road at the summit of the Black Hills : " We were far up among the clouds, more than a mile and a half above ocean level, and yet riding upon a railroad as firmly and as beautifully built as any road in our country. The track had been very straight across the plains, occasionally diverging to the right or to the left. But across the mountains it is not an air line. It makes a curve, or a detour, here and there, to avoid a cliff, or gain a plateau. But at every point of real difficulty to be overcome, the wisdom of the survey and the exact prac tical skill of the engineer are strikingly conspicuous." The correspondent of the New York Christian Advocate says : " Built with such wonderful rapidity, under difficulties that would overwhelm the minds of ordinary men, can this be, is it, a well built, safe, and thoroughly equipped rail- 13 road? This is just what your readers and the general public desire to know. To determine this question by a critical inspection and observation of the entire work, was the leading motive that led us into the Editorial Excursion Party over the Rocky Mountains via the Union Pacific Railroad. And whatever may have been our pre vious notions of this work, candor compels us to say, that to the extent of its com pletion, this road, with its entire outfit and appurtenances, is in every respect a first- class railroad." The editor of the Boston Transcript says of the condition of the road : " Has the road been poorly built as a speculation, and to obtain the grants of land and money, as has been often insinuated or roundly asserted by its enemies and those ignorant of the truth ? No ; most emphatically, no. The Union Pacific is a first- class road ; finely graded, thoroughly tied, well ironed and ballasted, and substan tially bridged. In short, and without going into details and without fear of contra diction by any who have traveled over and carefully observed it, it may be distinctly affirmed, that the Union Pacific will compare favorably with many of the best roads in the country. This statement, I think, would be substantially if not wholly indorsed by the impartial witnesses that comprised our excursion party. Large portions of the track have been tested during a severe winter ; and as I have before written you, we rushed smoothly and safely along, always at high speed, and sometimes at the rate of over fifty miles an hour. This certainly subjected the structure to a severe trial of its solidity. "If any of your readers think I have overpraised the Union Pacific Railroad and overstated its importance as the greatest work of the age, in view of its worth as an instrumentality of trade and commerce and as an agent of peaceful civilization, let them go and see it for themselves, or, if they cannot do that, let them seek authentic information and listen to impartial testimony, and they can soon convince themselves that I have hardly hinted at half the truth." The correspondent of the Boston Journal writes : " Seven hundred and twelve miles of this great thoroughfare I have carefully ob served in all its aspects, as respects material, grading, road-bed, ballasting, construc tion, <fec., and the result of my unbiased judgment is a full justification of the action of the United States Commissioners, Maj. WILLIAM M. WHITE, Gen. FRANK P. BLAIR and Gen. N. B. BUFORD, accepting the same as in all respects a first-class road. It is built in a thorough and substantial manner, and an evener, firmer bed under the tread of the heavy train will seldom be found. Time will, of course, give it additional solidity." The editor of the Boston Traveller says : "It is built in the best and most substantial manner possible, and will compare favorably with any other road in the United States. For a new road, I do not remem ber ever having traveled on its superior. * * The road is well ballasted, and except in seasons of extreme drought, must be comparatively free from dust. * * Few of the old roads of the country are so easy to ride over as this new one." The correspondent of the Boston Advertiser writes from Omaha : " I shall frankly admit that although familiar with the west, this trip has removed certain cobwebs from my mind which decorate every Boston intellect. I concede, for example, that the Union Pacific Railroad is the greatest wonder of America. 14 There has been nothing more marvellous or more admirable, both in boldness of con ception and brilliancy of execution, since the Great Eastern steamed away from Ire land with the cable in her hold and landed it in safety at Heart's Content. People talk of it as a selfish speculation, and of course it is, and ought to be ; for men who have dared to carry through so magnificent an enterprise should receive a magnificent reward. Yet, as the war for the Union was largely a selfish struggle, but would have failed if it had not aroused the enthusiasm and the nobler attributes of the people, so this great undertaking, also, has its heroes and its roll of martyrs. The SHERMAN of the road is THOMAS C. DURANT, of New York, who did not hesitate to cut from his base when the good of the enterprise required it, and who dashed into the valley with a Sheridan-like velocity which utterly amazed the cautious and redtapey intellects in the east, but which was amply justified by the splendid results. u Each of our party examined at different points some hundreds of miles of the road either standing on the platform of the last car or sitting above the cowcatcher. Every one testified that it is in every respect a first-class road. There is no indication of slip-shod or shoddy work about it. The ballasting of the road is excellent. One can write in the cars with greater ease than on any other western road that I have ever traveled over, and I have traveled over nearly all of them from time to time." The correspondent of the Boston Post says : " We have traveled over 710 miles of this road with a degree of ease and speed equal to that found upon any eastern road, and have carefully examined it in all particu lars. The bed of the road is solid, the rails heavy and well laid, and nothing but the best material used in building it; 2,650 cross-ties, or, as they are more familiarly known, sleepers, are used to the mile. All its equipments, stations, and in fact every thing connected with it, indicate that it is intended for work. * * * Without hesitation we can pronounce the statements made, that upon completion of the road it would prove useless, owing to its poor construction, all false. They have been deliberately planned for purposes that we have previously stated, and would not bear examination." The correspondent of the Boston Congregationalist writes as follows : " Is the road, built with such rapidity, a good, substantial road ? Mindful of the universal hope and desire on this point of vital importance, I determined at the out set to employ the closest observation upon it. I rode many miles upon the rear platform, and many others upon the front of the engine. I employed the time at dozens of stopping-places not only at regular stations, but at other places in ex amining the construction of the road, and the degree of thoroughness manifest in the work, and the following things seemed to me to be true beyond question: The road-bed is of adequate breadth; the embankments are made with due care; the bridges are substantial ; the ties are of cedar and pine and other kinds of wood equally good, and are placed nearer together than is common on eastern roads, and the rails are of the first quality. * * * In view of these facts, it would be a vio lence to the truth to deny that the road is what its friends declare it to be a thor oughly built, substantial, superior road." The editor of the Philadelphia Press says : "A well laid, safely-ballasted road, in good running order for seven hundred miles west of Omaha, with station and division houses, water-tanks, round-houses, machine shops, and an abundance of first-class rolling stock, is the evidence which the Union Pacific Railroad offers to-day of its ability to make good its promises and representa- 15 tions. It is a commonly accepted idea, entertained even by persons disposed to be friendly to the interests of the road and the West, that this railway is but a