the vastness of the undertaking, the great amount of
capital required, and the energy which the managers
showed in surmounting obstacles and carrying their road
over a mountain range which the Engineers had declared
impassible. The road was completed, and trains were
running seven years before the law required, and before
the best friends of the enterprise had dared to hope.
Although the road was a Government necessity, still it
never would have been accomplished within the time
allowed by the Act (1876), had not individuals given to it
their energies and their lives. In riding over the road we
were struck with the seemingly unnecessary turns and twists
upon some of the plains, where a straight course could
have been taken. An engineer who laid many of these
grades told me, that, in many places, the line might have
been shortened. At least one is forced to the conclusion
that the road was built upon the principle that ' one good
turn deserves another ; ' for, if there was a necessary
THE UNION PACIFIC 201
curve, another was made, even if of no seeming use.
With the large amount in bonds and lands which the
government gave this company, it is not surprising that
they should make the road-bed as long as convenience
would allow.
We were struck with the smoothness of the track since
the repairs, always made in Spring, had been completed ;
and the vast amount of work which had been done since
Spring was apparent. The rolling-stock is in good order,
and the cars are far more comfortable than those on the
Central Road. The depots and station-buildings are
commodious ; and, in some instances, they seem to be
built upon expectation of what will be required. We, of
course, should expect many blunders to have been made,
the wrong locations selected for repair-shops and round-
houses, sidings not where they should be, &c. ; but, upon
the whole, we are surprised and amazed that the work
could have been done so nearly right for the requirements
of the road.
The snow blockade in the winter of 187 1 caused serious
trouble ; but the almost incredible exertions of Superinten-
dent Sickels and his assistants saved the lives of those in
the trains, and supplied the passengers, so that they suffered
only delay. The winter was exceptional ; and, if there
had been only snow on the track, they could have cleared
it away ; but the snow and sleet together formed a mass
which was nearly as solid as ice, weighing, in many places,
thirty-six pounds to the cubic foot ā a mass against which
the powerful engines contended in vain. This year they
202 THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
were fully prepared to contend with the snows ; and,
although they have been very deep and badly drifted, no
delay or serious trouble has been occasioned ; and it is
probable that a blockade for any considerable time will
not again occur.
We were very agreeably surprised at the uniform
courtesy and kindness of the conductors and their men ;
and, from lady-passengers especially, I heard remarks of
admiration of the gentlemen who passed through the trains,
as well to see that all were comfortable as to collect
ticket?.
Now that I have spoken of the good points, let me
note some of the failings. In the first place, some
arrangement must be made to check the baggage through
from Chicago to San Francisco. We Americans demand
that the companies look out for our baggage. In Eng-
land your baggage is never checked ; such a thing is un-
known. There you place your portmanteau in a car
which they call the luggage-van ; and, when you arrive
at your destination, it is thrown out, and you must ' go
for it,' or some one else will.
Next, the inconvenience of dealing with that Transfer
Company at Omaha must be remedied. The passage
of that treacherous stream, the Missouri, caused more
hard words to be spoken than can be erased from the big
book for many a day.
Some of the proprietors of the eating-stations
ought to be promoted to higher callings, for they are
evidently above hotel-keeping. The best table was
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES 203
found at Evanston, and it was kept by a coloured man ;
and the next were at Laramie City and Sidney.
The Union Pacific Company own 149 powerful loco-
motives, 40 passenger-cars, and some 2,000 freight-cars,
the number of which is being increased as business
demands. In every passenger-train which is made up to
run through, there are from two to four ' Pullmans,'
which relieve the company from owning a large number
of passenger-cars.
Daily new discoveries of resources are made along
the line : coal and iron exist in great abundance, and
useful minerals in large quantities. The great variety
and extent of these discoveries excite the wonder even
of those who have often passed over the road.
I will add, by way of recalling the history of this
' grand thought ' of laying a track across the continent, a
list of the different surveys which were made for a route,
but none of which were followed as the exact line. These
surveys furnished the groundwork of all the plans, and
were the means through which we became acquainted
with our ' western country.'
