THE CONQUEST OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS
Although the first trans-continental railway across the North American
continent tapped San Francisco, this was not the route that was
advocated in the first instance. Public fancy was inclined rather to
the suggestion that the Pacific should be gained more to the north, at
the estuary of the Columbia River. This feeling was fostered, no doubt,
because that country loomed more prominently in the popular eye, as a
result of the famous expedition of Lewis and Clark during the years
1804–6, wherein they trailed across the unknown corner of the continent
and gained the Pacific via the Columbia River. The operations of the
Hudson Bay Trading Company and its numerous rivals also had served to
familiarise the public with this great territory.
It is strange to observe how, directly Stephenson had demonstrated the
possibilities of the steam locomotive, imaginative minds drew pictures
of stupendous railway-building achievements across great continents,
broken up by unscaled mountains and unfathomed broad rivers, as if the
building of a track for the iron horse was the same as a child building
toy houses with wooden bricks. As a result the North American continent
became criss-crossed in all directions by railways--on paper--and it
was a good thing for the country at the time that these schemes never
got any farther than that stage.
Since Huntington succeeded in his first great effort, the country has
been spanned by a round dozen lines. Four systems, however, stand out
pre-eminently. These are the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern,
two lines which, in the first instance, were built after the pioneer
manner, and the Western Pacific, and the Milwaukee, St. Paul, and
Puget Sound roads respectively, which were constructed upon experience
gained in connection with the earlier lines, and therefore in
accordance with modern ideas.
The Northern Pacific undertaking suffered strange vicissitudes. It
was suggested, discussed and anticipated for years before it was ever
taken in hand. It was a born engineer and practical railway-builder
who drove the scheme finally to a definite conclusion. This was
Edwin F. Johnson, and his words carried weight because of his great
engineering reputation and the soundness of his views. He waged the
agitation so relentlessly that the Government at last embarked upon
a unique enterprise. A series of expeditions were inaugurated, known
as the Pacific Railway Surveys, and the men for this task were drawn
from every department of the public service. Their task was to report
upon the practicability of threading the great mountain barriers to
reach the western sea. The results of their efforts were set out in
some thirteen large volumes, and they constitute possibly the most
exhaustive work ever carried out in regard to the plotting of railways
through a country. But, like the majority of such Government outbursts,
they represent so much wasted money: they were so valuable that they
became forgotten. The surveyors and railway-builders of to-day prefer
to work out their own destinies.
Then came the Civil War, and that ruled any railway-building enterprise
under the ægis of the Government completely out of court. But Johnson
was not to be dissuaded from his enterprise. He laid his scheme before
many prominent railway men in the country, and they decided to carry
out the work. Johnson was deputed to act as chief engineer, and was
urged to locate the line.
In 1870 the task of laying some 2,500 miles of track was commenced. The
mouth of the Columbia River was selected as the outlet on the Pacific
Ocean. Work was commenced simultaneously from both ends, the eastern
terminal being near Lake Superior. By 1873 the line had reached the
Missouri River on the east, and here a pause had to be called to erect
a massive steel bridge, 1,400 feet long, 50 feet above the river, which
absorbed £200,000, or $1,000,000.
When the first stretch of prairie line was completed, it was used only
in the summer months. There was not enough traffic to pay for the coal
burned in the locomotives during the winter, in the estimation of the
administration, while they feared the expense and losses that would be
inflicted by the terrible blizzards and snowstorms which rage in this
country. Consequently, after the crops had been garnered and conveyed
to market, all the engines, trucks and cars were withdrawn from service
upon a great length of line, which was abandoned practically until
spring came round.
This state of affairs continued until the Indians rose up against
American law and order, wiped out several men, and precipitated a
general reign of terror. The Government, in order to pour troops into
the disaffected territory, requested the working of the railway during
the winter of 1876–7, which proved to be one of the most severe in
history. Yet the line suffered less from snow than the systems in the
eastern States, and, moreover, possibilities of traffic were discovered
which hitherto had been considered non-existent. Needless to say, the
railway never has been closed during the winter since.
Before the railway had proceeded half-way across the continent, the
need for overhauling and relaying the first part of the track was felt.
A higher standard of construction was therefore laid down for all the
new work. Moreover, in order that the line should be completed within
the shortest time possible, it was split into large sections, and the
grade was driven east and west from several points simultaneously.
[Illustration: THE “SWITCHBACK” BY MEANS OF WHICH THE GREAT NORTHERN
RAILWAY OF THE UNITED STATES NEGOTIATED THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS BEFORE
THE BORING OF THE CASCADE TUNNEL]
The mountains proved a severe stumbling-block and precipitated great
delay. The country was so broken that lofty timber trestles had to be
erected to be filled in with earth at a later date. Then two large
tunnels had to be bored to carry the track through the Rockies, one,
the Bozeman tunnel, being 3,610 feet long, and the other, the Mullan
tunnel, 3,857 feet from end to end. Yet construction proceeded so
successfully that the links were joined up on September 3, 1883, the
last spike being driven in Hellgate Canyon, Montana. The spike used
for this auspicious event was the very first that had been driven in
connection with the line when it was commenced years before.
[Illustration: BUILDING A STEEL TRESTLE ACROSS A RIFT
The traveller is setting a girder 75 feet long, and weighing 20 tons,
into position.]
The railway has passed through many financial tribulations. On two
occasions the intermediary of a receiver has been found necessary. It
was hit by a panic in its very earliest days, and it failed ten years
after completion, the second breakdown precipitating one of the worst
financial scares in the history of the States. From the ashes, however,
a new company was reconstructed, a bolder and more enterprising body
of men gripped the reins, the system was pulled to pieces from end to
end and rebuilt. To-day it is not only one of the finest railways in
America, but one of the most popular and successful as well.
Running parallel with the Northern Pacific across the continent, but
some miles nearer the international boundary, is another great artery
of steel which has become a great transportation force in the United
States. This is the Great Northern, likewise built through the energy
of one man, Mr. James J. Hill, the empire-builder of the Great American
west. Mr. Hill is a born railway magnate, and when he shook the dust
of his native land--Canada--from his feet, it was merely because
the Dominion at that time offered him no scope for his energies and
initiative.
His life is one romance; a prolonged conquest with the unknown country,
with the railway as his weapon, and with which he has overcome
tremendous obstacles. The Great Northern was driven slowly across
the country from the Great Lakes. Advance was risky, as the country
traversed failed to promise an ounce of produce; but whenever the
organiser saw that development in the country ahead was likely to
take place, he drove the line forward. His motto was that “the railway
must be a pioneer, leaving the settler to be brought in afterwards.”
He lost no opportunity to gain revenue. For instance, when the mineral
wealth of Montana attracted widespread attention, he made a journey to
Butte. He found that it was costing the mines £3 8_s._--$17--per ton to
ship their copper to Omaha. He pondered on the subject, and suddenly
announced his intention to carry his railway into Butte. He did so, and
the first stroke he consummated was to transport the metal to the same
eastern point at £1 13_s._, or $8, per ton--about 50 per cent. below
the previous rate.
The desolate character of the plains of Montana, and the towering
heights of the Rocky Mountains which stood right in the way of the
line, were far from being attractive from the financial point of view.
Yet he was convinced that traffic could be created, and was fortunate
in infusing his colleagues with his enthusiasm. But if the railway’s
future was precarious, that of the settler was much more so. For some
miles the line ran through territory inhabited by the Indian, and which
the Red Man stubbornly persisted in maintaining was his property.