rudely- laid tramway, hastily put down over an undulating and unprepared surface for the mere purpose of obtaining as quickly as possible the government subsidies. This is the hypothesis of ignorance, but perhaps a pardonable one, when it is considered that not one out of a thousand of the people of the East have any adequate or intelligent knowledge of the country, or the enterprise which is developing and revealing it. A large majority of our population hardly are aware of the fact of the existence of the great land beyond the Mississippi and Missouri, which vast domain covers an area of two million square miles. " Let me state briefly the condition of the material of this road as it stood last week. "The rails are confessedly of the best quality. Even the open enemies of the road acknowledge their superior character. Many weigh sixty pounds to the yard ; are clamped by two spikes to each cross-tie, and fastened together at the ends by the 'fish-plate,' the Company holding to the now generally received opinion in the bet ter railroad circles that the continuous rail is the true idea of an iron road. "Everywhere the road-bed has been prepared by the formation of a slightly raised foundation, with gutters or trenches on each side, and, after the rails have been laid down, ballasted with gravel or broken stone. "Over this road, thus equipped and appointed, our party made a trial run, which was the best test possible of its smoothness, safety, management, and general condition. On the home trip, coming in from Cheyenne City to Omaha, a stretch of five hundred and seventeen miles, our running time averaged thirty-four and three fourth miles. At one point fifty miles were run in sixty minutes. This is very nearly the fastest time on record in the history of American railroading. That it was made on a new road, running in part through a hostile land, is the best evidence in the world that the road has been built with honesty and fairness." The correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer says : " The very first impression which the practical observer receives from the road is that of its solidity and smoothness. It is remarkably well settled for so new a road. Everywhere, from Omaha to Cheyenne, and from Cheyenne to Laramie, the road has a firm bed of proper elevation and breadth. * * * The lines of rail, whether straight or curved, are very even and exact, and we rode at rates of speed varying from twenty-five to sixty miles per hour, with the utmost steadiness, and with a consciousness of entire security. We ran fifty-five consecutive miles in sixty minutes, in returning from North Platte to Omaha, with less swinging motion than we have often felt at twenty-five miles per hour on other roads. This is due in part to the remarkable firmness and solidity of the work, and partly also to the excellent ballasting, which is everywhere observable on the settled portions of the whole line. * * * The Company's foundries, furnaces, machine shops, construction and repair shops, are all planned upon a scale commensm*ate with the magnitude and grandeur of this, the greatest, the crowning American enterprise. "Viewed as a whole, viewed in its parts, viewed in minute detail, the conviction is irresistible that the Union Pacific Railroad Company are keeping their faith with the American people ; and as they are working out the great problem for the people, they ought to be, as they are, sustained by the people." The editor of the Philadelphia Age writes : "It might be supposed, from the rapidity with which the work was done, that it was of a temporary and perishable character. But such is not the case. * * * Of the roadway it is enough to say that we traversed it smoothly, safely and steadily for 16 five successive days, at a rate of speed varying from twenty to fifty miles per hour, and between the old track and that at the western terminus, which had been finished but an hour or two, no discrepancy was perceptible." The editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin sums up the result of close examination by saying : " The road itself is as solidly and substantially built as any road in America. The bridges are built with heavy and well-seasoned timber; the ties are large and very closely laid; the embankments are solidly constructed; the rails are carefully gauged and the joints closely joined with ' fish-plates;' the road is well ballasted with stone, gravel and earth, according to the nature of the soil, and the traveler passes over this newly built track with as little consciousness of jolting and jarring as if the road-bed had been settled and used for a dozen years. The high rates of speed which can be safely attained over the Union Pacific, when required, attest the excellent nature of the whole work. The rolling stock is built at the Company's shops at Omaha, * * and is of the most substantial character. In short, the closest scrutiny has failed to discern any signs of hasty or imperfect construction." The Philadelphia North American says that " The track is now being laid at the rate of four miles per day, and built more rapidly and better than any similar work in the world." Says the editor of the Baltimore American : " It is proper to say just here that the rumors that have been put afloat at the East that the Company is a party of speculators, putting down a rude and poorly construct ed road, that will be useless, or nearly so, when completed, is a falsehood that could only have been deliberately concocted and put in circulation for reasons which would not bear examination. The road is a good one, well and solidly laid, with heavy rail, and twenty-six hundred cross-ties to the mile, over which the cars travel with remarkable smoothness, and the equipments, station-houses and workshops, of which all show that it is being built for use and not speculation." In another letter he says : " It is well-built, and needs but those final touches, the dressing up of embank ments, and improvement of the road-bed, which all new roads, during the first year of their existence, add to the construction account, to make it as perfect as any first- class road east of the Alleghanies." The correspondent of the Chicago Journal of Commerce writes : "In a word, without going further into details, we unhesitatingly affirm, without fear of contradiction by any impartial person who has seen and examined the road, that the Union Pacific, in its substantial character, and in view of the short time it has taken to ' put it through ' as far as it has gone, is the greatest industrial triumph of the age a triumph of which the nation may well be proud, and for the accom plishment of which those who took it in hand deserve the highest praise for the faith, resolution, activity, perseverance and varied business capacities they have man ifested." 17 The correspondent of the Pittsburgh Chronicle writes as follows : " The road, notwithstanding the marvellous rapidity with which all these great dif ficulties have been overcome, is, so far as it has been laid, one of the best in the United States. Never have I traveled over a smoother one, or one on which a high rate of speed could be maintained with greater security and comfort. It was possible to take notes very comfortably on a train going at the rate of thirty miles per hour. The curves are comparatively few, the grades moderate, very deep cuts unknown, and the track well ballasted. The bridges are well built, the track of the best T rails." We could extend these quotations to even greater length, find ing in each one hearty commendation of the manner in which this continental railroad has been built. There is no dissenting voice among all the intelligent views which are given of the road and its appurtenances. Good as this railroad is, the Directors of the Com pany are determined to make it better, and at a recent meeting, it was resolved to place three million dollars of the First Mortgage Bonds in trust to provide for replacing the wooden culverts with stone, for substituting iron for the shorter wooden bridges, and for the other permanent improvements necessary to prepare it for its great future traffic. 