The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-09-27

account of the traffic wholly within the
state.
From the summit of the Sierras to
Salt Lake City the Western Pacific |
draws 4 line across Nevada and west |
ern Utah. Nevada is rich in mineral
resources, and some of it's most promis-
ing districts lie along the route of the
new road. Deposits of sulphur, borax
and salt, gold, silver and copper occur
along the line between the border of
California and that of Utah. Moreover.
irrigation has proved that the soil of
Nevada is rich. In the Truckee-Carson
river country. where an irrigation prof.
ect of the United States government is
retaining some 100000 acres of land.
the beginnings of prosperous agri-
cultural community have already
sprung up. The country which Is trav-
ersed by the Western Pacific is as rich
in soil potentjalities as any I'm Nevada.
When the Western Pacific is in op-
Grafton the value of this country will be
realized upon. The mines, which COM
munication will make it profitable to
develop, will send their trainloads of ore
eastward to the smelters in Utah, while
the mining communities themselves
may be expected to furnish markets
near at hand for the lumber and farm
products of California. and their pres
ence will encourage the further develop
ment of grazing and irrigation. During
the decade ending with 1906. the sales
of public lands i'm Nevada amounted TO
over 160O. 900 acres. The 1907 wool crop
of the state was 6.000,000 pounds, one
half that of California. and its value
was more than 81 250, 900. The manufac-
turing interests of Nevada use raw ma
terial to the value of over 81 500, 900, and
their product amounts to over 100000
yearly. These industries have tripled
since 1900. The gold production of the
state in 1906 was s927s. 900, ranking after
Colorado, Alaska and California. The
previous year it was S5.S59. 900. There
was also a silver production of s3,525000.
exceeded i'm amount only by Montana,
Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
Magnificent Terminals.
In addition to the freight produced
it is necessary to consider also the
freight which the country needs. Could
the west get 1t, 1t would today be inn
porting from the east many times its
present consumption. Here, again, it is
not a question of the needs of the west.
but of the handling capacity of the ex-
listing lines. The builders of the West
ern Pacific believe that it will start off
with earnings of more than $4,000
mile, record which, if achieved, will
be unique as compared with any other
western line The eastern lines will, of
course, feed the Western Pacific with
westbound freight, and receive east
bound freight in return.
truth that is better understood to-
day than it was a generation ago is that
road cannot succeed without adequate
terminals. At San Francisco the Western
Pacific holds valuable terminal proper
ties on both sides of the bay. On the
San Francisco side it has 269 acres. Of
which those devoted to the local freight
terminal, ffty-three acres in all. are
in the heart of the city. only seven
blocks from the city hall. Connecting
with this is the waterfront equipment
of storage yards and docks comprising
216 acres. On the Oakland side there
are 361 acres, and between the two lies
the most direct passage across the bay.
Along this busy waterfront are gath
cred vessels from all the seven seas,
bringing the products of the Orient, the
Pacific islands. golden Alaska, and far
off Australasian lands. to receive in ex-
change the grain and machinery and
other manufactures of America, brought
westward by the railroads.
CALIFORNIA; Richest Belt.
Out of San Francisco the road runs
easterly and then turns 10 the north,
skirting on the east the half-Submerged
"tule lands and following a direct line
from Stockton to Sacramento, Marys-
vile and Oroville. This part of the
line has been designed to tap the rich
est of California's great valleys pro-
ducing annually millions of tons of
freight which cannot be handled by ex-
listing lines. From Sacramento to the
south are broad and productive valleys,
rich in freight and offering little in the
way of difficult problems to the railroad
engineer. North of Oroville, stretching
across the eastward route. loom the
Sierras-mountains so forbidding and
rough that in the length of a thousand
miles the passes through which rail-
road may go can be counted on the
| fingers of one hand.
From Sacramento to Oroville the line
runs up that part of the Sacramento
valley watered by the Feather river,
one of the greatest fruit-growing sec
lions of the country. This portion of
the line south from Oroville to Oakland
is the part first opened to traffic. pro-
ducing an important income even before
the road is finished. Oroville itself for
more than half century has been the
southern gateway for ali the trade of
the wonderfully rich country of the
Feather river and is the point through
which most of its supplies come.
Strangely enough, until the coming of
the Western Pacific. Oroville has never
been located on through railroad line.
The Southern Pacific has a spur run
ming northward from its main line to
Oroville. but that has been all that the
| town has had in the way of transporta-
ton facilities. The Western Pacific
seeking TO serve this important traffic
producing region. has swung north OF
the Southern Pacific. reaching into new
territory, not to cross the older line
until midway across Nevada. One rea-
son for following this route is fur
nished by the great amount of timber
In the territory tapped.
"City of Gold" Is the literal equiva-
lent of Oroville, and the city of gold i
really is Sluiced, hydraulicked, mined
In every possible way from the earliest
times, this city on 1.-THE gold-bearins
Feather river is still one of the greatest
gold producers in the country.
Feather River Country.
| Northward on the foaming Feather
river, three miles above the city, there
Is a great steel bridge. indicative In its
solidity of the whole road, and at the
bridge is a station called Bidwell. il
1 iS par,,aff> ,fter fbA old ni0near Scou1