Transcontinental Routes. ā The Preliminary Surveys. ā
Mr. Asa Whitney was the first man to call public at-
tention to a railroad to connect the Mississippi with the
Pacific Ocean. Between the years 1846-50 he ad-
dressed meetings of citizens, sent memorials to State
legislatures, and petitioned Congress. The first plan
was to begin at Prairie du Chien on the great river, cross
204 THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
the Rocky Mountains by South Pass, and reach the
ocean at Vancouver's Sound. The first incentive for
the road was, of course, to furnish the government with
transportation ; next to make a highway for Asiatic
commerce. The rapid settlement of California furnished
another strong argument in 1850 and succeeding years.
Benton of Missouri was a zealous advocate of the
scheme, both in the senate and before the people. After
much labour and many defeats, the friends of a railroad
obtained, in March 1853, an appropriation of $150,000
to defray the expenses of surveys ; and accordingly six
companies were formed, and began the work. As from
these exploring parties all the information was obtained
upon which all future plans were matured, it is well to
recall the routes taken by each, and note the results
attained. In the thirteen quarto volumes published by
Congress all the reports are found, and elaborate illustra-
tions of scenery, flora, and animals.
The first expedition was led by Governor Isaac I.
Stevens, formerly of the army, on the line of the forty-
seventh and thirty-ninth parallels of north latitude. It
consisted of four separate parties. One, under Governor
Steven's personal supervision, penetrated from St. Paul
westward towards the mouth of White Earth River, thence
by the prairies lying along the Missouri River, to the Rocky
Mountains, and among the passes of that region.
Another, under Capt. McClellan, U.S.A., began at Fort
Vancouver on the Columbia, explored to the north-east-
ward, examining the passes of the Cascade Range, and
THE TRANSCONTINENTAL ROUTES 205
then eastward to join Governor Stevens. Another party,
under Lieut. Donalson, U.S.A., examined the Missouri
from its mouth to the Yellowstone, where a junction was
made with that under Governor Stephens. The fourth
party, under Lieut. Saxton, U.S.A., conducted a recon-
naissance from Fort Walla-Walla to the Bitter Root
Valley. The second expedition was on the line of the
thirty-eighth and thirty ninth parallels, and was com-
manded by Capt. Gunnison, U.S.A. It started from
Westport, Mo., and followed the valleys of the Kansas
and Arkansas Rivers to the Rocky Mountains. After
carefully exploring the savage region between the Sangre
del Cristo Pass and Sevier Lake, a portion of the party,
including Capt. Gunnison, was massacred by Indians.
The command devolved upon Lieut. Beckwith, who
proceeded to Salt Lake City, where he received in-
structions to extend the exploration westward upon the
line of the forty-first parallel. This he did in the fol-
lowing spring, crossing the Sierra Nevadas near Fort
Reading, and thence following the valley of the Sacra-
mento to San Francisco. The third expedition, com-
manded by Capt. Whipple, U.S.A., was on the line of
the thirty- fifth parallel. It started from Fort Smith,
and took the route by the valley of the Canadian River
and Auton Chico to Albuquerque ; thence it proceeded
westward by Zuni, the valley of the Colorado Chiquito,
the valley of Bill William's Fork, the valley of the Mo-
have and the Cajon Pass, to San Pedro on the Pacific.
The fourth expedition, under Lieut. Williamson, U.S.A.,
206 THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
was fitted out at San Francisco, and passing up the San
Joaquin and Tulare Valley, explored the region about
Walker's, the Tejon and other passes, and portions of
the Mohave and Colorado Rivers. The fifth expedition
was over the western half of the line of the thirty-second
parallel, and was commanded by Lieut. Parke, U.S.A.,
who was detached from Lieut. Williamson's party
for the purpose. It proceeded by way of Warner's
rancho to Fort Yuma, and up the Gila to the Pimo and
Maricopa villages, thence by way of Tuscon and Dona
Anato El Paso. The sixth expedition was on the eastern
half of the line of the thirty-second parallel, and was
commanded by Capt. Pope, U.S.A. It started from
El Paso, and proceeded in almost a straight line east-
ward to Preston, on Red River, passing through Gauda-
loupe Mountains, crossing the Pecos at the mouth of
Delaware Creek, and traversing the Llano Estacado for
a distance of 125 miles.
