Patience, on the southern point of Sak-ha-lin, on the strait of La Perouse.

The coast of the island Sak-ha-lin on the western side, fronting the sea of Japan and strait of Tartary, should be examined in lieu of a shore or land line; but it is supposed that from the Russian settlements and surveys made by the Russian Government all necessary information can be obtained in relation thereto.

Thus by a survey and expedition, both by land and sea, from the shores of America to the mouth of the Amoor, a vast work would be accomplished, advantageous to our commerce and civilization; science would be vastly benefited and knowledge among men would be much increased; our adventurous whaling and merchant ships would reap the benefit for all time of this government survey, guiding them in their perilous voyages and saving many from shipwreck, and much consequent loss of life.

In view, therefore, of the foregoing premises, and in furtherance of American commerce and enterprise, as well as the vast benefits to result to us as a great commercial nation, to grow out of the fact of a telegraphic communication which shall not only unite Europe with America, but add the whole of Asia, including China and Japan, your petitioner respectfully asks the favourable consideration of the Congress of the United States of America.

PERRY M'D. COLLINS.

PACIFIC RAILWAY-and the Claims of Saint John, New Brunswick, to be the Atlantic Terminus. Proposed by T. T. Vernon Smith, C.E.

[An important scheme has been laid before the American Congress for a "Trans-Pacific Telegraph" which is to connect Europe with America through Asia, by Chinese Tartary, the Amoor, and Japan, across Behring's Straits, through Russian America to San Francisco: and considering the enterprizing characters of the Russian and American Governments along with the advantages that will accrue to each from its formation in the commerce to which it will give rise, the project will in all probability be taken up in earnest, and it may not be long before it is completed. The surveys and reconnoitring expeditions which it will require, and the route which it will take, will be found noticed in another part of this number.

But we have larger possessions in North America than Russia, and although the project of connecting them with the Atlantic sea-board may appear gigantic by means of a telegraph, yet it is not so difficult as that, for there is no deep sea to cross, or repeated immersions for a cable to undergo. And desirable as it must ever be to see these great deeds accomplished, the project of a rail even is well worthy of consideration. We have therefore preserved the substance of a lecture

given at St. John's, New Brunswick, on this snbject, which will be completed in three numbers, and we shall rejoice if by familiarizing the minds of our readers to the project itself that it should contribute towards its eventual adoption. The proposed rail to Quebec would form a portion of the subject, and as that is to insure the most rapid means of communication we cannot suppose that any point on the St. Lawrence would form its Atlantic terminus, on the principle that land carriage (by rail especially) is more certain and rapid than water carriage, and therefore that either Halifax or St. John, but most probably. the former, would be best entitled to form that terminus.]

The first design of a Pacific Railway, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, across the Continent of America, had for its object the territorial advantage only of opening up a belt of land shut out from cultivation by its distance from navigable water, and from the markets of the Eastern States. Ever since the settlement of Oregon, and before the cession of California to the Federal Government, Mr. Whitney laboured at this gigantic immigration scheme with a zeal and perseverance worthy a better reward. Unlike most modern railway projectors, Mr. Whitney asked from the public no capital; a belt of land thirty miles wide was the only requirement, and the 20,000 acres per mile thrown into the market was expected to pay for the construction of the road. The subsequent acquisition of California became another and a powerful inducement to its construction; the political and commercial ascendency of the Union was seen to be identified with the land project; and the line became a national link to connect the new with the older States-to give a Pacific frontage to the former possessions, and to open a new field to enterprize and ambition.

