nd the protracted rigors of the
Sierra, it is demonstrated that snow can be no more an obstacle to the
railroads than icebergs have proved to the Atlantic cable. Including the
Eastern connections with New York as the Atlantic terminus, we have,
therefore, two thousand two hundred and fifty miles of the interoceanic
railroad already in actual operation.

From Hunter's, in Nevada, to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains,
stretches the long space of unfinished work, ten hundred and fifty-four
miles of railroad line, with three sharp crests and a gently rolling
intra-mountain desert, where the dew never falls, where the twilight
lingers long into the evening, and the eye wearies of the wastes of
sage-bush, and the tracts of scant grass between arid breadths of
dazzling white alkaline sand. A glance at the grades discloses one of
the difficulties with which the Union Pacific has now to grapple. From
the Black Hills, within thirty miles the track must rise to its first
and loftiest ascent, 8,242 feet above the sea-level. Then comes a
descent of a thousand feet for the same distance, succeeded by equal
alternations of rise and fall for eight successive points. Beyond Bear
River, however, these gigantic mountain waves lengthen, and the vast
interior basin rolls broadly and heavily, with an average level of
forty-five hundred feet, past Weber Canon and Humboldt Wells. Here the
line strikes Humboldt River, and runs southwesterly to the Big Bend of
the Truckee River, along a region singularly favorable in its
alignments, and described as well supplied with wood and water. In this
respect recent surveys essentially corroborate the testimony of Fremont.

The difficulties to be overcome by the Central Pacific in its route over
and through the mountains to meet its eastern branches have already been
described. But, notwithstanding these, the company claims that it can
readily construct its line at the rate of one mile per day for five
hundred working-days. It has nearly ten thousand laborers at work, most
of them Chinese. The portion of the road completed, with its excellent
rails, its ties of red-wood and tamarack, and its granite culverts, has
elicited praise from government commissioners for the thoroughness of
its execution.

Though none of the routes are as yet completed, the net earnings of each
of the three companies, over and above the interest on its bonds, have
surpassed all expectation. In 1865 and 1866 the net earning