Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-05-20
The Engineering Achisvsnssts e u
s'N~r- fa ~ Century. ffHfN

| WIZ o.s~IS' N.
The engineering achievements of thu
century, beyond question, are those foe
which il will be most famous and longcse
remembered. Theologians and philoso-
pliers may split hairs about metaphysical
science, but they viii all join in the eel
ebration Of what the engineers have done
for modern progress.
The past fifty years have been the
most fruitful in the whole history of en-
cheering, and therefore the review Of
its accomplishments in that time, given
in q recent address BY Mr.. william
Barlow, the President Of the Institution
of Civil Engineers Of England, has .
general interest. When that institution
was chartered in 1923 the question Of
transportation was one Of great urgency.
The canals, which dated In England
from about the year 1853, had increased
to length exceeding 5000 miles, but
they were inadequate to the commercial
needs of the country. In the United
States the Erie Canal had been opened
in 1895, and had been hailed rs an en-
gineering feat of astonishing magnitude,
and at about the same time lesser canals
had been constructed in other States.
Both here and in England much atten-
ton was bestowed on turnpike roads
during the first quarter of the century.
The steam locomotive was then only
in its early experimental stages. In 1880,
however. the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway was opened, and George Ste
phcnson's predictions regarding the value
of locomotives for tractivc power began
to be realized. So great was the want
of improved methods of transportation,
that the spread OF the railway system
was rapid far beyond even Stephenson's
expectation. In his address to the Brit
ish Association i'm 1875, forty-fve years
after, Sir John Hawkshaw estimated tho
total length of railroads then existing at
10000 miles, and the total capital in
vested i'm them at SIG, 200, 100000.
Since that time railroad extension has
gone on throughout the world, though
during the last live years, owing 10 the
prevailing business depression, the prog
ress has not been so rapid rs it was just
previously. Yeteven in England, which
already seemed well supplied with rail-
ways, the increase in miles was more
than two thousand between 1870 and
1880, and the railway traffic has nearly
| quadrupled in twenty-five years With
us, from 1872, the year when railways
were built with such astonishing rapidi-
/ w, TtdCHlDx tsotO Iuits Va ncW CDnS1uC-
tons, up to last year, there was decline
i'm the progress; but 1879 witnessed the
addition of 4, 430 miles of rail, and 1880
promises to be one of the most active
\ years we have ever known in the bust
ness. The total mileage Of railway in
the United States was, at the beginning
of 1880, Sc, 263 miles, or one mile of rail-
road for every 574 inhabitants, a ratio
greatly in excess of that of Europe, which
has one mile Of railroad to every $500
persons.
| Outside the new railroads to be built
in the United States, there Is field enough
for railroad extension i'm Asia and Africa.
China has as yet no railroads, Japan
has only begun to lay them, and Africa
is almost without railways for the $780,
600, 900 inhabitants Mr.. Brassey gives
that continent. South America, also, IL
still only supplied to a very limited ex-
tent, and IN Central Asia they must be
vastly extended.
Steam navigation has had nearly its
whole growth within the last fifty years.
1t is true there were 344 steam vessels in
existence in 1928, but they were of an
average of only about ninety tons each,
and were chiefly employed in river and
coasting traffic. Ocean steam naviga-
ton had not yet been attempted, and not
until 1888 did the successful voyages of
the Sirius and Great Western make Il an
accomplished fact. Before 1886 the
largest ships afloat were between 800 and
900 tons burden, and about 220 horse
power. Now the Cunard steamship Ser
via is of 1900 tons, and 10000 horse
power, while the Innexible of the Brit
ish navy has a tonnage of 1000 tons,
and its engines power of 5000 horses,
and the Italia of the Italian navy will be
of -, 200 tons burden and 1000 horse
power.
The telegraph, which was first brought
into practical use in this country in 1874.
between Washington and Baltimore. en-
ployed AGO. 900 miles of wire rs long ago
as 1875. Since that time its extension
under the sea and on land has been enor-
nous.
The employment of gas rs q means of
illumination was only beginning fifty
years ago, but now the capital invested
in the London Gas Works alone amounts
to $50, 600, 900, and in the whole United
Kingdom it amounts to 500, 000. 900. '
And these are only a few Of the engi-
neering achievements of the half century.
Mr.. Barlow estimates the total capital
invested in engineering works during
that time at S17, 500, 900, 900, or about
$3.50, 600, 900 annually. OF this vast
sum nineteen-twentieths belong 10 rail-
ways, steamships, docks, harbors, and
telegraphs, all Of which are directed 10
improving and extending the means Of
transport for passengers and merchan-
disc, and the communication Of intelli-
gence.
The great feature Of the last half cent
1 AZ 4 Al L..
of the methods of transportation, In
obedience to the urgent demand made by
commerce for new and swifter means Of
intercourse.-N Y. Sun.
4 u>-> w.