The result was that the white man could only live on sufferance. If
he stopped too long while passing through the country he was told to
move on. Mr. Hill relates an amusing instance of Red determination to
seize the main chance at the settler’s expense. “When the settlers
drove their cattle across Indian country in order to gain the railway,
the Indians exacted a toll of 50 cents, or 2_s._ for the privilege of
driving the cattle across three miles of their territory! They even
wanted an additional amount per head--I don’t remember what it was--for
the water they drank while crossing the Missouri River!”
Among the Rockies the engineer met with a spirited resistance, and the
result is that the railway describes a tortuous course as it climbs up
the one, and drops down the other, side. At places one may stand on the
edge of a cliff where the track has been cut, and watch it following
the spur for miles, steadily falling meanwhile to the head of the
valley, where it describes a sweeping curve to wind back along the face
of the cliff on the opposite side of the depression. Straight across it
is, perhaps, not more than a mile or so, but the long detour of several
miles was necessary to avoid a heavier climb. The fight for the grade
is emphasised in watching an approaching train coming up the hill. It
rounds the bluff on the opposite side of the valley, two ponderous
170-ton locomotives pulling and straining amid clouds of smoke and
steam. Their joint labour produces a speed of about 15 miles an hour,
and the roar created by the steam in harness is heard distinctly across
the ravine. One follows the train on its winding course, for it is
fully in sight the whole time as it swings round the curve at the end
of the valley, and presently rushes by one with a terrible roar. Some
twelve minutes have passed since the train first came into sight.
Among the Cascades the spectacle is more impressive. Travelling
westwards, the train pauses at the mountain’s summit, and an electric
locomotive is attached to haul the cars through the Cascade tunnel, a
bore as straight as an arrow through the mass of rock for three miles.
In ten minutes the train regains daylight, and the electric locomotive
makes way for a ponderous 170-ton vibrating mass of steel and steam for
the downward descent. When the railway was first opened, the crest of
the range was overcome by a big switch-back, but it did not meet with
official satisfaction, so it was abandoned in favour of the tunnel
driven through the crest.
Directly the engine-driver releases the air-brake the train commences
to move. The descent is at the rate of 116 feet to the mile, and, as
may be conceived, no steaming is required to give the train momentum
down the banks--it travels by gravity alone, held in check by the
powerful air-brake. The train plunges into a line of snowsheds, and
when it emerges, two tracks at different levels may be seen, and in
the far distance, on the opposite side of the valley, is the black
band of steel writhing among the crags to pass from sight round a
distant shoulder. The train swings down the uppermost gallery, crosses
a lofty trestle set over a rift on a curve, dives into a tunnel wherein
a horse-shoe loop is completed, so that when it issues from the
other portal the train speeds along the second track in the opposite
direction. Then it makes another twist to swing to the opposite
mountain slope. Looking back from the lowest level, the line can be
seen cutting three ugly gashes among the trees clothing the mountain
flanks.
The construction of this series of loops was exciting, and dangerous
to the navvies, as one of their number related to me. Excavation was
carried out on the two levels simultaneously, but those on the lower
terrace had to maintain a vigilant eye and a keen ear. Huge ballast
cars were hauled on to the upper gallery loaded with debris, and they
shot this over the side to build up the grade. The result was that
the men below were subjected to a heavy, intermittent bombardment,
for massive pieces of rock were among the spoil. These, given a start
down-hill, bounced from point to point with terrific force, until they
crashed into the depths of the canyon. The men had to dodge these
missiles as best they could. Sometimes they were lucky; at others they
were not, and many a man received a nasty wound, a jarring blow, or a
broken limb from a piece of rock in flight. Accidents from this cause
were numerous, and fatalities were not infrequent.
When the Western Pacific was projected it was decided to profit from
the mistakes made on the early lines in the first instance. Grades in
particular were to be kept down, especially among the mountains, where
a maximum rise of 1 in 100 was only to be allowed. This line completes
the original idea in connection with the Denver & Rio Grande line by
giving the latter an outlet from Salt Lake City to the Pacific at San
Francisco.
[Illustration: BUILDING THE BIGGEST EMBANKMENT ON RECORD BY HYDRAULIC
SLUICING]
The railway is 725 miles in length, and it was split into three
sections for constructional purposes. The first extended from Salt
Lake City to Oroville at the Pacific foot of the Sierras main range,
the second from the latter point to Oakland on the coast, while the
third was a trying short section right down to the water’s edge, at San
Francisco from Oakland. Building was carried out on the three divisions
simultaneously. Remarkable enterprise was displayed by the liberal
resort to any new time- and labour-saving methods and implements.
In the San Diablo Range the path of the track was interrupted by a
depression 123 feet deep and 1,120 feet wide. That hollow had to be
filled to preserve the grade. To expedite the task, an ingenious tool
was devised. This was an electric scraper, and the idea was to pull
this down the side of the mountain, thereby removing several tons of
earth at a time, and to shoot it into the gulch. But the scraper did
not come up to expectations. Breakdowns were so frequent that at last
it was dismantled in disgust and thrown on one side to rust. Then
another ingenious idea was tested. This was called a “merry-go-round,”
something very similar to a roundabout. It comprised a revolving table
overhanging the edge of the dump or embankment. A track was laid on
the circumference of this turntable forming a loop. The laden trucks
were run round this curve and their contents were shot overboard at the
point desired, the empties continuing round the loop to the track to
return to be refilled. The advantage of this arrangement was that the
spoil could be discharged just where it was wanted much more quickly
and easily than by the ordinary method, where the cars are pushed to
the edge of the temporary track, emptied and then pulled back. As the
bank grew outwards across the valley, the merry-go-round was pushed
forwards, so that it always stood on the brink of the earthwork.
[Illustration: THE “MERRY-GO-ROUND” DEVISED TO EXPEDITE RAISING AN
EMBANKMENT 120 FEET HIGH]
[Illustration: A LOFTY EMBANKMENT IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. IN THE
CENTRE IT IS 120 FEET HIGH. CONSTRUCTION CAMP IN FOREGROUND
A NOVEL EXAMPLE OF THE RAILWAY BUILDERS’ INGENUITY]
Among the mountains some magnificent work was accomplished. As the
directing engineer remarked to the writer, it was a stiff problem to
descend the western flanks of the Sierras with a 1 per cent. grade. The
line crosses the mountains 2000 feet lower than the Central Pacific,
and one advantage is that there are no snowsheds anywhere.
When one sees how rigorously the maximum grade has been guarded one
marvels. The mountains are negotiated through Feather River Canyon,
which is a duplicate of the Kicking Horse Pass that carries the
Canadian Pacific main line down to the coast. The canyon is entered
at Oroville, and for almost 100 miles the line rises steadily at 52
feet per mile, following the river until it at last gains an altitude
of 4,817 feet. But hugging the river causes the line to meander very
tortuously, for the waterway zigzags like the teeth of a saw.
Moreover, Feather River is a fearsome waterway. In its calmest moods
it rushes along swiftly, but when swollen by the melting snows and
countless mountain brooks it thunders and boils like a whirlpool. To
escape the fury of the waters the track had to be laid well up the
mountain-side, and where a fork of the river is crossed, a massive
metal bridge had to be built for the reason advanced by the engineer
that “Nothing but steel could be used with safety when the river is in
full flood.”
Curiously enough, although Feather River Canyon had never before been
selected as a passage-way through the mountains for the iron road,
it was favoured by the Indian as being the easiest passage through
the Sierras. Theodore Judah had noticed its advantages for the first
trans-continental. But the Red Man’s trail was along the opposite
bank to that preferred by the railway. At first sight it would appear
as though the surveyors might have profited advantageously from the
sagacity of the aborigines, but they declined to do so for a striking
reason. The locaters had to pay due respect to the snowfall and the
paths of avalanches. In such a gorge the former may be only a few
inches on one, and as many feet on the other side, and the dangers from
slides are proportionate. Such conditions prevail in this canyon. The
bank selected by the engineers is exposed to the sun throughout the
day, and the snowfall is very slight, whereas on the other and shaded
bank it is very severe.
