Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-30
~ UEER Features of Life

Y and Business at Broken
Hill, the Station Farthest
North-The Road Is Now
Four Hundred Miles Above
the Zambesi and Not Far
From Lake Tanganyika-
How 1t Is Equipped-Trains
With Shower Baths and
Private Cars at $500
Month-Steel Ties and Tele-
graph Poles to Resist the
White Ants-Insects Which
Make Cement-A Bad Place
for Babies.
Copyright. 1905. by Frank G. Carpenter,
Special Correspondence OF The Star.
BROKEN HILL. Northwest Rhodesia.
= AM at the Broken Hill mines, $50
miles north of the Zambesi river and
at the northern end Of the railroad
IL system of South Africa This is the
rail head of the Cape to Cairo trunk
line which now reaches from here to Cape
Town. a distance Of more than 2.OlO mil rs.
j am quite far from the Cape Of Good
Hope as from Boston to Denver. and far
Their north OF the southernmost point of
Africa than Hudson bay is north of the
Gulf d Mexico. The road is only tenn
porariIy stopped at this point. and by the
time this letter is published the work of
laying the tracks northward may be
he
the friend of Cecil Rhodes. who like him
made great fortune in South Africa left
81. 100000 to be used for the extension of
;he Cape TO Cairo system. "and this to be
Lake Tanganyika- AS it is now. 1t Is
only about eco miles from the borders of
the kOngo Free State. and within $50
miles of Tanganyika- Some OF the build
ing between here and Victoria Falls was
done at the rate of mile a day. and
year or So IL the work is pushed. will
easily suffice to complete The stern route
from here to the Mediterranean sea. \
flying survey has been mace to the great
copper deposits of the KOngo Free State
and after the road reaches there. the Bel
CLANS will aid in that branch of its con-
StrCction.
| refer to the Cape 20 Cairo line as a
steam route. including in that term trans
portation by boat and cars. There will
never be one continuous iron track north
and south across this continent The
there are deep waterways which can be
used to save almost one-third of the con-
struction. The longest stretch of rail will
he from Cape Town north TO Lake Tan
ganyika. This is just about as far as
from New York to the Great Salt Lake.
and it comprises almost one-half of the
route from the Cape OF Coco Hope to the
Mediterranean sea.
Lake Tanganyika is a narrow trough
i'm the mountains running almost north
and south for distance of 400 miles. 1t
il RICH; along the survey of the trunk
line, and the cars can be run on to steam
boats and ferried across il.
From the upper end of Tanganyika to
Ehartum only 40 miles of railway are
Eeetied. The distance between the two
points ia 1910 miles. bu; 1,26O miles of
il can be made by water. From Khar-
tUm the steamboats, on the Nile are al
ready running for more than 900 miles.
and with 100 miles more railroad. pas
sengers car reach Lake Albert II is
but short stretch from there to Lake
Albert Edward and Lake kivu. you
see the Cape to Cairo system is approach
ing completion. The roads yet to be
built are not long as from Philada.i-
phia TO Chicago. and more shan one-half
of the work VIII be finished when this
line has reached Tanganyika.
Rhodesian Railways.
For the past month or more have
been travelling over the railroads of
Rhodesia Those already constructed
measure something like $500 miles, and