Evening journal., 1893-07-28
SUBDUINGTHEEARTH
ENGINEERING SKILL AND MODERN
METHODS COUPLED.

Ant NtNfn VI Aht hoHAnf
Railways. Bridges, Canals and Tunnels
which Almost Appan Us.
For rational projects the time was never
as favorable rs now. Chief among the con-
ditions which make success for engineer f
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 tipcart. The modern en-
gineer excayates with steam shovel
freezes quiclssand solid with chemicals and
cuts it out in blocks; dilutes clay into
soupy liquid and lifts it with suction
pump; carries away his refuse TO the dump
in hanging cars, which, propelled by cables
upon wire rope tramways, surmount 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 ex-
| plosiycs were never 80 cheap and effective
BY modern methods to dig the channel
tunnel between England and France would
be an easy task and so profitable that cap
ital would be ready 20 undertake it at any
time but for the objection Of the Chavvin
lists on either side, who imagine an inva-
sion through hole in the ground danger
Gus in wartime An East river tunnel Is
projected both above and below the Walla-
bout curve, but though cheap and practi-
cable the purpose of the former will be
more pleasantly met by bridges. The new
Cascade tunnel at Stevens pass Washing
ton, will be l3,l1S feet long but will cost
only 100000 The cost per mile of the
HOosae tunnel was much greater.
For the crossing of rivers and straits
bridges are 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 way, but
its 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 Narrows so that
a man can drive entirely about New York
, bay. The grandest bridge project in con-
I templation-and so seriously contemplated
that considerable money has been spent In
preliminary plans-is that Of a bridge over
the English channel above the highest
masts. its passing and repassing trains
. | cheating the tumbling sea Of its tribute
After such flight Of the engineering
foresight ordinary railroads seem tame
, | Still the backbone line" would be worth
attention if it were to get beyond senti-
mental idea If built from Chilli 60 Den
4 ! yer, with branches, it would be the longest
railroad in the world and would pass the
! finest scenery. More TO the point is the
crest transsiberian railroad which Russia
L is pushiag to completion. II only an Amer
o ican road to Alaska were to meet it at
Behring's strait, people bound for Europe
could 90 'the other way round" and shun
seasickness But the Alaskan road is far
In the future More Immediately impor
tant is the way in which Asia itself Is be
2 canning accessible. Think OF railroadinl
from Batoom to Tifis and Bakoo, crossing
the Caspian in swift steamer and on 10y
rail again to Samarcandi or climbing
by rail from Calcutta to the Hin
q doc Kooshl OF journeying from Jopp'
y to Jerusalem in tow Of q teakettle ol
q vaeelsl OF long railway lines alread.
! in .ffoan, whose treaty ports were' so re
Ic Gently b,awn open with gunpowder, an'
# others soon 20 come In China Even Il
y Furope. the new Bosnian railroad opens
land where travelling 10 years ago was dan
d gerous because Of bauditti. Soon long &c
II sisting. black Africa VIII be cut IN quarter
II by railway lines from the Congo, the Nile
Zanzibar and the cape, all reaching out %
z | WUru the IlEn ntdlN u AhN ANf p NN-ANA-te-'
j, melon. From the Congo and the Nile th
rails are already lengthening. Cecil Rhodes
li a true man Of destiny, will see Mashona
s. land and the cape united before he dies
and Zanzibar IS the nearest coast ofal.
|. Canals are again in fashiong The grea
5 nroble,n of civilization e. to lift pound {
Is iron or -four here and set it down yonder a
s. the least possible expense So the cana
cor,,es aoaiIf to its own p.acid hnt importan
I snbere. Paris will be a seaport followin
IN the exnerience of Manchester, whose bar
tism of salt cannot be delayed beyond mex
ID vear France designs also to cut q i19-foc
\ channel from the Bay of Biscay to the Med
terranean, following the river courses irof
?, Bordeaux TO Narbonne. To save niue
of smaller distance England will one day cant
from Gloucester through Shakespearelan
1. | to the Lincoln feus, and perhaps from MAJ
chester east 10 the Humber
nj In our own country there are waterway
I pressingly needed which would long as
have been begun but for the timidity an
conservatism of republics. These are te
familiar TO need more than n recapitulatio
-an inshore canal from Massachusetts, ba
to the gulf of Mexico, following natur
at waterways much Of the way and alwa!
a through soft. alluvial soil a ship cam
er from the lakes to the Hudson; anothl
pouring the waters Of Lake Michigan ini
the Mississippi through the long need'
Hennspin canal. No great work is so eai
es as this. There is only or 10 feet height
~ land 10 cut through, and continents of Il
n. | Illinois mark the natural outlet but
10 miles rack of the White City,
ct Reclalm ming waste places isa particular
Il attractive. task TO dwell upon. Such awol
n. is Hollands training of the Zuyder "
ps which will be accomplished within fe
NJ. years. and which is no heavier task und
M present cond iions than was tne reclaimil
st of the Haar sln meer, where now terti
he farms lie 40 feet below the sea level Mo
,er remote than this is the proposed dam
ais Lake Albert Nyi,n..a, which, by impoun
.nk ing the surplus water Of the Nile for d
re- seasons, win one day make Egypt aga
I,,- blossom as the rose. Even as our oy
bn "Great American Desert" has vanish
od from the maps will the SaNaran waste o
A. day shrink as the oases and Fertile bord'
it, 1 press upon it until there is nothing L
"a but green. But much sooner mus; the NJ
,er s'ssippi problem be solved, not by buildi
H.. l,o ia, 1,ofqut 1a,ypoe bi1t nv lOldl