Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-07
new RAILROAD
OPENS WEALTHY
FARMING ONE
Last TransContinentaI Line
Was Costly Undertaking.
Travels Through Beauty
Spot of West. T.

San Diego, Cal, Dec. 6-(Spe-
ciail-Thc first train over probably
the last transcontincntal route to be
built in the United States arrived
here December lit traversed the
most difficult and costly piece Of
railroading in the nation.
Cannons aboard half a hundred
warships of the Pacific feet an
ehored in the bay thundeLed a greet
ing as the engine and coaches,
smothered in flowers and earlands,
drew into the Union station, for
n1ally marking the completion of the
San Diego and Ar iona railway,
which. connecting with the Southern
Pacific and Rock Island, opens a
new route from Chicago and the
east to this port.
Crowd Cheers Train.
More than 100000 citizens and Wis
itors, packing the, mission style
arches of the Union station and
jamming the surrounding streets,
cheered white moustached, blue
Nlth llldll dl lilN CUSllG lIOllIt.
This man was John D. Spreckles.
who, in 1906, took up the building
Of this line through the majestic
Carriso gorge, where nature never
intended railroad to be built, and
across the Imperial valley, where
soil 100 feet deep and perpetual
summer combine with irrigation to
make the richest farming district iii
the world
Today was the last in an entire
week OF celebration, participated in
by multitudes of tourists and by cit;-
zens and officials of California, Ari-,
zone. and New Mexico.
Building Cost $1s,oo0,o0O.
The new road is 14S miles long
and cost about $lS,0G0,000 A
wagon road over which to haul ma
terial into the mountain section
alone cost more than $l50,000, and
this road was far from the chief
obstacle to the enterprise. Steam
shovelS were chopped into sections
by acetylene torches. lowered down
the rocky sides of Carrico gorge by
iopSS dlu tdShICS, put lCSClliSl
again and started to work scraping
out rock blasted from the noun
tains in the midst of scenery of sur
passing grandeur.
The new road traverses a por-
ton of Old Mexico where Esteban
Cantu, governor of Lower Califor-
MIA, has kept peace for years with
strong hand At Hipass. Cal. it
reaches an elevation of 5,o57 feet;
near Seeley in the Imperial Valley,
it is AZ feet below sea level.
Industry to Develop.
Because this city is the nearest
port on the Pacific coast to the
great circle route from the Panama
canal to the Orient, much CONNER
cial and manufacturing develop
ment is expected to follow the OPEN
ing of the new road. An instance
OF this, according. to hnaneiers, is
the great cotton crop Of the I'M
perial Valley, Old Mexico and west
ern Texas, which can profitably be
brought here for manufacture and
export. This is also true of the
cattle industry of the far southwest,
and of much produce, according to
the men who put up the money for
the road. ."a
Much tourist travel over the new
road is expected because of the
superb scenery of Carriso gorge,
the wonderful view of the Imperial
Valley, and the mild climate in the
winter months.
Existing passenger transportation
facilities already are overcrowded,
according to railroad administration
officials, although most trains to
California are running in two or
more sections and additional trains
have been nut on.