Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-04-19
TO LONDON BY hall.
AN ALL ROUND THE WORLD ROUTE
WHICH is PRACTICABLE.

Fourteen Thousand Miles of Track, One
half of Which Is Already Laid-The Rus
sian Government Already Helping.
It is quite probable that some Of those who
read this page will make an all rail journey
from New York to London, or from London
to New York; A recent writer has been
carefully thinking out the whole scheme. How
can this ever be when 5000 miles of Atlantic
ocean separate the two placess he asks
England lies to the east of the United
States, but to reach it by railway the trav-
eler will start westward, and, riding day
after day and night after night, until he
reaches the opposite side of the globe, where
west and east meet and separate, and then
keeping on still westward, he will arrive at
London, having well nigh traversed round
the world
This is no idle fancy. The scheme involves
no ocean ferrying, no stupendous and I'M
practicable bridge building. From the east
ern shore Of America to the western border
of England there stretches continuous dry
land, with the exception of the narrow and
comparatively shallow straits of Behring,
between America and Asia, that are small
obstacle; the narrow English channel, only
twenty miles across, and the rivers which
science already knows how to span.
The English end of the projected line, how
ever, is Of comparatively small Importance.
The real problem lies in spanning the ire
mendous distance that lies between the north
western boundary of the United States and
the eastern frontier of Europe.
THE PROPOSED ROUTE.
From New York to little beyond the
l-,,, af 4o4o
continuous rail communication is already
open by way of the Canadian Pacific railway,
which will soon be supplemented by the COM
pletion of connection between the Northern
Pacific and the British American line.
Europe, from the Atlantic ocean to the
Ural mountains, which separate it from Asia,
is now crossed by the locomotive, its eastern
border being reached by two great Russian
railways, one terminating at Orenburg and
the other at Ekaterinburg, which last lies
nearly due east from Moscow and southeast
from St. Petersburg The vast Russian en-
pire in Asia, stretching from the Ural noun
tains to the North Pacific, and far up almost
to the Arctic circle at Behring straits, a
distance Of thousands of miles, has not as
yet one solitary line of railway. 1t is across
this prodigious stretch of country, much of it
well peopled, but much, also, an unknown
wilderness, locked a large part of the year in
the embrace of the Arctic winter that the
trans-Asiatic line must penetrate.
Buta great step in this direction has already
been taken. The Russian government feels
the necessity of railway communication
across its Asiatic empire, and the car has
sanctioned project for the gradual construc
ton of railway from the Ural mountains
to the waters Of the Pacific at Vladivostocll,
the extreme southeastern point of the Rus
sian empire, lying about latitude 42, directly
opposite the northern, most of the chief
islands in Japan. When that great work is
accomplished, central Asia will be brought
into much nearer connection with America
than now, as Vladivostock lies almost due
west from Portland, Ore, and the distance
between the two continents is much less than
it is farther south.
But this will not do for our all rail route,
which must be made by line branching off
from the great Russian Pacific railway at
some point perhaps thousand miles west of
Vladivostock, and running northeasterly
through Siberia to Behring straits
The crossing of the Behring straits is de-
clared by some experienced travellers to be
entirely practicable. In the narrowest place
they are said to be only ten miles wide, and
while for part of the year boats can easily
cross, it is asserted that the straits are dotted
with islands, by means of which, and inter-
yening bridges, a continuous passage could
be effected
Alaska does not, it must be admitted, offer
very encouraging field for railway build
ing, SO far as either climate, Typographical
features or productions are concerned, but
it interposes no obstacles which money and
skill could not overcome.
THE DISTANCES.
The distances over which the railway would
have to be built to carry out this great scheme
are, in round numbers, about as follows:
Miles.
United States boundary to Behring straits. 1900
Behring straits to junction with Russian
Pacific railway. 1900
Junction to European line at Ekaterinburg $500
Total yet to be constructed. ............. $500
This looks like a tremendous length of line
to build, and yet about an equal amount of
railway mileage was probably built in the
year 1888 in the United States alone, and in
one recent year almost double that mileage
was constructed.
Some Of the distances by our great railway
and its connections would be about as fol-
lows:
Miles.
New York to Port Moody British Am1erica). $500
Port Moody to Behring straits .....-........ 1900
Behring straits to Ural mountains. ......... $500
Ural mountains to London. .................. 5000
Total New York to London, all rail. -. 900
This would be pretty long rail journey,
but it would be short compared with many
ocean voyages that are now made; in fact, it
would be only about three and half times
as long as the journey from New York to.
San Diego, which is undertaken every day.
Allowing the moderate average of twenty
five miles an hour, the trip from New York
to London would take about twenty-three
days. Then the tourist might add seven
days sail from Liverpool to New York, and
thus accomplish a trip around the world in
thirty days, which would beat Jules Verne's
travellers out of sight.-New York Journal.