Ceded as late as 1848, California presented itself to the Federal Government as a desirable acquisition from its supposed command of the Pacific trade. "The number of our whale ships alone in that sea," said the Presidential message, "exceeds 700, with 20,000 seamen, and a capital of forty million dollars invested in that branch of business alone. By the possession of California we are brought into immediate proximity with the west coast of America from Cape Horn to the Russian boundary, and by a voyage of thirty days, we shall be in direct communication with Canton and the ports of China,

Simultaneously with the closing of the agreement for the cession of the district, gold in quantity was accidentally discovered, the newly acquired territory assumed an unexpected importance, and within four months from the ratification of the treaty between the United States and the Mexican Government, 6000 gold diggers were at work, and 600,000 dollars worth of gold dust had been collected. The impetus given to immigration and travel by the continued success of these mines led to the proposition, almost immediately, of no less than three lines of railroad across the continent to communicate with the new El Dorado. Only one of these has been as yet really commenced, and in ten years the Pacific Railroad, so called, has been opened about one hundred and fifty miles only, westward from St. Louis. Much dis

cussion has taken place, and immense influence been brought to bear upon the Government, by the partizans of the rival routes, but that the St. Louis line will ultimately be the choice of Congress has been lately indicated by the establishment of a semi-weekly mail, and arrangements for the settlement of stations, at every ten or fifteen miles of the distance between St. Louis and San Francisco.

Since 1848, when the mineral wealth of the Pacific coast first attracted attention, a series of explorations and surveys have been undertaken by the United States Government to determine the best direction and most feasible course for this railway, the construction of which has now become a national want that each succeeding year renders more important, for the political, commercial and social well-being of the whole community. These researches have so far had an opposite tendency to what was expected, and have developed physical diffi culties to be overcome, and natural obstacles so insurmountable by any ordinary appliances, that the Pacific Railway, if ever completed on United States territory, must be the slow elaboration of years, and constructed at an expense not at all commensurate with any commercial advantage to be gained, or any value to be imparted by the belt of land to be intersected.

The continent of North America is traversed in a North and South direction by two extensive mountain ranges, which following the general direction of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts diverge from each other as they proceed northward, leaving between them an immense and fertile valley, containing over three million square miles of territory, and including nine-tenths of all the really valuable land, either in the United States or British possessions. This valley comprises three basins or areas watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries on the South, the St. Lawrence in the middle, and the Saskatchawan to the North-the water-shed or swell of land dividing these basins scarcely averaging three hundred feet above the ordinary elevation of the Great Valley itself. Of these three large tracts of valuable land, the NorthWestern section watered by the Saskatchawan, Assiniboine, and the Red River of the North, all flowing into Lake Winnipeg,—an inland sea as large as Lake Erie, and equally capable of supporting a busy population has been until lately comparatively unknown and undervalued, and recent investigations have shown that through this district the only passable route for a Pacific Railway can be expected.

The Eastern range of mountains dividing the Great Valley from the Atlantic, the Apalachian or Alleghany system are unbroken in the whole length of their course, except in one place, where the Hudson River deeply cuts them to their base, and affords a natural outlet from the West, which our neighbours have admirably improved by the construction of the Erie and Champlain Canals, and the New York Central Railway. The Rocky Mountains on the West are unbroken through the whole length of the range from Mexico to the Arctic circle, and it is with this extensive mountain system that the great difficulties of the Pacific Railway must be encountered and the physical features of which must determine the ultimate route to be adopted.

These difficulties will be the rest appreciated by a brief comparison of the works already executed on the Alleghanies, with those necessary to overcome the far more gigantic steeps of the Rocky Mountain range. The swell of land or water-shed of the Alleghanies has an average elevation of 3000 feet, although many of the ridges and peaks based upon it are very much higher, rising in some places to 6000 feet. The most difficult and expensive works on the railways of the United States have been encountered in crossing this chain of hills, an obstacle which any line from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Valley, south of Albany, must surmount. The New York and Erie Road rises from tide-water by gradients several miles in extent, of one in eighty-eight or sixty feet per mile to an elevation of 1,760 feet above the sea, overcoming altogether four summits by a total rise and fall of 8,056 feet, equivalent in mechanical power to raising and lowering every train one and a half miles of vertical elevation, in the round trip between New York and Buffalo. The Pennsylvania Central passes its principal summit 2,121 feet in height, by a tunnel three-fourths of a mile long, approached from the East by gradients averaging for twelve miles, over ninety-four feet per mile. The summit of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is over half a mile vertically above the sea, in a tunnel nearly a mile long, with thirty miles of gradients. varying from one in forty-three to one in fifty-six. This line has fifteen tunnels, together about two and a half miles long, the execution of which entailed a frightful expense. Four other Railways pierce the Allegha nies, their summits varying from 2,200 to 2,800 feet, by tunnels of from one quarter to one and a quarter miles long, all of them approached by heavy, if not dangerous gradients, and constructed at an enormous outlay.

