Evening star., 1908-01-25
Copyright. 1905. by Frank G.. Carpenter)
,uecfal Correspondence of The Star.
British East Afric;

NA1ROBO. British East AFRICA.
RAVELING by railway through
the wilds of central Africa
Steaming for hundreds of miles
among zebras, gnus. ostriches
ard giraffes,
Rolling along through jungles which
the rhinoceros haunts and where the lion
and leopard wait for their prey.
These are some of my experiences dur
ing a trip | have just taken over the
Uganda railway from Mombasa to Nal
robi,
Ten years ago It took a monsh to cover
the distance between the two points, and
the whole way was on foot. l made 1t in
less than twentyfour hours. and that in
comfortable car. The railroad fare was
ST. and l had fairly good meals on the
way The distance is over 900 miles and ii
Is just about half the length of the rail-
road Leaving here l shall continue my
journey over it on to Lake Victoria, and
shall land on that lake not lar from the
source of the Nile.
The Uganda Railway.
This gives YOU some idea of the J-ganaa
railway, which the British completed only
about five years ago. The road begins at
the Indian ocean and ii climbs over some
of the roughest parts of the African con-
tinent before 1t ends at Victoria. the
greatest fresh water lake of the world.
Leaving the seacoast, the rise of the road
Is almost continuous until it reaches the
high plains of British East Africa. Here
at Nairobi / am more than mile above
the sea. and. about fifteen miles further
on at the station of kikuyu. the road
reaches an altitude 700 feet above that
of Wacnipo OF From there the
climb is steady to point "a mile and
half above the sea. and then there IS
great drop into Il wide ditch-like valley
1000 feet deep. Crossing this valley the
road again rises until it is far higher
than any mountain in the United States
east of the Rockies. 1t a;tains an ele-
walton of $500 feet, and then falls down
to Lake Victoria. which Is just about
as high as the highest of the Alleghenies.
The road was built by the British govern
ment in less than five years and has cost
altogether over Soo000.oo0. 1t has
guage of forty inches. rails which weigh
80 pounds to the yard and its tracks are
well laid and we'll ballasted. Last year
something like 10000 tons of goods and
1S0.OOO passengers were carried over il,
and its earnings were about SJGi,6t0 more
than its operating expenses 1t does not
Yet pay any interest the capital in
vested. but it is of enormous value in the
way of opening up, developing and pro-
tecting the country.
Twentv-Seven American Bridges.
Among the most interesting features of
the road are its American bridges. They
cross all the great ravines between here
and Lake Victoria. and every steel bar
and every bolt and rivet in them were
made by American workmen in American
factories and taken out here and put up
under the superintendent of American
workmen. The way it happened was ow-
ing to John Bulls desire to have the work
done quickly and cheapy and at the same
time substantially. While he had been
laying the tracks from here to the sea,
our bridge companies had surprised the
English by putting up the steel viaduct
across the Atbara river in the Egyptian
Sudan within a much shorter time and
far more cheaply than the best British
builders could possibly do. Therefore.
when the British government asked for
bids for these Uganda bridges they sent
the plans and specifications to the Brit
ish and to some of our American firms as
well. The best British bids provided that
the shops should have two or three years
to make the steel work. and longer still to
erect it in Africa. The American Bridge
Company offered to complete the whole
job within seven months after the founda-
tons were laid, and that at charge of
80 per ton, to be paid when all were in