Central Pacific Railroad

Western Union Telegram
November, 1867

CPRR Crew:

Well done! The granite rock is really hard to drill — I'm glad you found the nitroglycerine.  This dangerous explosive liquid was invented by Ascanio Sobrero in 1846.  After blowing up a ship transporting it, we decided that we would just have to hire a chemist to make the nitroglycerine at the construction site.  Alfred Nobel is still experimenting with a way to make it safe.  Lewis Clement says that working 24 hours a day drilling and blasting the Summit Tunnel with the old black powder he could remove just over 10 inches of rock in a day but now the crews can blast 18 inches.  That's great.  Clement said he just finished the Summit Tunnel. It is our longest tunnel and we've been working on it for over two years.  The nitroglycerine helped to blast the Summit Tunnel much faster. Good Job.

Your team has earned another 150 miles of track.

Charlie Crocker

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