The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-26
TO CUBA BY RAILROAD
 IS NOW "A REALITY.

all. the spanning of which was the Iast piece of work in the completion of ths section now opened, is i've and half miles across from Island to island. Everything except the rock for the road-bed and embankmsnts had to be transported from the mainland. for the keys are mostly barren and could fur be brought in tanks and the worlrmen had to be housed in floating dormfto- ries over much of the distance.
 Dfnlcu1tses Overcsms.
 In spite of these difficulties and of the obstacles of mud and water. stin currents, jungle, rock, heat, mosQus- toes, and storms. the work once begun. d halt until the end ts in sight. year ago the great storm which rav- aged Jamaica swept over the keys and made wreckage of much of the ex- posed work, but the damage was re- paired and the road pushed on. Then came reports from some myntersous source. printed in newspapers all over the country. that the work was to be abandoned. that Mir. Flagler had broken down under the tremendous task Of financing 1t, and that the exteution would never be finished. For answer MT. Flag1er increased the force or workmen. It was then found that the sections as far as Knights Key, more than fwo-thirds of the whole way, would be completed earlier than origin ally expected, and 1t was partly as the most decisive reply possible to further reports of this kind that t was de- cided to anticipate the opening of the extension by year and inaugurete service to the temporary terminus Tn January. 1908.
 The territory of Southern Florida and Al. r e. cA tention, is a region unlike. any other part of the United States in climate and geography, and travellers by the new road will find themselves passing through one of the strangest and most picturesque parts of Uncle Ssm's do- main. From Homestead. where the ex- tension begins. 1t is seventeen miles to inc coast at Waters Edge. This part of the construction is on the main- land, but 1t is through the strange South F1oridian region of low ever glades and mangrove swarnps. inter- spersed with higher patches of rocky pine land. From Waters Edge the road crosses Jewish Creek, uniting Barnes and Blackwater Sounds, by drawbridge, and after crossing Lake Surprise where thousands of tons of rock filling were swallowed up In rum ming the road across the lake, ft lands upon the middle of Key Largo, the largest of the keys. Fifteen miles bring the southern end of Largo and there the road becomes really amph.oi- ous. Of the forty-nine miles remain ing to Knights Key. more than half are built on cement and coral rock entertainments, or on concrete via0ucts supported on concrete piers anchored to the rock bottom and strengthened with piles At the deeper tchannels there are drawbridges to admit the | nSm fsa "a v11rA ments which cross the shallow pas. sages are 25-foot water openings ct frequent intervals.
 Crossamg the Keys.
 From Key Largo the extension crosses Tavernier Creek to Plantation Key, which 1t traverses, thence over another narrow arm called Snake Creek to Windlys Island: then across ' 2 Wscer ..,s passage to Upper Metacumbe Key. The longest viaduct yet reached carries the road from Upper Metacunnbe to Lower Metacunbe. whence a still longer eEu- banlment takes it over the wide chan mel to Long Key, the next stepping stone. Then from Long Keyto Grassy Key comes the longest leap Of the whole way. Between these two there is five and one-half miles of sea, which Is crossed by the famous "ocean via duct" over which the rails are carried thirty.one feet above high tide level. From. Grassy Key number of small islets and intervening passages are crossed to the larger Key Vacca, from which. by a narrow channel, the dim ,nutiye Hog Key, and another channel. Knights Key is reached. where me tourney by rail is ended for the pres
 The \axgreRate length of the con- struction over water between Waters Edge, where the road leaves the main land, and the temporary. terminal at Kuights Key, is 72,se4 feet, or in round numbere. fourteen miles. The first wa ter opening of any length crossed by the traveller Is over Snake Creek in Plantation Key, which is 72b feet across. Then from Windlys Island to Upper Matecumbe Key comes Ill of 2,l50 feet. The next gap. from Upper Matecumbe to Lower Matecumbe is crossed by an efnbankment 11,960 feet from end to end, with a l20-fcot draw bridge to allow the passage of vessels. A still wider passage intervenes be- tween Lower Matecumbe and Long Key, which are joined by an embark ment of 2l,s00 feet. Then comes the stretch of open watar between Long which the road spans by the great ocean viaduct, t0.444 feet in length, with embankments at each end which together add 9.10O feet more. From Grassy Key over the Crawl Keys to Key Vacca are other entertainments of 4.S75 feet in aggregate length. one of which. 500 feet in length, crosses a channel twenty feet deep, and From Key vacca to Knights Key is an 1,1o0- foot embanlment. A trestle 2,000 feet long leads from Knights Key to the Knights Key dock, to which c deep channel leads. permitting vessels of twenty feet draft to come alongside the dock itself. The Embankment Work.
 The forty-soven miles of unfinished work from Knights Key to Key West will add 7s.5S0 feet more of embark ment and viaduct. making the total for the entire extension 15B,0 900 feet, or 2o.4 miles. To this can be added the seventeen miles from Homestead to Waters Edge, through the Everglades which is practically continuous em- bankment, dredges having been used in the construction work for the en- tire distance.
 The most important openings in the uncomp1eted portion are between Knights Key and Pigeon Key, where there is an opening of 10,250 feet, of which 7.s00 feet is to be crossed on a viaduct: between Pigeon and Little Duck Keys, where there Is a 22,9O0-foot gap of which z.So0 is to be viaduct, and from Bahia Honda Key to West Cum berland Key, $500 feet. of which 4.95O feet is to be viaduct, with q 260-foot draw for vessels.
 In all there are forty-two of the keys