Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-30

whhrh aEAoww rhr ~conerete. reinforced
With sasal. Ia b. armty moored With
steel supports. No roadway In the
woEA. anywhere. experts say. wsm
, te safer ihan this: and nane more
beanlifu3. ~ II llss cleaning white In
the tropical sun In q few places.
Wh~T" the foundation ID sand. pillng
is used IN afford . foundation. Every
here aud there dFedees are actively
jumping up sand from deep water.
: conveying 1t through pIpes and depos'
iiing Il In shallow water TO help In
the construction u the line. Else
where are 10 be found dredges which
eat their way over the fiat and leav.
Ing a shallow canal on either side Of
the Foadbed which they throw up,
The pioneers Of the railroad that
IL going To sea" are nj this writing
pushing their way across the keys.
many of which are harren and un-
tenanted. though a few are inhabited
by fishermen and wreckers. some Of
them living In queer. picturesque
houses built ON stills. A. the narrow
passages Ut water between the Is
lands are crossed the construction
crews find themselves often amidst
the feet of sponge fishers from Key
West, who lift their valuable cargoes
from the shoals about these islands.
Building a railway line across such
n series Of islands and stretches Of
open water naturally presents prae.
tical problems In the housing Of @
After the negro laborers have cleared
out the dense tropical jungle on the
uninhabited islands, the construction
crews Of white men Of various Ia
tionalities arrive. On the land they
live In temporary wooden houses. or
In some cases In well-arranged tents,
Fourteen camps have been establish
ed. each In a favorable location on
firm ground. The water for drinking
and cooking has to be transported
from Miami: the food Is as well cook.
ed and varied as Is possible so far from
urban markets. A hospital tent enables
the camp physician properly to treat
any case OF illness. The men In every
way are made comfortable. Even
an improvised barber shop gives ia.
cilities for shaving and h%aircutting
at surprisingly low rates. The men
who do the worn on the water live
In floating dormitories. two stories
high. neat and eommodious. which
are anchored somewhere near the
great floating dredges. Some of the
men labor constantly In the water.
and naturally receive higher wages
than the others.
The details Of the engineering task
give a conception Of the enormity of
the undertaking. From Homestead
to Key West the line will consist of
seventy-four land miles. while twenty
five miles are built over swamp and
nearly thirty over water. Ten bridg-
es are called for. and several miles
of steel span work and concrete arch.
Four long viaducts will have an ar
gregate length of nearly six miles.
From Long Key to Coney Key II is
10. 400 feet. across knights Key chan
mel 1900 feet, over Moser Key chan
mel 1900 feet. while Bahia Honda
channel has a width of 1850 feet.
These viaducts will consist of q ser.
les Of reinforced concrete circular
arch spans and piers. bringing the
base of the rails somewhat more than
thirty feet above the mean low water
level. and insuring that the passing
trains will always be above the spray
of the dashing a below. The
greatest of these viaducts will be the
longest marine bridge In existence.
It Is about double the length of the
Brooklyn bridge.
This extension of the Florida East
Coast Railroad is being made with a
view to having ultimately a double
track all the way. BY means of num-
erous sidings the line will have al
most the efficiency of a double track
road from the start. Most of the sid
ings are to be located on the keys.
Modern safety devices will be installed
throughout,