Mission of the North American people, geographical, social, and political

Front matter

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Introduction

This volume is tbe reproduction of its predecessor, which appeared in 1860. This short interval, although checkered by war, is illuminated by stupendous achievements in the direction whither the energies of the people were invited.

The vivacity with which labor, intelligence, and moderation, in concert and alliance, march and expand in force and volume, is amazing and glorious. Nothing in sight predicts any serious check to this tidal flood, on which is borne every department and detail of Progress.

The aim here is to grasp facts as they are ; to reject delusions which have grown senile. No special chapter is here assigned to the Western Cordillera (the Sierra Nevada), because its general profile, its thermal features, and its continuity ate everywhere referred to and described.

Much that has been proposed and asked from the people in the former volume is now fully completed and has gone into history. Everything else is coming with assured certainty and celerity.

In the former preface I have given expression fully to my faith and hopes. These I retain and repeat with fortified confidence and conviction. ^

Denver, Juno 1 1873.

THE

CENTRAL GOLD REGION.

THE

GRAIN, PASTORAL, AND GOLD REGIONS

OF

:^OETH AMEEIOA.

WITH

SOME NEW VIEWS OE ITS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE PACIEIC RAILROAD. .

BY

WILLIAM GILPIN,

lATE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMT.

T^IE/ST I'TT OB L I SUED I IT I860.

Preface

Everybody is acquainted with the history of the American people. Their commonwealth, commenced at first by a few republican familiea voluntarily exiled from the Old World, is now, at the end of two and a half centuries, a republican empire of established continental dimensions and policy.

Restricted heretofore in its development to so much of our continent as belongs to the Atlantic, a point of progress is reached, whence our energies, overflowing towards the west, expand to embrace the regions of the Pacific Ocean and establish direct and familiar relations with Asia.

This movement, long in preparation, now engages so large a force that its advance daily acquires volume and celerity. Federal legislation^ to progress pari passu with the people, is demanded upon a basis to give effect to the great central movement resulting from their energies. A liberal understanding of the mission of our people, counsels a genial expansion of the federal system to the grandest dimensions which their energies may reach.

I have condensed into a small volume, the memoranda and reflections suggested by a residence of twenty years in the wilderness : and in the midst of the pioneer people who occupy the foreground of progress, and clear open the track of empire.

I distinguish, as the most essential present ground of development, the interval which separates the Mississippi Basin from the Pacific Ocean. This defines itself as the '■^Mountain Systeni" of our geography.

The magnitude of the obstacles which it opposes to the forces of progress assembled on its two fronts, sanctions an appeal to every form of g PREFACE.

help discernible to the patriotic heart. This needed help is, in short, the construction of the Continental Railroad.

Two auspicious elements in human civilization, by their rapid growth in power and importance, fix our attention, — the indefinite multiplication of gold coin, and international public works.

These two elements, so operating as to mutually stimulate and sustain each other, promise to enthrone industrial organization as the ruling principle of nations.

America leads the host of nations as they ascend to this new order of civilization.

Her intermediate geographical position between Asia and Europe and their populations, invests her with the powers and duties of arbiter between them. Our continent is at once a barrier which separates the other two, yet fuses and harmonizes their intercourse in all the relations from which force is absent.

Human society is, then, upon the brink of a new order of arrangement, inspired by the universal instincts of peace, and is about to assume the grandest dimensions.

Fascinated by this vision, which I have seen appear and assume the solid form of a reality in less than half a generation, I discern in it a new power, the People occupied in the wilderness, engaged at once in extracting from its recesses the omnipotent element of gold coin, and disbursing it immediately for the industrial conquest of the world.

William Gtilpin.

Independence, April 7, 1860.

Chapter I

THE JIOUNTAIN FORMATION OF NORTH AMERICA THE CORDILLERAS THE PLA- TEAU THE NORTH AMERICAN ANDES.

