FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  
eeding that of all the internal steam tonnage of the rest of the world. No country is arterialized by such a vast system of navigable streams, to have constructed which as canals of equal capacity would have cost more than ten billions of dollars, and then these canals would have been subjected to large tolls, the cost of their annual repairs would have been enormous, and the interruption by lockage a serious obstacle. We may rest assured then, that, all Europe combined, can never have such facilities for cheap water communication as the United States. This is a mighty element in estimating the power and progress of a nation. It shows, also, why we have no such deserts as Sahara, so small a portion of our lands requiring manures or irrigation, and no general failures of crops, with so few even partial failures of any one crop. We have more deep, capacious, and safe harbors, accessible at _all tides_, than all Europe, with more than twenty capable of receiving the _Great Eastern_. (Charts, U. S. Coast Survey.) Our hydraulic power (including Niagara) far exceeds that of all Europe. We have more timber than all Europe, including most varieties, useful and ornamental. We have, including cotton, vastly more of the raw material for manufactures than all Europe. With all these vast natural advantages, has man, in our country, performed his duty, in availing himself of the bounteous gifts of Providence? We are considering now the question of our material progress, in regard to which, the following official data are presented. We have completed since 1790, 5,782 miles of canals, from 4 to 10 feet deep, and from 40 to 75 feet wide, costing $148,000,000, and mostly navigable by steam. (Census Table, 1860, No. 39.) We have constructed since 1829, 33,698 miles of railroad (more than all the rest of the world), costing $1,258,922,729. (Table 38, Census of 1860, and Addenda.) We have in operation on the land, more miles of telegraph than all the world, a single route, from New York to San Francisco, being 3,500 miles. Our lighthouses exceed in number those of any other country, and we have no light-dues, as in England. Our coast survey, executed by Professor Bache, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, exceeds in extent and accuracy that of any other country. On this subject, we have the united opinions of British and Continental savans. We have made since 1790, 1,505,454 linear miles of survey of the public lan
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87  
88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Europe

 

country

 

canals

 
including
 
failures
 

progress

 
survey
 

exceeds

 

costing

 

material


Census
 

Survey

 

navigable

 

constructed

 

arterialized

 
tonnage
 

railroad

 

system

 

question

 
regard

official

 
Providence
 

presented

 

streams

 

completed

 

Addenda

 

accuracy

 
subject
 

extent

 

Superintendent


eeding

 

executed

 

Professor

 

united

 

opinions

 

linear

 

public

 

British

 

Continental

 

savans


England

 

single

 

telegraph

 

operation

 

Francisco

 

internal

 
number
 

exceed

 

lighthouses

 

bounteous