Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-05-16
Line Projected Through the Oldest
Lands of the Earth.

Line FroJecteo inTouSh tHo Sssss
Lands of the Earth.
w. E. Curtis, writing in the Chicago
Record Herald, says: Within a few
years 1t will be possible to go from
London to Khartum, Egypt, by rail-
way, with ferries across the Red sea.
Taking the train at London you will
follow the regular route of the Orient
Express through France and Southern
Germany to Vienna, Budapest, Bel
grade and Sofia, to Constantinople.
There you will cross the Bosphorus in
to Turkey In Asia, and running south
eastward to Aleppo, will there take
the French line now under construc-
ton to Damascus and follow the east
bank of the Jordan southwark into
Arabia and Mecca. At Jeddah, the
seaport of the Holy City, a ferry will
take passengers across the Red sea to
Saukin. Egypt, where they will re-
sumo their railway journey via Ber-
ber to the ancient city Of Khartum, at
the junction Of the Blue and White
Nile. The Journey ought not to take
more than five or six days, and have
no doubt that through trains will be
equipped like those which crossed 81
IBERIA before the beginning Of the pres
ent war.
There are several wide gaps between
and Jeddah at present,
but they are being rapidly closed UP.
The Turkish government Is building
northward from the same point, and
a German syndicate In which French,
Belgian and Italian capital
lists are also interested, Is construct
ing the line from Constantinople to
and expects to push 1t
Persia down to the Persian
gulf. a distance Of 1852 miles from
The contractors have
promised to complete the road in five
years.
The track has already reached Ereg-
II, and the surveyors are now selecting
a route across the Taurus mountains,
where the gteatest engineering diff
culties are being encountered, and the
most costly construction will be nec-
essary.
This road will make accessible to
tourists and open to commerce the
most interesting country In the world,
except the Holy Land. 1t will follow
the banks Of the Euphrates. to the
land of Eden, the cradle Of the human
race, and touch nearly all of the coun-
tries associated with Old Testament
Ur Of the Chaldees; the ruins
Of Babylon, Nineveh, and other most
ancient habitations Of men will be
found among the stations on the time
table; and Mesopotamia, which was
once the most populous, the most pro-
ductive and the richest section Of the
earth's surface, will b: reclaimed by
the introduction Of capital and the re-
storation of the irrigation system
which was destroyed many centuries
ago. For transportation Mesopotamia
now depends entirely upon caravans Of
camels and a few small boats upon
the Tigris and the Euphrates, and its
commerce is comparatively small. Its
area, according to the gazetteers, Is
$50, 900 square miles, and its popula-
ton about a million and a half, nearly
all Of them being Bedouin nomads
with only enough agricultural pro-
ducts to sustain themselves.
Bagdad Is the commercial center
and has a foreign trade Of about $12,-
600, ,O0O,. almost equally divided be-
tween exports and imports. The chief
exports are wool, carpets, hides, skins,
licorice root and mohair, and the i'm
ports are cotton goods, refined petro-
leum, hardware and other necessaries
Of life.
In ancient times the plains and val
leys of Mesopotamia produced enorm-
GUS crops, and are still capable OF
yielding cotton, rice, maize and other
staples to almost any amount. The
soil has a wonderful fertility, and has
lain idle, accommodating plant nourtsh-
ment, for nearly 1000 years. Before
Its development Is possible, however,
irrigation systems must be introduce
ed, and the population Is so scanty
that all forms of labor saving machin-
cry will be necessary to utilize the
productive area to any extent. Last
fall the Sultan Of Turkey issued an
trade, authorizing Sir William Will
cocks, late director general of irriga-
ton In Egypt, to examine into the an
cient irrigation system along the IT,
girls and Euphrates rivers in order to
the cost Of their restoration
and report upon general irrigation
project for the valleys of both rivers.
Sir William has been engaged in this
work all winter, with q party OF engi-
neers, and report Is expected from
him sometime during the coming sum-
mer. He discussed this subject In a
paper read before the Geographical
Society of Cairo two years ago, when
he declared that the deltas Of the IL
girls, containing over 100000 acres OF
land, now part swamps and part des-
ert, were 'of all the regions or the
earth more favored by nature for the
production of cereals. Cotton, sugar.
cane, Indian corn and all the summer
products of Egypt" he said, will -four
ish there as on the Nile, while the
winter products of cereals, leguminous
plants, Egyptian clover, opium, and
tobacco will find themselves at home
as they do in Egypt. or the historic
garden of Babylon and Bagdad 1t Is
not necessary for me to speak" con-
tinued Sir William Wilcocks; "a land
whose climate allows her to produce
such crops in tropical profusion, and
whose snowfed rivers permit Of peren-
nial irrigation over millions Of acres,
cannot lie barren and desolate when
the Bagdad railway Is traversing her
fields and European capital Is seeking
outlet"
One has a queer sensation when he
hears the land of Abraham and Nebu-
chadnezzar and Zenobia discussed In
this manner. But the railway through
Chaldea Is already an actual thing,
and Mesopotamia and the other lands
east of the Jordan are almost certain
to be reclaimed within a few years,
and they will offer a new and exten-
sive field for investment and com
merce. The lands are held chieny
by tribes of nomadic Bedouins. They
are used only for grazing and now sus-
tain several million cattle, sheep and
goats.