Cleveland County herald., 1920-11-04
RAILWAY SPANS
 GREAT DESERT
Road in Australia Crosses Inhos- pitabie and WaterIess
 Stretch of Country.
TOOK FIVE YEARS ID BUILD
Daring and Skill of Engineers Con- qaers Most Desoiate Waste in Worid-Heat and Insects Make
 Life Unbearable.

Melbourne.-Nhen the Prince of Wales decided to make his recent journey from Perth to Adelaide by means of Australia's first transconti- mental railway, it was compliment to the daring and skill of the Austra- Han engineers who conquered one of the worlds most formidable deserts.
 It was the late Lord Kitchener who suggested the line, pointing out that for strategical and other reasons western Australia should be linked with the other states of the common. wealth by an iron road.
 But the great Victorian desert lay between, a barren, inhospitable and waterless stretch of country. Not a riVulet is to be found in the whole of this vast region. It is one dreary ex- panse of sand and limestone rock, relieved here and there by salt-bush, which even cattle refuse to eat Worse still are the intense heat and the bloods sucking insects which abound.
 Five Years Required.
 The fact meant a fve-year battle against terrible odds. It was only con- pleted just before the armistice
 The survey work alone occupied two years, and cost f20000, the total expenses of the undertaking mounting to over f1000000. Camels had to be requisitioned to carry the surveyors and their stores. The chief engineer records how it was impossible to use ink, as it instantly dried on the pen and the leads dropped out of the shriv- eled pencils. To secure relief from the rays of the midday sun they had to bury themselves in holes in the sand, where they were attacked by fierce insects.
 The route having been decided on, the steel rails were laid simultaneous ly from each end across the desert. AS the country was for the most part flat, and not a river or a noticeable hill intervened, little grading work was necessary. It was simply a case of making an even bed on which the sleepers were quickly laid. Then came the placing of the steel rails
 
 and spiking and bolting them.
 Very trying, however, was the heat, particularly during the summer months. It was often impossible at midday to touch the steel rails or handle a shovel without fear of blis- tering the fingers. The men had to be provided with rubber gloves to enable them to handle their toolS and also tG save their finger nails from splitting, and wear masks as protection against the insects. Life was only made pos sibe by a liberal daily supply of ice, obtained from the refrigerating cars attached to the construction trains which followed them.
 Discover Water.
 At intervals of 50 miles or so, water tanks were built, tEie intention being to use these in connection with the working of the trains. They were to 5e supplied with water pumped from the reservoirs at Kalgoorlie. But after two and half years work, during which the track had progressed at the rate of about mile a day. the engi- neers realized that if a really efficient service was to be maintained the pro- posed method of obtaining water would have to be modified.
 So thex sent for & boring rlant. and