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afford in places good pasturage, and a considerable amount of prairie-grass hay for the use of the overland stage line and of emigrants.

I left Colorado on the 19th of December, and being delayed several days in my journey through Iowa by the extreme severity of the winter season, arrived in New York on the 9th of January.

Very respectfully, I am yours,

NEW YORK, January 22, 1864.

JAMES T. HODGE.

NEW YORK, February 13, 1864.

DEAR SIR: I have carefully examined and analyzed the samples of coal that you brought from the Rocky mountains and placed in my hands. The specimens, according to the labels attached to them, are from two localities, viz: Coal creek and Boulder creek.

Those from the former place were taken, as you state, from a bed more than ten feet in thickness. The mineral has nearly the hardness of ordinary anthracite, but is much more brittle. The fragments are often cuboidal or rhomboidal, and in some of them a little amber was detected. The lustre is bright and shining. The coal does not stain the fingers. The powder is black when viewed in a heap, but when a thin film of it is spread upon a white surface it has a slight tint of brown-specific gravity, 1.29. When heated in a glass tube, the temperature of which is gradually raised to 400° or 500° F., it gives off water, the last portions of which contain a little empyreumatic oil or tar. At a dull red heat it takes fire, burning with a bright yellow and smoking flame, emitting an odor between that of heated bituminous coal and that of imperfectly burning wood. Some of the fragments gave out a slight odor of sulphur, which was traced to minute scales and spangles of iron pyrites scattered here and there among the lumps. Compared, however, with most bituminous. coals, this mineral fuel is remarkably free from sulphur. When submitted to analysis, it yielded the following results:

Water in a state of combination, or probably its elements, as in dry wood...

Fixed carbon...

Volatile matter, expelled at a red heat in the form of inflammable gases and vapors...

20.00

19.30

Ash, consisting chiefly of oxide of iron, alumina, and a little silica..

58.70

2.00

100.00

The ash is mostly reddish, but sometimes light gray. Another specimen contained only 16 per cent. of water.

The coal from Boulder creek, which occurs in a bed four feet thick, and in another ten feet, has a general resemblance to that from the other locality. It is, however, more dense, having a specific gravity of 1.4, and is less brittle, and the fracture is not so glossy. It contains also flakes of mineral charcoal scattered through the mass, and the proportions of its constituents differ considerably from those of the Coal Creek bed, it being a stronger fuel. It contains a little sulphur, like the other. The composition is as follows, viz: Water in a state of combination, or its elements....

12.00

Volatile matter expelled at a red heat in the form of inflammable gases

and vapors.

26.00

Fixed carbon

59.20

Ash, of a reddish color, or sometimes gray..

2.80

100.00

From the characters and analyses of the specimens here described, it will be seen that the Rocky Mountain coal belongs to the class of lignites, and that it is not technically a bituminous coal, neither cannel nor an anthracite. Still, in common parlance, it will be regarded as coal. The geological character of the rocks in which the mineral is found will, I suppose, be given by yourself and Professor Hall. In calorific power the Rocky Mountain coal may be placed between dry wood and bituminous coal, and therefore it is a most valuable fuel, especially where bituminous coal and anthracite are not likely ever to be found, and firewood is difficult to procure. I see no reason why it may not be used for the smelting of iron and other ores. For locomotives it could be employed to advantage, with some modification of the fireplace. The ash is so small in quantity, and so light, that most of it would be carried off by the blast of the furnace. From my own trials I find that the coal burns freely in a small stove, making a hot and clear fire, and leaving no clinkers. The specimens that I have examined show a tendency to break up and crumble after they have been soaked with water and allowed to dry, so that it would be well to preserve the coal as much as possible from being wet by rain. The lumps that you brought home from your journey show no disposition to crumble in a dry place. In conclusion, I remark that the discovery of such extensive beds of a good mineral fuel is of the highest importance to the section of country in which they

occur.

The iron is limonite, commonly known by the name of brown hematite or brown iron ore. It is a compact variety, and is certainly derived from carbonate of iron, some of which, in an unaltered state, is evident in one of the speci mens. The carbonate will probably be found in larger proportion as the beds are worked further in beyond the reach of atmospheric influence. There is reason to believe that the iron obtained from this ore will be of good quality. Yours respectfully,

J. T. HODGE, Esq.,

APPENDIX No. 3.

