Seven Wonders of the Industrial World 4. Transcontinental Railway (16 of 22)

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World

The largest wooden structures ever built.
But the worst problem was above the snow line.
This winter we had forty four snow storms, varying from a small squall to a two week blizzard.
February 18th we had six feet of snow, the drifts had measured up to fifty feet.
You can't build a railroad under fifty feet of snow.
And you sure as hell can't run a train through it.
For six months of the year the track was blocked with snow.
The engineers had a solution.
To run the trains under the snow.
On the worst stretches of track they built long wooden sheds angled in to the mountain to keep the rails clear of drifts.

As the snow melted it caused major problems for Dodge down on the plains.
Normally placid rivers turned in to raging torrents, sweeping away miles of track and trestle.
And then came the rain.
Sandbags were all that stood between Dodge and disaster.
The river has taken a hundred feet of trestle, and if we don't shore up the bank it will take as many miles of track.
l've never seen a winter like this.
We've had temperatures as low as minus forty degrees.
Hundreds of miles of track have been destroyed by frost.
And now with the thaw we get this.