The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-11-09
The Los Angeles Railroads. Triumph
Of Engineering.

opened to Los Angeles, on the 9Th inst,
with an excursion from San Francisco
and Sacramento to that point, ban
quet, etc. The road is recognized as
virtually a branch of the Central Pacific,
being built blythe money of that corpor-
alton. The San Francisco Chronicle
gives the following sketch of the route !:
From MERGED south the road follows
the broad plain on the east side of the
San Joaquin some 2OS miles, when
Caliente is reached. This little town
Caliente is a queer place; it is at the
head of canyon formed by the junction
Of the coast and Sierra Nevada ranges
OF mountains meeting and separating
out again into what is known as the
Caliente Hills. The town consists of a
few roughly constructed buildings and
several Chinese camps.
The manner in which the railroad
finds its way out of Caliente and to the
top of the hills which loom up on the
south IS surprising, and is a triumph of
engineering skill. From the top of the
hill the track appears as though it was
winding out of well. In the first
| place, it circles about and crosses itself
IN the little valley where Caliente stands !:
then it takes to the hillside with steep
grade and climbs in tortuous manner
| till the crest, 5000 feet above, is reached.
In one place the road passes through a
small tunnel, makes the circle of the
crest and passes the ridge again direct
~ over the tunnel through which it first
entered, doubling upon itself and max
ing from three to four extra miles to
gain from 80 to 100 feet in height. The
work on these Caliente Hills is of a
much heavier character and calling for
more skillful engineering than did, the
work on the Central Pacific. In a dis
lance OF 10 or II miles there were II
small tunnels, from 800 to 80 feet in
length, cutting through the precipitous
crests of the hills. The road bed was
built with great care, and the best of
steel rails laid as soon as the ties were
ready to receive them. AS a matter of
course the track-laying did not progress
very fast, most of the labor being ex-
pended in the cutting of tunnels and
the building of trestlework. From Te-
hachapi Station southwark the road fol-
lows rough country, requiring great
deal OF heavy work, till that desolate
and God-forsaken stretch of sand and
sagebrush known as the Mohave Desert
is reached. After crossing this desert,
which is 80 miles or more in width, the
route swings off to the right, passing
through canyon into the San Fernan-
do Valley, and thence straight up to the
rough and rugged peak through which
the tunnel is driven.
The work of tunneling through the
San Fernando Mountains was one of
the most difficult railroad undertakings
attempted in the State of California.
The San Fernando Tunnel, as it is called,
extends nearly due north and south
through the San Fernando range of
mountains, about six miles north of San
Fernando Station, and twenty eight miles
from the City of Los Angeles. It is not
cut through a single mountain, as is the
case with most undertakings of this
kind, but runs through succession of
ridges and canyons. The entire length
is 1854 feet, or nearly mile and
quarter. This is exclusive of the heavi-
" graded approaches which aggregate
half or three quarters of mile more.
The deepest point in the tunnel is 600
feet below the top of the mountain. The
excavation is made in the form of a
frapezoid, only that the top, which
forms the longest side of the figure. is
surmounted by an arch. The width of
The bottom is IA feet, the height of sides
to the commencement of each Is feet,
and the height to center of arch
21 feet. The sides and top are
protected by heavy timbers, braced
fitted, and spiked into the aperture as
soon as the earth is removed. The
south approach ascends at a grade of
two feet in 100, until it reaches the
mouth OF the tunnel, where the road
strikes uniform gradiment of II -1OOths
Of foot in 100, rising toward the north.
At the northern extremity it reaches its
highest point, and then descends with
inc same incline as the southern ap-
proach. Work was commenced stimuli |
5aneously at both ends, and at three in
,ermediate points on the line of the
From these points inclines
were sunk to the level of the road-bed
% further the work of excavation and
provide ventilating facilities when the |
.unnel was completed. The tunneling
vas originally started some distance
rom the present face, but the overlay-
ng earth caved in SO badly that it was |
ound necessary to make excavations
about 60 feet deep before sufficiently |
solid earth was found. Another OBJ |
'tacle which presented itself was an ex-
'essive flow of water, rendering the !
work OF excavating not only dangerous,
'ut very expensive.