Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-11-11
RAILWAY SPANS i.
Great DESERT
Road in Australia Crosses Inhos-
pitabIe and WaterIess
Stretch of Country. -
TOOK FIVE YEARS TO BUILD
Daring and Skill Of Engineers Con-
quers Most DesoIate Waste In
World-Heat and Insects Make
Life Unbeatable.

Melbourne.-When the Prince Of
Wales decided to make his recent
Journey from Perth to Adelaide by
means of Australians first transconti-
mental railway, it was a compliment
TO the daring and skill Of the Austria
nan engineers who conquered one of
the worlds most formidable deserts.
Il 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. barren, inhospitable and
waterless stretch Of country. Not a
rivulet is to be found I'm the whole of
this vast region. 1t 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 blood.
sucking insects which abound
Five Years Required.
The fact meant a five-year battle
against terrible odds. 1t was only COM
pleted just before the armistice.
The survey work alone occupied
two years, and cost 100000, the total
expenses of the undertaking amounting
to over f7,00O,OOO. Camels had to be
requisitioned to" carry the surveyors
and their stores. The chief engineer
records how 1t was impossible to use
ink, as 1t 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 We're laid Simultaneous
ly from each end across the desert.
AS the country was for the most part
fiat and not river or noticeable hill
interviewed, little grading work was
necessary. 1t was simply a case of
making an even bed on which the
Sleepers We're quickly laid. Then
came the placing of the steel rails
across them by means of track layer,
and spikng and boiling them.
Very trying, however, was the heat,
particularly during the summer
months. 1t was often impossible at
midday to touch the steel rails or
handle a shovel without fear Of bis
tering the fingers. The men had to be
provided with rubber gloves to enable
them to handle their tools, and also to
save their finger nails from splitting,
and wear masks as protection against
the insects. Life was only made pos
sible by liberal daily supply of ice,
obtained from the refrigerating cars
attached to the construction trains
which followed them.
Discover Water.
At intervals of so miles or so, water
tanks were built, the intention being to
use these in connection with the
working of the trains. They were to
be supplied with water pumped from
the reservoirs at Kalgoorlie. But after
two and a half years work, during
which the track had progressed at the
Idlc vi dDOul IL lhiit way,
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 they sent for boring plant, and
at a point $50 miles from Kalgoorlie
began boring for water. Everyone
shook their heads, declaring there was
no water In the whole Of that barren
land. But at depth Of 1900 feet
water was found.
This discovery of water not only re-
lieved the engineers of considerable
anxiety and greatly lessened their
work, but 1t has changed the whole
aspect of the country. Sheep now
Craze along the track, which few
years ago was a barren waste. Ex-
perts declare that the once formidable
desert will become q great grazing
country, carrying at least 100000
sheep.