The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1891-02-14
o1LP1N's RAILROAD SCHEME.
Some Of the Obstacles In the Way OF q
All RrIl Route to Enrope.

Some Of the Obstacles In the Way OF an
All RrIl Route to Europe.
The project of Ex-Governor Gilpin. Of
Colorado, to build a line of railway
through the wilds Of Alaska to Ca
Prince of Wales, to connect with the
Russian railroad system through Siberia,
thus linking the old and the new worlds
with railroad, is feasible one and the
future will see It accomplished. But
there is a giant obstacle in the way of
one unbroken line connecting tile two
hemispheres, and this is Behring Straits.
Mr.. Gilpin's proposition is TO bridge these
straits, which all we'll enough in theory.
but quite different thing in practice.
At considerable expense the straits can
undoubtedly be bridged, as an island lies
about midway between the Asiatic and
American shores; the distance is MT
great and the water shallow, the Govern
ment charts showing the greatest depth
to be only SO fathoms.
But could a bridge be built high
enough to allow towering icebergs to pass
under it9 aud with strength to Withstand
the great ice foes that are yearly sW ept
down through the straits from the Artic
Ocean? The current In sweeping
through the narrow straits from one
great sea into another is very swift and
strong. and great icebergs would be
borne against the bridge, Its piers. and
abutments with q force that neither
8 eel stringers or mason work would
stand against. Should the structure
stand for a time 1t must ultimately give
way before the great Ice block, with the
current OF the Artic Ocean sweeping
against 1t, that would follow any obstruc-
ton to its passage. The ice flow is the
only difficulty in the way of bridging
surmountRble. A ship railway across
the straits could run In the summer only,
as the straits freeze over during the
winter, and, as Captain Emory Of the
United States ship Thetis stated, the
only practical means Of crossing these
straits at all seasons Of the year is by
tunnelling under them.
The character of the coast line of
Alaska is such that railway building
along it would encounter obstacles al
most as great as the ice foes In Behring
Straits. The mountains ara rugged and
preeipitous in the extreme; they break
in precipics sheer into the sea. and run
back to attitudes Of from 900 TO 30 900
feet, and the crest of tile range is capped
with eternal snow and ice. Every
canyon Is an inlet from the sea which,
octopus like, seems to cling with mighty
arms to the mountains for support
Thus channels are navigable for the
largest ships, and curious as It may
seem glide up these narrow canyons.
with barely passage on either side for
miles, and come 10 anchor directly
under the towering ice capped peaks.
In the very heart Of the coast range.
| Where the waters of the sea end In
these canyons comes in the arms Of a
glacier, with a surface like an angry
sea, aud cracked and scanned In every
direction The glacial arms extend tn the
crest Of the range, where they join the
main glacier. which expands into vast
field Of ice. as II were, the glacier reaeh-
ing its long arms down, and the sea
reaching up from below, and clasping
hands half way upon the mountain side
Late scientific Investigations have
proven that these glaciers movs-that
at the rate Of from fraction Of an inch
70 a foot or two daily they are slipning
down TO the sea. aud with regularity
that Is remarkable hurl from their
fronts acres OF ice at q dime into the
watera A difficulty in railway build
ing across these ice fields would be that
q break would hoat whole train Of cars
out 10 sea
Through the interior Of Alaska.
rather than along the coast lies the
route OF Governor Gllpln's railroad,
acros the hesdwaters OF the sickesn
ana down the great valley Of the
Yukon, --IRocky Mountain .Hewa