52 RAILROAD REPORT ROUTE WEST OF CASCADE RANGE. 



At Rogue river, near Evan's ferry, a bridge about 120 feet in length would be necessary. 

 Tbe water flowed with a rapid current over a rocky bed. It was not generally more than three 

 feet in depth near the ferry, but deep holes rendered it dangerous to attempt to ford the stream. 

 The banks were bordered by bluffs from five to fifteen feet in height, and wood and stone for the 

 construction of a bridge were at hand. 



From this point a railroad could follow the line of survey to Fort Lane, and thence up the 

 valley of Stewart creek to Camp 78 A, near the foot of the Siskiyou mountains. An average 

 ascending grade of thirty-eight feet per mile, would be required. The labor of construction 

 would be light. 



It is considered that a railroad from Vancouver to Camp 78 A, is practicable in the immediate 

 vicinity of the route examined by my party. Tbe construction, for a portion of the line, 

 would be very costly, but the expense would doubtless be greatly reduced by further examination. 

 From Camp 78 A to Fort Eeading, however, the obstacles encountered were very great, and 

 although it is highly probable that a practicable line, which can even be approximately located, 

 exists, still no such route was actually surveyed. If, however, a connection could be made between 

 this camp and the route surveyed east of the Cascade Range, some of the most difficult and 

 expensive work upon that line would be avoided, and the settlements in southern Oregon be 

 benefited by the road. The lateness of the season, and the loss of tbe escort, rendered any 

 survey of the Cascade Range, near the head of Stewart creek, impossible; but there are very 

 good reasons for believing this connection to be eminently practicable. There is a low pass 

 between Mount Pitt and Klamath canon, by which a good emigrant road now crosses the range 

 and strikes Stewart creek near Camp 78 A. Several persons well acquainted with its character 

 informed me that, according to their judgment, the pass was very favorable for a railroad. 

 Lieutenant Crook, the quartermaster of our expedition, had travelled through it ; and his opinion 

 was, that it presented no greater obstacles to the construction of a railroad than many other 

 portions of the route, which actual survey demonstrated to be practicable. This wagon road 

 crosses Lost river at the Natural Bridge, and the connection with the route east of the mountains 

 would be made by the railroad near this place. The approximate distance from Camp 78 A, to 

 the Natural Bridge, is seventy miles. Of this distance about thirty-eight miles were examined 

 and found to be practicable for a railroad, by Lieutenant Williamson, while passing with a 

 detached party round Lower Klamath lake. The altitude of his camp B, near the entrance of 

 the pass, was 3,733 feet. That of Camp 78 A, was 2,195 feet. The distance between these 

 camps is about thirty-two miles, in a direct line; but the windings of the road would probably 

 increase the travelled distance to about forty miles. Hence an approximate average rise of 

 about thirty-eight feet per mile would be necessary, without taking into account that required 

 to pass the dividing ridge. 



The first obstacle encountered on my route from Camp 78 A to Fort Reading, was the Siskiyou 

 mountains. The pass surveyed through this chain was very unfavorable for a railroad. From 

 the camp the line would follow a branch of Stewart creek for 3.7 miles, with an ascending 

 grade of 120 feet per mile. A tunnel, about six miles in length, would then be necessary. 

 The surface rock is a conglomerate sandstone. An ascending grade of about 137 feet per mile 

 would be required in the tunnel, which would pass 1 ,461 feet below the summit of the mountain. 

 A modification of this grade, so as to form a summit near the middle of the tunnel, might be 

 advisable, in order to insure drainage during the excavation. For 1.1 miles from the northern, 

 and for 1.3 miles from the southern entrance, shafts of less than 600 feet in depth could be sunk. 



