The Alaska citizen., 1910-08-13

'dhfi-N iit 'H' ia-##l. . ta 'fHf##H. Let me give som, idea of the mag niudc or rhc task. tHa method of its accomplishment and it's significance. Formerly i, had been the practice to build mrriedIy and chcaply. and ro bring he line Jap tu tHc standard later as rao revenue justified Inc expenditure in the case of the Grand Trunk Pacific. however the road has been designed as q first
 lass line. and fl is being built and finished a. such in the first m-
 anec.
 Realize what ibis means. Very much To thc sarprF 2 even er Inc .ufau-ias.ic promoters. DHc engineers have been able To h.. down a line with a grade of foarteaths of one per cent. giving a rise of only q feet to the mile from tho Atlantic 10 thc Pacific ocean The cost of cons ruotion will of roHr=.. exceed rhe cost per mile of am. other trans continental railway but when the last spike is driven The road will be finished. Express trains can he put on almost immediate'y hs mat fer of fact. more than sH8 miles of 'hc line west from Winnipeg is now being operated. and 70 completely was tHe vorl, done, ballast trains following the steel gang. Ina. when The line had been open but to days a speed of 5o miles per hour was easily obtained by special trains
 Glance now alou1 The line This new world Itgdwa. begin. aG Uui fax, crosses NoEa Scotia aud New Brunswick. navcralHg the sroriod land of "Eyanee'tue." a4 enters the province of Qacbes al Edmouaou The Ss. Lawrence river wu he crossed al Qacbar over enc of he biggest bridges in .h. world West of Quehee he work ia not unusually
 .... as it passes through
 cultural country for Inc Ge-. oo miles; then. however, il enters he broken country. passing .hroaga the famous asbestos mining region and entering the arca. pulp wood forest of Northern Qaencc Here rle work is very heavy mostly rock but ncarjug the boundary line which separates he Province of oHuia rom Qaeaor vast level stretch of clay land l. encountered This ,tas belt js lao miles vile from aortb lo sourb. and @ao miles long. So level and uniform is thc country that here. in Jhjs ba-baa wilderness lra som, of rHc longest taneout- on The line. Passing ou, of ghia clay belt. west hound. NC come 'n.o hat enarlcd and twisted tcrrtgor com mon To inc north shore sum where if is almost continuous l.h work. Thousands of -Q0rrn ""cs that were ae.uaur recorded a worthless have been to.ca aarg md proven 10 be not only f. for scale aa,s. nu oNcac1iueIv IT. and t.r tile. Thus i@ written thc history of 1 progress in Canada
 From Fort William on Lake eu- pcrfor. pho railway company has bulO d branch up 70 lhe main line af point called Superior Junction The line is 2o0 miles long Some idea of inc difficulty of the work may be gathered by the statement that the contract price for the finished line from Win. nipeg to Superior Junction was over $lo.ooo.oo0. Although rberc are no mountains here, q mum Der of tunnels had to be made through the rocky humps of this broken wilderness, for the grade must be kept uniform and must not exceed fourtanths of oG- per cent. per ,aile
 Winnipeg is almost ezucue mid way between Halifax and Prace l Rupert, the Pacific coa1r -crmjms of the Grand Trunk Pacific. Al though the road from Winnipeg to Edmonton. a distance of 792 miles. is called the Prairie Section" il cntailed a great deal Of what req sonably misht Ae ca ed mountain building" The prairie west of the Province of Manitoba is broken by deep valleys. creeks, and couIees. Ono short cut. l remember, held 13C,0 900 wards of dirt and al the end tf it a canyon 15o feet leep aad to be Iridged.
 Then, too keeping the line to a four-tenths grade necessitatos the bridging not only of the rivers and streams but of the valleys as well. The Battle river in Alberta is not 100 yards wide but the steel bridge by which the train crosses it is 1S6 feet high and more than a mile long Another great bridge takes them over the North Saskatchewan near Edmonton. Eighty-siX miles west of Edmonton the Pembina riv, CT is crossed by a steel structure | oOf feat hiph and 900 feet long