The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-21

rcnd Po-lbTity-The pa-sen2ci
and Frcigh; ITafic-Ihc @oudaH
ana tfc Roads Which the French
arc Ertlalnc TO the Nigcr-hfrics'
rccouinc "a Railroad Continent.
The hallway, Of the atlas a'4d How
the French Manage Three In"n~lhfi
3r,Ics ~ Iron Track IN Algeria 1nd
Tuni4ia-Ducc9 Features of i;3i3},aS
Trascl-Tuc Plans of the hheliN''
To Connect The Niic With Iun.-i'
and Illus Maxi . GREAT Trunk Line
clear Acro-- Northern Africa.
Copyright ~ Frank 9. caf>-n'ei }
1t Biskr2
In the Desert Of sahara.
The railroad is bound to revolution
he the African continent. Already III
iron horse whose breath is smoke ;tha
whose eve is fire is beginning to tisht
Up the darker spots u these bi2eE@st
regions on tire globe. The york IS
RAPIDLY going on in eastern Africa
where thcv are building q line from
The Cane Of Good Hope To Cairo.
This has been extended from ths Nd
itcrraucau southwark for a di-ttner rs
great as from the Atlantic to Tar be
yond the mississippi, and th c<tea-
sion from Cape Town To the north Is
III ID ~ III Aih ''f
system reachod the Hambesi rive IN
1905. During the past year it was cE-
tended beyond that point at the rae
Of almost one mile per day, ana ~ -
row at the Broken Hin mines Wiinin
less than 500 miles Of Lake flanagan
yika. / expect TO 90 along the great
er mart Of this route before I leave
Africa. and viii be able 10 describe
the various stages.
From the coasts Of both east and
west Africa. railroads are being 3ui3t
into the interior, which viii give &C
cess 10 the central n southern parts
of the continent. Here in the North
the French colonies have an extensive
railroad system; Egypt is gridironei
with tracks and trunk lines are be
ing surveyed in the Soudan AMI in the
Congo valley.
Africa Versus the World.
In fact, railroad building is now 60
inG on in Africa about as fast a. IN
any other part Of the world. The con-
tinent is increasing its mileage ~ the
rate OF 80 per cent. per wear, and while
il has yct the fewest lines Of any Of
the grand divisions OF the globe. its
means of communication are rapidly
growing.
AT present the chief railroad CONT
tinent is North America. 1t hass be-
tween 100000 and 300. 000 miles OF
iron tracks. Next comes Europe with
less than 100000 miles. and Australia
has 5000 miles Of railroad lines. and
Africa a little over 5000. OF all the
countries Of the world the United
States leads in its iron highways. We
have more tracks than all Europe, and
three times as many as all The cont
nent outside ours.
Here in Africa the principal rail
roads may be grouped into three sys-
TENS. The first embraces the Tuni-
sian-Algerian roads Of the Atlas noun
tairs. the second the Egyptian lines,
and the third the South African roads,
which have a greater mileage Than
those of the other two systems COM
bined. Y
The railroads of the Atlas.
In this letter | shall deal only with
the railways of northwestern Africa,
and of several of which the French
are projecting across the Sahara Dur
ing the past few months have ira
versed nearly every mile of track in
the region of the Atlas. and have gone
over the roads which are being push
ed down into the desert. I am writing
these notes at Biskra. in the Sahara.
at the end of a railroad which takes
one almost 200 miles south of the
Mediterranean sea, and l have already
Inspected the military line which goea
down into the desert far below this
point along the borders of Morocco. j
1t IS generally claimed that the
French are not good ~coIonicrs, and
that they are allowing their vast pos
sessions. scattered here and there over
the world outside France. to remain as
they were when they obtained them.
This IS not so as to Africa. The fer
tile parts of Algeria and Tunis,a arc
covered with railroads.. There is e line
about as long as from Philadelphia
to Chicago running from west to east
through Algeria, with branch lines to
the north and south, connecting the
ports with all parts of the Tell.
Algeria alone has now more thar.
two thousand miles of railways. andsits
railway receipts are between six and
seven million dollars q year. There is
a heavy freight traffic. and the second
and thlrd-ClaSs passenger cars are al
ways we'll filled. There are sleeping
coaches at high rates between Oran
and Algiers. and one can go across =
great part of north Africa by sleeper.
In IuniSfa. which is almost as big
as the state of Illinois. there are now
something like six hundred miles OF
railroads. They are mainly confined
TO the northern part of the countrv.
although there are some lines running
down the east coast and inland to the
fertilizer deposits which lie there.
These roads are all French, and the
Iunislan government has recently au-
tEorlZed large appropriations for their
tA ttllSlOlS.
\ part of the Algerian system be
longs to the government. ana another
part is in the hands Of some of the
French railroad companies. This is so
of the road from Oran to Algiers: it
belongs to the Paris. Lyons and Med
.'terranean corporation, and its chief
offices are in France The Sahara lines
are largely military, and they could
hardly exist without government sup
port.
Railway Travel in iIgCTia.
Railway travel in northern Africa IS
yar different from thot nf lhe United
states. In comparison with Us these
people are still = century or 50. hclir,,t
times. Express trains do not make
more than fifteen or twenty miles I'm
hour. and the railroad clocks at the
stations are purposely kept five min
lltes behind every other time in order
n a passengers may not get left.
h methods of ticket selling and
checking are sucn .h;, one
sj'"uId be at the train al least & quar-
ter of an hour before start
ing, and he viii then have
TO wait his turn with a crowd
of Arab soldiers and others, aach of
"hom consumes at least two minutes
at the ticket office and twice that
Tine with the baggage master II the
ticket Is a return. the agent figures out
4 reduction of 80 pcr cent off the reg