Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-08-22
How the Nimble Locomotive Learns
TO Climb the Alps and the
Andes.
Progress of Railroading Since the
Days Of George Stevenson and
the Rocket"
The Famous Road up the Rigi,
and the Cable Cars up
Yesuyius.

D
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 ravines on bridges
higher than the dome of st. Paul's and
( traversiug the bowels of the earth by means
OF tunnels, no doubt his big blue eyes
would have stood out with wonder and
amazement But he fOresaw nothing of
the kind; the only problem presented TO
has 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
chine which has revolutionlzed the freight
and passenger traffic of the world It was
indeed impossible for any one to foresee
the trlumphs Of engineering which have
accompanied the advances in transporta-
ton. To the engineer of the present day
there are no lmposslbillties. But the rail
road he is asked to construct must be
necessary, and the necessity must be
plainly shown, or no funds will be ad.
yancedi and although the theory does not
invariably hold good, especially when a
craze for railroad building is raging, as
rule no expense for the con struction of
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
few years ago the thing would have
been deemed impossible.
The pacific roads of this country were a
necessity long before their construction,
and in fact of difficulties almost insupera-
BILE 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
struct!on. The grades are often 300 feet
and more to the mile, and when the noun
tains were reached so great were the diff
hcultles 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.
tions 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 20 600
feet in length The road attains height
Of 5000 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, 1t pierceS the range above it by
tunnel 3,S47 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 COMPARE
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 tor the transit of travellers and
freight.
The necessities of business necessitated
the piercing of the Alps, and as soon as
the necessity was shown funds In abund-
ance were forthcoming for the enterprise
But tunnellng a mountain is a different
thing from climbing it. Many years ago
the attention OF inventors was directed 10
the pract2ability of constructing railroad
up the side of mountain on grades which
to an 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 cer1Ous
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, England and the United States
many experimental roads were constructed,
each of a few hundred yards in length,
and locomotive models were built and put
IN motion to the amazement of the gen
eral public, who leered alike at the CON
trlyanCes and the COntrlyers, deeming the
former lmpractlcable and the latter crazy.
But the idea of building a road up the
side of a hill was not TO be dismissed
/ There was money in 1t 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 Mornt Washington. finished in
1868, was the first and the road up
PiSe's Peak. completed the other day. was
the last &c all the mountain roads which
have been cOsSuuCted since the one up
Mount Washington was finished. the best
known is that which ascends the world
famous Rigi. With the exception of
Mont Blanc, Rigi is perhaps the best
known Of any peak in the Alps, though il
/ 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 o,her mountains in
The Alps, 1t seems much higher because of
It's isolated position. Standing as it does
between lakes Lucerne, Zug and Lower
i it commands a series Of fine views in every
direction, and he who looks from the sum
NIT Of RIgi, if be does no other travelling
IN Switzerland, can gain a fair idea Of
the Swiss mountain scenery. Many Of the
most noted peaks are in sight, and from
the Rlgi 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 a German engineer named Reggen-
bach who, about the year 1861. designed
the idea Of mountain road. and drew up