The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-29
TAPPING CENTRAL AFRICA'S cor
PER AND GOLD.

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Almost in the heart Of Africa are two
low hills that are practically solid masses
of copper ore. They are In northeastern
Rhodesia, and the British South Africa
Company has a large number OF European
miners ut work cutting out this ore. One
Of the hills is being cut down by terracing,
and n tunnel has been dug through the
other hill.
Cell Rhodes's Cape TO Cairo railroad
has just reached these remarkable copper
mines at Broken Hill. The road Is now in
operation 2,Oi8 miles from Cape Town.
At Broken Hill the Indian Ocean Is 100 miles
east and the Atlantic 1 100 miles west OF the
track. North and south trains are now
running or steamboats, are plying across
the inner plateau Of Africa two-thirds OF
the distance between the southern and
northern coasts of the continent.
Ten months ago the first locomotive
crossed the Zambesi River at the Victoria
Falls. The road is now completed Tor S74
miles north Of the falls, which means that
grading and track laying we're carried on
at the rate Of considerably more than a
mile a day. II is the Drawn and muscle OF
tho black natives Of Africa that have ad-
vanced this colossal work. From 5000 to
5000 Of them have been constantly en-
ployed under the supervision Of about $50
white men. They rave spanned seven
rivers with bridges, north OF the Zambesi
all Of them short excepting that over the
Kafue tributary Of the Zambesi, which has
a span Of 1 200 feet.
The first economic Significance OF the
astonishing progress Of this railroad Ia that
it has already tapped the copper region OF
Rhodesia, and that the copper field Of Ka-
tanga, in the southeastern corner Of the
Congo Free State, believed to contain re-
sources that will make 1t one Of the worlds
richest producers of this metal, Is less than
400 miles north of Broken Hill and Ia to be
reached by a branch line.
The miners at Broken Hill AVE been sim
ply piling up their product and waiting for
the railroad to carry It away. North in Ka-
tanga, where the British have large mining
concessions, little has been done except
through exploration by mining experts,
because the region has beer 30 utterly cut
off from communications with the outer
world. Katanga is said to be exceptionally
rich not only in copper but also in gold.
The actual development Of both these in
terests will soon begin. The Progress Of
the railroad has been accelerated by the
desire to open up as soon as possible the
Broken Hill and the Katanga mining regions.
Scarcely any one believed a decade @
that n few short years would bring about
such mighty changes in barbarous Africa.
Stanley was called crazy when he said that
in q quarter Of a century a railroad would
be in operation between the Indian Ocean
and Victoria Nyanza, but royal highways
are extending into the depths OF inner
Africa from all the cardinal points. We
may now travel south by steam all the way
from the Nile delta to Gondokoro, within
345 miles of the equator; north by steam
from Cape Town to within about 1000 miles
of the equator; east from the mouth Of the
Congo for about LOO miles, and west from
the Indian Ocean to the western shores Of
Victoria Nyanza. It is said to be the un-
expected that always happens in Africa.
The rule seems to hold good in the phenome-
nal progress that we are 10Y witnessing.