The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14

while another pulls the saw down 10 him
below
Many other primitive arrangements have
been, of necessity, adopted. In driving pies
for example the pile-driyer is in many
cases a lofty tripod with pulley through
which runs a rope with at one end
wheel and at the other fiat stone, that
is dropped on TO the plehead as If 1t were
a monkey, only there are no grooves and
no catch. The barrows, too, are often with"
out wheel, being merely pushed along
wet plank. In some of the group OF the
navvies the whole evolution of the spade
can be seen, some of the party using long
handled wooden shoNeis, others having the
wooden blade protected with a strip of TIM
Plate or sheet iron, and other having an
iron blade.
The western road is mostly of sand and
clay, and the ballast consists of fourteen
per cent. of clay The seepers are much
squarer than Americans are accustomed
TO and thicker, and have the broad based
rails spiked down on 10 them. This necessi-
tates the sleepers being at equal inter-
Vals aud closer together than ordinarily,
so that great lengths of rail have to be
prised up together to make good the bali
last where it may have sunk or been wash
ed away.
The line is a. single one al present, but
it is intended to double it in time. On the
banks the earthworks are Is feet wide in
ballast is 10 inches deep, and the rails weigh
16 pounds, or Is pounds to the foot-a very
light line 10 what we are accustomed TO
in this country, and which will have to be
replaced by a heavier one if the trains are
TO be run at any speed.
As the road was made the bridges were
built last, and the trains We're worked in
the different sections, the passengers be-
ing ferried across the river from section
to section in the summer and carried in
trains across the ice IN the winter. On
this principle it is expected that there
will be steam communication all along the
route some time during 1900, the intention
being 10 travel to Irkutsk by rail and out
by the short line TO Listvinitchna on Lake
Baixal, which will be crossed by steamer
to MysoVskaya, where the train Will be
taken again to Stretensk, whence the
steamboat on the Amur will continue the
journey 10 Khabarocka, and from there
the train will complete the trip.
One feature of the line is the number of
large rivers it crosses at right angles. ST.
IBERIA is a land of fine waterways, which
of late years have been much developed.
Among the many schemes which led up
to the transcontinental line was that by
Ostrcvski which met with much favor.
His plan was to lay a railway between
Perm and Tobolsk, thus uniting the Kama
and Irish, between Tomsk and Krasno-
iarsk thus connecting the Obi and Yeni-
| sesi, and between Omsk and Barnaul, thus
joining the Irish to the Obi In this way
he obtained a perfect network of internal
communication by river and rail; and on
his system though not exactly in the
places he suggested, much has been done
| and is being done. Another work on the
same lines, which will have great results,
! is Funtusov's canal connecting Ket with
| the Pass on the parallel of Yeniseisk.
This canl, difficult to make but only
| about five miles long, will lead from the
| Obi to the Yenisei and open up water
way of over 5000 miles, joining Tiumen
with Irkutsk and interesecting the whole
1 Western Siberia.
Another useful canal has been proposed
| by Capt. Virgins, whose work in con-
nection with opening up the sea route into
Siberia Is well konwn. This canal would
cut through the Isthmus of Zalinall oppo-
site and across the isthmus.
Capt. Virgins Is an optimst with regard
10 Siberia his preconceived notions of
which were, according to his account, ut
terly fallacious. lie had pictured to him
self a barren, inhospitable climate unfit
for any human being except the offenders
against the law, who We're compelled 10
| live there, and who had necessarily 10 sur
fer much priVation. Instead he says, II
! found settled communities with municipal
government enjoying every amenity of civ
| ilized life, some living, not only n eXpen
| SINe luxury, put even IN extravaganza -
in fact, there exists in the towns a civil
cation equal 10 what is TO be found in any
part of Europe
1t was in 1874 that Capt. Virgins started
| to open up the Kara sea route. II was a
| perilous voyage toward It's close, one long
| continuous battle with ice and tempest. The
crew were worn out, and inevitable disas-
ter seemed to threaten them The week
ended in gloom. Sunday morning came and
there was talk of abandoning the attempt;
| but, pointing to the Bethel Flag of the Brit
fish and foreign sailors Society he had
hoisted the captain summoned the crew 10
service, and after preaching from the text,
BE good of cheer it is / be not afraid !"
he called for volunteers TO finish the jour
ney. The whole crew agreed to go on with
him, and the Kara sea was entered with
the Bethel flag flying. Twelve years after
wards he made his wonderful voyage two
thousand miles up the Yenisel TO Yeniseisk.
An article on Siberia without some ref
erence to the convlcts may be unusual, but
ii must be enough here to point out that
in one respect the railway will certainly
ameliorate their punishment by rendering
| unnecessary the wearsome march of
thousands of miles across the snow, and
abolishing the long river voyages in the
menagerie-lil1e barges. The prisoners are
already being sent by rail as far as the
line goes, and there are not a few SAN
guine phlianthropists who hope that be-
fore the railway is completed the deporta-
ton system win have ceased to exist.