http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/308429487

Across the continent by overland stage in 1865

In this autographed reminiscence, Colfax describes his stagecoach trip from Missouri to California in 1865. It is likely he made the trip in his capacity as chair of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads. Account includes his detailed observations regarding trail terrain, arable lands, mining, and the people he encountered. Colfax also indirectly considered the issue of the transcontinental railroad. He spent a few days in Salt Lake City and met Brigham Young, president of the Mormon Church. Colfax praised Salt Lake City but had little good to say about the Mormon religion. In spite of this, he expressed his respect for their right to worship as they pleased. Colfax also visited Oregon and the mining towns of Nevada. The diary includes an assemblage of locations not mentioned by most overland travelers. The wealth Colfax observed led him to predict that the United States would soon be called "the treasury of the world." Colfax left San Francisco by steamer and crossed the Isthmus of Panama by railroad.

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