March 26, 1853
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmRailroad to the Pacific
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Col. Benton has published his plan for a railroad to the Pacific. He advocates tba Central route, for which Colonel Fremont an long expressed a preference. He is in favor ot making this highway on a grand scale, re serving a tract a mile wide for all sorts of roads, rail and macadamized, and two mar gins one hundred feet wide for independent and rival telegraphic lines. He is opposed to making this highway by any mixture of pub lic and private means, or by giving lands to companies, but holds that the United States should build the road and the fixtures, and let out the use of it for terms of seven or ten years to the lowest bidder. The present sys tem of railways from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, he regards as an expanded fan. the spokes of which converge to St. Louis, the handle extending thence to San Francisco.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
