, 1905-06-07
ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

ana the SOutntln ldtlN' N'l' IL ohiy
transcontinental lines. Now there are
a half dozen. Every railroad that has
a line 10 the Missouri river is looking
longingly toward the coast and it is
confidently believed that the Burling-
ton, the Northwestern, the Rock Isl.
and and the Milwaukee will soon push
on to the golden coast, where The traf.
fc Of the orient holds ont such an al
Turing prospect. George Gould. with
his great Missouri Pacific and its con-
nections, has already raised the money
for the building of a line bctween Salt
Lake and San Francisco. Speaking Of
this extension Mr.. William e. Curtis
says:
1t has always been the ambition OF
the Gould family to control a line of
track across the American continent,
and under the management of George
Gould it is about to realize that salts
faction. The Canadian Pacific is the
only railroad that spans the continent,
having a continuous track from Hall
fax to Vancouver via Quebec, Mon
treal, Port Arthur and Winnipeg, a dis.
lance of about five thousand miles.
There has been a good deal of talk
about the consolidation of the New
York Central, Lake Shore. Northwest
ern and the Union and Central Pa
cities, which are controlled by Mr.. Har-
riman and the Vanderbilts, into a sim
gle road from New York to San Fran
cisco, but thus far nothing practical
has been done in that direction. Mr..
Gould, however, Is actively at work
combining the several lines under his
control and filling the gaps as rapidly
as possible to cross the continent from
either of those cities without changing
cars, over n track owned and controlled
by a single family. You would leave
Baltimore by the Western Maryland,
then take the West Virginia Central,
the Wheeling and Lake Erie, the Wa
bash. the Missouri Pacific and the Den
yer and Rio Grande to Salt Lake City
and from there the Western Pacific
to Oakland.
cept or a map that hangs in the Office
Of E. T. jeffrey, president OF the Den,
Yer and Rio Grande system, but the
contracts have been let, the terminals
at Oakland have been secured, and Mr..
Jeffrey and Virgil c.. Bogue, the chief
engineer, have been at work for three
years surveying a route, securing a
right OF way and preparing for con,
struction. which will actually begin
within a few weeks. Mr.. Gould has
negotiated $500 900 worth Of bonds,
although the engineers calculate that
$4,000, 900 will build the track. A. H.
Calef, treasurer Of the various Gould
properties, has the money in his till
and everything is ready to carry the
enterprise through in the most ap
proved North American fashion. When
the Western Pacific is completed i,
will bring the total mileage of the
Gould roads up to 1900 miles, which
l believe, will be longer than n 9th
er system. The Rock Island company
now controls over 10000 miles, the
greatest mileage under an manage
ment.
1t is $50 miles from Salt Lake City
10 Oakland by the route selected fol-
the Western Pacific, crossing the Sier
ra Nevada mountains by the Beckwith
Pass, which is 1880 feet lower than
the crossing Of the Central Pacific
The distance is about the same as that
of the Central Pacific. There will not
be more than twenty-five or thirty
miles difference, which may be deter
mined by the choice Of routes in two
or three places. There is only one
tunnel, through which the trains will
pass under the summit Of the pass
about 1000 feet above the sea. The
maximum grade will be 52.S feet to the
mile, while the maximum on the Cen.
tral Pacific Is 119 feet. The track will
be laid with eighty-fve-pound rails,
and the curves and gradients will be
reduced to modern scale, which is
much less than those of roads which
were built ten or fifteen years ago. The
Gould people will have a great advan.
tage in economy and construction.
They expect to build and equip the
Western Pacific for not more than $45.-
600 a mile, while the Central Pacific,
which was built thirty-fve years ago,
cost 100000 a mile.
The work of construction will be in
charge Of Virgil c. Bogue. the chief
engineer. who has been building rail-
roads in the mountains all his life
and recently laid out the wonderful
road which David H. Moffatt Of Den
yer is building through the Rockies.
This will give San Francisco a third
railroad to the east and make eight
transcontinental lines.
CAvAnN