. Official proceedings . and Xortbwestern railroad extends fromCordova, a town situated on an arm of Prince Williams Sound,to tbe montb of tbe Copper River, tbence up tbe river to along- tbe Cbitna River to Rennicott. At Kennicott is tbeBonanza copper mine, probably one of tbe ricbest in tbe world,wbicb is owned by tbe combined IMorgan-Guggenbeim interests. Few railroads bave ever been built and put in successfuloperation in so sbort a time and under such adverse conditionsas was tbis road. In tbe iirst place several false starts weremade before tbe present route was decided upon,
. Official proceedings . and Xortbwestern railroad extends fromCordova, a town situated on an arm of Prince Williams Sound,to tbe montb of tbe Copper River, tbence up tbe river to along- tbe Cbitna River to Rennicott. At Kennicott is tbeBonanza copper mine, probably one of tbe ricbest in tbe world,wbicb is owned by tbe combined IMorgan-Guggenbeim interests. Few railroads bave ever been built and put in successfuloperation in so sbort a time and under such adverse conditionsas was tbis road. In tbe iirst place several false starts weremade before tbe present route was decided upon, wbicb waspractically chosen by a process of elimination ; \aldez was firstselected for tbe coastal terminus but was abandoned owing toexcessive grade—at least that is tbe claim—tben Katalla waschosen, but after spending about a million dollars it too wasabandoned through failure to secure a suitable harbor. FinallyCordova was definitely decided upon and the line was rapidlypushed out along the coast and up the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad. 301 T(j traverse the low country adjacent t(j the coast was not(hfficuh. but serious trouble was encountered when the deltaof the Copper River was reached. The Co])per River, like mostof the Alaskan rivers, is fed by glaciers. It therefore transportslarge quantities of silt which is readil\- carried in the upperreaches of the river Init which on approaching the sea level isdeposited, forming great areas of mudflats through wdiich manysluggish streams run. Further, periodic floods, which are char-acteristic of such streams, inundate the delta, entirely changingthe ap])earance of the country. e;i)ecially with respect to landand water. In si)ite of these difficulties the road was energeticallypushed forward, trestle-work, fills, and bridges following oneanother in ra])id succession until the gorge of the river wasreached, when a new obstacle presented itself, namely, the pas-sage of the glacial region. Some forty-nine luile
Size: 2063px × 1211px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorrailwayc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1901
