The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-26
MILLIONS FOR
WORK IN UTAH
Enormous Expenditures to Be
Made In This State.
IMPROVEMENTS ON R. C. W.
CONSTRUCTION WORK By OTHER
LINES.

Millions Of dollars will soon be spent
in Titan for improvements by TIE rail-
roa,ts. according TO present plans.
Every road entering the state is pre-
pairing for heavy construction work.
The recent visit of George j. Gould
resulted in his determination to spend
cons .cerabie money on the Rio Grande
western. although he found the road
IN splendid physical condition. The
exact nature of the improvements has
not been decided upon, nor has the
board of directors gone through the
formalf-y of authorizing the eNDendf-
lures, but it is known that Changes
involving the expenditure Of $500 900 are
in contemplation on this road alone
rms IS aside from the money to be
spent f. new shops in Salt Lake,
which will double the amount
MI Gould has declared himself in
favor Of spending all the money need
ed to put the main line in the best
possible condition. This is taken to
mean the cutting down of grades, re-
ducing curvatures. widening the grade
ana JaliSsting the track from Grand
Junction 70 Ogden.
Some Heavy Grades.
There are two stretches of unusually
heavy grade on the road. These are
the So per cent grade az Soldier Sum
NIT, and the . per cent. Grade near
VIII be made to cut down these grades.
as the present system of using helper
engines - declared to be cheaper than
auS 'pldel plan. The country about
SoiuIer Summit is noc adapted to a
tunnel and a reduction of the grade
would make necessary the doubling of
me length of the line and fucreas-
ing the curvature in winCing up the
hill At Kyune the road follows the
canyon, making a radical change i'm
practicable. The big helper engines
Keep the traffic moving satisfactorify
and consequently little change is ex-
pected at these points.
At a number Of other places on the
line, however. there is ample opportu-
nifty 10 reduce the grades and straight
en- out the curves, and it is believed
tnat these improvements will be au-
thorized- The baliasting Of the track
with gravel from Utaline has pro-
crossed for about thirty miles at the
eastern end of the Rio Grande Vest
ern- and. It is thought. from Mr..
Goulds statements. that the board of
directors viii authorize the continuance
OF this work over the entire main line.
II further confirmation were needed
OF the announcement that the South
ern Pacific intends to build into Salt
Lake, IL would be found in the guard
ed statement of Mr.. Gould that he "ex-
pected the Southern Pacific to build
into Salt Lake soon" This means rbe
sary to build an entirely new line from
near the Nevada state line to Salt
Lake It also means expenditures by
the Union Pacific to meet the other
road here. ana still further IL means
the probable construction Of a union
depot far larger and handsomer than
would be the case if the Rio Grande
and the Oregon Short Line were to
build u alone.
San Pedro Construction.
More important than all in the
amount of money to be expended is the
work to be done by the San Pedro.
The officials or that road are strain
ing every nerve to start construction
in Utah by the first of next year. They
have more road 10 build than any of
the others, and fl is the intention of
the san Pedro TO employ Utah labor
as far as possible. giving this state
every benefit that can accrue
should the burlington begin con-
struction Of its Salt lake extension
soon. this wiz add largely to the
amount Of money to be spent in this
part Of the country. In addition to
all these. both the Rio Grande West
ern and the Oregon Short Line have
other improvements and extensions un-
der contemplation which may be de-
cided UPON shortly.