Rambles on Railways

by Sir Cusack P. Roney

UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD—SOUTH AUSTRIAN AND ALTA ITALIA—PARIS, LYONS, AND MEDITERRANEAN—ORLEANS—MILEAGE, COST, AND RECEIPTS OF FRENCH RAILWAYS—LONDON TRAFFIC—LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

From the day that the Americans became masters of California, they had always had it in their heads to join it by the best possible roadway to the old states of the Union; and it was a grand conception, for the distance between the railways of the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri, that here had stretched their arms outwards towards the West, were still separated from the Pacific by fully 2,000 miles—as near as can be the distance which intervenes between St. Petersburg and Lisbon. Fremont—then captain, now general—a few years back nearly President of the Republic—son-in-law of Benton, one of America’s most worthy sons—traversed, with a few companions, in 1847, the desert that led to the Rocky Mountains, found out the passes through them, as well as those of the Sierra Nevada (the Snowy Mountain), and arrived in California just as his countrymen were taking possession of its territory. It was at the same time that the first golden nugget was discovered. The news spread, and a party of emigrants followed Fremont’s footmarks. Those who arrived in California left the bones of many of their comrades to whiten and then to moulder in the desert, and it was nearly six months before the survivors reached the El dorado. Similar casualties beset the parties that followed the first gold-seeking pioneers, for the same spirit which makes every American believe that he may be President of the United States (therefore no American ever commits suicide), made each survivor of each party, as its ranks were thinned by famine, fever, and the attacks of the Red Indians, believe that he, at all events, would be spared and arrive at last at his destination.

But some did arrive, and by degrees the perils of the route diminished, although they have never, even at this day, altogether ceased. In less than ten years from the date that Fremont first set out on his expedition, a regular Overland Mail had been established, which completed its journey between San Francisco and St. Joseph, both for passengers and despatches, in three weeks. A grand total distance of fully 2,000 miles, on the average 100 miles in each twenty-four hours, of course some days more some days less, for independent of nature’s road on the desert, no less than two mountain passes had to be surmounted, and on these there was not, in the first instance, even a bridle-way. This pace, however, was considered too slow, at all events as regards correspondence. The “Pony Express” was thereupon inaugurated in 1860, by which time the system of eastern railways had extended 400 miles more towards the west than what they were in 1858, consequently diminishing roadway distance to 1,600 miles. This ground was got over in the marvellously brief time of six days, or at the go-a-head, we might almost add “helter skelter,” rate of 265 miles a-day! The rider performed no greater journey each day than his horse. The latter set off on a gallop and never ceased his fifteen to twenty miles, except when, as occasionally, although not frequently, happened, Red Skin stopped the way, sent the rider to his long account, and then quietly rode off on the dead man’s horse, which he claimed as his trophy. On the 12th of November, 1860, the courier rode into San Francisco with news from Europe of no longer date than the previous 21st of October. Even this speed did not satisfy; the telegraph was therefore laid the whole way across the American continent; and now, thanks to the Atlantic Cable, and to difference of longitude, the merchant of London can tell his correspondent at San Francisco, events that have happened twelve hours before the same hour has arrived in California. Unfortunately, however, for California, notwithstanding that the normal speed of electro-telegraphy is 280,000 miles a second, she is unable to let us know her news here in less than some twenty-four hours after its occurrence.

In 1862 President Lincoln signed the Act of Congress for “The Union Pacific Railroad Company.” Forthwith its works were commenced. Where? At two points:—The eastern, at Omaha, near the confluence of the Missouri River, with that of the Platte, or Nebraska, in the state of Nebraska, latitude 41° north, longitude 19° west, of Washington. The line follows the course of the river to the Rocky Mountains, which it climbs up until not far from the summit of the Bridger Pass, due west of Omaha. A tunnel not more than 500 yards in length carries the line into Utah. In this territory it passes by Salt Lake and Salt Lake City, head-quarters of Brigham Young and his Mormons; thence to the state of Nevada, as rich in silver-yielding mines as those in California are in supplying gold. No wonder, then, that its capital—Carson City—should now have a population of 15,000, although, seven years ago, there was not even one inhabitant to boast of. At the passage of the Sierra Nevada there will also be a tunnel 500 yards long. Thence to Sacramento, and from there, it will wend its way close to the river of the same name, and find itself at San Francisco. This is not only its extreme western, but it is also its extreme southern point, for, in coming west from the Bridger Pass, the latitude changes from 41° to 38° 20″; and it is from San Francisco that the western works commence and proceed easterly to meet, at some point as yet uncertain, those advancing in the opposite direction. They are already at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains, 500 miles from Omaha; and on the Pacific side, they have reached the western slopes of the Sierra. Therefore, already more than a third of the whole line is accomplished. On the plain, progress is made at a rate that would astonish the European engineer, for the Americans are satisfied with the road bed such as nature has made it; and thus it is no uncommon thing to lay 2½ miles of the railway in a single day! As the road advances, so do the locomotive and the train, but not always with the most perfect safety, for the Indians have now learned to do wholesale what they only did isolately upon the riders of the Pony Expresses,—witness the following paragraph from the Times of no later date than August 31 of the present year:—

