New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-29

sidering a line which would shorten the dis
lance between the Mississippi River and the Pacific
Coast, and at the time avoid some of the
heavy grades which encountered in this sec
ton or the West The present line extends
from Ogden to Lucin by way of Belfour. holman
and Promontory. distance of about hundred
and fifty miles On the route is what is known as
Promontory Hill which is one OF the steepest
have been unable to ascend at the speed OF over
The surveys made by the railroad engineers pro-
vided FOR line about one hundred and five miles
In length, with maximum grade of not
tweDty-one feet In mile. but they found 1t was
necessary to cross the lake. and the plans included
not the longest, for the total distance across the
lake is about twenty-eight miles.
BY far the most serious difficulty however has
been encountered in the deeper part of the lake
thirty feet and it was determined to lay the track
upon the trestle work For this purpose piles of
posts to support the framework. of the piles
RATS towed to several points along the line
and the work OF driving the foundation was begun.
few inches could be driven at a time This led the
engineers to believe that they had substantial
few feet, however. it discovered that most of
the piles had apparently pierced what seemed TO
be a mere crust, and in some cases a few blows of
the driver forced them out of sight An examina-
the fact that bed of soft material underIay the
bottom. being covered by the crust referred to,
and sand; Where the piles held and the trestle was
completed seyera! rishaps occurred which showed
over the structure unless it rested upon something
more substantial than the natural base In one in
stance an engine and two gravel cars. which were
moved over the trestle, so weakened the work that
the train crew had just time detach the locouo-
tive before the plling collapsed and fell into the
water, carrying the cars with it,
Acting on the theory that this section of the line
could be filled in with rock, ii decided to form
what might be called an enormous jetty, connect
ing the rock work at each end and terminating at
the promontory; but in spite of the fact that
erai thousand trainoads of material have been
dumped along the right Of way, most of it seems
to be swallowed up in the mysterious depression
The engineers have finally determined upon an
other plan, which they think will be success
full Cradles of heavy timber are being constructed
which are towed to deep water then filed with
stone and sunk, thus forming cribwork which II
Is believed will support the without
dlfhculty, This plan. however, has been but re-
Gently carried into execution. and its yet
is a problem The magnitude of the task can be
appreciated when 1t Is stated that the deep water
sections where the principal trouble is being en-
countered. comprise nearly ten miles In ALL In
this distance two very large depressions have been
encountered, which the engineers term uuagmires.
In OF these 25c0 tons OF rock were emptied
daily for more than month. but the soundings
indicated that the material sank about as IA ct as
IL was thrown in--(Scientihc American.