The Arizona sentinel., 1879-01-04
A Trip from the Railroad Front.

from here eastward. The construction
 train was then standing at point twelve
 or fourteen miles from Yuma. On New
 Years day our reporter again visited the
 end of the track, on a trip westward to-
 ward Yuma The line passes over the
 mesa about mile and quarter south of
 Fillibuster Station, which is forty-four
 miles east of Yuma by the stage road.
 Coming from there by stage as we neared
 Martinez Camp we saw, to the southeast, clouds of smoke raised by brush-burners
 in advance of the graders. Eogs of dust soon indicated whereabouts of the latter, strung along for several miles. About quarter of mile south of Martinez was group of tents occupied by teamsters and
 well-diggers, and a donkey engine emit ting vigorous puffs of smoke and steam. There is to be the first station east of Yu- ma, between thirty and thirty-one miles from here by rail and thirty-six by wagon road. The construction train arrived there on Thursday. It is to be called "Gila." and will be lively place until another tem- porary station is made farther east-say for thirty days, if another station is made near Mohawk Gap. Within two weeks all passengers and freight for the interior will be delivered at Gila. No depots or ware houses are to be erected, but everything will be delivered from cars on temporary side tracks. Water was found at fourteen feet, and the well was sunk to depth of six feet more, in coarse gravel and small boul- ders The flow of water in this well is unusually strong; the day before our visit it was baled for forty minutes, at the rate of 15O gallons minute, without appearing to make any impression on its level. This test assures an ample supply of water for all uses of the road in construction or in
 peration. The water feels and tastes soft and warm, and has no resemblance to that of the Gila river about mile of; it evident ly comes from the mountains to the south- ward. The donkey engine had just been brought up to test the suitability of the water for making steam; the result was very satisfactory. Preparing the new sta tion for business will delay construction one or two days; after that it is to go on at the rate of one and half miles daily, for doing which everything is now ready. Passing hundreds of Chinese graders we came upon the construction train at the the big arroyo close to old Mission Camp. The train does not differ materially from our last description of it, except in the ad- dition of a remarkable board -and-canvas structure at its head; which on inspection proved to be complete blacksmith and wheelwright shop on wheels, and in the addition of & mammoth ear conveniently fitted up as a store by Sisson, Wallace & Go. We arrived here at noon and found the track laid for distance of 3100 feet ahead-three- -fifthso of mile: that much track had been laid that forenoon. This fact prepared us to take il" the state ment that a mile and half was to be laid on Thursday. Thirty-fve track-layers were at work, and twenty more have been put on since. We walked out to the end of the track and watched the work as de- scribed in former article, performed un- der the supervision of our old Yuma ac- quaintance; John Higgins. The dexterity displayed by the men was marvellous; every hand took hold of the right place; no false motions and no getting in each others way. Several hundred feet of track were laid while we were asking questions and making few notes. Telegraph ma- terial came first. Off dropped pole while the top was being chamfered of, bracket nailed on and insulator fitted, a hole was dug, and in about three minutes altogether everything was ready for the wire The poles are set twenty to the mile
 In walking out we counted twelve of them from the train to end of track; so we had proof of the "31O0 feet" statement, the train having been pushed forward early in the morning. About two o'clock the train was pushed forward again, dumped half a mile of ties and rails, and then was drawn back just far enough to bring it's head op. posite this pile of material. We had long ago said goodbye to the stage driver, ane now found it prudent to renew our ac
 quaintance with MT. Martin who drives and conducts the supply train. The old Santa Monica engine was found too light to do the work now required, and has beer replaced by "226" During the run tc
 Yuma we had ample opportunity to note the immense amount of work that ha;