JOHN TORREY.

REPORT OF F. M. CASE, CIVIL ENGINEER.

COLORADO TERRITORY,

Denver, August 15, 1862.

SIR: In submitting to you this report of my late instrumental reconnoissance of the Berthoud Pass and its castern approach, with the view of its being by you laid before the board of corporators of the Pacific railroad, I am aware that the facts which will be of real interest to practical railroad men are very meagre; yet, as many misrepresentations have been made upon mere opinion, the few facts I have gleaned may be of interest to the board of corporators, of which you are a member.

I have had a connected line of levels run from the Platte river (at the upper bridge in Denver) to the summit of the pass, and two and three-fourth miles down Moses creek, on the Pacific slope.

From one mile below Empire City, a transit line has been run over the pass; levels have been run up Clear creek a mile and a half above the mouth of Hoopes creek, opposite the pass, and also from Empire City to the low pass between Bard creek and the south fork of Clear creek. Between this low pass and Georgetown, one and three-fourth miles south, the relative elevations have been ascertained by barometric observations by Dr. Parry, a gentleman who is spending the summer near the range, making scientific explorations.

I submit herewith a map of the route from about one and a fourth mile below Empire City, westward, embracing the pass, giving a very fair representation of the topography of the country in the vicinity of the pass, with the relative elevations at certain points as ascertained by the levels. Upon this map I have drawn a proposed location of a railroad line, which, in my opinion, will be near the most practicable route for the real location. The length of the tunnel I make three and a half miles. I have made this length by supposing an up grade of fifty feet to the mile, running westward in the tunnel from the entrance for two miles, and thence running a down grade of ten feet to the mile to the exit.

An up grade in the tunnel of 100 feet to the mile for the first two miles, instead of 50, would shorten the tunnel about one-fourth of a mile. The grade, as you will notice, is less than 116 feet to the mile from the forks below Empire City to the tunnel, but the equation for curvature on the line I have drawn would probably bring the grade up to this maximum.

This range of mountains, on its eastern slope, being subject to a very considerably less fall of rain during the year than the Alleghanies or New England mountains, are much less disintegrated, and are fitly called "Rocky mountains." The mountains on either side of the valley of Clear creek are "rugged," with frequent points of rocks projecting into the valley. For this reason I have drawn the lines so as to get down into the valley with the grade as soon as possible. Yet, let me say here, that the granite of these mountains is of a very different quality from the eastern granite. It is very much softer, and, in cuts near the surface, could be removed without blasting. Experience in mining for gold has shown that the granite 200 feet below the surface is also of a much softer quality than the eastern granite.

I might say in this connection that there would be a possibility of striking rich gold lodes in the construction of the tunnel, for it is in the "gold belt," there being lodes on each side of the pass; yet I should not like to undertake the construction of the tunnel with the understanding that I should take this " "possibility" in "part pay."

Of the western approach to the pass I will hazard no opinion as to gradients or courses. The western slope of the range seems to be covered with a much deeper soil, as it is covered with a much denser foliage, which is doubtless owing to the arrest and precipitation of the spring and summer rains by the snow of the range, the prevailing winds being northwesterly. This fact, in case of having to keep the mountain sides to get down to the valley of the Grand river, would render the cost of construction much less than upon the eastern slope.

I have made considerable inquiry as to the winter snows in the neighborhood of the pass, and find that at Empire City they have wintered cattle every winter without hay. From all the statements of settlers, on the experience of three winters, I am of the opinion that the winter snows would form no serious obstacle to the running of railroad trains from the tunnel eastward. About threefourths of a mile from the pass, on the western slope, we passed a camp where a family were snow-bound, last winter, for some weeks, and, judging from the height of the stumps of trees cut by them while they were there, should think the snow must have been 5 or 6 feet deep. This depth, from all the information I can glean, would be a fair average for about 15 or 20 miles west of the range in the vicinity of the pass. The prevailing winds being from the northwest, the snow piles in immense drifts on the southeastern slopes of the range. These slopes, in the vicinity of the pass, being very precipitous near the summit, arrest the snows before they reach the valley of Clear creek. This fact may account for the light fall of snow near Empire City.

