Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-06-13
From the Boston Daily Advertiscr.J
The Union Pacific Railroad.


public enterprises very little is known by the
public in general. The project of connecting
the Atlantic coast with the Pacific by rail-
road has been discussed by the press of tho
country, and has been the subject of almost
innumerable speeches in Congress, and petit
tions and memorials in State legislatures,
during the past twenty years. The import
auce of the project, largely as it has been
dwelt upon, has not been exaggerated. And
yet, notwithstanding all this discussion and
action, it is only here and there person
who knows what progress has been made to-
ward the completion of the enterprise, or
who has any more definite idea Of the matter
than that Pacific Railroad has been a good
deal thought about, talked about, and legis-
lated about, and that possibly at some future
| period, too remote to be of much interest 10
| the present generation, such a railroad may
| perhaps be built.
The enterprise, however, is ow well on
its way and the date of its completion is al
ready fixed with as much certainty as can be
reckoned in the ordinary affairs of life. Let
tiers from correspondents, congressional ex-
cursion parties, and occasional paragraphs
from the newspapers have lately given us an
lnkling of what is going on; and vet they
have hardly made the public realize that the
locomotive is already hundreds of miles on
It's way across the plains, and before snow
comes again will be climbing the eastern
slopes of the Rocky Mountains, that from
the western coast equal if not greater pro-
gress has been made, and already the worst
of the western division of the road has been
built, and the dreaded heights of the Sierra
Nevada have been almost surmounted.
Before entering upon the details of this
profress and the circumstances under which
it is going on, it will be appropriate to recall
briefly the initial steps in the enterprise
Twenty years ago. one Asa Whitney began
agitating the subject of railroad to the Pa
cific before popular assemblies and the State
legislatures He proposed plan and
route, and urged his project by the use of
most of the arguments since adopted by the
friends of the road. The idea at once be-
came popular, and the explorations of FIRE.
mont, and the settlement of California adj
ded new weight to what was urged in its |
favor. Congress soon took up the matter.
Money was literally appropriated for sur
veys, and different routes were examined |
with view to ascertaining their PRACTICABLE |
ity. Bills for authorizing the construction |
of roads over these routes were frequently |
before Congress, and the whole principle Of |
the power Of the general government to |
appropriate money, or otherwise aid in such |
enterprise, was argued at great length. |
Of the ten different routes surveyed three
northerly from Lake Superior to Puget |
Sound the most southerly from western |
Texas to the Pacific coast and central |
route from the west of Missouri through |
Utah to San Francisco. The last of these |
roads was incorporated July |, 1862, under |
the name of the Union Pacific Railroad |
Company. The first was incorporated on |
the I'd of July, 1864, under the name of the |
Northern Pacific Railroad Company The |
former of these now has large portion of |
its road finished and in running order, while |
it is pushing on the remainder with rapidi- |
ty unparalleled in the history of railroads. |
H.
Under the act of Congress, July |, 1869, |
and an amendatory act of July |, 1861 the |
Union Pacific Railroad Company was form |
ed, composed of well-known business men,
having among lis officers General John A. |
Dix for President, and Hon. John j. Cisco |
for Treasurer. Massachusetts is represent |
ed by Oliver Ames as one of the directors |
and President pro tenn. Hon. Oakes Ames |
as one of the trustees for the bondholders, |
and George Ashmun as one of the five direc- |
tors appointed by the government. The |
capital authorized was 800, 900, 600, in one |
million shares of hundred dollars each
The first step was to fix definitely upon |
the route AS early as 1861 a company was |
the Pacific coast eastward, and in 1868 work
was begun by the Central Pacific Railroad
Company at Sacramento, the head of navi-
CATION. The Chicago and Northwestern
railroad was rapidly approaching Omaha in
Nebraska, and this point was selected for
the eastern terminus of the line, as the |
natural centre of numerous lines from the |
east and south. The general line of the /
road from Omaha westward is up the valley
NJ hn nj In md fl,nt,
the plains, distance of 5l7 miles, to the
Black Hills, or easterly spur of the Rocky
Mountains. This part Of the line is easily
constructed, the maximum grade not exceed
ing 80 feet to the mile. From this point to |
the summit of the ridge which divides the
two extremities of the road at Bridger's
Pass, the maximum grade is eighty feet, and
thence down the western slope Of tho noun
tains the steepest grades do not exceed one
hundred and sixteen feet per mile, which is
about the same as that of portions of the
Baltimore and Ohio road across the Allegha-
nies. The route passes through Salt Lake
City, and thence by the valley of the Hum
boldt river to the eastern base of the Sierra
Nevada, where ii connects with the Central
Pacific. What has already been accom-
plished by this latter road is proof of the
practicability Of the whole route
The height of the Sierra Nevada noun
tains to be crossed is over 1000 feet. The
rise begins seven miles from the Sacramento
terminus, and withina hundred miles the
summit is reached. AS early as December
|, 1866, 81 miles of this road were built ris-
ing to a level above the sea of 59ll feet
Twelve miles further on the summit is
pierced by tunnel 1858 feet long, and ON
the last of March half of this had been exca-
vated and twenty miles of the road ON the
eastern slope had been graded Iron had
been procured for 200 miles, and other mate
rials for $50 miles further, and il is expected
that the work will be in rapid progress down
the easy eastern slope by July.
On the Union Pacific line the work had
been pushed far ahead before il was noticed
by the public. On the LIST OF January, 1867,
the road was finished with locomotives,
rolling gstock, repair Shops stations, and all
complete for a distance of 305 miles west of
Omaha. Materials have been provided suf-
ficient TO complete the road to the Rocky
Mountains, and the company hope to have
the 5l7 miles of this distance finished and
in working order by the LIST of September,
which will carry it westward considerably
beyond the longitude of Denver. Cores
pondents tell us that already two miles day
is but an average task for the laborers en-
ployed, and the contractors boast that be-
fore summer is over they will have increased
this to five miles day. Making all due al
.owance for extravaganza of expression, the
progress thus far cannot fail to challenge our
admiration. And when we consider the ma
ture of the country, the most favorable part
of which the constructors arc now travers-
ing, 1t is not difficult to realize that the
boasted progress is not far without the
bounds of reason. If the rugged mountains
and rocky canons which remain to be
crossed look discouraging, we have the cx
annie achievements
mans for encouragement, and have only to
remember that the Baltimore and Ohio road
draws its heavy freight up and down grades
of li6 feet to the mile for nineteen miles, or
to consider the bold engineering by which
the Pennsylvania road had to force the pas
sage of the Alleghanies.
III.
But having satisfied ourselves of the prac-
ticability of the routes and the construction,
the question comes back to the cost of the
road and where the money is to come from