Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-03-22
THE CENTRAL PACIFIC
RAILROAD.
Prospects and Capabilities ofthe Road
Work Already Done-EHeet OF the
Enterprise, &C., &C.,
1FrOn The " T. Bortd1
SACRAMENTO. Cal. January 9

very interesting items of information rela
tive 10 the Central Pacific Railroad, which
road will form the western half OF the
great continental railroad that, stretching
over plain and valley, over the Rocky and
Sierra Nevada ranges OF mountains, will
unite the Atlantic to the Pacific coast; re-
duce the time taken to make the journey
between them from twenty-five days to
about ten days; and what is almost as inn
portant as the reduction of time, the rail-
road will do away with sea sickness and
It's attendant horrors, as well as the dread
full discomforts of a roasting passage
through the tropics within the confined
limits of steamship.
When discussing anything connected
with this great railroad, almost all who
have treated of it, after they have viewed
the more than Herculean difficulties it has
had to surmount, the good it will accom-
plish, and the strength it will give to our
country; the assistance it will give to the
development of the vast and even yet
comparatively unpeopled section it will
pass through, and the close ties by which
it will unite the people of the Atlantic
with those of the Pacific--I say when
these facts have been brought home TO
them they have always felt so jubilant that
the exuberance of their feelings could only
be reduced by indulging in poetic figures
and flowing expressions, such as the
marriage of the Pacific with the Atlantic,
the binding of the Orient with the Occidcnt
by iron bands and many other kindred
expressions.
Now, poetry and romance arc well
enough in their place, and they arc certain
ly not out of it while dealing with the
subject of the railroad; but this is peculi-
arly a hard matter-of fact age, and the
jingle of dollars has more music in ii than
the jingle of poetry, facts are more accept
able than fancy, and profits than verses.
Therefore | propose giving YOU short
matter-of fact account of the work that
has been and is TO be done upon our half
of the railroad, of the monetary profits
that have already flowed into its treas
ury fom that portion already completed.
and Of the increase that the future promi-
ses, &c, &c.
Although ever since the early discovery
of gold on this coast the subject of CON
tnental railroad has been agitated in
Congress, and the necessity for it admit
ed, yet so great was the desire for differ
ent sections to possess it, and so ardently
did each press its claims for possessing
the best route, that the government be
came bewildered on the subject, and for
some time it was questionable whether
the road would be built at ALL But at last
the Central Pacific Railroad Company of
| California triumphed, not through over
reaching but through the now universally
admitted fact that the route they selected
was by far the best and most practicable
one, and their desire to build the road on
this side the most earnest and determined.
Bnt after they triumphed in Washington
they had another battle to wage here with
the Sacramento Valley Railroad Company.
which with its friends now proclaiming
with stentorian voices that their route via
Placerville and Lake Tuhoe, was the best
and most practicable over the Sierras; and
promised the greatest profits Tile Central
Company, whose route is by Dutch Flat
and Bonner Lake, seeing that capital was
being divided when il should be united i'm
the great work, and with the object Of
making theirs beyond all peradyenture the
route, bought out the Sacramento Valley
Railroad Company, which road has come
to standstill fifty-fve miles from Sacra-
mento, while the Central Pacific Road is
being rushed along eastward as fast as an
industrial army OF some ten thousand men,
al can make it.
The road was commenced in 1868, but
opposition and other drawbacks hampered
its progress greatly. 1t is now finished,
and the locomotive is running ninety
three miles eastward from Sacramento to
Cisco station This is within twelve miles
of the dreaded summit OF the SierTas. The
elevation above the sea of each of the
principal stations on the route thus far are
as follows: Newcastle. thirty-one miles
from Sacramento. $50 feet elevation; Col
fax, 62 miles, 2,4iS feet; Dutch Flat. 81
miles 3,475 feet; Cisco, 90 miles, 5,9ll feet.
The road is now graded close TO the sum-
of 1850 feet. BY far the most difficult part
Of the road has now been built; that from
the summit down the mountains eastward
will be comparatively easy, and the grade
light. In coming up, the highest allowed
grade, ll6 feet to the mile, is but once
reached; the average ascending grade TO
the summit is but 10 feet to the mile. In
descending the eastward side of the
Sierras, ninety feet will be the greatest
descending grade, and the average only
forty feet. When the eastern base of the
Sieras is passed, there is almost natural
Mountains. This part of the road can be
built ten times more rapidly and about as
much more cheapiy than that already done.
All the hard work came at first when the
company were struggling with not a sea
only, but seas Of opposition, and while the
funds in their treasury were not as plenty
as now. Had this road fell into the hands
of spectators it would probably never
have been built, but it was taken hold of
by number of the richest and most enter
prising men in the State They have
given it and are still giving it all their
time, their energies and their influence,
and above all, their money. All the coun-
ty, State and national monetary aid that
was received has been thrown into the
work; and this terrible earnestness that
has characterized its managers was what
silenccd opposition more than any thing
else, so that its former greatest detractors
are now its warmest friends. And it was
no sentimental wish alone to see the road
completed that made its owners give to it
so layishly. They know well the great
present trade and the yet comparatively
undeyeloped resources of the extremely
rich country that is waiting for the deyel-
opment that the road will give; and
they know, also that every dollar expended
upon it will come back with interest in
very near future after its completion, and
that one share in their hands with the road
built will be worth two while it is I'M
finished.
The road will be complete to Virginia
City, Nevada, l56 miles from Sacramento
in the latter part of 1867; to Austin, 800
miles, by the fall of 1865; to Salt Lake
City, 5s5 mile from Sacramento, in Janu-
airy, 1910; and if not there met by the
Union Pacific Railroad, the company will
keep on pushing eastward until they are
stopped by the Union in its western pro-
yress. The road thus, with its equipment
hus far has cost about S9,OOO0O0, and
before it is entirely finished to the State
inc, l56 miles from Sacramento, it will
cost about S2,OOO,OOO more. These fig