Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-04-14

clined the proposal which the Government held
out by the Act of 1862 When the Act of lseIt
was passed, granting larger aid in lands and al
lowing hrst mortgages to be made upon the
road, the Union Pacific accepted that Act, and
year later commenced the construction of their
road. Finding no obstacles whatever in the
way, they contemplated pushing 1t to the east
ern case of the Sierras, believing that they could
reach that point before the Central Pacific had
crossed the mountains. Had they accomplished
this purpose the Central Paeihcs line already
constructed would have been worthless, because
of the cost of operation and the comparatively
small mileage. Here Congress made 1t neces-
sary Tor the Central Pacific road in self-defense
and to save what they had already invested, to
| push forward and acquire as much mileage as
possible, in order that they might share in the
| profits of trauscontnental road. This is
fact to which shall allude again when | come
% consider the equities. 1t is fact not gener-
orally known nor much understood.
| Before the Union Pacific commenced work i
railroad had been completed across Iowa, con-
Meeting the Mis- ouri river at st. Joseph with the
| trunk lines running from the Atlantic seaboard.
The Union Pacific therefore received all OF its
| supplies directly from the East by rail to It.
Joseph and then on the Missouri river by boat to
| Oms ha- 1t commenced work on a level plain,
| with little more TO do than to lay the super
| structure of q road which nature had graded.
On the contrary. all the supplies Tor the Central
| Pacific had to be transported 1000 miles by
water, around Cape Horn to San Francisco, or
| at heavy charges across the lsthmus of Panama.
| FROM ,-an FRANCISCO tney were transported
F, the river to Sacramento and from there by rail,
| by teams and upon pack trains to the place of
use. The Union Pacific could purchase supplies
and material as IL desired to use them, while
The CENTRAL PACIEIC
Had TO purchase supplies from six to twelve
| months IN advance, and had to pay heavy
freights for transportation. heavy insurance in
Guiding war risks, at times amour ting TO II per
cent OF the values. 1t commenced work at the
| junction of the American river with the Saera-
| mentO. and was built easterly along tine south
ern bank of the American river for three miles.
The American river IS a short river, having its
source near the summit of the SieTras, and in
character is q torrential stream. In 1850 il had
| at Sacramento well defined banks thirty feet
IN hight and seldom overlooked; but ut the time
the railroad was commenced the bed of this
river had, by tailings and other debris from the
mines, been Elled far above its original banks
Ii had more than once overlooked the city of
sacramento and several times had threatened
! It's destruction.
The road was built upon an embanlSlnent CON
| structed almost wholly by the company. This
| embankment was protected against the water
| OF the river by rprapping of the most expen-
slVe ana costly character; SO that while the road
| from the point of its commencement runs upon
comparatively level ground. its construction
| was matter of great expense Next came the
| bridge across the river, which, from the char
| acter of the stream, the depth of sand and SHIFT
! ing currents, was work of difficulty and ex
4 pense.
The next four miles of the road were com
paratlvely level and without serious difficulty,
| but at Arcade, seven miles from Sacramento
| the geographical foot of the mountains the
work OF cuts and fills commenced and the diff
Guilty and cost of construction rapidly increased
| as the ascent of the Sierras was made. Long
and high treStle-works had 10 be constructed at
Newcastle, thirty-one miles from Sacramento.
| From there TO Emigrant Gap the work was about
as heavy as the average of the work on the
| Pennsylvania road across the ALLEGHENY monn-
| talns. From Emigrant Gap 10 Truckee the diff
| culties encountered can never be appreciated
| by one not conyersant with that range of noun
tains, or by one who has not lived among them
| during the months of almost constant storm.
The snow usually begins 10 fall on the sierras
\ in the month of November or December and
sometimes continues with but slight iuterlnis-
| sion until April or May.
Of THE WESTERN SLOPE
The annual snowfall will vary from thirty to
sixty feet in depth, and snow has remained
upon the summit to the depth of four feet as
late as July. Rain at intervals falls upon these
vast bodies of snow, and when they are re-
duced by the influence of the rays of the sun
and the saturalion of the rain to the depth of
ten or fifteen feet the mass ceases TO be snow
and becomes as BODY of ice, which cannot be
removed except with pick and powder The
three winters, in which our people with from
10000 to 1900 men were working on these
mountains, were among the seyerest known in
the history of the State As the snow began to
fall 1t required as many men to clear the ground
as il did TO DO the work of excavation. AS the
storms progressed it became impossible to clear
of the snow. and the work was done under it.