These explorations fully demonstrated the practicability
of a road, save over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Addi-
tional appropriations were urged, and in 1854 $190,000
were voted. Other parties were organized ; and two of
them more fully explored the Sierra and Coast ranges,
while the third examined the means of obtaining water
for railroad purposes.
However unsatisfactory these various reports were in
details, they furnished the groundwork upon which to
build the plans which were to be matured, and afterwards
carried to a successful completion ā the union of the
AGRICULTURAL LANDS OF CALIFORNIA 207
Atlantic and the Pacific by a band of iron, over which
the locomotive should whirl, carrying along its precious
freights.
California for Settlers. ā The Agricultural Lands.
ā I append the following extracts from Mr. Nordhoffs
book, which gives the best general view of the country
which I have ever met with.
The greater part of the farming lands of California lies in
the two large valleys of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin,
including the Tulare. The Sacramento Valley is forty miles
wide, bounded on the West by the Coast Range, and on the
East by the Sierra Nevada. It is an immense fertile plain, con-
taining about 5,000,000 of acres, becoming mountainous in
its Northern part, but having avast area of fertile land, much
of which never needs irrigation, and produces fine crops in
the driest years. In the spring of 1 871, when a drought pre-
vailed all over California, I saw a field of oats of 1,000 acres
at Chico on the California and Oregon Railroad, so high
that I could and did tie the oats over my head.
Northern California ā namely, the Sacramento Valley and
the counties which lie on the same parallel with it ā has a
climate mild compared with that of our Eastern States ; but
it has frosts and some light snows, and the semi-tropical
fruits do not flourish there, except in certain favoured locali-
ties. Southern California, which includes the San Joaquin
Valley and its extensions, the Tulare and Kern Valleys, as
well as the sea-coast counties parallel with these, is the real
garden of the State.
At Stockton begins the San Joaquin Valley, which has an
area of about 7,000,000 of acres. This stretches from Stock-
ton to the Tejon Pass, a length North and South of 300
miles. It has, without including the foot-hills, an average
2CS THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
width of 40 miles, or, with the foot-hills, which contain ex-
cellent land, 50 miles. With the foot-hills on each side and
the smaller mountain valleys, this region has over 18,000,000
of acres of land, of which not less than 10,000,000 are sus-
ceptible of highly profitable cultivation. The plains alone
contain nearly 7,000,000 acres of land, of which less than
700,000 were cultivated last year.
. . . The San Joaquin, Tulare and Kern Valleys, in-
cluded in the general term of San Joaquin, form the ' new
country' of the State. Its soil is the richest, its plains are
the broadest, its climate is semi-tropical ; and in it already
the orange, cotton, ramie, the sugar-beet, as well as corn
and wheat, and the other cereals, have been grown.
What is needed in Southern California especially is a
system of irrigation, and already capitalists are making
investments in ditches and canals, from which they will
receive a profit, as well as the farmer who takes the
water from them upon his lands.
The merits of California for any other purpose than
mining, even its own people have been slow to discover.
As placer-mining has slowly given out, the people appa-
rently believed that the State was again to be abandoned
to wild cattle and horses. Now they are slowly being
convinced that agriculture will pay. Plains, which were
treeless and almost bare of any vegetation, have been made
to yield fifty to eighty bushels of wheat, and the same
persons are now as amazed at the agricultural wealth of
California as they were at her richness in gold and silver.
The State can to-day be said to be a country where
mining has been exhausted and agriculture has not
become general. The true wealth of California is in her
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 209
productive soil. She only wants people to come within
her borders and win the prizes from her soil, as golden
as those which her mines formerly gave.
Southern California. ā This designation is rather inde-
finite, but it seems to include all that part of the State
which lies to the south of Stockton, but for the purposes
of this paragraph I refer more particularly to the country
south of Visalia. Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa
Barbara, and San Bernardino, are the principal cities, and
their names indicate their Spanish origin and character.
