The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-11

Z ten years has Been 2i,OOO miles, q
work Of supplying the missing link
> seen to be a perfectly feasible unde
taking whenever capitalists arc co
!. vinced that the venture will pay.
M. Weisscnbrnch, engineer to the Be
gian ministry Of railroads, in d pap,
contributed to tho Bulletin Of the Il
%ternational Railroad Congress, give
some interesting facts relating to tn
great railway projects Of other cour
tries. Three great transcontinenta
0 lines or, as the Germans would ca
Q them, world railroads are projected j
Asia. The first OF these is the limo fror
3 Constantinople to Bagdad, and theme
0 by way OF the Iigris valley, the Persial
: gulf and through Belouchistan TO
connection with the Indian railroad sys
tenn Oh the upper Indus. While u he
ginning has actually been made on this
actual work has been limited to som,
ninety miles, from Scutari to Ada
Bazaar, in Asiatic Turkey, and it is no
likely to advance very rapidly unit
economic conditions in Turkey are ma
terialIy changed, and English capita
can be largely drawn in that direction
The second is the so-calied Grand Cen.
trial Asiatic line, proposed by NJ. Cot
tard, a French engineer, and NJ. de Les
seps. This would start from Orenbourg
in Russia, run through western Siberia
and Tartary to a connection with the
Trans Caspian line at Tashkend, and
thence by Samarkand and Kabul tc
Ptshawur. il upper India. This il
purely a paper project, with no present
prospect OF construction, and is inter.
esting only as a remote possibility.
The third line is the great Siberian
railroad, and this is the only ono Of the
three which can be said to be under
actual construction. The first and most
difficult sections are well advanced to-
ward completion, and there is little
doubt that when the great plains OF
southern Siberia are reached it will be
pushed forward steadily; perhaps even
there may be a repetition Of the extra
ordinary work which called such wide
W. hC cumming vi bJc AIdIl5-
Caspian railroad under General Amen
koff. The objective point Of the 81
berian railroad is Vladivostok, which is
only $40 nautical miles from Yokohama;
and it will be readily seen how much it's
completion will shorten the time re-
quired to circumnavjgate-if that term
can properly be used for a journey made
half by rail-the globe.
But the Siberian railroad is destined,
VI. Weisenbruch thinks, to have two
great branches. The first will pass
through Kiahta into China, and in time
to Pekin; but this, while commercially
OF great Importance, will not be part of
the world railroad. The greater branch
will start from Nertschinsk or Albasin,
on the AMOR river, and will run north
eastward, skirting the Okotsk sea, and
crossing k~amschatka to Behring's
straits, there to meet what, for want Of
another name, We might call the Alaska
Central Il Atlantic line, which would
II from Behring's straits southwark to
"A connection with the Canadian Pacific
at Vancouver and with the Northern
and Southern Pacific at Tacoma and
Portland.
The bridging OF Behring's straits, in
M. Weissenbruchis opinion, presents no
serious obstacles; nor would it be more
difficult to run a railroad in Kamschatka
and Alaska than in the north OF Sweden
or in some parts Of Russia, where lines
are already worked successfully. .
"The possibilities may be extended in
definitely; the International line, con-
Meeting North and South America. may
be completed, and in hat case the trav-
eler might take his through sleeper in
London, Paris or st. Petersburg. not
only for New York. but for the City of
Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Valparaiso or
Buenos Ayres."
"Further, it has been proposed to
build a railroad from Quebec to Bay st.
Charles, on the coast OF Labrador, the
nearest point on the American continent
to Europe, from which steamers could
make the voyage to Liverpool inside Of
four days. Surprising an average speed
on the railroads of forty miles an hour
which is not impossible the trip around
the world could then be made in twenty
three days"
Only think of it, Around the globe
in about the time it used to take an old
timer to make the journey by stage
from Omaha { o Helena.