The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1904-06-25
TU|HNAUGURATE
WABASH Line
THE NEW LINE TO PITTSBURG
IS AN ACCOMPLISHED FACT
It Was . Gigantic Task but the Efforts
Have at Last Been Successful After
q Very Big Expenditure by the
lould Interests.

P1ttSDurg, Ia, june 25.-After tour
years Of unremitting effort and an ex-
penditure Of $aoooo,ooo, the new line Of
the Wabash Railroad into Pittsburg is
about to be come an accomplished fact.
The first train will be ruii from this
city to ST, Louis tomorrow a will
carry a distinguished patty asa< ests
of George Gould. -
The event marks victory withoSL..
parallel in the history of AinericaaSt
railroads. When the Gould interests
decided to carry one end of their 5000
mile railroad system into Pittsburg
they faced stupendous obstacles which
could be overcome only by illimitablc
resources. In the first place they hadito
met the opposition Of the Pennsylvania
railroad, which instituted drastic re-
prisals and even went to the length of
destroying millions Of dollars worth oil
Western Union property along its
lines.
Almost as formidable as the opposi-
tion of the Pennsylvania were the en-
gineering difficulties to be overcome in
the construction of the new line. From
Pittsburg to JeWett, throughout. its
entire length Of sixty miles, the line is
a continuous series Of deep cuts and
high embankments, great bridges ane
viaducts. tunnels and culverts. So
rough is the country which is tapped by
the new line that scarcely mile in
its whole lengths carries the surface
level OF the ground.
Exclusive of two great cantilevef
bridges, there are nine important via
ducts on the line, aggregating 4,o64 feet
in length. The Monongafela bridge at
Pittsburg is the largest cantileyef
bridge in America, and. excepting the
Firth Of Forth bridge, the largest of lis
kind in the world. 1t has a middle
span of Biz feet and two end spans o
347 feet each, making a total of I,5ot
feet The mean pool level of the river
is cleared by seventy feet.
Second only to this bridge is thai
over the Ohio River at Mingo. This
with central span Of 700 feet and
two end spans each of 2o8 feet, has 3
total length of I,2o6 feet, and is 81
feet above the water. These bridges
cost nearly $Iooo.ooo each.
There are nineteen tunnels on tlls
line. aggregating 2o,45o feet, or nearly
/ four miles in length, To reduce the
number Of bridges the course of Cross
Greek in Pennsylvania and West Vir,
ginia has been changed at severa
places, new channels as much as FIFTY
feet deep having been blasted through
solid rock. The entire line is laid with
\ ninety pound steel rails.
Out of Pittsburg one per cen
grade carries four miles to the summit
& at the west portal to the Greentret
tunnel. Here will be the new termina
freight yard, where trains will be made
tip to full weight for the run to Jewett
Except for this short switching han
out Of Pittsburg, the maximum grade
either west OF east, is thirty-seven fee
to the mile.
Notwithstanding the great cost Of tl1s
line the Gould interests figure that i
will bring iii ample returns. The
road was built with a certain knowl
edge that vast traffic. running into til,
millions of tons, was to be had at tl1t
outset. Along the line local bushes,
coal, agricultural products and pas
scnger travel is counted upon to de.
velop gradually Already through
Washington County, in authorization q
the new outlet, coal pits have been dir
and collieries biilt in what were bli
yesterday grain fields and pastures. Oi
wells have also been sunk.
From Pittsburg the Wabash will b
4 the short line to edo. while to Clli
cago it will be only five miles. and Il
ST Louis forty miles longer than til,
Pennsylvania routes.