38 . CONSTRUCTION OF EAILEOAD 



the course recommended — i. e., to commence at the mouth of the Gila, where the rails and other 

 supplies can he delivered hy means of the gulf and river navigation — the road as it progresses 

 can transport its own material. 



Dividing the country into the three classes — prairie or plain, rolling, and mountainous — we 

 find the central section made up of these several features, as follows : 



Prairie 230 miles. 



Eolling 65 " 



Mountainous 50 " 



Where by prairie, it is meant that to prepare for the superstructure, no work is required beyond 

 simple ditching, and even this, in many places^ will not he necessary, the character of the soil 

 being such as to render gravelling or ballasting altogether unnecessary. This, of course, involves 

 the necessity of undulating grades to conform to the surface of the plains, but by proper locations 

 these will be gentle throughout. The rolling district embraces those portions of line where 

 earth work is necessary, and where an equable cutting and filling can be obtained. And the 

 mountainous includes those stretches involving side locations and rock cuttings, which will be 

 encountered in descending to the valley of the San Pedro, and at several points along the Gila^ 

 before its valley opens out in the Pimas plain. 



The following railroads which have been constructed in different parts of the United States 

 are taken for assimilation with the respective districts of a prairie, rolling and mountainous 

 character. These several railroads pass through sections of country very closely resembling 

 those with which they are assimilated. The term mountainous, which is applied to one of the 

 above districts, is hardly admissible, for there is no point on the route which is of that charac- 

 ter, as the term is commonly applied. 



* The railroads of a prairie character and their cost per mile, including equipment, in round 

 numbers are: 



Petersburg and Eoanoke railroad $16,000 



Wilmington and Manchester railroad 13,000 



Montgomery and West Point railroad 16,000 



Average 15,000 



Those of a rolling character, &c., are: 



Terre Haute and Indiana railroad |20,500 



Galena and Chicago railroad 30,000 



Orange and Alexandria railroad 28,400 



Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati railroad 32,700 



Illinois railroad 32,400 



Average cost per mile 28,800 



Those of a mountainous character, &c., are : 



Virginia and Tennessee railroad |36,700 



Providence and Worcester railroad 42,000 



Fitchburg railroad 56,000 



Average cost per mile 44,900 



"The cost of these roails are obtained from the American Railroad Journal, of November 16, 1856. 



