Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/203



Hall Jackson Kelley 175

scientific and enterprising men, and described in my journals and papers ....

"The route begins on the bank of the Missouri near the mouth of the Kansas, crosses the back-bone of the continent through a depression near the 43d parallel, lays along the valley of the Snake P^iver, and crosses the Columbia at Walla- walla ; and, again, it makes a mountainous transit on the west- erly side of the valley of Clark's River, where, intelligent hunters suppose no formidable difficulties exist to be encoun- tered ; and terminates in a delightful and fertile tract of coun- try near the southern extermity of Puget's Sound, there to connect with the interminable tracks of the ships of the g^eat deep. The eligibility of that place, for a terminus, and for an entreport and depot, can be fully conceived of, only by those who understand the natural advantages of that portion of Oregon for commerce and agriculture; and know the chart and all about De Fuca's Straits ....

"My plans differ in some respects, from those by Mr. Whit- ney, now before the public. His, I think, are well devised and matured. His ideas, as, in 1848 I understood them from the projector himself, in regard to the routes, to the execution of the work, and to the benefits to accrue to the world, especially, to our nation, seem consistent and sound ; in my apprehension, there can be none better.

"He would have one-half of a strip of territory sixty miles in breadth. The United States to retain the other half, — every alternate section. Mine propose just half of that breadth ; and looking to a portion of the lands for a possession, and ap- propriate a portion for their Christianization, and for improve- ments in their aflfairs and fortune.""

The evidence presented by Kelley is not su£Bcient to give him a distinguished rank among the many men whose activities brought about the construction of a transcontinental railroad. In neither of the passages to which he referred is there any specific mention of a railroad, and we know that in the ten

17 NarraHvt of Events and DifFicuttUs, 70-1; Settlement of Oregon, 123.