The road from Omaha to Ogden, near the Great Salt Lake—a distance of 1,032 miles—is owned by the Union Pacific Company, and the Central Pacific joins the former at Ogden and completes the communication to San Francisco, a further length of 889 miles—the whole distance from Omaha to San Francisco being 1,911 miles. The Union Pacific was commenced in November, 1865, and completed in May, 1869. There are at Omaha extensive workshops provided with all the appliances for constructing and repairing locomotives and carriages, and these works cover 30 acres of ground, and give employment to several thousand men. The population of Omaha rose during the making of the railway from under 3,000 in 1864 to more than 16,000 in 1870, and it is now a flourishing town. A little distance from Omaha the line approaches the Platte River, and the valley of this river and one of its tributaries is ascended to Cheyenne, 516 miles from Omaha, the line being nowhere very far from the river’s course. Cheyenne is 5,075 ft. higher above the sea than Omaha, the elevation of which is 966 ft. The Platte River is a broad but very shallow stream, with a channel continually shifting, owing to the vast quantity of sand which its muddy waters carry down. This portion of the line passing through a district where leagues upon leagues of fertile land await the hand of the tiller, has opened up vast tracts of land—hedgeless, gateless green fields, free to all, and capable of receiving and supporting millions of human inhabitants. Cheyenne, a town of 3,000 inhabitants, is entirely the creation of the railways, for southward from Cheyenne a railway passes to Denver, a distance of 106 miles, through rich farming and grazing districts. Seven miles beyond Cheyenne the line begins to ascend the Black Hills by steep gradients, and at Granite Canyon, for example, the rise in five miles is 574 ft., or about 121 ft. per mile. Many lime-kilns have been erected in this neighbourhood, where limestone is very abundant. A little beyond this point the road is in many places protected by snow-sheds, fences of timber, and rude stonework. At Sherman, 549 miles from Omaha, the line attains the summit of its track over the Black Hills, and the highest point on any railway in the world, being 8,242 ft. above the level of the sea. Wild and desolate scenery characterizes the district round Sherman, and the hills, in places covered with a dense growth of wood, will furnish an immense supply of timber for years to come. The timber-sheds erected over the line, and the fences beside it are not so much on account of the depth of snow that falls, but to prevent it from blocking the line by being drifted into the cuts by the high wind. A few miles beyond Dale Creek at Sherman is the largest bridge on the line. It is a trestle bridge, 650 ft. long and 126 ft. high, and has a very light appearance—indeed, to an English eye unaccustomed to these impromptu timber structures, it looks unpleasantly light. From Sherman the line descends to Laramie, which is 7,123 ft. above the sea level and 24 miles from Sherman, and here the railway has a workshop, for good coal is found within a few miles. A fine tract of grazing land, 60 miles long and 20 miles broad, stretches around this station, and it is said that nowhere in the whole North American continent can cattle be reared and fattened more cheaply. The line, now descending the Black Hills, crosses for many miles a long stretch of rolling prairie, covered in great part with sage-bush, and forming a tableland lying between the western base of the Black Hills and the eastern base of the snowy range of the Rocky Mountains, which latter reach an elevation of from 10,000 to 17,000 ft. above the sea level and are perpetually covered with snow. Such tablelands are termed in America “parks.” Before the line reaches the summit of the pass by which it crosses the range of the snowy mountains, it traverses some rough country among the spurs of the hills—through deep cuts and under snow-sheds, across ravines and rivers, and through tunnels. At Percy, 669 miles, is a station named after Colonel Percy, who was killed here by the Indians when surveying for the line. He was surprised by a party of the red men, and retreated to a cabin, where he withstood the attack of his assailants for three days, killing several of them; but at length they set fire to the cabin, and the unfortunate Colonel rushing out, fell a victim to their ferocity. Near Creston, 737 miles from Omaha, the highest point of the chief range is reached, though at an elevation lower by 1,212 ft. than the summit of the pass where the line crosses the Black Hills, which are the advanced guard of the Rocky Mountains. Here is the water-shed of the continent, for all streams rising to the east of this flow ultimately into the Atlantic,—while these, having their sources in the west, fall into the Pacific. Before reaching Ogden the line passes through some grand gorges, which open a way for the iron horse through the very hearts of the mountains, as if Nature had foreseen railways and providently formed gigantic cuttings—such as the Echo and Weber Canyons, which enable the line to traverse the Wahsatch Mountains.
Fig. 52.—Trestle Bridge.
