St. Paul daily globe., 1888-01-08
He Prophesies a Realization
Of His Dream Within gal
Fifty Years. ,22 =.
Through From Buenos Ayres
to st. Petersburg in a
Pullman Sleeper. al
Four Nations Could Chip in
t00,000,OO0 Each and 5,
Build the Line.

tended experience, who expects to leave
shortly for South America to follow his
vocation as railroad builder.
''HOw will you go, Mr.. McDaniel?"
asked the reporter.
''By steamer. of course. But [ eX-
pect to return some years later by rail-"
he replieds
''By rail from South America! What
do you mean?"
1.-The reby hangs a tale. Illustration
and argument: in fact a volume has
been written, and much work done in
that direction. In 1874 il occurred to me
what a grand thing it would be to have
a railroad connecting North and South
America. BY bridging Behring's strait,
connect with China and Russia and we
have it. | wrote long article about it,
but before doing so, obtained a map
OF the straits and surroundings from the
navy department"
s'Did not III. r. Helper write up the
subject?''
"He did six years later, and I was
glad of it. wrote him letter calling
attention to the coincidence of ideas,
except that 1 joined the two hemi-
spheres. Here is is the original article
with addenda."
what has been done since then?"
Altogether the United States has
enough road built to girdle the earth six
times. To join BuenOS Ayres to Mex
leo will require about 5000 miles. The
Russians are building far into Siberia.
and the recent great invention of ro-
tary snow engine Simplifies the opera
ton of roads in those regions, and will
give new impetus in that direction"
What are your conclusions as a
whole?' :.
when 1 look back at what has been
done, and see the necessity of the full
tillment of my prediction increasing.
feel certain. of its entire realization.
Civilization yearns for closer
union. Instead of thirty days
from BuenOs Ayres to New
York, we would have nine days for
travel and but moment for news. By
the way, Toronto capitalist is now Or
ganlZlng company with S5O.OO0 600 TO
buisd from Puget Sound to Alaska
Following is the letter written by Mr..
Daniel: :,
WRITTEN TEN YEARS AGO.
In June. 1874, [ wrote a cautiously
wOrded article on railway around the
globe, and have been more than grati-
fed with the tendency to realization the
project has assumed since. / was verN
cautious and mincing in my words Of
prophecy then more from nv abhor.
renee of being styled visionary than ann
doubts l had on the feasibility and
probability of ever living to see this
grand design carried out. I will quote
my language used then, and show how
much has been done since to carry out
my dream (2). In 1874 1 said: q
"Flfty years ago one who would have
been bold enough to have yentured the
assertion that we were going to annihi
late time and space ESQ to- speak by the.
magnificent, network of railways which
have been built in Europe and America
since then, would have been hooted;
ieered and snubbed by everybody as
fool, visionary and impracticable. So
it has been in every age and every
cline, and could we but even profit by
the past experiences. acting on the for
ward line, and try to keep pace with the
rapid improvements Of the age. how
much happier and more prosperous
would we be! This great change comes
over us so gradually that we scarcely re-
aiize it even in our brief careers. Let any
one compare his views of to-day, and
notwithstanding the unusual calamities
the war has brought upon us, look at
the general and marked improvements
all over this sunny South, in the face
of chapter of drawbacks which this
country, in all probability, will not see
for the next hundred years to come-to
wit: The war, deprecated currency,
Portland, Chicago and Boston fires.
floods unprecedented in the South, and
the terrible panic of 1873, besides many
minor cOnvulsiOnS unusual. Every one
of these catastrophes are not sectional
but national in their depre ssing effects,
affecting sections which are mutually
dependent on eacn other.
WHAT THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS WILL DO.
81 will not he so minute as to coniure
up GalileO and other SageS of the past.
as examples of unappreciated wisdom,
but enough will present itself to any
thinking person in addition to what has
been said, to accept this as literally
true; so [ will proceed with my specu-
latiOnS as to what will be in the next
fifty years or less. There will be con-
tinuous link Of railway from the United
States by San Francisco, up the Pacific
slope of British America, through
Alaska, across Behring's StraitM(rigit
here L will say, according to sOundings
made by United States eX-
ploring expedition, map of which
L have. the maximum depth is 200
feet, showing the practicability of a
bridge forty miles long across the strait)
Into Asia, passing by sixty degrees
north latitude to st. Petersburg. the
home of the czar, connecting with sys-
tenn of railroads already established over
Europe.
''Then to establish a line from New
Orleans or Houston, Tex. to Brazil, by
the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea
side of the continuous mountains from
North TO South Ameriea.w we could reach
the rich valley of the Amazon without
encountering serious topographic or
physical difficulties.
''The whole thing is perfectly feast
BILE, and as far as the ability, financially,
OF the four great powers interested is
concerned, is perfectly practicable. The
distance from San Francisco to ST..
Petersburg is about 5000 miles, and at
a cost of $4,000 per mile is $40O, ZOO, 900!
and what is that for four such powers.
as Russia. Great Britain, the United
States and Brazil, who would be bene-
fitted millions! have read wild theories
compared to thiS) of tunneling the At.
iantic, which gives me more confidence
in suggesting this high. dry and per-
fectly practicable route. having to cross
only one mountain in the whole disl
tance-the Ural mountains i'm the Rus,
sian empire. DETECTING to the south
after crossing Behring's strait, a
branch could be built to China, 5000
miles long"
PARTIAL FULFILIMENT OF THIS PROPH-
ECY.
The above gives the general status of
affairs over four years ago: but it fills
me with peculiar delight to revise this
description by showing the marvellous
steps which have been taken to partially
carry out this. the greatest of human
designs. The Russians have explored a
route from Nijni-Novgorod by Tomsk
and Irkoutsk, in Siberia. and on to
Pekin, China. making $500 miles.
and they find it remarkably
cheap line to build, a large por-
ton of it being prairie, and may he
considered as practically done, for the
czar has decreed it. and that means bus