The Springdale news., 1914-04-17
UNIQUE RAILROAD

The fifteen miles of railroad now being built by the l. H. Phipps Lum- Der Company, of Fayetteville, from Combs on the St Paul branch of the Frisco in the south end of Mad ison county 10 Cass on Mulberry creek, in the north part of Franklin county, is ole Of the most unique roads of the South Already seven miles of the road have been laid to steel out from Combs, but beyond this point the steel work has been held Up #byZthe= necessity of costly bridges across deep steep sided ra- vines where. fills are not at present practicable The first bridge to be constructed is now nearing compile tion. and when finished it will be the highest pilng bridge in the state if not in the southwest.
 This bridge is made of white oak and pine piling 3 feet long, driven into the ground 12 feet. The net height Of the bridge is 70 feet. When this bridge has been completed, the work Of laying track will be contin- ued on 0 Fane's creek watershed, where the road circles Pigeon Roost 1 Hollow, crossing three more such piling bridges, one of which will be even higher than the first one built, as it must be 80 feet from the track to the bottom.
 Contracts for the earthworks have been sub contracted, and work on grading is now being done along the entire route One of the sub-con- tractors is woman known only as Aunt Hannah. Her work in di- reeting the grading is equal to that of any man.
 This new railroad crosses a por- ton of the Ozark National Forest in Franklin county. and in obtaining special use permit for right of way, the railroad company entered into special agreement with the forest ser vice to preyet in every possible way a1y damage to the young growth in the forest by the construction of the railroad They must clear and keep clear Of all timber and all in- flammable material all the right of way for 200 feet on each side of the l.ne, and in ease of fire to do all possible to suppress it, and to pre- vent others. All timber so cut from the right Of way must be paid for at the regular stumpage price.
 The railroad company must build new roads and trails to replace any that may be destroyed by the con- s5rdctioH of the railroad and must allow the Forest service without charge to install and maintain tele- phone instruments in the stations along the line and to use the rail. road companys s poles for such work, these telephones 10 be used exclus- lively for forest purposes. The rail- road engineers and stationers must have and understand certain sys- tenn of whistle signals for the pur- pose of notifying agents and foresters of fires discovered along the line. and all fires discovered must be re- ported at the first station. Officers of the forest service may have free and unrestricted access in through and across the lands covered by the right of way, and such officers or employees of the forest service may have use of the tracks of railroad for the operation ot speeders or of motor cars.
 The J. H. Phipps Lumber Com- pay manufacturers vehicle stock, and it maintains several small mills in their forests, and large finishing plant at Fayetteville. They will use some of the government timber from the National Forest after their road is completed. Exchange.
 t4s