PAGE

Breadth — Length — Black Hills — Cordillera of the Sierra Madre — Gold-producing Granite — Pares — Plateau of Table Lands — Not comprehen<led by the American People — Basin of City of Mexico — Bolson di Mapimi — No Drainage — Sierra Mimbres — Basin of the Del Norte — Basin of the Colorado — Canon of the Colorado— Basin of the Salt Lake — Basin of the Columbia — Basin of Frazer's River — Delicious Climate of the Plateau — Its Fertility — Cordillera of the Andes — Pacific Maritime Front 15

Chapter II. The Cordillera Of The Sierra Madre The Eastern Cordillera

Mountain System of the Globe — The Andes — Their length, altitude, and auriferous wealth — Chain of the Mother Mountain — Its Rivers — Canons — Mesas — Butes — Llanos — Bayous or Pares — Elevation — Breadth — Wind River Mountain — South Pass — The Alps and their pass — Lava Plain of Snake River — Bowl of the Yellowstone— Plain of the South Pass — Sweetwater Rivei- — Table Mountain — Placers of gold and precious stones — Northern Pare or Bull-pen — Favorite winter home of trappers — Streams, meadows, flowers, groves, etc. — Middle Pare — Mountain spurs, rocky streams, cloudy atmosphere, snow-clad summits — Long's Peak — Southern Pare — Pike's Peak — Mountain barrier — No transit — Bayou San Luis — Sublime scenery, luxuriant fertility, agricultural seasons — Valley of Kashmere — Secondary mesas, or " Llanott" — Level surface, poor soil, rainless atmosphere — Perplexity of public mind — Llano Estacado and LlaDO of the Balsifoeta — A continual terrace — Kansas Basin 24

Chapter III. The Plateau Of North America

Its area and characteristics — The column of central progress — Plateaux of the Old World — Plateau of American Table Lands not understood — Its basins — Climate uniformly vernal — Fertility of soil — Grasses make natural hay — Immense herds of cattle — Auriferous granite and gold placers — Irrigation — Prepared for an immediate dense population — Its physical characteristics — Geological

formation — Mineralogical resources — Zone of civilization — Line of progress 34

10 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK IV.

THE SIEKRA SAN JUAN.

PAGE

The gold and silver production of the world — Auriferous or gold-bearing formation— Calcareous formation — Iron, copper, lead — Focal culminations of the Sierra Madre — Pike's Peak — The Sierra Mimbres — Mining in the Andes — Stupendous effects of the internal volcanic powers of the globe — Abundance of the precious metals — Canon of the Colorado — Gorgeous variety of scenery — Philosophy of metalliferous deposits — " Great North American Desert" does not exist — Humboldt's views — The Great Plateau the seat of empire of the ancient Mexicans — Eemarkable focal culmination of the Sierra Mimbres in the Sierra San Juan — The column of pioneers upon its threshold 44

Chapter V. The South Pass Of America

Route from Paris to Pekin — Distance and time reduced — The Plateau and two Cordilleras the only impediments — Basin of the Mediterranean and Basin of the Mississippi — The former salt water — The latter rich, calcareous, and arable soil — The former supported a population of one hundred and thirty-one millions — The latter capable of twelve hundred millions — Both the seats of empire in their respective continents — Both traversed by the zodiac of civilization — The South Pass — Its shape, size, and surface — Distance from Astoria and St. Louis — The only pass through the Mountain Formation hence to Tehuantepec — The great trail of the buffalo passes through it — Uninterrupted passage by the bed of great rivers both to the Atlantic and Pacific — Uniformity of climate from sea to sea — The great Continental line of empire here — The Pillars of Washington 54

Chapter VI. The Great Basin Of The Mississippi

Its great river — Its surface a rich and deep sediment — Its climate — Line of timber — Line of grasses — Capacity for population — Geographical centre of the Basin and North American Continent at same point — Between and equidistant from the 259,000,000 population of Europe and the 650,000,000 pojiulation of Asia and Polynesia — Surface of Europe descends outwards from its centre — Also of Asia — Surface of North America like a bowl, gathering and centralizing whatever enters within its rim — The Basin of the Mississippi the amphitheatre of the world 6-1

CHAPTER VI I.

PASTORAL AMERICA.

