Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-20
swEDEN!s NEW RAILROAD.

The Northern Part of the Country to
He Developed.
A cable dispatch from Stockholm. Sweden,
copyrighted by the Associated Press, says
regarding the new railroad that runs the
length OF the peninsula: The northern part
of King Oscars realm has often been call
ed Sweden's America. on account Of its
large, rich inland. which, although fertile.
Is still unsettled and uncultivated. Conse-
quently. the poorer class of Sweden pre-
ferred to emigrate to the United States,
instead OF seeking new homes in Norrland,
the real name Of this northern part OF the
kingdom. This emigration was caused by
The fact that "Sweden's America lacked
all communication by land with the capital
and the most southern provinces. The coast
cities also suffered in the winter from the
Recovered sea, just as much as the settle
ments In the inner part Of the country had
to suffer the whole year round.
But, when 1t was discovered that Norr-
land has stored a great many hidden riches,
the government decided to grant money for
the building OF a railroad which would con-
meet the alpha and the omega of the big
Kingdom. This northern trunk line of
Sweden has now been completed. 1t was
dedicated to King Oscar a few days ago,
and at the same time opened for public
traffic. King Oscar is said to be Sweden s
abiest orator, and he made the speech of
his life upon this occasion. The festivities
surpassed everything seen in this part of
the world at similar event, and will go
down to posterity as an epoch in Sweden's
history.
In order to understand this, one should
read a few facts about the just completed
railroad. 1t connects Boden, near the Gulf
of Bothnia, With the northernmost rail-
road in Swedeh'ihnd in the whole world,
running from the seaport of Luieap to the
Gellivara iron' ore mountains, forty-seven
miles north Of tie polar circle. This road
has been In operation for a couple of years.
and may be considered as the end piece, in
the continuous, string Of railroad of length
of about 1,2Jg miles, which passes from
south to north, through the whole length
of Sweden. TINS Is a longer distance than
from Berlin to Home BY the completion
of this grand trunk line, which makes the
Swedish railroad system as perfect as pos
sible, 1t is believed that emigration from
Sweden to America will IL 1t does not cease
at least become considerably smaller, even
should business IN the United States sud
denly improve
But this is NOT the most important point
NOrrlapd herself needs the railroad as
may be seen by the fact that this Swedish
province provides no less than twenty per
cent of the entire lumber supply of the
globe, or more than Canada, and almost
twice as much as the United States The
famous Gellivara mines are also situated
In Norrland. These mines, the largest in
the world. are not considered capable of
supplying the present demands of the whole
world as regards iron ore for centuries
The landscape scenery in Norrland is
highly picturesque, and the important part
the new line of communication will play as
regards the tourist traffic of the north can
hardly be underestimate
The cost of this northern part Of the
Swedish railroad net mas been about 30
100000 crowns. This includes the rolling
stock.
The building Of many bridges, crossing
various beautiful rivers, has been most
expensive. The longest and highest Of
these bridges-the one over the Angerman
river-measures I,225 feet between abut-
ments, with the rail 1913 feet above low
water level, and is built upon steel trestles,
IN five spans. The material in this, as in
an modern bridges. is mild steel. manufac-
tured by the open-hearth process.