18 The lands along the line of the Union Pacific Eailroad for two hundred miles west of the Missouri river, have a fertility almost unequalled in all the rich fields of the productive West. These lands are in the valleys of the Platte, Elkhorn, Loup Fork, and Papillion rivers, the second and third being branches of the first, and emptying into it from the north, and the last a tribu tary of the Missouri. From the vicinity of Fort Kearney (190 miles from Omaha) to the base of the Eocky Mountains, irrigation will be found necessary to secure abundant crops, but for grazing and pasturage most of these lands are very valuable. Through the mountain region, there are numerous valleys and water courses which contain a soil needing only industrious cultivation to secure a profitable return to the farmer. The lands on the Laramie Plains are high, but are mostly well watered, and vegetables, small grains, &c., thrive well. The valleys of Green river, Black Fork, and the streams east of the rim of the great basin, are from one to five miles wide, well watered, and will support a large population. The valleys of the Weber river and Great Salt Lake are already thickly settled, and yield immense crops of grain and vegetables, while for fruit, they are perhaps unequalled in the United States. The quotations given below show how the Union Pacific Eailroad Company's lands are regarded by intelligent eastern observers. Says the correspondent of the New York Times : "The soil all along this valley of the Platte is of a rich, alluvial character, pro ducing splendid crops of wheat, oats, corn, barley, &c., and the natural grass of the prairie grows in great luxuriance, making herding a very profitable business. Owing to the depth and looseness of the soil along these rich bottom lands, the farmer will never suffer from either drought or excessive rains in dry weather 19 evaporation drawing the moisture to the surface, and the loose friable soil absorb ing the excessive water in rainy seasons. This fact has already attracted most of the settlers to this region, and along the Platte are some very extensive farms, and the country for one hundred and fifty or two hundred miles west of Omaha pre sents but few indications of those "western wilds" to which we had been look ing forward. The average yield of wheat from these lands is 30 to 35 bushels to the acre, and of corn 45 to 55 bushels." The correspondent of the New York Express says : "The first hundred miles presents a spectacle of wonderful fertility, large fields of wheat, oats and corn stretching out on either side, while the cuttings of the rail road give glimpses of a soil rich to fullness, with dry, loamy earth that gives promise of a crop unexcelled by even the great grain producing lands of Illinois or the eastern States." The correspondent of the New York Evening Post writes as follows of the products of Nebraska : "Oat3 produce from sixty to one hundred bushels (forty pounds a bushel). The wheat of Nebraska commands in St. Louis market ten cents above other wheat ; the average crop is twenty-six bushels to the acre, and forty bushels are not uncommon. The uplands, formerly thought unsuitable for crops, give thirty bushels to the acre. Corn averages seventy-five bushels to the acre. Pota oes yield well with abundance of rain, but are uncertain. Such droughts as affect Kansas, cutting off all crops, have not been experienced here." The editor of the Boston Traveller says : "For 200 miles west of the Missouri river indeed, up to where the road crosses the North Platte and at the base of the mountains, and in the valleys of all the rivers, the land is unsurpassed for richness, and vegetation, like the roses in the Groves of Blarney, 'spontaneous grows there.' There is no finer farming and graz ing land in the world, and in a very few years any cultivator of the soil will become wealthy. The high lands are covered with bunch and buffalo grass at all seasons of the year, and afford superior pasturage. There is more rich grass destroyed by fire on this prairie and mountain land, every year, than would suffice to support all the cattle in the world." The Boston Watchman and Reflector says : " The Papillion valley is one of the most beautiful and fertile sections of Nebraska. * * For two hundred miles, with a breadth of from twenty to fifty miles, does the fertile Platte valley exhibit its charms, wooing by its richness the graziers of the continent. Millions of cattle might feed upon its luxurious grasses, as millions of buffalo have fed for ages. There is no need of stock-raisers emigrating to Texas. For years to come t :e neighboring bluffs will give to the owner of one hundred acres the range often thousand. Cattle in this climate only need feeding three or four months in the year, and a railroad runs by the stock-yard, on which your herd may be con veyed to a Chicago market within four days. Three men in moderate circumstances might club together their capital, raise ten thousand dollars, invest it in five hundred acres of land, fifty cows and one bull, twenty marcs, one stallion and one jack, and in ten years time they would gain not only a competence, but a fortune." 20 Of the portion of Wyoming traversed by the railroad, and which has already been spoken of as requiring irrigation to produce large crops, the editor of the Philadelphia Age says : "It bears, however, heavy crops of short grass, upon which cattle feed and fatten during the summer and winter without other provender. This will make this sec tion, even in its present condition, unrivaled for grazing and pasturage." The editor of the Baltimore American says: " The soil for a distance of two hundred miles from the Missouri is a rich, black loam, that produces splendid crops. * * The indigenous prairie hay is cut in large quantities, cured and sent farther west into the mountain regions, which will always have to depend principally upon the products of the plain for the supply of its wants. The nutritious qualities of this grass is evident in the sleek, fat condition of the horses and cattle feeding upon it. A poor horse is a rarity in this region which we have not seen. 1 ' To extend these quotations would be but to repeat in other forms the same idea that, agriculturally, Nebraska has no superior in all the great States of the Union, and that the lands along the line of the Union Pacific offer especial advantages to the emigrant from abroad or from the eastern States.* TIMBER. Pine, Spruce and Hemlock grow on the Black Hills in large quantities, and skirt the mountains to the south for 300 miles. The immense forests on the Medicine Bow, Elk, and other mountain ranges are inexhaustible, and the great streams, the Laramies, Med icine Bow, and North Platte, that rise among them, furnish easy transportation by rafts to bring their products to the Union Pacific road. West of the main divide on the heads of Green river, New Fork, Piney, and Labarge, on the north, and Black Fork, Henry's Fork, Bear river and Weber on the south, are some of the finest Pine forests in the country ; they are hundreds of miles in extent, and are capable of being brought to this road by the streams above mentioned, which are in good rafting condition during the spring. * It is expected that full particulars in relation to these lands will be printed and ready for circulation in a few months, when the Company will be pleased to respond to letters of inquiry. GOLD AND SILVER. While the increased facilities for transportation of laborers, ma chinery and supplies which the railroad will give, will greatly increase the production of gold and siver in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Montana, those regions will all find their cheapest and most direct outlet by way of the Union Pacific Railroad. In addition to the above named mining territories are the new mining dis tricts in Wyoming, near to the line of the road. The gold mines discovered in 1867 upon the Sweetwater river, and along the east base of the Wind River mountains, have already attracted a large emigration, which will steadily increase so long as the developments promise so favorable returns as they have thus far done. Deposits of silver have been found near the line of the road, not far from the summit of the Black Hills, which promise to yield a handsome profit for working. No doubt the country in the north from the Big Horn mountains to Green river is rich in the precious metals. The heads of the Powder river, the different tributaries of the Platte and Sweetwater, the immense country drained by the trib utaries of the Big Horn river, Wind river, Porpogie and Sweet- water are already being prospected, and quartz lodes and placer mines are being discovered all over that vast extent of country. No man can now predict the amount of trade, travel, and traffic these mines will build up for the road. In the report of the Commissioner of Mining Statistics, J. Ross BROWNE, recently submitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury, the mineral yield of the States and Territories for 1867, is estimated as follows : 22 California, .... $25,000,000 Colorado, . . , j. . . . $2,500,000 Nevada, .... 