Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-12
China's Great Railway
From Consular Reports.

connecting Pekin and Hankow. which
is expected to become an important
factor in the industrial and agricultural
development of the section of the en-
pire which it traverses:
A recent trip by rail from the Yang
: tse river to Manchuria included pas
sage Owe the 754h miles of the new
railroad connecting Hankow with Pc
kin. The journey between those cities
was made in four days and three
nights. No trains were then operated
at night, and the average n time
was from eighteen to twenty miles an
hour. | am assured, however, by the
managers Of the operating department
of the road at Pekin, that after the
completion of the long bridge over the
yellow river, in November, the time
between Pekin and Hankow viii be
reduced to thirty-six hours.
Thus far the managers Of h new
line have not encouraged travel over it.
If the travellers who have thus far used
this route chartered special cars, they
were allowed to sleep in them over
night and thus escape the native Chi
nese inn, which is usually quite UNI
satisfactory TO the occidental sightseer
or merchant.
That there will be n heavy tourist
travel on the new line there can be
little doubt. Those who have h u far
only visited the treaty ports are said
to have merely inspected the outer
fringes OF China. The new line and
the one projected from Canton TO Han
kOw afford travellers an opportunity OF
enjoying the three or four days trip
up or down the Yangtse between
Shanghai and Hankow, which is in
itself one of the HlOst interesting of
oriental journeys. With side trips such
as are possible to Nankin, the ancient
southern capital Of China, to Pekin,
the northern capital, and to numerous
other places of interest, the journey
may be prolonged indefinitely, as suits
ones taste or inclination.
The bulk Of the entire country be-
tween HankoW and Pekin is a fertile
alluyial plain. Wheat and poppies (for
the manufacture of Opium) are appar-
emily cultivated on large areas In the
vicinity OF IIankow there are many
rice fields which are TILED in small
patches and irrigated OF the same gen.
eTal plan as in Japan. In many in
Stances water for irrigating rice fields
IS pumped by hand from one level to a
higher one, and, as in Japan, every
available inch Of ground is utilized.
Only in rare instances are women seen
III the fields. Many of the children UNI
Ter ten years of age so about naked
in umueT as in other parts of China.
The extent and variety Of mud walls
surrounding endless Chinese villages
Impress the traveller. The mud walls
and mud houses, the gravel mounds and
a limitleSs ocean of mostly treelesS
and practically fenCeless farming areas,
all carefully cultivated and harvested
by hand with ancient implements, as
in biblical times, and teeming with
human beings that huddle in villages
/ everywhere, is n of the general i'm
prCsSiOns.
The massing OF the population in VII
lagos, originating with the idea Of af.
fording protection from wandering
bands Of thieves, especially in times OF
famine and crop failures, is not the
Only safeguard against enemies. On
the HankOW side of the mountains that
separate the provinces Of Honan II
H0upe a number of primitive fortiica-
tions crown some of the most precip-
itous of the rocky heights.
The native population throughout the
route has the appearance of being
strong and healthy as well as content
ed. There were very few beggars, and
these mostly Arabs. In the fields the
most primitive implements are used
and, aside from some of the cotton
goods worn by the men, very little of
foreign imported goods could be seen.
In some parts of the Yellow river sec
/ llOn lfIlSdllOn Is IleCbSSdIy " SAVE liz
crops, and during dry spells large num-
bers of wells are utilized. Many of
these wells are scattered throughout a
single field. Two n frequently three
windlassos are used at each wei, and
the water is thus drawn to the surface
in buckets. The contents of the buck
cts are deity dumped into a gutter or
small ditch rs soon as the bucket reach
es the top of the well, and the weight
cf tha hI,clyat 90 rinc IL Instantly IN the
bottom. Immediately after it fills, the
man at the windlass begins turning the
crank rapidly. During the latter part
of last May. in the vicinity of Shun-to-
fou, a binding sandstorm and hot
winds by day threatened the crops. All
the wells were worked to their full ca
pacity. The sand in the air caused the
sun to appear much paler than the
harvest moon, n this unusual sight,
together with the drifting sand on I'M
Watered seas, aroused fears of dire
crop disaster. However, whether
American labor-saving pumps would
prove less expensive than the use of
cheap native labor at these irrigation
wells remains to be demonstrated.
The foreign materials used in the con-
struction of the railroad are mostly Eu-
ropean. Both the telegraph and the
telephone are used In operating trains.
The road Is well ballasted throughout
and in many instances the embank-
ments and crawling about the tracks
show great care and a lavish expendi-
ture of time, or what practical con-
structors term "frills." But these at
t~entions to the ~appearance of the prop
er.y add to the pleasure Of the sight
seer ever though they ma lessen divi-
dends. No great engineering problems
had to be overcome in constructing the
line aside from the Yellow river bridge
work. There are two tunnels, one $40
meters Approximately LIE feet> in
length in the hills or mountains sepa-
setting the Honan and Hoppe prov
inces, and another OF 800 meters q, 049
feet) in length on the south bank of the
Yellow river. The construction Of these
tunnels, and, in fact, of the bridge work
and the roadbed, show care and
~thoroughness. Many bridges are being
strengthened with new stone piers and
suitable structural steel work.
Civil engineers throughout the far
east are watching the result of the
bridging of the treacherous Yellow riv-
er. The river is usually said TO be two
miles wide where the Hankow-Pekin
railroad management decided to bridge
II. The width is 1887 feet, and the
new bridge is divided into 102 spans of
UNEQUAL length. and about six meters
Q9.68 feet) about the water. The bridge
is not constructed of heavy structural
steel, but is of a more frail design.
which, however, will apparently prove
of ample strength for the light loco
motives and cars In use on this road.
The greatest difficulty met with was to
find a suitable foundation for the piers.
Quicksand was encountered, and for a
time some experts feared that IL would
be impossible to build a safe and per-
manent structure. 1t was also found