Echo Canyon is a ravine 7 miles long, about half a mile broad, flanked by precipitous cliffs, from 300 to 800 ft. high, and presenting a succession of wild and grand scenery. In Weber Canyon the river foams and rushes along between the mountains, which rise in massive grandeur on either side, plunging and eddying among the huge masses of rock fallen from the cliffs above. Along a part of the chasm the railway is cut in the side of the steep mountain, descending directly to the bed of the stream. Where the road could not be carried round or over the spurs of the mountains it passes through tunnels, often cut through solid stone. A few miles farther the line reaches the city of Ogden, in the state of Utah, the territory of the Mormons. This territory contains upwards of 65,000 square miles, and though the land is not naturally productive, it has, by irrigation, been brought into a high state of cultivation, and it abounds in valuable minerals, so that it now supports a population of 80,000 persons.
Fig. 53.—American Canyon.
We have now arrived at Ogden, where the western portion of the great railway line connecting the two oceans unites to the Union Pacific we have just described. This western portion is known as the Central Pacific Railroad, and it stretches from Ogden to San Francisco, a distance of 882 miles.
The portion of the line which unites Sacramento to Ogden, 743 miles, was commenced in 1863 and finished in 1869, but nearly half of the entire length was constructed in 1868, and about 50 miles west of Ogden, the remarkable engineering feat of laying 10 miles of railway in one day was performed. It was thus accomplished: when the waggon loaded with the rails arrived at the end of the track, the two outer rails were seized, hauled forward off the car, and laid upon the sleepers by four men, who attended to this duty only. The waggon was pushed forwards over these rails, and the process of putting down the rails was repeated, while behind the waggon came a little army of men, who drove in the spikes and screwed on the fish-plates, and, lastly, a large number of Chinese workmen, with pickaxes and spades, who ballasted the line. The average rate at which these operations proceeded was about 240 ft. of track in 77½ seconds, and in these 10 miles of railway there were 2,585,000 cross-ties, 3,520 iron rails, 55,000 spikes, 7,040 fish-plates, and 14,080 bolts with screws, the whole weighing 4,362,000 lbs.! Four thousand men and hundreds of waggons were required, but in the 10 miles all the rails were laid by the same eight men, each of whom is said to have that day walked 10 miles and lifted 1,000 tons of iron rails. Nothing but the practice acquired during the four previous years and the most excellent arrangement and discipline could have made the performance of such a feat possible as the laying of eight miles of the track in six hours, which was the victory achieved by these stalwart navvies before dinner.
The line crosses the great American desert, distinguished for its desolate aspect and barren soil, and so thickly strewn with alkaline dust that it appears almost like a snow-covered plain. The alkali is caustic, and where it abounds no vegetation can exist, most of the surface of this waste being fine, hard grey sand, mixed with the fragments of marine shells and beds of alkali.
The third great mountain range of the North American continent is crossed by this line, at an elevation of 7,043 ft. above the sea level. The Sierra Nevada, as the name implies, is a range of rugged wild broken mountain-tops, always covered with snow. The more exposed portions of the road are covered with snow-sheds, solidly constructed of pine wood posts, 16 in. or 20 in. across: the total length of snow-sheds on the Sierra Nevada may equal 50 miles. These sheds sometimes take fire; but the company have a locomotive at the Summit Station, ready to start at a moment’s notice with cars carrying tanks of water. The snow falls there sometimes to a depth of 20 ft. in one winter; and in spring, when it falls into the valleys in avalanches, sweeping down the mountain-sides, they pass harmlessly over the sloping roofs of the snow-sheds. Where the line passes along the steep flank of a mountain, the roofs of these snow-sheds abut against the mountain-side, so that the masses of snow, gliding down from its heights, continue their slide without injury to line, or sheds, or trains. Where, however, the line lies on level ground, or in a ridge, the snow-sheds are built with a strong roof of double slope, in order to support or throw off the snow. From Summit (7,017 ft.) the line descends continuously to Sacramento, which is only 30 ft. above the sea level, and 104 miles from Summit. About 36 miles from Summit, the great American Canyon, one of the wildest gorges in the Sierra Nevada range, is passed. Here the American River is confined for a length of two miles between precipitous walls of rock, 2,000 ft. in height, and so steep that no human foot has ever yet followed the stream through this tremendous gorge (Fig. [53]). A few miles beyond this the line is carried, by a daring feat of engineering, along the side of a mountain, overhanging a stream 2,500 ft. below. This mountain is known as “Cape Horn,” and is a place to try the nerves of timid people. When this portion of the line was commenced, the workmen were lowered and held by ropes, until they had hewn out a standing-place on the shelving sides of the precipice, along whose dizzy height, where even the agile Indian was unable to plant his foot, the science of the white man thus made for his iron horse a secure and direct road. (Fig. [54].)