Missouri to the summit on the Elkhorn. For cheapness of construction and operating, this is, without any question, the most desirable line. The south line from Omaha has some heavy grades, but these are so near the terminus that they would not affect it as seriously as if it were otherwise, while in course of construction per mile it is second only to the Bellevue line, having less bridging than the others, and running in the vicinity of stone that can be used for bridge abutments and culverts. The north line, although starting eight miles west of the Omaha line, and nearly east of the point of junction, diverges so much from direction that it is nearly as long, while the heavy work consists of cuts and embankments (as will be seen by reference to the profile) so long that it cannot be pushed rapidly. On this I have laid, as a maximum grade, 64 feet per mile; a lower grade would proportionately increase this difficulty. Assuming the south line from Omaha as the location, the truss bridging required for the first hundred miles would be: Little Pappillion, one span of 100 feet; main Pappillion, one span of 150 feet; Elkhorn river, one span of 150 feet; Shell creek, one span of 80 feet; Loup Fork river, seven spans of 150 feet. Or a total length of truss bridging of 1,530 feet, probably less than can be found anywhere on roads crossing the drainage of any country. In some of these bridges there will be trestle at the ends; for this I propose using timber that can be obtained here. A portion of the ties necessary for the building of the road can be obtained along the line, but no great number that are reliable. There is a belt of timber on the Blackbird Hills, on the Omaha Indian reservation on the Missouri, which would be accessible if the right to cut timber on Indian reserves could be obtained. Further up the Missouri, at Frankfort and St. James, there is a small amount of cedar, from which a few thousand ties may be procured; and further up, in Dakota, west of the Big Sioux, there is a large body of cottonwood timber, in which there is a considerable amount of oak, coffee-nut, black walnut, and other timber suitable for ties, but insufficient in amount for the purposes required. The cottonwood timber (which abounds along the river from this point north, and is in considerable quantity along the Platte for three hundred miles west) holds a spike nearly as well as oak, would be valuable and easily obtained, and answer the purpose, could some process be adopted to prevent its rapid decay. These ties could be delivered on the bank of the river, at this point, for from thirty to forty cents; other ties, without much probability of procuring a supply, would cost from seventy-five to eighty cents. I have not been in a position to learn what process would answer best or be the cheapest for preserving this timber. This is a matter that should receive immediate attention, as the winter months are more favorable for getting out ties than any other. The following communication was handed me several days since: BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA, December 21, 1863. DEAR SIR: I am authorized to pledge to the Union Pacific Railroad Company, through you, in your report to the company, one mile of rock landing; 2,500 city lots in the city of Bellevue; 2,500 acres of land adjoining said city, provided the eastern terminus of the Pacific railroad is located at this place. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, DAVID LEACH, P. A. DEY, Esq. The successors of the Florence Land Company propose, in person, to present the claims of their point, and urge, as does Bellevue, the fact that there is rock in the bluffs and bottom of the river at those points. The citizens of Omaha offer, on the condition that the station buildings are erected within one and one-quarter mile of Farnum street in this city, to furnish the company the ground between the table on which the town is located and the river, a mile and one-half in length, and containing about five hundred acres, a portion of which is, however, below extreme high water; to deed to the company six thousand acres of land in Douglas county, and five hundred acres within two miles of the city. These propositions are for your consideration. Mr. Brayton, the engineer who made the surveys through the passes, on the forty-first parallel of latitude, has just returned, and finds a cheap line through the Cheyenne Pass, with grades of one hundred feet to the mile; through Bridger Pass, with grades, for only a short distance, of seventy-five feet to the mile, the remainder being much lighter. I have directed him to return copies of his profiles to the New York office. On both these lines he is satisfied that, by more extended surveys, the grades may be reduced. The energy and perseverance with which he has conducted these examinations, in a region where, for a portion of the time, he has been out of the reach of aid, and against the advice of men most familiar with the mountains, in a season, thus far, of unusual severity, entitle him to your confidence. Professor Hodge, the geologist who accompanied him, found his efforts mainly baffled by the amount of snow on the ground; still he has developed the fact that coal fields of almost boundless extent, and of a quality well adapted to the use of locomotives, lie on both sides of the Black Hills; and that iron, to a certain extent, is found in the vicinity. He will report to you fully. I would urge the importance of continuing his examinations during the coming season, and extending them to Salt lake. The passes surveyed by Mr. Brayton cover the only points in which I anticipate much difficulty, until in the vicinity of Salt lake. I have received no report from the engineers surveying up the valley of the Timpanagos river, sent out by Governor Brigham Young. I have prepared a general railroad law for the Territory of Nebraska, which, should it pass, will, I think, furnish all the legislation required for