Book Description

Excerpt from The Union Pacific Railroad Company: Chartered by the United States; Progress of Their Road West From Omaha, Nebraska, Across the Continent; Making, With Its Connections, an Unbroken Line From the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean; Five Hundred Miles Completed October 25, 1867 The absolute necessity for a railroad connecting the Atlantic and Pacific States was one of the great facts the late war demonstrated. We had States on the Pacific that were practically more remote than the capital of Russia, and that could take no part in the common defense. Ambitious spirits were not wanting who advocated the establishment of an independent Pacific empire, and it was evident that the continued and prosperous unity of the country required that the two extremes should be brought more closely together. The new states and territories on the Pacific and among the Rocky Mountain valleys, needed only ready means of ingress and egress to command a great population. The Pacific soil was fertile, and its climate delightful; but immigration was unwilling to incur the risk or defray the cost of navigating two oceans to secure these advantages. The gold mines were rich, but comparatively few even of our adventurous people would brave the perils in the way of reaching them, or the difficulties of existence among them. Notwithstanding all these obstacles, the population of the Pacific coast had reached half a million in 1860, and the country could no longer afford to do without a Pacific Railroad. The great western half of the continent, which had remained almost unknown for two hundred and fifty years after the eastern settlements had begun, must be opened for occupation. The vast mining regions must be brought within reach, that the way to the resumption of specie payments might be made shorter and easier; and the greatest possible inducements must be offered to immigrants, that in return for our public lands, they might bear a proper share of the public burdens. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.