Robinson, John L. and Asa Whitney

WHITNEY'S RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC, [TO ACCOMPANY BILL H.R. NO. 156] MARCH 13, 1850 (31ST CONGRESS, 1ST SESSION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, REP. NO. 40; ( Mr. Robinson, from the Committee on Roads and Canals, made the following REPORT:

Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1850. Hardcover over self-wraps. Octavo. Rebound in black quarterbound morocco (goatskin) over midnight blue boards. Gilt lettering to top board and spine. Lovely, marbled endpapers. 117 pp. Two foldout maps. This is the main Whitney document, with his two final maps; it reprints his three memorials (1845, 1846, and 1848) and 38 supporting resolutions from state legislatures and meetings, and it contains the enabling bill (permitting Whitney to construct the Railroad.

Contains: pp: 1-22: Robinson's report praising Whitney; pp. 23-43: Reprints of all of Whitney's memorials (1845, 1846, 1848); pp. 43-50: The bill to enable Whitney to construct the railroad; pp. 50-78: Support resolutions from 38 state legislatures and meetings; pp. 78-82: Whitney's latest (1849 explanation; pp. 82-117: Population, resources, and products of all Asia.

"Whitney was the first to bombard congress with plans for a transcontinental railway. His efforts culminated in this matured proposal"...While Mr. Whitney's relentless efforts and pioneering plan, plus exhaustive marketing and petitioning to Congress failed to be accepted, this wild, visionary project led directly to the epic explorations organized by Jefferson Davis (in a bid to build the railroad in the South and extend slavery), and ultimately to the linking of the east and west coasts by the legendary railroads. (Howes. W383).

"With the advent of the great immigration to California following the gold discovery in 1848, Whitney changed his original memorial for a railroad to the Columbia River mouth, to either the Columbia River or San Francisco as a Western terminus." (Cowan, P. 680).

On p. 28-29, Whitney describes his 1845 journey by land to where the Missouri River intersects -( Lat. 43 1/2 degrees) then downriver by canoe and steamer. (MISSED by Wagner-Camp & Becker).... Carl Wheat: "Mapping the Transmississippi West", 659.

"The opposition was so great, despite his own prodigious labors, that he abandoned his plans and retired." (about Whitney, in literature relating to the Union Pacific System, (p. 20). Very Good Plus. Item #87916

Price: $550.00