The Portland daily press., 1869-06-08
'e''ass $500 per omnans, In adrance.

her far home in Puget Sound, has laid ber
tired baby upon the seat, and is irving To
soothe it, Just here the track Is smooth and
tne wheels run quietly. A gentleman begins
70 mum Home, Sweet Home;" bis wife Joins
MN; then the lady on the next seat, and so
on, until, from every part of the coach many
voices swell the chorus and give the song with
a heartiness of feeling that moistens some
eye-lids, and at first staytles the tired babv
into open-eyed wonder, but soon lulls it TO
quiet slumber. ...a...
THE BRIDGE ACROSS THE NnssoURI-How IT
= rs BUILT.
The railroad bridge over the Missouri Is
building below the CczZens House, and oppo.
site the port OF Omaha, which is known as
Train-toWn. There was speculation In the
eyes of George Francis four years ago when
he brought several hundred acres here for a
nominal price. The bridge structure will be
of iron, Posts patent, half mile long, with
eleven spans Of $50 feet each. 1t will be 70
feet above the loE-water-mark, and so feet
above the high. The piers, not of masonry
bat hollow iron cylinders, filed in with boul-
oers and concr ete-are similar to those which
support the railroad bridges over the Pedee
ana Santee in South Carolina, and the new
wagon and foot bridge across the Harlem
river at Third-ayenue, New York. They are
cast In Chicago, and brought here in the form
of enormous rings of one-and-three-Quarte
inch iron, ten feet high and nine-and-a-half
in diameter. One OF these in placed upon
the sand and covered with cap. The air il
pumped out, and the pressure of the almos-
phere drives it down-until the top Is lsvel
with the surface of the ground-in about "a
hours. Then a current of condensed air, let
in by pipe near the bottom, drives ont the
sand through valve in the cap. But II the
earth Is gravel, the air is condensed instead Of
being exhausted, and men stand inside the
| great cylinder and throw the dirt out with
| SPADE and buckets by the light of eandes,-
When one ring is sunk another Is bolted up
on the top OF it and the operation Is repeated.
| Only one cylinder Is completed-on the east
| ern bank-and that went down 75 feet before
It rested on the solid sandstone. The work,
built by the Union Pacific Company, will
cost two millions Of dollars, and If the money
| is forthcoming it will be completed In twelve
months. Then we can 60 through from New
York to San Francisco without change. 1ne
passenger chartering a saloon state-room for
himself or his family for the entire trip--
Perhaps history will repeat itself, and the
California travel agsin be divided into first
cabin, second-cabln and steeraee
| A STORY FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
In the earlJ rush 10 California, poor bow
named Cnaries Crocker crossed the Missouri
| with an OK team at this point, on his tiresome
| overland Journey to the new gold regions
Last Friday-nineteen years afterward to a
| day-he arrived here on his return visit to
his old Eastern home. He came accompanied
BY his family, in lis own special car, Ior he is
| now Superin tendent OF the Central Pacific
| Railroad, and every mile of it has been built
| under his supervision. He may well feel an
honorable pride in the great work with which
he has been so closely identified. His party
| were four days from sacramento TO Omaha
] and on arriving here delighted us with bloom
ing flowers, ard feasted US upon straw berries
oranges and luscious cherries from California
brought upon Alaska ice 1900 miles, through
the green valleys of the Pacific slope, end
Though the lingering snow drifts OF the
Rocky Mountains. 1t seemed like a story
from the Arabian Nights. a rf