The record-union., 1892-02-13
A PALESTINE RAILROAD.
Oriental Line Projected to Connect
Europe with Asia.
By Rail from London to Calcutta-The
Line as Surveyed Through Syria
ern Innovations.

/ and Palestine-OId Scenes and Mod.
ern Innovations.
Public interest in Oriental railroads has
recently been reused by the fact that two
| American engines have been manufact
ured and dispatched to Palestine to bt
employed on railroad now in process o
construction between Joppa and Jerusa
lem. 1t is not generally known, how
ever, that for many years an extensive
system of railroads has been planned
throughout Asia Minor, and that, indeed
an overland route to India, by way of the
Orontes and Euphrates Valleys, has no
only been in contemplation, but that sur.
veys have actually been made for the pur
pose of locating the road. During the las
| few years the scheme has gradually beer
| taking more definite shape, until now il
may be deemed a possibility of the no
distant future
With the people of the present day
| time is everything. In former ages time
was matter of no consequence, but al
present, time as well as knowledge is
power. Had the English Government
for instance, been able to place few regi-
ments of troops in Bombay or Calcutts
| within fourteen days after the Sepoy
mutiny of 1857 broke out, the news OF
their arrival would, in an exaggerated
form, have soon spread all over India
much bloodshed might have been pre-.
vented, and millions in treasure saved.
| Then, time was matter Of some import
but the danger is greater now than then
for with the Russians at the gates OF
Herat, with Russian railroad built tC
the south end Of the Caspian Sea, and
Russian IegionS almost ready to pour
| down into the plains of India, a few days
more or less may signify the loss OF an
empire.
Beside, there is now an immense travel
and traffic between England and India
and IN business, as in military move
ments, time is invaluable. constant
and growing demand for quick transpor-
tatlon forced travellers and freight from
the long voyage round the Cape into the
shorter route through the Mediterranean.
built first railroad across the Isthmus
of Suez, and established lines of steam
ers from England to Egypt, from Egypt
to bombay shortening the route from
| England to India from upward of 10, ,00O
miles to less than half that distance. 1t
is now proposed, by new overland
route, to reduce this TO about 1880 miles.
Railroads are already in operation from
London to Dover, and from Calais, across
VIC Sudllilel, through rance, Germany,
| Austria, the Balkan and Turkish terri
tory to Constantinople. 1t is proposed to
establish line OF steamers to ply either
| from Trieste or COnStantinople to some
| point on the eastern coast OF the Medi-
| terranean, where the overland trip to the
| Indian peninsula will begin, thus MAX
! ing, with the exception of few hundred
miles in the Mediterranean and few
hundred more in the Indian Ocean, al
most the entire trip land or river Jour-
| ney.
When the project was first broached in
1857, AleXandretta- was selected as the
starting point on the Mediterranean. A
more thorough examination and survey
| of the interior of this part of Asia proved
however, that this was an impracticable
starting point, for the vast mountain
ranges north of Aleppo came down alb
| ruptly to the sea- and as they were prac-
| tically impossible to railroad enterprise
they placed barrier to progress in that
direction. So the old and once famous
| city of Antioch was selected as the start
ing point. Thence up the valley of the
| Orontes it is designed for the railroad to
pass by easy grades to Aleppo, and thence
across the divide, which at no point is of
more than 300 or 400 feet in hight, to the
Euphrates at Kaalat Jaber, a distance
from Antioch of about 150 miles. From
| this point. an Arab village at present of no
|
gable to the sea, and to Bassora ships of
| considerable burden may ascend.
The distance from Kaalat Jaber to Bas-
| Sora is said to be 750 miles and q line of
steamers, small and of light draught,
| may traverse the stream at any season OF
the year without experiencing serious
| delay. 1t is not at present contemplated
to extend the railroad down the Valley of
the Euphrates, since the river itself
| furnishes a natural means of transporta-
! ton at once speedy and certain, and with
a better knowledge of the currents, sands
and rocks, it is expected that this dis
| tance will be made in less than four days.
! AS the demands for transportation in
crease, it is hoped that the railroad will
be extended down the river to the Per-
! sian Gulf.
From Bassora to Kurrachee, the ex-
treme western point of India, where the
railroad system of that country begins,
is distance OF about l,000 miles, which
can be traverSed in four davs by fast
steamer, and thus by the railroads of
India any point in the peninsula may be
reached. This, in brief, is at present the
projected route, but of course it is not i'm
possible that 1T may be changed by cir
cumstances, or even extended to cover
districts of country not now contem-
plated in the original plan. For exam
pie, an all-rail route from Calais to Cal
cutta is not an impossibility. AS already
noted, railroad lines now extend from
| Calais to ConStantinople. From Con-
stantinople to Bassora or Bagdad is a
distance of about 1,200 miles; from Bag
dad to Kurrachee, through Persia and
| Beloochistan, is about 1000 more. The
country is not especially difficult for rail
road construction, and tits quite possible,
therefore, that men now living may be
able to travel from London to Calcutta, a
distance of nearly 5000 miles, with no
more water travel than across the Straits
of Dover and the Bosphorus.
! The Euphrates route, however. is in an
almost straight line, and will probably
be the favorite for years to come. A con-
cession has already been secured from
the Sultan, and no long time will elapse
ere the work is begun. The undertaking
is by no means SO difficult as many in
railroad building which have already
been accomplished; the obstacles are far
from insurmountable. In days when
men accomplished impossibilities, the
difficulties of such an enterprise are not
at all serious.
Nor is the route new. Before the dis
| covery of the Cape of Good Hope by Diaz
in 1887, and of the southeastern passage
by Fasco da Cana, sixteen years later.
the Euphrates was the favorite route
from India to Europe and back again.
The merchants, in bringing the treasures
of the East to the galleys of the Vene-
tians at Antioch and Smyrna, went by
sea from India to the mouth of the Eu-
| pirates or Tigris, up one or the other OF
these to point near which it is proposed
for the present road to end, and thence