The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1893-07-01
REMARKABLE PROGRESS.

REMARKABLE PROGRESS.
WONDERFUL IMPROVEMENTS TN
TRANSFORMATION FACILITIES.
The Exhibits at the Transportatfon
Building at the Worlds Fair Are
of Unusual Interest-Compariso
Between the United States and
Foreign Countries.
Jackson Park, Special Correspond
ence-There are branches of industry
and mechanical skill in which America
is, of course, expected to excel all for
eign nations, such as in heavier ma
chinery and in labor-saving machinery,
in leather goods and in manufactures
in wool, and in electrical, lightning
and motive power.
The great stretch of territory from
Maine to California and from Lake
Superior to- the Gulf Of Mexico, with
it's moving tide of population, has also
forced another branch Of mechanical
industry into great and rapid develop
ment upon this continent. The United
States with 10000 miles of railroad,
more than that Of all the rest of the
world, had Of necessity to develop the
cheapest and most effective means of
transportation for passengers and
heavy commodities in order to COM
pete with small nations in the mar
kets Of the world. Ten years ago the
railroads Of the United States carried
nine times as much freight as the
whole merchant marine of Great
Britain.
The DEVELOPMENT Of this stupendous
Internal commerce at the expense of
our foreign trade and shipbuilding in
dustries was quite enough for the en-
ergy Of our people to undertake at one
time. In forty years it has reduced
the practical business Of transportation
almost to a science, and has separated
it into two branches, that Of carrying
the heaviest loads at the least expense
and that of carrying passengers at the
greatest rate of speed and at the least
expense. Engines are now constructed
which almost every day haul a hun
dred loaded cars. The greatest tri-
umph in speed for a passenger train
was registered the other day, when a
special train now regular traversed the
distance between Chicago and New
York over the Michigan Central road
$50 miles in twenty hours, a sustained
average speed, including all delays of
40 miles per hour. During this trip the
speed Of upwards of 80 miles per hour
was made. This makes an era in the
history of rapid transit, and places the
United States ahead in the matter of
passenger transportation as it has been
in the transportation Of heavy goods
and freight There is no better way
Of seeing or understanding the wonder
full changes and advances which have
been made in transportation during the
last fifty years. There is probably
more to be learned of the industrial
history of the United States in the
transportation building upon the
worlds fair grounds than in any other
of the great structures. Nearly all the
railroad exhibits are taken up in the
historical order, and consequently fur
nish material for the student no less
than of thought to the casual OBJ
server. Taking the railroad exhibit as
whole, it is a very imposing one, and
causes all displays from foreign ma
tions of similar character to dwindle
into insignifcance. There are cars de-
signed for every imaginable purpose in
the way of freight from carrying
chickens, cattle, horses and hogs up
to carrying the United States mails
There are heavy freight engines of all
kinds-ten wheelers one Of which ex-
works weighs POT tons, large drive
wheelers, gray hounds for passenger
traffic and many others.
nj los 0f
pound engines and engines designed
for turning short curves upon mountain
roads. The Pullmans make a very fine
exhibit Of passenger coaches and a
model of the works at Pullman nearly
fifty square feet. The Northern Pacific
Railroad company has a train consist
ing of an engifle and three observat ton
coaches filed with cereal, game and
m mm!neral products of the country
through Which they pass
The English display is also a striking
one. 1t embraces an engine with first,
second and third class coaches. The
engine is built with seven-foot drive
wheels, yet experts say that it will not
make as good time as many American
engines CONSTRUCTED with only six:fQot
driveWheels. The coaches are Of the
ieSulatlOn compartment style highly
finished within and without No ex-
pense seems to have been spared in
the upholstery business, The compart-
ments are narrow and exclusive With
out the ordinary accommodations of
the poorest American road. They are
excellent, however, for class of peo-
pie who do not care to associate with
the common herd or even apparently
with equals.
The French exhibit amounts to, COM
paratiyely nothing. The English have
taken great pains to display the scenery
by means of photographs along their
INES OF road and in this way are en-
abled to advertise their routes and at
the same time make a very creditable
eXhlblt as a competitive display.
In the matter of railway develop
ment however, perhaps we have an un-
falr advantage over the foreigners on
account Of the great incentive of our
magnificent diEtances and the wonder
full growth Of our internal commerce.
but there is another branch with which
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