The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-11-08
AN ARCTIC RAILWAY.
THE LAPP'S QUERY AS HIS REIN
DEER HOME is INVADED.

Great Feat of Locomotion Due to
English and Scotch Enterprise-A Noun
tain of ore-Picturesque scenery-some
Curious Remarks.
A railway within the Arctic circle is now
an accomplished fact, and to Englishmen and
TO Scotchmen is due this great feat of locomo-
tlon which will connect the Gulf of Bothnia
with very high latitude on the Norwegian
coast but with open water all the year round
on the North sea. Gellwara just now is the
center of great activity, for the Swedish and
Norwegian railway has brought the mex
haustible ores of its mountains to the shores of
the Gulf of Bothnia, and a small fleet of En-
glish steamers daily await the morning and
evening trains at Lulea, which bring from 400
TO 5OO tons of ore, drawn by powerful engine
OF North British manufacture, whilst 10, 900 or
I2,OOO tons of northern coal stands piled upon
the railway quays The Swedes in Norbotten
are not altogether friendly to this great I'M
dertaking, but the Swedish government
wisely recognize the great results which En-
glish contractors and British capital have
secured for what was practically an mac
cessible district, and where for over eighty
years the wealth of the mineral district has
been recognized, but there has been no mode
of conveyance which could bring it to the
highways of commerce
The mountain itself is of some 800, 900 acres
in area, and wherever you turn on its face,
and even on its summit, traces of the ore are
to be found, sometimes at the highest levels
protruding; or at the lower workings at a
very few feet from the surface. The railway
company are themselves working the mines
or lodes, which are situated on different parts
OF the mountains, and from which small
tramway lines descend to the line which for
nVe miles steadily ascends the mountains
from Gellwara, where even grand hotel is
being erected, and new church is already
complete, in which all nationalities, includ-
ing the Lapps, meet for service. Although
the railway is not yet open for passenger
trathc, permission was accorded me to Jour
ney to the mines by the courteous resident
director at Lulea, Mr.. Henry Millett, and al
though Pullman cars have not vet been
transported to these northern ATTITUDES, a
very laudable attempt had been made to
transpose break van into a sleeping car.
where passed two nights on my journey up
and down.
StaSting from the town and port of Lulea,
has been half laid low by fire, the train
skirts for miles the side of the Gulf of Both
MIA and passes the remarkable old church of
Gamle Stadln, an edifice boasting eight CEN
turtles of antiquity, and with a carved and
gllded tryptich of such remarkable beauty
and delicacy that $4,000 has been offered and
refused by the parish for the unique speci-
men OF Flemish carving. l was present at
the monthly communion of the parish, and
was much struck with the solemn demeanor
OF the peasants, as man and wife walked to
the altar together and received the com
munion in both kinds in their mouth, but
without being allowed to touch the elements
or handle the chalice. The officiating priest
took the eastward position, and during the
communion of the people the "Agnus Del"
was sung by choir in the gallery. At Cell
wara there is an old but not very interesting
church, now abandoned, as it is full of hui
man remains, and new and modern build
ing stands about $50 yards from the railway
station.
The road to this wonderful center of enter
prise and activity traverses district which
wonderfully reminds the traveller of the
country between Port Arthur and Winnipeg.
on the Canadian Pacific railway, but the
view from Gellwara itself is much more in
teresting and mountainous than can be seen |
on the Canadian side of the Rocky noun
tains The mountain itself from which the |
railway draws its ore is 1000 feet above the |
sea level, and the view from its summit dis
closes a series of hills and mountains stretch
ing to the Norwegian frontier, towards which
the track is being steadily laid A member
of the house of Cecil is one of the railway
directors, and Messrs. Wilkinson g. Jarvis,
of Victor ia street, Westminster, are the
contractors to whose pluck and de-
termination, amid many discouragements of |
local disputants, this great work of crossing |
the Artic Circle by railway has been accom- |
plished. When the line has been completed |
to Ofoten it will be the recognized tourist |
route by which tourists, who have assembled
the North Cape, can cross the Norwegian |
ranges and return southwark to
Stockholm by rail or water from Lulea,
where the Swedish and Norwegian railway
now terminates, but from which there will |
be Q connection with the Sundsvall route to
at Boden.
The mind of local editors and local press
men is proverbially small, and it is amusing
to read in the Norbotten journal of the "pa-
5rlotlc" attempts to save Sweden from the
grasp of foreign intruders, but it is only
through English capital and British enter
prise that the great forests of the north of
Sweden have been utilized for the European
market, and that this remarkable railway
has been begun, continued,
and will ere long, believe, be successfully
ended, not very far removed from the most
northern town in the world. One remarkable
TACT l learnt at a lode where eight Scotch
miners were at work, that at the same price
Tor piece work as paid to the Swedes, they
mad secured seven kroners per diem as.
T1ad.), and the Swedes never got beyond
,hree. The most curious remarks are made
oy the Lapps, who come down to see the en-
zines draw in their loads of coal and draw
out their loads of ore. SIS this power from
is the first query of the Lapp be-
holder as he sees his reindeer home at last in
London Post