ut the switches were ready, and if
the leading train had but the distance it could pass on and the
following cars be switched off the track, and allowed to spend their
force against the mountain side. On shot the locomotive, like an arrow
from the bow, the men throwing over the ties until the train was well
nigh unloaded, when just as they were close to the curve by which the
train arrives at the station, they saw the dreaded cars strike a tie,
or something equally of service, and with a desperate plunge rush down
the embankment, some fifteen feet, to the little valley, and creek
below. "Down breaks," screamed the engine, and in a moment more the
cars entered Echo City, and were quietly waiting on the sidetrack for
further developments. The excited crowd, alarmed by the repeated
whistling, was soon informed of the cause of these screams, and
immediately went up the track to the scene of the disaster, to bring
in the dead bodies of the unfortunate Dutchmen, who were surely
crushed and torn in pieces. When they arrived at the scene of the
disaster, they found the poor unfortunates sitting on the bank,
smoking their pipes and unharmed, having just woke up. The first they
knew of the trouble was when they were pitched away from the broken
cars on the soft green sward. The debris of car frames, wheels and
ties gave them the first intimation they had received that something
was the matter.

APPENDIX V.

The following verbatim report of the engineer in charge of a surveying
party on the Kansas Pacific Railway in 1869 will illustrate the
difficulties encountered by those engaged in building the Pacific
Railroads.

Engineer's Office.
Phil Sheridan, June 20th, 1869.

Colonel William H. Greenwood,
Chief Engineer, Kansas Pacific Railway.

Sir:--

On resuming the location of the line up the North Fork of the Smoky,
on Monday last, I made the change in the line mentioned in my last
report.

Commencing as far back as Station three hundred and forty-five, and
producing tangent to Station four hundred and thirty-eight by
twenty-seven. We then bore to the left with a two degree curve and
continued to Station five hundred and forty-one, leaving the line for
the night. The location of the line was continued on Tuesday to
Station seven hundred and nine and ninety-five hundredths, making a
total distance from Sheridan of eight and nine-tenths miles. The line
is an easy one for gradients; no heavy work occurs on