Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1907-09-19
PRACTICALLY COMPLETE
The Grading Operations and Con.
struetion Work Of Northern
Pacific In Mime sofa.
Comparison Of the Work Done BY
a Private Corporation With
Panama Canal.

Panama Canal.
Few people perhaps realize or un-
derstand the magnitude Of the con-
struction work which was undertaken
and has been practically completed
by the Northern Pacific railway.com-
pany, between Glyndon and Lake
Park, Minnesota. This is district
known in railroad parlance, as a
"pusher'' district where steep grades
require the constant services Of help
ing engines,a the expense involved
is steady drain upon the com pany's
earnings. About twenty mile strip
of road has been practically rebuilt,
at a large cost, and is but part Of
the great reconstruction work which
has been determined upon by the
officials of the company for the en-
tire Northern Pacific system.
This work in Minnesota was COM
menced in March, 1906, and the con-
tractors and civil engineers of the
railroad company promised that it
would be practically completed and
ready for the operating department
January 1,190S. This expectation will
be, to all intents and purposes fully
realized and would have been exactly
so, had it not been for an unexpected
obstruction of natural and unfore-
seen nature met about A ugust l.
The line from Glyndon, Having the
Red River valley fat land. runs east
ward to Lake Park on a tenths per
cent grade, and has been entirely re-
built. The old line .of the railload
has been left, and in places new tenn
porary track has been constructed,
but the new permanent line of the
road has been practically completed,
as far as the saving of the::expense of
assistant locomotives is concerned,
The new line for a distance of
about twenty..miles, inv Olives all kinds
of grade construction work. There
are deep cuts and heavy fills, and the
obstruction referred to consists of a
large sinkhole met with, near the
western end Of the trestle work and
which it has been impossible to fiji
since it was discovered. "A large
amount of earth, gravel, blue clay
and sand, is being dumped into this
sink hole, --and in a comparatively
short time it is expected that a firm
foundation will be obtained. This
natural depression seems to consist
of large pit of squicksand. and
miry earth that IS about IS feet in
depth. In--this construction work the
Buffalo river which was originally
crossed by the road six different
times, has had its channel changed
so that it is now crossed but once.
There is one enormous cut, which
has taken..a large amount of labor to
reduce and from which much mater
ial for the ills at other parts of the
road has been taken. This is called
the Big Cut, and is 500 feet wide and
one and a half miles long, and its
maximum height Is so feet.
During the summer a large force
has been at work varying in the
number of men, there :being 400 to
1000 men employed at different
times. At present only small force,
comparatively speaking IS at work,
on account of the inability to handle
more than a certain amount Of earth
in the filling of the sink hole. Wages
that we're paid to labor we're sl.75.
$500, and 1925 day. Some % To-
comotives were assigned to this
york.
One of the most interesting and
important phases of the work Is the
filling of an embankment, about six
miles long with width Of IS feet
across the top, varying width at
the bottom and an average of 30 feet
In height. @
This immense mbankment Is be-
ing constructed by the dumping of
earth from high trestle work.
/ Many people think that the trestlipg
was done for the purpose of running
the railroad track on top Of the tres
1 tile, but this is not the case. 1t was
\ cheaper to build the six miles Of
trestle and. run engines and cars
along the top Of the same for dump
ling the earth and the filing in of
Sthe entire trestle, than 10 raise the
track TO the height:required By. the
ordinary means employed in track
raising. ss9 AS s5ss3# #
4; OF course the. labor and material IN
saones sense pur Into the :trestle IS :
complete .losss 20 &the.. company. Every