The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-11-29
Galloway Planned for
the Inaccessible Vale of Kashmir

The towers will be located where there
can be safety against slipping and
dangers from falling bowlders. 1t will
extend from the city of Baramula, at
the entrance to the floor Of the Valley
Of kashmir, to A~bbottabad, seventy
five miles away situated in the Crash
valley, which town is shortly to- be
connected with the Northwestern rail-
way system operating in the Punjab,
at Hasan Abdal, about forty-four
miles away. From Baramula the ca
bleway will be connected with Srina-
gar, he capital Of Kashmir, by an
electric railway a distance Of about
th1rty-e1ght miles. Baramula, the
kashmir terminus Of the galloway, is
$3.50 feet above sea level, and Abbott
abad, the terminus at the other side, is
1920 feet above sea level.
A Remarkable Roadway.
At present the chief means of com
mun1cation in and out Of Kashmir is
by Dad of 200 miles long between
the city of Rawalpindi in northern
Punjab and ~Srinagar, the capital of
kashmir. This road over the noun
talns is n Of the most remarkable in
the world or account of the engineer
ing difficulties which it presented, be-
ing cut much Of the way round huge
IL 1ouS
rock, and frequently being overhung
by huge masses Of conglomerate soil
containing great powders always liza
bic to fall whenever rain starts to
wash them out. This road took four
years to construct, being completed in
1887. Fifty-four men were killed dur-
ing the course Of its construction,
chiefly by being carried away by slips
down precipices Or being struck by
hnuy11Arc VyLfIo- HL~-k
died Of snake bites. At present the
cost to the Kashmir government of
maintaining this road amounts to the
very large sum Of about $500 per mile
per year, chiefly spent in repairing
slips and some bridges which are
washed away. Sometimes after a
heavy rainfall as many as 300 slips
will occur within twenty-four hours.
In traversing this road into the
Kashmir valley I was much impressed
with the powerful arguments why the
kashmir government has not seer it's
way clear to constructing a railway
along this route. After reaching a
halfway station in the evening, a sud
den storm arose and heavy rain fell
during the night. The next day on
proceeding toward Srinagar as many
as threeor four slips of a Serious ma
ture were encountered, while over
twenty big powders had fallen onto
Their DAD during the night. On nv re-
turn journal h following week a dis
abled motor car was found on the
road which had been struck by two
falling powders. A few months e
very serious tragedy occurred, a
bowlder falling in front Of a team of
horses, causing them to shy and he
occupants to the vehicle to be hurled
over the precipice and killed. The
great advantage Of the aerial galloway
will be that all dangerous parts Of he
road a be lodged and the cars NOV
ed from hill to hill and over gorges
instead of at the side Of them, the
towers being based at places where
there can be no danger of. slips.
Initial Enterprise Limited to Freight.
1t will not be the intention at first
to use the aerial galloway fror trans
port of passengers, but only for
freight. However, If the galloway is
found to work with perfect safety and
no accidents occur, it is likely that
within a year Or two it will be equip
ped with cars suitable for passengers.