This part of the State is especially interesting to the in-
valid, but is also attracting the actual settler, as the
processes of farming, especially irrigation, and growing
of tropical fruits as well as the vine, are becoming
better understood. San Diego is the most promising
city, more especially since it has been made the termi-
nus of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Its climate is
the mildest and the sunniest in winter of any of the
coast towns. The scenery for thirty miles around has
some attractions, but is very monotonous. The streets
are bare of trees, although broad ; the shops are well
supplied with merchandise, and the hotel and private
boarding-houses are uncommonly good. The society is
high-toned, and as a residence for the months of
December and January cannot be surpassed, hardly
equalled, on either continent. It is reached by
steamer from San Francisco. San Bernardino is situated
seventy miles from the sea, is highly esteemed as a
p
2io THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
residence by many who have tried the place, but unfor-
tunately is without ample accommodation for visitors. It
lies in a great plain, surrounded on three sides by
mountains. It is reached by stage or carriage in sixty
miles from Los Angeles. By an examination of a map
of California it will be seen that the coast line at Point
Conception makes a sharp turn to the east, and Santa
Barbara lies beyond this trend of the coast, facing
directly south, and completely protected from all the cold
sea breezes. The position can only be described by the
word ' charming,' and all tourists ought to visit the old
town. The climate is amazingly equable and mild. Los
Angeles is the largest of the Southern cities ; it lies
twenty-three miles from San Pedro, which is its sea-port,
and with which it is connected by a railroad. The city
will soon be connected with San Francisco by rail, but
at present it is reached by steamer. The old Spanish
town lies at one end of the city around the old Mission
church, founded in 1781 ; then the business streets, and
beyond these the new section occupied by the Americans.
It is noted for its fair climate, sweet oranges, and excellent
wine. A week spent in the city will be enjoyed to the
full.
I make the following extracts from the diary of Bishop
Kip, of his visit to San Diego in February 1873, as pub-
lished in the 'Spirit of Missions,' a magazine of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States for
May last.
. . . We sailed in the steamer Mohongo. The bar was
rough as we went out of the Golden Gate, and most of the
SAJV DIEGO 2ii
passengers disappeared. But at noon the next day the sea
was perfectly smooth, the rolling of our steamer had ceased,
and the weather continued calm and beautiful till we reached
San Diego. Most of our passengers are going to San
Diego. Of those in the cabin thirty-two are to land here,
and only fourteen go on to Panama. The beauty of the
climate is becoming known, and the place is a resort for
invalids. Of these we had a number on board, whose fearful
coughing suggested a doubt whether they had not waited too
long for this change of climate. We reached the wharf on Sun-
day morning at seven o'clock, where we were met by the Rev.
Mr. Chetwood and Mr. Evans, a kind friend, whose guests
we were to be at the hotel where he resided. This place has
one great advantage in the Horton House, admirably adapted
to the wants of invalids. With its broad airy halls and
sunny rooms, it furnishes exactly what they need, and might
adopt for its name one of the queer titles which the Chinese
in their own country, bestow upon some of their hotels ā the
' Hotel of Accomplished Wishes.'
This is every year becoming a more important point.
The number of those who resort here for health or to escape
the Eastern winter will be each year increasing. They come
from every State on the Atlantic coast and in the West.
Monday. ā The climate is perfectly delightful, reminding
me of that at Sorrento, in the neighbourhood of Naples. We
are sitting to-day with our windows open.
. . . It was at Old San Diego, four miles distant, that I
performed my first service in this diocese, in January 1854.
Our steamer had been wrecked opposite this port, and after
going on shore in a tornado, and crashing there for a whole
night, during which we expected her to go to pieces every
time she struck, as soon as the boats could live in the
breakers we were landed. I went up to the old Spanish
p 2
212 THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
town of San Diego, where for a week my family were the
guests of Don Juan Bandini. The following Sunday a room
was procured, and I held service. Three years ago I held
service there again, when Rev. Mr. Wilbur was Missionary,
and a Sunday-school was organised by him, the Superinten-
dent of which came every Sunday from New Town. But
the American population was so small that they found there
was too little material to keep it up.