In ascending the canyon, very heavy development work had to be
carried out. At one point a huge loop had to be described on the
mountain-side, and the summit negotiated by a long tunnel beneath the
Beckwourth Pass. The latter acts as a funnel or shaft for the warm
“Chinook” winds, which, entering the pass, melt the snow almost as soon
as it falls. Consequently, on this section snow is an insignificant
enemy, and does not strike such terror into the hearts of the railway
authorities as, say, on the Canadian Pacific, or the Overland route.
The records at Beckwourth give the maximum depth of snow as 24 inches,
so that Boreas will be kept within bounds very easily by an ordinary
snow-plough. By placing the track well below the snow-line, and with
the assistance of the kindly Japanese warm wind, the heavy expense of
snowsheds has been avoided.
This is no mean saving either, for in many cases the cost of building
these protective sheds has been more per mile than the railway itself
sheltered within. On one line the average cost of this protection is
£15,000 per mile, and it is necessary for 40 miles!
On the eastern sides of the mountains the railway runs into the
ill-famed Humboldt River territory, which has proved a thorn in the
sides of many railway-builders. This fine waterway at times bursts its
bonds, floods the country, and finally follows a new course. In order
to avoid any troubles from this cause, the line was kept well clear of
the district, though it involved many artificial works such as bridges,
embankments and tunnels, while the river is crossed 24 times in 185
miles.
Between the foothills of the Sierras and Salt Lake City two other
mountain ranges had to be overcome--the Pequop and Torano chains
respectively. A tunnel solves the first, and a striking piece of
development work compasses the second. This is a horse-shoe curve 5
miles in length, which rises gently eastwards at the prescribed maximum
grade. Had the engineers cut straight across as the crow flies, miles
would have been saved, but the banks would have been three times as
heavy. The eastern point of this horse-shoe brings the railway to the
fringe of the Salt Lake desert, a rolling waste of salt and borax in
which lies the inland sea of the same name, and whose waters in the
distant past lapped the foothills of the Torano range. The rail strikes
across the desert in a bee-line for 43 miles, the permanent way being
as level as a billiard-table, with the rails resting on a solid mass
of salt, 8 feet or more in thickness. This marked the first attempt
to cross this dismal expanse by railway. Many a traveller essaying
the perilous journey as a shorter cut to the country beyond has been
overwhelmed by thirst or the intolerable heat, to lie down to his last
rest, his bones afterwards being found bleaching in the glare of Old
Sol, beating down from a cloudless sky.
One notable feature of this road is the tunnels. There are 42 in all,
aggregating over 45,000 feet in length, while there are 40 steel
bridges totalling a length of 9,261 feet. In one division among the
Sierras, extending for a distance of 75 miles up the Feather River
Canyon, grading ran into £20,000, or $100,000, per mile. Altogether
some 40,000,000 cubic yards of earth were handled to form the grade.
The contractors had to spend £20,000, or $100,000, alone to cut a
wagon-road in order to transport supplies to their camps along the
grade.
Contemporaneously with the construction of the Western Pacific railway,
a third line--the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound--was being pressed
across the continent for the purpose of bringing Chicago and the
Atlantic seaboard into direct touch with the Pacific ports of Seattle
and Tacoma on Puget Sound.
[Illustration: BUILDING THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND PUGET SOUND RAILWAY
THROUGH THE BITTER ROOT MOUNTAINS]
This great artery sprang from very humble beginnings. In 1865 there
was a short stretch of line in the State of Minnesota which, under
energetic and wise expansion, threw its tentacles in all directions,
until by 1908 it had grown into a huge system known as the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, possessing 7,451 miles of track. How
it came to launch out upon this long reach to the Pacific is an
interesting story, typical of railway development in the North American
continent.
The eastern division of the parent system served an absolutely
treeless country, though the land was among the finest imaginable for
agriculture. The railway required plentiful supplies of timber, not
only for its own needs, but also for those of the settlers scattered
along its roads. Every foot of wood had to be cut in the far north-west
lumber territory, and had to be hauled for hundreds of miles over a
rival railway before it entered the territory served by the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. Considering the enormous consumption of
this commodity, the money paid over every year to the rival railway in
freight charges represented a respectable figure.
[Illustration: CARRYING THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND PUGET SOUND RAILWAY
ACROSS THE COLUMBIA RIVER
Showing the huge steel bridge necessary to carry the track over the
waterway.]
Thereupon it was decided to tap the forests and to secure an outlet
on the Pacific Coast at the same time. Although it was estimated that
the 1,400 miles of track necessary for the purpose would cost about
£20,000,000, or $100,000,000, it was calculated that the saving in
freight charges for hauling timber would defray the greater part of the
interest on this capital.
Work was commenced in 1906: on April 1, 1909, the last rail was laid,
and the golden spike was driven home into its sleeper, with no more
ceremony than if a mere siding had been completed, instead of a new
trans-continental line, conforming with all up-to-date requirements as
to grade, curvature and general standard of work.
The completion of such a project within three years was truly an
epoch-making achievement, and, as might be supposed, a long string
of record-breaking feats accompanied its realisation. In 36 months
£17,000,000, or $85,000,000, were expended in the boring of tunnels,
the erection of 20 miles of bridges, cuts and fills to fashion a new
steel highway, and to pave it with 200,000 tons of rails. Some days the
mechanical track-layer, with its load of sleepers and rails, advanced
so rapidly that 5 miles of track were laid between sunrise and sunset.
Curiously enough, this new line was commenced from the banks of the
same river as signalled the commencement of the first railway to the
Pacific--the Missouri River--but at Mowbridge, a point some miles to
the north. At the very commencement heavy expense was incurred in the
building of a huge bridge across the waterway, which alone absorbed
£400,000, or $2,000,000. It crosses North Dakota and Montana, where
it was no uncommon circumstance to encounter isolated homesteads, the
owners of which had to travel 150 miles to post a letter--a duty which,
under the circumstances, was performed about once in 6 or 12 months.
In Montana the line drops into the valley of the Yellowstone River to
cling to its banks. While the river winds in and out in an amazing
manner, the railway follows practically a straight line through the
valley, and for 117 miles it is one of the fastest stretches of track
in the whole continent, there being an imperceptible rise. On paper it
seems but a simple task to build such a piece of straight, level track,
but in this instance it proved very expensive, for the river is crossed
about once in every mile, there being 115 bridges in the 117 miles.
After leaving the Yellowstone River the work became more difficult, for
three ranges of mountains had to be overcome. The battle with Nature,
which had been fought by the Southern, Western, Northern Pacific and
Great Northern railways respectively, had to be waged again.
At times the preservation of an easy grade proved a very knotty
problem. The end was achieved only by prodigious earthworks, frequent
tunnelling, as well as lofty trestling across the ravines. The curves
were kept very easy, galleries being cut in the projecting humps to
enable the line to follow the contour of the mountain sides, while the
summits were conquered by driving tunnels through their crests at as
low an altitude as practicable.
The most noteworthy tunnel is the St. Paul Pass, and here a striking
record was set up, the mountain being pierced at a greater speed than
has been achieved in any previous undertakings of this character. It
was bored from both ends simultaneously, and although it was solid,
hard rock for practically the whole of its length, an average advance
of some 540 feet per month was maintained, the highest rate of progress
being reached with a monthly progress of 732 feet.
