The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-13

that more are wanted MT. Williams expects to breed mules on the diamond company farms near Kimberley. His asses, by the time they arrive at Cape Town, will cost him 5000 apiece and the 5G brood mares will cost altogether about $4O,0O0.
 American Machinery.
 I find American machinery used in near ly all the South African mines. Baldwin Westinghouse electric locomotives drag the blue ground containing the diamonds out of the great pipes at Kimberley, and American pumps keep the mines dry. While walking through the works one of the American managers showed me an engine used for pumping which had peared wheel 30 feet in diameter.
 That engine" said he has the big gest wheel cf the kind in the world. It was designed by a well-known American engineer named Seymour, when he was in Africa, and the plans and specifications ere sent to Simpson & Co.,, the celebrat- ed engine builders of England. They thought the joh too big for them, and we then forwarded the plans to Frazer & Chalmers Of the United States They made the wheel for us, and 1t works like d charm"
 In the Tral svaal gold mines a great rart of the machinery comes from the United Statei. The Rand bought $l5,0O0,- coo worth of new engines, drills and other , machines in 1905. and a great deal of 1t was sent from New York to Southampton and thence down to Cape Town. All of the diamond drills used made in America. No mine is started until the ground has been tested by bore hole" drilled through 1000 feet or more of rock. This drilling is done with a disk studded with rough diamonds which cuts it's way , downward with a rotary motion, carry ing the core in it's interior. The drill is raised from time to time and the core is examined for indications of gold. So far there are no British drills at work on the Rand. and these drills, which each cost from 5000 to $25,000, are all bought from us.
 It used to be that we sold great qua ntities of picks, shovels and under ground rails to the miners This mar ket has been largely captured by Shelf field and Birmingham, as has also that of the compressed air drills to make holes for the blasting.
 Of late years the Germans have been gradually working their mining ma chinery into the Rand. They have their agents at Johannesburg, and they are even investing in mining stock, hop ing to be able to influence the various companies in favor of German machin- cry. We still have the lead in rock drills and rock breakers. and as a rule our engines seem best fitted to get out the gold.
 Railroad Materials.
 Within the next few years there promises to be a big opening here for railroad materials. New lines have been protected and are building in many parts of the continent. The Cape to Cairo road, which has already been ex- tended to more than 2000 miles north of Cape Town, Is now to be pushed on to the copper mines of the Belgian Eongo and another branch will soon be built to Lake Tanganyika. The Iobfto Bay road, which Is building from An roia on the Atlantic, to the Kongo Free State, will be about 1900 miles long, and so far only about 200 miles of 1t have been completed. There is new road building In Nyassaland. and the Germans are extending their trunk line from bar es Salaam toward Lake Tan ganyika.
 Bridges are needed for all these roads, and the United States ought to furnish them. During my stay in Uganda ] went over the 2 big viaducts which we shipped there and put up. They are as solid as when they were built, and American rail- road materials and bridges have thereby acquired good reputation. In the 5u- dan l saw Baldwin locomotives carrying the traffic on the new road from the Rcd sea to the Sudan, and there are some American cars in use in South Africa. The prejudice is strongly in favor of Gnglish-buiit locomotives, but the quick