Overland route through British North America ; or, the shortest and speediest road to the East

u Once lost, never regained."Such is the motto with which I head these pages, because it embodies a great truth, and an ominous one, as regards the subject about to be discussed, namely, " The Shortest and Speediest Road to the East."The unprepared reader may feel surprised, but if he take the trouble to go through these pages, he will soon admit the correctness of its application.The truth is, that England is, commercially speaking, on the brink of a precipice without being aware of it.Wrapped up in her own prosperity, she is apparently ignorant that a trans-continental railroad is rapidly progressing through the United States, for the professed purpose of transferring the trade of the Old to the New World, and that ere long it will be completed.Or, if not entirely unaware of the fact, the few persons who have turned their attention to it are either heedless as to its general importance, or else foolishly incredulous, and therefore indifferent as to the results.And yet England has in her hands the means of rivalling that high road, as we shall presently show, by one still more direct through British North America, and of thus averting the impending danger.But this is not generally known; or rather (as is almost always the case when a subject that is not over favourably looked upon, has been but imperfectly studied, and that from a distant point of view), those who are more or less aware of it are only acquainted with the objections that have been made to its practicability.And these have been so often repeated, that they are almost taken for truth.In the meanwhile the Americans are actively advancing towards the attainment of their object, and if England neglects this opportunity, she will awake, when too late to recover them, to regret the loss of her trade with the East and her commercial supremacy.But before proceeding further, it may be well to give a short de- scription of the way in which this great American enterprise, the most magnificent perhaps of modern times, is progressing, so that the reader may better realize the extent and imminence of the danger with which we are threatened. CENTKAL PACIFIC RAILROAD.Although the Railway in progress from New York, or more correctly speaking, from the Missouri to the Pacific, is in many places accompanied by great engineering difficulties, and passes over a vast tract of country unfit for settlement, yet, in spite of these drawbacks, it is advancing with the most astonishing rapidity ; owing to the liberal assistance afforded by the Federal Government to the two companies (the Union Pacific, and the Central Pacific), who have the concession, and to the profound public conviction of the immense results to be obtained.On the Eastern side, from Omaha, on the Missouri, to Cheyenne, at the foot of the Black Hills, 517 miles, of which only 40 were completed on the 9th of May, 1866, had been laid down in December last.These 517 miles pass over the rich plain and valley of the Platte river, where rising villages, and towns containing some of them hotels and all the proofs of active business and prosperity, already show the progress of the line ; and, amongst other considerable works, include a bridge 3,000 feet long over the North Platte, and a noble Howe Truss bridge, 1,500 feet long, at Loup Pork.Two thousand graders, accommodated in cars, 80 feet long, fitted up with berths, or as dining halls, kitchens, store-rooms, etc., which follow the terminus, and are pushed on as it advances; and 1,500 wood-choppers and tie-getters in the woods formed the advanced guard at this end, besides all those employed in laying down the line.The rolling stock employed consisted of 793 freight cars, 20 passenger and mail cars, and 53 locomotives ; and on an average over one mile and one-third of track was laid per working day-a speed unparalleled in railroad building.After the season had closed, the rock cuttings and gradings were continued during the winter to the summit of the Black Hills (31 J miles further on, and 8,262 feet above the sea), and thence over the Laramie Plains to Bridge's Pass (7,434 feet), in the Rocky Mountains, the difficulties over which extend about 150 miles.At this point the works were resumed early this spring, and are at this moment proceeding with still greater rapidity than ever ; whilst further west, the portion in the Desert, from Echo Pass to Salt Lake, has been lately contracted for by the well-known Mormon Elder, Brigham Young.On the Pacific coast (where 10,000 Chinese were employed by the Central Pacific Company at one dollar per day) the road had reached and crossed over the Sierra Nevada in December last, at a height of 7,042 feet, after surmounting the greatest difficulties perhaps on the whole line.Some idea of these may be formed from the fact, that besides fifteen tunnels and numerous