Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1898-10-07

independent char
ters. The Pacific and Arctic railway
and Navigation company will build the
line from Skaguay to the summit Of
White Pass, at the international boun-
dairy, distance of 1854 miles. This
company is, of course, incorporated in
the United States. Between the in
ternational boundary and the sixtieth
parallel, which is the dividing line
between British Columbia and the do
mlnlon OF Canada, the road will be
built by the British Columbia Yukon
hallway company, incorporated by
SPECIAL act of the colonial legislature at
Victoria. From and beyond the six
tleth parallel th> road will be built
by the British Yukon Mining, Trading
and Transportation company, incor-
porated in special act of the Canadian
parliament at Ottawa. All the con-
structiOn work of these three local
systems will be carried by the Pacific
Contract company. S.. H. Graves of
Chicago Is president of this company
and also of each of the three local
companies named. E. c. Hawkins,
formerly of Denver, is the chief en-
g1neer and superintendent of the
White Pass and Yukon company, John
Hlslop is the assistant chief engineer,
and F. H. Whiting is the division en-
glneer and superintendent of the Ska
quay division.
Work was commenced on the sur
veys of the road early in April, and
track laying was begun in Skaguay
IN the early part Of June. At the date
tho information for this article was
forwarded, Aug. 10, twelve miles of
road had been completed and put in
to operation. This carried the line to
a point five miles beyond a noted rock
cutting at Porcupine Hill, which will be
referred to again presently.
The road starts at the wharf in Ska
quay, where there is thirty feet of
water at the lowest spring tides. AS
at present constructed, it extends
through the business center of the
town, along Broadway" In order to
properly protect franchise rights, the
construction Of the first mile of the
road was rushed through in one day.
BY an extension of the terminal ia
cilities another branch of the road will
be run from the wharf through the
border OF the town, along the foot of
the steep bluff to the eastward. Che
line crosses to the west side Of the
Skaguay river at q point one and one
half miles above the business center
Of the town. It recrosses the river,
and, to gain elevation, makes a loop
up the narrow valley of the east fork
of Skaguay river, as the first loop from
Skaguay. At the exit from this loop
the line encounters heavy rock work
at point seven miles from Skaguay
known as Porcupine Hill, previously
referred to. The elevation of this point
is something over 700 feet above sea
level, and most of this elevation III
reached by the road in a little more
than three miles. At this second loop
the line leaves the river and ascenAs
toward the summit of the pass. At a
point about fifteen and one-half miles
from Skaguay there will be an iron
truss bridge Of 250 feet span. Tha
elevation Of the pass at the summit il
1850 feet, and the elevation of the
track 1855 feet, there being a cut of
fifteen feet for a considerable dis
lance. The distance from Skaguay to
the summit on an air line is fourteen
miles.
The work has been very interesting
from an engineering point of view, by
virtue Of the fact that almost the en-
tire way from three miles beyond Ska
quay to the summit is entirely rock,
and there are some heavy cuts. There
will be but one tunnel, about 500 feet
long, on the entire route to the sum-
NIT. The heaviest gradients will be
80 per cent, and this gradient is OBJ
tanned without switchback. The
maximum curvature will be sixteen de-
grees, which, for narrow gauge track,
is not at all excessive. There will
have been used when the summit is
reached about $50 tons of dynamite,
Judson and common black blasting
powder, so that one may imagine that
some heavy blasting work is being
done.
The gauge of track is three feet and
the weight of the steel that is being
laid is fifty-six pounds per yard, rail,
laid upon sawed ties six inches by
eight inches by six and half feet,
angle bars being used for joint spices.
is being done in the most
manner and the road is
as the work advances. On