An Engineer's Moment
"Every curve, every switch has a story that goes with it..."
Donovan Gray, "Oregon, California & Eastern" (1990)
For most of its first thirty miles, the OC&E follows gentle grades to climb steadily into the forests of the eastern Klamath Basin. Engineers designed the railroad's deepest cut at Milepost 13.67 to enter the valley at Pine Flat. Crews drilled and set dynamite charges to blast to a depth of forty feet through an ancient basalt flow. The curving right-of-way required weeks of labor, but provided fill to lay the railroad to the east of the cut.
No one is for certain of the origin of the name "Swede's Cut." Some claim it got its name from the Swedish immigrants on the construction crew. Others say that a Swede was killed by the train at this site. Whatever the story, Swede's Cut was a good moment for the engineer laying out the line.
Attention Railmen:
"Do not exceed 15 MPH through Swede's Cut MP 13.4"Oregon, California& Eastern Railway, "Speed Restrictions"
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