The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1907-01-02
BATTEN TELLS OF
RECONSTRUCTION

Railroad people, and lots of others,
will remember HI. w. Batten, who was
assistant superintendent of the Madi-
son division of the G. & N. w. few
years ago. He is now employed as
engineer by Winston Bros, who are
engaged in construction work for the
Northern Pacific in Montana. He
writes to his friend, Mr.. M. Riney, as
follows.
Dear Sir:-As several of my friends
on the G. & n. w. Ry. have received a
few lines on the nature of the work
that is being undertaken in this neigh
borhood, the following may be of inter-
est to you
The work Immediately in hand con-
sists of the double tracking of 74.6 miles
of the Northern Pacific Railway, be-
tween Garrison and Missoula, with
changes of alignment and grades to
conform to new conditions. At Garri-
son, the two main lines from the east,
one from Helena, the other from Butte,
converge to form one trunk line down
the canyon of the Hellgate River, a
stream that averages couple hundred
feet in width and which is pretty
regular in its regimen. The highest
water is generally in June, after the
thawing of the ice at the headwaters
of the tributary streams up in the
mountains. This high water seldom
goes more than 6feet above the ordinary
stage, and does not badly overflow its
banks. So, we are not anticipating
trouble from that source in the carry
ing on of the work. The existing rail-
road from Garrison to Missoula is a
good transportation machine, except
in the matter of curvature, which is
and which it is expected to
obviate in the completion of the work
already under contract. The grades
are generally good, following the water
grade of the Helligate river,
about Is #. per mile of railroad, which
makes Garrison about l ,150 feet higher
than Missoula. The line is well equipped
with lap-siding, and is operated with
telegraph block signals, the latter
stations being close enough to avoid
delay to trains. The operation of the
block system permits the meeting of
trains at intermediate sidings and the
use of caution cards also prevents the
unnecessary tieing up the freight
traffic. The roadbed is laid with IS
Id. rail on good bed of ties from the
Pacific Coast Forests and on road
bed which is high and dry. A notice
able feature of the existing line is the
absence of small bridges and culverts,
SO common in the states of the Mississ-
ippi valley. The power is very heavy,
making the class RS of the G. & N.
w. Ry look pretty small. Quite a
proportion of the engines are COM
pound, but the company has evidently
ceased to purchase more of them, as al
the new power coming in no the road
consists of simple engines.
The canyon of the Hellgate river is
very winding and at points cuts sharp
ly against the abutting mountains,
making construction interesting to say
the least and necessitating the use of
very sharp curvature on the original
line. The endeavor of the new work is
to avoid the excessive curvature, and
to accomplish the same will require
some drastic work. On the existing
line there are degree curves and the
new work is to cut that to a maximum
of 3 degrees. This will mean radical
work, with four new tunnels, ranging
in length from 800 ft. to 1900 it., and
the excavation of numerous cuts con-
tanning from 800, 900 cubic yards of ma
terial up to 100000. The grades will
remain practically unchanged. The
work will mean the ultimate abandon
ment of miles of the present line, as the
new work is frequently as far as Z of a
mile from the old line. The prepara-
ton for the actual work is very much
behind the necessities of the contract;
much remains to be done in the way of
running levels and practically all the
cross-sectioning is to be done. The
quantities are still to be computed but
an approximate idea of the work is
given in the estimate of 1900, 900 cubic
yards of earth and 100000 yards of
rock.
The engineer in charge of the work is
Mr.. Frank Beckwith, formerly with
the c.. B. & @. on their heavy work in
Iowa. He is efficient, quick, obliging
and gentlemanly, so we anticipate
pleasant relations between the engin-
eers and the contractors. A noticeable
feature of the new work, as we'll as the
old, is the absence or heavy masonry
and of small culverts. This is due in
part to the expectation of changing the
channel of the river in numerous places,