Show I SALT LAKE TEARS DOWN THE CUTOFF rie The Salt Lake Tribune Tribune has had a dreama wild here it is in part The Ut Union on Pacific will be from Omaha to Granger Here the line will branch into three one run running ning Pocatello to as at present another er to Ogden a as It now duos doos and another into Salt Lake dIrect via Emigration canyon The Union Pacific Paci ic will of course continue to use se sethe the Lucin cutoff the same as ae ever and must also run trams trains over the promontory route to hold the line The new line is said to be planned from Granger down Emigration canyon to Salt Lake then around the south of the lake to certain connections at Wells which includes the projected line from Wells north into Buhl and on to connect with the Oregon Short Line in the Twin Falls district and the building of new roads in Nevada to give the Harriman lines more to the Pacific ocean from the east via Utah and to connect Idaho direct from the ports of California It is stated on good authority that the Utah Construction tion company compan is today figuring at the request of the Harri moan mati people the cost of running the projected line from Granger down Emigration canyon to Salt Lake Also it may be noted that a few days ago Le Grand Young rear rearranged r ranged the incorporation of ills tenmile electric line lineup lineup up Emigration canyon so that it could be bonded for per mile for new extensions The removal of the dining car service of the Harriman system a few weeks ago from Ogden to Omaha the changing of certain telegraphic and dispatching headquarters from Ogden to Granger the congestion of traffic on the present tracks east cast of Ogden to Granger the presence of Vice Pres President President ident and General Manager Bancroft of the Oregon Short Line in New York City at this time the leaving of Parley Williams chief counsel for the same road for New York this week the projecting of the lines just mentioned in Ne Nevada Nevada vada and Idaho the generally accepted report that J J Hill has practical control of the Western Pacific the activity the past month of the Rock Island people in connection with the Moffat road at this end of the line and the purchase of the Lehigh Valley out of New York with the more than ru rumored rumored mored buying of If the Wabash the half ownership of the Salt Lake Route by the Harriman interests the thorough investigation investigation within the past few weeks by the Hill interests of the Colorado Midland the coming of the Santa these facts lend color to the report Tuesday in Salt Lake in rail railroad railroad road circles that the Harriman interests are about to put Salt Lake on the main line from the east to the Pacific coast It is understood that traffic is very congested on the main line from Ogden east and that the condition is getting 91 worse also that the famous Lucin cutoff off has not proven to bt be bean an unqualified success It is said to give trouble when the lake is high a lid and cannot well be Also that the I position of Salt Lake City at the end encl of what is practically a branch line from Ogden is now nOt satisfactory to the Harriman people i Any line which t may be proposed from Granger to Salt Lake can lot equal in low gradients and curves the present route from Granger via Ogden to Salt Lake Why then should the Union Pacific be bea a attempting to do the ridiculous and absurd by building from Irom Granger to Salt Lake As Asto to building west from Salt Lake to Wells dons does the Tribune know that the present Western Pacific line which is the choice of oft t r routes over that stretch of country is only two miles less than the distance from Salt Lake via Ogden over the Oregon Short Line and N thence over the Southern Pacific and ancl that two trains similarly equipped leaving Wells at the same time one over the Western Pacific and the other over the Southern Pacific owing to better grades and less curves the Southern Pacific train will cover the dis distance distance tance in an hour less than the train over the Western Pacific I Now if that is true what would be the object of the Haniman Ha unman people I building west around the south end of the lake to Wells I The Tribune might improve its article by being a little more ex explicit explicit as to the route the new road wO would d follow from Granger to I I Salt SaIt Lake Would the line reach from peak to peak on suspension I cables or would a fortymile tunnel be constructed through the I series of mountains which obstruct the way Who told the Tribune the cutoff is not an unqualified success The road across the lake has paid for itself many times and the trestle has given no trouble The cutoff is i s referred I to by eminent engineers as the crowning triumph of E H Harri H ari 1 mans luan s railroad career It will be doing service long after the editor of the Tribune has been ferried by Charon across the River Styx That farfetched conclusion of our Salt Lake contemporary in whIch the purchase of the Lehigh Valley road is made t to o servo serve Salt Lakes railroad ambitions proves the Tribunes assertions to be in inverse ratio to its knowledge of actual in i n the railroad world |