the construction and operation of the road. The estimates and profiles that accompany this, with the maps, will furnish, I trust, all the information that you at present require. It is important that the first twenty miles be put under contract at once, as most of this grading may be done in the winter. All of which is respectfully submitted. PETER A. DEY, Engineer in Charge of Surveys. OMAHA, December 25, 1863. SIR: In your letter of the 14th instant, I find some inquiries with regard to ties which require an immediate answer. In the first place there are not men enough in this country that can be hired at any price to get out the ties you need as fast as they will be required; and secondly, there is hardly enough oak and other suitable timber between Omaha and Fort Randall to supply what you need, There is, however, along the line of road from this place to Fort Kearney, some oak, walnut, coffee-nut, red elm, and other woods suitable for ties; and on the river, within one hundred miles; cottonwood can be had in quantity amply sufficient to supply the road for a long distance. This wood will hold a spike nearly as well as oak, but it remains yet to be determined whether it can, by any comparatively cheap process, be rendered durable. Considerable cedar is said to be growing on the Running Water, a tributary of the Missouri, commencing about one hundred and fifty miles above Sioux City, and extending up from two to three hundred miles; but, as timber cannot be floated down this stream, I do not think it feasible or practicable to get ties from that source. Nearly all the cedar posts in use here have been brought from Cottonwood Springs by freight trains returning from Denver. Cottonwood ties can be delivered here, piled on the river bank, for from thirty to forty cents, and hard wood for from seventy-five to eighty cents at the present rates for labor; but the quantity you require cannot be got out by men living here. In the last conversation I had with you, before leaving New York, this subject was discussed, and I understood that your intentions at that time were to have some other person attend to it. For this reason I have not heretofore communicated with you respecting it. Yours, respectfully, T. C. DURANT, Esq., Vice-President Union Pacific Railroad. PETER A. DEY. OMAHA, January 27, 1864. SIR: I send you by express to-day two profiles. The first is from the north line of Omaha township, through Florence, and across the dividing ridge near the head of Little Pappillion to its intersection with the northern route in section 34, township 18 north, range 11 east. The other extends from Paddock's Grove or section 27, township 15, range 12 east, up the Pappillion creek to the intersection line in section 8, township 17, range 11 east. The ground back of Florence is so high and broken that I send you the profile merely to show you the comparative elevation. This line starts from the same base as the Omaha line, has been run with care, and I think cannot be materially improved. It is of course out of the comparison. The line up the Pappillion from Paddock's Grove is very favorable in grade and profile, the only objection being the amount of bridging required in crossing the stream eight times. Three of these crossings could be avoided by throwing the line into the hills at a sacrifice of profile. The most expensive portion of the Omaha line is between Paddock's Grove and Omaha. The comparative distances are as follows: Located line from Omaha to Frémont, direct, 37.31 miles. Located line by Pappillion valley and North route, 44.24 miles. I have just received telegraph from Brigham Young, advising me that he has forwarded notes of survey up Timpanagos cañon. them? What shall I do with Respectfully, yours, T. C. DURANT, Esq., Vice-President Union Pacific Railroad. PETER A. DEY. OMAHA, January 28, 1864. SIR: I sent you yesterday by express the profiles from the north line of this township, by way of Florence, to the intersection of the northern line; and also profile of line up the Pappillion from Paddock's Grove to the intersection. Shall send to-day the line along the river up to De Soto. The Florence and the De Soto lines are impracticable; the former from the elevation of the coun try at the back of it, and the depth of the valleys which it is necessary to cross; the latter from the fact that for a distance of two or three miles the river washes an almost perpendicular bluff, nearly 100 feet high, where a road bed could only be sustained by a heavy retaining wall, the material for constructing which could not be readily obtained. The Pappillion Valley route, as the profile shows, is quite feasible; and with the exception of the increased amount of bridging, will compare favorably with the other line. The unusual severity of the weather has materially retarded the progress of the surveys, for, much as I regretted the delay, it was impossible for me to keep men in the field. Respectfully, yours, T. C. DURANT, Esq., Vice President, Union Pacific Railroad. PETER A. DEY. APPENDIX No. 1 B. REPORT OF B. B. BRAYTON, CIVIL ENGINEER. To the President and Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad Company: SIRS: I send you herewith the profiles of Cheyenne and Bridger's Passes. The survey of the Cheyenne Pass was commenced at the summit at the lowest point in the vicinity of the place selected for starting the survey; assumed elevation, 7,400 feet. It will be seen by the profile that the ridge, which is very narrow, being only 3,800 feet through it at grade line, requires a tunnel of 2.500 feet, with open cuts at each end 700 and 600 feet. The levels were run west to the head of a ravine at station 24, from which point west the line can follow along the west face of the mountain, which is very regular and will enable us to get a fair line by following north along the mountains until the grade descends to the Laramie plains. It will be observed that from station O, east, the mountains fall off rapidly