20,08P>0 New Mexico, .... 500,000 Montana, . . . . ' . 12,000,000 Arizona, 500,000 Idaho,. . . . . 6,500,000 ! Miscellaneous, . . . 5,000,000 Washington, . *'''.- . 1,000,000 i Oregon, .... 2,000,000 Total, . . . $75,000,000 The entire product of the precious metals from 1848 to Jan. 1, 1868, is estimated as follows : California, .... $900,000,000 Montana, .... 65,000,000 Nevada, 90,000,000 Idaho, . . ... 45,000,000 Washington, . . . . 10,000,000 Oregon, . , . . 20,000,000 Colorado, .... $25,000,000 New Mexico and Arizona, . 5,000,000 Miscellaneous, . . . 45,000,000 Retained for plate, jewelry, &c., 50,000,000 Total, . . . $1,255,000,000 Mr. BROWNE says of the region under consideration : " The area of land suitable for cultivation is much larger than was originally supposed, and important results are anticipated from the comple tion of the Pacific Kailroad." COAL. A discovery of almost incalculable value to the Company, and to the entire country along the line of the road, has been that of enormous beds of very excellent coal in the Laramie Plains and the mountains at the west. This coal field is now being developed, and it is found to be the finest yet opened west of the Missouri river. At Carbon Station, about 650 miles west from Omaha, a vein sixteen feet in thickness is being worked, and about one hundred tons of ex cellent coal taken out per day. This coal is semi-bituminous, and is found to be better adapted to use upon locomotives than that which had previously been obtained from northern Iowa for that purpose. The fuel question has been one which it was feared would be hard to meet in the far west, where timber was comparatively scarce, but the opening of this coal field, together with the working of other beds near Cheyenne, and the discovery of yet other extensive de posits in Weber valley, west of the Wahsatch mountains, have solved the problem in a manner as satisfactory as it is valuable. IRON. Limonite and Hemitite ores are found in vast quantities at the eastern base of the mountains on the Laramie Plains, and in por tions of the Great Salt Lake basin/" Mountains of magnetic ore haye been discovered on the Chugwater, easy of access from the line, and also on the north fork of the Platte. On the Weber river, iron ore exists in inexhaustible quantities, and so far as tested it is equal in quality to the average found anywhere in the United States. Concerning the mineral deposits along the line of the road, the editor of the Philadelphia Press says : u These great plains have not as yet given up their mineral treasures. Scientific or systematic exploration in this direction has never yet been made. The rich mines now working are more the result of accident or fortune than of intelligent labor, but even they are yielding a princely revenue already. The whole line of the Pacific Rail road, after It enters the mountain region, is rich in coal and other mineral deposits. Iron is found in vast quantities on the Laramie Plains, and each day scientific explo rations are opening up veins of gold, silver, lead, copper, and other valuable minerals. The salt springs yield a result of twenty per cent, of pure salt, and the entire region is one of vast promise for the future." MINERAL SPRINGS. The correspondent of the Pittsburgh Commercial (an educated, scientific chemist,) writes as follows : "In the Rocky Mountains the number of springs, cold, thermal, saline, chalybeate, sulphurous and alkaline, are past all computation, and represent nearly all the kinds of mineral waters known to be of therapeutic value. Near to Salt Lake city and in other parts of the mountains are the hot sulphur springs, which are found so bene ficial in cutaneous and rheumatic diseases, rivalling the eaux-chandes at Cauterct in the Hautcs Pyrenees, in their efficacy, and superior to them in the more agreeable climate in which they are situated. On the Bear river the alkaline springs are far more active and powerful in the proportion of constituents than those of Ncris and the celebrated Grand-grilles at Vichy, where the shattered constitutions of the Euro pean nobility are wont to seek a cure." THE IDAHO, OREGON" & PUGET's SOUND THE BRANCH TO MONTANA THE DENVER, AND CENTRAL PACIFIC. Eapid construction of the main line of the Union Pacific Rail road is of paramount importance, but the building of branch and connecting railroads is also a work of magnitude and of great value. Branch roads to Colorado, Oregon and Montana are projected. Arapahoe county, Colorado, by a vote of 1,210 for to 15 against, on the 20th of January, 1868, decided to take $500,000 of the stock of a railroad connecting Denver with the Union Pacific road, in the vicinity of Cheyenne, a distance of 100 miles, and that road is now in process of construction. A bill was introduced into Congress, at the last session, to in corporate the Idaho, Oregon & Puget's Sound Railroad Company, which contemplates not only a road to the points indicated in the company title, but also a branch to Montana. The report of the chief engineer of the company upon the Oregon route, says that to reach the navigable waters of the Pacific by the Snake river route will require the construction of but 400 miles of additional road, and this through a country abounding in timber and coal, and capa ble of sustaining a large population. The road could be built at the rate of 300 miles per year, and, in the words of the engineer, " the local business of Oregon and Idaho would support it to-day. No such difficulties in obtaining material, labor, or transportation would be encountered on this line as we have had to encounter in building the Union Pacific." The Montana branch would leave the Oregon line in Snake River Valley, and, by a feasible route, would reach the heart of the Terri- 25 tory in a distance of 200 miles. By beginning active work in the spring of 1869, the fall of 1870 would give Montana, Idaho, Wash ington, and Oregon Territories direct steam communication with all points east, whereas, by the route to which they have been look ing for railroad connection the Northern Pacific they would have to wait years for the building of 1,700 miles, instead of the 400 which are here necessary. The eastern connection of the Union Pacific, by way of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, is now complete. