The lake itself is 60 to 90 miles long, depending on evaporation. However, the dike on which we traveled is 26 miles in length.
A depth of the lake is from 15 to 30 feet. And because of the density of the salt content, a special "bottomed" shaped boat had to be used, in the construction of the "dike and trestle" used by the railroad. The normal "V" bottom construction will not set deep enough in the salt water, and will capsize.
Now one of the problems in the construction of the railroad dike, was basically for that of "train travel". Prior to it, the railroad had to navigate around the lake, which is of a 43 mile "detour". That routing also required the train to cross over the mountain, causing the engine to nearly "stall" when it reached the top. Any if you remember the type of engines available at the time, they did not have much of an "incline" performance.
Construction was different, as the bottom of the lake was not of a normal soil. The reason for it, was in centuries of old, it was an inland sea, until an outlet was carved by nature. However, the time came when the lake was lower than the outlet, and hence doesn't have any at present..
I mention that the soil bottom was different, as there is an initial layer of soft sand, then 1 - 2 feet of hard packed sand, on top of a 7 foot layer of harder compacked "soda and salt". The pilings for the trestle had to be driven by "pile drivers", and once in place, the "soda and salt" minerals embedded the pilings, and hence strengthed the pilings to a "concrete type" base.
Now to have an adequate amount of "fill" material, it took from 6 to 12 train loads of fill a day, depending on the wind and wave action, as such materials had to be hauled by those special constructed boats to the dike site. And in later years, more fill had to be used to widen the dike, to work against the wave action. Once that was attained, the "soda and salt" combination in the wave action, concreted the surface of the material, and hence, no more erosion.
Well, I thought that it might be of interest to you members, as I found it of interest, considering that I had traveled parallel to that "train thorough fare", and now know the problems and result of the construction. Enjoy.
