Semi-weekly herald., 1913-02-10
ENGINEERING.
Scientific American.

ocientlnc American.
Railway Construction in 1912-Dur-
ing the past year there was added to
the railroads of this country less than
5000 miles of new line, according to
statistics complied by Railway Age
Gazette. This is S45 miles less than
the average for the past nineteen
years. On other other hand, the total
mileage of new line, commenced but
not completed, is greater than it has
been for five years past.
The Artesian Wells of Australia
The artesian well is one of the most
important sources of water supply in
Australia-a continent which is by
no means lavishly supplied with snow
and glacier fed rivers which are so
abundant in this country. A gov
ernment report states that in 1911, in
the state of Queensland alone, there
existed 1856 artesian wells, whose
total depth aggregated 334 miles. Of
these, 113 were over 5000 feet deep,
and one of them had been carried to
. depth of 5,045 feet. Two of .hese
boreholes, alone, gave combined out
flow of nearly 100000 gallons daily.
Important Railroad ElectrificatiOp-
The secretary of the interior may be
premature in his belief that the cleo
IRRIGATION of all the transcontinental
railways is at hand; but he is Ger
tainly justified in attaching great i'm.
portance to the grant by the govern
ment of permission for the Great Falls
Power company of Montana to trans
init over the public domain the neces
sary power to electrify 45O miles of
track of. the main line of the Chicago.
Milwaukee and Puget Sound railway
in Montana and Idaho. In respect to
the length of track covered, this is
by far the most important applica-
ton of electric traction so far made
to steam railroad
A Notable Railway Bridge-In this
age of notable construction, work
which only few years ago would
have commanded worldwide attention
now is apt to attract not much more
than local interest and comment. Al
case in point is the handsome rail-
road bridge, of the cantileyer type
which has been built by the Pittsburp
and Lake Erie Railroad company, over
the ONO river, at point about twen-
ty-five miles below Pittsburg. The
total length of the bridge between
back walls is 1900 feet. The main
cantilever structure, which measures
1,409 feet between centers of end pins.
consist of 370-foot end span. two
320-foot anchor arm spans, and a
main span of the great length of 769
feet, which is made up of two 242-
foot arms and 285-foot suspended
center span.
Twenty-Five Knot Battleships-The
persistency with which the new 25 OOO-
ton battleships for the British navy
are credited with specified speed of
twenty-five knots, raises the question
whether the admiralty has determined
to merge the battleship and the bat
tle-cruiser into one-a logical, and as
IL seems to us, very sensible de-
cision. Water-tube boilers, superheat-
ed steam, and the steam turbine have
combined to render possible battle
ship speeds which could not have been
thought of few years ago. Our navy
has never favored the bat
tle-cruiser, believing that our limited
appropriations should be put into the
hrst fighting line exclusively England
sets the fashion in naval construc-
ton; but if she builds 25-knot bat
.iesnips' will the rest of the powers
FOLLOW such radical change?