The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1902-08-29
GREAT CENTRAL ROUTE.
The New Road Will Open Up Rich Sections in
This State.


sa1t Lake Tribune says:
Hon. Virgil Conn is at the Riverside
notel and gives some information re-
1.-Two to the Great Central railroad from
soos bay to Salt Lake Mr.. Conn is
1 aoostmaster and a large merchant of
4 paisley. Ore, and a former member Of
,be oregon Legislature He has great
oonaaence in the building of this road
n and saws it is an assured fact. The sub
d ,act was brought up by the publication
8s Nof the Portland dispatch in Sundays
MI 1rbune giving the combination formed
I by Bennett. Remington, Eccles and Nj
Fl bey Mr.. Conn of course knew nothing
Of this but his observations are taken
h from the actual work that is being done.
/ He says surveyors have been at work all
summer through his section of Oregon.
y He expects the road to pass through his
home town of Paisley, but it's location
has not been definitely decided upon.
The most probable route he thinks is
up the Umpqua and Sparque rivers to
the Cascade divide and down the Che
waucan river sixty miles to Lake Albert,
thence out by Wagonwheel mountain and
across the desert to Salt Lake. Thirty
miles of this road from Empire Coos
bay to Gardner the Umpqua river is
now in operation.
Mr.. Conn pointed out another proba-
BILE route which keeps father north and
after crossing the Cascades keeps down
some old river channels to Summer lake.
The line either route would touch Pals
ley and the valley of the Chewaucan is
the only pass through that part of Ore
gon This valley is a great basin only
1000 feet above the 1t Is inclosed
by high range of mountains TO the
east Of Lake Albert and another high
range forty miles away on the west of
Summer lake. There is outlet to the
north and south and the Columbian
Southern, Nevada -Calforia-Oregon, and
the Great Central, all three will have to
pass through this valley.
Mr. Conn believes the Great Central Is
/ to be part of the Gould system. He
claims to have direct information on this
point But in talking the matter over
4 with a prominent railroad man In Reno
/ ne secuted the idea that the
Goulds intended to build to Coos bay. He
thought the Coos bay project was pure
y local capital He said the objective
n pint was San rancisco and that Gould
would take the most direct route to get
there. He went to the map and drew
his pencil over line from Green river
on the Rio Grande " estern through GEN.
tral Nevada to Reno and through Beck
with pass to San Francisco
Such a route is too far north to make
direct line. But Beckwith pass is one
of the lowest points In the Sierras is
open all the year and would require no
tunnel snow sheds. This pass is now
occupied by the N. c. o. with its Sierra
valley branch and this would probably be
taken into the Gould system. 1t is only
about 100 miles from Clairville, the ter
minus of this branch down to Marysville
and there is a water grade all the way.
This route from Utah through central
Nevada has been exploited many times
before In the columns of the Tribune.
but II kept through Walker pass and
4 made a direct cut for San Francisco. 1t
would get the business of many rich
/ mining camps in Nevada, Eureka, Austin,
n Tonopah and a hundred other mining
districts would be opened up along the
line of the road.
II But an advantage of the northern route
Is claimed I'm connection with the Cali
fornia Northwestern, which skirts along
the coast range from San Francisco and
has fine water front the bay at
Tiburon. The Gouiu road would cross
4'he river north of Oroville and 1t is only
few miles across the Sacramento val
ley and the low hills to connect with the
Northwestern.
Whether any of these roads are built
suffice 1t to say that the progress of the
Great Central and the intentions of the
Goulds are being watched with consd-
srable interest here In Nevada.