| OCR Text |
Show I&-fae &iifa&ad'$. mud m Greater Suit Jbafte- 'By Kenneth C. Kerr. In their relation to the industries and de- ' velopment of a commonwealth, transportation 1 companies have played and will ever play a most j important part. This has been particularly true j c railroad construction throughout the west, that yast region of limitless resources whose growth and development have followed, to a large extent, .tjje expansion of railroad lines over mountain and plain. At no time in the history of this inter-mountain region has there been more activity in the railroad rail-road field than at present, but in contemplating the new lines, one should not forget the old, and vjhile this article will naturally treat of current railroad projects and roads recently completed, it might be well to recall what followed the joining of the rails of the Union and Central Pacific lines in '69 and the completion of the puffing little narrow nar-row gauge Rio Grande in '83. Locally speaking, these two lines have performed a large share of the work of building up their tributary territory, and today under new management are still in the front rank of great corporations that are improving im-proving their facilities and widening their fields of operation. In looking at the railroad situation of today, it can be stated without fear of contradiction that the year just ending has been the most important known to the history of Utah, while neighboring states have shared in this prosperity. Collectively Collec-tively speaking, Utah, Nevada and California have equally benefitted, for one through line has been completed between Salt Lake and Los Angeles arid another has been commenced which will be operated from Salt Lake to San Francisco, both traversing the three states. But while these states i "---nHTWHIM HTMWIlMTMmilMI III! II II will derive all the good results that follow railroad rail-road construction, Salt Lake City, as a municipality, munici-pality, will be helped to the greater extent, as those two roads start from this place, and for the first time in her history Salt Lake is on the direct line of two transcontinental systems, which is bound to increase the number of people visiting the interesting place, and in every way add to its commercial importance. On May 1st the Salt Lake Route inaugurated through passenger trains between this city and Los Angeles, and every day since then its trains have been crowded. In addition to through passengers, pas-sengers, it has worked up a splendid travel between be-tween local Utah points and the Pacific coast, and its low excursion rates in effect during the summer attracted hundreds to Southern California's famed resorts who otherwise would not have had the opportunity of visiting them owing to the long route of the past and the higher rates. The initial train made the run in thirty-four hours, but now the Los Angeles Limited will cover the distance between the two cities in twenty-six hours, which is the schedule provided for the new flyer operating between Chicago and Los Angeles via the Northwestern-Union Pacific lines. Passenger travel represents the prettier side of railroading, the part which the public hears about, but the freight department of the new line has not been idle during the summer, as was attested by the new markets opened for Utah and California products, the new mines and industries established. estab-lished. The mere fact that Utah celery and turkeys tur-keys found their way to Southern California over this route for the first time in the memory of man is but one little item showing the new conditions made possible by the opening of this route. In the, same, strain m many pages might be: writtenj showing the changes that have come with the building of this new avenue of commerce. Thei lines in Utah have made rapid strides and the first year's results, both freight and passenger will prove highly satisfactory to those whS' planned the road. Important developments have come during the year in the erection of the mammoth smelting plant on its track at Garfield and the excellent showing at the new town of Newhouse, to which a branch was built. At present Senator Clark and associates are building an independent road from Las Vegas into the famous Bullfrog and Goldfield country, which will mean an interesting story of mineral development this time next yeaS The orange crop of Southern California is esti mated this year at from 30,000 to 33,000 carloads! and naturally the new road will bring through) Salt Lake a portion of this total. $ It is but the natural result of building a shorn line of railroad from Salt Lake to Los Angelesl and as the years pass by the foresight and wisdom of those who originated the San Pedro, Lo& Angeles & Salt Lake will be apparent to everjj person who follows railroad development. CerS tainly the first year's achievement shows a resulw greater than was anticipated by even the most sanguine of its promoters. fi Enter the Western Pacific. While it is conil ceded that Los Angeles is the center about whichV flutters the American tourist, pleasure and health, seeker, as well as being located in a most proI ductive region and adjacent to San Pedro harbo yet there is another harbor on the Pacific coastjfc San Francisco, on whose shore stands that won- derful city of the same name, a city dear to the lover of nature and of art; of gaiety and Bohem- ; ianism. But San Francisco prides itself far more on its commercial importance. It has its Front, street merchants who have been doing business at the same stand for half a century, and its ships, , ,, .. . i . . , .,...,., ply between the Golden Gate and all parts of the world. It is to this famous old American city that the Western Pacific is headed, and the line will run direct from Salt Lake. Every person knows by this time that the Rio Grande Western and Den-. Den-. ver & Rio Grande have been merged into the big family of railroads known as the Gould system. Up to the present, Mr. Gould has lacked a Pacific coast line, and the Western Pacific supplies that f deficiency. The Gould lines now extend over the greater portion of the