Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1904-03-03
RAILROAD TALK.
PlacervilIe Road is Being Extended

PlaeerviIIe Road is Being Extended
Toward this Section by the 8. p. Co.
The Sacramento Bee of yesterday |
contained tn following interesting
railroad news for this section Of the
world. The selection of the Placer
vile route for the big road is the nat
ural winter and summer route and it !
seems that there is really something |
! doing in the line:
PLACERVILLE, March lit Will
be a short time only before an over !
land railroad will travel Ell Dorado
county from it's western to its eastern
! border. The Sacramento and Placer
vile, is the nucleus to which will coll
meet with the trunk line Of the Cen
trail Pacific somewhere in Nevada.
The famous Johnson Pass, which
| lies inEl Dorado county, has always
been regarded by railway engineers
: as one of the most feasible routes over
. the Sierras. The builders of the Ce,--
thai Pacific desire to put their road
through by Johnson Pass, but at that
time the wagon road over the pass
was owned b. private parties who
! eXacted toll There was a great vol
ume of traffic and the toll men made
barrels of money. They thought the
great amount of travel would always
last, so they asked prohibitive prices
of the promoters of the Central Pacific
The railway builders refused to be
held up, and selected route over the
Sierras by Dutch Flat.
! Transportation by team could not
compete with transportation by the
iron horse, and a few years after the
building of the Central Pacific the
tolltakers of Johnson's Pass were glad
to surrender their franchise to Ell
Dorado county for very nominal
} consideration.
Railroad men, however, have al
ways kept Johnson Pass under obser-
vatoin, asserting that road over the
Sierras by the that route would re-
quire no snow sheds, and hence would
: be much less expensive to maintain
: than the road through Blue canyon,
: ! or any road farther north where the
snowfall is greater.
5 A man very prominent in the
= Southern Pacific railroad management
: said to the Bees representative not
t long since that the railroad would
i soon be extended to connect with the
trunk line in Nevada.
e His forecast of the railroad situa-
l.. ton is being verified by preparations
: for an extension of the Sacramento
r and Placervile branch to point
n seven miles east of Placerville. Ray
(. & Carney are the contractors. The
contract has been signed, the agree
ment calling for the completion Of
l. the extension in one hundred working
Z days. Four camps are now being es-
n tablished by the contractors, one at a
y point on a ridge where the deepest
d cut on the extension-thlrty-five feet
It in solid rock will be made.
Y While the present contract calls for
It an extension to seven miles east Cf
e Placerville only, there is but little
doubt but the line will be pushed on
over the range by almost continuous
\ work. The line from Reno to Sacra
melto necessitates greater facilities
- which can be more economically pro-
vided by a road through the Johnson
Pass than by widening the grade
along the precipitous mountains of
the Truckee division.
Where the new line will connect
with the Central Pacific in Nevada is
! not yet determined. A very rich coun-
try could be exploited by passing
through the valley of the Walker river
the fertile basin known as Smith Val
ley and Mason aValley and thence
through Churchill county, Nevada, and
along the Carson Sink to the main line
near Winnemucca The shorter route
but one which will open up nothing
but tourist travel and lumber traffic
| would be along the western shores of
Lake Tahoe and thence down the Tru-
| ckee river.
IIlan,Ilu Ironrieonad