"On the morning of the 2nd October we reached Laramie, where we saw the works of the Union Pacific Railway Company for Burnettizing their ties. The ties are placed on trucks, run into a cylinder, steamed, treated with a solution of chloride of zinc, with glue mixed with it, and afterwards with a solution of tannic acid. When dried they retain only about 1 1/4 lb. of the material with which they have been treated. Mr. Octave Chanute, of Kansas City, Missouri, United States, erected the works for the Union Pacific Company, and has an interest in the patents under which the process is carried out, which is a modification of Sir William Burnett's process. At 8.55 we crossed the highest point on the Rocky Mountains, 8,235 feet above the sea, on table land, no peaks being more than a few hundred feet above us. The rock here is all red granite, and some of it disintegrated, which is used for ballast. There are many snow sheds on the high land here, but none very long. We ran rapidly down from 'Sherman,' the summit, to 6,000 feet level, and more gradually afterwards, running all day through the plains, over which, although very dry, numerous herds of cattle and horses were pasturing, and we reached Omaha at 7.50 a.m. on the 3rd October. "At Omaha we crossed the Missouri River. The bridge here, of iron, founded on iron cylinder piers, is for a single track only, and is being taken down bit by bit, and a double track iron bridge on masonry piers substituted.. "From Council Bluffs, the station on the Iowa side of the Missouri River, we left by the Chicago and North Western Railway, which is a well constructed, well equipped, and first class American Railway. The line runs through a good agricultural country, the chief crop being Indian corn, and was doing a good business. We met many freight trains during the day, and saw several trains of cattle going east also. We reached Chicago on time at 6.50 a.m. on the morning of the 4th October." CHAPTER VII. _Negociations as to the Intercolonial Railway; and North-West Transit and Telegraph_, 1861 _to_ 1864. It was in September, 1861, that I visited Frederickton and Halifax on the question of the Intercolonial Railway, travelling by way of Riviere du Loup, Lake Temiscouata, Little Falls, Woodstock, round by St. Andrews, Canterbury, Frederickton, St. John, Shediac, and Truro to Halifax. Later in the autumn, representatives from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia visited Quebec and Montreal, and it was generally agreed that deputations from Canada and from the two Maritime Provinces should proceed to England. These deputations were, from Canada the Hon. Mr. Van Koughnet, from New Brunswick the Hon. Mr. Tilley, and from Nova Scotia the Hon. Joseph Howe. It was impossible to choose a more influential delegation: men earnest in the cause they came to advocate; politicians of tried metal; men of great influence in the colonies they represented.