Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-03-18
TAME WIND AND SEA
IN BUILDING RAILWAY.

By William E. Curtis, Correspondent
of the Chicago, RecordHerald.
Key West, Mar. 5.-There are sew
eral notable engineering undertakings
In progress in different parts of the
world, but none more remarkable than
the construction of a railway along
the keys of Florida from the town
of Miami to the island of Key West
by II. M. Flagler. 1t is an extension
of the Florida East Coast line, of
which he is the individual proprietor.
1t has presented several new and nov
el problems in engineering, involving
winds, tides, storms at sea and other
phenomena which have hitherto been
confined to the province of naviga-
ton and have not been considered fea-
lures of railroading. But 1t is be-
lieved that all of them have been sue
cessfully solved. One-third of the con-
struction has been completed, a great
variety of difficulties have been over
come and 1t is only a matter of time,
labor and material to finish the enter
prise. The money comes from the
well filed private bank account of
Mr.. Flagler. He has sold no stock, he
has issued no bonds, he has borrowed
no money, he has organized no syn
dicate, he has paid for everything in
VT th 1t
self. Fortunately his dividends from
the Standard Oil company keep pour.
ing in the money while he is dipping
1t out to pay for one of the most ex.
pensive railroad projects that was
ever proposed. When asked Mr
Flagler the other day why he was
building this extraordinary road he re
Piled:
Because nobody else would take
the job"
The risks were so great, and engi
neerlng problems were so novel and
uncertain that no contractor of respon
sibility or experience could be induced
to undertake the construction. 1t is
being done by the regular staff of the
Florida East Coast Railway company
of which ]. r. Parrot is the general
manager and ]. c. Meredith the con
sulting engineer, Mr.. Flagler himself
taking his customary interest in over
looking the work.
The distance from Miami to Key
West along the line of keys is 154
miles. If you will take map OF
Florida you will be able to under
stand the situation and appreciate the
unusual character of the road much
better than can tell you in words
South of Florida, and between that
state and the island of Cuba, are in
Vulnerable islands, more than ten
thousand it Is claimed, called keys
They are formed by those little in
dustrious insects which are respon
slble for the lower half Of the state OF
Florida and are composed OF minute
particles of limestone put together
like honeycomb. The mechanism is
as perfect as a jeweler could produce
Human skill could not surpass 1t In
exactness or in beauty, and every atom
represents the labor of creature no
larger than pinhead.
Some of these keys have a consid-
cradle size, an area of several square
miles; most Of them are very small.
having an area of only few square
rods. Many are covered with vege-
tation, particles of earth having been
lodged on their surface by the wind,
and sand from the sea bottom has
been carried up over them by the
tides. Seeds OF trees and plants and
grass have been dropped there by
birds or have been borne there on
the breeze, have taken root and
sprung into life, and have clothed the
coral ridges with eternal verdure.
Others are perfectly bare, without
signs of vegetation. Some of them
are in a state Of disintegration. The
action of the weather is causing the
coral TO crumble and assume the form
of loose limestone called marine mari.
AS you will see on the map. the
distances between them very consid-
erably, and the water Is deeper in
some places than in others. The max
imum depth along the surveyed line
Of the road Is thirty feet; the aver
age depth is six and onehalf feet. and
for a long distance between some of
the keys 1t is only a few inches. The
l54 miles of track will consist OF near
Iy six miles OF concrete viaduct,
eighty miles OF enbankment work ris-
ing thirty-one feet from the water,
miles through the Ever
slades on the mainland, and forty