“A correspondent of the New York Tribune says that the Indians are out in strong force, and have begun the war in earnest. A strong force of savages laid ties on the track of the Union Pacific Railroad, six miles west of Plum Creek, and a valuable freight train was ambushed and upset. The engineer, fireman, two breakman, and three telegraph repairers were killed. The Indians burned eight cars, and completely destroyed a great deal of valuable merchandise, valued at 30,000 dollars. The savages burned the train, killed and scalped seven persons, and threw the slaughtered bodies into the flames of the burning cars. The conductor of the train narrowly escaped, and rushing back along the track, met another freight train, which he signalled. The train was stopped, and he was taken on board, after which the train returned to Plum Creek. The affair has created great excitement, and there is a general alarm along the line of the railroad, now that the Indians have discovered the means of arresting its traffic.”

No doubt the alarm is general along the line, but it will die out, for as a writer in the Revue des deux Mondes, to whom we are indebted for many of the facts we have just stated, says:—“En beaucoup d’endroits, le terrain a êté si bien nivelé par la nature, qu’ ou ne voit de quel coté il penche, et que les rails se posent sans aucune fouille sur le sol. Pas de grandes riviers a franchir, pas de torrens impetueux a dompter. Le seul enemi de la voie, est que sur quelques points, heureusement isolés, du desert, ou manquent l’eau et le bois, domine le peau-rouge, vagabond, et chasseur, adversaire-né du colon stable: mais le bois et l’eau, on les apporte, et quant a l’enfant des Prairies, il disparaitra et s’eteindra, bientot, devant l’homme civilisé. C’est la, une des lois fatales du progres; elle se verifie partout ou se presente l’Europeen.” Too true.

And who are making the railway? On the East they are all Irishmen. As each half-mile of it, or so, is made, they march along with it towards the West, with their wives, their children, their wooden houses rolled along on wheels, and their domestic animals—cats, dogs, goats—the more ambitious, have occasionally a cow, the richest of all can sport a little pony. When the day comes for the meeting of the two railway ends, the Irishmen will find that the fellow-labourers who have come to greet them are to a man “John Chinaman,” for none others work on the Pacific side of the railway.

Its total cost is to be £30,000,000 sterling—£16,000 a mile. Of the gross sum, one-third is guaranteed by the United States Government in money, in addition to the concession of immense tracts of land on each side of the railway. The state of Utah, or rather the individual Mormons, are good for £4,000,000, and private speculation furnishes the remainder. Of the mighty company which carries out these works, General John A. Dix (now United States Minister in Paris) is president; and in Colonel Heine (an attaché of the Embassy) the Company has a warm, zealous, and active friend. We have said already that a third of the railway is already accomplished. By 1870, probably—by 1871, certainly—it will be finished in its entire length. New York will then certainly associate itself with Jeddo and Canton by this route; but not so London, Paris, and other parts of Europe. The writer in the Revue des Deux Mondes says, that, on the completion of the railway, Europe will only be one month from Canton. Let us see:—London to New York, ten days; New York to San Francisco, 3,000 miles, at 20 miles an hour (all stops and delays included), 150 hours—six days and a quarter; San Francisco is from Canton, even by great circle sailing, exactly 6,900 nautical miles. No paddle-wheel steamer could take coals for such a voyage; a screw vessel of very large size, but depending mainly upon her sails for her speed, might make twelve, but very probably would not average more than ten, knots an hour, yet, at the former rate, her passage would be twenty-five days—total, forty-one days and a quarter; at ten knots an hour, the passage would be nearly twenty-nine days, or a total of forty-five days. The Mail now goes from London to Canton in fifty-two days; in 1871 the journey will be six or seven days shorter. The route to Jeddo viâ San Francisco will be quicker than that viâ Suez by seven or eight days, even under circumstances the most favourable for the latter route. By great circle sailing, San Francisco is distant from Jeddo 5,600 knots, and it is also eleven degrees farther to the north than Canton. These eleven degrees of north add 600 miles more in favour of San Francisco.