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific road is being rapidly extended from Des Moines, and will be finished to the Missouri river in a few weeks. The Burlington & Missouri Railroad, which is being built across Southern Iowa to Omaha, will form a third line to the eastward, while the completion of the railroad to St. Joseph gives direct rail connection with St. Louis. Omaha already contains about 17,000 inhabitants, and is the center of a very large traffic. This city will be the converging and diverging point for all the eastern trade of the road. The business of Omaha and of the Union Pacific road will be greatly facilitated by the magnificent iron bridge which is to be erected across the Missouri at that point, and which, with its ap proaches, will cost two and one-half million dollars. This bridge is now under contract, and work upon it has begun. The Central Pacific of California, which will form the western or Pacific coast connection, is being pushed forward with great energy, and, beginning at Sacramento, has already crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, which were the most formidable barrier to be surmounted on the whole Pacific line. The Central Pacific Company report that they have already expended about forty million dollars ($40,000,000), have finished 325 miles, and that they have no doubt that they will be able to meet the Union Pacific in 1869. Congress, having determined that the Pacific Railroad should be built with the aid of the Government, also determined that that aid should be ample to accomplish the purpose. No half-way measures would answer. The most feasible route across the con tinent was selected, which should be the Grand Trunk Line the western artery of the whole railroad system of the United States. The grants in aid of construction are as follows : 1st. THE RIGHTS OP WAY AND MATERIAL, which include all necessary public lands for track, stations, depots, timber, stone, &c. 2d. THE GRANT OF MONEY. The Government grants its six per cent, currency interest thirty-year bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad, to the following amounts : $8,272,000 7,200,000 On the plain portion of the road, extending from Omaha to the base of the Rocky Mountains, 517 miles, at the rate of $16,000 per mile, is . . . '. ' . .' On the most difficult portion of the road, extending from the east ern base of the Rocky Mountains westwardly, 150 miles, at the rate of $48,000 per mile, is ..... On the remaining distance westwardly towards the California State line, at the rate of $32,000 per mile. Estimating the distance to be built by the U lion Pacific Company, before meeting with the Central Pacific, at 1,100 miles, this would leave a re mainder of 433 miles, at $32,000 per mile, which is . . 13,856,000 Or a total, for 1,100 miles, of . . . . . $29,328,000 These bonds are issued only on the completion of each section of twenty miles of road, and upon the certificate of Commissioners ap pointed by the United States Government that the road is thor oughly built and adequately supplied with all the machinery, equip ment and fixtures necessary to complete a first-class railroad. The interest on these bonds is paid by the U. S. Treasury, but is a 27 charge against the Company. By its charter, the Company re ceives one-half the amount of its claims against the Government, for transporting its troops, freight, mails, &c., in money, and the remaining half is placed to its credit as a sinking fund, to be applied to the payment of the interest and principal of these bonds. It should be remembered that lotli divisions of the great Pacific line stand upon precisely the same footing in this and in all other par ticulars respecting the Government grants. (See Acts of Congress.) 3d. THE GRANT OF LANDS. The Government grants to the Company every alternate section of land for twenty miles on each side of the road, making in all twenty sections, equal to 12,800 acres for each mile of the railroad. For a distance of 1,100 miles, this grant, which is an absolute donation, amounts to fourteen mil lion and eighty thousand (14,080,000) acres. As the railroad fol lows the rich valley of the Great Platte for nearly 300 miles, a large portion of these lands may be classed among the most productive in the world, and, indeed, there can hardly be any lands along the line of such an important road that will not command a reasonable price for tillage, grazing or timber. It will certainly be quite within bounds to estimate them at an average of $1.50 per acre, and competent experts value them at a much higher rate. On the the 7th of March, 1868, the President of the United States signed a congressional bill which provides that the alternate sections of land belonging to the Government on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad shall not be sold at less than $2.50 per acre. 4th. THE LOAN GRANT. The Government grants the Com pany a right to issue its own First Mortgage Bonds on its railroad and telegraph lines to an amount equal to that of the bonds of the United States issued to the Company. By special act of Congress [passed July 2, 1864], these First Mortgage Bonds are made a lien prior to all claims of the Government, or to any claims whatsoever. This gives the Union Pacific Railroad Company the following re sources, exclusive of its capital stock, for the construction of 1,100 miles of road : U. S. Bonds on 517 miles at $16,000 per mile, . . . $8,372,000 " " 150 " 48,000 " ... 7,300,000 " " 433 " 33,000 "'.... 13,856,000 $29,328,000 The Company's own First Mortgage Bonds to same amount, . 29,328,000 Land Grant of 12,800 acres per mile, at $1.50 per acre, . . 21,120,000 Total, $79,776,000 THE MEANS SUFFICIENT TO BUILD THE ROAD. The supposed great difficulties in the way of building the Pacific Kailroad have diminished as they have been encountered. Con tracts for the construction of 914 miles west from Omaha, com prising much of the most difficult mountain work, and embracing every expense except surveying, have been made with responsible parties (who have already finished 820 miles,) at the average rate of sixty-eight thousand and fifty-eight dollars ($68,058) per mile- This price includes all necessary car-shops, depots, stations, and all other incidental buildings, and also locomotives, passenger, baggage and freight cars, and other requisite rolling-stock, to an amount that shall not be less than $7,500 per mile. Allowing the cost of the remaining one hundred and eighty-six of the eleven hundred miles assumed to be built by the Union Pacific Company to be $90,000 per mile, THE TOTAL COST OF ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES AND EQUIPMENT, WILL BE AS FOLLOWS I 914 miles, at $68,058, . . . . ... $62,205,012 186 " 90,000, . . . . . . 16,740,000 Add interest and miscellaneous expenses, surveys, &c., . . 3,500,000 Amount, . ' . . . . ' . ' . $82,445,012 As the U. S. Bonds are equal to money, and the Company's own First Mortgage Bonds have a ready market, we have as the AVAILABE CASH RESOURCES FOR BUILDING ELEVEN HUNDRED MILES, U. S. Bonds, . . . . . V . .$29,328,000 First Mortgage Bonds, . . . v ! 29,328,000 Capital stoek paid in on the work now done, ' . ; i 13,243,800 Land Grant, 14,080,000 acres, at $1.50 per acre, . . . 21,120,000 Total, . :. . . . . . .$93,019,800 The land grant will not be immediately available for income, but the Company have other facilities for supplying all the means needed in construction. How large a business is it safe to predict for the Union Pacific Railroad ? This is a question not easily answered, simply because the indications are so favorable that the actual traffic will almost inevitably be greater than even the most sanguine of its friends now assert. But we can put upon record the estimates of some of those who have given the subject especial attention. Hon. E. D. MANSFIELD, Commissioner of Statistics for the State of Ohio, and a gentleman thoroughly familiar with railroad enterprises in their relation to the development of the country, made the following esti mates in relation to the prospects of this Company, in May, 1867: "We have some authentic facts on which to base a fair estimate of the business of the Pacific Railroad, when it is completed. In a general view, we find the fact of an intermediate unsettled country counterbalanced by the millions of persons and tonnage of products on either side seeking mutual intercourse. On this point we have the following facts, derived from Shipping Lists, Insurance Companies, Rail roads, and general information : Ships going from the Atlantic around Cape Horn 100, . . 80,000 tons. Steamships connecting at Panama with California and China 55, 120,000 " Overland Trains, Stages, Horses, &c., . . . . 30,000 " " Here we have two hundred and thirty thousand tons carried westward ; and ex perience has shown, that in the last few years the returned passengers from California have been nearly as numerous as those going. So also the great mass of gold and silver flows eastward ; latterly there is an importation of wheat from California and goods from China by the Pacific route. Fairly assuming, therefore, that the trade each way will be about equal, we have 460,000 tons as the actual freight across the con tinent. " How many passengers are there ? We make the following estimate : 110 (both ways) steamships, 50,000* 200 " vessels, 4,000 Overland (both ways), , . 