Author: United States War Department

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-19

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9780483431027

Excerpt from Conclusion of the Official Review of the Reports Upon the Explorations and Surveys for Railroad Routes From the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean These considerations, and others of a strictly military character, cause the Department to examine with interest all projects promising the accomplishment of a railroad communication between the navigable waters of the Mississippi and those of the Pacific ocean. As military Operations depend in a greater degree upon rapidity and certainty of movement than upon any other circumstance, the introduction of railway transportation has greatly improved the means of defending our Atlantic and inland frontiers and to give us a sense of security from attack upon the most exposed portion of our territory, it is requisite that the facility of railroad transportation should be extended to the Pacific coast. Were such a road completed, our Pacific coast, instead of being further removed in time, and less accessible to us than to an enemy, would be brought within a few days of easy communication, and the cost of supplying an army there, instead of being many times greater to us than to him, would be about equal. We would be relieved of the necessity of accumulating large supplies on that coast, to waste, perhaps, through long years of peace and we could feel entire confidence that, let war come when and with whom it may, before a hostile expedition could reach that exposed frontier, an ample force could be placed there to repel any attempt at invasion. From the results of the surveys authorized by Congress, we derive at least the assurance that the work is practicable; and may dismiss the apprehensions which, previously, we could not but entertain as to the possibility of defending our Pacific territory through a long war with a powerful maritime enemy. The judgment which may be formed as to the prospect of its completion must control our future plans for the military defence of that frontier; and any plan for the purpose which should leave that consideration out of view, would be as imperfect as if it should disregard all those other resources with which commerce and art aid the Operations of armies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.