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[quote user="erikem"][quote user="futuremodal"] So as far as anyone knows, there were no plans for even a "high" bridge across the Columbia to reduce the 2.2% of Beverly to Boylston?  At 1300' elevation the shortest distance across Sentinal Gap is about a mile and a quarter, a tremendous length for a high (800' above the water) bridge no doubt.  But it would also have reduced the ruling grade from 2.2% to 1.25% at the same 18 miles between Boylston and the river, and would have required a new total realignment from Boylston to Smyrna, where the 1.25% would have begun.  So 30 miles of 1.25% vs 18 miles of 2.2%, with no increase in total rail miles. [/quote] That would have been some bridge - the French recently opened a highway bridge with similar specs (deck was 900+ feet above the valley floor). Interesting idea though. Back then it would have been more practical to dig a long tunnel near the Boylston summit - the summit tunnel as constructed was only 2,000' long - a longer tunnel could have subtsantially reduced the EB grades and moderately reduced the WB grade. A 1.25% WB grade migh have been possible with a 7+ mile long tunnel by cutting 400' off of the summit. I suspect the tunnel would have been cheaper than the bridge. Considering the expected amount of traffic, the interest on the extra construction would probably been much greater than the operational savings. One short but steep helper grade is not as bad as a succession of helper grades - e.g. the Yellowstone division of the NP. [/quote] Yeah, I guess the die was cast for the Saddle Mountain grades when Milwaukee chose Lind Coulee over Washtucna Coulee or Providence Coulee (e.g. about 20 miles farther south) for the mainline route through east-central Washington.  If Milwaukee had chose an original alignment farther south via Connell WA (or had built a secondary line that way), they could have crossed the Columbia at White Bluffs or Hanford.  Those crossing sites are about 25 miles more easterly than Beverly, thus allowing the eastern approach to the Saddle Mountain grade to start much sooner.  There is as good a pass as the one at Boylston about 12 miles south of Boylston, at about the same elevation, and using this pass would have allowed the Milwaukee to climb the north side of Umtanum Ridge at about a 1% max westbound grade, and no worse than a 1.5% eastbound grade up from the Kittitas Valley or the Yakima River Canyon, and probably could have managed a 1% eastbound.  And no addition to the total mainline mileage!  Now we're talking no helper districts at all between Snoqualmie Pass and Avery, if not indeed Seattle to Avery, with max eastbound ruling grades of 1.7% up Snoqualmie and max westbound grade of 1%.  With the 5 mile St. Paul Pass tunnel and the Cadotte Pass route, Milwaukee then would have had 1% max westbound and 1.7% eastbound for the entire PCE.
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