Besides these executed works the State of Pennsylvania sunk £8,000,000 sterling, and suffered a still more serious loss in national credit, in the construction of an unfinished water-communication between the Atlantic and the Ohio; and it must be borne in mind that these works have all been undertaken in a densely populated country, with every modern appliance close at hand, roads and other facilities round them in every direction, and labour and machinery in any quantity constantly procurable. Yet the difficulties have been so great, and the expenditure so enormous, that all these Alleghany works have occupied years in their construction, and have been brought to their present imperfect state of efficiency only by taxing to the utmost both the skill and the finances of their respective corporations,

The Rocky Mountain range consists generally of a more complicated and difficult system than the Alleghanies, and includes numerous parallel ridges, and an up-heaved table-land of very considerable extent, occupying altogether one-third of the entire breadth of country to be traversed between the Atlantic and the Pacific. "This Great Western mountain system of the North American continent, may be described," says Professor Henry in a Report presented to the United States government, "as a broad elevated swell or plateau of land, the prolongation of the Andes in South America, extending northwards in

the general direction of the Pacific coast, with varying elevation aud width, to the Arctic circle. It occupies nearly the whole breadth of Mexico from the Rio del Norte to the Pacific, and as it extends northward becomes still broader, until in the latitude of New York it occupies one-third of the breadth of the Continent, the other two-thirds being about equally divided by the Mississippi river."

Resting upon this great swell of land is a series of parallel ridges, the general direction of which is North, and between these ranges are extensive elevated vallies of extreme dryness, and in the summer, of intense heat. Proceeding North from the high plains of Mexico, the base of the mountain system gradually declines to the parallel of Natchez in the State of Mississippi. The average elevation is here about 4,000 feet, and the lowest notch 5,700 feet above the sea, more than double the highest summit crossed by any railway on the Atlantic side, and one-third of a mile higher than the most elevated part of the Copiapo Railway in Chili, on the snow-bound passes of the Andes, where a gradient of three hundred feet per mile, as steep as the upper part of King Street, has been necessarily resorted to. Proceeding northward from this point, the system gradually rises until in latitude 35°, the average elevation is 5,500 feet, and the lowest pass of the principal range, over a mile and a half of vertical elevation.

Still rising to the parallel of St. Louis, the whole system of mountains has an elevation of over 7,000 feet, and the lowest notch in the main ridge has the impracticable altitude of over 10,000 feet above the sea level. Northwards from this, the mountain range gradually declines both in average height, and in width of base, until about one hundred and forty miles South of the British boundary. the average elevation is reduced to about 2,500 feet. The lowest pass is still, however, double the height of any railway summit of the Alleghanies. and therefore to be deemed impracticable, nor is there so far as is now known, any more feasible route, than the one last indicated-the route suggested by Mr. Whitney.

But the main difficulty to contend with in the United States portion of the range arises not only from the enormous elevation of the passes, the length of broken and intricate country to be crossed, and the unheard of engineering difficulties to be encountered, but the character of the soil, the geological formation, and the general physical features of the whole route, form a still more insuperable objection to the construction of a railway through any portion of the United States between the Mississipi and the Pacific. Referring again to Reports presented to Congress, and deriving all our information from unprejudiced American authorities, we are told by Professor Henry that the general character of the soil is a barren waste, over which the eye may roam to the extent of the visible horizon, without finding any object to break the monotony.

Dr. Leatherman, surgeon to the United States army at Fort Defiance, describes the country along the parallel of 35° as a series of mountain ridges, broken in many places by deep cracks called canons, NO. 3.-VOL. XXXI.

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