In this connection, let me call your attention to another fact, resulting from our peculiar climate. The streams, in the mountains, are not subject to the sudden rise and fall of eastern streams. Fed, as they are, by the melting snows

and regular diurnal rains, they rise gradually until they reach their maximum height, usually about the middle of July, and then as gradually recede. This known fact might materially lessen the expense of construction of a railroad up the valley of Clear creek, in keeping the grade nearer the surface of the water, and in not having to guard against the sudden rise of the stream.

I also submit a sketch of the valley of Clear creek, from Empire City to near its junction with the Platte, which, I think, is approximately correct, showing the general course of the creek, and the relative position of the different points at which elevations were taken. I have copied part of this sketch from my official maps, part from a survey of the first 10 miles of the cañon of Clear creek, above Golden City, made by Mr. F. J. Ebert, of this place, and the balance from a map of Mr. E. L. Bertheud, of Golden City.

The following table will show very nearly the distances between the points at which I have ascertained the elevations above the Platte and Denver, along the proposed route from Denver, westward to the pass:

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In entering the cañon of Clear creek, either from Denver or the mouth of Clear creek, the road can go into the cañon from one to five hundred feet above the water of the creek, if a better line can be found at such elevation.

Of the cost of construction of a railroad from Golden City to the entrance of the tunnel, I cannot, of course, make an estimate upon this reconnoissance, but should say the expense would not be greater than the average of eastern mountain roads for the same distance.

In making this reconnoissance, I am under obligations to Mr. John Pierce, of Denver, a railroad engineer of many years' experience, for his volunteer services on the survey. Mr. F. W. Beebe, of Idaho, another very good engineer, and former acquaintance of mine in Ohio, ran the levels from Empire City over the pass. Mr. W. L. Campbell, of Empire City, formerly an engineer on the Clinton Line railroad, in Ohio, ran the transit line over the

pass.

Hoping these few facts may be of service to you and the board of corporators of the Pacific railroad, I am, very truly, your obedient servant,

FRANCIS M. CASE,

Surveyor General of Colorado and Utah.

Hon. JOHN EVANS,

Governor of Colorado Territory.

0.

STANDING COMMITTEES.

Executive Committee-Major General John A. Dix, chairman; Thomas C. Durant, C. S. Bushnell, George T. M. Davis, George Opdyke, A. G. Jerome, E. W. Dunham.

Finance Committee.-J. F. D. Lanier, chairman; J. J. Blair, Charles Tuttle, J. E. Thomson, E. T. H. Gibson, C. A. Lambard, Thomas C. Duraut.

Committee to memorialize Congress-William B. Ogden, chairman; H. V. Poor, E. H. Rosekraus, J. J. Blair, H. S. McComb, C. A. Lambard, J. H. Scranton.

The stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad Company:

The proceedings of the incorporators and commissioners appointed by the charter of the company for its organization, and of the officers of the company in procuring subscriptions, the election of directors by the subscribers to its capital stock, the action of the directors after their election, the measures adopted by the executive committee for commencing the work of construction, and for pushing it on with all possible despatch, have been printed for your information, together with the reports of the engineers in regard to their examination of the different routes for the purpose of selecting the one most eligible.

The information presented on all these points will show you that no time has been lost, and no exertion spared, to respond to the wishes of Congress and the country that this great national enterprise should be commenced and prosecuted with all practicable vigor.

The eastern termination of the road having been fixed by the President of the United States in the township of which the city of Omaha is a part, directions were given to break ground on the 2d of December last. These directions were carried into execution, and the commencement of the work was inaugurated with appropriate ceremonies.

The directors of the company have followed up these preliminary measures by contracting for rails, ties, locomotives and cars, and have commenced in earnest the work of grading. The expenditures for these objects within this and the ensuing two months, including the work already done, will not fall short of $800,000.

Five corps of engineers have been organized, one of which is employed in the construction of the road, and four others are ordered to the mountains to complete the preliminary surveys.

Your careful scrutiny of the recorded proceedings of the company is earnestly invited, not only that you may be satisfied as to the strict conformity to the requirements of the act of Congress providing for its incorporation, but with the zeal and determination with which the directors have entered upon the work of

construction.

NEW YORK, April 2, 1864.

JOHN A. DIX, President.

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