The Elk Mountain pilot., 1881-10-20
one RAILROADS. GROWTH.
lbe Wonderful Operations Of the Uli9a Plc.as.
It now 0v,s More Miles Of Rod Than
Any o.he1 Corporation in
t,e World.

Building railroad, to-day is child
play when comp,rcd with what W
had to contend with in the ea.l, davs,"
SAID a senll- -naa who probably knows
more about western ra;Iroadlus than
1sy~ other mai ID tie country. to a
TINES reporter few days ago.
Why, he continued, Il remcm-
Der when railroad ties were broueh.
al! the way from PENNSYLVANIA for use
On the main li1e OF the Union Pacific
railroad. The freight was 50 high
that the cost of each tie was abos,
two dollars and half. That was i.
1867. That wds The da~a Of a rev
era IN railroadicg in America. The
scheme was thought almost too sigan-
TIC TO BE plausible. At that time there
was 10 line to the Missouri river.
Inc first rail OF the main line Of the
Union Pacific was laid in July, 1865.
AID locomotives were steaming into
Ogden, 1892 miles awAy; IN April.
four years later. | don't think there
Is a railroad in the world that can
boast Of having had its work done bv
70 high-tonel laoorers. don't mean
the Cinnamon who were first employ
ed, bu: the doctors, lawyers, and even
newspaper men," the gentleman add
ed with laugh, "who were ONLY too
happy to earn tnoilgh to buy bread
for The time Being ind save up enough
money TO take them bar home. Ny
ls)hject is to show how this road, which
fought its way asainst all s5r,s Of OBJ
staclts, has pros! cred, until to-day 1t
owes more males OF road than any
other corporation in the world. There
| lIai ale Or two companies that lease
and thus coatTol moe miles Of rail-.
but there is not one that Owas so much.
| will come to the figures l.ter-after
| hav: tod YOU of the gfeatest feat in
the history of rallroading. 1t wa. in
1869. All but ten miles ofthe road
between Ogden and Promontory,
Utah, was completed.
One of the contractors, in talking
with M. Thomas Dralt, one Of the
projectors and builders Of the road;
made tie remark that the remaining
ten miles of rail coud be laid ii 4 day
if the force of men were pushed to it.
Mr.. Durant laughed. II, can, be
do4e," he said, shaking his head.
But think it can repeated the
contractor IN d manner SO assured that
MIR: Durant put him to the test by
saying:
''l'Il wager ten thousand dolllrs-a
thousand for every n,e-that you
can t do it,
Now, mind you, great feats in rail-
road building had never been heard
of at that time, and Mr.. Durant
thought it almost an imposition to
allow the contractor to accept the
wager: But the utter did 50, and the
next dav set his men al work in earnest
to win the bet; and they did it with a
half mile to spare. | forget how many
men were employed, but the hike has
never been heard Of since N any
country. After building the man
line from Omaha to Ogden, a distance
OF f.ose miles, the Union Pacific
waited for aMhiIc-indeed, that was
all the company owned three years
ago. Then Ii began building and
buHing roads right and lett, un.il to-
day i; owns nearly four tpou5and miles
II rail, and By virtue OF it, care in
selecting rouses-and its all but per
feet nanagement-every mile brings
It cash return at the end Of the year.
The Times man visited the Union
Pacific ofices aid tl.e-e learned that
the exact number Of miles owned ana
operated by the r ,ad is S,755. ana
ti;at b. the end OF .he year $50 miles
more will have been added to the
number. Tlis immense number OF
miles OF road is divided iif into d!vls
ions and branches as follow:
Nils
saia liie (,'ni IN !aci:i; X. r. l3
O,s.aba X R-iaa Va lsy di,iia l5-
cniA q. II ira 81: ILL disii.l 81
Colo al! ii i i Ii tCol ell 81 /.
y. j.-c,i. 4 Wsse Il i Isl 80
J; !; 81 r. r.nc.i .ve- JuI-;iol to pcurerl l..
ia ysyiic & Iue y ii e. i. isior a.
Eco rsrk tiiy btAnch 81