heavy mountain side-cuttings, many miles of road have had to be covered in with sloping roofs, made of the strongest timbers (an entirely new idea in railway construction), in order to protect these places from the danger of avalanches, which might otherwise bury the trains and sweep everything before them.About 105 miles had been completed at this end last winter, from Sacramento to Mud Lake, on the eastern and more abrupt slope of the mountains ; 64 miles more had been added this year at the end of June, and it was confidently expected that the whole grand line to the Pacific would be completed in 1870, so as to connect with the splendid steamers already subsidized by the American Government, and running between San Francisco, Japan, China, and the Sandwich Islands.So confident, indeed, are the Union Pacific Company that this line will monopolise the commerce of the East, that closed cars are already built, as if the service were secure, and the closed pouches only want labelling for "China through," "India Official," "Sandwich Islands," " Alaska," " Japan," &c.(See the Report of the Company, New York, October 25th, 1867).Making all reasonable deductions from these exaggerations, no one yonder expresses a doubt as to the success ; and in San Francisco, such was the influence of the same conviction on the merchants and others, and their confidence in the results, that when the writer was there a few months ago, palaces were literally rising up as if by magic.But what must be the feelings of every Englishman, when trying to calculate the consequences of such a commercial revolution !One which, unless counteracted, will at the very onset throw the Chinese trade, and that of Japan, into the hands of the Americans.The precious metals, the transmission of which to the Oriental ports has been hitherto by way of London, will in future be sent at half cost by this more speedy and direct route ; thus making New York and San Francisco, instead of London, the financial and banking centres of the trade of the world.The business of all those of our merchants who are at present engaged in direct trade with those countries, will be disturbed-if it be not wrested from them ; our communications with New Zealand and the Australian Colonies displaced and thrown into foreign hands, and the general inroad into our commerce with the East will sound the first knell of England's decline.Having thus cast a hasty glance at what the Americans are doing, let us now examine seriatim, and more attentively, the difficulties which are supposed to render the construction of a rival railroad through Eritish America problematical, if not almost chimerical.OBJECTIONS TO A RAILROAD THROUGH BRITISH TERRITORY.These are numerous enough, if true, and may be classed as follows :1st. -The supposed geographical difficulties to the north and west of Lake Superior, and those much more real through the Rocky Moun- tains and British Columbia.2nd. -The supposed severity of climate, and general unfitness of the country to be traversed for settlement.3rd. -The greater distance across the Continent to the North, as compared with the South.4th. -The difficulty, if not impossibility, of constructing a railroad through a wild, unsettled country.5th. -The opposing rights of the Hudson's Bay Company.6th. -The possibility of difficulties at some future day with the United States, combined with the existence of a sparse population and a .OVERLAND ROUTE long line of defenceless frontier; and consequently, the little confidence placed by English, capitalists in anything appertaining to Canada.7th.-The enormous expense of the undertaking, supposing it practicable.8th.-The cost of railroad transit across the Continent, and con- sequently the small amount of traffic to be expected.9th. -And last, not least, the anti-colonial theories of the day, and the growing dislike to spend money on our foreign possessions.This is, however, not a Colonial, but a commercial and imperial question which concerns the whole nation.That unimaginative Englishmen should not fight for an idea, may so far show their good sense ; but that they should be so indifferent and shortsighted as to give up that commercial supremacy which has been so slowly and dearly acquired, and on which the greatness of this country depends, without a struggle to retain it (and that not a struggle by arms, so as to expose the country to the uncertain risks of war, but one of commercial rivalry) ; or merely in order to avoid the temporary burden of an expenditure, the wisest England could ever make, is a thing not to be understood.We must, therefore, look into the matter more closely as the importance of the case requires, and weigh the above objections one by one, in order to show how groundless they are ; beginning with the geographical difficulties, as an indispensable preliminary to the others.

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