42 miles, is at present under contract. This road will ultimately be extended about 30 miles from the latter place to intersect the Madison and Indianapolis road between Franklin and Edinburg.

9th. The New Albany road runs from New Albany, on the Ohio river, 5 miles below Jeffersonville and nearly opposite Louisville, to Salem, 35 miles, thence to Bedford, Bloomington, Gosport and Crawfordsville, 120 miles further, where it will intersect the Lafayette and Crawfordsville road. The New Albany road is located and under construction to Bedford, 65 miles, and iron delivered at present to lay 18 miles. This road will be in operation to Salem next spring, and to Bedford next fall or winter.

10th. The Lafayette and Crawfordsville, running from the terminus of the New Albany road at the latter place to the Wabash river at the former place, a distance of 28 miles, is nearly graded and will probably be finished next season.

11th. The Evansville road, commencing at Evansville on the Ohio river, and running to Princeton, 28 miles, is now being located. From Princeton it will probably be extended 28 miles to Vincennes, and from the latter place it will either run to Terre Haute, 65 miles, or direct across to Indianapolis, about 110 miles, and will in all probability as the country becomes settled, diverge at Vincennes and run to both places.

12th. The Terre Haute and Richmond railroad, commencing at Terre Haute on the state line of Illinois, runs from thence to Indianapolis, 72 miles, and from there 73 miles to Richmond on the Ohio state line. The first division of this road from Terre Haute to Indianapolis is entirely located and under construction, and is to be laid with a heavy rail of 60 lbs, to the yard. The second division from Indianapolis to Richmond, will probably be abandoned and the road diverted from Indianapolis direct to Rushville, and thence across to Cincinnati, via Hamilton, 110 miles, or from Indianapolis to Greensburg, and thence to Lawrenceburg and Cincinnati, the distance in either case being about the same.

13th. The Indianapolis and Lafayette road, running from the former to the latter place on the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Wabash river, a distance of 69 miles, is now being constructed, and will be in operation some time next year. It is to be laid with a heavy rail. Upon its completion to Lafayette, it will be extended north to Michigan City, a distance of 90 miles, there to connect with the New Buffalo and Chicago road.

14th. The Indianapolis and Peru road running from the former city to the Ohio and Erie Canal at the latter place, a distance of 76 miles to be laid with a strap rail 2-1-2 7-8 is now building, and some portion of it will be in operation next year.

15th. The Indianapolis and Bellefontaine road, passing through Pendleton, Anderson, Munice and Winchester, to the Ohio State line, a distance of 83 miles, is now constructing, to be laid with a heavy rail.

At the State line it wil connect with the road of the Bellefontaine and Indiana company, and thence by their road to, and crossing the Cincinnati and Sandusky city road at Pellefontaine. will extend to Gallion, Ohio, where it will intersect the Cleveland and Columbus road, and connect with the Pennsylvania and Ohio road to Pittsburgh.

16th. The Michigan and Ohio road to run from Logansport on the Ohio and Erie canal to Anderson on the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine road; and thence to Newcastle and Knightstown, a distance of about 95 miles, is now about being surveyed-a sufficient amount being subscribed to justify its commencement. At Knightstown it will connect with the Knightstown and Shelbyville road; and thence by that and the Shelbyville road will connect with the Madison road at Edinburg-thus giving another connection between the Wabash valley and the Ohio river. This road will also probably be extended from Knightstown direct to Cincinnati.

17th. A road to run from Fort Wayne on the Ohio and Erie canal, to Muncie on the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine road, about 70 miles, is also under consideration. A charter has been obtained, and, I understand, that the preliminary steps are about being taken to urge it forward.

18th. The Michigan Southern railroad. It is proposed to change the original line of this road, after reaching Cold water in Michigan, by making a detour south from this point, and running through the northern counties of Indiana to the south shore of the Lake. The length of this line in this State cannot be less than one hundred miles. The route has been surveyed, and there is every prospect that the work will be soon commenced.. When constructed it will form the most direct line of railway between the south shore of Lake Erie and Chicago.

In addition to her railways, Indiana has also a long line of canal navigation, to wit:

The "Ohio and Erie canal," 100 miles longer than the great Erie canal in New York, and the "White water canal." The former runs from Toledo on Lake Erie, to Evansville on the Ohio river, traversing the entire length of the State. It is already in operation from Toledo to Terra Haute on the Wabash, and is under construction, to be completed in two years from the last named place to Evansville. This canal traverses for a long distance the fertile valley of the Wabash; and cannot fail, from the character of the country through which it passes, to be one of the best paying canals in the Union.

