Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/280

 thirty-five and one-half miles, Elliott estimated that five hundred miles or about 80% of the whole distance would be on a straight line. "This," he said, "will compare with any Railroad on the American continent in this respect."

3. Cost of Construction.

Perhaps the most interesting phase of any report of a preliminary survey is the estimates on the cost of con- struction. In estimating the cost, Elliott divided the whole road into eleven divisions and estimated the cost per mile and then the total cost per section. The following is the table of costs: Division 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Miles 136 83* 49 22y2 26 38 38 12 31 50 150 635i/2 Cost per Mile $ 36.000.00 62,000.00 48,000 .00 80,000.00 80,000 ,00 60,000.00 60,000.00 100,000 .00 48,000.00 40,000.00 33,000 .00 Total Cost $ 4,896 ,000 .00 5,146 ,000 .00 2,352 ,000 .00 1,800 ,000.00 2,080 ,000 .00 2,280,000.00 2,280 ,000.00 1,200 ,000.00 1,488,000 .00 2,000 ,000 .00 4,950 ,000 .00 30,472 ,000 .00

The divisions naturally enough were made with geographical considerations of the difficulty. Division One extended from Marysville to Shasta; division two from Shasta to the head waters of the Sacramento River; division three from the head waters of the Sacramento River to the Klamath River; division four from the crossing of the Klamath River to the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains; division five from the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains to Ashland; division six from Ashland to Hunter's Ferry; division seven from Hunter's Ferry to head of Cañon; division eight from the head of Cañon to Cañonville; division nine from Cañonville to Roseburg;