The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-11
BUILDING A RAILROAD
Description of the Work From
Start to Finish.
MANY ABoRTIvE ENTERPRISES.
Causes which Lead to Construction OF
Railroads-How Surveys Are Made
and Roads Built.

reconnaissance, which is the first step, 10
the laying of track and running of trains
there are a number of intermediate steps,
which involve the expenditure OF such
great sums of money that only small
proportion of the roads projected are ever
carried to completion. In all parts OF the
country, even the most remote, can be
found lines of stakes marking surveys OF
abortive schemes, and in great strategic
points, like the Cumberland Gap, these
stakes are said to be as thick as fleas on a
dog, to use an expressive colioqualism.
Many an engineer who has been running
q line through wild, inaccessible country,
where he thought none of his brethren had
yet penetrated, has been told by the old
inhabitant: That's just where they ran
the line ten years ago."
Even when the actual construction OF
q road has fairly started it is not at all I'M
common for the supply of money to dry
up and leave the work half completed.
The Portland e. Puget Sound IS an in
stance, though, doubtless. the Great
Northern will ere long carry it on to COM
pletion. Other instances of half-completed
roads are to be found in all sections OF the
country.
A railroad to be success must fulfill GER
tain conditions. 1t must be demanded by
either the physical or artificial conditions
of the country through which it is built.
The first was the necessity for
better transportation facilities in order to
develop sections of country. Under this
head would come the greater number of
early railroads which were, many Of
them, built with state aid or by corpora
tons DESTROYS of developing large areas of
land to gain advantage of the natural re-
sources of the country. Another great
source of railroad building in older sec
tions of the country has been that the
earliest constructors acted under the mis-
taken idea that il was desirable to reach
navigabe waters at the nearest practicable
point, while modern practice has demon
etrated that it is imperative, in order to
compete for the traffic of the country, to
extend the railroads to points as near the
great harbors as possible. The other main
factor has been the necessity of connect
ing prominent points on different water
courses or railroads by direct lines of
transportation.
Whenever the conditions seem to prom
Use that an income can be secured from an
investment of capital in a railroad project,
the first step is by investigation to deter
mine the possibility of the scheme, and
also by statistics, if.such exist, or by ex-
animation of the points which it is de-
sired to connect and the intervening coun-
try, what amount of traffic can be
expected, and to determine what class of
road the conditions would warrant. The
Lake Shore road is an instance, as many
can remember the examination and re-
ports made of the resources of the coun-
try and the traffic promised by connect
ing line between the Canadian Pacific rail-
road and the growing cities on Puget
sound.
Up to this point the question has been
mainly one of finance, but here the SER
vices of a competent engineer are required.
The management having determined the
terminal points. the general route and the
cost per mile which the prospects seem to
warrant. to the engineer is given the task
of choosing the most feasible route and
determining the rates of maximum grade
and curvature which the conditions OF the
country and the amount of money to be
expended demand.
The first step is to make thorough re-
connoissance of the territory lying be-
tween the already fixed terminal points.
To do this it is sometimes neces-
sary to examine great many
widely diverging routes. Sometimes
the nature of the country is such that
careful reconnaissance develops the fact
that one route is far preferable to the 9TH
ers, but more generally two or more routes
are found to be of so nearly the same value
that 1t becomes necessary to put engineer
corps in the field and determine which of
the routes is preferable by careful surveys.
These preliminary surveys are intended to
show the differences between the routes in
the following particulars: In length of
line, in rise aud fall of grade, and in cost
OF construction. Each of these factors
has been determined by practice to have a
proportionate cash value and, when the
lines are compared with regard to the total
value OF their respective factors it is gem
orally easy 10 select one more desirable than
the others. In many instances it is found
10 be necessary TO pass fixed points on the
line of route and in such cases. these
points being fixed. it may become neces-
sary to determine the most desirable route
between these fixed points and the ter
minal points The cost of these prelimi-
nary surveys is sometimes very great but
is necessary so rs to ensure the selection
of the route that has the greatest economic
value. The cost of a party on preliminary
surveys is about 500 to !, 600 per month.
and, though the amount of work done
varies very greatly according to the ma
ture of the country, the amount of work
done would generally be from thirty-tive
10 fifty miles a month, giving cost of
.Ae,,aA H.. a a =.
TO run Mt least five miles of preliminary
line in order to fix one mile of route.
The preliminary survey is the first out
ward sign of an intention to build a rail-
rosd, and is often used simply in order to
make pretence toward railroad develop
ment for the purpose of Initiating the val
ues of real estate along the projected line
But thousands OF miles of preliminary
surveys are made by corporations which
do not develop sufficient financial strength
10 carry out the projects As men are
always loath TO publish their failures. il is
impossible TO estimate the large amount of
capital which is lost in such ventures.
There are very few people but can remem-
her some scene of enthusiasm created by
the appearance of an engineer corps which
passed on never 10 return. Many q san.
guine protector, after expending the bulk
Of the private means of himself and
friends. has found himself entirely
stranded by the refusal of the money
kings TO consider his project Prelimin-
airy surveys are often run over several
routes to induce the landowners or
towns on one OF the routes to raise any
subsidy that the projectors may demand.
The next step in the evolution OF the
road and the Waterloo of many projects is
to interest the owners of capital and Sc