The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-24
TROLLEY IN HOLY PLACES.
ROAD UP MOUNT SINAI WILL HAVE
a DEPOT WHERE MOSES STOOD.

to the Summit of the JunGfraM
soon to he Opened-steepcst
Climbers Ever Built.
Holy Land, oct. Sin short time the
little port of Tor, on the Gulf of Suez,
viii hear the cry, IAN aboard for Mount
Small" and in the hotels of Interlaken a
man will so about crying out that the
train is about to start for the summit of
the Jungfaur. 1t was a shock 10 the con-
servatives when the railway porters at
Joppa began to cry out, "All aboard for
Jerusalem! and when the scream of the
locomotive whistle awoke the echoes of
the house of Simon the Tanner" 1t seem
ed like sacrilege at first, but now the
tourist will bargain with a hackman and
tow about his luggage before the gates
of Jerusalem as if he were alighting from
a train in Jersey City. A pilgrim to the
Holy Land now goes not with sandal
shoon and scallop shell, but with one OF
Cooks return trip tickets. Since the
British occupation of Egypt there has
been constant flow of tourists caravans
from that country out to the Sinain des-
ert and to that mountain where the Lord
gave unto man the Ten Commandments,
and down whose slopes Moses
Trod,
All glowing, from the presence of his God
At any time in the spring can be found
sitting under the palm trees in the court
yard at Shepards hotel, at Cairo, Amer
leans, Englishmen or Germans who have
just returned from a trip to Mount Sinai.
Mindful of this fact, company has been
formed to build a railroad from Tor, on
the Gulf of Suez, to the summit of the
sacred mountain and work on 1t has al
ready begun. When the railroad is com
pleted one can take a steamer az Alex
andria and travel comfortably to the lit
tie seaport of Tor, whence a hrst-class
railroad train will be in waiting to take
him to the summit of Mount Sinai extra
charge for parlor cars and passes not
good on limited trains.
1t Is only about fifty miles from Tor to
the summit of Mount Sanai in a straight
line, but the railroad viii run in a cir
cuitous route after 1t strikes that group
OF mountains the largest of which is said
by tradition to be the Mount Sinai of the
Scriptures. The railroad will pass the
cave in which the prophet Elijah hid when
he was fleeing from the priests of Baal
and there will DE a depot at the place
where the Empress Helena erected stone
cross, and where. tradition says, Moses
stood when he talked with God.
The mountain is accessible on only one
side, and even on that side it will be
something of an engineering feat to get
the railroad up. Think of O conductor
coming around to collect tickets while
he frat cly iris oil
which frowned down upon the children of
Israel camped below Them and stopping
for refreshments in that sacred spot where
Moses received the law!
The railroad to the summit of the jung
frau is to be an electric one, and the first
section of it is to be opened next spring.
Heretofore the summit of the Jungfrau
has been attained only with much toll and
danger. Now electricity will transport
tourists to the very summit while they
recline in comfortable seats and look out
of the car window on the world below.
Think how much more comfortable it will
be TO lean back in ones seat and puff a
good cigar as one slips along between the
glaciers and the mountain torrents, than
to climb the mountain in the old style of
guides and ropes and physical exertion.
There must be a reminder In the heart
of the railway tourist to the top of the
Jungfrau, however, of the old hymn:
Must be carried to the skies on Aowery
beds of ease
While others fought to win the prize, etc.
Nevertheless the ordinary tourist will
take the railroad.
The railroad will first climb the sleeps
of Mount Eger and from thence make
it's way along the spurs of that mountain
over to Mount Monch, and from there tc
the high slopes of the Jungfrau. Soon af.
| ter 1t strikes the Jungfrau there will be
| a steep incline to the summit. The summit
| is 1850 feet above the level of the sea-
ii was not until 1911 that advea turous
| persons were able to reach the summit o.
| the Jungfrau, and before that was ac
4 complshed many lives were lost in the at
| tempt. In a short while, however, 1t will
| be only matter of buying a ticket a
Interlaken to accomplish the ascent. TIT
! cars which ascend the Jungfrau will b.
| hauled by an electric locomotive whicl
| will depend for It's traction on a "racl
rail-" In other words 1t will be a "cog
wheel road.
A train win consist of two cars, on,
of which will have the electric motor II
it and will really be the engine. Anothe
car will be for passengers or freight, o.
both. Some of the gradients to be climb
ed will be as high as % per cent
will be really a trolley line, for the powe
will be supplied from an overhead wire
| The Jungfrau locomotive will be the mos
| powerful cog-wheel locomotive that ha
been constructed so far and will have
"tractive effort" of 1850 pounds.
OF all the Notwithstanding roads thos
of Mouna Sinai and the Jungfrau are tn
most ambitious, and the Jungfrau roat
is the most elaborate experiment in tn
| use of electricity for mountain climbing
| that has ever been made. There is an cleo
| trio railway in Massachusetts whicl
climbs Mount Tom, but Mount Tom Is
molehill compared to the Jungfrau. Their
is steam cog-wheel railroad which run
up the Rigi from Lake Lucerne. AM
when the December nights are hot in Ri
Janeiro a cog-wheel railroad takes tn
Braziians 5000 feet up the side of Corco
vado, where they dine at the "Pineras,
with the sparkling. city spread out beloy
on one side and the ocean on the other
while the sabia's sweet song is heard il
the forests.