The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1869-08-12

evening, anu improved inc oppoEtuni-
ty of seeing the beautiful scenery by
standing out on the platform of the
hind car, and as the sparks flew in
showers around, leaving their bright
light behind and the shadows Of the
cars twisting themselves into all man.
ner of fantastical shapes as we..whirled-
through deep rock cuttings, rounded
short curves and ratified over bridges,
our train rcsembled huge demon
seeking to devour.w whom it might and
this in contrast with the ever receding
track and telegraph lines formed a
beautiful sight, and one not soon to be
forgotten. The road is up grade west
of Wadsworth and at Reno 40 miles
farther on we commence the ascent Of
the Sierra Nevada mountains. We
pass Verdi at 2 a. M, Tuesday, April
goth, and at n. M, we pass state line
lbs miles from Sacramento, and enter
California the land cf gold pass Boca,
Little Truckee and strike the Truckeo
river Q miles farther Oh, here are sit.
uated II saw-mills belonging to the
company which..were built in the spring
of 1867, and have been running con-
staEt)y night and day, saving pine
ties and telegraph poles for the road !;
the mountain canyons here are full Of
tall straight pines which run mp to an
immense height, from $50 to 200 and
800 feet. Talk about your Indiana
4" she'll barks' and poplars, these Cal
ifornia pines throw them completely in
the shade. Many run up to height
of over 60 feet without limb. We
pass camp "A at 5 q. m, here the tenn
perature becomes colder and when we
passed Truckee city IA miles east of
the summit, we were in the midst of a
severe and binding snow storm, here
two additional engines and one snow
pillow were attached to our train and
we were soon ploughing our way
through the snow; 10 miles east of
the summit we were obliged to stop on
account Of the snow it being some 2
feet deep. and word was sent back to
Truckee for a gang of men to clear the
track, these soon arrived ard in q
short time we were ploughing our way
up the mountain sides again. Eight
miles east of the summit we enter and
pass through the big tunnel under the
Sierra Nevada mountains, it is 1,400
feet long, and between this point and
Reno Al miles back there are IL tun.
nels the shortest being 45 feet long
and this being the longest one. 1t is
said that when it was projected a few
English engineers were called into re-.
QUESTION by the company to survey
the route and report, they did so, and
gave it as their opinion that it was
entirely impractible but could be put
through in about 8 years. American
engineers we're employed who went to
work surveyed the route, let out the
contract, employed some l 200 China
men AMI with the aid Of plenty of
hard labor and glycerlne cans, were
running through in 90 months from
the time Of its commencement. Two
miles west Of here we pass bonner lake
| mile to the north. 1t is beautiful
sheet of water l mile wide 8 miles
long and alive with trout, and will no
doubt at some future time make q
great summer resort for the people Of
the Pacific coast,as it is but few hours
ride from Sacramento. I understand
that a shrewd Californian has already
leased grounds near it and intends
building a mammoth hotel for the &C
commodation of visitors, At this
point there are some very steep grades,
and it often happens that when there
is long train and short curve and
steep grade to be made, as was the
case with US you could look up and see
the engine going almost directly in the
opposite direction from the hind car
and some 20 feet above you! Five
miles east of the summit we enter the
huge snow shed built by the company
to protect the track from the heavy
falls of snow, which were to be antici-
pated during the winter months, and
to avoid this as far as possible the COM
pany determined to erect these sheds
which should protect the road over the
snow line, accordingly they have erect
ed q building which doubtless is the
largest in the world, it is % miles in
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