The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-04-21
N0RWAY'S NEW ROAD
Christiania-Bereen Rail Line
Across Mountains Completed.
Eastern and Western Parts Of the
Kingdom Have Easy Means OF
Communications OF
Much Importance.

Chrlstiania to Bergen recently by
King ilaakon was an event in the his
tory Of this country of fer wider inn
nortance than any one not well ac-
ouainted with Norway. geographically
and geographically would he able to
appreciate, Norway is divided into
three isolated parts by the Dovre
mountain and by the broad and wild
range Of mountains that bear success
sively the names OF Fylefjeld and
Langfjeldene, The overland route be.
tween Bergen and Christiania was,
even more than the route to Trond-
h1em, great hindrance TO traffic pass
ing as 1t does for a considerable dis
lance over mountains of height of
5000 feet and more.
Although Norway was united into
one kingdom as early as ST. by King
Harold Haarfager and has remained
united ever since, the natural splitting
up OF the country into the western,
northern and eastern districts has In
evitahly 10 some extent impaired the
"A
the barriers which nature had raised
between the districts have formed
very serious obstacles to personal Co
operation for the development Of the
economic resources of the country
The consequence has been that the
progress has been considerably slow
err than 1t might otherwise have been
Good roads were constructed In the
principal overland routes In the begin
ming of the last century. and they
represented an immense improvement
on the ancient trails which had been
possible only on foot or on horseback
But journey OF several days In a
carriage was expensive and entailed
great loss OF time and, in the winter
time, severe hardships In 1880 the
railroad to Trondhjem was completed.
Thus the great barrier between the
northern parts and the southeastern
parts Of the country were overcome.
The highest point OF this road does
! not lie more than 1000 feet above sea
level, but many people thought It
could not be kept open In the winter
time, This fear proved groundless
and the road turned out to be very
lucrative national investment. al
though ii has not as yet paid directly
in the form of dividends: It has done
better than that by greatly accelerat-
ing the development Of the Trondhiem
| district and of Nordand and Fin.
marker.
In 1872 Investigations were com
menced with the view of discovering
the best line for a railway between
Christiania and Bergen, and in 1874
the storthing voted the first part OF an
eventual -Christiania railway,
| the selection from Bergen to Voss.
isat to the general public the contin.
uation seemed impossible and more
| like one of Asbjornsen's fairy tales
than anything else, for the field ex.
plorations had more than confirmed
| the popular conception that the diff.
| tculties to be overcome were truly
| formidable. The railway which has
! Just been opened follows practically
| the line which the engineers traced IN
1874. From Voss to Upset., a distance
| of about so kilometers (35 miles,. it
rises with steep gradients from 339 to
| 5,l00 feet, and rising further to a max
imum height of nearly 5000 feet, It
! passes altogether distance of more
than 100 kilometers through high
mountains, coming down TO 4,SOO feet
| at Gjeilo And in these inhOspitable
| regions it was found necessary to bore
the Grayehals tunnel, not less than
5,3ii yards long, besides number of
| shorter tunnels.
For 19 years the engineers contin.
ned their exploration work, and mean.
while national determination was
slowly forming that the task of unit.
| ing eastern and western Norway
should be undertaken in spite of ali
obstacles. In 1894 the storthing de
cided upon the construction of rail
way from Voss to Taugeyaud. and in
1898 the continuation Of the linz
| through Hallingdal to the junction
| point on the Christiania Gjovik rail
| road, Roa, was decided
| AS a preparation, transport roads had
to be constructed and barracks fol
engineers and workmen built: 500,
600 kroner t$135,00O) had TO be spent
on transport roads alone The Grave
halls tunnel was constructed by pri
waite contracting firm the rest OF the
| work was done directly by the state
The whole road was built exclusively
| by Norwegian engineers and work
men The contractors on the big tun
| mel once made an experiment witt
Italian workmen, but they very soor
| proved SO far inferior to the Norwe
gians that they had to be sent home
after few weeks trial
The railroad has length of 40.
kilometers 900 miles) and there are
| IFS tunnels, aggregating 36,6S2 meters
| (119.250 feet The total cost amount
ed to 54,000,000 kroner ($14,5S0,000)
It has been necessary to put up wood
en- walls at many exposed points
There are three rotary snow plows o
American system, these having proved
far superior to other patents which