Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-03-31
A WONDERFUL SYSTEM.
STORY OF THE BUILDING OF
THE NEW TRANSFORMER
AL LINE.
The Extension of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & st. Paul Railway to
the Pacific Coast.


extension of the Chicago, Milwau-
kee & St. Paul Railway (called the
Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound
Railway one more of the great
railroad systems of the west will
rank as a transcontinental line.
For the beginning of this great
railway system we must go back to
the year 1865, when the Minnesota
Central, now known as the Mime
sofa Division of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & ST. Paul Railway, was
completed to Faribault, Mimi. This
road reached the Iowa line in
1866, and was completed to st
Paul in 1867. Since that time the
growth of the system has been rap
id, the total mileage reaching APP
miles in 1884, 6,065 miles in 1892,
6,3S2 miles in 1903, 1884 miles in
1907, and 7,451 miles in 1908.
The total length of the extension
now being completed from the
Missouri river to the coast is 1,40O
miles, and by the time it is opened
the total mileage of the whole sys-
TEN will have reached 5000 miles.
BY the time Of its completion the
lCW llllt Will nave CItdIcu a ItCOTu
for rapidity of construction. Work
was begun in Apri, 1906, and if
the expectations of the engineers
and contractors are fulfilled, the
last main line rail will be laid by
April 1, 1909, and the whole stretch
Of 1,400 miles will have been built
in the remarkably short time of
three years. During this period
60,000.000 cubic yards of material
will have been excavated, 100000
yards of tunnel driven, 20 miles of
bridges erected. and 100000 tons
of S5-pound rails laid, at total
cost of SS5,000,00O.
The new line being the latest of
the transcontinental roads to be
built has all the advantages which
comes from accumulated expert
ence in the construction of similar
roads that have already been built.
From the standpoint of opera
ton, the most important question
is that of grades and particularly
what is known as the ruling
grade this last being the max
imum degree of grade occurring on
any given stretch of the line. The
new line is characterized by favor
able gradients and easy curvature.
The new lire begins at the town
of Mobridge in South Dakota and
crosses the Missouri at point
about 100 miles due west of Aber-
deem by a handsome steel bridge.
1t is carried upon four concrete
and stone piers, the foundation for
three of which were put in by the
pneumatic caisson process. Pier
No. 3 was sunk to depth of 80
feet 6 inches below water. The
bridge consists of a steel through
truss span of 12S feet on the east
approach. followed by three steel
thrOughtruss spans each 423 feet
inches in length, which form the
main bridge. The west approach
consists of PSI feet of steel viaduct
and 1888 feet of timber trestle.
The filling of the timber trestle will
be completed this season. After
crossing the Missouri the line par
allels the State line through the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation,
and swings into North Dakota,
touching several small towns, in
GLIDING Marmarth on the Little
Missouri River, where one of the
division points will be established.
Thence, it proceeds to Terry, Mont,
on the Yellowstone River, and 4 |
miles to the west of Terry it eros
ses the Northern Pacific by an over
head bridge, and follows the line
of the Yellowstone River to Miles
City, Mont, where large division
terminals are being built. The
road passes through the valley of
the Musselshell River, and at Har-
lowton joins the Montana Railroad,
on which large amount of work
has been done in the way of reduc-
ing grades and excavature to ac-
commodate the expected heavy
traffic. At Lombard the new line
again crosses the Northern Pacific
Railway, and then climbs the great
continental divide between Pied
mont on the eastern side of the
Rockies and the city of Butte, on
the west. At an elevation of $3.50
feet, the road pierces the noun
tains at the head of Pipestone Pass. |
From Butte the road will pass
by the way of the broad and fer
tile Deer Lodge valley to Garrison
and Missoula, Mont, and at Haul |
gan, Mont, will commence the |
climb over the Bitter Root Noun
tain range. At the summit it will |
pass through a tunnel S,751 feet |
in length, and after crossing st. |
Paul Pass at an elevation of AGO |
feet it will pass through the famous
Cour d'Alene district At Beverly, |
Wash, the line reaches the Column
bia River. The last stretch of the
new road passes through the virgin
timber lands of Snoqualmie Pass
in the Cascade Mountains, which
are probably the richest timber
lands in the state Of Washington;
and then after following the Cedar
River valley TO Maple valley, it
runs into the populous and thriv-
ing cities of Seattle and Tacoma on
the Pacific coast. The line to Ia
coma runs through Kent and Au-
burn. passes through Sumner and
North Puyallup, crossing the river
of the name, and then entering the
famous seaport of Tacoma.
Although for a considerable por-
ton of its distance the new line
trayerses approximately the same