Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1912-12-19
II. v. BATT|N
| IN MONTANA
Building an Extension of
the Jaw Bone Line Near
Great Falls.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE WORK
Several Steam Shovels Tear
up the Earth for the
Contractors.
DIFFICULTIES OF THE WORK


and buildings for the Chicago &
Northwestern, has received the follow
ing letter from FL. w. Battin, former
ly resident of Baraboo. Mrs.
Battin and the children are also in
Montana for the winter. The letter
runs as follows:
Great Falls, Mont, Dec 4, 1912
Dear Sir and Friends:-
i will give few words descriptive
of the line which the G. M. 81 P-S
Ry. is building between Great Falls
and Lewistown, Mont, with the ac-
QUESTION of an isolated piece of rail-
road which extended from Lombard
to Lewistown, and which was original
ly known as the "Jawbone", the
Puget Sound line acquired some mile
age portion of which, namely from
Lombard to Harlo wtown, was en-
bodied into their main line; the re-
mainder, Harlowtown to Lewistown
about so miles, has been operated as
branch mileage of the G. M. 81 P-S
since 1908. 1t is an extension of this
branch milage, for about 140 miles that
the recent construction work has be-
gun, which will give the Milwaukee
system an entrance into the city of
Great Falls. 1t is currently reported
that the line will be laid with IS ID.
steel and substantially ballasted. Tine
maximum grade is %, compensated
for curvatureiat the rate of .04 per de-
gree; the maximum curvature in rough
country about Is miles east Of Great
Falls is degrees. From the latter
city, the alignment extends.in direc-
ton slightly north of east distance
of about SO miles, whence it turns
about due southeast continuing for 80
miles to Lewistown. The east end of
the work, which is being done by the
Twohy Bros, is over rough country,
the line intersecting at right angles
various streams which drain the we'll
known Judith basin.
From Great F aIls east, for distance
of Is miles, the line follows branch of
the Missouri river, which branch is in
tersected by deep coulees tributary to
the main stream. These coulees re-
quire yardage varying from $4,000 to
10000 to ill the same. The openings
proper are concrete arches, single and
double, which spans from 10 feet to 20
in width. In all cases, the filling has
been done from temporary CrestIes
which vary in height from so to 80
feet. In order to fill uniformly over
the arches and to prevent the crowd
ing of the temporary trestles, it is the
practice to fill from the bottom of the
opening in level layers; this necessi-
tates dumping from all portions of the
trestle top, and to accomplish the
same, the trestle and floor are strong
enough to carry weight of loaded
train its whole length. Further, an
arrangement of long ties and two inch
plank movable at will constitutes a
top on which the dump crew may
work safely and feel comfortable in
their work. Three steam shovels are
installed on Winston Bros. Go. end of
the work. One is making the fill over
the Whittemore coulee four miles east
of Great Falls, using 70 ton Bucyrus
machine mo. 931), four yard Peteler
ears and three IL ton Porter dinkeys.
The fill is making In two lifts, the first
being so feet high and the second twenty
feet high. The shift is now making
from the first level to the second, in
yolving complete realignment of
dinkey tracks and the construction of
second lift trestle on the first lift bank.
The camp from which this work is
being conducted is known as Gilmore
camp and is in charge of John Gilmore
as general foreman and Bert Angst as
agent.
The output from this shovel should
be materially increased, provided
weather condition remain as favorable
as they have been for the past five
weeks. From Che cut where the shovel
is now digging the yardage will form
a bank wide enough to carry the
shovel across the coulee at grade and
the widening of the bank to proper
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