Arizona republican., 1899-10-02
Some Interesting Railroad Facts
 as to South Africa.
GRIDlRONING A CONTINENT
The Early Twentieth Century Will See fhe Cape Of Good Hope Con. necfed Win inc Mediterranean. The Work That Has Been Done On This and Branch Lines.

Washington, Oct Special J.
 Railroads in Africa are discussed at
 considerable length in a monograph entitled Commercial Africa in 1899"
 just prepared by the treasury bureau
 of statistics It shows that the rail- 1 ways now in operation CT under actual
 construction are nearly 10000 miles
 in extent, that about tWo-fifths of the
 distance from Cape to Cairo" has
 already been spanned by railway lines
 which are being extended from the
 northern and southern extrem.ties of
 the continent toward the equator
 where they are expected to meet
 early in the twentieth century AL
 ready railroads run northwardly from
 Cape Colony about 1,400 miles and
 s2uthward from Cairo about HOO
 miles, thus making 2,5O0 miles of the
 Cape to Cairo railroad complete, the intermediate distance being about 5000 miles. Mir. Rhodes. whose re- cent visit to England and Germany in the interest Of the proposed through
 line from the Cape to Cairo is a mat
 ter of record and whose visit to Ger
 many was made necessary by the fact
 that in order to pass from the south- ern chain of British territory to the
 northern chain, he must cross Ger
 man or Belgian territory, is reported
 as confident that the through line will
 be completed by the year 1910. 1t may reasonably be assumed that a continuous railway line from the southern to the northern end Of Africa will be in operation in the early years of the twentieth century. Toward this line, present and prospective, which is to stretch through the eastern part of the continent, lateral lines from either coast are beginning to make their way. A line has already been constructed from Natal cn the south east coast. another from Louronzo Marquaz in Portuguese territory and the gold and diamond fields. Another from Boira, also in Portuguese terri tory, but considerably farther north, and destined to extend to Salisbury in Rhodesla, where it will form a june tion with the Cape to Cairo road; still another is projected from Zanzibar to Lake Victoria Nyanza to connect, continental line; another line is un- der actual construction westward from Pangani just north of Zanzibar, both of these being in German East Africa: another line is being constructed ~ ncGthwestwardly from Mombasa ii British territory, toward Lake Vic toria Nyanza, and is completed mere than half the distance, while at the entrance to the Red Sea a road is pro- jected westwardly into Abyssinia and is expected to pass forther toward the west and connect with the main line. At Suakim, fronting on the Red Sea, a road is projected to Berber, the pres ent terminus of the line running south wardly from Cairo. On the west of Africa, lines have begun to penetrate inward, short line in the French Soudan running from the head of navigation on the Niger with the ulti- mate purpose of connecting navigation
 
 Free State, a railway connects the Upper Congo with the Lower Congo around Livingstone falls; in Portu- guese Angola, a road extends east wardly from Loanda, the capital. distance, and others are projected from Benquela and Mossa- nedos with the ultimate purpose Of with the Cape to Cairo road md joining with the lines from Port lguese East Africa, which also touch hat road, thus making a transconti- rental line from east to west with Portuguese territory at either termi- Jus. Further south on the western 'oast, the Germans have projected ,oad from Walfish bay to Windhoek, he capital Of German Southwest Afri- "a, and this will probably be extended 'astwardly until it connects with the 'reat transcontinental line from Capa o Cairo, which is thus to form the ,reat nerve center of the system, to e contributed to, and supported by hese branches connecting it with ither coast. Another magnificent rail- vay project, which was some years go suggested by Monsieur Leroy has been recently revived, be- ng no less than an east and west line through the Sou an region, connecting the Senegal nd Niger countries on the west with he Nile valley and Red Sea on the ast and penetrating a densely popu-