The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-11-06
The csmesttsa Of . Crest Rail
road Ensiassiiss Fsst
GOES OUT IN THE SEA
Some seventy-Htve SfRes-,Hhe Line
Passes Thsoush Dense swanps
and Across cpe. Sea on Cese.sss
Arches and Bridges, Co.st,uetsd
Under D~ihicusstes, Connesss Hey
West. Fla. wth the Main Iand.
, seveaty-Etye SfRes-Hhe Linz

"SSSs HAdss WIZ LUo H1S1D 4nkD0s
The completion Of the great bridge
at New York over Hell Gate, which b
to connect the Pennsylvania WIN the
New England railroads., will form
Ike ! link in an unbroken line OF,
railroad communication between New
England and Key West, the sOuther-
most city In the United States. The
either link in the line Is being con-
structed from a point near Miami,
Fla, 81 miles inland, across q miles
OF sea and finally terminating ct Key
West. ~
After the links are completed It
will be possible to run direct from
New England to Hatana, Cuba, With
out changing cars, as the trains Will
be conveyed In nnbroksa packages
across the strait from Key West to
Havana In view OF the fact that the
Panama region Is sure TO cause q
boom In trade, there IS eyeryIErea-
son to believe that the new through
fine VIII make Key West one OF the
great shipping stations On the At
lantfc Seaboard.
The railroad line that fs'befng COM
strueted from the coast OF Florida.
across the Key West coral Islands
wifi be one, Of the wonders Of the
age. 1t will be 158 miles in length.
counting that IT, begins in the
swamps Of Florida, and 80 costing
100000 a mile for construction
Henry M. Flager Is promoter Of the
line.
All the vfaduets are built Of re-
|inforced concrete. The railroad VIII
be On a line 80 feet above low water
mark. It Is found that the highest
waves on tie coast are Is feet and,
the islands 1serye to break the high
est sea-. The engineers are counting
on this to prevent any Hashouts OF
washovers.
The longest OF the yiad1cts over
open sea is nearly seven miles. 4 IL
located near Long Key. At present
$500 men are. employed In this work
alone. The viaduct consists Of 1876
concrete arches. OF these rs are al
ready complete. 1t viii take 2Ss.o0oi
barrels of cement, 177,000 cubic
yards of sand, s12, 900 lineal feet OF
piling and $500 tons of reinforcing
steel rods to completes this one Via
dict, not to speak Of the amount 9
the other So: miles being built under
similar conditions.
The support ~ every one lof the
arches rests on 20 plies driven deep
into coraline limestone which forms
the bed Of the sea- After the Pile
drivers have passed q conerdam Is
lowered, from a catamaran into place
around the. piles. Then the ~concreting
begins, after the frames have been
set. The thick shell OF concrete Y
backed on the inside by crushed rock
and other ballast. I'M the coral eei
the water varies in depth from IS
to 20 feet. Under normal conditions
the tide flows at the rate OF tour
miles an hour
The 15e miles of constructive work
between Miami and Key West pre-.
sents practically every problem
known to. railroad engineers. ~
Miami, for a distance, the road passes
through heavy mangrove swamps'
where there was too much wafer 2
use wheelbarrows and not enough 70
work a dredge. This difficulty was
overcome by specially designed
dredges-
The islands in the sea are OF limes-
stone formation, and in addition 10
being solid, they furnish excellent
ballast. AT, the present time more
than 5000 men are crowded on me
lob. They are operating nine stern
wheel boats, three tugs, 100 baFgea
and lighters, % launches and up
ward Of SO pile drivers, concrete
mixers, derricks, pump barges ana
dredgeS. ...'l r. s%5Hs