The "White Water canal," running from Hagerstown in Indiana, through Cambridge, Connorsville, Brookville and Harrison to Cincinnati, with a branch to Lawrenceburg, is already in successful operation-comprising, with its branch, a distance of about 86 miles. This improvement will probably soon be extended, by means of a railroad, to some point on the Ohio and Erie canal, at or near Fort Wayne, a distance of about 85 miles.

Truly the State of Indiana is getting on rapidly. Her present prosperity is a wholesome one, and do not fear a repitition of the financial disasters that some few years since overtook her. The enormous amount of railways at present in course of construction and completed-comprising an extent of over 1300 miles-may well astonish a person not familiar with the resources of the State.

But when we consider that Indiana was admitted into the Union as late as 1816, and that she now contains a population of one million, we may cease to wonder.

Her immense coal and iron deposits are also just coming into notice, and are rapidly building up a trade, which will in a short time rival that of almost any other State.

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Cotton manufactories are also springing up in various quarters, upon a large scale-caused by the cheapness and abundance of fuel, and the proximity of this fuel to the cotton plantations of the south. The people of the west and south-planters, capitalists and consumershave at length discovered that it is cheaper to carry the cotton to the coal and provisions, where they are in such close proximity, and with cheap and ready means of communication, than it is to carry both cotton and provisions to an eastern water power, or an English coal field, and then to bring it back again, as manufactured articles, to be sold on the very ground upon which it was raised.

The capitol of Indiana, now a flourishing city of some 8000 inhabitants, and increasing 25 per cent. per annum, in 1821 was a wilderness. This might also be said of the whole State. The forests are disappearing rapidly before the axe of the eastern emigrant; and in their places spring up, as if by magic, fields of grain, that need but be seen to convince the most sceptical that the soil of Indiana is one of the best for agricultural purposes that we have in the Union.

The hardy and energetic population of this State have in them that indomitable perseverance and enterprise of a down-east Yankee that overcomes all obstacles; and the next thing with them, after the timber is cut from the ground, is a railroad to carry the production of this ground to a market, for they appear to be fully impressed with the idea that a market will not come to them.

One great secret of the construction of so large an amount of railway in a new State, is the cheapness with which they can be built. I have been surprised to learn the light cost of roads in this State, and I think I may with safety state that all the new roads now being constructed will not cost on the average $2,000 per mile to grade and bridge them. Some of them cost as low as $1,300 per mile, for their entire length.

The nature of the country, also, is such, with its long and gentle undulating swells, that easy grades and curvatures can be adopted, and they can consequently be worked very cheaply. The great abundance and cheapness of timber for the superstructure and repairs of the tracks, and of fuel for the engines is also of great assistance towards the cheap working of the roads.

The grading of the roads is, much of it, done by the people, through whose land it runs, and pay taken in stock. The timber is furnished by farmers along the line, and pay taken in stock, in fact everything, except the machinery and iron, is made or done in the State; and we may ere long expect to see even the machinery and iron manufactured by her own citizens and in their own State.

Is not Indiana a splendid specimen of the enterprise of the American people? In 1820 a wilderness! In 1850 with 1,000,000 inhabitants, 1300 miles of railway and 500 miles of canals. Thirty years only to accomplish all this! What may we not expect of her in the next 30 years ?

Ere three years have passed away, Indiana will make herself known to the world, if by no other means, by the whistle of her locomotives.

R.

We understand that a large portion of the stock in the Railroads of Indiana is taken by her own citizens and much of it paid for in labor and materials. This is a wise policy. Upon this system of operation,

in a country of productive soil like that of Indiana and other western States, the inhabitants may accomplish any improvement that their reasonable wants may demand, without incurring the embarrassments which usually attend the prosecution of extensive works where stock is paid for with money only. The dividends accruing from improvements made in this way remain in the country where the works are located, and constitute a part of the annual income of the inhabitants instead of being sent away to increase the wealth of other communities. It is true that, in districts but sparsely settled, works of considerable magnitude cannot be accomplished in this way; but if the current of emigration continues to increase, it will not be long before Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa will possess both money and labor sufficient to carry out a thorough system of improvement within their respective limits.

IMPROVEMENTS IN IOWA.