Among the Cascades the tremendous ravines separating one peak from
another taxed the ingenuity of the engineers sorely. It was practically
what in railway parlance is described as “cut-and-fill” all the way;
that is, the digging of deep cuttings here, and the raising of lofty
embankments there. The cuts through the shoulders of some of these
monarchs became quite respectable defiles in themselves by the time the
steam shovels had retired from the scene. And the cuts were equalled
in their magnitude by the “fills.” One, “Topographers’ Gulch,” is
exceptionably notable. The track creeps through a deep cutting on
either side to the edge of the mountain, the sides of which drop away
in a steep slope to a depth of 282 feet. At track level the gulch was
800 feet across. A viaduct was at first suggested to span the gap, but
it was found that the approaches were unsuitable to such a solution of
the problem.
The engineer resolved to make a daring effort. He would not bridge the
gulf; he would not go round it; but he would fill it up! There was
plenty of material on the spot for the purpose. The question was the
quickest way of accomplishing this end. When it is remembered that
a twenty-storey building could have been dropped into that ravine,
and that its roof then would have been only level with the proposed
permanent way, it will be seen that it was a big fill indeed. How
was it done? Why, by means of water jets--hydraulic sluicing--being
directed against the mountain-side, dislodging the earth and speeding
it down conduits into the depression. Little did the western railway
foreman anticipate, when he first suggested washing down a hill to fill
a rift by means of a hose as already described, that his much-ridiculed
proposition ever would be called upon to fill up a chasm like this.
A powerful pumping-plant was set up, hundreds of feet of hose were laid
down, and fitted with huge, powerful nozzles. Gigantic and powerful
streams of water were thrown against the mountain face, and the debris
thus dislodged was diverted into flumes, or wooden troughs, which
emptied themselves into the valley. Before a yard of debris was tossed
into that abyss, £12,000, or $60,000, had been spent. When the full
blast of water was brought to bear on the face of the hill the gravel
rushed down into the depression like lava pouring from a volcano in
eruption. The water jets literally moved a hill into the ravine. In the
course of a few weeks a neck of solid earth stretched across the abyss,
affording a path for the railway.
The crossing of the Columbia River was another heavy undertaking,
exceeding in character the bridge across the Missouri. At this point
the river is wide, with the navigable channel in the centre, but there
is a heavy rise and fall of the water according to the season, the
feet of the mountains on either side being lapped when the river is
in flood. The peculiar conditions necessitated a high structure, with
massive stone piers supporting the steel-work. Sixteen wide spans
were required. The task was carried out by the railway companies’ own
bridge-engineering staff, in which class of work they are specialists
and peculiarly fitted to such huge enterprises.
Such is the story of the Railway Rush across the United States to the
Pacific. Yet the public clamours for further lines. The facilities
extended already to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboards
in less than four days have served only to cause the public to emulate
“Oliver Twist” and to ask for more.
INDEX
ABT system of grading, 255, 307
Abu Hamed, 154
Aconcagua Peak, 128, 274
---- River, 277
Acre, Bay of, 122
Adelaide, 184, 190
Adelsköld, Mme. Gustafva, 260
--- Major C., 260–62
Adhesion traction, 217
Africa, railways of, 79, 139–61
---- Cape to Cairo railway, 139–61
---- Central, railways of, 281–8
---- French West, 145
---- German East, 150
---- ---- South-West, 79
---- Portuguese East, 281, 282
----- South, the war, 155
---- ---- gold-fields, 301
Air-brakes, 313
Airolo, 33, 35, 41, 42, 44
Akasha, 153
Alaska, 162
---- reclamation of, 102–16
Albany, 187
Albert Nyanza, Lake, 151, 161
Alexandria, 154, 158, 159
Allahabad, 252
---- -Fyzerbad railway, 252
Allan, Sir Hugh, 225
Alps, the, 162–3, 170
---- the Southern, 194
Amarillo Gorge, 274
Amazon River, 129, 270
America, South--
First trans-continental railway, 270
_Laissez-faire_ attitude, 14
Survey work, 9–11
World’s highest line, 128–38
American Civil War, the, 309
American railway interests, 155, 183, 293, 300
Amur railway, the, 201, 211, 212
---- Valley, 209
Andermatt, village of, 42
Anderson, Messrs. J. & A., 195
Andes, the, 9, 128–9, 134, 135, 137, 177, 270, 271, 272, 274, 277, 278
---- Trans-andine railway, 270, 274
Animas Canyon, 170
Antofagasta railway, 136, 279
Arab raiders, 119, 126–7
Arabia, deserts of, 117
Argentina-Chile peace, 275
Arica, 279
Arkansas River, 164
Arlberg Tunnel, the, 88–9, 94, 95
Armstrong, Sir W. G., 200, 206
Arnold, Bion, 56
Asia Minor, 122
Assling, 97
Assuan, 158
Atbara, 154, 159
---- Bridge, 154, 156, 157
---- River, 154
Atlin, 111
Auckland, 194
Auspoint, 94
Australasia, railways of, 175–97
Australia, South--
Railways, 184–5
Survey work, 191–3
Australia, West--
Railways, 176, 186, 187, 189
Survey work, 190–92
Trans-continental scheme, 190–191
Water-supply, 187–9, 190–91
Austria, railway enterprise, 88, 90, 95
Avers Platz, 163
“Azure Dragon,” the, 289, 296
Baden-Zurich railway, 31
Bahia Honda, 248
Baikal, Lake, 150, 200, 206, 207
---- railway, 201
Baker, Sir Benjamin, 293–4
Baldwin Company of Philadelphia, 217
Baltic Sea, ice-breakers, 206
Barrow, F. W., 215
Bathurst, 177
Batignolles, 303–4
Batn-el-Ghoul, the, 124
Beacon Hill Tunnel, 300–301
Beckwourth Pass, 317
Bedouin, the, 118–21, 126–7
Beira, 284
Beirut, 122
Beit, Alfred, 149
Belgian railway interests, 150–51, 295, 299, 300
Bell, J. B., 252