Long tunnels were run through the snow to
get to the rock to be excavated and once at the
rock tunnels had to be bored. Shafts were sunk
IN the snoWdrlfts, excavations were made under
them, and in these openings the masonry nee
essary to be used in construction was laid The
stones being lowered through the snow shafts
there was constant danger from the mountain
ayalancheS.
Men were frequently swep. away and Their
remains not found until the snow melted in the
summer. For miles and miles great masses OF
snow, drifted and compact rested upon the
ellis near the SUBMITS of the mountains and
endangered all below them, and these masses
had, for protection. to be removed before the
WORK could be carried on with even COMPARE
tive safety.
While these storms were raging in the mount
ans, ram deluged the foothills and the valleys
were rendered impossible even for teams, and
many OF the supplies to points which could not
be reached by rail were borne upon the backs of
mules for days at time So terrific would be
tneSe Storms That at times not an hours work
could be done, yet the men who were risking
their lives could only be retained by full pay
ment, whether working or idle
The Commission, in its report does not T1nder-
estimate the difficulties in this respect. but il
says that the dangers were not shared bv the
projectors, but were only encountered by the
hlred men. This is n grave mistake There
was no tine but what one or more of the pro-
jectors of this road encouraged BY their pres
ence the prosecution OF this undertaking.
CHARLES cRocEIER WAS NEARLY ALWAYS PRESENT
Sharing the danger No more could this force
have been maintained and Organized and kent
In action under SUI circumstances without the
presence OF a leader than army could be fought
without commander. While this work was
going on in the mountains g force passed forty
miles ahead 10 the canyons OF the Iruckee and
twenty miles of rails with their fastenings and
and locomotives and cars sufficient for carving
on the work in that canyon were hauled there
through the SHOW, over the summit to that
place Inc cost and expense of such transpor-
tation could only be appreciated by those who
have lived in the Sierras during the winter
months, and could only be justified by the
necessity of the great interest which the nation
had therein. II was also deemed important to
do the work in the lower mountains crossed by
the railroad in Utan. so that when the track
reached those points there should be TO delay.
Men and material were transported By wagons
over deserts, sometimes forty miles without
water, at immense cost. Provisions To ,IIstaj,
them and forage for the teams were exDensire
beyond anything ever known in the Atlantic
States. Barley and oats ranged from 5000 to $500
per ton, nay was sl20 per ton and all other sup
ples IN Utah In the same ratio. The work in
the SieTras was done before the days of hjgb
explosives or the Burleigh drill. Five hundred
Kegs OF powder was the daily average, and its
once was beyond anything ever known in the
country before.
There were no means in California for manu-
featuring railroad material. Only few years
| had elapsed since there had been any consider
able emigration to that State. Labor was scarce
and only obtainabe at great cost Miners, ae-
customed to work in the placer mines or not, as
| 1t suited them, would not undergo the disci-
| plne of railroad work. They were Indifferent
and independent, and their labor high pr ced
AT tne nTst mining excitement many of them
would abandon the work. AS an illustration
| l,l00 men were transported at one time to work
| on the eastern section of the road, and out of
| the 100 only 100 remained, the balance going
| to the mines, newly opened at Austin. New
The iron rails laid on the track 600 tons per
mile (including switches side tracks and ms
terial), cost over $40 ton; for two locomotive
engines there was paid in cost and freight SO 400
The first ten engines purchased in a lot by the
Central Pacific road cost SIg1 0O and the second
| ten upward of $4,000. The freight by Cane
| Horn TO San Francisco was over s. 900 on the
| first locomotive. Cars were manufactured in
the East, taken to pieces, brought around Cane
| Horn, or across the lsthmus landed at san Fran
cisco. and carried by boat to Sacramento. and
| there put together.
| THOUSANDS OF TONS OF RAILS
| Were transported by steamship from New York
| TO Aspinwall, and then taken across the Isthrnus
\ 10 Panama, and then shipped again to San
Francisco at great expense. An average of
| 1000 men were engaged for three years in this
| mighty work upon the mountains, force Tar
greater than General Taylor led across the Rio
Graude TO Monterey and Buena Vista force
nearly equal i'll number to that with which GEN.
eral Scott swept from Vera Cruz to the City of
Mexico. More work was done and more money
actually expended in the construction of the
5e miles of the Central Pacific across the sierra
Nevada montsins than would have been neces-
sary TO build the road from the eastern base of
| these mountains to the city of Chicago. The
testimony upon this point is clear and iniispu-
table. From the eastern base of the Sierra
| Nevada mountains with 5000 men. 500 miles of