Imperial Valley press., 1912-09-04
GREAT s100,000,000 PLAN
FOR S. P. IMPROVEMENTS

Los Angeles Express: An announce
ment of an importance equal to the
safety movement initiated by the
Southern Pacific several years ago wa
made today regarding betterment
work on that system by Judge Rob
ert S. Lovett. chairman of the South
ern Pacific board, embodying practi
cally S100,O00,000 in improving the Og
den and Sunset routes.
The betterment project was fore
seen by the late e. H. Hartman and
was part Of his dream to build VI
the worlds foremost railroad system
Harriman's frequently repeated mes
sage to his subOrdinates was safety
first" and so the expenditure of moro
than $5.000,000 to give patrons of the
Hartman lines a perfect system il
that regard was undertaken before 9th.
er improvements.
Hartman did not live to see the
results of this. although he was able
to inspect the completion of safety
system which puts American railroads
ahead Of the rest of the world in thi:
regard.
On his California trip this week
Judge Lovett is giving out details OF
the most monumental improvements
ever undertaken by railroad system
which will finish with double tracking
of the roads lines into California and
the complete rehabilitation of the
roadbed.
The northern road into the Ogden
gateway will be taken care of first,
and when the betterment work on
il is completed the Southern Pacific
will be independent of mountain
grades in crossing the Sierras and
will be able to make freight rates on
an entirely new basis to meet the
Panama canal competition.
The California lines and the Sun
set route will be improved also, ana
one or two gigantic mistakes in rail
road construction. inevitable in the pi-
oneer days. will be wiped off the
Southern Pacific map.
Within five years an entirely new
system III many respects will be ready
10 defy interoceanic competition, and
all is in accordance with the plan
laid down by the master railroad work
er before his death.
Eventually Los Angeles will have a
double track connection to New Or
leans by the Sunset route, and per-
haps a Southern Pacific connection
with the Imperial valley by way of
San Diego.
The way through the mountains to
San Francisco will be readjusted TO
give much better time.
Its tunnels will be equipped with
electric power and lighting, so that
passengers will experience no discOm
forts. Through trains will run past
the aqueduct to Salt Lake, although
this will be a connection 10 be de
ferred for the present
The heaviest expenditure in the
Southern Pacific betterment will be be
tween San Francisco and Ogden
where the road will be double tracked
straightened out and fitted with the
longest tunnel in America. It will be
diverted near TrUckee to dive into the
mountains between that town and Blue
canyon with tunnel nearly six miles
long, which will cost S1o,000,000.
Power will he taken from mountain
streams nearby for electric lOcomO-
tives 10 haul the train through the
tunnel and for lighting it.
Through the tunnel the road will
ran as u single track, and this will
be The case also in isolated stretc ches
of mountain road where nothing is 10
he gained by two tracks with the
safety system now in use. For all
practical purposes. however, the Har-
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