Bennett, Lake, 108–9
Bennett, Mr., 26–7
Bergen, 262, 263, 267, 269
Bergen-Christiania line, 263–9
Bergsund, 261
Biaschina Gorge, 43
“Big Hill,” 217, 218, 231–2
Biwa Lake, 305
Blackwall Tunnel, 55
Blanc, Mont, 128
Blantyre, 282, 283, 287
Bluden, 90
Blue Nile, the, 156–7
Bodin, Georges, 303
Bogie principle, 78
Bolivia, railways of, 279–80
Borneo, British North, 4
Bossi, engineer, 42
Boulder River Canyon, 172
Box Tunnel, 23
Boxer Rebellion, the, 299
Bozeman Tunnel, 310–11
Bramstone Tunnel, 24
Brandt hydraulic drills, 89–90, 98, 265
Bray Head, 23–5
Brazil--
Brazilian-Portuguese labourers, 223
Configuration, 216
Leopoldina system, 214–23
“Bridge Line,” New Zealand, 196–7
Bridges--
Girder, 221
Rack system, 221
Steel, 260
Bristen Tunnel, 44
British and Chinese Corporation, 296, 300
British Central Africa Co., 282
---- Columbia, 110, 224, 239
---- North Borneo, 4
Broken Hill, 147, 149, 150
Bromma, 267
Brunel, work in Ireland, 22–5
Buenos Aires and Pacific railway, 270
Buffalo, 55, 70–71
Bukana, 151
Buluwayo, 141, 142
Burma, Gokteik Viaduct, 250
---- Railway Co., 254
---- Upper, bridges, 254
Butte, 312
Cairo, 139, 150, 151, 158
Caissons, 182–3
California, the gold rush to, 60, 69
Callao, 129, 130, 138
Camels, transport by, 190–2
Campos, 221
Canada--
Eastern, the railway in, 225
Fighting gangs, 28
First trans-continental, 224–39
Muskeg country, 18, 226–9
Canadian Pacific railway, 316–17
“Big Hill,” 217, 218, 231–2
Chinese labour on, 15
Eagle Pass, 238
Gold Range, 238
Government aid, 225–6
Kicking Horse Pass, 232–4
Muskeg country, difficulties, 226–9
Selkirk Range, 234–8
Cantilever principle, 144, 239
Canton, 299, 300
---- -Kowloon railway, 295, 299–301
Cape of Good Hope, 212
Cape to Cairo railway--
Northwards from Cape Town, 139–51
Southwards from Cairo, 152–61
Cape Town, 139, 141, 145, 147, 150, 161
Carnarvon, 79
Cascade Range--
Grading, 21, 321
Snowsheds, 24
Tunnelling, 25, 27, 193, 313–14, 321
“Catch points,” 231
Cathedral Mountain, 233
Cenis Tunnel, 31–2, 35, 36, 88–90, 217
Central Otago railway, 196–7
Central Pacific railway, 63, 65, 70, 198, 315
Central railway of Peru, 136
Central Siberian railway, 200, 203
Champlain and St. Lawrenc railway, 46
---- Lake, 46
Chang-Tien-Yow, 297
Chat Moss, 17
Chenab River, 252
Chepstow bridge, 23
Cheyennes, the, 67–8
Chicago, 54, 58, 241, 318
---- & North-Western railway, 162
---- Milwaukee & Puget Sound line, 308, 318–22
---- Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, 318, 319
Chichli, 291
Chicla, 135
Chikwawa, 282
Chile, 274–5
Chilian labour, 277
Chilkoot Pass, 104
China--
Early days in, 289–96
Eastern Chinese railways, 211
Frontier, 198, 211–13
Mileage of railways, 289, 307
Modern developments, 297–307
Trade guilds, 15, 16
Chinde, 281, 282, 284
Chinese labourers, 14–16, 69, 210, 212
Chinook, the, 103, 317
Chiromo, 283, 285, 286, 287
Chisso, workman, 42
Chosica, 130
Christchurch, 194
Christiania, 262–4, 269
Christo Redentor, statue of, 275
Chungzoune River, 255, 257, 258
Circum-Baikal line, 204–9
Cleveland Engineering & Bridge-building Co., 144, 157
Col de Fréjus. _See_ Cenis Tunnel
Colladon, Prof., 36
Collie district, 186–7
Colorado, mountains of, 162–3
Columbia River, 6, 28, 234, 250, 308, 309, 322
Congo Free State, 149
---- River, 150, 151
Congolo, 151
Constantinople, 122
Coolgardie--
Condensing plant, 188–9
Gold rush, 186, 187
Railway enterprise, 190–91
Cooper, Fenimore, _The Pathfinder_, 66
Cordilleras, the, 128, 129, 130, 132, 274
“Corduroying,” 18
Corean labour, 212
Corkscrew grading, 124–5, 233
Cornwall, 22
Council Bluffs, 62, 63, 65
Cragellachie, 238
Cromer, Lord, 152
Cuba, trade, 240–41
Cumbres Pass, 169
Curzon railway bridge (Allahabad), 252–4
Dakota, North, 229, 320
Dallas, 170
Dalnaspiel, 173
Dalwhinnie, 173
Damascus, 117, 118, 121, 122
---- Repairing works at, 126
Darling Mountains, 189
---- Range, 186, 188, 189
---- ---- Upper, 187
Darlington, 144
Dartmoor, 173
Dawson, 103, 111
Deane, Henry, M.I.C.E., 180–81, 191
Denver, 171, 172, 174
---- & Rio Grande railway, 8, 162, 163, 314
Deraa, 122, 123
---- River, 122
Dervishes, 153, 156
Des Moines, 65
Deuchars, G., 257
Dhorabhave River, 250
---- Viaduct, 250
Diamondopolis, 141
Dickson, Norman B., M.I.C.E., 215, 218–23
Dinas, 79
Dovrejelf Range, 263–4
Drave River, 94
Dublin & South-Eastern railway, 23
Dufile, 160–61
Dunedin, 196
Durant, Thomas C., 60, 62, 65, 70
Dyaks, 5
Eagle Pass, 7, 238
---- River Canyon, 171
East Indian railway, 250
Eastern Chinese railways, 211
Edward, King, Victoria Bridge opened by, 51
Egypt--
British penetration, 119
Railways in, 152–3
Eiffel Tower, 169
Ekaterinburg, 199
El Misti, 137
El Obeid, 157
Electric drills, 96, 100
Electrical system, single-phase alternating current, 56
Elizabethville, 150
Elswick, 200
_Ermak_, ice-breaker, 206
Espirito Santo, 214
Euphrates Valley, 123
“Everglades, The,” 241–6, 249
Fades Viaduct, 145
Fairbanks, 112
Favre, L., 34, 39, 40, 42
Feather River, 316
---- River Canyon, 316, 318
Fell system, the, 217
Festiniog Toy railway, 76–79, 81
Field, 231
“Fighting gang,” 28
Fires, forest, 235–6
Fjeldberg, 264
Flagler, Henry, 240, 241, 249
“Flagler’s Folly,” 242, 249
Flat Creek Viaduct, 197
Floods, 219–20, 251
Florida East Coast railway, 240–49
Formosa, 291
Fort Augusta, 190
---- Johnston, 287
Fox, Sir Douglas, and Partners, 285
Foxwood Tunnel, 23
France, railway interests, 295, 299, 301–14
Fraser, James, M.I.C.E., 181–2
---- River Canyon, 239
Fremantle, 193
Fremont Pass, 168–9
Fritsch, Prof., 33
Fung Shui, influence of, 289, 296
Galera Tunnel, 135–6, 138, 274
Gales, Robert R., M.I.C.E., 253
Galilee, Sea of, 123
Ganges, bridges, 252, 253
Garry, Fort, 224
Gauges--
Metre, 215
Narrow-gauge system, 78, 105, 111
Standard, 267
Uniform, need for, 176
Wide, 48
Gellivare iron mines, 260
Gelpke, M. O., C.E., 33
Geraldton, 186, 187, 188, 189
German railway interests, 33, 295
Girouard, Sir Percy, 153
Gjeilo, 268
Gloggnitz, 92
