Los Angeles herald., 1890-12-13
THEGREATCUT I'm THE CAJON PASS
A Tremendous Engineering Work = The
Forces of Nature Controlled-The Big
Mountain Slipper Terraced and Brought
Into Subsection.

oral IududSeT Ol Llle oOuIleIu OdllloIHld
railway, in the private car of that gen
tleman. Amongst the rest were Gen.
A. Med. McCook, the commander OF the
department OF Arizona, Major Chauncey
B. Baker, of his staff, Mr.. Rumsey, an
enterprising capitalist of st. Louis, Mr..
Hunt, of Hunt & Phillips, the notable
engineer, Mr.. F. 7. Perris, Mr.. Hola-
bird, and several other gentlemen, in
Guiding Col. H. G. Otis, of the Times,
and representative of the HERALD.
The route taken was the celebrated
Belt line, the party going out by way of
Pasadena and Cotton, and returning via
Riverside and Orange, description of
which trip appeared in the HERALD in
two papers recently published. We
shall therefore dismiss such matters as
have been already discussed, and get
down to the real objects of the expedi-
ton.
The Cajon pass has long been famous.
1t was through the often celebrated
Cojote pass, which branches from the
Cajon, that the extensive trade be-
tween Salt Lake City and Los
Angeles was formerly carried
on. The wagon road that once
led up through that break in the noun
tains was a melancholy thing indeed,
choked up as it has been for years with
huge blocks of rock thrown down by the
tumultuous floods A little higher up
new wagon road has been constructed
which, though passable, looks difficult.
Still little higher up, on the other side
of the track of the Southern California,
traces were to be seen of the railroad
which Senator John P. Jones projected
through this mighty cleft in cyclopean
hills. Colonel Joseph U. Crawford, who
was Jones's engineer, planned q road on
a higher grade than that determined on
by the Southern California, and which
would have involved tunnel of 4400
feet. Four hundred feet OF this big hole
had been dug out when Senator Jones
tied up his purse strings and concluded
that railway building was a romantic
rather than a profitable thing for
private gentleman to undertake single
handed.
GIG ANTIC WORK-SoMETHING ABOUT
GRADES.
About this time one realized that one
was going up hill at terrific rate. An
inquiry as to the grade elected the fact
that it was per cent, or at the rate of
15S 4-l0 feet to the mile. For years and
years one OF the leading topics OF discus
sion amongst engineers was the diff
Guilty of mastering the obstacles pre-
there the question OF grade, but the ma
ture of the ground was subject of
grave alarm, ON account of the
Gtlnnnru A. ~ mn
tain. These misgivings proved to be
only too well founded From the time
the great cut was made the officials of
the Southern California encountered ex-
penses, delays and vexati0ns innumer-
able, trains being delayed; and, in some
cases, detentions of three or four days
occurring. The last of these happened
last winter, and Mr.. X. II. Wade, the
sagacious and indefatigable general
manager of the Southern California, at
once resolved to take the bull by the
horns. A force varying from sixty-fve to
eighty men, with a proper complement
of mules and horses, was put on the
work IN April, and they have about
completed their undertaking; and that,
fortunately for the company, before the
winter rains had fairly set in.
The constituents of the great cut were
soapstone and clay, in layers OF varying
thickness On one side the great cut
rose to heghtof 125 feet; on the other,
to about 40 feet, with, of course, strong
pitch towards the lower side. When
the rains came the clay layers
arrested the water sufficiently to
soak the soapstone, and the latter,
becoming saturated through and
through, naturally began to slide
off the smooth surface of the clay, with
the inevitable result of hurting thou
sands of tons of earth OH to the track.
The lateral pressure of the mountain was
so great, as sometimes to force the rails
up distance of six feet. On other oc-
casions, the dump of clay and soapstone
often rose to q height of fifteen feet
above the rails.
the length OF the track exposed to
these difficulties, and covered by the
present work, was about twelve hundred
feet, and the work substantially en-
braced that distance.
A GREAT ENGINEERING WORK.
The officials OF the Southern California
took careful note of the situation, and
concluded that the sliding Hill should be
cut back to distance OF twenty-six feet
from the track, and that it should then
be terraced to it's top. AS result of
this plan, four terraces have been cut
into the treacherous compound and
rooted over, the roof projecting sufii-
ciently to protect the sides of the hill
from percolation by the rain, each ter
race reaching back ten or fifteen feet. A
gutter is provided for each of these roofs,
which drains it perfectly. They are COW
cred, also with transverse Stats, and
have received thorough coating
of asphaltum. The angle of the
hill has thus been materially
changed, rendering it almost i'm
possible that there should be any
slide hereafter, and the bases of the
earth at the foot of the several terraces
have been thoroughly cemented A
completer piece of engineering work has
seldom been presented to Intelligent OBJ
servers. The company has good reason
to congratulate itself on the clever job
its competent manager has accomplished
through the aid OF coadjutors like Mr..
Perris and others.
The view from the top OF this cut is
grand in the extreme. Immense chasms
and towering mountains, the latter
capped with snow, encounter the eye on
all hands. Old Badly looms up with
special magnifcence, and the whole
Sierra Madre range is outlined with a