The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1880-05-18
THE GREAT FEATURE OF rHE
CENTURY. N

CENTURY.
The engineering achievements Of thi.
century, beyond . question. are these
says the New York Sun, for which j,
will be the most famous aud lons ssl
remembered. Theologians and phil
osspSsrs may split hairs about meta
physical science. but they will all iois
In the Oslsbration Of what the snginesrs
have done for modern progress.
The past Fifty years have been The
, most fruitful in the whole history oi
engineering. and therefore the rsvieu
of Its Accomplishments in that time,
given in . recent address by Mr. Will
liam Henry Barlow, the President oi
the Institution Of Civii Eagineess ol
England. has . general interest. When
that Institution wss chartered in 1925
the question Of transportation Vas one
Of great urgency. The canals. which
dated in England from about the year
l75S. had increased to . length sxcsed-
ing 5000 miles. but they wsrs made
quste to the commercinl seeds OF tho
country. In ths United States the
Erie Canal hsd bsen opened 10 1925,
and had been hailed - an engineering
feat of astonishing maguitude; and ct
about the same time lesser canals had
been constructed in other States. Both
here and in England much attention
was bestowed on turnpike roads during
the first quarter of the century.
The stsan loeomotiye was then only
in its early ssxpeeiaentsl stages. In
1880, however. the Liverpool and Man
chester Railway was opened. aud Geo.
Stephenson's predictions regarding the
value Of the locomotive for the trsctivs
power began to be realized. So great
wss the want of improved methods OF
transportation. that tho spread Of the
railway gsysssm was rapid fer beyond
even Stephensen's cxpectstssa. In his
address to the British Association,
forty-fivs years after. Sir John Hawk.
shaw estim. m.tsd the total length of rail.
roads then exis. ing ct 10000 miles.
aud the total capital invested in them
at SIT. .OOO. 900 600.
since that time railroad extension has
gone ON throughout the world. shesgh
during the last five years, owing 10
the prevailing, business dsprsssiea, The
progress has not been % rapid q it Rss
just previously. Yetseven 10 England,
which already seemed we'll supplied
with railways. the Increase in miles was
more than two thousand betwe cen 1870
aud 1880; and the railway traffic has
nearly quadrupled in twenty five years.
With US, frOm 1872. the year when rail.
ways were built with such sstonishiDs
rspidity. rsschiDg 7,340 miles Of ssw
constr uctions. up to last yese, there wa
decline in the progress; but 1879 wit
messed the addition of 4 ,130 miles oi
rail, and 1880 promises to be one Of the
most active years We have ever known
in the business. The total mileage Of
railway in the United States was. At the
beginning of 1880. 86 1868 miles, or one
mile Of railroad for lsvsry 574 inhabi-
tants, o ratio greatly in excess of that
of Europe,.whieh has one milo Of rail-
road for every $500 persons. !
Outside the new railroads to Be built
in the United States, there 10 field
enough for railroad extension in Asia
and Africa. China has yet no railroads
japan has only begun to lay them, and
Africa is almost without railways for
the 35O, ,O0O. 600 inhabitants Mr. Bfssssy
gives that continent. South America,
slso. is still only supplied 70 = very
li.oited extent, and in Central Asia they
must be lastly extended.
Steam psvigssion has he'd nearly itl
whole growth within the last dfty years.
II 10 true there vsre 6llstsan vsssela
in existence in. 1928. but they we're oi
On average of only about ninety tons
each, aud wsrschieAy smpleged in river
and coastiHg trafRe. Ocess stsam nav.
igAtien had net yet been attempted,
aud not until 1883 did the succsssful
voyages a sho Sirine and Greet Wesk.
srn make it an scco pplished fast. Be
fore 1886. the largest ships sfloat were
between 500 and 800 tons burden and
about 800 horse povsg. Nov the Cas.
ard steamship Ssrvia 10 OF z. 500 tons
aud 10000 horse power, while the In
Asxibls Of the British Navy has tom
mage Of II 600 tons, and its engines {
power OF I. 900 horses, ,end the Itslis oi
! the Italian Navy will % q 1890 tso'
burden and 1900 hoeee 301er.
The telegraph, vhlcA was6rst brought
! into practical ! ~ n This countsy IL
1874. bet wssn Washiagton and Balti'
moro. employed ~. 900 milss of virs
q long ago . l676s 6isee thak tins -
extensisn undsS The ~ andon iaud haa
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