Omaha daily bee., 1898-11-20
PLANS OF ILLINOIS CENTRAL
New Road Hopes to Reach Omaha Before
July /, 1899.
LOCATING ENGINEER IS RUSHING WoRl
PlRts and Proflies Of the Route Being
Made and Contract Tor Grading
One Section of the Road
bed IL Let.

The Illinois Central railroad intends to
have trains running into Omaha by July
l, 1899. The work OF the civif engineers
OF the company, who have been working in
"estern Iowa for some weeks, is progress
ing rapidly and the first contract for & ading
has been awarded to JAMES II. McShane &
Company OF Omaha.
Under the direction Of Locating Engineer
Grafton OF the Illinois Central rour parties
OF surveyors are now a. work on the pro-
posed line between Fort Dodge, Ia, and
Council Bluffs. MIR. Grafton has opened Of
fees in the McCague building. Fifteenth
and Dodge streets, in this city. There Is
considerable work in making the plat Of
the new railroad into Omaha being done
The four engineering parties are distributed
about equal distances apart The central
headquarters Of the engineering corps are
maintained at Denison, Ia, and the sur
veying parties are working in two drec-
tions, north and south, from there.
During the last week a great deal Of work
has been accomplished in the ten miles
north Of Council Bluffs. At the point OF the
Missouri river known as 1.-The narrows'' con-
siderable riprapplng has been done. A
large gang OF men with a couple OF ferry
boats was brought in there the first Of
last week and the work OF riprapping has
been steadily pushed since then. AS the
new line will closely follow the course of
the river northward from Council Bluffs
this work Is necessary to protect the road
bed and track from the incursions Of the
river.
Contract for Grading Let.
The contract for grading the first ff-
teen miles OF the new road, from Council
Bluffs in a northerly direction to Loveland,
Ia, has been awarded by the Illinois Cen
trail at Chicago to James II. McShane &
Company of this city. Mr. McShane and
Engineer Grafton returned from the new
route late last evening. The former has
already established his camps just north OF
Council Bluffs and will start to work to
grade for the new road on Monday morn
Ing.
The contract awarded calls for the COM
pletion of the work by May 1. With favor
able weather the work will be completed
within four months. When the contract was
given to the Omaha company 1t was urged
to do the work in as expeditions a man
ner az possible. 1t was informed that the
Illinois Central wanted to run it's trains into
Omaha by the Fourth Of jury Of next year.
Two hundred teams will be set to work
by Contractor McShane bright and early on
Monday morning. The work will give en-
ployment to as many laborers as there are
seeking work in this vicinity today. The
tie camp OF Contractor McShane at Sher-
idan, Wyo., where a gang of men has been
at work cutting railroa ad ties for four years,
has been temporarily abandoned and the
men employed there arrived here yesterday
morning to help on the grading work for
the Illinois Central.
The route of the Illinois Central from
Council Bluffs north will run between one
mile and two miles west Of the tracks of
the Chicago & Northwestern. BY the
Northwestern road the distance between
the Council Bluffs station and that at Love-
land is 1871 miles. BY the Illinois Central
the distance between these two towns will
be exactly fifteen miles. The saving Of
four miles will be made by not having as
many curves as there are in the Nortn-
western track.
Treaties and Bridges.
large amount Of trestle work will be
done between Council Bluffs and Loveland.
Three or four long stretches Of trestle will
also be built to carry the road over low
lands. This work will be done by the Illi-
nois Central. or let by the company to reg
ular trestle builders.
There will also be a number OF bridges
built in the first fifteen miles. as several
creeks are to be crossed. Boyer creek is
crossed no less than three times by the
route that has been laid out by the locating
engineers. The bridges over these creek
crossings will be durable structures OF iron
and steel. with foundations of solid ma
sonry. The contracts for these have not
yet been let, but they will be built on plans
furnished by the engineering department of
the railroad company. The work Of putting
In the trestles and Of erecting the bridges
will follow close upOn the grading an fho, Z,