CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 31 



which they received from me was that they should build the road 

 as if they were working for a private concern, selecting the best 

 men for the work irrespective of politics or pressure of any kind. 

 As a result, we have a force that has been gathered from the construc- 

 tion camps of the western railroads, made up of men of experience 

 and proved capacity. That they have done their work efficiently, 

 honestly, and at reasonable cost is my belief. 



It is not possible during the construction of a railroad to tell 

 what it costs per mile because all the foundation work, the construc- 

 tion of bases from which to work, the equipment for construction, 

 and much of the material is a charge which must be spread over the 

 entire completed line. The best estimate that can be made to-day as 

 to the newly constructed road is that it has cost between $70,000 and 

 $80,000 per main-line mile, or between $60,000 and $70,000 per mile 

 of track. 



This cost per mile includes the building of the most difficult and 

 expensive stretch of line along the entire route from Seward to Fair- 

 banks that running along Turnagain Arm, which is sheer rock 

 rising precipitously from the sea for nearly 30 miles. There are 

 miles of this road which have cost $200.000 per mile. Even to blast 

 a mule trail in one portion of this route cost $25,000 a mile. 



The only Government-built railroad that across the Isthmus of 

 Panama cost $221,052 per mile. The only two recently built rail- 

 roads in the United States are (1) the Virginian, built by H. H. 

 Rogers, which cost exclusive of equipment $151,000 per mile, with 

 labor at from $1.35 to $1.75 per day and all machinery, fuel, rails, 

 and supplies at its door, and (2 ) the Milwaukee line to Puget Sound, 

 which is estimated as having cost $130,000 per mile exclusive of 

 equipment. 



The work has been conducted with its main base at Anchorage, 

 which is at the head of Cook Inlet. The point was chosen as the 

 nearest point from which to construct a railroad into the Matanuska 

 coal fields. That was the primary objective of the railroad, to get at 

 the Matanuska coal. From Anchorage it was also intended to drive 

 farther north through the Susitna Valley and across Broad Pass, 

 and to the south along Turnagain Arm toward the Alaska Northern 

 track. To secure coal for Alaska was the first need. So in addition 

 to Anchorage as a base, one was also started at Nenana, on the Tanana 

 River, from which to reach the Nenana coal fields lying to the south. 

 If these two fields were open, one would supply the coast of Alaska 

 and one the interior. This program has been acted upon, with the 

 result that the Matanuska field is open to tidewater with a down- 

 grade road all the way. The Nenana road has been pushed far 

 enough south to touch a coal mine near the track, which may obviate 

 the immediate necessity for reaching into the Nenana field proper. 