to station 16. At this station I undertook to run nearly to a grade descending two feet, for 100 or 105 feet 6 inches to the mile. A much lighter grade would have kept my line too high; a much heavier would descend faster than the stream. The heavy cut from station 47 to 60 can be avoided in part by throwing the line down toward the creek. From station 7 to 100 ground near grade may be had to the north line by crossing the ravine at station 96, considerably higher. From station 96 east the line encounters no serious obstacles to station 650. In this vicinity the south branch of the Lodge Pole creek will have to be crossed. It here passes through a deep gorge, the hills or mountains rising very high on either side. The earth or debris of the mountains appears to have slipped down at some time and dammed up the stream, and the water has forced a narrow passage through. The line east of station 680 follows alongside of mountain to opposite Camp Wallach, terminating on high table land about 75 feet above surface of ground at foot of mountain, 102 feet above surface of water at the bank of the creek, and 108 feet above surface of water in the creek. The stream falls from the mouth of a gorge to Camp Wallach at the rate of 80 feet per mile. I think there will be no difficulty in starting grade down the valley and finding suitable ground to attain such an elevation on side of mountain as will enable us to reach the summit with a grade of 105 feet per mile. It may, however, be at the sacrifice of the line. I have no doubt a good line can be had at grades as shown in the profile. The cuts will in all cases, except from station C70 to 676, be a rock. From a point of rocks some 200 feet above the general plane of the pass, I with a field-glass observed a route to the south of the one I examined, which would enable us to reach the summit by a grade apparently easier. The line would leave the plains on the east side of the mountains from one to three miles south of Camp Wallach and reach the summit east of the Willow Spring station, 15 miles southeast of the station on Big Laramie. From this summit west the grade will probably not exceed 50 feet per mile. The line would be over good ground and the distance would not be increased. You will, doubtless, inquire why I did not explore this route. I would have done so but for the lateness of the season and being short of provisions, with no way of procuring any unless I sent to Denver or Fort Halleck, either place requiring from 10 to 20 days to make the trip. There was also great danger of being snowed in; as it was, it took about two hours to shovel through the drifts in getting out of the Cheyenne Pass. I had still the Bridger's Pass to examine, which was 140 miles west, and seven days' travel in summer and at least 10 at the time we made it. The day after we left the Cheyenne Pass a storm set in, which, for fierceness, intensity, and duration, I never saw equalled. It lasted 10 days and interrupted all our operations for that time. One of my men froze his feet in attempting to reach Fort Halleck. Numbers of persons were badly frost-bitten, and many cattle perished on the plains. Professor Hodge urged me strongly to abandon the survey at Bridger. I said to him that I was sent to make it, and I intended doing so before I returned. While at Fort Halleck I procured a sixmule team, wagon, and driver, and 30 days' rations for my party. As soon as the storm ceased I started for the pass, making the distance, 75 miles, in two and a half days. The roads, with the exception of some drifts of snow in Rattlesnake Pass, four miles west of Fort Halleck, were in good condition. Friday, December 3, I pitched my tent near the serving station of the Overland Stage Company. During the day I sent a party of men to the mountain for wood. A limited supply of poplar was found. On Saturday I commenced my survey, but on account of the sage-bush and snow in this pass I was compelled to run my levels in the road. This, however, enabled me to determine the general character of the pass. Whenever the road came near the valley of the stream I took notes of its elevation, and you will find in profile a dotted line showing the general slope of the valley. The lines down the valley will be good, with easy curves. The material appears to be the debris of the sand rock; all the rock in this pass is soft sandstone, similar in character to the sand rock at Peru and La Salle, on the Chicago and Rock Island railroad. I ran no further west than is shown on the profile. I had determined to work on Sunday, the 6th, if the weather permitted, deeming it a matter of necessity, but a snow-storm set in on Saturday night and lasted all day Sunday. On Monday it blew a gale; but after getting up a load of wood I started, determined to do all I could, as it was impossible to tell how long we should be compelled to stay if we waited for fair weather; made two and a half miles and returned to camp. Tuesday broke up camp and sent both teams east to Pine Grove station for fear of being blockaded in the pass. The roads were badly drifted on the east side of the ridges. I continued my survey, and at 2 p. m. had reached the point on the east side of the summit where profile ends. The descent of the valley from this point west is so easy, and the valley so comparatively smooth, that further surveys were not required. The route from the foot of the Black Hills to Bridger's Pass will be generally over very favorable ground, with easy grades, good lines and light work. I do not believe the report in regard to the deep snows said to fall in these mountains. The country is entirely too dry to have much. What does fall must come either from the east or from the west. If from the east, all will be precipitated before reaching the mountains; if from the west, the California Coast range will cause the clouds to part with their moisture there. What little snow does fall is blown by the never-ceasing wind, blowing almost always from |