Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-12-15
CONCO'S COMMERCE.
Progress OF an Important Rail
road for Central
Africa.
When it is Completed il VIII
Run Tourist Palace
Cars.
Some Very Difficult Engineering
Products OF the
Country.

a ca bledespatch from the Congo,
announces that the railroad has been
completed from Matadi to Palaballa,
ten miles. After the tracllayers reach
that point, Il mile and half of the rOaI
was completed in ten days, though near
ly two years were taken to build the
first ten miles. The railroad has been
carried beyond the obstacles that long
made rapid progress impossible, says e.
c.. Adams, in the Chicago Herald, and
now the great enterprise will be easily
pushed forward until the upper river
at Stanley Pool is connected with navl-
CATION on the lower Congo.
Nh. Stanley said once that all the re
sources of commerce on the upper river
would not be worth copper until betUer
means of transportation were provided.
This was a peSSimiStic view, for the
traders of England, Belgium, Holland
and France in fact have pushed their
enterprises above the cataract region
of the lower river, have established
stations 1,2O0 miles inland, have trans
ported a dozen steamers to stanley
Pool and thousands of pOrterS have
been carrying their merchandise 235
miles around the cataractS. About 10,
600 carriers, in the past two years, have
been engaged in this transport service.
In another year or SO the railroad will
be completed, and then this army OF
pOrtres will have to seek other employ
ment, for the railroad will mOnopolize
the carrying trade.
The merchants Of Belgium, however,
took SANKEY'S words to heart and u
company called the Society of the Upper
Congo, organized to develOpe commerce
Congo, organized to develop commerce
feasibility Of Il railraOd along the 80
miles of Congo cataractS. Their steam
boats at Stanley Pool, had uni1npedeI
navigation along 5000 miles of the Con
go and its tributaries. They desired
first to learn if the trade prospects of
the upper Congo region would justify
the heavy cost Of a railroad. SO they
sent an expedition four years ago, which
spent a year i'll threading the water
ways of the upper Congo, taking Il sort
of census of the people and making Il
thorough study of the country. The
exploring party then drew up ii careful
report with regard to the natives, their
desire to trade, the kinds of merchan-
products that could be secured for fe-
turn cargoes to Europe.
The company was well pleased with
the report, and at once sent out two
other expeditions. one to make surveys
along the south bank, and to decide the
best route for the railroad and its prob
able cost This work occupied another
year. and after all this preliminary WORK
it was decided to build the line on the
south side of the river, starting from
Matadi. ninety miles above the Congo 5
mouth. The engineers decided that tie
line, after sllirting the Congo for five
miles, should ascend the Leopold ravine
to the plateau at Palaballa. From this
point to Stanley Pool there We're few
engineering difficulties. 1t was estiInat-
ed that the entire cost Of the road and
equipment would be $5,O00,000
The money was raised, and the Congo
state gave the company valuable conces-
sions in lands and privileges to help
carry out the enterprise. Agents We're
sent al over Africa wherever it was
thought natives could be hired as track
layers and laborers. European carpen-
ters. bIacksmiths and other artisans
were sent to the Congo to superintend
deparementS and instruct natives 70
carry on various sorts of labor At first
most Of the army Of WOrkmen were Sc
cured from Zanzibar, Sierra Leone,
Lagos, Accra and the kru coast Ct
Liberia. Then Dahomey, Senegal and
the Angola coasts furnished their con
tingent, and finally many workmen were
employed from the lower Congo tribes.
Last summer the force OF black labOrers
numbered 1900, of whom 1000 had
come from various points on the Guinea
coast
Harder railroad building is rarely seen
than that which ushered in the begin
ming Of the enterprise. The river flows
swiftly and is full Of edies and whirl-
pools. A little further up the river are
the Yellala falls, and the scene is where
Tuckey's Inflated expedition, in I~-6,
first heard the roar of the great cata-
ract, and found in Il few weeks crowded
with disaster. that these falls formed u
barrier they could not pass. The ue-
preston in the big hills at the left is
the Leopold rayine, up which the rail
road turns to reach the heights Of
Palaballa
The road, from the starting point at
Matadi, all along this hill slope and up
the ravine to Palaballa. has been blast
ed out of solid quartzite Of extreme
hardness, and progress has been made
with the utmost difficulty The slope
along the river is very PERCEPTIONS, and
in many places the track has been laid
between two solid walls of rock which
was blasted foot by foot. Still greater
difficulties were encountered in the IA
vine up which the roadbed had to be
made at a steep gradient until it reached
a height of about one thousand feet
above the river The work is carried
on under the direction of Captain Thys,
who has been in the service of the Con-
go state and the Society of the Upper
Congo for years.
A bridge. about two hundred feet
long has been thrown over the MapOso
river in the Leopold ravine. This is
the largest bridge yet in place along
the line. The able young engineer who
built it. Jean Baptiste Glaesener, wrote
ri WI
week I shall complete the bridge. and