The Tebo & Neosho bonds are being replaced by first mortgage bonds, of which the total authorised issue is $40,000,000.

Interest on the second mortg. bonds is not obligatory, but will become so in August, 1895. The coupon due February, 1892, was, however, paid. Boonville Bridge bonds and Dallas & Waco bonds are guaranteed as to principal and interest. Interest on $2,500,000 Kansas City and Pacific 4 p.c. bonds is also guaranteed, but not principal.

PART VIII.

THE PACIFIC GROUP.

CHAPTER XLIV.

THE RAILWAYS OF THE PACIFIC STATES.

The present part deals with the railways of the Pacific States, a group of commonwealths to be found West of the two Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas, and therefore including Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and California. This country covers nearly one-third of the area of the United States, but being for various reasons only partially settled-not more than one-seventeenth of the population of the entire Union dwells in this vast territoryits wealth represents but a fraction of what it would were the region as densely populated as others; and even railroads are not nearly as numerous as in other sections, although the enormous distances call for main lines the length of which has no parallel in any other part of the globe.

The characteristics of the Pacific States are manifold. The climatic conditions are widely varied because of the great distance separating the northern and southern borders, and additional contrasts are caused by the diversified nature and elevation of the soil in different parts of the region. The Eastern boundary is practically formed by the Rocky Mountains, which are the Western limit of the Mississippi Valley, just as the Alleghany Mountains are its Eastern. West of this 'Continental Divide,' which stretches from North to South through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, there is a barren waste, hundreds of miles wide; it traverses the United States from the Canadian boundary to the Rio Grande del Norte, is almost entirely devoid of popu

lation and offers no prospects of ever becoming settled throughout its entire extent. This desert again is bordered in the West by the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains, and between these mountains, which run parallel with the Pacific coast, and the shores of the ocean itself there is a stretch of land some 100 miles in width and over 1,000 in length which ranks among the most beautiful and fertile regions not only of the United States, but of the entire world. In their higher latitudes the Pacific States have a dry and bracing climate; in the South the temperature ranges between that of a spring warmth in winter and tropical heat in summer. In the sandy waste and the Rockies the climate as a rule is dry and bracing, but the mean temperature naturally varies with latitude and altitude.

Subjoined are tables showing area, population, wealth, etc., of the eleven States:

Table showing Area, Population and Assessed Valuation of eleven Pacific States. (Census of 1890).

Table showing Relative Importance of eleven Pacific States as compared with that of the entire Union. (Census of 1890).

One-third of Montana consists of mountain land, the remainder- its eastern part-of rolling prairie which at present contains only a smal proportion of arable lands, being principally occupied with vast ranches which send growing quantities of cattle to the packing houses of Omaha and Chicago; the mountainous part of the State abounds with minerals. Nearly one-third of the gold, silver, copper and lead mined in America comes from Montana. The State has an annual production of $4,500,000 in gold, $19 millions in silver, $14 millions in copper, and $1 million in lead, and in consequence numerous mining centres have sprung up some of which have acquired an almost world-wide reputation. Helena, containing 15,000 inhabitants, is one of the principal silver towns of the United States; it is situated in a ravine named Last Chance Gulch, out of which nearly $30,000,000 worth of costly minerals have been taken, and mining is still going on in the surrounding neighbourhood at an increasing pace. Near Helena we find Butte City, equally famous as a mining centre, but more noted for its copper smelting works, the annual output of which represents some $23,000,000; the most famous copper mines in the vicinity are the Anaconda mines. The growth of Montana is of recent date. In 1870 there were only twelve

miles of railroad, and the population numbered less than 5,000. At present the number of inhabitants is 132,000, and there are 1,500 miles of railway, the Union Pacific, Great Northern and Northern Pacific being in control of all lines of any consequence.

The State of Wyoming lies South of Montana, and is also traversed by the Rocky Mountains, which run from the Northwest to the South-east. The Eastern district contains many ranches, while the mountainous part produces a great quantity of minerals, the output of which, however, is not nearly so important as that of Montana. Among others the State contains the Yellowstone National Park, which is some 3,500 square miles in extent, contains many marvels of nature, and possesses scenery which places it among the most noted pleasure resorts of the country. The only town of any importance is Cheyenne (pop. 12,000) on the Union Pacific, and the latter is the only railroad in the State if we except a small part of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley RR. of the Ch. & N.W. system.

South of Wyoming lies Colorado, with her capital, Denver, the Queen City of the Plains,' situated at the Western extremity of the Mississippi Valley and in sight of the Rocky Mountains, though some 30 miles distant therefrom. Denver is the commercial centre of the most prolific mining state of the country, and of increasing importance as a seat of industries which distributes its produce throughout the Pacific States. It is connected with the East by five direct routes, and with the Pacific coast by three. At the same time it is the terminus to which the Colorado Midland and Denver and Rio Grande railroads carry the minerals which they collect in the numerous camps to be found in the Rocky Mountains. The value of the gold and silver mined in Colorado exceeds $300,000,000, one-third of which was turned out during the boom years 1880-1885, and to this enormous total the Leadville district contributed over $100,000,000. The value of the silver produced exceeds that of the gold by 75 per