The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-23

commercial travellers representing
English, German and french business
houses, a high-up official Of the Brit
ish East indian service and the RaJah
Of the Sikkim. who had been 10
school at Oxford, England, and was
taking a trip through China on his
way home. Among the Americans was
chine companies, a Standard Oil man
and the representative of a roof and
paint house Of "a Francisco.
We left Picking in the morning and
arrived at Hankow the next after
noon. Our way was across the Great
Plain. which is said to support more
people than the United States. We
and walled towns and cities every
half hour. The Great Plain is thickly
settled, and every foot Of it is cul-
tivated. Nearing Hankow h land
becomes rolling, and there are low
mountain ranges. The sides Of the
hills are terraced in fields OF all
shapes and sizes, and the valleys are
cut up into gardens Of walled patches
most Of which contain rice.
In h north many Of the huts are
fla rooted, in the south the roofs
are ridge shaped and thatched with
straw. hey are made Of stone or
mud. The stations are of gray brick,
IOOIcU WILL leu lllcS. 11ONOS llICI
our train at every stop, and they
were usually kept in order by native
soldiers, who wore blue uniforms,
with black caps and fat black boots.
We Ook on and put Off passengers at
all the stations. The most of these
were Chinese, who rode second class.
I understand that the slow trains,
which have cheaper fares, are ven
NOR crowded, and that the passenger
traffic pays Well
The Yellow River Bridge.
The most remarkable piece Of en-
cheering on this railroad is the Vel
low River bridge, which we crossed
during the night. Outside America it
is the largest of it's kind in the world.
It measures almost two miles from
end to end and is constructed en-
tirely of steel. There Is no stream
which shifts it's bed more than the
Yellow river. It is called China's
Sorrow, and is said to lave changed
it's nourse no less than nine times
within the past tWenty centuries, each
time choosing a different mouth by
great flood, when the waters forsook
their bed, many millions were
drowned.
The bed Of the yellow river is Of
quicksand, SO deep that it was impos-
sible to use any masonry in construct
ing this bridge. Steel tubes were
sunk in place OF the ordinary con
crete pillars and these were joined to-
gether by steel bands. There are
eight of these steel tubes, each Of
which goes ffty-nine fet down into
the bed Of the river. Other steel
tubes extend down from thirty-three
to forty-fve feet. The arches Of the
bridge ave a span Of sixty-five feet,
where the current is strongest, and
OF nlnety-eight feet in other places.
The steel piles, or tubes, have been
filed with cement to give them
strength, and rock and stones have
been sunk round thir bases to solid
ify their foundations. The stones
were first dropped down into the
river, without any support, and were
carried away by the quicksand. Later.
mats made of the branches Of trees.
pound together with wire, were let
down around the piles, and the stones
dronDed upon them. In this way tons
OF stone have been moored on such
rats about each pile, and they have
made the bridge as firm as though