Seward weekly gateway., 1906-07-14
Larger Number of Men at Work Facilitates Building
 Progress.
WILL SOON FINISH TUNNELS
TraCkIayerS, Graders and Bridge Crews Scattered From Mile
 47 to Ind of 54.

Scattered at intervals along eight miles of forthcoming railroad line 90O men, including engineers, foremen ano contractors, are engaged in construc- tion upon the Alaska Central. In these hives of industry men are work ing at every kind of railroad building
 On mile 1T, just beyond the presen. track terminus, a gang is surfacing and laying rails On 49 and j3 tunnel boring, now near completion, is in steady progress in four unfinished tun- nelS. On 49 and j0 bridge building across deep gulches employs severn several squads of carpenters. On every mile from 1T to the end of 54 grading gangs are working, princi- pally upon rock cuts. Many stretches of the easier grading work are com plete.
 Each boat from Seattle now brings from 50 to 100 men for railroad con struction and as few are quitting since the weather became pleasant and the rainbow lines in nearby regions ceased to dazzle and attract, the building forces will steadily and rapidly in- crease. Fortified by this assurance the construction officials are now hope ful that the rails will extend through the tunnels and into Placer valley by October-potentially in the first half of the month, almost certainly hefore it is gone.
 Huch Grading Done
 From the beginning of the level stretch beyond Placer canyon to milo 67 around the head of Turnagain Arm the grading is largely done and it can be completed soon after the tunnels are bored and che track laid near to convey supplies and material. The most economical plan of building that part of the line will be from the end oI the track because it is now very diff cult of access and the work is so light that it eau be done rapidly.
 For several months tunnel boring has monopolized interest because deep snow in the adjacent valley prevented extensive outside work Effective management of tunnel work has brought the end in sight and during the next ninety days the construction of the grade around the wonderful curves and loop on 49-5O and jl will be the chief feature. This includes sey- eral trestles, one of which will be 1900 feet long with an extreme night of l65 feet.
 Nearing First Tunnel
 Two miles of grading between the winter terminus and the south portal of tunnel No. l, on mile 49, are finish ed except a few rock cuts, fills and bridges, and men are working on all these Instructions. Several rough spots have been farmed out to station men and their contracts require them to finish early in August. It is eX- pected that the rails can be carried close to the first tunnel by August l5, completing 4S miles of track. On this stretch the course of Placer river IS changed twice to avoid bridging where the line runs over the course of the stream for several rods. This is done by building cribs of heavy timber and filling them with rock and gravel to make a levee.
 Watson x Snow hold the contract for the bridge work and have 50 bridge carpenters employed, which is a suffici ent number to complete all the bridges and trestles by the time the track can reach them. A large quantity of the heavy, round timbers are on the ground near where they are to be used. They were mostly hoated down the river at an enormous saving of time, labor and consequent expense. It is estimated that several thousand dollars was saved by the contractors by this simple device. In order to ob- . tain a sufficient flow to carry the logs they were obliged to pen the water and float the timber down in inStall- ments.
 One Dizzy Trestle
 The longest and highest trestle is on curve beginning just beyond the northern portal of the tunnel. The ,, tunnel. beginning on spiral, is pro-