The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-13
MOUNTAIN RAILROADS.
locomotives TO ASCEND THE
slopes OF TaR ALPS AND ANDES.


Mile in Peru-The Road Up rat.
washington the First Built-The Fa-
nous Rigi Line.
From the So. Louis Globe Democrat.
II George Stevenson, when he placed the
/ srst locomotive on the track and guaran-
.aad it a speed of six miles an hour, could
| have foreseen that in less than eighty years
| ,ha successors of his rude machine would be
,imbing the sides Of mountain ranges,
oiarclng gorges hitherto deemed inaccessi-
Ma crossing ravines on bridges higher than
| tbs dome of st. Pauls, and traversing the
bowels Of the earth by means of tunnels, 10
sonbt his big blue eyes would have stood
an. with wonder and amazement But he
,oresaw nothing Of the kind; the only prob
lam present in his mind was how TO get
goods from the seaports in Western Eng
land TO London as easily and cheaply as
rossbe, and 70 do this he substituted for
horses which had for hundred and fifty
rssrs been drawing cars along wooden or
i,on tracks, the wonderful machine which
has revolutionized the freight and passen-
GER traffic of the world.
II was indeed impossible for any one to
foresee the triumphs of engineering which
have accompanied the advances in trans
nortation. To the engineer of the present
ssv there are no impossibilities. The engi-
neer is a wizard at whose command space
and matter are annihilated. The high
sst mountain, the deepest valley, has no ter
rors for him; he can bridge tue latter and
encircle or tunnel the former. The only
reoujsites which he demands are that some
thing in his line be needed and that the
money is forthcoming to defray the expense,
and the thing will be done. But the rail-
road he rs asked to construct must be nec.
essary, and the necessity must be plainly
shown. OF no funds will be advanced: and
although the theory does not invariably
hold good, especially when craze for rail-
road building is raging, as rule no eK-
pense for the construction of road will be
incurred without prospect of remunera-
ton.
Hence the need OF railroad communica-
ton has caused lines to be constructed
through districts where only few years
ago the thing would have been deemed im-
possible The Pacific roads Of this country
were a necessity long before their construc-
ton, and In face OF difficulties almost in
superable were carried to successful COM
pletion. So also Of the railroads in the
Andes of South America. The famous road
one of the highest mountain roads in the
world. as well asof the most difficult con-
struction- The grades are often of 800 feet
and more TO the mile. and when the moun-
tains were reached SO great were the diff
culties 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 road
way In some sections tunnels are more
numerous than open cuts. and 80 far as the
road has gone sixty-one tunnels, great and
small, have been constructed, agRregating
over q, 900 feet in length. The road attains
a height of Ii. 900 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
tunnel 3,S47 feet long. The stern necessi-
ties of business compelled the construction
of this road, otherwise it never would have
been begun.
The tunnels of the Andes, however, do
not bear comparison with the tunnels,
bridges and snow sheds of the Union Pacific,
nor do even these compare with the vast
undertakings In the Alps, three great tun-
nels of nine to eleven miles In length which
have been prepared Tor the transit of travel
srs and freight. The necessities of business
necsssitsted the piercing of the Alps, and
as soon as buS n9CbS5lby was bnOWn IuQQS
in abundance were forthcoming for the en-
terprise.
But tunneting a mountain is different
thing from climbing it. Many years ago
the attention of inventors was directed to
the practioability of constructing a railroad
up the side of a mountain on grades which,
to an ordinary engine, were quite impossi-
BILE The Improvements in locomotives,
twenty-five and thirty years ago, rendered
them capable of climbing grades which, in
the early days of railroad engineering, were
deemed out of the question. These i'm
provements proved a serious stumbling
block in the way of the inventors, who
found that an ordinary locomotive was able
to climb much sleeper grade than was
commonly supposed. The FIRST railroads
were laid almost level, but it was soon dis
covered that a grade of a few feet to the
mile was no impeachment to progress, aud
gradually the grade was steepened. The in
ventors Of mountain railroad transporta-
ton might have been discouraged by this
discovery, but it is characteristic of an in~
ventor that he is not set back by opposition,
which, in fact, only serves to stimulate his
zeal. The projectors of inclined roads and
mountain engines kept steadily on, and In
France, Germany, England and the United
States many experimental roads were con-
structed, each Of q few hundred yards In
length, and locomotive models were built
and put in motion to the amezement Of the
general public, who jeered alike at the con-
trivances and the contrivers, deeming the
former impracticable and the latter crazy.
But the idea Of building road up the
side of hill was not to be dismissed. There
was money IN it for the successful man, so
the cranky inventors kept on at work in
spite Of the jeers of the rabble and the dis
couragements of capitalists 10th to invest
their money in an uncertain scheme. TO
the energy and perseverance Of railroad in
ventors the success of the mountain railroad
is due, as also is the construction of the va
riOus mountain roads of which the road up
Mt. Washington, finished III 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 Mt.
Washington was finished, the best known is
Mat 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 it is by no means the highest,
It's summit being but 5, 905 feet above the
level of the sea. Although scarcely more
than third the hight OF some other noun
tslns 10 the Alps, it seems much higher be-
cause of its isolated position. Standing, as
u does, between Lakes Lucerne, Zug and
Loweraz, tt commands series OF fine views
10 every direction, and he who looks from
the summit OF Rigi, IL he does no other trav-
ehng In Switzerland. can gain fair idea of
tue Swiss mountain scenery. Many of the
most noted peaks are In sight, and from the
hlgl can be seen the three lakes beneath,
the villages which here and there dot their
SHORES, and, further on, the mighty masses
oil the Alps with their glaciers and eternal
SHOWS.