Godavari Bridge, 250
---- River, 250
Gokteik Viaduct, 250, 254–9
Gold Range, the, 6, 238
Gold rush to--
California, 60
Colorado, 163
Klondyke, 103, 110
San Francisco, 65
Golden Gate, the, 63, 65
---- Horn, 64
Gondoroko, 158, 160
Göschenen, 35, 41
Göta Bridge, 260–62
---- River, 260–61
Gothenburg, 262
Gould, Jay, 47
Goz Abu Guma, 157
Grading, Corkscrew, 43, 124–5, 195, 233
---- Switchback, 219
---- Zigzag, 177–81, 187, 219
Grand Trunk railway, 48, 54, 58, 143
Grand Trunk Railway Co., 47
Grant, General, 68–9
Grattoni, engineer, 32
Gravehals Tunnel, 264–6
Great Britain, railway interests, 91, 104, 144, 147, 154–5, 157,
214–23, 254, 276, 295, 300
---- Lakes, the, 47, 58, 162, 311
---- Northern railway, 21, 308, 311–14
---- Salt Lake, 70
---- Wall of China, 297, 298
---- Western railway, 173
---- “Zigzag,” the, 179–80
Greymouth, 194
Guilds, Chinese, 15, 16
Gulf Stream, 103
Gwaai River, 142
“Hadj,” the, 117
Haifa, 122
Halfa, 158
Hamilton, 47, 48
Hand-signalling, 202
Hanging Bridge, the, 164–7, 109
Hankow, 299–301
Harbin, 293, 299
Harriman, E. H., 28–9, 72
Harte, Bret, 70
Havana, 241
Hawkesbury Bridge, 182
---- River, 182
Head hunters, 4
Hector, 231
Hedjaz Peninsula, 123
---- railway, 117–27
Hellgate Canyon, 311
Hellwag, M., 40–42, 195
Hereros rebellion, the, 81–2, 84, 85
Heritier, Grand Duke, 200
High Nile level, 158
Hill, James J., 28, 29, 185, 311
Hindoos--
As traders, 287
Daily wage, 13, 14
Hoang-ho River, 271
Hobson, G. A., 144, 147
---- Joseph, 54
Hodges, James, 50
Hollenburger River, 94
---- Viaduct, 95
Holy railway to Mecca, 117–27
Hooghley River, 250–51
Horn, Cape, 60, 63, 65, 128, 129
Horne, W. C. Van, 236, 237
Hudson Bay, 224, 234
---- ---- Trading Co., 308
Humboldt River territory, 317
Huntington, Collis P., 59, 60, 62, 65, 72, 308
Huron, Lake, 54
Huvudnas Falls, 260
Hydraulic drills (Brandt), 88–90, 98, 265
---- shield, the, 54, 89
---- sluicing, 20–21, 321–2
Ibex, 163
Icebreakers, 200, 206–7
Ichine River, 202
Illecillewaet River, 238
Implements, 16
Inca, 274
India--
British, railway bridges, 250–59
Rivers of, 250–51
Indians--
Missouri, 64–9, 312
Pawnee, friendly, 66, 68
Rising, 1876–77, 310
Sioux, 67
Trails, 234, 316
Indus, 250
Infiernillo Bridge, 134
Innsbruck, 90
International Conference, the, 40
Ireland, Brunel’s work, 23–5
Irkutsk, 200, 201, 205
Irtych River, 201–3
Isonzo Gorge, 97
Italy, railway interests, 33, 35, 82–85, 217
Ito, Prince, 305
Iwakura, Prince, 306
Japan--
Modern developments, 297–307
Sea of, Insular railway, 305
South, rebellion in, 305
Jardine, Matheson & Co., Messrs., 290, 291, 295–6
“Jaws of Death,” the, 237
Johnson, Edwin F., 309
Jordan, River, 122, 123
Jubilee Bridge across the Hooghly, 250, 251
Judah, Theodore D., 61–4, 316
Julian Alps, the, 93, 97
Jumna River, 253
Kafue Bridge, 147
---- River, 147
Kaisim Pasha, 119–21
Kalgoorlie, 190, 192
Kalomo, 145–6
Karawanken railway, 94–8
---- Range, 93, 95
---- Tunnel, 95, 198
Katanga, 149
Kerma, 153
Key, Grassy, 247
---- Long, 247
---- West, 241, 246
Keys, the, 242, 247, 248–9
Khabarovsk, 201, 211, 212
Khartoum, 153, 156, 158, 160
---- Bridge, 157
Khilkoff, Prince M. I., 207–8
Kicking Horse Pass, 225, 230, 232–4, 316
Kilsby Ridge, 19
---- Tunnel, 19
Kimberley, 141
Kinambla Valley, 181
Kinder, C. W., 292, 297
Kindu, 151
Kioto-Otsu line, 306
Kitchener, Lord--
Australian railways, on, 190, 193
Expedition against the Mahdi, 153–4
Kituta, 149–50
Kivu, Lake, 150
Klagenfurt, 94
Klaus, 94
“Klondike,” 103, 108, 110–11
Knight’s Key, 249
Kobe, 305
Kobe-Osaka line, 305
Koppel, Arthur, 80
Kotlass, 212
Kowloon, 299, 300
Krasnoiarsk, 199, 200, 207
Krems Valley, 94
La Paz, 136, 279–80
La Prairie, 46, 58
Labour--
Brazilian Portugee, the, 223
Cape to Cairo, native record day’s work, 145–6
Chilian, 277
Chinese, 12–16, 223, 301
Female, 301
Indian coolie, 293
Italian, 82–5
Siberian exile, 210, 212
Landore Viaduct, 22
Land’s End, 244
Landslides, 138, 219–20
Lan-ho Bridge, 293–4
---- River, 293
Lansdowne Bridge, 250
Lao-Chay, 302
Las Cuevas, 274, 275
Lawley, A. L., 147
Lay, H. N., 304
Leadville, 163–4, 168–9
Lebarge, Lake, 104
Leopoldina railway, the, 214–23
Leslie, Sir Bradford, K.C.I.E., M.I.C.E., 251, 282–3, 287
Lewis & Clark, Messrs., 308
Li-Hung-Chang, 291–2, 295
Limbi, 287
“Limited,” the, on “Big Hill,” 231–2
Linz, 94
Lithgow Valley, 178
“Little Wonder,” the, 77
Liverpool, 208
---- & Manchester railway, 46
Livingstone, 139
Lobengula, 141
London & North-Western railway, 17, 76
---- to Vancouver in the ’fifties, 224
Los Andes, 270, 277
Lott, Julius, 89
Lucerne, Lake of, 43
Luchenza River, 286
Lucin Cut-off, the, 71–5
Ma’an, 122–4
“Machilla,” 283
Madras North-East line, 250
Mafeking, 141
Mahdi, the, 119, 152
---- Kitchener’s expedition, 153–4
---- Terms made with, 139
Mahommedanism, the Holy railway, 117–27
Maidenhead Bridge, 23
Makatote Gorge, 195
---- Viaduct, 195–6
Mallet locomotives, 297
Manchester & Liverpool railway, 17
Manchuria, 211, 212
Marshall Pass, 168
Mashonaland, 141
Matabele, the, 141
Matecumbe, Upper and Lower, 247
Matucana, 134
Maua, 216
Mecca, 121
---- the Holy railway to, 117–27
Mechanical percussion rock-drill, 36
Medina, 117, 126
---- -Saleh, 125
Meiggs, Henry, 129, 130–32, 133–135, 270
“Meiggs’ V-switch,” 130–32, 135–270
---- The “zigzag” system, 177
Meissner Pasha, H., 121, 124–6
Melbourne, 184, 190
Menai Straits Bridge, 50
Mendoza, 270, 273, 275
---- River, 271–2, 274
Meredith, J. O., 243–4
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, Bart., 145–146, 285
Metre-gauge, 263, 267
Mexican Central, the, 3
Mexico, 162
---- Native labour, 13
---- Gulf of, 240, 246–8
Miami, 240–41, 249
---- to Havana, Key West, 241–9
Miasma, 242–4
Midland railway (W.A.), 187, 189
Minaes, 214
Minnesota, 318
Mississippi River--
Bridges, 250
Scouring of the, 252
Missouri River, 61, 62, 64, 66, 250, 309, 312, 319, 322
“Mixed trains,” 294
Mjolfjeld, 268
Moberly, Walter, 6, 238
