Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-11-21
THE FUTURE OUTLOOK.
Continental Railway Lines and
Monitor Ships.
PROGRESS in TRANSPORTATION.
Only a Question of Time when AN Inter-
national Passenger and Freight
Line will Belt the World.


improvements in transportation of pas
sengers and freight we may notice the
short cast iron rail laid on stone blocks
of the last century, and the strap rail
of the early part Of this century, laid on
continuous stone or wood sleepers, and
then the T rail laid on cross ties of the
present day. The locomotive, first ex
hibited in London as toy, in the be-
ginning of this century, next created a
violent opposition by running over a
road through fields in which cattle
were grazing Q812), thus provoking
the owners to appeal to the courts.
praying that their cattle may be per-
mitted to enjoy their food without be-
ing annoyed by the noise, smoke, etc.,
of such travelling monster. Next the
passenger locomotive was advertised to
start weather permitting" and now
we have locomotives weighing ever
sixty tons hauling trains at the rate of
sixty miles an hour.
The steamer of the last century is
found in the beginning of this to have
become a commercial success. The
steamship of 1919 made one trip to
Europe, and ON her return was sold, the
machinery for old iron, and the steam
cylinder to be used as blowing cylin-
der for foundry furnace, doing service
for thirty years. The next steamship to
cross the Atlantic only made one voy-
age. The third attempt was made by a
steamship which returned to England
and did not again try to cross the
ocean. The fourth attempt (the Great
Westerly. was a commercial success,
and we now have steamships nearly 900
feet long, two in course of construction
643 feet long; and one recently COM
menced 700 feet in length.
The outlook for the future, as indi-
Gated by the experience of the past. is
that an international passenger and
freight line around the world will be
established, over which local interests
will have no control. Ships of 1000 feet
in length and 100 feet beam will be
built, and these will not come into
harbors, but will find their berths in
ferry slips built out from the shores of
the ocean. These ships will be loaded
and unloaded within ty-eight hours
of 10000 tons freight, which will be
received ON tracks ON each side Of the
ferry slip, thus saving third to one
half the time now required. They will
run in and out of these slips in storms
and foggy weather, and all the anxiety
of coming into port will be avoided.
No special pilots will be required to
assist in navigating them, as they can
run at full speed into the surroundings,
and their whistles will be answered so
that they may know exactly where they
are in the thickest fogs. If off their
course, their captains will make the
corrections and keep all under full
Roadway until arrival in the slip. Col
lisions with passing vessels will be
avoided, as ooasting craft will natur-
ally give these ships wide berth, and
when they hear the whistles of the big
ships in heavy fogs will keep out of the
to steer to. These large steamships
will pay, as they can afford to do the
business for at least one third of the
present cost, six days on the Atlantic
and two in port, using three-fourths of
the time for transportation. Passen-
gers ON these ships can remain ON deck
in all kinds of weather without exper-
fencing seasickness, as the rolling and
pitching motion of such large vessels is
too slow to produce nausea. With a
draft of thirty five feet and prone
made deck Of twenty five feet above
water. the waves, even in the heaviest
weather, would not come on board to
any great extent.
The proprietors Of the present trans
atlantic lines destroy the value Of their
property in old steam vessels as fast as
they build larger passenger ships, as
the smaller ones then become of little
value, and it is reasonable TO infer that
line of ships as here indicated would
control the great bulk of travel, espec-
tally when connecting with through
railway route across the continent with
corresponding ships on the Pacific,
making a schedule time of twenty days
from Europe to China across America,
and half this time by through rail
across Asia. The cost of through rail
roads to connect with these steamship
lines will necessarily be excessive, as
locomotives weighing one hundred tons
will be necessary. if they remain in
use, to insure hauling the trains with
all passenger requirements and ,onven-
fences in all kinds of weather and ON
schedule time. The route will be
selected without regard to present local
requirements, so as to build the best
through line without grade crossings as
far as possible, and it will therefore not
pass through many of the present large
cities.
New cities will spring up along this
International route. and these will be
different from the present ones, in that
they will be a collection of conven-
fences, without nuisances, whereas the
present cities are a mixture of conven-
fences and nuisances. For sanitary
reasons, animals will not be permitted