Great Plains of America not deserts — The Pastoral Garden of the world — Its surface a gentle slope to the east — Abounds in rivers — Covered with thick

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11

PAGE

nutritious grasses and swarming with animal life— ^Soil not sandy, but a fine calcareous mould — Convenient to navigation — Climate dry, and temperature even — Herbage perennial, edible, and nutritious throughout the year, and cured into natural hay upon the ground — Supports one hundred millions of wild cattle — No fires as in prairies — Turkeys, chickens, water-fowl, fish, and game in great variety, abundant — Ample proportion of arable land for farms, fuel, building materials, etc. — Climate favorable to health and longevity — Animal food three- ^_ fifths of that of the human family — How produced spontaneously — Very little labor necessary for support — Pastoral agriculture on a large scale comparatively a new order of industry to our people — Destined to be of immense importance 71

Chapter VIII. The System Of The Parcs

The Definition of Pare — Their Beauty and Grandeur — The Pares of Colorado — San Luis Pare — Ease of Entrance and Departure — Mountains — Rivers — Extent — Climate — Valley of the City of Mexico — Pasturage of San Luis Pare — Alpine Vegetation — The Precious Metals — Normal Structure of the Cordillera — Of the Sierra Mimbres — Craters of Extinct Volcanoes — Pedrigals — Cerritos — Walls of Lava — Productions of the Pares — Medicinal Waters — Hot Springs — Irrigation — Accessibility — Health — Mexican Population 77

Chapter IX. Thermal America

Magnitude of the New Powers and Fresh Forces — Thermal Science — Belt of Production— Aqueous Atmosphere — Aerial Atmosphere — Ethereal Atmosphere — Maritime Climate — Continental Climate — Region of the Piedmont — Influence of Vapors — Unfavorable Influence of Thermal Laws in Europe — The Gold Fever — The Land Question — Government Credits — The Financial Problem — Mistaken Legislation — Pastoral Agriculture — Industrial Organization — The Cosmopolitan Railway 91

Chapter X

New Forces in America — Influenced by Geographical Configuration — Force of the Pioneer Army — Machine Force of Great Britain — Sources of British Power — Its Weakness and Artificial Nature — Want of Elasticity — The Charitable and Civilizing Democratic Forces of America — Policy of Peace — Policy of Inductive Reason and Physical Science — Asia and Europe compared — Equilibrium — Unlimited Expansion — Perpetual Peace 99

12 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION.

FAOB

The Pioneer Army — The Continental Mission — The Southern Andes — The Northern Andes — Eastern and Western Cordilleras — Profile of the Andes — Simplicity of Structure — Longitudinal Position — The Calcareous Plain — Plateau — System of the Pares — Enumeration — San Luis Pare — Alps of Europe — Convex Surface of Europe — Concave Surface of North America — Climate of Colorado — Isothermal Belt — Climate and Civilization 105

Chapter XII. The North American Mission Continued

The Oriental Slope of Asia — China — Its Imperfect Isothermal Zone — The Isother- (X mal Zone of North America — Longitudinal Mountains — Populations of Asia and Europe — America Intermediate — "Way-Travel of the Human Race — Geographical Progress — Social Progress — Gold Discoveries — City of Denver — Miirch of the Pioneers — Overland Conquests — System of Natural Forces — Pastoral Agriculture 113

Chapter XIII. The North American Mission Continued

Geological Formation of the American Andes — Atmospheres — Maritime Climate — Continental Climate — Richness of Atmospheric Color — Vernal Temperature — Denver Cosmopolitan — Transportation by Railways — Tidal March of Population— London and the Oriental Commerce — Prospective Oriental Commerce of North America — Transacted and Uutransacted Mission of the North American V People — Conclusion 123

I. Mexican War

Remarks of Major William Gilpin, at the Barbecue given the Cole Infantry, at Jefferson City, Thursday, August 10, 1847 131

II. Speech Of Colonel William Gilpin On The Subject Of The Pacific

RAILWAY.

First spoken at the Camp of Five Thousand California Emigrants at Wakeriisa (now the City of Lawrence), Kansas. Repeated at Independence, Missouri, at a Mass Meeting of the Citizens of Jackson County, held November 5, 1849 141

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III. Proceedings Op A Mass Meeting Of The Citizens Of Jackson County

PAGE

At Independence, on the 6th of November, 1849, to respond to the Action of the Great National Railroad Convention, held in St. Louis on the loth day of October, 1849 171

IV

pike's peak AND THE SIERRA SAN JUAN.

Extracts from an Address by Colonel William (JNilpin, delivered at Kansas City, November 16, 1858 ; on the Gold Production of America and the Sierra San Juan 174

Y.

GEOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA ON THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

Reproduced from the Pamphlet of 185^ 184

VI. The Hemp-growing Region

Reproduced from the Pamphlet of 1856 208