This generous donation of public lands by the people is well deserved by this second great national enterprise.  It is the only method whereby the isolated and distant portions of the interior can become utilized.  The value of the remaining lands of the government will become tenfold what the whole would be if left to time and private enterprise for their development.  The work was actively begun in 1870 on the Duluth end of this road; and it is expected that the present year (1871) will see it completed to the Red River, a distance of about two hundred and thirty-three miles from the above-named city.  Quite a number of miles of iron had been laid at the time of our late visit, and as many more miles graded; with half a thousand men actively engaged in forwarding the vast undertaking.

The road is already completed to the Mississippi above Crow Wing, and from there will follow in nearly a straight line to Fort Abercrombie, the head of navigation on the Bed River.  Here it will unite with the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (owned and operated by the Northern Pacific Railway, a branch of which it now is), already in running order half the distance from St. Paul.  This line, with all its rights and franchises, has been recently purchased by the Northern Pacific, and will greatly aid in supporting the main trunk when completed.

In addition to the force on the eastern end of this road, there has been assembled at the Pacific terminus an able corps of engineers and contractors, who have already commenced the construction there, and thus the great road across the continent will be pushed to final completion, probably within five years from the first commencement of the undertaking.

The road, as located by Engineer Roberts in his report, is laid from the head-waters of Lake Superior in a nearly due westerly line across the State of Minnesota to Red River, near Fort Abercrombie; thence “across the Dakota and Missouri Rivers to the valley of the Yellow Stone, and along that valley to Bozeman’s Pass, through the Belt range of mountains; thence down the Gallatin Valley, crossing the Madison River, and over to the Jefferson Valley, and along that to the Deer Lodge Pass of the Rocky Mountains; thence along Clarke’s Valley to Lake Pend d’Oreille, and from this lake across the Columbia plain to Lewis or Snake River; down that to its junction with the Columbia; along the Columbia to the Cowlitz, and over the portage to Puget Sound, along its southern extremity, to any part which may be selected.”

A branch road is to follow the Columbia River to the vicinity of Portland, together with a link connecting the two western arms.

By this route, which may be materially departed from in the final location, the distance will swell to near two thousand miles between the two grand termini, and it is estimated will cost, with its equipments, from seventy-five to one hundred millions of dollars.

The route of this road is known to be more feasible than was that of the present line to California.  Its elevations are much less, and the natural obstructions of the mountain ranges more easily surmounted, while the climate invites, on account of its high sanitary character, both the immigrant and invalid.