The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-17
A MIGHTY ENTERPRISE.
lailroad Across the Eastern t,on.,,...,

,,,, lSclentifc Americana
Inc great Feat accomplished bv ~,
Oniteu otates In connecting the Atlantiio"
anu racine oceans, by railroad aoroas
Ine Onlteu states, Is stimulating enter
prlses in Europe and 1t is now pronnsa5
indeed, the plan is maturedlltnp o os
meet the Atlantic and Pacific oca,, eJn-
O railroad through Central Asia ~
conference OF the geographers. recent,s.
held, Col. Bogdanowitz explained SOM,
OF the details of the road, which i \,
expected, will overcome one ~ 40
greatest obstacles to the extension ~ =,
civilization, namely, the separation ~ =.
large part OF Asia from Europe Inv vast
deserts, In which no means of tran "ie
but a railroad could be of any use
railroad alone can develop the reso,,,oaa
OF the many lands through which u
would pass; and as the mineral wealth
OF Siberia and the Ural mountains IL
well known. the exploration and MINING
of these regions would be encouragaJS
and their resources developed. o0u'
It is proposed that the road shall, s4a.A
from Nijni-Novgorod, in Russia. whars
is now the extreme eastern station IL
the network OF European railroads. -
will run along the Volga, the Kama ~
Ekaterinbourg, on the Asiatic sida ~
the Ural Mountains, then enter As,o ~
proceed in the direction of Trenma,,,
and Omsk at the Irish, cross the river
and proceed by way of Kainsk to TomsJ
on the Tom, a branch of the Obi md
cross that river. Tomsk is the pri nI
pal center OF commerce of Western 81.
IBERIA; thence the road will run directly
to Irlsutsk at Lake Baikal. Thence Ky
road is to pass to the frontier of China
and thence 1t is no longer an exclusively
D,,ooso,, Int fnr ~
ing.
And here, also. the only serious an
cheering difficulties commence. at tho
mountain range of bingham, which. in
it's northern part, is crossed by the
Amoor river. This range is the greatest
obstacle, and it will be necessary to pass
by the MontchoOria, and to Law tha
road from Baikal to VerhneondouL
through the valley of the Selenga. Than
the best route by which to reach Pekin
the capital of China, near the Yellow
Sea Ga bay Of the Northern Pacific
OCEAN,, has been found to be that Of
Tehita and Dolounor. At the southern
end the famous great wall will be
crossed it already lies in ruins in MANY
places. The whole distance from Mini.
Novgorod to Pekin will be $500 miles.
of which $500 run through Russian ter.
ritOry.
When this plan is closely examined.
according to known Typographical data.
the apparent difficulties dwindle down
to nothing when compared to those en-
countered in the Western section Of our
Pacific Railroad. The first section.
from Mini ovgorod to Tomsk, runs on
perfectly level land the so-called
steppes), similar to our prairies. In the
section from Tomsk to Lake Baikal. the
country is rolling and interspersed with
rivers and streams, but the greatest
height is only $500 feet, and the largest
river areas but of very moderate width
and depth. The only serious difficult
ties. as we have said, lie at the Chinese
frontier, and they are inferior to those
overcome in the Rocky Mountains and
the Sierra Nevada by the American en-
gineers.
Russia has raised in fifteen years more
than $1,000, 900, 900 with which to con.
struct Is, 900 miles of railroad, and can
easily find $500, 900, 900 or $4OO, OOO, 600 to
construct line of such value to all tho
civilized world