The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-30
SOUTH BENZ ROAD COxPLETED.
First Train Greeted ny shrieking OF
7E-.s.!es-SS. History.

Ws:s:ies-Is. History.
SourH BEND, Dec. 2a.-iSpecial. Las.
Friday at 3 a. IN. the las: spike vas driven
ard the last rail laid On the Yakima & Pa
cifc Coast railroad, me South BendChe-
halls branch Of the Northern Pacific, and
in the afternoon OF the same day the first
passenger train rolled into TINS city and
was greeted with shrill blasts from every
whistle on every mill and factory in South
Bend
Bad weather hard times and ill-luck
have all combined to make the construc-
ton OF the Yakima & Pacific Coast rail-
road slow and tedious. The contract for
its construction was entered into May %.
1895. between the South Bend Land Com
pany, which gave large bonus OF land,
and f. s. Alexander, representing the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company.
BY the terms OF the contract, work was
to be commenced by July l. 1890 Griggs
a. Henstis were given the contract for the
construction of the line, and they in turn
sublet it to Webster, kelso & Dare. Work
was begun according to contract, July |,
1890, but it was September before an ade-
quate force OF men could be secured, owing
to the large amount of railroad work being
done that year and the consequent demand
for laborers. The rains of winter soon set
In and hindered work so much that little
was done until the spring of 1891. 1t
was expected that the road would
be completed in 1891, but financial
troubles brought on by the Barring
Bros failure made il necessary for
the Northern Pacific TO restrict expendi-
lures to such an extent that it was impos-
sible TO complete the work as intended,
At the beginning OF the winter of 1891 the
end OF the track was at Pe-Ell. With the
opening of the spring of 1892 the work of
construction was again pushed, but the
same difficulty encountered as in the sum-
mer OF 1891, that Is. q scarcity of railroad
iaborers, caused by the construction work
on the Grea. Northern.
The South Bend-Chehalis railroad is u t
OF the Yakima & Pacific Coast, which. ac-
cording 10 the surveys and plans of the
Northern Pacific, will extend from Yakima
over the Cascades VIA Cowlitz Pass to
South Bend, Its ocean terminus.
The road as now completed IL $50 miles
long. The ruling maximum grade is FIVE
tenths OF per cent, except on the divide.
where the grade is $40 on the east side
and l $40 on the west side. The low
grades enable standard Northern Pacific
engine 20 pull thirty loaded cars over
the entire line. except at the divide, where
q pusher will be used for about four
miles. The line has been laid with tifty-
Bx-pound steel rails except on the heavy
grades, where sixty-six pound rails have
been used. In other words the same class
of rails has been used as on the main line
and IN every respec; it has been built to
bear heavy traffic. The cost of construc-
ton was about SIS, 900 per mile. or a total
Of 81, 10000. As Il prcof of the excellent
manner in which il has been built, is the
fact that the specia! train of the general
manager VAS run over that part of the
line which Is b&ilastei up from Chehalis TO
Pe Ell, at the rate of forty-iour miles per
hour.
AT South Bend the railroad has secured
extensive terminal grounds. consisting of
lower yard of twenty-five acres on the
water fron; and an upper yard for storage
purposes on the tide flats above town
The yard at South Bend is LAID out in
what II known as the diagonal system.
and when fully completed will he the
equal of any on the Pacific coast. The
stations on the new line from South Bend
10 Ckchalis are; South Bend, Wllispa.
MEMO. Adna, Francis. piuvius, Pe-Ell.
DryaG, Pomona Chehaiis