Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-08
The Palestine Railroad.

The real work of the Palestine rail-
road is to be done with the financial
support of two large English banking.
houses, and the charter was obtained
with the minimum amount of capital
and number of incorporators. There
are in The company fifteen men. and
each hold one share of stock. Eight of
the fifteen live in Massachusetts, Just
enough to come within the law. Under
the charter, the proposed road will
extend from Cairo, Egypt, to Mosul, on
the river Tigris, with branches to Jeru-
salem, Jatfa, Nablus, Beyrout, Aleppo.
Iskcuderoon, and Erzeroum, il it should
be judged best to build them. In de-
tail the route is described as follows:
beginning at Cairo, the re ad runs north
ward on the Peluslac branch of the
Suez Canal. AT this point connection
will he possible with the lines ofsteam-
ers running between the East and Eu-
rope. Turning eastward from Port
Said, the road will pass over the level
plain near the seashore, across the des-
olate tract between Egypt and Pales.
tine. Soon after entering Palestine it
goes through GAIA, Esdud (tSe ancient
Ashdod), and thence to Rimleh. At
this place the branches for Jaffa and
Jerusalem will leave the main line, the
Jerusalem branch ascending the valley
of the Nahr Rubin and Wadi Surar. 1t
reaches the city from the north and
west of the Gihon Valley, and tie sta
ton will be at or near the Damascus
gate. Leaving Ramleh, the main line
runs north throngh the plain of Sharon
to point near the ancient Bethar,
whence y branch is proposed to Nablus,
tho ancient Shechem. Continuing
northerly from Betkar to the Abu a.
bura, the road ascends that river valley
and crosses the Carmel range through
the Megiddo Pass. From Cairo to this
point the maximum grade is twenty
feet to a mile, and through the pass it
is forty feet to mile. From the base
of the hill OF Megiddo a branch is pro-
posed, to run down the plain of q drae-
Ion, and thence northward along the
shore through Acre and S.don, and by
the ruins OF Tyre to Beyrout. Isken-
deroon lies north Of Beyrout, at the
northeast corner of the Mediterranean
Sea, upon the gulf OF the same name.
Ike main line passe, from Megiddo
across the plain of Esiraelon by the
base of Mount Tabor, aud along the
west side of Lake Gennesaret 1t
crosses the Jordan at or near Jacob 8
bridge, follows up the valley, aud grad
ually climbs the Jebel Heish at grade
of sixty feet to mile. Crossing the
summit and descending the valley on
the other side, it stretches across the
plain to Damascus. Thence it is pro-
jected to the Euphrates, to connect with
the Euphrates Valley Railroad, which
Is about to be built by an English com
pany. From the river it extends to
Mosul. and will connect there with a
proposed railroad from Diabekir and
The Black Sea. Branches to Aleppo
and Erzeroum will be constructed as
soon as desired after the completion of
the main line. 1t is the intention Of
the of ,ers OF the road to push its con-
struction rapidly as soon as che neces
sary authority can be obtained from
the Turkish Government. This au.
thority is expected soon, through the
exertions of tho projectors and the Eng
lish and American ministers ut Con-
stantinople. The President of the road
will depart in few weeks for London,
Constantinople, and the East. -Bosf,n
advertiser.