iling
itself of that immense trade which lies visible or latent throughout
Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California. Escaping the overwhelming
snows of the Rocky Mountains, this route will pass through a salubrious
region abounding in timber and bituminous coal.[C] By intersecting the
Rio Grande at Albuquerque, it will hold out to the Southern States a
tempting invitation to form connections, and share to the fullest extent
in the benefits of this great national enterprise. In this way the
Pacific Railroad stands ready to second Congress in the work of
"reconstruction."

Of the Central Pacific Road we have not as yet spoken adequately, and
shall now be compelled to give the history of its achievements in a
wholly insufficient space. Unlike the Eastern roads, it has allowed no
pause in its work from the day of the first track-laying to the present
moment. Unlike these roads, also, it has had to contend with great
engineering difficulties from the start, while the material for its
construction required to be brought over distances to which the
transportation annoyances of the other lines offer no parallel. All the
rolling stock, rails, etc. doubled Cape Horn. The timber for the
trestle-work of bridges was brought from Puget's Sound. For laborers it
had recourse to China. To reach the crest of the Sierra, they were
obliged to pierce the hillsides fifteen times, the tunnelling alone
amounting in continuous line to 6,262 feet. The eight-hour labor
movement was an additional embarrassment. Embankments built up with
incalculable labor, and protected by every device of engineering
science, settled in many cases, and were repaired only after much delay
and vast expense. Nevertheless, the indomitable projectors of the
enterprise have proved themselves equal to their task. The Summit Tunnel
was cut through in August of this year; and by November the road will
have been extended, not only to the crest of the mountains, but far down
the eastern slope. Hunter's, which is the wagon depot of the Nevada
miners, two hundred and seventy-four miles from San Francisco, and one
hundred and fifty miles from Sacramento, is the point which the
locomotive is certain to reach by the close of 1867.[D]

Thus far there have been built six hundred and fifty miles of completed
road. Adding the water route to San Francisco, there are about eight
hundred miles of continuous steam communication. Despite also the
bleakness of the Plains in winter, a