Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-13

inhabitants must depend for their food
supplies upon the farmers OF the Truckee-
Carson project and outside sources OF
supply.
Treasure Value Nearly Billion.
Nevada has already produced nearly
billion dollars worth of treasure. The
records Of the mint show 1884. $4,000 de-
posts Of gold alone. The gold output for
1908 was $4,000, 200. and an equal amount
Of silver, copper, sulphur and other min
erals.
The Comstock lode produced more than
$500. ZOO, 600, and the Consolidated Virginia
paid $87 .00O,O coo in dividends and the two
made the fortunes Of John w. Mackay,
James 4. Fair OBrien. William Sharon.
Marcus Daley, Adolph Sutro and other
bonanza kings" Those fortunes have
not been repeated, although several mil
lionaires have come out Of recent de-
velopments in the southern part Of the
state. Marvellous stories are told of
men who went into the camps with a few
dollars In their pockets and came out
with millions few months later. saw
a man the other day who took an option
smoking room of a pullman car while
coming across the continent. He bonded
the property for two years on 10 per
cent bass-that Is, he paid the expense
Of developing and working the mine Tor
two years and was allowed to keep all
he got out of it except the royalty of
10 per cent of the gross output. At the
end of two years he had netted two mil
lions and the owner of the mine two
hundred thousand. You can hear lots
r,f otn 10 hot yxyf11 81
Reno. the home OF both Senator New
lands and Senator Nixon, is the most Inn
portant. substantial and finished town in
Nevada. It has a population Of about
$4,000, and many attractive residences
The state university is a progressive
school. and its mining department. which
occupies a building erected In memory
Of John w. Mackay by his widow and
son, is undoubtedly the most important
school of its kind in the west.
Virginia City. which had once a popu-
lation Of $4,000 people and eighteen mill
Honaires among its residents, Is OF little
Importance today, compared with 1850.
when Peter ORiley. Patrick Mclaughlin,
ComstLck found strange biue-black
substance that clogged their rockers and
interfered with the washing Of the river
sands. They took a sample of the mud to
worth $1,000 a ton. Since that an
nouncement nearly billion dollars has
been taken out Of Mount Davidson. at
whose base the mud was found.
Railroad Over Mountains Rebuilt.
The railroad over the Sierra Nevada
mountains near the boundary between
California and Nevada, and indeed the
entire line from Sacramento to Salt Lake
City, has been rebuilt at a cost Of nearly
fifteen millions. The distance has been
shortened fifty-two miles by taking out
curves and boring tunnel seven miles
long. The old grades were 80 steep that
two locomotives were necessary to haul
every train lover the HILL" as the rail-
way men always allude to the Grand Di-
vide, and sometimes as many as six
locomotives were necessary to haul a
heavy freight. This ate up the profits of
the traffic, and the late e. H. Hartman.
after making personal Investigation,
arees of curves, 1900 feet Of grade and
built twenty-three miles Of trestlework
across Salt Lake. on the theory that the
diminished cost of operation would more
than pay the expense. This theory proved
to be correct, and when the public ulti-
mately realizes the genius and daring
with which it was demonstrated the rep.
utation of Mr.. Hartman as an empire
builder. as an engineer and economist
will be fixed forever.
haps the most difficult as well as the most
daring piece of construction that has
been undertaken in this country for many
years. When the Central Pacific was first
built the line was laid to the northward
around the shores Of the lake. which in
creased the distance considerably as we'll
as the expense of construction. Mr.. Haf-
rinan ordered q wooden trestle to be
built In q straight line from Ogden to
the western shore Of the lake. q distance
ia Sxyot A&
which In some places was thirty feet
deep. The work was begun in June, 1902,
and was completed November Is, 1908.
Lofty Trees Transplanted.
During that time 1926 trees between
$50 and 200 feet high were cut from the
forests CT Oregon and California and
transpianted into the waters of Great
Salt Lake, to make a framework OF pill
ing for the great bridge. Each day 400
carloads Of gravel were hauled from the
neighboring mountains and dumped be-
tween these piles to make q solid cause
way sixteen miles long, seventeen feet
above the. water and sixteen feet wide at
the top. Upon that gravel causeway a
coat of asphalt was laid. then a stratum
of crushed rock ballast one foot deem
was laid upon plank floor three inches
thick and then the ties and rails were
put in place. portion of the distance
Is OOuOle uack.
The thirty six miles OF tres.le are dead
level, not an inch Of grade the entire dis
lance.
The track lies nineteen feet above the
water.
The cost of the trestie was $450o,ooo.
Three thousand men were employed
there continuously night and day for
seventeen months. At night they worked
by electric light.
The average number Of cars handled
daily was 400.
A supply of 1850 tons Of fresh water
was brought daily distance of eighty
miles for the use Of the men.
Some of the piles were 30 long that
three eighty-foot cars had to be chained
together to transport them. and placed
end to end. the 1929 piles used in the
construction would reach from Chicago
to Buffalo.
Every ffteen feet five crossbars are
driven in a row at right angles with the
track. riveted together with four heavy
timbers eight inches thick. and with
heavy beam eighteen feet long and one
foot square across the top.
The salt Lake trestle Is one OF the
most remarkable examples Of railway