Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- PART I
- CHAP. I VIRGINIA
- CHAP. II THE NEGRO
- CHAP. III THE SOUTH
- CHAP. IV THE EMPIRE STATE
- CHAP. V CAMBRIDGE COMMENCEMENT
- CHAP. VI CANADA
- CHAP. VII UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
- CHAP. VIII THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- CHAP. IX OMPHALISM
- CHAP. X LETTER FROM DENVER
- CHAP. XI RED INDIA
- CHAP. XII COLORADO
- CHAP. XIII ROCKY MOUNTAINS
- CHAP. XIV BRIGHAM YOUNG
- CHAP. XV MORMONDOM
- CHAP. XVI WESTERN EDITORS
- CHAP. XVII UTAH
- CHAP. XVIII NAMELESS ALPS
- CHAP. XIX VIRGINIA CITY
- CHAP. XX EL DORADO
- CHAP. XXI LYNCH LAW
- CHAP. XXII GOLDEN CITY
- CHAP. XXIII LITTLE CHINA
- CHAP. XXIV CALIFORNIA
- CHAP. XXV MEXICO
- CHAP. XXVI REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT
- CHAP. XXVII BROTHERS
- CHAP. XXVIII AMERICA
- PART II
- APPENDIX: A MAORI DINNER
- ERRATA
- Plate section
CHAP. VIII - THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- PART I
- CHAP. I VIRGINIA
- CHAP. II THE NEGRO
- CHAP. III THE SOUTH
- CHAP. IV THE EMPIRE STATE
- CHAP. V CAMBRIDGE COMMENCEMENT
- CHAP. VI CANADA
- CHAP. VII UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
- CHAP. VIII THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- CHAP. IX OMPHALISM
- CHAP. X LETTER FROM DENVER
- CHAP. XI RED INDIA
- CHAP. XII COLORADO
- CHAP. XIII ROCKY MOUNTAINS
- CHAP. XIV BRIGHAM YOUNG
- CHAP. XV MORMONDOM
- CHAP. XVI WESTERN EDITORS
- CHAP. XVII UTAH
- CHAP. XVIII NAMELESS ALPS
- CHAP. XIX VIRGINIA CITY
- CHAP. XX EL DORADO
- CHAP. XXI LYNCH LAW
- CHAP. XXII GOLDEN CITY
- CHAP. XXIII LITTLE CHINA
- CHAP. XXIV CALIFORNIA
- CHAP. XXV MEXICO
- CHAP. XXVI REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT
- CHAP. XXVII BROTHERS
- CHAP. XXVIII AMERICA
- PART II
- APPENDIX: A MAORI DINNER
- ERRATA
- Plate section
Summary
When the companions of the explorer Cartier found that the rapids at Montreal were not the end of all navigation, as they had feared, but that above them there commenced a second and boundless reach of deep, still waters, they fancied they had found the long-looked-for route to China, and cried, “La Chine!” So the story goes, and the name has stuck to the place.
Up to 1861, the Canadians remained in the belief that they were at least the potential possessors of the only possible road for the China trade of the future, for in that year a Canadian government paper declared that the Rocky Mountains, south of British territory, were impassable for railroads. Maps showed that from St. Louis to San Francisco the distance was twice that from the head of navigation on Lake Superior to the British Pacific ports.
America has gone through a five years’ agony since that time; but now, in the first days of peace, we find that the American Pacific Railroad, growing at the average rate of two miles a day at one end, and one mile a day at the other, will stretch from sea to sea in 1869 or 1870, while the British line remains a dream.
Not only have the Rocky Mountains turned out to be passable, but the engineers have found themselves compelled to decide on the conflicting claims of passes without number.
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- Greater Britain , pp. 94 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009