Tiiesday. ā We drove over to Old San Diego. It is within
sixteen miles of the Mexican line, most of the houses being
adobe ā sun-dried brick ā one story high, and built, as all
Spanish towns here are, about a plaza or square. This
answers, on Sunday afternoons, for the place in which to
hold the bull-fights, which are still kept up. The American
population, always small, has been diminished since New
Town was founded, until scarcely any are left.
We drove on, seven miles, to the old Franciscan Mission,
founded just a century ago. It is a beautiful drive up the
valley, until at its end we find the Mission buildings on a
rising ground. Like all places selected by the old Padres, it
is remarkable for the beauty of its situation. There is a
wide view for miles down the whole length of the valley,
while directly in front the grove of old olive-trees planted by
the Fathers, by their silvery whiteness of foliage, contrast
beautifully with the green of the palm-trees dispersed among
them, which give so tropical an air to the scene.
The buildings, with adobe walls 4 or 5 feet thick, present
a front of about 250 feet, at the end of which is the church.
When I first visited the place, in 1854, the buildings were
entirely uninjured. The church, particularly, seemed just as
it was left by the Padres. The pulpit was standing, and it
might at once have been used for service. Afterwards,
Government took it as a military station, and of course
everything was altered by the troops. Now that it has been
again abandoned, it is almost in ruins. The stately old
WINE- GR WING 2 1 3
church has had a floor built through it, making it two stories,
until you can hardly trace its original form. The uncovered
adobe walls melt away by degrees in every rainy season,
and, in a few years more little will be left but a pile of
ruins. This was the first Mission established by the Fran-
ciscans in California. . . .
Every time I visit Southern California, I am impressed
more deeply with the idea of its future importance. In a
few years, when the Southern Pacific Railroad, through
Texas to San Diego, is finished, there will be a perfect rush of
people from the South-western States. The advantages of
soil and climate will be every year more fully recognised.
Already
We hear the tread of pioneers ā
Of nations yet to be ā
The first low wash of waves where soon
Shall roll a human sea.
The part of California which I have thus described
contains the only tropical climate of which the United
States can boast, and it is a tropical climate without the
usual penalties attached thereto. Persons seeking
such conditions will find Southern California the most
favoured spot upon this earth, for here the English race
find a congenial home, surrounded by all the wealth of
the tropics, and where they enjoy the robust health of
the North.
Wine-growing. ā It is often said that in a few years
California will produce wine and brandy for the world.
The area on which the vine can be grown is very large ā
thirty-five out of the forty-four counties having success-
fully produced wine. The larger part of the wine is,
?I4 THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
however, produced in Sonoma, Napa, Los Angeles, El
Dorado, Yuba, Solana, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Tulare,
and Sacramento counties. With the perfect climate of
California which ensures the ripening of good crops
every year, it is not surprising that even within a few
years a great business should have been established. Its
magnitude is not conceived by those who have not been
in the State, and journeyed through the counties men-
tioned.
On a pleasant June afternoon a number of gentlemen,
who had taken up their homes in San Francisco as music-
teachers, started upon an excursion to the cliffs around
the Golden Gate. As they walked on, they picked by
the roadside some fully-ripened grapes, which they took
along with them to add to the completeness of their
luncheon. Afterwards one of the party, as they sat upon
the cliff partaking of the grapes, called the attention of
the others to the similarity in appearance of the Mission
grapes which they were eating, to some of the varieties
which grew in Germany, and from which they themselves
had assisted in making wine. This little circumstance
turned Kuhler and Flohling from musicians into wine-
makers. They began their experiments with the Mission
grape, and in 1854 they had a few barrels of wine. As
an evidence of the rapid increase of this enterprise, we
find the great house of Kuhler and Flohling now occupying
extensive premises, and sending out hock, claret, sherry,
muscatel, and port wines and brandy, of such qualities as
have made them well known in the trade.
WINE-GROWING 215
How the Mission grape was introduced in California
has been a subject of much discussion ; but it seems to
have come from Spain, among the raisins brought by the
old Padres, and to have taken kindly to the soil, and
either by propagation from cuttings, or by natural seed-
ing, to have spread itself over the central part of the
State. Other than a reasonable theory, nothing can be
said with exactness about the Mission grape and its in-
troduction.
Colonel Agoston Haraszthy early took a great interest