Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1908-03-26

Pacific railway will be in operation from
Sal. Lake City to San Francisco, pro.
vidcd nothing unforeseen occurs."
Thus Ia the statement OF Virgil G.
Bogue, chief engineer Of the wonderful
new ~Gould lue" that is soon to spring
into the life and affairs Of three states,
OF some 1900, OGO Inhabitants.
The completion Of this road will span
the nation from the Atlantic to the
Pacific with one more gistening ribbon
of steel-the second trsnscontinentsl
railroad TO be wholly constructed by a
single man. Herman will stand Oh an
equal footing with George Gould.
The Western Pacific practically
parallels the Southern Pacific from Salt
Lake to San Francisco. Its coustruc-
tiou has been one Of the most daring
engineering feats Of recent years.
After George Gould had bought the
Denver g. Rio Grande he set his heart
upon possessing trancontimensal rail-
road. All he needed to compass was the
stretch from Salt Lake into San Fran
CISCO. From Salt Lake east, his Den yer
& Rio Grande, his Missouri Pacific. his
Wabash, and his Western Mary land
railroads carried traffic to tidewater at
Baltimore.
One day, with this desire strongly
tugging at his heart, he called the
famous en- Ineer, Virgil Bogue, into his
Office ana said: "Mr. Bogue, can you
build me line from Salt Lake to the
Pacific coasl?"
There are physical conditions which
made this question most difficult to
answer, but Bogue had been over the
route, and he nodded his head affirma-
lively. In a few weeks operations had
begun. Bogue declared that he would
cross the jagged Slerras and carry the
line into San Francisco without using a
grade of more than per cent. Engin-
GERS all over the country grinned. Some
called him crazy. Bogue's promise was
verified when the surveys were hegnn
on October 20, 1900.
Bogue now declares that the success
of the undertaking from an engineering
point of view is assured.
The grade being hewed through the
Sierra Nevada mountains, according to
engineers, is a feat second to more in
the world. While the Western Pacific
consumes 143 miles more than the
Southern Pacific on crossing the noun
tains, the Central Pacific have a grade
ill 2.6 with many 10 degree curves,
while the maxim urn grade on the Gould
line will be per cent and the maximum
curvature 8 degrees. The Central
Pacific altitude at the summit is 7,019
feet, while the Western Pacific pierces
Beckwith PUss 1900 feet lover, elm.
mating, on account of the Chinook
winds, great depth of snow and the
necessity Of snowsheds. There are
40 miles Of snOwsleds on the Southe rn
Pacific.
Or the 43 tunnels on the line the long
est is the Spring Garden tunnel, half
way up the western slope of the Sierras.
1t is 1906 let long. The BeckwIth paes
bore is next with 5000 feet Of under
ground track. Both of these viii be
finished within few months.
Seven steel bridges are completed in
California, over the San joaquin near
Stockton; Calaveras bridge, between
Stockton and Sacramento; the Moke-
lumme bridge, between Stockton and
Sacramento; tne American River bridge
near Sacramento; the Yuba River bridge
at Marysvile; the Midule Fork bridge
near Oroville, and the Middle Fork
bridge near Beckwitb