Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of horse-drawn carts being used for construction on a segment of Southern Pacific Railroad in a mountainous region, ca.1860. At center, five carts can be seen at the bottom of a mound of loose-earth, above which five more can be seen with their carts tilted back toward the viewer. Nine men attend to the lower carts. In the distance, lumber can be seen on the mountainside just above the road. Photoprint reads: "None of the facilities for large scale construction work were to be had when the first lines of the Southern Pacific and its parent organization (Central Pacific) were being built in the West. One-horse dump carts, wheelbarrows and Chinese laborers took the place of the modern steam derricks and large scrapers. Dynamite was not then in use and black powder wa the only explosive used in blasting through hundreds of feet of solid granite walls. Building of these rail lines, particularly through the mountainous country, is considered one of the greatest engineering achievements of all times".
Type
image
Format
1 photograph : photoprint, b&w 20 x 21 cm. photographic prints photographs
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