, 1876-06-17

dreamed that tie people oi "hoie
city would turn out en- naGsse, on
bright Sunday morning, TO welcome
eighteen or twenty gentlemen who
would rather slip out of sight than
face a multitude of excited citizens.
But so it is. Ever since we set foot
on the pavements of San Francisco We
have been surrounded by
THRoNGs OF PEOPLE
who if any one opened his lips TO
personal friend, clustered about him
eagerly catching the few dlJoInted
sentences dropped by speaker who
had crossed the American continent
from the Atlantic to the Pacific in less
than three days and half. / now go
back to EIko and resume the
RECORD OF OUR JOURNEY
On leaving Elko at 4:25 P. NJ after
bidding you good night, we ran the
same locomotive, No 149, some 3OO
miles, yet not a journal was heated,
and the engine seemed TO be IN excel
lenI trim. The scenery, though made
mOnotonous by The eternal sage brush,
was sufficiently varied in formation TO
give renewed interest to this portion
of the trip.
TIE SPEED
despite the curves and grades was
tremendous, for we made fifty five
miles in fiIfty-four minutes on this di~
vision. At Carlin we met the eastern
bound train that had left San Fran
cisco Friday morning, so that, though
we had scarcely fourth of our jour
ney uncompleted, this regular train
had been nearly thirty-three hours in
doing distance We subsequently ac>
complisbed in less than halt the time.
RAPID SKETCH
of our experiences during the last SIX
teen hours Of our long and eVentful
ride on rail. The Central Pacific de-
ciied TO run engine 40 from Ogden
to Oakland, opposite this city, dis
tance of SSI miles. The feat seemed
impossible, yet it was accomplished.
|, was, however, risky experiment,
and none Of the party would care 10
assist in another such demonstration
Of mechanical power. 1t must also
be said that IN using this solitary en-
CINE The Central lost fully one hour IN
s9oppageS consequent upon the cOndi-
tICn of The locomotive, and thus rob
bed us Of that lime in crossing the
Continent. The officials Of the road
were, however, earnest and untiring
in their efforts TO secure success
through the entire trip. To run such
an engine nearly 1000 miles was q
powerfug test Of iron and steel. | Fit
in the Palace Hotel with steady
table, at last, under my hands. | am
free TO confess that none Of the party
who knew anything of railroad travel
were ignorant That ihe experiment was
DANGEkCJS ONE.
though we had at the time no apprecia-
ton Of danger, as the cars ran smooth
lv, and the care taken by the officials
was constantly manifest. On the route
beyond TrRckee We found Mr.. Eel
lows, the Superintendent Of the Sacra-
mento and Oregon division, in charge
OF lhe train, lie having on the d y be-
fore instructed the officials along the
line TO insure our safety. Al Winnie
mucca, Engineer Rice took charge of
the locomotive 10 Wadsworth, a dis
lance of 135 miles thence Engineer
S. Il. Jenkins, had his hand on the
lever q distance Of 10 miles, wnen
Small re>entered the cab and ran us
into Oakland sale and sound.
THE TOTAL DISTANCE
travelled by the locomotive from
Ogden was SSl miles, the time %
hours and SO minutes ; average speed
per hour, 40 miles. The fraction
gained by the preceding four roads
over tLis average was sufficient to
make the
AVERAGE SPEED
for the entire trip fully fortytwo miles
per hour.
As there will 10 d ;ubt be consider
able controversy over the actual time
consumed on this trip, | subjoin a
minute calculation furnished me by
Professor George Davidson, Chief of
the United States Service on this
coast. 1t affords clearer conception
of the the time in all its phases than
any amount of descriptive writing |
might be inclined TO indulge in.
Difference in longitude in time be-
tween Jersey City pier and various
points, ON San Francisco Bay, from
the United States Coast Survey re>
cord:
Oakland Point, west OF Jersey pier. 3h.
l3m. lon. Market street slip, west of Jer-
sey City pier, 3h. 13m. 27s. With the above
dstata and the reported time of the arrival of
the lightning train this day, we obtain the
actual time of running AS follows: Be ween
jersey City and Oakland Point, lightning
train left jersey City pier June l, III. 3m..
arrived at oakland Point June 4, Oh, pm;
apparent running time, sob. lJm., and diff
ference of longitude, 3h. 13m- 7s.; actual
time oeenpied in running between jersey
City and Oakland Point 81 hours, % min
u'es seconds. Between jersey Civ and
leaving Oakland ferry slip:-Lightning train
left jersey City pier June l. l hour 3 min
utes boat left Oakland ferry slip June
hours 20 minutes; appsrent running time,
50 hours % minutes add differences of long
tuie, hours Is minutes l6 secUnds-actnral
time occupied in running between jersey