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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1885)
360 THE WEST SHORE. by any municipal corporation therein, find tlie lands of the com puny in the Northwest territories, until either old or occupiiHl, should also be free from such taxation for twenty years after the grant thereof from the crown. Soon after the oonHuintnution of the ngroomont Mr. A. Ondordonk, an experienced railroad builder, became the managing contractor for the construction of that portion of the WeMtern Divisionxtouding from Fort Moody to Havona's Ferry, a distance of 212 miles. It presented greater difficulties than have over been ovorcome in rail way building. The Union and Central PuciGo and other linn have gone over the mountains by gradual ascent), but no luch way of climbing the Cascades was possiblo, and the wonderful undertaking of running through them, parallel with the great canyon of the Fraser, had been determined upon. For fifty-four miles, from Yalo to Lyt ton, the river haa cut through this lofty range thousands of fMtt below the summit. Mountain spurs of graniU rock, with iMtrpendicularaces hundreds of feet in height project at short iuUirval along the entire passage. Be tween thorn are deep lateral gorges, canyons and plung ing cataract. Ou this stretch of tunnels, rock work and bridi-H (eoagea 3(11 and !M55) the greater ortion of Mr, Omlordoiik's construction army of 7,(K)0 men wore engaged for five years. Tho loud roiir of enormous dis charges of giant Mwder revorlcraUd ooiiHtautly among the mountains. Many tunnels were bored, one 1,000 feet in length, and millions of tons of rock bloated and rolled with tho uoiso of an avalanche into the rushing, boiling Fraiter; workmen were suHoudod by rojes hundrods of feet down tho perpoudicular sides of the mountains to blast a foothold; supplies were packod in ujion the backs of mules and homes over trails where tho Iudians wore accustomed to uso ladders, and building materials were landed Uton the opposite bank of the rivor at an enor mous exNuiHe and crossed in Indian canoes. It is estimated that portions of this work have cost 1300,000 to the mile, and that tho whole cost an averago of 1100,000 Mr mile. This account would neither le complete nor just were it to omit to givo a large measure of credit to tho Chief Engineer and (leneral Superintend out, Mr. Edward 0. Tilton, C II, to whoso energy and experience the suoceaaful completion of tho enterprise was largely duo. It was this gentleman who organized tho working forces on this great undertaking, and who ao ably sujirrinfouded their operations during the first lhne years of construction, those being tho years in which was accomplished the formidable work of building the road through the terrible canyons of tho Fraser and Thompson rivers. Mr. Tilton is well know along the Pacific CtMist, as ho has lxen identified with many of our prominent pul.lio works; the X. P. II 11 and the Oregon City liocks being among the number. For several years also be was Chief Engineer of the Cuxoo Railway, one of the grwit enterprises carried out in Peru by Henry Meiggs. After having oompletod the difficult sections of the Canadian Pacific in British Columbia, Mr. Tilton re tired from the service of the contractors and took up his reaiiUuios in Victoria, One of the greaUwt feata accom plished on this section was the construction of the canti lever bridge across the Fraser below the town of Lytton. (See page 303.) Besides the one across Niagara River, this is the only cantilever in America, The total length of the bridge is 530 feet, the central span being 315 feet long. The ends of the span rest upon piers of solid ma sonry, ninety-six feet high, and containing 6,480 cubic yards of stone. The superstructure contains 1,200,000 pound, or 6,000 tons of cunt steel and iron. The total ooHt was 1230,030. Though the bridge is not so long as the one at Niagara, the difficulty attending its ereotion was much greater, owing to the fact that the site could be approached from one end only. One-half the mate rial was sent across the river on a steel cable 1J inches iu diameter, several pieoes thus transferred weighing over 5J tons eacL In this retpeot the bridge stands without a parallel in the world. At the beginning of the present year there remained only 239 miles uncompleted, consisting of that portion lying between Savona's Ferry, near Lake Karnloops and the end of the track in the Rocky Mountains. This em braced the extremely heavy work in the Gold and Selkirk ranges, whore the line had boon located with greater difficulty than at any other point The pass through the Gold Mountains was discovered in 1805, by Walter Mo burly, who hod boon sent out by the Provincial Govern ment to search for a wagon route. He had almost despaired of success, when he one day noticed an eagle (lying up one of the narrow and unpromising valleys near Lake Shuswap, and following the direotion taken by the bird he discovered the only pass leading through what is otherwise an unk nown wall of mountains. This he appro priately named " Eagle Pass." His effort to find a route through the steep and rugged Solkirks was unsuccessful. The Iudians assorted that no pass existed, and that was the general belief in 1881, when A. B. Rogers, engineer of that division, undertook the task of finding one. It took him two years of hardship, privation and labor to earn the success that finally rewarded his efforts. He found a practicable route by the Ille-Cille-Waet on the west and Beaver and Boar creeks on the east, the only one in the range, and this is the one through which the road has just been constructed and which bears the name of the indefatigable explorer. In constructing the road in this region the Columbia River was made a base of operations as well as the two approaching ends of the track. Supplies for this purpose were brought by stoamor up the Columbia, thus greatly facilitating the work of construction. The tracks were finally joined in Eagle Pass on the 7th of November, and the great rail way which had cost the enormous sum of $140,000,000 was an accomplished fact The scenes attending the driving of the last spike were in marked oontrast with the great display and parade made by President Villard when the Northorn Pacifio was oompletod two years ago. Thore were in at tendance W. C. Van norn, Vice-President and General Manager, and a select party, chiefly officials of the con structing and operating departments. Nearly every one