The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-30

the north and along the Humboldt
river. The line crosses the line of the
Nevada Northern midway between the
PequOp and TOana ranges. Winnie
mucca will be approached from the
southeast, and from this point the line
goes straight toward the west. Ru-
mOTs say the Portland line of the West
ern Pacific will branch to the north
west from Winnemucca.
Pyramid lake, OH the east side of the
Nevada line, is passed, aud
a persistent report has it that branch
is to be built from the main line into
Reno. From Reno this branch is to be
carried to the southern mining districts
in the Sagebrush state. 1t is to con-
meet in Kern county, as explained, with
the Sierra Pacific, and afford second
line to the coast. With this line, the
main line of the Western Pacific and
the Portland line completed. Gould will
have feeders to the west. southwest and
northwest, along the coast. The main
line, after passing the northern edge of
Pyramid lake, proceeds to Beekwith
pass, across the Sierra and Mohawk
valleys in Plumas county. California;
along the middle fork of the Feather
river; across the divide by tunnel to
Spring Garden. where another tunnel
is to be bored down Spring Garden
creek to American valley; down Span
ish creek TO it's junction with the east
branch of Feather river: down the
Feather river to Oroville; then through
the California valleys, MarysviIle. Sac
ramento, Stockton. Oakland and finally
into san Francisco, the wester nter-
minal.
IA loop and tunnel. planned by .Engi-
I nd Tn17
Williams. carries the line over the
Sierras with a one per cent grade. This
piece of work is acknowledged as the
greatest railroad engineering feat ac-
complished in the west. Travellers will
look down into wild valleys from
rugged mountain tops, while their train
is speeding along as it did when it was
down below on the meadows. Beck
with pass is the highest point OH the
line of the Western Pacific The South
ern Pacific's highest point is the sum-
init of the Sierra, 7,017 feet. The Beck
with pass tunnel of the Western Pa
eific will be 5000 feet long. An en-
trance into Sacramento has not yet
been selected. Stockton will be reached
from the west by the Alameda & San
Joaquin. which the Western Pacific ac-
quired recently. West Oakland will be
ftdTutt NftltU-A AN1itS NctlgOil- Allti
passing through a 40G0-fOOt tunnel at
the west end of this canyon the road
will enter east Oakland and finally
west Oakland. where large terminal
sites have been purchased by the
Gould interests. With ride across the
bay the trip over the Western Pacific
will have been completed.
There is a gap of between fifty and
eighty miles between the Salt Lake
track-end and the Nevada section
This will be closed within short time
Work is being carried ahead at Spring
Garden. where driving has commenced
on the long bore at that point. steam
shovel has ripped 6G0-fOOt approaches
at each end of the tunnel. COnStruc-
ton gangs are working at OrovilIe,
Beckwith pass and numerous other
points i'm Nevada and California
Progress is being made quietly and the
announcement that Salt Lake is at last
connected with San Francisco by a di-
rect route will come as a surprise to
those who have not followed the con-
struction work along the line of the
Western Pacific closely.