Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-12-02
SUBDUINGTHEEARTH
ENGINEERING SKILL AND MODERN
METHODS COUPLED.

Many Additions During Reeens yeass DO
ths seven Wonders % the worid.'
Railways. Brsdges. Canals and Tunnsis
which Aimasi Arpaii ~.
For rational projects the time was never
o. favorable as now. Chief among the con-
litions which make success for engineer
ing work is the low rate OF interest An
other favorable circumstances Is the Inn
provemen. OF engineering devices. The
Erio canal was dug Ia the old way. with
hand shovel and sipcart. The modern en-
gineer excavates with steam shovel;
freezes quicksand solid with chemicals and
cuts It out In blocks; dilutes clay into
soupy liquid and lifts Il with suction
pump, carries away his refuse 10 the dump
In hanging cars, which, propelled By cables
upon wire rope tramwnys surmount all
obstacles easily. An advantage which IL
only beginning to he understood In the
electrical transmission Of power, doing
away with shafting and betting. High ex-
plosives were never 80 cheap and effective.
BY modern methods TO dig the channel
tunnel between England and France would
be an easy task and 30 profitable that cap.
ital would be ready TO undertake IL at any
time but for the objection OF the Chavvin.
lists on either side. who imagine an tnva-
sion through hole In the ground danger
Gus In wartime. An East river tunnel IL
projected both above and below the Walia-
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,i7s feet long. but will cost
M osao v~xfla -
Hoosac tunnel was much greater.
For the crossing Of rives 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
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 Narrows 10 that
q man can drive entirely about New York
bay. The grandest bridge project In con-
templation--and 80 seriously contemplated
that considerable money has been spent In
preliminary pIans-is that OF 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 II IL were to get beyond a senti
mental idea II built from Chilli to Den.
yer, with branches, It would be the longest
railroad In the world and would pass the
finest scenery. More to the point is the
great transsiberian railroad which Russia
In pushing to completion. II only an Amer
lean road to Alaska were TO meet II mt
Behring's strait, people bound for Europe
could go 1.-THE other way round" and shun
seasickpess. But the Alaskan road Is far
In the future. More immediately impor
tant is the way In which Asia itself IL be
coming accessible. Think Of railroading
from Batoom to Tifiis and Bakoo. crossing
the Caspian In a swift steamer and on by
rail again to Samarcandi OF climbing
by rail from Calcutta TO the Hin
doc Koosh! OF journeying from Joppa
TO Jerusalem In tow OF teakettie on
wheelsl OF long railway lines already
In Japan. whose treaty ports were 30 re
Gently blown open with gunpowder, and
others soon to come In China. Even In
Europe, the new Bosnian railroad opens a
land where travelling 10 years ago was dan
gerous because OF banditti Soon long n,
sisting, black Africa will be cut In quarters
by railway lines from the Congo, the Nile.
Zanzibar and the cape, all reaching out to
ward the rich heart OF the dark continent
melon. From the Congo and the Nile the
rails are already lengthening. Cecil Rhodes,
a 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 Is to lift pound of
iron or -four here and set II down yonder at
the least possible expense. So the canal
comes again to its own placid but important
sphere. Paris win be seaport following
the experience of Manchester, whose han
tism OF salt cannot be delayed beyond next
year. France designs also to cut a 27J<-foot
channel from the Bay OF Biscay to the Meii
terranean, following the river courses from
Bordeaux to Narbonne To save n much
smaller distance England will one day canal
from Gloucester through Shakespearelapd
TO the Lincoln fens. and perhaps from Man
chester east TO the Humber.
In our own country there arc waterwava
pressingly needed which would hing aeo
have been begun but for the timidlty and
Of republics. These are too
familiar to need more than q rehabilitation
An inshore canal from Massachusetts hav
10 the gulf OF Mexico, following natural |
waterways much OF the way and alwav.
through soft, alluvial soil; a shin canal
from the lakes To the Hudson, another
pouring the waters OF Lake Michigan int |
The Mississippi through the long needed |
hennepin canal. No great work Il so esSy |
~ this. There Is only or 10 feet height of |
and 70 cut through. and continents OF tbe |
illinois mark the natural outlet but 10 /
miles back Of the White City.
Reciaiming waste places Is particularly
attractive task 70 dwell upon. Such A work |
. Hollands draining OF the Zuyder Zee
which will be accomplished within a few
Iears, and which Is no heavier task under
,resent conditions than was the reclaiming
u the HARLEM neer, where now fertile
arms lie 20 feet below the sea level. More
emote than this is the proposed dam ~
AXE Albert Nyanza, which, by inbound
ne the surplus water OF the Nile for drv
easons, viii one day make Egypt again
blossom as the rose Even as our own
Great American Desert has vanished
rom the maps will the Saharan waste one
ay shrink as the Gases and fertile border,
ress upon u until there Ia nothing left
ut green. But much sooner must the Mis-.
issippi problem be solved, not by building
igher the imposent lcvees. but by holding
a upper waters In reservoirs, where thew
nay be used for irrigation and never reach
be gulf at all nor drop their destructive silt
long Its yearly rising channel. John u.
Ieatou In New York Recorder.