The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-17
American Railway Engineering


road three locomotives could not haul
| lnlf that much In thirty hours. ,rho
dinerence In distance between the twI
/ ls forty three miles.
The conquest OF the Rocky Noun,
engIneera. IN 1850 convention was
Wn1 n From, phi,lha HID to see T. rail-
Wien saerofa spD'e Of VAR waterman saa sa pays
], surveyed, ana The Hon. sg 1ames
innE a bin in Congress in 1854. said.
. we VIII grapple iron hands upon tho
i st,,h,nits OF the central mountains"
lSso, when the Union Pacific joined me
Contra Pacific at Ogden the first trans.
continental railway in the world was
',h , es,ablished fact. Clnging to bare
ing canyons, tunneling spurs, the road
crossed the Rockies sos feet above
NE ne sea- s,.r and climbed over the crest Of
forty miles of tunnel and snowsheds.
Other roads, that followed have made
aa a,no at,nnythinE seem possible. Tho
frnn, Serpentine Trail. built in 1882,
ing back and forth across itself, tray.
cling ifty-four miles to cover one made
o o wagon ,aJ road. crossing Clear Creek
| OF OF 10000 feet, and costing from s4O,-
900 to $4,000 mile. Is one OF tho
greatest existing monuments to en-
Into Los. Angeles surveyors found that
the track must run In a path to be cut
IN the face of a cliff that stood 1000
feet In sheer wall above the river.
Men and tools were hung over tho
canyon side by ropes and inch by inch
nature was conquered. until now the
track runs in an artificial rift in this
rock 500 feet above the water. and
the cost per mile at that point has ap-
proximated $4,000, Other work on
this line. is said to be among the most
one stretch Of thirty-fve miles there
are twenty-nlne tunnels. one measure
Ing two and six-tenths miles.
In the Royal Gorge. Col, men fought
with the river for right OF way and
won. until they came to narrow
space nifty feet wide. whore the river
for bridge. such as had been thrown
across OTHER rivers, so tho world IA
nous hanging bridge was constructed
| Iron braces set In the foot of 1900
the raging torrent. overhead at the
top of the gorge another railway has
built bridge to span the fftyfoot
gap, over half mile straight up above
the river. IN the Yosemite Valley tile
Mercedes River. swift, dangerous and
treacherous stream, has recently been
brdsed four times by the new railway
miles of the valley. This road has
very heavy grade, and cost sa.oooOOo.
The Southern Pacific recently had
line at a cost OF s1.ooQ,ooo. This en-
tailed such careful work as the Day
Shore Cutoff. a project that affords
francisco. and having two miles Of
tunnel in its ten miles of length.
Further down the coast in the San
Miguel Mountains is the wonderful
ophtr Loop. whore the traveller. haY-
ing gained the crest. may look below
to see his own trail like tiny silver
threads crossing and recrossing. each
The finding OF a route for a road Is
not always easy. General Dodge took
the Unioa Pacific over a pass he had
discovered thirty miles west OF Chey-
enne. when lighting Indians. True.
kee Pass" where the Southern Pacific
crosses the crest Of the Sierras, is
named for the Indian guide who show
ed the way Occasionally native tai
ent has aided the engineer. survey
ing party. after days of discourasing
work. canped one night in the Sierras.
had appeared more invineible than
usual. The guide. as he sat by the fire.
husginG up his long knees. said: .Meb-
G &c ,5 kno" t pas momn,ain % over
there les 10 help you fellows ont. All
you've got to do is circle up IL. put
and go right on to the ocean" In hui
mlity of spirit. the boys suggestion
was accepted. and the road was built.
The faith that can move mountain
Is justified In the ambition Of The mod
ern builder of railways. on the route
of the Seattle-Portlaad Railway.
branch of the Great Northern system.
that is now under construction. peak
doomed up. To tunnel 1t would mean
an enormous expense. 1t was decided
to blow UP the mountain itself. Three
shifts of twenty-five men each worked
day and night for two and haf
months with diamond pointed drills.
preparing for charges OF dynamite. The
mountain was tunneled, $4,000
pounds of powder and 1000 pounds Of
dynamite were put in place. ii was
carefully wired, and on sept tenn h,,n :,
dred and nifty thousand cubic yards
of stone rose from the proposed road
bed and fell in shattered heaps for
acres around. This is the largest
blast ever fired in the world. It cost
the road $4,000 but 1t left the smooth
roadbed ready for the rails. and an
other victory over nature was won by
the dauntless engineer.
Tomorrow Grover Cleveland's