Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1901 — UNIQUE UNION PACIFIC EXCURSION. [ARTICLE]

UNIQUE UNION PACIFIC EXCURSION.

«*• D«Ii V kM«l ATortted kr » Treltoy Ride Aarra the Roaklaa. A unique excursion was recently arranged by tba Union Pacific Railroad company. About sixty newspaper men, representing the leading metropolitan journals of the country, were Invited to meet at the Brown Palace hotel, Denver, Colo., for a trip on the Wyoming division, “The Overland Route," for the purpose of viewing the stupendous engineering achievements recently made on that line. The train was made up of two private cars, three Pullman palace sleepers, a dining car, drawn by one of the new compound engines, with an observation car —constructed on the same plan as a trolley car—ahead of the engine. No more striking example is afforded of the progress of today than the gigantic undertaking of the Union Pacific. One hundred and fifty-eight and four-tenths miles of new track laid, reducing the mileage between Omaha and Ogden by 30.47 miles, and reducing gradients which varied from 45.4 to 97.68 feet to the mile to a maximum of 43.3 feet, and curves from 6 to 4 degrees, while a great deal of bad curvature has been eliminated entirely.

A mountain removed and lost into a chasm; huge holes bored hundreds . >eet through solid granite; an underground river encountered and overcome; an army of men. with all sorts of mechanical aids, engaged in the work for nearly a year; the great Union Pacific track between Omaha and Ogden made shorter, heavy grades eliminated, old scenery changed for new, and the business of the great Overland route flowing through a new channel, without the slightest interruption. Millions of money have been spent to reduce the grades and shorten the distance. , This reduction is the result of straightening unnecessary curves, and the construction of several cutoffs between Buford and Bear river, Utah. Buford is on the eastern slope of the Black Hills, 545 miles west of Council Bluffs and twenty-seven miles west of Cheyenne. The cutoffs required the construction of 158 miles, of which 29.63 miles are between Buford and Laramie, 15.34 miles Mv.ween Howell and Hutton, saving 3.11 miles; 3.9 miles on the Laramie plains between Cooper’s Lake and Lookout, saving ,3S of a mile; 25.94 miles between Lookcut and M’divine Bow, 3i.HI further west, saving 12.03 miles; 815 miles between Allen Junction and Dana, saving 3.87 miles; 42.83 miles between Rawlins and Tipton, saving 1.44 miles; 10.64 miles between Green River and Bryan, saving .45 of a mile, and 21.56 miles between Leroy and Bear River, saving 9.56 m'les. The curvature saved is about onehalf, the grading abort the same, while the angles are reduced nearly two-thirds.

The superiority of these changes is apparent to the practical railroad engineer. It is also apparent to the operating department in the reduction in operating expenses, and to the traveler in the increased speed the trains can make. The change in alignment of the line is marked. West of Buford the track ran northwestward to the Ames monument, near Sherman, and then took a sharp turn to the southwest over Dale creek, crossing it by a bridge 135 feet high—an elevation trying to the nerves—and from thence due north to Laramie. The new line runs due west from Buford, avoiding the high hols and eighty-eight-foot grade from Cheyenne, and piercing through cuts and the big tunnel, crosses the Black Hills at a grade of less than one-half (43.3 feet) over mountain altitudes. From Leroy the country is literally a coal bed. Here the new line makes another reduction and enters the Bear river valley on an easy grade. From a constructive standpoint the line is remarkable for the amount of material required in the construction of immense embankments and the building of large tunnels through solid rock. The construction of the new line between Buford and lAramie alone has involved the excavation of 500,000 cubic yards of material, onethird of which (exclusive of the tunnel excavation) has beea solid rock, or something over 160,000 cubic yards per mile.

Some of the embankments of the new roadbed have been remarkable for their height and the large quantities of material to construct the same over seemingly short distances. The two most difficult embankments were at Dale creek, southwest of Sherman, and across the Sherman branch of the Lone Tree creek, southeast of Sherman. The embankment at the crossing of Dale creek is 120 feet high, 900 feet long, and involved the handling of 500.000 cubic yards. At the crossing of the Sherman branch of Lone Tree creek the embankment is 125 feet high at its point of greatest heighth and Involved the handling of over 290,000 cubic yards. Too much credit for this work cannot be given to Horace G. Burt, president of the Union Pacific railroad, for boldness of conception of these improvements; for ability to con.ince the company of the wisdom of the outlay, and following the necessary appropriation by the company, for the execution of the work in a phenomenally short time. Deputizing his lieutenants, Mr. E. Dickinson, general manager, and Mr. J. B. Berry, chief engineer, to commence and complete the work, under their direction the contractors assembled a large army of laborers and gathered a vast array of modern machinery, much of which was used for the first time in railroad building. Thus, without stopping for a day the ceaseless flow of an enormous traffic, the Union Pacific officials in less than two years completed a great work which ordinarily would have required five years. The excursion was replete with many interesting incidents, and the splendid hospitality of the Union Pacific officials was a revelation. The newspaper men evinced <.u4Mr appreciation in many ways, particularly in a resolution of thanks tn the U’ , 'nn Pacific officials, Messrs. Lomax, Darlow, Para and Griffin, while the train was stopping near the Devil’s Slide in picturesque Weber canyon.