Show WILL THE CUT CUTOFF OFF BE ABANDONED On last Saturday the Salt Lake proceeded to destroy troy Ogden by wiping this city off the railroad map That was nn an unkind act but the destruction of Ogden has been so often ac accomplished accomplished in the news columns of Salt Lake papers without an appreciable effect on the foundations that repeated attacks only serve to provoke a smile Here is the latest story of a cutoff taken from the Salt Lake p paper The other extension to be made by the II Affiliated Lines as the Harriman n system is now called by its officers will be the Lake cutoff and this will be sup supplemented supplemented by the construction of a line Une from Salt Lake around the southern shores of the Great Salt Lake and out parallel with the Western Pac Pacific io to a connection with the Southern Pacific The fact that the Western Pacific may possibly be an actual competitor for transcontinental freight business has made it imperative that the Harriman system must cut down its mileage and grades at every possible point and the circuit from Evanston to Salt Lake and around the southern shore of the lake would greatly reduce the cost of transportation to the railroad in its transcontinental business The rising of th the Great Salt Lake during the last low few years is also a factor in the decision to build the road par parallel parallel with the Western Pacific through Utah for the reason that the cost of maintenance of the Luoin cutoff has risen beyond any early estimates and if the waters of the lake con continue continue to rise the cutoff will have to be reconstructed or abandoned On the other hand the Western Pacific has al already ready done away with doubts as to the practicability of building a out across the snIt salt beds of the desert while it has added the incentive of possible future competition competition tion for transcontinental business Business men of Salt Lake who have watched develop meats ments in the railroad line for the last decade saw in the talc application for a freight franchise through Brigham street the plans of the Harriman lines to introduce a wedge where by they could connect the Oregon Short Line with the Emigration Canyon railroad and thus make way for the en trance into Salt Lake of the cutoff from Evanston The friendly relations between the Harriman interests and the Emigration Canyon road have been marked all through Permission to use the street railway tracks was granted anted the Emigration Canyon road immediately aft after r the completion of the line while requests from other lines to enter the city y by such m means ears have been turned down almost before they y were presented The Oregon Short Line officials in Salt Lake assert that in their petition for a franchise allowing the of freight through Brigham street is hacked backed b by y no other motive than to comply with the request of the army arm y officials to transport trans port building materials to the government reserva tion Active work in favor of the granting of the franchise has been done by Oregon Short Line officials in Salt Lake who have no official connection whatever with the local street railway company which is asking for the privilege In the he t minds of some bus business ness men of Salt Lake this fact t is convincing proof that the Oregon Short L Line le is father to the whole movement w with th a a view to establishing Son an entrance into Salt Lake for the cutoff from Evanston I It was reported yesterday that the Utah Construction company of Ogden had procured the contracts for a I louse part of the grading on the extensions of the Han Harriman lines es in Utah and the forces of this company which have been at work on the Western Pacific ic for the last throe three years ears will be started afar fed on the now new lines early next spring A cutoff from Evanston over the Wasatch range Tange to Salt Lake and 2nd a road around the south end of the lake Well well what next That Lake route has b become come a fond dream t 1 r of Salt Lakers but there is not even a n a slight possibility of the Union Pacific attempting that almost impossible climb over one of the most rugged mountain ranges in Utah simply to make the wild dreams of our neighbors come true That cutoff will never be bl built lt while the natural of Echo and and Weber canyons stand ajar for transcontinental traffic Now as to building around the south end of the lake that too is a figment of the imagination At present the Western Vestern Pacific engineers are carrying a strain which is almost beyond then their ability to longer endure The Gould road crosses an arm of the lake and will ill be submerged long before the trestle is in any danger from the rising waters of the inland sea furthermore there is a stretch of seven seen miles across the salt beds near the Nevada line which is a railroad built as was the house on the sands of the seashore When water covers the basin the tho salt dissolves leaving a bottomless pit for a roadbed Below the crust of salt is a marsh deep enough and soft enough to swallow the entire Western Pacific from the Oak Oakland Oakland land tidelands to the alkali flats of Salt Lake City A month ago trains were delayed two days while work trains poured ballast into the holes where the salt had crumbled and dissolved I From Salt Lake City to Wells where the Western Pacific and Southern Pacific meet the mileage of the two roads shows a dif difference difference ference of only two miles oven even after adding the 37 miles from Salt Lake to Ogden to the distance over the Southern Pacific From to Wells VeIls by the Southern Pacific is 35 miles les less than from Salt Lake to Wells over oyer the Western Pacific In that distance distance the Western Pacific crosses two mountain ranges range over one of which there is a loop With the lake threatening to submerge part of the We Western tern Pacific the salt dissolving under eight miles of it and mountain ranges offering heavy grades and sharp curves will the Harriman people accept that route and abandon their present line west from Ogden Does the question really require an answer Instead of or paralleling the Western Pacific the Harriman engineers will the cutoff The will answer a double purpose First it will increase the carrying capacity and assure greater security to traffic Second it will afford aford an opportunity to reconstruct if necessary necessary sary the original trestle across the lake The double bridge will offer double resistance to wind and water We do not kno know what the tests of the piling disclose There may be a lessening ot of the strength and soundness of the piles After a number of years some such deterioration in the wood may be dis discovered discovered covered At the first sign of decreasing strength the railroad should commence th the construction of a second bridge over the lake laite The traffic at present warrants that improvement and as time makes its imprint on the original structure foresight and precaution should d dictate the reinforcing work of the construction o of a a second trestle We predict that when the cutoff is double tracked Western Pacific trains will go over the new bridge and the road around the south end of the lake will be abandoned In the past the Standards predictions have not been far from right |