Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-05-24
THE PACIFIC RAILRoAD-ITs SEW
ERAL GRAND DIVISIONS.


The Pacific Railroads. 70 owe its anticipa-
ted early completion (l8I9l to three causes:
the uneaualled material intensity ofCalifor
/ MIA life and enterprise; the 0pportune inter
position of the cheap Chinese labor; and the
/ iudicious subsidy of the national government
which allows each COMPANY that building
from the west and that building from the
east--all the road it can sud with the loan
Of national bonds to the mount of $50, 900
a nile for the same TheIalltornians tCen-
tral Pacific Railroad Com aany Of California;
have shown their mettle y thIs competition,
and have driven their cal OF the road for
ward With az energy th8 laa accomplished
kssB4HSdra gsl l4flic ..i&Ant Tia GaUcEt and
descent is noB nearly graded and most Of
the heaviest portion completed and running
The chief difficulties Of the undertaking had
to be encountered on that part Of the line.
The dreaded barrier OF the Slerras, OF inn
lpasslble altitude and obstructed with lmpas-
sable SHOWS in their season, was met in the
first one hundred miles Before bold deter
mination and able engineering these Difficult
ties have dwinaled so that, considering rela-
tive prices of all things, the road has not
proved after all so much "steeper' in cost
or grade than some others built long before,
and the expected impossible SHOWS have
proved sufficient to make only three days
interruption of trains IN whole winter as
severe as the last. The estimated cost Of
the ninety-four miles in operation since last
fall, with the remaining eleven miles to the
summit, was above that OF any road hereto
fore built having been fixed at SSS, 400 per
mile, against about $50 600 for the Hudson
River and New York and Erie, and $Sl ,273
for the Boston and Providence. Nearly
! S15 900, 900 have been expended on the
above "a miles with about one third Of the
work on the next % miles and liberal
equipment ofrolling stock When $50 miles
are completed, which is expected in July
next, the costly work will be done, and the
total construction cost will be, it is now sup
posed, about slj, ,000, 900, or 800, ,000 per
mile There will then remain SIS miles to
Salt Lake City, which it is supposed will
be built for 100000 per mile and In one
fourth the proportional time OF building the
mountain section. One hundred miles of
! this are promised Us by the end of 1867,
making 250 in all.
The average ascent on the California side
is IS feet to the mile: the heaviest grades
completed being l05 feet Of the grades Of
the ! ] miles remaining we have no particu-
lars. The time now occupied by trains is
six hours: thus running nearly sixteen miles
an hour Fourteen tunnels have been made
or are making, to secure the easiest posi-
bic grades, the longest Of which, piercing
the crest of the summit, is l,65S feet in
length, and lacks 500 feet of being compile
ted, but is going forward With large force
of hands working night and day. Protec-
ton from snow slides has to be provided
In some places by sheds adapted to shoot
the snow slides across and CHAR of the track
Two miles Of these sheds viii be required.
The highest elevation is !, 7,042 feet above
the sea level, or three times as high as rail-
roads have ever before been constructed on
this continent. Large working parties have
been employed at the summit all winter:
which reads sngularly when We think of
the exploring party under Fremont, that
perished almost entirely in the attempt to
pass the SHOWS Of the Sierras few years
ago. The earnings Of the road are already
nearly $4,000 a mile per aunum, in j IS
iragmentary condition; and even without
natural growth and the addition Of through
traffic, would yield at the same rate hand
some profit for the whole capital to be in
vested
The Union Pacific Railroad Compay is
not disparaged by comparison with its wes-
tern rival. Ii agreed TO finish $50 miles
the current year. 1t has already so far
made good the promise that its fulillment
is morally certain, and we may look, there
fore, by the end of 1867, for coo miles of
railroad in operation from ST. Louis toward
the Rocky Mountains This will reach the
border Of Colorado, leaving but 750 miles
between the two lines, which will be finish
cd under the spur of competition and ur-
gent demand, in less if anything, than
the two years appropriated to the task.
When this Is done, the year will be one Of
the most memorable turning points in the
material progress Of mankind, and q more
remarkable starting point than any before it
in the advancement Of the United States in
population and resources, which will then
pour into our territory in redoubled ratio
from all parts of the world, to be again re-
doubled every year by the development of
the virgin treasures of the continent.
The Southern Line. The South west
Pacific, from st. Louis to the state line in
the south west lcarital IS, 900. 000) and the
Atlantic and Pacific, from the latter point
to the Pacific Ocean via Albuquerque ,capi-
tai 500, 600, ,00Ul, are said to be virtually
united in one mammoth corporation, posses
sing grants amounting to Sc, ,036, 600 acres of
public lands, and l26 miles of the former
road, reaching from st. Louis to Gasconade
River completed. Their line isrepresented
10 be shorter and easier than the Central,
and offers to the public the advantages of
crossinn the projected North and South road
from Leavenworth to Galveston, the Little
Rock and Memphis road, and the Arkansas
and Colorado Rivers at the head of naviga-
ton in each The Southwest Pacific was
forfeited to the State Of Missouri after II3
miles had been built from st. Louis to Rolla,
and sold by the State last year to General
Fremont, who has conveyed it to the present
company. The Southwest Pacific company
has pushed on its work with energy having
already completed IS miles and contracted
81 more, Of which at least twenty will be
opened by August next. This embraces the
most difficult part of the work The dis
tance to the state line, constituting what is
to be the Missouri Division Of the Atlantic
aud Pacific, is 3l7 miles. The line then
passes due west, through the Indian Terri.
tory New Mexico and Arizona to California.
Work can be commenced in both directions
at two points on the Lne-using the nayiga-
ton Of the Colorado and Arkansas Rivers
as well as at each extremity. making six
leading points Of departure reached by exis-
ting routes Of steam carriage. A San Diego
letter states that ground viii soon be broken
at that port, as the Pacific terminus of the
road. This makes short and direct line
across the southern end OF California, and
viii make a second Pacific metropolis of San
Diego. --Scieatyfc american
Bsg~Greeley says there are 100000 per
sons in New York to day who, if they had
Z