Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-20
How the Nimble Locomotive Learns
to Climb the Alps and the
Andes.
Progress of Railr0ading Since the
Days of George Stevenson and
the Rocket"
The Famous Road up the Rlgi.
and the Cable Cars up
VeSuyius.

] .
could have foreseen that in less than eighty
| years the successors of his rude machine
would be climbing the sides of mountain
ranges, piercing gorges hitherto deemed
inaccessible, crossing rdvines on bridges
! higher than the dome of st. Paul's and
traverslug the bowels of the earth bv means
OF tunnels, no doubt his big blue ewes
would have stood out with wonder and
amazement. But he foresaw nothing of
the kind; the only problem presented to
his mind was how to get goods from the
sea ports In Western England to London
as easily and cheaply as possible, and to
do this he substituted for horses. which
had for $50 years been drawing cars along
wooden or iron tracks, the wonderful ma
chime which has revolutionizad the freight
and passenger traffic of the world. It was
indeed impossible for any one to foresee
the triumphs of engineering which have
accompanied the advances in transporta-
ton. To the engineer of the present day
there are no impossibilities. But the rail-
road he is asked to construct must be
necessary, and the necessity must be
plainly shown, or no funds will be adj
vanced; and although the theory does not
invariably hold good, especially when a
a craze for railroad building is raging, as
a rule no expense for the con struction of a
road will be incurred without a prospect
of remuneration. Hence the need of rail.
road communication has caused lines to be
constructed through districts where only
a few years ago the thing would have
been deemed impossible.
The pacific roads of this country were a
necessity lorg before their construction,
and in fact of difficulties almost insupera-
bic were carried to successful completion.
So also of the railroads In the Andes of
South America. The famous road from
CallaO through the heart of Peru is one
OF the highest mountain roads in the
world, as well as of the most difficult con-
structlon. The grades are often 800 feet
and more to the mile. and when the noun
ta1ns were reached so great were the diff
tcult1es that the engineers were forced
to confront that IN some places laborers
were lowered from cliffs by ropes, in order
that, with toll and difficulty, they might
carve fOothOld in order to begin the
cutting for the roadway. In some sec
tons tunnels are more numerous than
open cuts, and so far as the road has gone
slxty-one tunnels, great and small, have
been constructed, aggregating over 20, 900
feet In length. The road attains a height
Of Is, 600 feet above the level of the sea,
and at the highest point of the track,
about as high as the topmost peak of Mont
Blanc, it pierces the range above it by a
tunnel 3,947 feet long. The stern
necessities of business compelled the con-
structiOn of this road, otherwise it never
would have been begun. The tunnels OF
| the Andes, however, do not bear colnpari-
| son with the tunnels, bridges and snow
sheds of the Union Pacific, nor do even
| these compare with the vast undertakings
in the Alps, the three great tunnels Of nine
to eleven miles in length which have been
prepared for the transit of travellers and
| freight.
The necessities of business necessitated
| the piercing of the lips, and as soon as
the necessity was shown funds in abund-
ance were forthcoming for the enterprise.
But tunnelIing mountain is a different
thing from climbing it. Many years ago
| the practicability Of constructing railroad
up the side of a mountain on grades which
to All ordinary engine were quite i'm
possible. The improvements in loco
motives, twenty five and thirty years ago,
rendered them capable OF climbing grades
which In early days of railroad engineer
| ing were deemed out of the question.
These improvements proved a serious
stumbling block in the way of the invent
ors, who found that an ordinary locomo-
tive was able to climb a much sleeper
grade than was commonly supposed The
projectors of inclined roads and mountain
engines kept steadily on, and in France,
Germany, Eng land and the United States
many detrimental roads were constructed,
each OF few hundred yards in length,
and locomotive models were built and put
IN motion to the amazement of the gen
eral public, who jeered alike at the con-
trlvances and the cOntrivers, deeming the
former impractlcable and the latter crazy
But the idea Of building a road up the
side Of hill was not to be dismissed
There was money in it for the successful
man. To the energy and perseverance
Of railroad inventors the success of the
mountain railroad is due, as also
is the construction Of the various
mountain roads of which the road
up Mount Washington, finished in
1868, was the first, and the road up
Pixies Peak, completed the other day, was
the last. Of all the mountain roads which
have been constructed since the one up
Mount Washington was finished, the best
known is that which ascends the world
lduOuS mig. w I'LL lue exception OF
Mont Blanc, Rigi is perhaps the best
known of any peak in the Alps, though it
is by no means the highest, its summit be-
ing but 5,905 feet above the level of the
sea. Althoug, scarcely more than a third
of the height of some other mountains in
the Alps, it seems much higher because of
its isolated position. Standing as it does
between lakes Lucerne, Tug and Lowerz
it commands series of fine views in every
direction, and he who looks from the sum-
nit Of Rigi, if he does no other travelling
in Switzerland, can gain fair idea of
the Swiss mountain scenery. Many of the
most noted peaks are in sight, and from
the RIgi can be seen the three lakes be-
meath, the villages which here and there
dot their shores. and further on the mighty
masses of the Alps, with their glaciers and
eternal snow. The credit Of the design is
due to German engineer named R5ggen-
bach, who, about the year 1861, designed
the idea of a mountain road, and drew up
plans not only for the bed, but also for the
engine and cars. The scheme dragged
Capitalists were slow to invest their money
in what they deemed a wild and i'm practi
cal undertaking. and even the owners of
land on the Rigi were reluctant for
such an experiment to be tried But
Reggenbacn persevered, and toward the
close of the decade the inhabitants of
Vitznau. at the base of the Rigi, were
astonished to see gangs of laborers begin
the work of making clearing through the
forests on the mountain slope. The Vltz-
nauers were delighted, for they had no