Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-13


he pleases; he might be worse; he
might be the plaintiff in divorce
suit, or the president Of New York
life insurance company.
Well, the trains are all in from the
north. south, east and west, from the
southwest, southeast, northwest and
northeast. All have contributed their
quota to the human swarm, and now
they begin to pull out, great long
trains, in every direction. The great
big men in uniform, who have been
here and there laughing and Joking, d.
recting and guiding and answering
thousands of questions, most of them
foolish questions, but all answered
kindly and with infinite patience.
grow fewer, as one by one they swing
themselves onto the rear platform or
departing trains. At last all are
aboard, the last question is answered,
with rattle the iron gates are thrown
back by the tired gate-keepers and the
overland" the very last train to
leave, slowly moves out with its six
teen coaches baggage cars. tourist
cars, standard cars and diner bound
for the setting sun. Slowly 1t winds
it's sinuous length out thru the lower
part of the city, then on thru and past
the stencil of South Omaha, until at
last 1t lurches forward and begins to
fly past the farm houses, the corn
fields, the grain stacks and the flelds
of green Alfalfa of Nebraska. Dark
ness closes in and the lights begin
to twinkle.
AS the train settles down to bust
ness there is something restful to me
in the chugga, chug. chug, chug,
chug, chug, chug, of the engine as 1t
moves on in the darkness. ALI that
long string Of coaches and sleepers.
with it's load Of human freight, is in
the hands of one man. and that man is
the big, smooth faced begrimed felloW
dressed In blue overalls that we saw
wiping, and oiling and petting the big
Mogul at Omaha. We know that his
eyes are sleepless, his nerves steady
his couro9o asblime, so we trust him.
and as we turn In the chug a chus,
chug a chug, chug, chug, chug. chug or
the great engine. has settled down to
steady chug, chug, chug, chug, and we
go to sleep to its music.
In the morning find ourselves
FLYING past the white plains OF jules
burg. All day we traverse the hills OF
Wyoming. Next morning we pass Og-
den, and after traversing the canyon,
Great Salt Lake bursts upon us. 1t ts
right in front of us, and the train
seems to be making bee line for IT
Surely we are not going to run into the
water, but that is just what happens
For twelve miles the track lies on the
dry bed of the sea. Once, but 1t was
long time ago, Salt Lake was
great inland sea, and its water level
was 600 feet higher than now. 1t has
steadily receded, and even now is
steadily falling several inches g. year.
The Southern Pacific used to skirt
the head of the lake, making "a long
detour to the right after leaving Og-
den Some daring fellow persuaded Mr.
Hartman that road could be built
across and thru Great Salt Lake, and 1t
was built. and 1t is now known as the
"Salt Lake Cut Off," and many miles
are saved. Sixteen miles Of trestle
work carry us across the waters thir-
ty feet in depth. 1t was a daring pro-
ject, and unexpected obstacles were
met, but nothing daunted, the engine
ers persisted until success crowned
their efforts. Such structure must of
course rest upon piling, and piling
must have solid ground somewhere.
They drove a fifty-foot pile, on top
Of that still another, and at last struck
solid ground. The heft of the water is
so great in time Of storms that 1t was
almost impossible to hold their tim
Der in place, and when the trestle was
completed 1t kept sinking, sink
ing and the Shiny mud came mp AMI
overwhelmed it. Then they hauled on
to the trestle from theadjoining noun
tains, thousands of tons Of rock ana
dumped them in. This at last gave
stability, and one of the engineers told
me that the sinking in the last twelve
months has been less than an inch
You can now stop in the middle of the
Lake at the little wayside station and
lunch, with the salt waters beating and
surging around you On Saturday
morning we reached Reno, beautiful
little city Of 10000 people, nesting in
the valley, we'll at it's head, and close