The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-07-02
WHOLE NUMBER S3S.
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

The Cleveland LeGder publishes q
.etter from lady who passed over
5e Pacific railroad on the first train,
J. which is very interesting. We.make
few extracts. OF the snow-sheds
she says ys:--.-...-,------
, Tue road seemed to me much more
earful than last summer, particulrly
The trestle work which groans and
freaks under the weight of the train.
Rushing oyer the embankments,
across the trestle, work, now through
deep cut, anon plunging into tun-
nel, around corner, doubling Cape
Horn, which is towering bluff of
rock, along whose, side the path for
the iron horse has been blasted out
If the solid rock, we entered the
snow sheds, of which there is con
tinuous series for twenty-five miles,
and costing $s 900 per mile. From
tunnel to- shed and shed to tunnel
without an open space. In a letter
FAST summer l gave description of
shese sheds. They are built OF par
ialleI rows of posts (placed either
SIDE the track, which are trunks OF
trees some eighteen inches in diam
eter, the bark peeled off and brsced,
with 3 pointed roof, boarded Sides
and top, with an inch OF space be-
tween the boards Where they abut
agalnsta u bluii they have & the she'd
roof and are strongly supported un-
derneath with timbers to resist the
weight of avalanches that often slide
over them. There are at intervals
side tracks, and at such. places the
sheds are double width, supported
by q row OF posts in the center, aud
the effect OF these coionnades in
passing is very fine Ia the most
exposed places these sheds were
still entirely buried in snow, all had
it many feet on their roofs, and it
wasrapidly melting, the water drip
ping gave us the impression of rid
ipg in, q peltlng shower In many
places there were cascades OF ice
between the posts and bluff, The
darkness of the tunnels alternating
With twilight of the sheds, the drip
ping water, the long yistas OF the
post or columns, as we passed thro'
their Curved, arched, and damp cav
erns, made it for many miles "a sort
of unearlhly ride. We reached
Cisco at tselve O'Clock, our dining
place, the eating house also inelosed
and covered with snow, which often
falls here in winter twenty feet deep.
Cisco is 59ll feet above the sea.
Tue longest tunnel is 955 feet, and
is at the summit Last summer the
view from he-e of snowy peaks, deep
cahons and rocky bluffs, was wonder
fully grand, hut now many of the
inest views are entirely intercepted
by the sheds. ar
The following is a pen-picture of
the famous Echo Canon:
Lofty, perpendicular sides OF rock;
palisades and bluffs OF rocks in every
and fantastic form-
castles and old cathedrals with all
thsir spires and battlements, arches
and gateways so near and above YOU
that you seem IS yOn rush around
the curves and beneath them to dare
them to fall and crush you. The
ellis are mostly of rich red and
brown, contrasting with the grass,
which roots itself in every crevice
and contests every inch of earth
with some dwarfed pine. On the
right OF the canon is the ''DeviPs
Sliie," two parallel projections of
his gray rock, standing at right
angles to the surface, a space of two
eet between, and extending from
summit to base, and not far from it
another single projection, looking
or all the world like an nnpainled,
board fence with an uneven top
Midway of the canon and near the
rack stands a good sized pine tree
wish a long board on it painted white,I
md in black letters Omaha, l,OO0.,'
L is known rs the Thousand mile
ree."
Here is quaint description of the
labitations which dot this "New
Vest"
The white cloth towns standing on
he green plains are picturesque
'nough. A wooden frame, high
nough at the caves To stand under,
With 4 sharp roof all covered with
;anvas, q sheet of tin ON the cloth
oof for the stovepipe 10 pass through
if they have one) and broad door,
make q, complete builling. There
sere barber shops, clothing stores,
saloons always, and in some towns
itove and dry goods stores. The
amps where the iahorers had lived
aere strewn with fruit cans, hotties,
'ardine boxes and remnants of old
In fact the trail. il the
road were removed, could almost he
by the cans and hoxes, and
often felt as if | wanted it cleared
Ip. At the camps in the Rocky
Mountains there was great difficulty
n cooking or rather in boiling, ON
account of the thinnesss of the at
nnsphere, and the cooks were sorely
puzzled for some time to know why
hey could never get their beans
'Oit, or their boiled meat tender,
when tue water was boiling all the
lime. ot .r....r