The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-06-22
From the Atlantic to the Pacific in
Efyhty-FOur Hours.

Eiyhty-FOur Hours.
The trace across the continent has
been run and won. 1t takes ones breath
away to think of it. The man still lives
whose 1.-TWO Years Before the Mast"
were occupied chiefly in making the jour
ney to San Francisco and back. Even
young people remember when gold was
discovered and the rush for California
began, how the journey was the great OBJ
stacle between the old States and
the new Ell Dorado; how to go
to California was more of an undertaking
than to 60 to Palestine or to India; how
long tarewclls were taken, as for separa-
ton which must he for years and was
quite possible forever; now the emigrant
leaving the Missouri as soon as the grass
had started hardly reached the Sacramento
before Autumn, after hardships such as
OILY the boldest or the most ignorant
dared face. And now party of players
make the journey luxuriously in Just falf
a week! 1t certainly is something which
will justify little gloritication, a sensa-
ton which thrills us, however much we
analyse it, and the more so the more we
think OF it. Why, the flowers which the
popular actor received as the curtain fell
in New York the night before he took the
train for the Pacific were still fresh in his
hand as he landed at San Francisco. Our
country of magnificent distances seems
converted into u country neighborhood,
where every man can, at need, see any
other with a little pains, and where, con-
sequently, there is a community Of inter-
ests, and a kindly fellow-feeling which
really makes us one people-almost one
family.
AS we said, ia commenting on the jour
ney when it was as yet only project, no
extraordinary speed was needed to make
this journey in eighty-four hours, no
speeds exceeding those regularly made by
many English and by some American
trains. The extraordinary and unexam-
pied feature was the maintenance Of that
speed for SO great, so enormous a distance
such distance as a train could run in
nc other country, for want of a route long
enough, or country broad enough to
hold the route. There are, however, some
considerations which make the average
speed itself remarkable under the circum-
stances, as it would not have been in Eu-
rore. These are: the fact that it is ex-
ceptional, that the locomotives of the
country are not specially designed for high
speeds with light trains, but for moderate
speeds with heavier trains; and, especial
ly, that the railroads OF the country are
not constructed for such headlong speed
not simply because they are (mOst of them)
less solidly constructed and with more
and sharper curves, but especially because
they are wofully open to obstruction by
passing mer, animals and vehicles. The
very best of the lines over which the Jar.
rett & Palmer special train passed last
week not only crosses most OF the high
ways on its line at grade, but also
has level street-crossings probably
in every city Oh its road, and cannot
possibly, with safety, run at full speed
over miles of its line. On an English
road, with hardly Il level crossing from
one end to the other, with easy curves and
aperfect track, the engine can be pushed
to its utmost and kept at its highest speed
from the beginning to the end Of the line.
But how can you run five miles through
city streets at sixty miles an hour? You
might almost as we'll discharge a ritled
cannon down the street.
There we're, however, two remarkable
feats in the running of this train, wholly
unexampled, we believe, in the annals of
railroads. The first of these was the run
ming of the train eoith0ut stoppsng, and of
course with a single locomotive, The whole
length of the Pennsylvania Railroad from
Jersey city to Pittsburgh, 4391 miles; and
the other the hauling of the train over the
whole length of the Central Pacific Rail
road, 1871 miles, without changing the en-
gines, though with several stops.
The cars which composed this train
were baggage car, smoking and "com-
missary" car, and the Pullman hotel car
Marlborough" The locomotive which
performed the great feat OF running 44O
miles without stopping was an "Ameri-
can" engine constructed at the Altoona
shops, of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany.
From Pittsburgh to Chicago and from
Chicago to Council Bluffs the run was
made over roads which have large
traffic, and for most of their length but a
single track, SO that greater skill was re-
CURED to avoid delays by other trains.
No such delays occurred, however, at least
none were reported, and the only inter-
ruptions to the run as laid out appear to
have Geen on the Pacific Railroads,
where, on the Union Pacific, hot jour
nal is said to have caused twenty minutes
delay, and on the Central Pacific steep
grades, going down the Sierras, the brake
blocks on the Pennsylvania cars wore out
and had to be replaced, and finally two
additional cars were attached to make
their. brake power available. On all the
roads west of Pittsburgh, however, stops
had to be made for water. and on all but
the Central Pacific the usual changes of
engines were made.
For the entire journey by rail from Jer
sey City to Oakland, {, 1913 miles, the time