100,000 Number per annum, ...... 154,000 * It may be well to say, in support of the accuracy of this estimate, that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company carried 31,897 passengers in the year ending January 31, 1868, and 27,000 in the first six months o: 1 1868, while the North American Steamship Company have carred, this year, an average of 1,600 pissengers per month, or about 20,000 per year. The total by these two lines, for the year 1868, will probably exceed 70,000. 30 " Present prices (averaging half the cost of the steamships), for both passengers and tonnage, give this result: 154,000 passengers at $100, i : . , ; . . .$15,400,000 460,000 tons rated at $1 per cubic foot, . , * . 15,640,000 Present Cost of Transportation, ,, > . $31,040,000 " There can be no doubt that the number of passengers will be more than doubled by the completion of the road ; so also, the road would take all the very light and valuable goods, which would be greatly increased by the China trade. Taking these things into view estimating passengers at 7# cents per mile, and goods at $1 per cubic foot we have 300,000 passengers at $150 each, . '. ; . .$45,000,000 300,000 tons at $34, . . .- '.. . . 10,300,000 Gross receipts, . . . . . . $55,200,000 "Suppose that the proportion accruing to the Union Pacific is $30,000,000, then estimate the running expenses at one-half, and this would leave a net profit of $15,000,000. " This may seem very large to those who have not examined the subject, but it must be remembered 1st, that the longest lines of road are the most profitable ; 2d, that this road connects two oceans, and the vast populations of Western Europe and Eastern Asia; 3d, that the immense mining regions of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and California, just developing, will produce a transit of persons and freight at present beyond belief. We leave this estimate on record as a moderate (not an exaggerated) view of the business and profits which may be fairly expected from the Grand Pacific Railroad." For many years to come, at least, the Union Pacific Eailroad will be the only railway avenue of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific States, and between the great mining districts and the markets whence they derive their supplies, and to which they ex port their products. As such, the through and the way traffic of the line must be immense. But added to this home traffic will be the great volume of China trade, that is preparing for the new order of things when the railroad shall be complete. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company of New York are now running a regular line of their splendid steamers between San Francisco and China and Japan, which is doubtless the pioneer of other lines, that will tra verse the Pacific Ocean laden with the teas, spices and other pro ducts of Eastern Asia, the most of these cargoes finding their natural transit over the Union Pacific Kailroad. Already, as will be seen by subsequent tables, the earnings of the unfinished road, on way busi ness alone, have exceeded four millions per year, and every additional completed mile must increase the business and profit. The popu lation of the Territories, thanks to this railroad, is rapidly increasing; the fertile lands along the line are being taken up and improved by 31 settlers who will be good customers of the railroad to which they owe their safety and their profitable cultivation of the soil; the yield of gold, silver, iron and coal, will be largely augmented, as the railroad affords improved and cheapened mining facilities, and the merchants of the Old and the New worlds will find by this line the shortest and cheapest route for their interchange of commercial commodities. Concerning one feature of the anticipated through traffic, the correspondent of the Pittsburgh Commercial writes : " Of the China trade referred to in the above, no small item will undoubtedly be tea. The aroma of all teas, of whatever description or quality they may be, is injured and even destroyed by a long sea voyage. The Russia overland tea is from this cause the most celebrated in Europe, and is used by the wealthy in England and France, not only for its taste but its exhilarating effect. It is contended this is a kind of tea not imported into this country, but it is well known that several Chinese mer chants, such as Fouqwa, of Canton, furnish their American customers with the choicest teas which are exported ; the rare and highest flavored brands are of course consumed at home. When the people once learn to appreciate the remarkable dif ference in the flavor of tea, brought by rapid steamer to San Francisco and over the railroad to the markets here, the small additional cost will be a matter of no consid eration, and the importation by this route will be immense." The editor of the Boston Journal, in closing a review of the West under the new regime of railroad extension, says : " People these great States Dacotah. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California with the sons of toil ; cast into their fertile molds the seeds of cereal harvests unlock the gates of their hidden mineral wealth ; constrain their water forces to the benign utilities of civilization ; convert their forests into vehicles of commerce; turn their decaying exuberance into living active values, and give them avenues of passage east by Pacific railways, to the marts of trade by lake and ocean shores, and west over the splendid steamers plying between San Francisco and Eastern Asia, to the teeming millions of China and Japan, and who can calculate the wondrous tide of travel and freight that shall find transit along this great artery of motion, commerce, wealth, national unity, and peace. But more than this must be true. So great will be the saving of time and the safety of freight age, that a large proportion of the commerce of Japan and China (in the years to come to be marvelously developed, under commercial treaties with those peoples,) their teas, their spices, their woods, their silks, and all their wonderful products, must find their natural transit over the road of the Union Pacific Company. u Certainly the day of great and unexampled things is upon us, and it behooves us of the older cities and States, into whose hands no inconsiderable portion of this wealth and toil is to fall, to cease guarding and fortifying the old wharf, the old ware house, the old market, and the old roadstead, and to prepare more spacious recepta cles, more generous avenues, new facilities of transhipment, widen our narrow streets, consolidate our iron tracks, spread out our wharves, bridge our sluggish and half-used water-courses, and stir ourselves with the electric thrill of new motives and world-wide purposes of progress." 33 The prospective value of the Union Pacific Kailroad, as a pro moter of emigration and of increased production of the minerals of the west, is beyond question. But its value and profit as a national undertaking are by no means confined to the future. Each year of its operation, even in its unfinished state, insures direct, une quivocal profit to the national treasury, as the following figures, furnished by Gen. M. 0. MEIGS, U. S. Quartermaster-General, abund antly prove. Previous to the building of this continental railroad, all govern ment freight, consisting chiefly of supplies for the troops upon the frontier, was carried by wagons under contracts given to the lowest responsible bidders. At the time of the Mormon war, the annual expense of maintaining troops upon the Plains amounted to about $1,000 per man, most of this sum being chargeable to transporta tion. In 1866, wagon transportation upon "Koute No. 1" (the route now occupied by the Union Pacific Railroad), cost an average of 28.4 cdnts per ton per mile. In 1867, an average of 39.4 cents was paid for similar service, while, on account of the increased dis tance, for the season from January 1, 1868, to March 31st, the lowest contract that could be made was for 50 cents per ton per mile. The average tariff of government transportation over the Union Pacific Railroad is 10.61 cents per ton per mile, but even this is