The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-25

men stand on either side. One in the
rear throws a rail upon the rollers, three
in advance seize it, and run out with it
to the proper distance. The chairs
have, meantime, been set under the last
rails placed. The two men in the rear,
with a single swing, force the end of
the squad calls out down. in tone
that equals the "forward to an army.
Every thirty seconds there came that
brave "down," "down," on either
side the track. They were the pendu-
lum beats of mighty era they mark
ed the time of the march and its regu-
latlon step.
One of the rear men drove the cars,
in addition to handing the rails. The
horses started as each rail fell into it's
place, the truck rolled on to the end of
it; second rail was projected into the
wilderness, with the same precision and
haste; then came the magic " down"
the car moved on again, and another
length was accomplished.
Two spikers followed each rail, one
party little in advance of the other.
One rail was fastened at the end and
at the middle. The second party then
drew the opposite rail to the exact
guage, and fastened it at the middle
and the end. Then came other squads
Of spikers, moving along with the pre-
cision of military drill, each having
particular spike to drive, and no one
interfering with another. Track liners
followed these, and with their crowbars
rectifed the line. The filters came last.
One party of these filled and packed
the S PAGES at the ends and middle of
the rails; the other completed the in
| termediate intervals, and the job was
left till the squads of track repairers
should come up and finish the ballast
ing. But as the filters leave it, full
trains can run over it with safety at
twenty miles an hour.
These are the dry details. Let the
reader picture the scene. The rush of
the loaded track; the successive drop
ping Oh the rails into place; the rattle
of the spiker's hammer, sounding like a
hotly contested skirmish ; the roar of
the distant supply trains moving up ;
the sounding Of the frequent signals,
near at hand; the universal hustle ;
"the rumble, and grumble, and roar "
of the wonderful advance. Let the
elements of savage warfare, and the
actual presence of hostile Sioux along
the bluffs, be woven into the picture,
and together it forms one that the
world has not seen before, and which
the stories of magic can scarcely equal.
Nor is any of this energy wasted. If
! it is asked: GLOW does the work get
on % again let the facts answer, On
the 9th of May, 1866, but forty miles of
road were completed. In an hundred
and eighty two working days thereafter,
two hundred and forty-fve additional
miles were laid, and put in prime con-
dition, every rail and tie and spike hav
ing been brought up from the rear.
Seven saw mills furnish the ties and
| lumber. All bridges are framed, the
| pieces numbered, and set up where
wanted without the lsast delay. The
| bridge at Loup Fork is l 800 feet long,
and rs fine Howe truss as can be
! found i'll the land. While our train
was running the sixty miles from North
! Platte, over a mile of track had been
| put down, and one train passed over it.
| From one o'clock till four in the after
noon, mile and two hundred feet
were added to this while the party was
| looking on. The progress was aston
ishing, and the more SO, because the
ground was wet, and the soil stiff and
hard with alkali.
Unless driven off by Indians, which
| does not now seem probable, the road
/ will touch the base Of the Rocky Noun
| tains the coming autumn. The Cali
fornia end has already reached point
about an hundred miles east, and is
descending the eastern slope of the
Sierra Nevadas into the valley of the
Humboldt. 1t is confidently expected
that Salt Lake will be reached next
year, and that 1870 will see the whole
line completed. While the nation has
scarcely heard of what was being done,
the work has been near one-third &C
complished.
r This Road is now completed 32e
miles west Of Omaha, Nebraska.
"Westward the star of empire takes its
way.