southwest, with direct lines from the great lakes to the gulf of Mexico, and from Atlantic tidewater to the heart of Utah. With his Western Pacific he will operate from ocean to ocean, to say nothing of the thousands of miles of feeders. t The new railroad will be about 840 miles from Salt Lake to San Francisco, but its engineers claim that in no case will the maximum grade exceed 1 k per cent, which means everything to the future & economical operation of trains. It will cross the ' Sierra Nevada range at an elevation but a little I ' over 5,000 feet, and its line in that district will be f most picturesque, with innumerable tunnels, but no snow sheds. The line skirts the south end of Great Salt Lake, crosses the range between the Stansbury and Lakeside mountains and traverses the Great American deaert. It crosses the Southern Pacific I , at Wells, and runs near that line to Winnemucca, thence takes to the northwest to Deep Hole and southwest to the Beckwith pass, via Quincy, Oro-ville, Oro-ville, Sacramento and Stockton to Oakland. With the army of Gould agents and employes - working for this new line to the Pacific, another great tide of travel and of freight will be diverted through the Salt Lake gateway, and in connection with the short line to Los Angeles, will make of this city a second Denver; in fact, the Colorado capital will find in Utah's metropolis a strong " competitor. In passing, it should be remembered that no state is so wonderfully endowed with resources and attractions as Utah. It will be a great drawing draw-ing card. Here we have the lake and the city, both features which prove irresistible to the average aver-age tourist. Nearby are canyons and mountain retreats, the finest examples of mining and smelting smelt-ing plants which are unknown to the average easterner. east-erner. Medicinal springs abound, and in time modern hotels and sanitariums are sure to be built to meet the demand. In fact, Utah has everything that goes to the making of a tourist center, and this will prove one of the greatest factors in its upbuilding as a great railroad center. f David H. Moffat, the well known Denver cap italist, seems to fully realize the coming impor- tance of this state as a future railroad hub, for he was the first man to project an independent and j k direct line from Denver to Salt Lake. He has 100 li;' miles in operation, and all last summer his trains were packed each day foi xhe popular "July snowball snow-ball trip." He is over the continental divide, and thus has concluded the first and hardest step in the construction of his 500 mile railroad. It is a magnificently built road and a whole chapter could be written of its glorious scenery and engineering feats. We have Mr. Moffat's word that the, line will be built on to this city just as fast as money and men can perform the work. Thus Salt Lake will be placed on still another through line, and the time to Denver will be reduced many hours. Coincident with the resumption of mining in Nevada and the fabulous strikes in the new districts dis-tricts came a revival in railroad building. The Salt Lake Route added several , hundred miles to the total track in the state and has rehabilitated Lincoln county. The Tonopah road almost paid for itself the first year, and now it has exuided to Goldfield. The Las Vegas & Tonopal as al-I al-I ready been referred' to. The Southern Pacific is building from Toano to Ely and Cherry Creek, and it is said will tap Deep Creek, the Mecca for every railroad builder in the last thirty years. The greater part of the Western Pacific's mileage will be in Nevada also, and so the picture is presented of a state going for twenty years with little or no railroad building, and then in two years more than doubling its mileage. Nevada is going to derive untold advantages from its railroad extensions. What of Idaho? This is the Oregon Short Line's field, and the Oregon Short Line is busy. To see the engineers plodding through the snow toward Yellowstone National Park must be a pleasing landscape to Mr. Hill, back in New York, that railroader having had an exclusive rail line to the park up to the present. But the wonderful showing on Yellowstone travel via Monida made by the Short Line during the past summer decided the owners to push on to the park, and next summer sum-mer the festive tourist can take in the sights of Utah and Salt Lake and then move northward by Pullman train direct to the edge of the great reservation. Idaho's greatest extension, however, was the Minidoka & Southwestern, which traverses the Twin Falls tract of thousands of acres of land now under water. It will in time be the garden spot of the Gem state, and the Short Line will find it one of its busiest branches. The same company com-pany has built the Malad Valley line, and this, too, will open a fine country and provide a rail route to the Garland sugar factory, which has lately been built. In addition to the lines in Utah already mentioned, men-tioned, the Rio Grande Western has completed a branch to Garfield for the purpose of easily handling han-dling the copper ores of Bingham; the San Pete Valley is building a spur to the Moroni sugar factory, fac-tory, and the Lagoon road is being extended to Ogden, with the promise that it will be electrified next summer. Collectively speaking, the Gould, Harriman and Clark roads spent a busy year in rectifying lines, ballasting, establishing new grades and improving shop and terminal facilities. Among the big works of the coming year are terminal stations in this city for the Salt Lake Route and Oregon Short Line jointly and the Rio Grande and Western Pacific, Pa-cific, which will go in together, presumably on the Fourth West street site. Many other plans are being made for still further improving Salt Lake, Ogden and Provo terminals, so the coming year will be a busy one. The Burlington states that it will build into Salt Lake, and many other projects are talked of from day to day, but until work commences, no official data is obtainable. Let us hope that a good story on the coming of the Burlington may be written before another year rolls 'round. |
