Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-11-15
". C. SMITH & 60.
The Leading Merchants
 OF FINAL COUNTY.
AN ARIZONA PROJECT. A Railroad through the Grand Canyon
 of the Colorado.
Scientific American.

A Railroad through the Grand Canyon
 of the Colorado.
 Scientific American.
 Once more the project of building a railroad in the canon of the Colorado River has come up for consideration, and this time in such definite shape that 1t would seem that before very long the un dertaking would be actually begun. The project has always been a very popular one with engineers, owing partly to the al- most insurmountable obstacles to be over come. The country is so wild, the noun tains so high, the walls arising on both sides of the river so preclpltous and so lofty. that the mere work of surveying this district has been almost impossible. This, however, has at last been accom- plished, and it is now announced that the work is by no means as hopeless as has always been supposed-in fact, that 1t IS perfectly feasible.
 In 1869, Major Powell, of the United States Geological Survey. made his mem orable trip down the Colorado River, he and his party being the only persons who had ever succeeded in accomplishing thls feat. Since then several attempts have been nld(lS lO uDilSll N4AAS. ptth fatally, and it was destined that this scientist should for twenty years. hold the honor of be1ng chief of the only party that had ever descended the entire length of the river. In 1889, party of railroad men and surveyors started to make the de- scent of the river, and succeeded in reach ing a point about the middle of the Mar ble Canon, when disaster overlook them, and several of their number were lost. Since that time, the rest of the river has been traversed and examined, and the re- port of the chief engineer, MT. Robert B. Stanton, has been handed ill to the dlrec- tors of the Denver, Colorado Canon and Pacific Railroad Company.
 In spite of the loss of life that has been met with in making the surveys, the re port of the engineer is favorable, and he believes the work is practicable, not only from an engineering standpoint, but that the expense of building it will not be so great as to render the work impossible.
 The entire length of the Colorado is about 1000 miles, and it Is navigable as far as Callville, distance of some 6OO miles from it's mouth at the Gulf of Cali fornia. The object of the present road is to connect the coal fields of Colorado with the Pacific coast. It is at present difficult to procure cheap fuel on the Pacific coast, much of the fuel used there being brought by steamer from foreign ports.
 It is proposed to start the new road from Grand Junction, Colorado, which point Is already connected with the coal fields by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.
 Thenew road has been surveyed from that town to the Gulf of California. and also from the town of Yuma to San Diego, the most southerly seaport of California, this being distance of 190 miles, and affording excellent communication with the California coast. The general sur vey has been divided as follows.
 Starting from Grand Junction and pro- ceeding toward the mouth of the river, we find the subdivisions to be as follows:
 Miles The Grand River er............... 14C
 Cataract and Marrow Cafions ...... 54 | Glen Canon n.................. l5I | Marble Canon n.................. 62
 Grand Canon. ................... 217
 From Grand Canon to the Needles, 161
 From Needles to Yuma and
 Yuma to Gulf f...................2 24s making total of over thousand miles.
 The engineers, under the able direction of MT. Stanton, have prepared an exhaus- | tive report with detailed description oi the work required to be done and thf material encountered. By very com plete series of photographs, over 800 1T number, each principal section of work has been put on paper, and the descrp tion refers to each photograph, by mean: of which the character of the work can bt easily indeptified
 The first part of the route from Gran( ! 4Io Hrn,,1 Ifxrnr 4S head of the Colorado does not present any great difficulties. In fact, the Denver anc Rio Grande Western R. k. have con structed a road along one bank of tht river that is already ill operation. Tn, great difficulties of the route are not en countered until the great gorge of tht Marble and Grand Cailons are reached Of the 62 miles of road through the Mar ble Canon, 26 miles are to be built ol talus slopes, g On cliff bonoh work. Ther are about 215 miles of tunnel. The Crane Canon is supposed to combine ever, difficulty that 1t is possible for the rail road engineer to encounter Of the 21 miles through this section, 51 miles ar hillside slopes, 43 heavy talus slopes, | miles cliff bench work, 19 miles marbl bench work, 85 miles of sloping granit walls. Of the total length Of the road amounting to 1919 miles, 403 miles ar through what is known as earth work This is hot expensive work, and can b done with blow and scraper, as in an ordinary mountain country. The miles of hillside slopes consist Of cart and loose rock. The 191 miles of roug : talus slopes consist of loose rock an powders and earth with slopes of strat fled lime and sandstone. There are , Eliles of excavation through solid granit walls. There would be ill all about miles of tunnel.
 Should this road be completed, it wi open up country that is practical e closed to-day to the general travele
 The country Is so rough and so extraol n dinary that only those who are especial l favored with time, means, and physic; ;. strength can penetrate this wonderfl l, region and enjoy its superior beauty. Clarence E. Duttoh, of the U l Geological Survey, in one of his report
 say that Those who have long and car
 fully stud jed the Grand Canon of tt
 Colorado do not hesitate for moment
 pronounce 1t by far the most sublime T all earthly spectacles. If it's sublimit Ii consisted only in it's dimensions, it coul e be sufficiently set forth in a single SCI ? tence It is more than 200 miles lon if from to 12 miles wide, and from 5000 s 5000 feet deep. There are in the wor
 valleys which are longer, and few whiC
 are deeper. There are valleys hanked
 summits lqftier than the palisades of Il
 Kaibab. Still the Grand Cailon is u 1t sublimest thing on earth. It is so n i- alone by virtue of it's magnitudes, but
 virtue of the whole its ensemble