f British America must become "one and indivisible" with us,
and the knell of parting government is likely to be sooner sounded in
the region of the Red River than elsewhere along the line of our
frontier.

An additional advantage inheres in this Northern Pacific line of prime
importance, and that is in the fact of its offering to commerce a
shorter route by several hundred miles to the Pacific coast than that
which now exists. To Japan and China, from Puget Sound, is likewise, by
more than half a thousand miles, less than from the port of San
Francisco. This difference is sufficient to give, eventually, to this
route the carrying trade of those countries.

Who can question the greatness and power which lies slumbering along
the line of this royal road, through which, as through a great, pulsing
artery, the life,--even now already dawning,--will soon throb with a
force which shall vitalize this Territory, vast as an empire, and richer
than the fabled realms of an Arabian tale.

FOOTNOTES:

[E] _Board of Directors_.--Messrs. J. Gregory Smith, R.D. Rice, Thomas
H. Canfield, W.B. Ogden, William G. Morehead, W.G. Fargo, B.P. Cheney,
Geo. W. Cass, Frederick Billings, William Windom, James Stinson, Samuel
M. Felton, Charles B. Wright. _Trustees_,--Messrs. Jay Cooke and J.
Edgar Thompson.

[F] The line, it is now judged, will give about sixty millions of acres.

CHAPTER XIII.

OTHER CLIMATES THAN MINNESOTA.

Sketches of other climates and localities favorable to
invalids.--California.--Mortuary statistics of San Francisco.--The wet
and dry seasons.--San Diego the best place.--Florida and its
reputation.--Nassau as a resort.--Fayal and its climate,--English and
American visitors.--Means of access.

Other climates and localities than Minnesota have for many years enjoyed
more or less of a high reputation as healthful resorts for the
consumptive, and while the chief purpose of this volume has been the
consideration of the character and climate of our Northwest, yet it
seems not inappropriate that some mention at least should be given to
these other places, even though it be extremely brief. Beyond a general
outlining of some of the prevailing characteristics appertaining to each
locality, we do not deem it desirable or necessary to go, since all who
contemplate journeys to any one of them will, of course, consult such
writers as have considered in detail the various merits or demerits of
the several climates.