Desmoines Improvements.—We are indebted to Col. S. R. Curtis, chief Engineer on the Desmoines improvement, for his report containing estimates of the cost of that work from the mouth of the river to the Raccoon forks, a distance of 183 1-2 miles by the line of improvement. The entire cost is estimated at $1,191,907,31, and the quantity of land appropriated by Congress to the construction of the work is estimated at 1,233,800 acres.

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In his report the Engineer says we have under contract and in successful progress all the work necessary to carry slackwater navigation from the mouth of the Nassau Slough up to Keosauqua ; a distance by the meanders of the river, of 50 miles, and by the line of improvement (the ten miles of canal cutting off 2 1-2 miles,) fortyseven and one half miles. Enough to show the character of the work, and enough to overcome some of the worst obstacles to the present navigation of the river. All this work can be completed next season, and I confidently rely on its being open for navigation in the spring of

1851."

The following extract from the Engineers report will impart to our readers in other States, a better idea of the utility and importance of the Desmoines improvement than anything we have seen published on the subject.

Having disposed of the survey and estimates the Engineer proceeds with the following interesting account of the work.

"The crest of the dam which turns the water into Coal Bank canal, is projected 309 79-100 feet above the water in the Mississippi river. The pool of the upper dam is 6 68-100 miles long, which carries us to Raccoon Fork. Allowing for the inclination of this upper pool three-tenths of a foot per mile, the water would be raised at the forks (Fort Desmoines,) 3 feet above the level of December 22, 1848; and, therefore, give from 4 to 5 feet in the two branches at Raccoon Fork.

I have thus detailed all the various works which I recommend as a combined series sufficient to secure slack water navigation "from the mouth of the Desmoines river to Raccoon Fork." The distance by the meanders of the river is two hundred and four miles and sixtyeight hundredths, and by the line of the improvement as designated by the blue line on the map, one hundred and eighty-three miles and

sixty-eight hundredths; showing a saving in distance by all the canals of twenty-one miles. Including the canal now nearly finished at the lower end of the improvement, we have proposed eight canals; the aggregate length of all being 27 miles.

There are 28 dams, and two intermediate locks on canals; making 30 locks on the line of improvement. All the canals are carefully located, and the centre cut or fill marked on stakes driven every hundred feet. The estimates have been made at higher rates than the average contract prices of the lower or first letting, because I apprehend an increase of the price of labor and provisions as the work progresses. I have given the items of the work at each point, so that prices may be tested by persons residing in the vicinity, and are familiar with the cost of stone, timber, &c.

In determining quantities, I have taken centre cuttings every hundred feet in the canal lines, and made allowances for greater quantities where the ground required on the side cuts. The material in the dams, has been determined by the application of the plan of crib dams with perpendicular tumbles applied to each particular location. As all the dams are on rock, I consider this plan (a drawing of which is here submitted,) entirely sufficient. There will be repairs needed frequently on any crib dam, but this plan is much stronger than those now erected for mills on the river, the highest of which (that at Thomas') has a lift of 7 feet, and stands very well. The lock walls are calculated for heights to admit navigation through them at high water; so that at low water, when the lift is greatest and the pressure most powerful; we have a superincumbent wall to aid in support of this pressure. Without taking into account this superincumbent wall, I have estimated the thickness of the masonry sufficient to resist the pressure of the greatest head that can occur when a pool below the lock is drawn off, so as to withdraw the influence of back water. By applying these principles I have estimated the average thickness of the walls at from 6 to 10 feet, and this average is to be so disposed of, as to increase the mass of masonry where the quoin post and other causes increase the pressure; and diminish the mass where the pool of the dam or other causes remove the pressure. I name this, because it is easy to augment the cost of a contract by increasing the amount of material; and it by no means follows that you increase the strength of work as you add to the material. A bridge, for instance, may be broken down by needless weight of timber, and a dam may be weakened by an increase of buoyancy and additional leverage by addition to the length of timbers. States loose thousands, yes millions, by needless waste of material, and it is here that ignorance can lavish and intelligence save the means applicable to this improvement. Engineering is a proximate science, but it constantly finds application of fixed sciences, which, properly understood and directed, secure the greatest economy in the work. It is the quantity more than the price that augments the cost, and it is in the use and calculations of quanti'ties that States and Companies should fear the greatest loss. Few are competent to determine losses occasioned by errors in plan, and errors in the execution of plans; so that few can perceive the economy of science, when they do not understand the loss of wasteful experiments. I have estimated the value of the work of the Desmoines River Improvement as I think, liberally; its cost depends on