Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 247, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1911 — USE CONCRETE SNOWSHED [ARTICLE]

USE CONCRETE SNOWSHED

Nearly a Mlle Long, Substantial Building Ha* Cost a Railroad 1500,000. « • . j■- ■ / l/ The first concrete snowshed ever constructed ha* just been finished in the heart of the Cascade mountains, on a stretch of road near Scenic Hot Springs slides. ■ : ■ The Great Northern, like the majority of western railroads, has a number of timber sheds, but this road is -protected . throughout every place where it is possible for a slide to occur, and in order to obtain the best known protection it ba* in one place decided upon concrete construction. This snowshed cost >500,000 and more than 400 men were employed in building It It 1* 3,900 feet long and 24 feet high on an average. The teninch thick roof is supported by concrete pillars at intervals of 12 feet, and the back wall is from 9to 11 inches in thickness, -v ' When snow sheds of whatever material are properly prepared they are built so that they do not obstruct the fury of the slide, with the sloping roof, the highest part of which Is toward the mountain. In other words, they are constructed so that when the snow descends with fury, it slides over the top of the waiting shed and away from the tracks, t The shed just finished is anchored directly to the rock and makes a semlartlflclal rock, Which appears as part of the mountain. Where the back wall of the shed is attached to the rock it is fastened with steel bars extending into the rock. Another advantage in this concrete construction Is the ability to leave the front of the shed open in summer so that the Scenery Is unobstructed and the tunnel is light. In winter It can be closed if desired, as a board side will prevent the show from drifting on the tracks.