CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Phineas Fogg and Party Travel by the Pacific Railroad

"From ocean to ocean"—so say the Americans, and their great railroad crosses the whole length of the United States. The Pacific Railroad is, however, really two lines: the Central Pacific, between San Francisco and Ogden, and the Union Pacific, between Ogden and Omaha. Five main lines connect Omaha with New York.

New York and San Francisco are connected in this way. The railroad measures three thousand seven hundred and eighty-six miles. Between Omaha and the Pacific the railway crosses a territory which still has Indians and wild animals, and a large area where Mormons live.

In the past, the journey from New York to San Francisco took six months. It is now finished in seven days.

The car was long and had eight wheels. It had two rows of seats, and two platforms on either end. The passengers were able to walk from one end of the train to the other. The train had balcony cars, restaurants, bars, and smoking cars.

The train left Oakland station at six o'clock. It was already night. The train did not move quickly. With the stops, it did not run more than twenty miles an hour. This was quick enough to reach Omaha on time, though.

There was little conversation in the car, and soon many passengers fell asleep. Passepartout was next to the detective, but he did not talk to him. After recent events, they were not friends. Fix's manner had not changed, but Passepartout was ready to kill his former friend.

At eight o'clock a steward entered the car and announced that the time for going to bed had arrived. In a few minutes, the car was changed into a dormitory. The backs of the seats were turned into comfortable beds, and thick curtains gave everyone privacy.

The country between San Francisco and Sacramento is not very hilly. The one hundred and twenty miles between these two cities took six hours, and the travelers were asleep when they passed that important city.

The train entered the Sierra Nevada mountains at seven in the morning, and the dormitory was turned back into a normal car. The travelers could look at the beautiful mountain scenery. There were few bridges or tunnels. The railway turned around the mountains.

The train entered the State of Nevada about nine o'clock, going northeasterly. About midday they reached Reno. In the prairies, sometimes great herds of buffalo cross the train tracks, forcing the train to stop and wait.

This happened, indeed, to the train in which Mr Fogg was traveling. About twelve o'clock a herd of ten or twelve thousand buffalo stopped the train. There were too many for the train to push past, and so they had to wait.

Mr Fogg, who had reason to be in a hurry, remained in his seat, and waited patiently.

Passepartout was very angry at the delay, and wanted to use his new guns on the buffalo.

"What a country!" cried he. "These cows stop the trains, as if they were not stopping travel!"

The engineer did not try to fight the buffalo, and he was wise. He would have crushed the first buffaloes, no doubt, but the train would have been stopped by the others. The train would have been thrown off the track, and would have then been helpless.

It was best to wait patiently, and move faster when the buffalo cleared. This took three full hours, and it was night before the track was clear.

It was eight o'clock when the train passed the Humboldt Mountains, and half past nine when it entered Utah. In Utah lied the Great Salt Lake, the home of the Mormons.

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