The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1905-04-15
TASKS IN RAILROAD eUlLpINo
Two carloads Of Powder An One R,a..
mile Of Track Costs $3.50. ooo-

On was the wild cry heard a Tow
days ago in Paw Paw q smau 49,
tam encircled West Virginia town on
'ne new line Of the Wabash. twenty
mics east OF Cumberland. when rbs
.,Hsing OF bells and blowing of whls-
ues gave the warning that in a few
leinutes the button would be pressed
'nal would explode 5000 pounds Of
siant powder In the rocky mountain
sue directly opposite and close to the
town. ~ '-e
For three days the people Of Paw
raw had watched men carrying can
aIter can Of powder into the tunnels
Jug into the face Of rocks. As the
number of cans disappearing in the
mountain side increased the alarm OF
the people grew, and some in terror
le1t the town, while those remaining
hlled their ears with cotton and waited
for-they knew not what.
At last, when 325 cans Of powder
e'l2o pounds, had been emptied in the
arms extending right and left from
the inner ends Of the two 45-foot tun.
ileis,wires laid and the tunnel closed.
the electric button was pressed. There
was a deep, rumbling report. the
whole earth seemed to rock as though
shaken by an earthquake and tons Of
rock plunged forward and toppled over
into the canal and river.
Not stone had been thrown a hun
ored feet toward the frenzied town.
but 10000 yards of rock had been torn
from the mountain side and many pre-
clous days saved the contractors who
are building the link" connecting the
Western Maryland Railroad at Cherry
Run with the West Virginia Central
Railroad at Cumberland, and thus
bringing nearer realization George
Gould's dream of making the Wabash
Railroad an ocean to ocean line.
1t was only the proximity OF this
blast to town that made it partlcu
larly prominent on this railroad con
struction that is requiring a blast fol
almost every foot of the roadbed; 81
fact it was a small one in comparison
to some that have been fred. In one
blast, In Siding Hill mountain, tn,
charge consisted Of ! 400 cans of pow
der, just two carloads. and when i
was put off rocks weighing half a toi
were hurled through the air hundred!
OF yards, across the Potomac Rive
and striking telegraph poles along tn
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad broK,
them off close to the ground.
1t is this necessity for almost con
tlnuous blasting that has done mucl
toward making this sixty-five mil
strip of railroad construction the mos
expensive of any built In recent years
with the single exception Of the lin
over which the Wabash enters Pitts
burg. The cost Of building the frs
five miles from Cumberland average
S250.000 a mile and the average cos
for the sixty-fve miles is 100000
mile. In building this connecting linb
the Wabash has had to contend wit
an unusually large number of obsta
Giles of a surprising variety, som
placed in the way by nature, others b
man.
Upon forty miles of this line Their
are engaged to-day 2,629 men, 300 an
, mails, nine locomotives and nine steal
shovels. For eighteen months thei
has been no cessation OF labor, and
is Hoped that in eight more the wor
will be completed.
An idea Of the difficulties encounte
, ed can be formed from the fact this
this line in forty miles crosses I'll
Potomac River nine times, the Ches'
peake and Ohio canal seven times, til
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad thre
times, passes through mountain range
and spurs by FIVE tunnels, varying
3 length from 700 feet to AGO fee
- through ridges and hills by immune
e able cuts, many Of them over fiji
0 feet deep through solid rock, and son
8 almost a mile in length, and that
e great portion of the road Is being c'
out of the rocky sides of mountai
d ranges, directly above the canal.
u The first work was done on tn
!, connecting link on July Fl, 1903, al
n the contract called for its complete
" in eighteen months. The delay III
r extra work occasioned by trouble Wi
the canal rendered its complete
/. within contract time an impossibilit
. II is only a fact that work is bell
a rushed day and night, regardless
!. weather conditions and without resa
e to expense, that makes safe the pr
Q diction that not later than January
q 1906. the wabash will have this Ill
:; omen for traffic.