Existing comment:
The Big Fill
Competing for fame and money, the two railroads constructed over 250 miles of parallel grade. Here the Central Pacific built the Big Fill before Congress gave final construction rights to the Union Pacific. Afterward, the U.P. sold the tracks through here to the C.P., which moved the road from the trestle to the fill.
250 teams of horses and 500 men worked nearly two months to complete the Big Fill. 500 feet long and 170 feet deep, it required almost 10,000 yards of material.
Aerial photo taken in 1969. |