Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-12

year. The work went on from April TO
November Ii without a break executing
the weekly Sunday rests. and in THAI time
64S miles OF track Were built. laid and FIN
ished, the average progress being SI4 miles
a day. The biggest days work at track
laying was August $, when eight miles and
90 feet We're laid. July 10 was the next
| biggest days work. the distance being
seven miles and 1.o40 feet. The work on
both days was done by the regular track
layers between daylight and dark No ex-
ira men were put on. because there was no
room for them, and all the rails were fed
to the men who actually laid them from
one end Bearing this in mind. Mr. Shep-
ards forces must be accorded the world s
record for single days track laying as
he must be accorded the record Of railroad
building. The days record has been claimed
for the forces OF the Union Pacific. work
ing years before, but not quite fairly since
on the day of their greatest track laying
the rails were hauled ahead of the rail men
and dumped alongside the track. They
had only to put the rails In place and spike
them down, whereas Shepard's men were
not so helped. having facilities for the rapid
handling of the iron that were not invented
in the days of the Union Pacific's construc-
| ton. In that seasons work the employees
of Shepard's firm handled 100000 cubic
] yards of earth, 15,0a0 cubic yards Of loose
rock and 1880 yards of solid rock. while
100000 feet of timber board measure. and
10000 lineal feet of piiing were hauled
ahead of the track laying. In a certain
seven months later than 1857 about 900
miles of track were laid but the force of
men was then larger by more than 1000,
while 5000 teams were employed.
The feeding of these large forces OF men
and animals was no insignificant task, and
any number Of figures relative to this fea-
ture of the work that would interest the
statistician might he dug out. The state
ment that the horses employed the first
year of the work consumed 500 600 bushels
of oats is sufficient sample. To acc0mmo-
date the men with lodging and food Shop
ard had a lot of two and three-story
boarding cars built. They Were odd
| looking structures. so high and so narrow
that they had to be fitted with guy ropes to
| prevent being upset whenever the wind
| blew hard. and the life within and about
I them. tinged ii with the flavor Of
! the frontier and Influenced by the frequent
presence of the northwestern Indians would
undoubtedly have furnished kipling or a
Harte with abundant materials for litera-
ture of the raciest, most characteristic sort.
The "reminiscences Of Shepard himself could
| they be collected in the snappy. epigram-
matte form he tells them. would be a con-
tribution to the worlds stock of good sto-
ries.
Economy of Construction.
One Of the items regarding Shepard's
work most interesting to the practical rail-
road builder has to do with the relative
| cost OF the track he built between 1887 and
1898 and other transcontinental lines. 1t
took $1,000 to build each mile of the Union
Pacific. while the Central Pacific was still
more expensive. The Northern Pacific cost
SID,uDO a mile, the southern Pacific SStlOih.
Shepard built Hills Great Northern at an
average expense of $4,000 q mile. This
was made possible partly through Hills
genius in locating the lines, and partly
through Shepard's splendid organization
and economy of energy.
Mr.. Shepard is now seventy-one. Though
he has left off building railroads. he stlll
takes a keen interest in affairs and goes
regularly to his St Paul Office His wealth
reaches into the millions and the wife OF
his youth, who was Miss Frances Aurela
Parsons before their marriage in 1880 is
still by his side. He has suffered one
we're bereavement in the death two or three
years ago of a daughter. WHO married AL
vim w Krech, now rapidly making his
mark among New York financiers. Mrs
Krech's death moved Mr.. Shepard to erect
a mausoleum in the chief cemetery at
st. Paul. There her body now lies, and by
and by her fathers viii lie beside il. This
mausoleum is perhaps the most dignified-
appearing structure of the sort yet reared.
Mr.. Shepard designed il himself. II is built
of massive blocks of marble and the lines
of construction coincide with the points OF
junction between them So well that the