Moffatt, David H. M., 171, 172
“Moffatt” road, the, 162, 163
Mollendo, 136, 271, 279
Mongolia, beasts of burden from, 211
Mont Cenis “Fell” railway, 217
Montana, 229, 320
---- Hellgate Canyon, 311
---- Mineral wealth, 312
Montreal, railway enterprise in, 46–8
---- to Vancouver, 224
Morell, E., 305, 306
Morrison, G. J., 290
Mountain railways, the first, 91–2
---- sickness, 9, 136
Mouraviev-Amoursky, Count, 198
Mowbridge, 320
M’Swadzi River, 286
Mud-slides, 237
Muir, John, 190–91
Mukden, 293, 299
Muktar Bey, 126
Mules, Andine, 280
Mullan Tunnel, 311
Munich, 93, 101
Murchison Falls, 282
---- gold-fields, 188
Murzzuschlag, 92
Myssovaia, 201, 206
Naihati, 250
Namiti Gorge, 302–4
---- Valley, 302
Nanking, 296
Nankow Pass, 297–8
Naoyetsu, 307
Natal railways, 140, 155
Neccaraviglia, workman, 42
Nevada, 61
New South Wales railways, 176–84, 186, 219
---- York, 46, 59, 60, 155, 240, 241, 255
---- York to San Francisco, 15
---- Zealand railways, 193–7
Niagara Falls, 57
---- River suspension bridge, 57–58, 143
Nicholas II., 200
Nictheroy, 216
Nijneoudinsk, 199
Nikolsk, 212
Nile River, 154
---- Blue, 156–7
---- Expedition, 1885–6, 153
---- High level, 158
Nile Rapids, 160–61
---- steamers, 158
---- White Nile, 157–8, 160
---- Valley, 150, 152
Nippon Railway Co., 306
North Island (N.Z.) Trunk railway, 194
North, Major Frank J., 66–8
North Wales Narrow Gauge railway, 76–87
Northampton (W.A.), 187
Northern Pacific railway, 308–11
---- crisis, 239
Northern railway (W.A.), 188
North-Western State railway, 252
Norway, 260
---- Trans-Norwegian railway, 262
Norwegian Eastern railway system, 267
Nyasa, Lake, 282, 287
Nyasaland--
Negroes, 283
Railways, 281–8
Oakland, 315
Ober Villach, 101
Obi, 200
---- River, 201–3, 205
Ofoten, 260
Ogden, 75
Okuma, Count, 305
Omaha, 65, 68, 312
Omaruru, 82, 85, 87
Omdurman, 153, 154, 157
Omsk, 199
Ontario, Lake, 54, 57
Oodnadatta, 184
Opcina Tunnel, 97
Ophir Loop, 170–71
---- Mountain, 170
Orange Free State, 140
Oregon railways, 28–9
Orenburg, 199
Oriental Bank, 305
Oroville, 314, 316
Oroya, 136
---- line, 129–38, 177, 271
Osaka, 305
Osgood, J. O., 166–7
Ossouri railway, 201
Otago, 196
---- Central railway, 196–7
Otavi line, the, 79
---- the new “Copperado,” 79
Otira Gorge, 194, 195
---- Tunnel, 194–5
Otsu, 305
Ottoman Government, the, and the Bedouin, 118, 119
Ouguati, 82
Ovambo coolies, 83–4
“Overland Limited,” the, 75
“Overland Route,” 65–6, 71, 317
Pacific Central railway, 63, 65, 70, 198, 315
---- railway surveys, 309
---- Western railway, 308, 314–18
Pæons, 13
Palestine, 117, 119, 123
Panama, Isthmus of, 65, 240
Parahybuna River, 221
Paramatta, 176
Parisian Société de Construction des Batignolles, 303–4
Parkes, Sir Harry, 304–5
Pauling & Co., Messrs., 141
Pawnee Indians, 66, 68
Payment in kind, 287–8
Paznaun Valley, 90
Pears, A. G., 288
Pehtang, 291
Pekin, 296, 298–9
---- -Hankow railway, 299
---- -Kalgan railway, 295, 297
---- -Nanking railway, 296
Pennsylvania Steel Co., 254, 255–9
Penrith, 177
Pequop Range, 72, 317
Perth (W.A.), 187–9
Peru, 129
Peruvian Central railway, 136
---- Corporation of London, 135
---- Southern railway, 279
Peto, Betts & Brassey, Messrs., 47, 49, 52
Petropavlovsk, 199
Petropolis, 216, 221
“Phantom Curve,” 169
Placer River Valley, 113
Poncha, 168
Ponthierville, 151
Port Herald, 281, 282, 283, 284, 286, 287
---- Sudan, 160
Portland, Atlantic Coast, 29, 48
Portmadoc, 76
Portugal, railway interests, 295
Princeton, Dartmoor, 173
Promontory Range, 70, 71
Pueblo, 164, 171
---- and Arkansas railway, 164–7
---- to Leadville, 168
Puget Sound, 309, 318
Pullman car, the, on the Hedjaz railway, 126
Puno, 136, 279
Puy de Dôme, 145
Pyrhn Pass, 94
---- railway, 94
Queensland railways, 176, 182, 184
Rack system, the, 216, 221, 255, 273, 274, 277, 279, 307
Rainhill, 46
Raiz da Serra, 216
Rangoon, 255
Red Sea, the, 123, 158, 159
Reinunga Tunnel, 266–7
Rejaf, 160–61
Resurrection Bay, 112
Reuss River, 35
Rhodes, Cecil--
Cape to Cairo railway, 139–61
Death of, 149
Rhodesia, 141, 284
---- North-West, 145
Riggenbach system, the, 216
Rimac River, 130
Rinderpest, 141, 211
Rio de Janeiro, 214, 215
---- Bay of, 216–17
“Rio de las animas perdidas,” 170
“Riviera of America,” 249
Roa, 267, 269
Robinson, A. A., the Hanging Bridge, 165–7
“Rocket,” Stephenson’s, 46
Rockhampton, 190, 193
Rocky Mountains, the, 68, 136, 162, 164, 167–9, 170, 172, 173, 193,
230, 231, 312–13
---- avalanches, 5, 6
---- Bozeman Tunnel, 310–11
---- Mullan Tunnel, 311
Rogers, Major A. B., 234
Rogers’ Pass, 234
Rollins Pass, 163, 173–4
Rosenbach Valley, 95
Ross, Alexander M., 49, 50, 52
Rouses’s Point, 47
Royal Gorge, 164–7, 170
Ruapehu, Mount, 195
Ruo Bridge, 285–6
---- River, 285
Russia, Asiatic, 198
---- European, railways, 199, 205
Russo-Japanese War, 212
Sacramento, 63, 70, 71
Sahara, the, 79
St. Bernard Hospice, 163
St. Clair River, 54
---- Tunnel, 54–6
---- ---- Electrification, 56–7
St. Gotthard Tunnel, 88–90, 129, 195, 233;
footpath, 30–31;
financial arrangements, 31–4;
hindrances, 34–6;
drilling, 36–7;
labour, 37–8;
water, 38–9;
deficit, 39;
death of M. Favre, 40;
borings completed, 41–3;
the second track, 43–5
St. John’s, Quebec, 46, 58
St. Lawrence, Victoria Jubilee Bridge, 46–54
St. Paul Pass, 320–21
---- railway, 308
St. Petersburg, 203, 207
St. Pinnock Viaduct, 22
Salt Lake, 61, 71, 72, 73
---- ---- City, 71, 164, 171, 314, 317
---- ---- Desert, 318
Saltash Bridge, 23
San Bartholomé, 131
San Diabolo Range, 315
San Francisco, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 70, 198, 225, 241, 314, 315
Sarnia, 54
Sarras, 153
Scandinavia--
Climate, 103
Snow-ploughs, 260
Schwarzach St. Veit, 101
Schwitzer, J. E., 1, 233
Scottish Highlands railway, 173
Seattle, 107, 318
Selkirk Range, the, 6, 234–8
---- “Jaws of Death,” the, 237
---- Rogers’ Pass, 234
---- Snow-sheds, 24, 235–7
---- Split fences, 236
---- Stoney Creek Bridge, 237–8
Sella, Lake of, 42
