The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-18

pleted at last. 1t has cost hundreds
Of lives and a vast sum of money.
Eight years ago last March the first
sod was turned for the building of this
railroad, and on March 16, this year,
the locomotive stood at last on the
shore Of Stanley Pool, at Dolo, the in
land terminus of the road. From this
point the so steamboats, that are ply
ing on the upper Congo may load with
freight brought by the cars and carry
it many hundreds of miles on the
main river on its northern and south
ern tributaries to the heart Of inner
Africa. The great fact is that 10000
miles of navigable waterways in the
interior of Africa have been placed in
steam communication with America
and Europe by the completion of this
railroad.
The starting point Of the railroad is
Matadi, 80 miles from the Atlantic
Ocean. Steamships from Europe OF
5000 tons burden easily ascend the
lower Congo to Matadi, where they tie
up at the wharf and transfer their
cargoes to the freight cars near at
hand. Next comes the railroad, 24O
miles long, built around the long Sc
1ies Of impossible rapids and cataracts
in the lover Congo.
It is wonderful system Of water
ways, and feet of Aat-bottomed,
stern-wheel steamers are now plying
on this great network Of rivers. Stan
ley PoolAhas... been aptly called the
window through which the world may
look out upon the whole of inner
tropical Africa. Starting from Stan
ley Pool the steamer may travel for
days ,and weeks on these highways,
threading all the streams as far as
they are indicated on the map and
penetrating deep into the sayannas and
forests Of inner Africa, one OF. the
greatest rubber regions in the world
and abounding with ivory and other
rich resources.
All the news that has been yet re-
ceiyed Of the fortunate completion Of
the railroad iycontained in this brief
despatch which was telegraphed from
Stanley Pool on March l6 to the coast
by Civil Engineer Gorrin, the director
in Africa Of the work:
;sThe..l locomotive arrived to-day at
Dolo.
This despatch was forwarded by the
mail steamer to Major Thys, the direc-
tor general of the Congo State at
Brussels, and he at once telegraphed
the glad tidings to.King Leopold, Mr..
Stanley and otherumen in Europe who
have been the promoters of the enter
prise. Their replies are printed in
the last number Of the official organ
of the Congo State. The king simply
says: II am rejoiced at the great news
and send you my warmest congratula-
tions." Mr.. Stanley replied: "Your
glorious news rejoiced me beyond all
expression. belgium may well be
proud Of having completed the first
railroad in equatorial Africa. | send
my warmest fluctuations to the king,
to the directors of the railroad and to
the persevering Belgian people. May
God shower benedictions upon your
noble work
It was Stanley who wrote IL years
ago that the upper Congo would hard
ly be worth sixpence to the world of
commerce till this railroad was built,
for he did not believe that anything
but ivory would stand the excessive
cost Of transportation on the heads OF
men around the 235 miles of cataracts
which the railroad would circumvent.
He was not quite correct in this prog
nostication; for vast quantity Of rub
Der has been carried around the cata-
racts and sold in Europe at a good
profit.
But now that the railroad is built,
the world will be able to utilize for the
first time large variety Of other pro-
ducts, such as cotton and palm oil, the
forests Of gum producing trees: the
ebony and dyewoods, and best of all,
the inexhaustiblc rubber resources
that make the Congo basin one of the
richest Of tropical regions. The rail
road brings the commercial world into
easy communication with 0,000,0 900
of moderately Industrious people,
many thousands of whom have been
doing good service for some years in
the collection Of rubber for export,
and whose field of usefulness, both for
themselves and for the trading ma
tions, will now be vastly widened.