Skip to main content

Blasting Powder

Tehachapi Pass Railroad Line
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: Roads & RailsEra: 1870-1879DateCreated: 1876WalongState: CACountry: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Tehachapi-Pass-Railroad-Line/Creator: Harris, J. B. , Southern Pacific Railroad

The Tehachapi Pass Railroad Line was cut through solid and decomposed granite by about 3,000 Chinese laborers using nothing more than picks, shovels, horse drawn carts, and blasting powder. This line, which rises from the San Joaquin Valley and through the Tehachapi Mountains, originally included 18 tunnels, ten bridges and several water towers to accommodate the steam locomotives. Completed in less than two years, it was part of the final line of the first railroad to connect San Francisco with Los Angeles.

YearAdded:
1998
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Doug WertmanImage Caption: Tehachapi Pass Railroad LineEra_date_from: 1876
Subscribe to Blasting Powder

Innovations

Tehachapi Pass Railroad Line

The Tehachapi Pass Railroad Line was cut through solid and decomposed granite by about 3,000 Chinese laborers using nothing more than picks, shovels, horse drawn carts, and blasting powder. This line, which rises from the San Joaquin Valley and through the Tehachapi Mountains, originally…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.