Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-08-29
THE NEW WORN"
Excellent Progress of the Con-
struction Gang on Burlington,
FACE OF COUNTRY BEING CHANGED
Peterson Bros, sub-contractors Under
Flick & johnson of Davenport, Along
With Other Grading Firms, Are Pre-
pairing the New Road Bed.

The surprising advance of the work
on the new right-of-way OF the Bur
lington railroad between Agency and
Ottumwa is forcibly presented to the
mind of the visitor who has not seen
the new work" for some months.
Farm land which last spring showed
marked indications of yielding good
crops of corn or some other cereal, or
was covered with timber, is now a
broken line of railroad grade, dotted
here and there with culverts and spots
which have not felt the touch of the
mammoth grading machines. Sloughs
are fast being filled with the yellow
dirt and high hills are giving their tops
to the cause. Little by little the six
miles or more of new roadway is be-
ing leyeled and prepared for the track
layers.
Far From Completion.
1t is not to be inferred that the new
grade is nearly completed, but the
progress that is being made towards
that end is so noticeable that it cannot
be but source of wonder to the lay
citizen that so much can be accom-
plished in so comparatively short a
time. And yet, when he stops to con-
and the large force of men employ
ed, together with the favorable wealth
er which has prevailed,he realizes that
several features are in favor of the
early completion of the work and the
abolition forever of the justly hated
Agency hill
A Welcome Change.
Although the Burlington enters OF
tumwa better than any other road with
the possible exception of the Rock Is
land, the hill between this city and
Agency is an eyesore to the engineer
and fireman, as well as to the conduc-
tor behind time and the officials on up
the line who feel responsible for a de.
Law to a train. For there is no oppor
tunity to pick up time on Agency hill;
in fact, everything must be right, OF
time will be lost in climbing it. 1t is
one of the steepest grades on the
Iowa line of the Burlington, and every
railroadcr builds much on seeing il
disappear.
The new route through the countr.
from Street, little telegraph station
one and one-half miles east of Agency
to Ottumwa is almost a straight line
1t passes through Agency on the oppo
site side of the town from the presen
depot and this will necessitate thu
building of a new station about half
mile from the one now in use.
Transforming the Country.
From Agency to Ottumwa the fac
of the country resembles more thai
anything else huge dashboard. 1
series of bluffs rise from the river a
ottumwa to the higher land at Agency
The present line of the Burlingto
drops down these hills in one long lin
with number of turnings and a
enormous grade, finally reaching tn
level of the Ottumwa yard near Suga
Creek, or at East Ottumwa, the sma
telegraph station at the end of til
double track which runs east throug
Ottumwa.
The new line will eliminate ever
curve and will make a more graduf
descent of the hill. Money is no oil
ject in the work, and everything is be
ing sacrificed to secure suitable roa(
way. From Agency to this city tn
whole line is one succession of alter
nate cuts and fills and some of tn
greatest engineering work the Blu
hngton has ever done in Iowa will b
performed on this short piece of lint
The Route.
The Courier has in previous issu
explained the course of the new lint
and the majority of the people kno'