The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1881-11-11

sritin On tne Northeastern Hail
way-Interview with One Of th<
Contractors. Who Gives Some In
tercsting Information.
N. o. Pieayuns, 9Th.
Mr.. VIM. Wesenberg, of Nash,
willie, manager for the firm OF Fletch
or, Wesenberg & Co., Nashville,
contractors, arrived in the city yes
terday, and was interviewed BY .
PicayMae representative at the st
Charles hotel.
To this firm has been awarded
the contract for the trestle work on
the New Orleans ami Northeastern
railway, and for the bridge across
Lake Pontchartrain. 1t is scarcely
necessary to state that the New Or
leans and Northeastern railroad Is
to run from New Orleans to Meri.
dian, forming part of the great Err.
langer system. which controls the
Alabama Southern, Cincinnati
Southern, vicksburg and Meridian,
Vicksburg, Shreveport aud Pacific,
aud other Southern lines. The New
Orleans and Northeastern railroad
will be one of the most important
OF the Erlanger roads, as it will
connect the system with New Or.
leans as a terminal point, and give
q trunk line to Cincinnati, shorten.
ing materially the distance to the
latter named city and to New York.
Mr.. Wesenberg, unlike most rail,
road men, who clothe their great
ideas in mystery and fly from re.
porters as the guilty flee from judg.
ment, showed no hesitation in i'm.
parting all information desired,
which he did with the clearness and
readiness OF u thorough man Of
business.
In anwer to inquiries regarding
the nature of the work under the
contract, Mr.. Wesenberg replied In
substance as follows:
"The work was advertised prop.
erly, and bids were made by sew.
eral responsible firms. On October
20 the bids were opened, and the
contract offered to our firm, as they
were the lowest bidders, As you
know, the Erlangers own the Span.
ish Fort railroad, which runs along
the Peoples canal to Lake Pontch-
artrain, aud thence along the lake
shore to the fort. Well, our work
will begin at the Peoples canal,
and extend to the highland about
two and one-half miles beyond Lake
Pontchartrain. There will be about
fifteen miles Of trestle work on this
side Of the lake, six miles Of bridge,
and two and one-half miles on the
other side. The work Is all of one
kind, piled trestles, with two draw
spaus across the two channels 10
Lake Pontchartrain. II is possible
that the trestle will be filed in with
earth In the course OF time, when
the line ia running, and material
eau be hauled. Iu fact the company
expects to gil in about ten miles OF
the road on this side Of the lake, II
II appears that the subsoil will
stand the pressure.
alt Is estimated that the cost
of the work will bc about one and
one. quarter millions Of dollars.
That is the engineers estimate.
We cannot tell what our bid will
aggregate, because different plans
for the trestle work are under con-
sideration, and until we have driv.
en- some of the piles the engineers
will be unable to say whether we
should use one, two or three piles.
Besides the amount to be paid un-
der the contract will depend on the
depth to which the piles are
driven.
"In constructing the trestle work
q large quantity of iron work will
be required for bolts and castings
probably 1900, 900 pounds. As
TO lumber We will require about
1O. .O)O. .O()O feet of sawed lumber and
$4,000 piles. The lumber to be
used is yellow or long-leavcd pine
and cypress. The railroad compo
nv will erect the creosoting works,
which will be operated by the con-
tractors. A location for them has
not vet been selected. They may
be established on tho Peoples CO.
nal, near the Spanish Fort, or on
Bayou Bonfonca, In 81. Tammany
parish. The works will be similar
to those at Pascagoula, but Of lar.
ger capacity. You ask me how the
timber il screosoted.' ! will explain
in q few words the modus operandi.
The timber, already properly pre-
pared, will be submitted to q steam
lug process in an injection oyliuder
from two to three hours; then to q
heat Of $50 deg. Fahrenheit, for
from twenty to thirty hours. The
oil OF creosote, heated t. l75 deg.
Fahrenheit, will then be let into