Imperial Valley press., 1913-01-03

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE To
DATE ON S. D. 8 A. ROAD

ready completed. In every case the,
/ have declared it to be as good and in
some respects better, than any rail-
road construction they have ever seen.
| This follows up the policy laid down
| by John d. Spreckels. When Mr..
Spreckels decided to build the road and
] give San Diego direct railroad connec-
/ tions with the east he determined
| that it should be Of the best and
no expense is being spared in making
| it such.
The grading work completed at this
end Of the line leaves about Thirteen.
miles more Of roadbed construction to
be done in Mexican territory. Thirteen
miles more of grading work will take
| the line across the International boun-
dary into the United States near Cam
po. which is on the surveyed line a
short distance beyond the boundary
crossing point. About forty-two miles
If road pass through Mexican terri
tory.
There will be two tunnels betWcep
The present end of the graded road
hCd and Campo. One Of these will be
i0GO feet in length, in Mexico, Just
south of the line. and The other COO
feet in length, passing under the line.
The latter tunnel probably will he
| one of the feature attractions to tour
lists travelling over the road Going
west they will enter the tunnel in the
United States and exit in Mexico. and
travelling east, vice versa.
There will be at least fifteen tunnels
between San Diego and Seeley. their
combined length being approximately
three miles. The heaviest tunnel will
be in the Carisso gorge, east of Te-
cate divide, the highest point on the
line, where an elevation of 1868 feet
IS reached. This is located about half
way between Jacumba hot springs and
Campo. From there it is mostly down
grade to Seeley, which is 45 feet be-
low sea level. The longest tunnel will
be 1000 feet, approximately four-f flfths
of 4 mile
The t0-mile section OF roadbed in
Mexico beyond the end of the track
and ready for the laying OF ties and
rails, passes through solid granite, and
is said to be one of the heaviest pieces
of railrOading in the west. Practically
every foot of the way was blasted
through solid granite. Some of the
cuts and fills ~" tremendous. One
of the fills contains 100000 cube
yards and is 60 feet in height. This
Wcs done by team work. and is SAID
10 he one Of The largest team fill, oG
record. The cIts through the rex
are from 80 to rs feet in depth, alt
the rock fills from rs to 100 feet in
haicht.
\ feature of this 10-mile piece ir
roadbed is that practically all # it
can be seen from the present rr.d ff
the track in Vale Redondo From
this station the road doubles back. as
lending the mountain side N a low
per cent grade, turns around again jn
III" shape of horseshoe, and cor
'innes the ascent Of the mountain side
almost parallel to the tNYu lines of tack
below it. At the small end Of I'll"
horseshoe curve the tracks com. al
most together. The base OF the III
N the upper track touches the base
Of the fill on the lower track. ho
curve, however, is very gradual, beng
almost two miles in length
How many people in San Diego have
stopped to figure out the numerous ad-
vantages San Diego will obtain by the
completion of the San Diego and Ar-
zona railroad? Those who have given
the proposition some consideration say
the building Of the new line probably
will mean more to San Diego than all.
other enterprise begun in the history
of the city.
The line to connect with direct roads
from the east will open up an enor-
nous back country, including the I'M
perial valley, Lower California, Arizona
and New Mexico. 1t will lay at San
Diego's back door the wondrouslv
rich and fertile Imperial valley, which
is now remote from the bay region on