Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-03-16

work, we see as usual two classes of
laborers employed,--the skilled and the
unsllilled. The carrying of materials
was probably done entirely by men and
women, and an immense amount of
this crilde labor was needed for MAX
ING brick, mixing mortar. and tamping.
Achievements ike this are not wonder
ful in China, which was a thickly popu-
lated country twenty centuries ago.
History says that an army of 100000
or 100000 men was sent to drive the
northern barbaIians back and was re-
t;lined IN the country for the purpose
Of building the wall. No doubt the
available local population was also
pressed into the work
Such dispositions explain the provi-
sion of crude labor, but since my ex-
perience in China I have always Won
dered where the skilled worl1nen came
from. Aside from four square feet of
rock surface for the foundation, there
would be from thirty to forty square
feet of squaIing and facing on granite
for each foot of the wall ! have had
this work done in China My engine
foundations We're of granite got out of
river boulderS, as the wall blocks un-
doubtedly were, and after an experience
of the tedious slowneSS of Chinese
workmen | looked at the wall with
great respect. 1t must have been a
tremendous task to collect men enough
to do this work. China is distinctively
a country OF mud and brick habita-
tons. Stonework in dressed material
is by no means common, and l should
say that at the present day there are
not stone-cutterS enough in China to
make a visible impression upon $50
miles of new wall in ten years.
In brick-mal1ing my wonder took an
other direction. The large bricks used
III the wall, containing nearly one and
tWo-thirdS cubic feet, require not only
the best skill, but the best clay. The
labor could be obtained, but my ex-
perience in the very country of the
Great Wall taught me that supplies
Of proper clay were few and far be-
tween. Several months passed before
we could find any available clay nearer
than thirty miles from the mine, and
the supply obtained there was too poor
for making large brick. The makers
Of the wall must have been hard pushed
to find what they wanted, and it is
probable that the whole great bulk
Of the brickWork was transported over
land, principally by human carriers, for
distances of at least thirty miles, be-
sides its distribution along the wall.
The qualities of material used in the
wall are not remarkable when COM
pared with modern railroad building,
but the expenditure of labor probably
surpassed anything we know. We have
almost eliminated labor from transport
tation, blicklnaking, and lifting to the
top OF the growing wall. With the
Chinese every one Of these tasks called
for an army of men. The provision Of
say 2O,OOO,0OO yards of earth filling
was probably the least part of the task.
Nowadays no engineer would hesitate
to contract for 500 miles Of railway
embankment in China, and he would
lay it up with the basket and hoe just
as the wall-builders did. Lime-burning
and mixing, laying up the wall, and
tamping the filling were by comparison
the minor divisions of the work, though
they too would call for an immense
number OF men.
The provisioning of all these non
producers was a task for general
The quality of food consumed by
vegetarian is immense, and the neigh
borhood of the wall is not fertile region.
With only a thousand men to provide
for, l had to send a hundred miles for
grain, and l doubt extremely if half
Il million men, in addition to the Ordi-
nary population, could be maintained
today along the line of the wall on
supplies obtained within 100 miles on
both sides.