ESTIMATE OF COST. 
27 
Brought forward.„... $199,700 
FOR BUILDINGS AND FIXTURES. 
Two freight and passenger depots at termini, 
Three engine houses.$8,000, 
Three turn tables.,.3,000, 
Six way stations.1,000. 
One machine shop.. 
Five Artesian wells on deserts, 4,400, 
$30,000 
24,000 
9,000 
6,000 
20,000 
22,000 
Cost of buildings and fixtures, 
111,000 
Total cost of equipment. 
310,700 
Cost per mile of cheaper half—graduation, &c. $3,180 
Superstructure... 9,800 
Equipment per mile. 1,635 
Total cost of cheaper half of road per mile. 14,615 
Number of miles. . . 95 
Whole cost of cheaper half... 1,388,425 
Cost per mile of expensive half—for graduation. $51,200 
For transportation add 25 per cent, to superstructure. 12,250 
Equipment.„. 1,635 
Total cost per mile of expensive half.. 65,085 
Number of miles.. 95 * 
Whole cost of expensive half. 6,183,075 
Whole cost of cheaper half..,. 1,388,425 
Whole cost of road in working order. 7,571,500 
The duty on railroad iron being 30 per cent., the cost of superstructure would he materially 
reduced by a remission by the government of that charge, making a saving of about $1,000 per 
mile, and reducing the cost of the road as estimated to $38,840 per mile. 
The low rate at which the cheaper of these estimates is placed will not he a matter of surprise 
when we reflect that more than half the distance on the desert will he built without the neces¬ 
sity of graduation or preparing the ground in any way for the reception of the rails. 
The estimate for the interior portion cannot he considered low, for many portions of the line 
will hardly exceed the cheaper part in cost. The distance on the desert, reckoned at 85 miles 
in the calculation, is actually over 100, and is generally of a character susceptible of economical 
construction. The item least likely to he in excess is that of transportation, which, at the 
