The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1901-11-28

al commercial congress at Phil
sdelphia, "underlies material pros
pcrity In every department of
commerce.; without transportation
commerce would be impossible; those
states and nations are rich, powerful
and enlightened whose transportation
facilities are the best and most COM
prchensive; the dying nations are
those with little or no transportation
facilities"
Then the speaker uttered these two
memorable sentences.
| "Trade follows tie flag"
| Trade follows the mail"
| If these statements be true, too
great Importance can hardly be
placed upon the recent achievement
of an American Pacific liner and of
the five great railroads making up the
transcontincntal system between San
Francisco and New York, of which
Mr.. Charles Barnard gives a graphic
account in the -Four Track Series"
At the post office of Sydney, N. s.
W., there lay, early In the morning of
August IL. 1901, 367 sacks Of the most
important mail matter ever sent from
| Australia to England. There are two
routes by which such mail could go.
One ism nl1-British route by'way of
| the Suez canal. The other Is prnc-
ticnlly an nll-Amcrican route, by way
of Samoa, Hawaii, San Francisco, New
| York and thence to London. OF
course, under the present arrange
ment, the last lap, on the bosom OF
the broad Atlantic, Is sailed under
the British flag. The British route is
the older one and also tho shorter,
being i2,5OO miles, while the distance
the other away around is 1857, q
difference Of over n thousand miles.
That morning, the 13th OF August,
the American flag was flying on
new ship, fresh from the American
ship yards on the Delaware. She was
the best available ship that day In the
| South Pacific. The only thing to do
was TO place the important mail on
board the new American, twin-screw
steamer "vcntura," of the Oceanic
Steamship company, which was done
st ten o'clock in the morning. FROM
| Sydney the Ventura steered straight
for Auckland. and entered that har-
Dor on the 18th. Taking on freight,
mails and passengers rshe again set
sail making for the beautiful and po-
etic Islands of Samoa, thence for Ha-
waii and San Francisco. At seven p.
m, Sep ,mbcr ., she anchored at
quarantine In San Francisco harbor,
having made the voyage In 90 days
/ Il IA l..
urged il is possible she could have ar
rived n few hours earlier and landed
those precious mail bags that day.
| As II happened they could not be
landed till $3.50 on the morning of the
Sd. They were at once transferred
by teams to the Market street station
of the Southern Pacific Ogden route),
and at ten o'clock they began their
eycntful journey across the continent
to New Yrrk, 3.3ss miles away. The
officers of the Oceanic Steamship com
| pany and of the Southern Pacific were
naturally anxious that the mail
should make good progress and were
kept informed by telegraph of the
progress of the train during that day
and evening.
| Suddenly the unexpected happened.
The train arrived at Ogden, Utah.
two dreadful hours late.
| The mail was transferred to the
mail ear of train Ne. 9 of the Union
Pacific. Now the lost time must be
recovered. But with all its spurts
Of speed the train was not gaining
fast enough. IL was still late when
IL reached Omaha. The Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy put the single
mail ear containing his mnjesty's
mail behind n special fast engine. IL
was n night run against time for No.
1886. On and on, 90 miles an hour
steady. The train entered Union sta.
tion, Chicago. at 0:Os n. m. on the
9th. Five hu uidrcd and eight miles In
555 minutes.
| No. Q is the Lake Shore--New York
| Central "fast mail''-the heaviest fast
mail train In America. She had left
at $3.50. That train had to be over
taken. A new special. two cars and
No 56G, would try II II had to chase
II nll the way into Buffalo. At pre-
cisely 0;5o:30 a. IN. she pulled out
from the Lake Shore station--and
No. one hour and 2oM minutes
ahead. As the special ate up the
miles. II became evident that she was
making mp the lost time. She would
overhaul No. o at Toledo. Two hun
dred and forty-four miles In 265h
minutes. The thing had been done.
The ,wo hours lost 1000 miles away
had been made up.
| Al Buffalo, the precaution was
taken to make up the New York Cen.
trails No. 6--thc fast mail-into two
sections, sending ON those mail bags
from Australia, together with Uncle
Sans mail. In the first section. This
was the fifth and last of the railroad
lines forming the route across the
United States. The train pulled into
the Grand Central station the morn.
ing Of the Tth ut o;57--three minutes
ahead of time.
The Campania smiled at noon, with
his majcsty's mail on board, 25 days
and 2 hours out of Sydney. At seven
o'clock Saturday morning, September
II, the Australian mail was deliv-
/ ered NJ the uNat nfylce In v.ouslnr, M.