. How we built the Union Pacific railway, and other railway papers and addresses . it, by order of Colonel Silas Seymour, consulting en-gineer, to a line dropping into the valleys of Rock Creek andMedicine Bow River, to save work. This increased the lengthof the line twenty miles, and caused the report that we weremaking the road crooked to gain mileage and secure $48,000per mile of the bonded subsidy. The amount of grading onthis line was about one-half of that on the original line. Dur-ing 1903 and 1904, in bringing the Union Pacific line down toa maximum grade of forty-seven feet to the mil
. How we built the Union Pacific railway, and other railway papers and addresses . it, by order of Colonel Silas Seymour, consulting en-gineer, to a line dropping into the valleys of Rock Creek andMedicine Bow River, to save work. This increased the lengthof the line twenty miles, and caused the report that we weremaking the road crooked to gain mileage and secure $48,000per mile of the bonded subsidy. The amount of grading onthis line was about one-half of that on the original line. Dur-ing 1903 and 1904, in bringing the Union Pacific line down toa maximum grade of forty-seven feet to the mile, except overthe Wasatch Range and Black Hills, the company abandonedthis principal change made by the consulting engineer, andbuilt on or near my original location, saving about twentymiles in distance. It was this change that brought GeneralsGrant and Sherman to see me, and insist on my remaining aschief engineer. At the time this change was made the chiefengineer was in Salt Lake, and did not know of it until it waspractically graded. He entered his protest and notified the. HOW WE BUILT THE UNION PACIFIC 33 ooiiipauy that he woiikl not submit to such changes withoutbeing consulted. I remember that the progress of the work was then suchthat Generals Grant and Sherman were very enthusiastic overthe belief that we would soon reach the summit of the WasatchMountains, but I could not convince them that a junctionof the two roads was in sight within a year. When you con-sider that not a mile of this division of the road had beenlocated on April 1st, 1868, that not a mile of this work hadbeen opened; that we covered in that year over 700 miles ofroad and built 555, and laid 589 miles of track, bringing allof our material from the Missouri River, it is no wonder thatGenerals Grant and Sherman could not understand how theproblem before us would be so speedily solved. As each 100miles of road was completed there came a general acclaimfrom all parts of the country to our great encour
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