The San Francisco call., 1909-11-02
GOULD'S DREAM
COMES TRUE IN
GREAT RAILROAD
Without Ceremony Another
Ocean=to-Ocean Steel High
way Is Completed
State Will Welcome Competi-
fion in the Shipment of
Her Products
Tie western. &: Pacific railroad is com.

The last spike was driven at FIVE
minutes past + o'clock yesterday after
noon at Spanish: creek bridge. 7s miles
east: OF Oroville-
There was. no ceremony to: celebrate
completion of the great link in the
new trahscontinentai road. work upon
which was started just nine. years and
II. days ago None Of the. of1icers of
the scopnpa n5:@.were present. The. spike
was. of. the. common steel variety and
was driven by one of the. iahorers who
IS known.to the ofhGials of the road as
z member of the. Feather: river gang.
. The comp elton Of the Western Pacific
gives: George Could his most earnest
desire. a transcontfnental railroad sys-
TEN, and-to California one Of the great
est factors in Fhe- development of the
state which: promises to give greater
impetus TO the commerce of California
than II has received since the opening
OF the first. transcontfnentaI system.
= The inaugura ton Of overland travel
on the Western Pacific and. its connec-
tions will be an important event TO CAL
ifornia for the. reason that il. will place
this state:in direct comm uni cation, over
continuous lines under one manage
rnent. with the Atlantic ocean. the great
lakes and the guIf OF; Mexico, which
wi be. a distinct advantage. to every
interest Of this city dependent upon
transportation, and especially to the
fruft interests Of the; state because of
rhe fact that oN er this new line cars of
fruit may be delivered :directHto eastern
distribution centerS. - - ..
WELCOME COMPETITION
Especially because of the competition
that the Western Pacific will bring 10
bear upon The Hartman lines, the peo-
PIE of California hail with delight the
entrance OF the new national avenue
The new road practically parallels the
Central Pacific from Salt Lake City to
san Fra nciseo. -. Its construction has
been one lof<tle most daring engineer
ing feats" of recent years.
Shortly after George. Gould had pIr-
chased the Denver "a nd Rio. .Crande# he
set his heart. upon possessing a trans
continental railroad All he. needed: to
city and. Salt Lake. From Salt Lake
east his Denver and Rio. Grande. his
Missouri Pacific. ibis Wabash and his
Western Maryland railroads ! carried
traffic to tidewater at Baltimore
One. day. with his desire strongly tug
ging at his heart, he: ca1Ied-Vfrgi1. G.
Bogue> fnto his once and asked Bogue
II he could. build him a. line from Salt
Lake to- San Francisco. ~
There were physical conditions which
made the. question. most dificult to an
swer. but Bogue had been over the
route and answered with an affirmative
nod Of his head Bogue declared that
he would: cross the; Jagged Sierra and
carry the line into San Francisco. with
out using a grade of more than ! per
cent Famous engineers ridiculed the
statement - -:
ROUTE OF NEW LINE
However actual construction work
was begun October: 90 1900; and after
nine years Of uphill work the und ertak-
ing has proved suecessfu1,
The total length of the line from Salt
Lake to. San Francisco is:t92s miles.
the line goes TO the Humboldt river
around the southern end of Great Salt
lake and the. northern end of the STAINS
bury range, thence crossing Low pass
sn the. Cedar range. strikes the Great
Mud desert, across which it runs for
3S miles. 1t then climbs the rim of
Salt lake basin: crossing II at silver
Zone pass, an. elevation OF. 5;S75 feet. 4
The line then descends. into Gosiufe
valley, in the bottom of which it
crosses the. Nevada Northern railroad. 4
II then ascends the :: Pequod: range.
crossing 1t at Flower Ia ke pass, an ele.
walton of 5,90z feet. which. Is the high
est point: attained. on. the road Then
0GSCCAQllAE lulO the 1lG6p6nQ6HI -Na1leX,
the line goes TO. the Humboldt river
at Wells station. From Wells to Win
nemucoa the general, course of the
Humboldt riVersfs followed. From
Winnemucca the line goes nearly west
TO the southern. point of Honey lake,
then turns southward and climbs the
Sierras, crossing at 5eckwith pass.
From this pass the line. follows the
various. forks Of the Feather river to
Oroxille.. TIE railroad proper stops at
the Oakland; water front.
Charles w. Schlacks. first vice presi-
dent OF the Western. Pacific. who is
also vice president Of the Denver and
Rio Grande.; arrived in San Francisco
yesterday morning and Immediately
went into conference with the third
vice president. and general manager,
c. n. Levey. regarding the organization
of the operating department of the
new road !. Early: in the day Schlacks.
accompanied by Levey and Virgil G.
Bogue. inspected the yards OF the road
and then took a trip to the Western
Pacific mole.
YET TO SELECT FORCE
In the afternoon a conference was
held. but no decision reached as to who
would compose the. traffic force.
Il have been in San Francisco only: a
few hours. Sc1llacks' said late yester-
AdN dlLtELODus dlu nave ldQ no Time
to discuss appointments. There are hun
dreds Of applicatio on file and L don't
expect tc reach them for some time yet
In a few days i will go out over the line
with Levey and Bogue and after my
return will consider the organization of
an operating department.
I'VE are not yetaready for operation.
road has been. completed, but con-
siderable work yet remains before we
can. begin active operations. AS soon
as possible j viii establish an office and
will direct the Western Pacific from my.
Office in this city. / will also supervise
the operations Of. the Denver and Rio
Grande from this city, n
Schlacks was not prepared to answer
questions about the policy to be pursued
by the Western Pacific. The name of
j. 6. Woodworth of. the Northern Pacific
was suggested as a possible candidate
for traffic manager. but this was; denied,
'Schlacl lzssa ying that. Woodworth's name.
had not been mentioned. The name of
Frank Wadleigh. ef the Denver and Rio
Grande was also mentioned as a candi
date forsgeneral passenger agent This
was also denied, although Wadleigh's-
selection was recently announced in the
east.
Bogue Discusses Road
.