The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-22

made famous bv Bret Harte Talk
about the hot pots of Wasatch county,
the natural bridges of San Juan, the
Rlo Grarde' 8 hanging bridge in the
Royal Gorge OF the Canyon OF the
Grand-they are all here and TO spare
Nature has painted the rocks in rain
bow colors; it has hung great ledges in
Cartney were enabled to build their
track; her artisans Of a prehistoric age
have thrown In waterfalls. Gulches,
cascades. ripDling streams. above which
the glorious pines OF the well-known
region gracefully bend and bow a well
come TO the traveller from the far cast.
The route traversed TO-DAY covered
the balance of the Humboldt division
from Winnemucca to GeTlach. the time
changing at the last named point from
mountain to Pacific time, the Sierra di.
vision from Gerlach to Spanish creek
crossing and the North Fork division
from Spanish creek crossing to Oroville
The North Fork division presents
three distinct features. 1t takes in the
Of the fine concrete and steel span
bridges and it has twenty eight out Of
the total Of forty-three tunnels on the
road
Sierra Division Wonder.
However, the Sierra division is dis
tinctive from the fact that it includes
FIVE tunnels. two of which are very
long; the Spring Garden tunnel, at
mile post 300, is 1906 feet long, and in
its construction the company en-
countered some difficulty. The excava~
tors ran into a 6ssure 700 feet wide
and filled with mud and water. Next
they came across a bed of finely
broken up black basalt and then they
encountered an old river bed, where
they had to contend with boulders, sand
and gravel. The Beckwith pass tunnel
is at mile post 343, at the summit of the
Sierras. and is 6006 feet in length.
Most Of the bridge work is to be
found on the North Fork and Sierra di-
visions. On the North Fork division
there are thirteen structures Bridge
No. is, over the Middle Fork of the
the main stream, has two 125-foot deck
truss spans and three 65-foot deck
glrder spans on high concrete piers
and abutments. The west span of the
truss structures was erected on false
work and the other span cantilever
fashion, with n derrick car.
Several of the bridges consist of d
span of plate girders at the middle,
or over the stream, supported upon
framed piers or towers, with 4 wooden
trestle on either side.
Feather River Scenery.
The most scenic part of the line from
the tourists point of Wow is perhaps
the Feather River canyon, down which
the road passes through the Sierra Ne
vada mountains. This canyon begins
at Portola Cal, on the Middle Fork
of the Feather river, and extends to
Oroville, Cal, a distance of 116 miles
Over most of this distance the canyon
is narrow de6le with steep rocky
slopes. where the river, during ages
past, has chiseled its way through the
mountain. This being on the western
slope of the Sierra Nevadas, where rain
fall and snowfall are plentiful, much
water passes off through this stream,
and during high water the Feather
river, at some of the narrow passes in
the canyon, has been known to rise
forty-fve feet above its normal level.
To avoid danger from these floods the
road has been located well above the
stream, at 100 feet to 200 feet or
higher, AT many points the sides of
the canyon are so precipitous that in