The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-04

| Total, l3 days, 10 hours.
Like the Panama railway, this one of
thirty miles saves an ocean voyage of
thousands of miles, or journey on foot
both dangerous and exhausting.
For the first five miles the road fol-
lows the Skagway river. traversing a
fiat valley, possibly mile WIDE fioored
| with water washed boulders scattered
through thin growth Of cottonwood
trees, and shut in by gray walls Of great
height For fourth of this distance
the log cabins and board shanties of the
town of Skagway spread out like fan
Then comes the climb of Porcupine Hill
a sharp promontory jutting out into
the valley from the north, Winding in
and out of its irregular face on a three
and nine tenths grade an hours climb
ing brings the train to the top and outer
edge of this ridge, one thousand feet
| above it's base.
Here with the forl1ed head of Lynn
canal lying like chain of Alpine lakes
in the offing begins series of land
soapes which must certainly attract
tourists by the thousands as soon as
their loneliness and grandeur become
known. California and Colorado must
look well to their laurels, for with the
glorious 1uxury-loving traveller, Bae-
decker will do well to give Alaska a
| special and early edition of his guide
! book.
Five miles farther and the train
draws up to Glacier station, attached
like Swiss chalet to the rugged side
of mountain Here the first snow OBJ
structon is encountered The heavy
coach is uncoupled, and the Klondikers
shouldering their packs, take to the
trail. Here F. B. Flood, the brilliant
young engineer in charge Of the
toughest five miles of railroad con-
Struction in the country" invited the
writer into the locomotive cab to ac-
company him over his division on
tour of inspection,
A large force of men had been strung
along the line to keep the track clear,
but do their best the snow in some
places drifted in faster than they could
remove it. Nearing the summit, we
bucked into a great white bank which
had slid down from the heights above
Retreatlng, we tried it again. With
F'hilo bbA OpNIi anu NdpN waive DiQW-
ing the engineer threw her wide
open" and away went the locomotive,
like mad bull with It's head down A
duh thud, a deluge of snow, and the en-
CINE stops midway through the drift.
with wheels a-whr. Another run for
it," and we are through with rush.
and out upon a creaking, trembling
trestle. Here the science and skill of
the constructing engineer is put to it's
ssverest test. One month ago this
gorge was level full of snow Shovels
had first cleared the way and tossed
the white blocks down the mountain
side; then came the rock men to pre-
pare the foundation with drill and dy
Mantle, during weather so bitter cold
that the hospital tents were filed with
frost bitten men. Then the slender
tmbers were lifted to the level of the
grade and the iraiAlaid across.
, Another mile and we drove through |
tunnel under the backbone of the last |
ridge; and, following the contour of a
natural amphitheater stopped before a
long line OF tents half buried In snow. |
From one floated the stars and stripes, |
from its nearest neighbor the Union |
Jack-between, passed the International |
boundary line. WegWere at the summit |
of White Pass Na&
The cost Of the rcad so far has been |
about twenty-five thousand dollars per
mile. 1t is narrow gauge, fifty-six |
pound rails being used There are
more curves than straight lines Acct
dents are inevitable; but there have
been few fatalities considering the dan
ger Of the work ana the severity of the
weather Two men lie Beneath an inn
mense block of gTafifte. TOO large to be
Others have died of pneumonia
and freezing. $%
Speaking of these things, one of the
engineers said that he believed nothing
short of divine interpositon had saved
Rim and his men from an awful death
asst November A charge Of giant
powder had been tamped home, and the
signal given. He and his as
'istants stepped behind an eighteen
nch tree, supposng that the blast
would be of the usual force, where one
hundred pounds of explosive is used.
For some reason the spark machine
allied to ignite the fuse--a most unu-
ual occurrence. After waiting a suf-
icient period the engineer examined the
batteries and found that. instead of
me hundred pounds, the workmen had
tut In eighteen hundred pounds. Retir 5
ng to greater distance, the spark ma
hine was again operated-this time !
The impact was terrific, J
twenty-five hundred yards of rock !
vas dlslodged and thrown into the air
inc piece measuring twenty feet by
hirty struck the tree behind which the
'arty had first stood shattering it like !
pipe stern-New York Sun.