Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-17
OF WORLDWIDE INTEREST
| AMERICAN RAIL WAY ENGINEERING
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

places, and Ill Strengthening other SuS-
rected places. Now one locomotive can
haul 1850 tons of freight from Ogden
to Lucin in less than nine hours. where
over the old road three locomotives
could not haul half that much in thirty
hours. The difference in distance be-
tween the two is forty y:-three miles.
The conquest of the Rocky Noun
tains was the greatest feat of modern
engineers. In 1850 convention was
held in Philadelphia to see if railway
from the Atlantic to the Pacific were
practicable. Jefferson Davis, then
secretary of war, had several routes
surveyed, and the Hon. James A. Nc
Dougall of California, introducing a
bin in congress in 1854, said: 1--WE
will grapple iron hands upon the. sum-
mtts of the central mountains" His
predictions have been verified. In 1869
when the Union Pacific Joined the Cen
tral Pacific at Ogden, the first trans
continental railway in the world was
shelves on the mountain side, bridging
canyons, tunneling spurs. the road
crossed the Rockies S205 feet above the
sea, and climbed over the crest OF the
Sierra, after passing through forty
miles Of tunnel and snowsheds.
Other roads that followed have made
almost anything seem possible. The
Famous serpentine trail, built in 1882
from Denver to Georgetown. Colo.
looping back and forth across itself.
travelling fifty-four miles to cover one
made by wagon road, crossing Clear
creek eighteen times, going to an alti-
tude or 10000 feet, and costing from
$40 900 to $4,000 a mile is one of the
greatest existing monuments to enrin-
eering skill. On Moffat's new road
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
rect in a sheer wall above the river.
Men and tools were hung over the
canyon side by ropes, and inch by inch
nature was conquered, until now the
track runs in an artificial rift in this
rock 800 feet above the water and the
cost per mile at that point has approx-
imated the sum of $4,000. other
work on this line is said to be among
the most daring I'm modern achieve
ments. In one stretch of thirty-fiye
miles there are twenty-nine tunnels.
one measuring two and six-sixteenths
miles.
In the Royal gorge. Colorado, men
fought with the river for right of way
and won, until they came across a mar
row space fifty feet wide, where the
river had to be crossed. There was no
room for a bridge such as had been
thrown across other rivers, so the
world-famous hanging bridge was con-
structed. Iron braces set in the foot
of 2600-foot wall hold the bridge In
place over the raging torrent. over
head, at the top OF the gorge, another
railway has built bridge 10 span the
fifty-foot gap, over half mile straight
up above the river In the Yosemite
valley the Mercedes river, swift, dan
gerous and treacherous stream, has re-
Gently been bridged four times by the
new railway that places the tourist
within twelve miles of the valley. This
road has very heavy grade and cost
$2,000,000.
The finding of route for a road is
not always easy. General Dodge took
the Union Pacific over a pass he had
discovered thirty miles west OF Chey-
enne, when fighting Indians. "Truckee
Pass" where the Southern Pacific
crosses the crest of the Sierra, is
named for the Indian guide who showed
the way. Occasionally native talent
has aided the engineer. A surveying
party, after days of discouraging work,
camped one night in the Sierra, al
most willing to give up, for nature had
appeared more invincible than usual
The guide, as he sat by the fire. hugging
his long knees, said: "Mebbe l don't
know, but 1t seems to me God put that
little mountain over there jes' to help
you fellows out. All you've got to do is
to circle up it, put bridge over the
gorge to the next. and go right on to
the ocean," In humility 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 eattle-Portland railway, a
branch of the Great Northern system,
that is now under construction, a peak
loomed up. To tunnel it 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 half
months with diamond pointed drills,
preparing for charges of dynamite. The
mountain was tunneled, 1S1,00 pounds
of powder and 1000 pounds OF dynamite
were put in place; it was carefully
wired, and on September 5, 1907, the
charge was fired. One hundred and
fifty thousand cubic yards of stone rose
from the proposed roadbed and fell In
shattered heaps for acres around. This
is the largest blast ever fired in the
world. 1t cost the road $4,000, but it
left the smooth roadbed ready for the
rails and another victory over nature
was won by the dauntless engineer.
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HOTEL GREEN, European rate
81. 80 per day; American rate $3.50 per
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