Selzthal, 94
Semmering Pass, 92
---- Range, 91
Sennar, 156–7
Severn Tunnel, 276
Seward, 112, 113
Shanghai, 213, 290, 291, 296
Shanghai-Nangchow-Ningpo railway, 298
Shanghai-Nanking railway, 295
Shanghai-Woosung railway, 290–295
Shan-Hai-Kuan, 292, 294
Shellal, 158
Sher Shah, 252
Shiré River, 281, 282, 287
Siberia--
Central railway, 200, 203
Climate of Western, 204
Exiles as labourers, 210–12
Trans-Siberian railway, 198–213
Tundras, the, 18
Western railway, 200, 203
“Siberia,” disease, 211
Siberian Central railway, 200, 203
Sierras Main Range, grading and tunnelling, 314–18
Simplon Tunnel, 100
Sioule River, 145
Sioux, the, 67
Skaguay, 107, 108, 110, 111–12
---- railway from, 103–5
Slave-trade, Central Africa, 282–3
Smith, C. Shaler, 166
Smith’s Mill, 187
Snow-plough, the, 111, 173, 232, 268–9, 278
Snow-sheds, 235–7
Snow-slides, 236
Snowdon Station, 79
Soldier’s Leap, 278
Sommeiller, 32
Sone Bridge, 250
Sorochté, sickness, 9
South Boulder Canyon, 172
---- Island, N.Z., 194, 197
“Spiral” grading and tunnelling, 43, 195, 233
“Split fences,” 236
Spooner, C. E., 77
Stanford, Leland, 60, 62, 65, 70
Stanley, 139
Stanleyville, 151
Stattnitz, 94
Steel, first used for bridges, 260
Steelton, 254, 255, 258
Stelvio road, 163, 170, 277
Stephen, Mount, 230
Stephenson, George, 17, 19, 30, 46, 49–52, 308
Steyr River, 94
Stoney Creek Bridge, 237–8
---- ---- Plain, the, 123
“Straight Line,” the longest in the world, 270
Stretensk, 201, 211, 212
Styria, 91
Suakin, 159, 160
Sudan--
Railways, 153, 154, 156, 158
Upper, 157, 158
Work of the Government, 160, 161
Sudan Development and Exploration Co., 158, 160
“Sudd,” 160
Suez Canal, 212, 213
---- Gulf, 159
Sukkur, 250
Superior, Lake, 226–7, 230, 309
Swakopmund, 79, 81, 82, 84, 85, 87
Sweden, bridges, 260
Switchback grading, 219
Switzerland--
Alps, the, 162
Financing the St. Gotthard, 33
Railways, 216
Tunnelling in, 30
Sydney, 177, 190
---- railway to Paramatta, 176
---- railway to Queensland, 182
Tabuk, 124, 125
Tacoma, 318
Takasaki-Naoyetsu railway, 307
Tamboraque, 134
Tanganyika, 149–50
Tasmanian Sea, 193
Tauern Range, 93, 98
---- Tunnel, 98–101
Taugevand, 264, 265, 266
Tcheliabinsk, 200, 202
Tcheliabinsk-Kourgan, 199
Teichl River, 94
Telephone across Victoria Falls, first use, 143–4
Tennessee Pass, 169
Tessin River, 35
Texas forests, 73
Thompson River Canyon, 239
Thorndike, William, 135–6
Tientsin, 292
Tigris Valley, 123
Tioumen, 199, 205
Titicaca, Lake, 136, 137, 279
Tobol, the, 202
Tokio, 304, 305, 307
---- -Kakasaki railway, 306
---- -Sendai railway, 306
---- -Yokohama railway, 305
Tolosa, 274
Toltec Bridge, 169
---- Tunnel, 169
Tomsk, 199, 205, 213
Tong-King-Sing, General, 291–2
Tongshan, 291, 293
“Topographers’ Gulch,” 321
Torano Range, 317, 318
Toronto, 48
“Toy” railway, Festiniog, 76–9
Track-layer, the, 146
Training-bund, 252, 253
Trans-andine railway, the, 270, 274
Trans-Baikal railway, 201
Trans-Continental railway--
First Canadian, 224–39
Proposed Australian, 189–93
United States, first, 59–75
Trans-Norwegian railway, 262
Trans-Siberian railway, 198–213, 293, 299, 300
Transvaal--
Cost of railways, 140
Negro labour, 283
Tremola River, 35
Trieste, 91, 92, 101
Trisanna Viaduct, 90
Tröllhätten, 262
---- Falls, 260
Tsumeb, 79, 85
Tuchili River, 286
Tugela Bridge, 155
Tupungato, 274
Turnagain Arm, 113
Two-foot gauge, 78
Uddevalla-Wenersborg-Herljunga railway, 260
Uganda, 160
Union Pacific railway, 63, 70, 171, 198
United Kingdom, mileage in 1870, 289
United States--
First trans-continental, 59–75
Mileage in 1870, 289
Railway interests, 112, 239, 295
Railways, 176, 185, 208
Upsallata Station, 273
Ural Mountains, 199, 201, 205, 213
Usakos, 86
Usamburu, 150
Usui Pass, 307
Valparaiso, 270
Vancouver, 107, 224
Vasquez, 174
Verrugas Bridge, 132–4, 136, 138
“Verrugas fever,” 133–5
Verrugas River, 132
Viaducts, overhanging principle, 257
Victoria, 176, 184
---- Bridge (Zambesi), 142–4, 157
---- Desert, 190
---- Falls, 142–4
---- Jubilee Bridge (St. Lawrence), 51–4
Vienna, 91, 93–4
Villa Bocage, 282, 287
Villach, 101
Vladivostok, 200, 201, 202, 211, 212
Vossevangen, 263, 264, 266, 267, 269
“V-switches,” 130–32, 180, 274
Wadi Haifa, 153
Waian timber trestle, the, 197
Wales, North, Toy railway, 76–87
Walkaway, 189
Walker, Messrs. C. H. & Co., 276
Wallula Pacific railway, 28
Wankie coalfield, 142
Wapata Mountain, 233
Wash-outs, 219–20
Wellington, 194
West Indies, 240
Westinghouse Electric Co., 56–7
White ants, 142, 284
White _de luxe_ express, 158
White Horse, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110
---- Horse summit, 110
White Nile Bridge, 157–8
---- Pass, 105, 110, 111
---- Pass and Yukon line, 105–12
---- Pass summit, 110, 111
“White Tiger,” the, 289, 296
Whitton, John, 178–80
Whitworth & Co., Messrs., 200, 206
Wicklow, 22–23
Windhuk, 82
Wingatui Viaduct, 196–7
Winnipeg, 224
Wochenier Tunnel, 97–8
“Wooden flanges,” 46
Woosung, 290, 296
Wurzner Save Valley, 97
Yablonovoi Range, 209
Yamagata, Prince, 306
Yarmuk River, 122
Yellow fever, 215
Yellow Gorge. _See_ Amarillo Gorge
---- River Bridge, 299
Yellowhead Pass, 230
Yellowstone River, 320
Yenisei Bridge, 204
---- River, 201, 204
Yokohama, 305
Yukon River, 104, 108
Yun-nan, 301–2
---- railway, 301–4
Yun-nan-Sen, 302
Zambesi River, 142, 147, 150, 281, 282
Zigzag grading, 177–81, 187, 219
---- the Great, 178–80
Zlatoost, 199, 202
Zyrkousounsk Mountain Chain, 206
THE END
_Rickard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay_
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
the corresponding illustrations.
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references. Inconsistent appearance of page ranges was not changed.
Page 64: “Golden Horn” was printed that way, but it refers to the
Golden Gate Strait in California; the Golden Horn is in Turkey.
Page 65: “’47” was printed that way, but gold was discovered at
Sutter’s Mill in January, 1848.