East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-10-11
BUILDING A RAILROAD INTO THE SEA.

Annexation Of the now disturbed
Cuban republic by rail; conversion of
the already thriving city of Key West
into the "Hoboken of Havana" with
Its docks thronged with huge double
decked ferry boats; construction of
a great railway line that goes to sea,
leaping from island to island with
long viaducts and bridges on which
the passenger bound for New York
to Cuba will see from the car windows
nothing but the blue waters of the
Atlantic on one side and the blue wa
ters of the gulf of Mexico on the
other; an engineering feat involving
problems now solved for the first
time-all that and much more is in-
volved in the extension now In prog
ress of the Florida East Coast rail-
road south from Miami, its present
southern terminus, to the tip of the
islets which the peninsula of Florida
has thrown out into the tropic sea.
Within three years, unless some un-
expected interruption occurs, the tour
list may take an ocean voyage In a
Pullman, conveyed in highest COM
fort along the line of the Florida keys,
and thence in a huge car ferry nearly
100 miles across the straits, and out
of sight OF land, to Havana.
A thousand picturesque undertake
ings have marked the building Of
American railroads. Untraversable
mountain ranges have been bored,
suspension bridges assembled amidst
the swirling spray of cataracts, bot
tomless swamps filled in with the
debris of demolished mountains. Yet
none more picturesque has been
evolved than this work due to the
constructive imagination of Henry NJ.
Flagler, who has projected an Amer
lean railroad that will go further to
sea than any other yet constructed.
Built on Reefs.
From Miami to Key West along the
route which has been selected for the
gigantic enterprise It is 154 miles as
the engine will go. Thence across
the vast, nearly inundated prairie
that borders the shallow sounds
protected by the long reef OF islands,
over Jewish creek, to Key largo, the
biggest of the entire chain.
On this key Is miles OF railroad will
be laid. After that. nnv with short,
now with long jumps, the whole SER
les will be traversed through lower
Metacomb, Grassy Gravel Vaccas,
and then with an immense spring
across n channel 5000 feet wide to
Bahia Honda, where n little harbor
will be created, enabling direct train
communication with Havana even be-
fore the line is completed to Key
West.
Deep-draft vessels can secure ad-
mittance at this point, and the dis
tance to Havana is only 90 miles
greater than from the city at the end
of the crescent keys. where ultimate
ly a great seaport will be constructed
with terminals. wharves and docks.
From the harbor of Key West the car
floats, each capable of conveying a
train OF 80 cars. will ply to the Cuban
capital.
Nature Has Helped the Project.
Nature has assisted in the project.
The little coral insects whose secre-
tions have been petrified so plentiful
ly along the Florida peninsula have
prepared broad. flat surface to meet
the needs OF the engineers, some por-
tions of It appearing Just above the
water in the form of keys-low flat
islands covered with sedge and jun
gle in the uncultivated portions; with
pineapples, lemons and cocoanut
groves where man has fixed his habi-
tation-some of 1t submerged a few
feet beneath the waves that tumble
I'm from the deepest parts of the sea.
The coral rock provides a natural
ballast-one that may be dug out in
chunks large and small and used for
filling where the line crosses one of
the swampy tracts of the region.
The work is well under way. Each
II arises. For railroad thus to go to
sea is something new in the history
Of engineering. but inventive genius
is proving itself equal to the task.
The greater expense is to be explained
not only in the large mileage of the
bridges and viaducts. but in the ex-
posed character of the line for the
coast exceeds that of average railroad
onstruction-about $4,000 n mile,
which is perhaps three times greater
than that in ordinary flat country
where no long bridges have to be
built. The total involved is from Is
to 90 million dollars.
Much Grade Completed.
The construction work began in