in excess of the actual cost, as may be seen by the following extract from a letter from Quartermaster-General MEIGS, under date of September 1, 1868 : "It may properly be assumed that the average rate per ton per mile charged by your Company, (10.61 cents,) being based upon your published tariff rates, is some what in excess of the actual average rate paid by this Department for its transporta tion, owing to the fact that the greater portion of the freight carried for it is com prised under the lower classes, and that ten and one-hall (10.5) cents per ton per mile would approximate the rate actually paid." 33 The amount paid by the War Department to the Union Pacific Railroad in 1867, for government "transportation, was $699,698.81. Had this same freight been transported by wagons, at the contract price for that year (39.4 cents), the cost would have been $2,625,536.41. In other words, the money actually saved, in one year, in the transportation of government freight, with the road in operation for an average distance of but 386 miles, was one million nine hundred and twenty-five thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven dollars and sixty cents ($1,925,837.60). As has been stated, one-half the Company's charges against the government for transportation are paid in cash, the balance being credited toward the payment of the United States Bonds and their interest. The U. S. Treasury Department ofiicially reports that the total amount of interest which had been paid by government upon bonds issued to the Company up to June 30th, 1868, was $764,655.75. The amount paid by the Company on account of the above charge to the same period, was $615,914.58, with a balance then due from the War De partment, of $55,229.42, one-half of which was applicable to the payment of the interest account. It will therefore be seen that the government has actually paid out only $121,126.46 (which itself will probably be more than paid by Government transportation during the present year), while its actual saving in one year's trans portation was almost two million dollars. As the railroad is rapidly carried forward, the amount of its government service and the cor responding saving to the treasury will increase even more rapidly, while in other respects the national gain will be equally manifest. By the building of the road and the emigration which it renders possible and profitable, the value of all government lands along its line will be increased beyond present computation. Lands which before were entirely inaccessible, and therefore worthless, are now brought into direct connection with markets whose demand for all productions of the soil will steadily increase, while those situated near the town-sites established by the Company will at once become of very great value. The population thus supported and encouraged by the railroad will not only swell our agricultural and mineral pro ductions, but, if the present ratio of national taxation be kept up, the people along the line of the Pacific road will, in ten years time, pay not less than ten million dollars as annual taxes into the U. S. treasury. In short, it is safe to assert that this railroad will prove by far the most profitable of all the internal improvements ever aided by government. 34 ]je jittml warnings, As no one has ever expressed a doubt that as soon as the road is completed, its through business will be abundantly profitable, it be comes interesting to know, not only what may be expected, but what has actually been earned, by the way or local business, so far as it has been opened. It should be remembered that, although set tlements are being rapidly made along the line, until recently the road has run through a wilderness for almost its entire length ; but as every year brings an influx of population, this local traffic will have a steadily increasing value. At present, its transportation for the government and for the mining regions is the chief source of its already large revenue. As these mining regions are penetrat ed, the earnings will be greatly increased, and the various branch lines that will soon be constructed will be most valuable feed ers of the main trunk. The following are the earnings and expenses of the Union Pa cific Railroad for the year ending June 30, 1868 : EARNINGS. From Passengers, " Freight, 41 Express, " Mails, " Miscellaneous, $888,335.05 3,233,371.61 30,954.79 66,800.00 26,579.28 4,246,040.73 35 EXPENSES. For Conducting Transportation, " Motive Power, " Maintenance ot Cars, Way, " General Expenses, Net earnings to balance, $517,802.86 977,010.03 209,150.57 831,537.66 149,255.43 $2,684,757.14 1,561,283.59 $4,246,040.73 The average length of road in operation for the same time was 472 miles. The amount of First Mortgage Bonds the Company can issue on this 472 miles is $7,520,000. Gold interest for one year, at the rate of 6 per cent., is . . $451,200 Add 40 per cent, premium for gold, .... 180,480 $631,680 Surplus for the year, after paying interest on First Mortgage Bonds, $929,603.59 "We will now add to the account the interest on the U. S. Second Mortgage Bonds, and it will stand as follows : Net earnings for one year, ..... $1,561,283.59 Interest on First Mortgage Bonds, reduced to currency, $631,680 " " Second " " in currency, . 451,200 Total, . . . 1,082,880.00 Surplus after paying all interests, .... $478,403.59 The earnings for the first half of the financial year were so large that the Company reduced their charges twenty-five per cent. If the way or local business produces such results, what may we expect from the traffic that must pass over it from the two sides of the whole North American continent ? \ 36 ss^$<^r ev^m^ THEIR SECURITY AND VALUE. As before stated, the Union Pacific Eailroad Company are au thorized by Congress to issue their First Mortgage Bonds in the same amounts as are issued by the Government to the Company on the various sections of the road as they are completed, viz. : On the first 517 miles at $16,000 per mile, . . . $8,272,000 On the Rocky Mountain region, 150 miles, at $48,000 per mile, 7,200,000 On 433 additional miles at $32,000 per mile, . . . 13,856,000 Total for 1,100 miles, $29,328,000 All these bonds are for $1,000 each, and have coupons attached. They have thirty years to run, and bear interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum in gold, payable on the first days of January and July, at the Company's offices in the city of New York. PRINCIPAL AS WELL AS INTEREST PAYABLE IN GOLD. "While the Company have never supposed that the principal of their bonds would be paid otherwise than in gold, yet, to put all question on this subject at rest, at a meeting of the directors held on the 12th of March, 1868, it was unanimously That the President and Treasurer are authorized and directed to enter into a covenant with the Trustees of the First Mortgage Bonds of this Com pany, to pay the principal of said Bonds, at maturity, in United States gold coin. In accordance with this resolution, the President and Treasurer made the following 37 tt0W tttt P*tt ItJJ tte* gWStfttttf, tfia; TFteran, the Union Pacific Rail road Company heretofore executed to EDWIN D. MORGAN and OAKES AMES, Trustees, a certain Indenture of Mortgage bearing date the first day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, mortgaging thereby the railroad of the said Company to the said Trustees to secure the payment of the said Company's First Mortgage Bonds, and the said Indenture of Mortgage was duly recorded ; And whereas, the said Company have issued divers of the said first mortgage bonds, and intend here after to issue divers others of said First Mortgage Bonds mentioned in and provided for by the said indenture of mortgage ; And whereas, by the tenor of said bonds the principal sum payable thereon at maturity is to be paid in lawful money of the United States; Now, in consideration of the premises, and of one dollar to the said Company in hand paid, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and for divers other good and valuable considerations the said Company thereunto moving, the said Company hereby covenant and agree to and with the said EDWIN D. MORGAN and OAKES AMES, as Trustees, for the benefit of all who are or