The record-union., 1893-04-03
CHINA'S GREAT WALL
Difficulties Met in the Constructio
That Mammoth Work.

Difficulties Met in the Construction of
That Mammoth Work.
In an article on 1.-The Great Wall of
China" in the current number of En-
gfneeT'ing Magazine, the author, John A.
Church, an engineer who has had much
experience in China, states the conclu-
sions that he has come to from his exam
ination of the wonderful wall. The Chi
nese, he writes, say that one-third of the
whole population was forced to work on
the wall, but that means of COURSE the
population adjacent to the wall. Another
story-that it was completed in ten years
is incredible, though it has been care
lessly accepted by some historians.
When we regard the character of the
work, we see as usual two classes of la
borers employed-the skilled and un-
skilled. The carrying of materials was
probably done entirely by men and
women, and an immense amount of this
crude labor was needed tor making brick,
mixing mortar. and tamping. Achieve
ments like this are not wonderful in
China, which was thickly populated
country twenty centuries ago. History
says that an army of300,000 or 200 men
was sent to drive the northern barbarians
back and was retained 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 provis-
ion of crude labor, but since nv expert
ence in China have always wondered
! where the skilled work men came from.
| Aside from four square feet of rock sur
facing for the foundation, there would be
from thirty to forty square feet of squar
ing 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 powders, as the
wall blocks undoubtedly were, and after
an experience OF the tedious slowneSs of
Chinese workmen l 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 u
| country of mud and brick habitatiOnS.
Stonework in dressed material is by no
means common, and | should say that at
the present day there are not stone-cut-
ters enough in China to make a visible
impression upon 80 miles of new wall in
ten years.
In brick-making my wonder took an
other direction. The large bricks used in
the wall, containing nearly one and two
thirds cubic feet each, require not only
the best skill, but the best clay. The
labor could be obtained, but my expert
ence In the very country of the Great
Wall taught me that supplies of proper
clay were few and far between. 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 trans
ported overland, principally by human
carriers, for distances of at least thirty
miles, besides its distribution along the
wall.
The qualities of material used in the
wall are not remarkable when compared
with modern railroad building, but the
expenditure of labor probably surpassed
anything we know. We have almost
eliminated labor from transportation
brickmaking, and lifting to the top of the
growing wall. With the Chinese every
one of these tasks called for an army o.
men. The provision of say 20,OO0,00
yards of earth filling was probably the
. least part of the task. Nowadays nc
engineer would hesitate to contract fol
, 500 miles OF railway embankment il
China, and he would lay it up with the
basket and hoe-iust 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