Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-16

sonal inspection could have given one an
| idea of the difficulties of clearing away the
debris caused by land slides, repairing
bridges and culverts, filling in washouts,
etc. The most discouragiDg feature of the
work was the fact that no sooner was one
obstruction removed than several other
slides would come tumbliDg down the
mountain sides, hurting rocks, trees and
earth upon the track, and covering it in
places to great depth, frequently tearing
out the track or bending the rails out of
shape, and undoing in a twinkling the
| work of days. A sharp lookout for svmp-
| toms of slides had to be maintaine by the
| workmen, and the work trains were fire.
| quently caught between slides, shutting off
| their base of supplies. Fortunately, how
ever, there was never a lack of food in the
| outfit. Add to this the torrents of rain
| falling for days at time, and some slight
| idea of the situation may be imagined.
This road, unlike the Central Pacific over
| the Sierra Nevada, is comparatively new
! one. and only couple of years ago the
last spike was driven announcing its COM
pletisn. For almost the whole distance
| from Redding northward, the track either
| winds around the sides OF mountains or
runs through cuts, tunnels, and over i'm.
| mense fills and high trestles. Thus the
grading of the road was difficult task.
and was undertaken only after several differ
ent SURVEYS had been made.
| From Redding to Dunsmuir, distance
of 20 miles, the road runs parallel with the
Sacramento river, and the sides of the
steep mountains bordering the stream had
to be cut into to form bed for the track.
| The soil for the greatest part of the dis
lance is soft slate, or reddish earth, either
of which, when drenched with water, is
~ to Loo 70 hod 81. IL
| bodies. This has been the case this winter,
| and the rain and snow falling SO inces-
sanity had saturated the ground to such an
extent that it became detached without the
| slightest Jar OF provocation. Such have
| been the chief causes of the blockade on the
road. The washouts are easily accounted
| for when we remember that the torrents of
rain that fell raised the waters in the river
so that they overlooked their banks, and
| the rush of the immense volume of water
kept washing away against the base of the
road-b until it was at last undermined,
and finally whole bank of earth would
be washed out. and the track would be sus-
pended over the abyss, making a sort OF
suspension bridge, but safe only for foot
passengers.
Then, again, washouts would occur
where new creeks were formed on the steep
sides of the hills above the track, and the
waters of these streams, however small,
would rush down with such force upon the
track that the packing around the ties
would DE washed out. leaving the road in a
dangerous condition. Trains passing around
sharp curve in the track at such places
frequently slid off the embankment and
into the river.
The RECORD UNION correspondent had
an opportunity of seeing slides and wash
| outs of all sizes and descriptions, and was
enabled to judge of the difficulty of the
| task of removing the debris and repairing
| the track. After gathering such news as
| he could at one station he pushed on over
| the road for the next, generally on foot, &C.
casionally taking advantage of trip by a
wild engine, and trying his hand (or,
rather, his feet on snowshoes when he
| could not go in any other manner. An Of
| fer of ride on hand-car was hailed as q
positive luxury, after weary walk over
| the ties or trip on snowshoes. The re-
porter travelled on foot from Sims to Duns.
muir in dreuching rain, with many land
slides and banks of slushy snow to over
come; thence to Mott, nine miles, on snow
Shoes from the latter place to Montague
| in the cab of an engine, winding around
| the base of grand old Mount Shasta, robed
in spotless white, the lonely sentinel that
has for ages guarded the great and fertile
valley of the Sacramento, stretching away
| to the southwar
| From Montague the scribe had to hand
car and "hoof' it to Hornbrook, and after
nights rest another walk of twenty miles
brought him to Sskiyou
Here his arduous trip ended, as he had
| overtaken Superintendent Pratt, who gave
him full history of the operations in
clearing the track, and which was tele-
graphed the RECORD UNION. Mr. Pratt had
ceaselessly and determinedly fought his
way from Redding to Ashland in the face
of obstacles that would have seemed insur-
mountable TO many men. But Mr. Pratt
is man not easily deferred from his pur-
pose, and he possesses the quality of in
spring his men with something of his own
spirit. There was but one thought in his
mind, and that was to push right on. He
knew how long it would take to repair a
bridge or reach a given point, and his
| judgment in such matters was invariably
| correct.
The present condition of the track from
Redding to Glendale, 100 miles beyond the
| State line, may be summed up as follows:
| The first obstruction is the huge slide at
Tunnel No. 8, five miles south of Sims. the
worst on the whole Shasta Division. Three
hundred and ten men are at work on it,
and it will be fully week before the track
will be uncovered. The Blue Cut, about O
mile above Tunnel 8, gives trouble now
and then, but at present the track is open
! and likely to remain so if carefully
watched.
: From this point the road to Dunsmuir is
clear, although in many places where large
slides have been removed trains have to
| run slow in order to avoid accidents.
The strip of track from Dunsmuir to Mott,
nine miles, has experienced more slides than
any other section, and has been blockaded
ever since Mr.. Pratt went north from there.
1t was expected to have this stretch open
yesterday.
| From Mott train can run to Ashland,
although the trip takes more than day on
account of the bad condition of the track
over the Siskiyou mountains. Gangs of
men are still at work all along the Siskiyou
section, clearing away the small slides that
frequently occur. The track from Ash
| land to point five miles south Of Glendale
was open yesterday, and Mr.. Pratt was at
the latter point preparing to push ahead.
From Glendale to Portland there are
many washouts and slides 10 be removed
and bridges and culverts to be putin order.
The greatest delay will be along tie Cow
Creek CANYON, where the track is washed
out in places from 200 to 900 feet in length;
but with good weather the work will be
soon completed.
When it rains upin that section it means
business. The storms come fast and furi-
Gus. while the snow in many places north
of Sims attains great depth. The money
loss to the railroad company by reason of
interrupted traffic, repairs to the track,
bridges, engines and cars, and snow-plow
work ON this route alone must have been
enormous.
The snow can easily be handled on this
division, the chief trouble being the land
slides and washouts. These slides are diff
ficult to manage, and will be troublesome
for many years yet in extremely wet sea-
sons like the present one.
The country along the Sacramento can
yon, from Redding to Mount Shasta, is
destined to become very popular resort
during the summer months. The scenery
is grand aud full of beauty. and the weather
delightful aud bseciDg at that season Of the