The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-12
CHINA'S GREAT WALL.
Difficulties Met i'm the Construction OF
That Mammoth Work

That Mammoth Work.
In an article on "The Great Wall of
China" in the current number of the En-
cheering Magazine. the author. John A.
Church, an engineer who has had much ex-
perience in China, states the conclusions
that he has come to from his examination
of the wonderful wall. The Chine esq., he
writes, say that one-third of the whole
popula ton vas forced to work on the wall,
bnt that means. OF course. the population
adjacent to the wall. Another story-that
it was completed in ten years-is incredible,
though 1t has been carelessly accepted by
some historians.
When we regard the character Of the
work We see as usual two classes of labor
ers employed-the skilled and unskiled.
The carrying of materials was probably
done entirely by men and women. and an
immense amount Of this crude labor was
needed for making brick, mixing mortar
and tamping Achievements like this are
not wonderful in China, which was a
thckly populated country twenty centuries
ago. History says that an army OF 100000
or 0.000 men was sent 20 drive the north
ern barbarians back and was retained in
the country for tile purpose of building the
wall. No doubt the available local popula-
ton was also pressed into the work.
Such dispositions explain the provision OF
crude labor, but since my experience in
China | have always wondered where the
skilled workmen came from. Aside from
four square feet of rock surfaclng for the
foundation, there would be from thirty to
forty square feet OF sQuaring and facing on
granite for each foot of the wall. have
had this work done in China. My engine
foundations were of granite got out OF river
hn,, ; oil hlnnf-o tt,6O n QHl ty
were, and after an experience OF the tedious
slowDesS of Chinese workmen l looked at
the wall with great respect IL must have
been a tremendous task 10 collect men
enough TO do this work China is dis
tinctiYely country OF mud and brick babl-
tatioHs. 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 brickmaking my wonder took another
direction. The large bricks used In the
wall, containing one and two-th rds cubic
feet each. require not only the best skill cut
the best clay. Tie labor could be obtained,
but my experience In the very country Of
the Great Wall taught me that the supplies
of proper clay were few and far between.
Several months passed before We could find
any available clay nearer than thirty miles
from tile mine. and the supply obtained
there was too poor for making large BRICK
The makers OF the wall must have been hard
pushed To tnd what they wanted, and 1t Is
probable that the whole great bulk of the
brickw0rk was transported overland, prin-
cipally by human carriers, for distances OF
at least thirty miles, besides its distribution
along the wall.
TIE quantities Of material used in the
wall are remarkable when compared with
modern railroad building, but the expendi-
ture of labor probably surpassed anything
we know. We have almost eliminated
labor from transportation, briekmaklng and
lifting to the top Of the growing wall. With
the Chinese every che of these tasks called
for an army OF men. The provision of say
100000 yards of earth filing was prOba-
bly, 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 IL up with the basket and
hoe Just as the wail-builders did. Lime
burning and mixing. laying up the wall.
and tamping the filling were by cOmparl-
son the minor divisions of the work, though
they too would call for an immense number
OF men.
The provisioning of all these non-pro-
ducers was a task for a general. The
quantity of food consumed by vegetarian
is immense, and the neighborhood of the
wall is not fertile region. With only
thousand men to provide for. / had to send
a hundred miles for grain, and doubt ex-
tremely IL half million men, in addition
TO the ordinary population, could be MAIN
tanned to-day along the line of the wall on
supplies obtained within 100 miles on both
sides.