The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1880-11-06
The Isthmus ship Railway.

CAPTAIN James B. Eads, the we'll
known engineer who has projected ship
railroad across the isthmus, arrived in
this city from st. Louis day or two ago,
and was visited by Tribune reporter
YESTERDAY at the Albermarle Hotel.
81 have come to New York city," lie
said, ssfor the purpose of comforting with
capitalists and persons interested in my
enterprise. In two or three weeks I
shall start for Mexico in order to find out
whether I may expect any encourage
ment from the Mexican government. In
other enterprises the government has
given grants of land, and even subsidies,
and I am anxious to know whether it
would be disposed to aid us etfectually
in the matter.
''As far rs the route of my railroad is
concerned" Capt Eads continued, "my
preferences are for the Tehauntepec. 1t
is true that the ground to be covered in
this region is far greater than at the two
other points proposed; namely, Panama
and Nicaragua. But taking an American
point of view, we find that vessel going
from New York to any point in Cali
fornia, wonld gain by the Tehuantepec
route 1900 miles over the Panama, and
700 over Nicaragua. Another objection
to the Panama route is that belt OF
calm reaches from one end of the coast to
the other on the Pacific side, which
would greatly impede the progress OF
vessels which had crossed the isthmus. .
.sWhat do you think of the construc-
tion of the Panama canal?" the reporter
asked.
.'In my opinion, that canal viii never
be dug at all, because the present age is
by far too practical to incur the cost OF
such an undertaking when the transfer
of ships can be accomplished more safely
and more expeditionsly by ship rail-
road that will cost one-third as much as
canal over any of the three routes that
may be taken for comparison. The larg-
est ships which enter the port of New
York can be transferred when fully
| loaded with absolute safety across the
itsthmus on the marine railroad. On such
a railroad the grades need be no sleeper
than those on our chief lines, and the
road bod need not be over forty feet wide
nor have more than eight or ten rails
| laid upon it to sustain the car or cradle
upon which the ship is placed. The
weight of the largest merchant steamer,
and their cargoes seldom exceed eight
thousand tons, and such one would
easily be carried on cradle composed OF
| five locomotives built for the purpose.
These would have about one thousand
wheels bearing on eight or ten rails with
pressure of about twelve tons to the
wheel. The total weight of ship, cargos
and cradle would be distributed over an
area of roadbed 40 feet wide by 500 feet
long, and would be only 1,25O
pounds for each square foot,
allowing 1900 for the weight
of of the car. This is not half the
pressure on the earth under each tie
when each pair of the driving wheels OF
an ordinary locomotive engine passes
over it. An ordinary freight locomotive
engine will pull about fifty loaded cars
! on moderate grades from fifteen to twenty
miles an hour. A burden. of about 1000
tons, constituting the weight of the cars
and their load, is carried on about 40O
wheels. The largest ship and her entire
cargo, therefore, should not require
more than the power of q dozen such
locomotive engines to move it at the
same rate of speed over similar grades.
From this it must be evident that the
ship, once safely placed on properly
constructed car adjusted to the railway
of substantial and well ballasted road
bed, can be moved with certainty and
ease at much higher rate of speed than
would be safe in the very best canal that
has been proposed.
81 think the actual cost of operating
such railroad would be, in proportion
to the tonnage moved over it, considera-
bly, less than that of the most successful
railway line in this country, for the rea-
son that the tonnage carried would be
exclusively handled by machinery, and
the ratio of paying cargo to non paying
weight would be much greater. In pro-
portion to the tonnage, the cost of main
tenance should also be much less. -
| New York Tribune.