The Washington times., 1904-10-10

President Roosevelt win be asked at
an early date 10 aid in making possible
1he building OF a trans-Alaska-Sib erlan
railroad.
To this end n Loicq de Lobel. Of
France, the promoter of the under
taking, viii come 10 Washington on
October II and win be granted an
audience at the White House. While
there he win outline In detail TO Presi-
dent Roosevelt the plans which ne has
formulated for building an all-ral route
from Paris 10 New York
His interview with the President Is
with the special object OF opening ne
g0ttati0ns between Russia and the
United States for the naturalization OF
the Bering Strait
Tunnel Under Strait.
one OF the most gigantic features Of
de LsobeFs undertaking is the building OF
q steel tunnel under this strait, for
thirty-seven miles. 1t viii be necessary
for the two governments whose author
ity terminates at either shore 20 reach
an understanding before the tunueling
OF the gulf could begin.
ChimericaI as the French promoter s
scheme may have seemed years ago
when It was firsr promulgated. the pas
sage Of tine has apparently marvellous
~ increased A1L- LA-lL--ee -A Et4N-e-sz1 anu
de Lobel is filled with enthusiasm over
the prospect OF communicating an enter
prise that viii even eclipse the Panama
Canal in It's magnitude.
De LObel was one OF the geographers
who came TO Washington with the In
ternauonal Geographic Congress. Later
AT St. Louis. he took occasion 10 IN
form his fellow geographers that his
scheme for 'roUnd-the-World railroad
was progressing most fayorably. and
that governments and men OF millions
were interesting themselves in his be-
half.
Outline Of Scheme.
Briefly outlined. A. de Lobels plan is
70 build q railroad which. with jus con-
necti0ns. much OF them already built
VIII be 1850 miles long. With the Sibe-
rian Railroad already built, the new
rails win have 10 be laid from ITkutsh
via Yakoutsk. East Cape. Boring Strait
Prince OF wales Cape. 10 Yukon CITY.
From Yukon city the promoters count
on using the American railways 10 Chi
cago and thence 10 New York.
The present estimate is that with
smooth sailing In the matter of interua-
tional agreements actual work on the
rzilway VIII begin within a few years
time. and ar the most viii be finished in
building OF the Bering Strait tunnel
and all connections IS $751; 600 600.
Popular IN Europe.
In Europe the scheme has long beer
talked OF by engineers as entirely feas,
ible. II. Buuau-F arilla, who gained fame
In Panama. ana was later minister ID
the United States, is among those wine
interested himself IN the project. and
prepared tentative plans Tor Lhe tuu
uellnE of the BeUug Strait.
Engineers OF the -Alaska-5Ibe-
Tlau syndicate have already sounded
the strait. ana find the average depth
$50 feet. The larger OF the two Diomedt
islands U.s. planned Cor compressed ali
station and repair shop.
IL de L0Del counts on American en-.
EiueeTs 10 deal with the details OF IN,
tremendous project
Seventeen days IS the time which tlt
projectors say VIII be required for IN,
"Trip. The finest OF Pullman cars vii
take the passengers straight from Lh.
French metropolis % the busy. 8ustlilz
center Of the Western Hemisphere with
Out a change. once this through route
ts iuauEGrated the promoters count 0.
running through trains from Chicago Q.
Berlin. from 81. Louis 90 Vienna. from
Washington 70 PeEiu and from Sar
Francisco 10 Rome.