Monte Cristo's Railroad Is Racing the Rain to Town

Monte Cristo, Aug. 22.—[Special.]—Superintendent A. A. Allen and Chief Engineer S. B. Fisher, of the Everett & Monte Cristo Railroad, arrived here today on a tour of inspection over the line. They were accompanied by Daft, contractor for the telegraph line of the road, and J. G. Blake, manager of the Postal Telegraph Company, of Seattle. Messrs. Allen and Fisher were in consultation with General Superintendent Butler concerning the terminals at this point. To a correspondent of the Post-Intelligencer Superintendent Allen said:

"The work along the line of the road is progressing finely, and we shall be in Monte Cristo by the first of December, in any event. With good weather we shall be in here two weeks or more sooner. Everything along the line looks favorable, and nothing but heavy rains can delay us. The right-of-way work is completed clear through, and the greater part of the grading done. The tunnel work, too, is looking much better than a month ago. On Tunnel No. 1, the longest and hardest, we now have air drills at work and are making ten feet per day—seven feet on the side where we have the air drills and three feet on the other. We are now in 260 feet from the east portal and 240 from the west, or 500 feet in all, leaving only 316 of the 816 feet of the tunnel to be completed. The contractors expect to see daylight through the bore by September 25. All the other tunnels will be through by that time, I think, including No. 6, which is the next heaviest.

We are now laying steel and ballasting eastward from Hartford on the line of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, and the track will be completed to Tunnel No. 1, twelve miles out of Hartford, inside of a week. This will enable us to freight supplies by rail much nearer to the camps and push the work faster.

The expectation is now that we will put on a daily passenger service from Everett to Monte Cristo this year. Trains will be run to make immediate connections with the Lake Shore at Hartford junction, thus making a quick through trip from Seattle without any delay."

The site selected for the passenger station is in the triangle formed by the junction of 76 and Glacier creeks, at the foot of the long hill on which the townsite lies. The site is especially favorable, as it will land passengers within two minutes' walk of the center of town. Some doubts had been entertained as to the possibility of extending the road to the point chosen on account of the heavy grade of the last mile, but Chief Engineer Fisher decides that it is entirely feasible. For the present the freight depot and yards will also be located at the "forks," contiguous to the ore bunkers and the concentrator.

Daft, the electrical contractor, who accompanied the Allen party, stated that the telegraph line would be completed and open for business by the time the last rail is laid into Monte Cristo. "The poles are cut for the entire line," he said today, "and digging for post holes has begun. I shall probably not string the line much faster than the track is laid." Mr. Daft is an excellent amateur photographer and carries his camera with him on his trips. He expects to visit Monte Cristo again shortly and take a number of views of the country round about. Speaking of the country which the Everett & Monte Cristo will traverse, he said: "It will certainly equal, if it does not surpass, for the beauty and grandeur of its scenery many of the famed tourist roads of this country. I think it will come to rank as one of the scenic lines of the Northwest."