Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-03
SUBDUING THEEARTH
ENGINEERING SKILL AND MODERN
METHODS COUPLED.

a
as favorable as now. Chief among the con.
uitions which make success for engineer.
Ing work Is the low rate OF interest An
other favorable circumstance Is the i'm.
provement OF engineering devices The
Erie canal was dug in the old way, with
hand shovel and tipoart. Tho modern en-.
gineer excavates with steam shovel.
freezes quickssnd solid with chemicals and
cuts 1t out in blocks; dilutes clay into a
soupy liquid and lifts IL with suction
pump; carries away his refuse to tho dump
IN hanging cars which, propelled by cables
upon wire rope tramwars, sntmount all
obstacles easily. An advantage which is
only beginning to be- understood is the
electrical transmission Of power, doing
away with shafting and betting, High ok
plosives were never so cheap and elective
By modern methods 20 dig the channel
tunnel between England and France would
be an easy task and so profitable that cap
ital would be ready TO undertake II at any
time but for the objection OF the Chavvin.
lists on either side, who imagine on iuva.
sion through hole In the GROUND danger.
Gus in wartime An East river tunnel is
projected both above and below the Wala-
bout curve, but though cheap and pracii.
cable the purpose OF the former will be
more pleasantly met by bridges The new
Cascade tunnel ut Stevens pass, Washing.
ton, will be la,l7s feet long, but will cost
only S2,0OO0O0 The cost per mile Of the
Hoosac tunnel was much greater,
For the crossing Of rivers and straits
bridges arc more In favor than tunnels IN
today's engineering Cheaper steel means
an immense economy In construction The
Firth OF Forth bridge has two spans, each
longer than that Of the Brooklyn bridge
heavier and bigger in every why, but
It's cost was practically the same. No
engineering difficulties, only financial,
stand In the way Of three more East river
bridges and two over the Hudson. Men
living, and not young, will see them built,
and perhaps one over the Nnrrows so that
man can drive entirely about New York
bay The grandost bridge project in CON
templation-an ~ seriously contemplated
that considerable money has been spent in
preliminary plnns-is that of IA bridge over
the English channel above the highest
masts, its passing and repassing trains
cheating the tumbling sea OF distribute.
After such flight OF the engineering
foresight ordinary railroads seem tame.
Still the back bone line" would be worth
attention II II were 10 get beyond n senti-
mental idea. II built from Chilli TO Den
yer, with branches, IL would be the longest
railroad IN the world and would pass the
finest scenery, More to the point is tho
great transsiberian railroad which Russia
Is pushing TO completion. If only an Amer
lean road to Alaska were 10 meet II at
Behring's strait, people bound for Europe
could go "the other way roundN and shun
seasickness. But the Alaskan road is far
in she future. More Immediately impor-
tant is the way in which Asia itself is be-
coming accessible Think OF railroadlng
from BatoOm 10 Tlllis aud Bnkoo, crossing
the Caspian In swift steamer and on by
rail agnin to samarcand OF climbing
by rail fIom Calcutta to the Hin
doc Kooshi OF iourneying from Joppa
TO Jerusalem 10 tow Of teakettle on
wheelsl OF long railway lines already
In Japan, whose treaty ports were so re-
Gently blown open with gunpowder, and
others soon TO come In China. Even In
Europe, the new Bosnian rhilrond opens a
land wherc travelling 10 years ago was dam
perous because Of banditt Soon long ~.
Stating, black Africa will be cut IN quarters
by railway lines from the Congo, the Nile,
Zanzikar and the cape, all reaching out To-
wnrd the rich heart Of the dark continent
melon. From the Congo and the Nile the
rails are already frightening. Cecil Rhodes,
true man OF destiny, will see Mashona-
land and the cape united before he dies,
and Zanzibar is the nearest coast OF all
Canals are again IN fashion. The great
problem OF civilization Il TO lift pound Of
iron or -four here and set it down yonder az
the least possible expense. So the canal
comes again TO its own placid but important
sphere. Paris will be "A seaport, following
the experience Of Manchester, whose hap.
tism of salt cannot be delayed beyond next
year France designs also to cut a7jS foot
channel from the Bay OF Biscay to the Medi.
terranean, following the river courses from
Bordeaux TO Narbonne To save much
smaller distance England will ono day canal
from Gloucester through Shakespeareland
10 the Lincoln fens and perhaps from Man.
chester enst 20 the Humber.
In our own country there are waterways
pressingly needed which would long ago
have been begun but for the timidty and
conservatism Of republics. These are too
familiar TO need more than rocapitulation
AN inshore canal from Massachusetts bay
TO the gulf Of Mexico, following NATURAL
waterways much Of the way and always
through soft, alluyial soil; ship canal
from the lakes 10 the Hudson; another
pouring the waters Of Lake Michigan into
the Mississippi through the long needed
Hennepin canal, No great work is 40 easy
Us this, There is only or 10 feet height OF
land TO cut through, and continents OF the
Illinois mark the natural outlet but 10
miles back OF the White city
Reclaiming waste places Is n particularly
attractive task TO dwell upon. Such work
Is Hollands draining Of the Zuyaer Zee,
which win be accomplished within few
years, and which is no heavier task under
present conditions than was the retaining
Of the Hanrlem nicer, where now fertile
farms lie 40 feet below the sea level. More
remote than this is the proposed dam at
Lake Albert Nyanza, which, BY impound-
ing the surplus water Of the Nile for dry
seasons, will one day make Egypt again
blossom as the rose. Even as our own
"Great American Desert has vanished
from the maps will the sahnran waste one
day shrink rs the oases and fertile bordeTa
press upon IL until there "a nothing left
but lreen. But much sooner must the Mis-
sissippl problem be- solved, not by building
higher the i,npotent leyees, but by holding
It's npper waters in reservoirs, where they
may be used for irrigation and never reach
the gulf ut all nor drop their destructive silt
along its yearly rising ebahnel--John l.
Heaton In New York Recorder,
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Not Like Papa
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