shall be holders of said bonds, and to and with the successors of said Trustees in the trust created by the said Indenture of Mortgage, that the principal of all the said First Mortgage Bonds, being one thou sand dollars each, as well such as have been issued hitherto as such as shall be issued hereafter, shall and will be paid by the said Company whensoever the same respect ively become payable according to the tenor thereof, in the gold coin of the United States at par, that is to say, one thousand dollars of such coin for each of the said bonds. git fitness 3l)ercof, the said Company have caused these presents to be sealed with their corporate seal, and to be subscribed by their President and Treasurer, this twelfth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. Sealed and delivered in \ OLIVER AMES, President. . HAM. f HN J. CISCO, Treasurer. It will be noticed, that this covenant applies to all the First Mortgage Bonds of the Company without exception, including those that have been heretofore issued, as well as those which may be issued hereafter. We now come to the first question which will be asked by every investor, viz. : ARE THE BONDS SECURE ? Ans. : Congress has taken an especial care that the interests of the bondholders of this road shall be secured, that has never before been shown towards a similar enterprise. The Mortgage is made to Hon. E. D. MORGAN, U. S. Senator from New York, and Hon. OAKES AMES, Member of U. S. House of Eepresentatives from Massachusetts, who alone can deliver the bonds to the Company, 38 and who are responsible for their delivery in strict accordance with the terms of the law. The President of the United States appoints Five Government Directors who cannot be stockholders, who take part in the direc tion of all its affairs, and one of whom is to be on every Committee of the Company. It is the duty of these directors to see that all the business of the Company is properly managed, and to report the same to the Secretary of the Interior, who reports, through the President, to Congress. The President of the United States also appoints three Commis sioners to inspect the work as it progresses, in sections of twenty miles, to see that it is in all respects a first-class road, and that it is suitably provided with depots, stations, &c., and all the rolling stock necessary for its business. The U. S. Bonds are issued to the Com pany only as each section of twenty miles is accepted by the U. S. Commissioners, and the trustees of the first mortgage bondholders deliver the Company's own First Mortgage Bonds to the Company only on the same conditions, except that the Company are permitted to issue their bonds for one hundred miles in advance of the com pleted line, to cover a part of the cost of grading, &c. To give every facility for the negotiation of the Company's First Mortgage Bonds, the Government makes its own bonds issued to the Company a second lien, and it will be noticed that the Union Pacific Railroad is, in fact, a Government work, built under the supervision of Government officers, and to a large extent with Government money. We may say, without danger of contradiction, that no bonds issued by any other company in this country, or, so far as we know, in the world, are made so secure by a responsible Govern ment, as the First Mortgage Bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. They are not only a first mortgage upon a property that costs three times their amount, but upon a property of daily increas ing value, and whose income is already much more than their in terest. First mortgage bonds, whose principal is so thoroughly secured, and whose interest is so liberal and so amply provided for, must be classed among the very safest and best securities. A PERMANENT VALUE. The recent movements in Congress in favor of redeeming the Government bonds in currency, or taxing them directly or indirectly so as to reduce the rate of interest, and practically compel the 39 holders to fund them at 4 or 4J per cent., have induced many careful investors to exchange their Government securities, as a whole or in part a for Union Pacific First Mortgage Bonds. There are others who always prefer a first mortgage upon such a great, valuable, and productive real estate, to the obligations of any state or nation, which are subject to the vicissitudes of political action. WHAT AEE THEY WOKTH AS AN INVESTMENT ? Ans. : Other conditions being the same, securities are valuable according to their rate of interest. The recent average quotations for U. S. 10-40 bonds, bearing only 5 per cent, gold interest, redeem able by the government in six years, have been 105 to 106, and the U. S. sixes of '81, gold six per cents which may be redeemed in thirteen years, have been at from 113 to 115 J. The best first mort gage six per cent, railroad currency bonds range at about par, and the seven per cents run to a considerable premium, while the Union Pacific First Mortgage Bonds are sure to pay six per cent, in gold, which, with the premium at 40, (where it has stood upon the aver age for about three years,) pay 8| per cent. It will be noticed that a very important consideration in deter mining the value of these bonds is the length of time they have to run. It is safe to assume, that during the next thirty years, the rate of interest in the United States will decline as it has done in the old countries of Europe, and we have a right to expect that such six per cent, securities as these will be held at as high a premium as those of this Government, which, in 1857, were bought in at from 20 to 23 per cent, above par. There is no doubt that the Union Pacific Bonds will become a favorite investment abroad, for although the Company have made no effort to sell them, except at home, considerable amounts have been voluntarily taken on foreign account, and it is probable, that as soon as the road is completed, a very large proportion of the whole amount will be taken out of the country. It should be remembered, that the whole issue of these bonds will be only about thirty million dollars, of which over eighteen millions have already been sold ; and while subscriptions are now received at 102, it is expected that, with a favorable money market, the price may be further advanced at an early day. 40 In addition to their safety and profit, these bonds offer every con- yenience of a convertible investment. The gold coupons will be cashed by bankers in any part of the country, and the bonds themselves are taken as security for loans at the lowest current rates. Full particulars in relation to terms, agents, and means of sub scribing may be found in the advertisement on the last page of the cover. NEW YORK, Sept. 20th, 1868. JOHN J. CISCO, TREASURER, Union Pacific Railroad Company. Union Pacific Railroad Co. OFFER A LIMITED AMOUNT OF THEIR FIRST MORTGAGE BONDS AT 102, PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST t PAYABLE IN GOLD. These Bonds are for $1,000 each, and have Coupons attached. They have thirty years to run, and bear annual interest, payable on the lirst days of January and July at the Company's Ofliee in the City of New York, at the rate of six per cent, in gold. At the present rate of premium on gold, they pay an annual " 'come on their cost of BETWEEN EIGHT AND NINE PEh The Company reserve the right to advance the price of their bonds to a higher rate at any time, and will not be h olden to fill any orders or receive any subscrip tions on which the money has not been actually paid at the Company's office before the time of such advance. Parties subscribing will remit the priee of the bonds and the accrued interest in currency at the rate of six per cent, per annum, from July 1st, 1808. Subscriptions will be received in New York at THE COMPANY'S OFFICE, No. 20 Nassau Street, AND BY- JOHN J. CISCO & SON, Bankers, No. 59 Wall Street, AND BY THE Company's Advertised Agents throughout the United States. Remittances sliould be made in, drafts or officer funds 2** r '^ n -^ e>0 York, and the Bonds mill be Kent free of charge by return express. Parties subscribing through local agents, will look to them for their safe delivery. JOHN J. CISCO, Treasurer. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBEH 14, 1868.