The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-06-29

& Inland Empire Railway, The Cas-
cade Tunnel Route" 1t purports to
contain extracts from a paper read
before the Pacific Northwest Society
of Civil Engineers at its meeting in
October, 1925, by Itothe Phucher,
chief engineer of the road The OBJ
ject of this pamphlet is to point out
the advantage and feasibility of a
road between Spokane and Puget
Sound passing through the Cascade
mountains by a tunnel 80 miles in
length, thus avoiding the steep
grades which must now be climbed
in order to reach Pugte Sound from
the east The story reads like a ro-
nance, but it is one that may some
day become a realty.
The pamphlet is published by the
A. Hartman Company, of Seattle.
and the name of Phucher is an as
sumed one. 1t cost considerable
money to issue the book and it is
hard to say just in what interest it
is put out. At any rate it is a de-
cidedly interesting publication and is
calculated to inspire big thought in
those who love Washington. The
writer refers to the fact that the
only possible way of reaching Puget
Sound without climbing the noun
tains is by way of Portland. He
mentions the North Bank road as
having been built from Spokane to
Portland 16 years ago. but he says
that while Seattle is given a place
in the name of the road, Spokane,
Portland & Seattle, there was never
any intention of building to Seat
tie. On the contrary he says that
the North Bank will make it's tide
water terminus at Willapa Bay,
where there is perfect harbor with
out any bar handicap. In other
words Hill built a road to tidewater
II OIl opOhduS On d oCptcuuInS duC
every foot of the way and will haul
the wheat of eastern Washington by
that route, transhipping it at Will
apa Bay.
The specific location of this myth
cal railroad is along the Spokane
river from Spokane to the Columbia,
and the Columbia to the Wenatchee
valley and thence to Leavenworth,
the east portal of the tunnel The
west portal is at Skykomish.
On the west side of the range, the
line descends the valley of the Sky
komish from the west portal, keep
ing on the south slope, with gradi-
ent of 03 per cent. Rounding the
point of land between the Skykomish
and Snoqualmie rivers. it crosses the
latter stream and follows the west
bluffs for several miles south whence
it traverses the irregular terrain he
tween the Snoqualmie and Stamina
mish valleys. 1t crosses the Stamina
mish river in the vicinity of Derby,
and descends the valley of this
stream to the head of Lake Wash
! ington, where it virtually reaches
! tidewater. 1t then follows the old
Northern Pacific line around the
north and west shore of the lake as
| far as Union Bay, but leaves it at
that point, crossing the Lake Wash
ington canal and passing by way of
| the south end of Lake Union to the
| tide flats of the Duwamish delta and
the principal terminal yards of the
city.
From the Sammamish crossing at
! Derby, the Tacoma branch turns
south and follows the reconstructed
line of the Northern Pacific along
the east shore of Lake Washington
through the manufacturing district
| of Renton to Renton Junction, where
1t joins the main line from Seattle.
Engineer Phucher says the cost of
this road, which is electric from end
to end, was SIS 100000 and this in
cludes the costly tunnel work. At
that the open country work cost less
than the North Bank.
It is interesting to note the man
ner in which the money for this sup
posed road was raised In the first
place the state of Washington and
the several counties issued bonds to
the amount of SIS, 100000 and the
United States government gave a
like sum. But the main feature in
financing the project has been the
cooperation of the several great rail
way systems affected by it. Suhc CO.
operation had in fact become the
fashion to some extent in this part
of the country before the project be-