The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-01-12
How the Rocky Mountains
Are Climbed by Railways

There Is problem which presented it
self to the builder of railroad across the
great Rocky Mountains which, to the or
binary thinker, would seem almost too
difficult of solution. The question which
confronted every man who projected
such scheme was certainly not very
easy one. Just how railway
could be constructed that would lift itself
from the plains to an elevation, in many
cases more than double as high. was an
undertaking. which had any man at
tempted, would have provoked the rid
lcule OF the early settlers Of the West
ern plains
To show how little confidence those
early settlers had in any project look
Ing to the building Of a railroad In the
Rocky Mountain region, 1t is said that
when the construction of the Rio Grande
from Denver, Col, to Colorado Springs
and Pueblo was begun, old-timers shook
their heads and wondered If 1t was going
to wind up as disastrous as did the old
National Pike road that was built from
Baltimore to st. Louis. 1t is doubtful If
any man then living in Colorado would
have accepted stock in the new road as
q B1It unless assured InaL IL Was lOn-
assessahle. Gen. William j. Palmer who
was at the head of the scheme, had
friends over in Holland who had conf
dence in his Judgment and backed him
with his first experimental fund. This
they did not hesitate to increase as the
General saw fit to build extensions, which
was always In advance of how II looked
TO others.
To lay out survey across the Rockies
was a perilous task. and those VINO un-
dertook not only endangered their lives
by coming in contact with the wild In
dians but ran the risk of meeting a
tragic death in the rugged canons of the
huge mountains Besides being difficult
task to make a survey for a road. the
question of material was one of no little
Importance, as that had to be carried
. a great distance.
After the Rio Grande had been in opera
hon for several years between Denver ana
Pueblo, with a thirty mile branch over
to Canon City 1t was decided to exteno
the road west into Utah. The surveyors
went to Salt Lake City over the lines
of the Union Pacific and worked their
way back through the deserts of East
ern Utah, over the mountains and
through the canons of Colorado on foot,
with a few pack animals to carry their
luggage The whole of what Is now the
Grand Valley, with its fine orchards ana
finely cultivated fields. through which
the road was afterwards built, was then
the Ute Reservation, and 1t was necessa-
ry to cultivate the friendship or the IN
dams in order to make possible the sur
yey. One can realize the enormousness
of the undertaking when it is stated that
at many points along the line 1t was nee
esary to let the men down over perpen-
dicular cliffs several thousand feet be-
low in order to establish the grade.
All these obstacles. however insur-
mountable they may have seemed to the
early settlers, have been overcome, ana
now some of the finest railways that
span the great plains find their way
across the Hottest mountains, winding
on to the Pacific slope.
There Is perhaps ne better illustration
of the difficulties of railroading in the
Rocky Mountains and the wonderful
feats of railroad engineering than the
lines of the Denver and Rio Grande
through the valley of the Arkansas. Along
this line some of the deepest gorges and
Hottest cliffs are to be found and the
matter of making a survey for this road
was a perilous undertaking, to say moth
ing of preparing the road-bed and laying
the tracks.
Leaving Pueblo the road goes north
west up the Arkansas river for dis
lance of about forty miles, where it
reaches the Royal Gorge, one of the
most wonderful works of nature to be
seen in the Rockies. This great gorge
was the scene of close contest between
the Santa Fe and Rio Grande forces. 1t
is appropriately called the gateway Of
the Rockies, and the possession of the
right of way through its narrow passes
meant a great achievement for either
road After hot contest in which armed
forces of both roads were held, the Den
yer and Rio Grande triumphed and
gained the only route through the noun
tains at that point.
With serpentine movements the tracks
find their way along the banks of the
Arkansas which rushes madly below,
while on either side the walls Of the