The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-12
| PROGRESS OF WORK
ON RAILROAD YARDS
Short Line Extensions and I'M.
provements Will Be Finished
by End of Year.
UNDERTAKING is
AN IMMENSE ONE
Yiaduct viii Be Completed
by the Middle of
November.

With a force Of some 325 men under
his command, l.. l.. Degron, assistant
chief engineer in charge of the exten-
sions and improvements at the Oregon
Short Line and Salt Lake Route yards
By the 18th of September the new
freight depot, $50 feet long, will be
completed; in the course Of a week or
| ten days the transfer platform, 400
| feet long, will bo finished; and before
the end of the year the yard eIten-
slons and the viaduct across the yards
on North Temple street will be accom-
plished tasks. The plans for the new
| passenger depot on Third West and
| South Temple were destroyed in the
San Francisco cataclysm, they being IN
course of preparation at Southern Pa
ciiic headquarters there at the time of
the disaster, so that they have had to
be remade, and thus progress has been
delayed They are now we'll forward,
however, only details being lacking,
and will soon be forwarded TO head.
quarters in Salt Lake.
Reconstruction of Yards.
The reconstruction OF the yards is an
undertaking of immense magnitude and
is more than half completed. From
Fifth North to Second South, dis
tance Of one mile in length and about
SOC feet in breadth, the grade is being
lowered on an average Of about five
feet. When completed, thirty-two
tracks will cover the space, twelve de-
voted to freight and twenty to passen-
ger business. A huge steam shovel is
at work on the excavation and the
heaviest steel is being put down. When
the yards are completed the total track
age will amount TO twenty-four miles.
Conduit for City Creek.
The lowering to grade of City creek,
which makes an underground crossing
of the yards on North Temple, is in
itself an undertaking of no small di
mensions. Temporary pipes have been
laid down TO carry the stream while the
conduit is being constructed. This con-
duIt is 400 feet III length and about
half OF it is built. The tunnel is ten
feet wide and two feet. nine inches
high, and is constructed in a most sub
stantial manner. On top heavy rails
are laid SIX inches apart and then con-
crete is filed in and the whole is topped
with the same material to a consider
able depth Below, the rails arc laid
twelve inches apart, with a concrete
filling and topping, and in the heavy
concrete walls the steel is laid longi- |
most substantial and permanent char
acLer,
Building the Viaduct.
Work on the viaduct is also well un-
der way on the west side Of the yards. |
The first abutment, which is half way |
between Fourth and Fifth West streets, |
eight of the piers are in various stages
of construction. The heavy concrete
walls for the approach are finished, all
but the filing in between them. Here,
as in the work on the conduit, sub
characterizes everything. |
For the piers, after depth of six or
eight feet has been attained, piles are
driven into the ground about twenty
feet, leaving about a foot of each pile
above ground Concrete surrounds these
for about foot, making solid foun-
dation, Then heavy layers for a con-
crete bed follow, tapering up to the
top, on which the piers will sit solidly.
The vladuct proper will span a dis
tance of about 800 feet, rising to
height of twenty-five feet. There will
be twenty spans, varying In length
from forty to sixty feet The rise be-
gins about the middle Of the block be-
tween Fourth and Fifth West streets
and the viaduct curves slightly to the
with the street car tracks will be made
on Fifth West. The structural iron is
to arrive in about a month.
and, all conditions being favorable, the
will be completed about No
vember 15.
New Freight Depot.
The corrugated iron roof is now be-
ing put on the freight depot and the
transfer platforms are ready for the
roofing. There are 1900 yards Of con
crete in the floors and foundations of
the freight house, and in every detail
it is most modern structure.
A pleasing feature Of the work is that
so far it has been carried on without
accidents of any kind. This is specially
fortunate and satisfactory when the
dangerous nature Of the work is con.
'idered, the fact that all traffic is being
carried on while the work progresses
the slightest interruption.
Including the passenger depot, the
work undertaken by the two railroads
will cost $l,500,000 when completed.