1869.] Engineering — Civil and Mechanical. 537 



rities and the various telegraph companies and railways throughout . 

 the country. An Act of the past Session empowers the Post- 

 master-General to pay to the various companies the sum of 

 5,715,047/. for the purchase of their undertakings ; a further sum 

 of 700,000/., it is estimated, will be required for the purchase of 

 telegraphs belonging to railway companies whose lines are domg 

 public telegraph business ; and 300,000/. has, in addition, been set 

 down as the probable amount that will be required for extensions. 

 The present proposals of the Post-office authorities are to serve 

 with means of telegraphic communication some 3376 places instead 

 of 1882 as at present. Altogether a sum of 6,750,000/. is expected 

 to be required for the purpose, and the gross annual revenue is set 

 down at 673,838/. The net profits to Government have been esti- 

 mated at from 44,000/. to 77,000/. per annum, according as to 

 whether the money can be raised at 4 or 3^ per cent. 



Pacific Bailroad. — The completion of the Pacific Eailroad has 

 given a line of communication 3300 miles long, between New York 

 and San Francisco, connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean, 

 and crossing a mountain range higher than any other hne in exist- 

 ence. On the 28th April last 10 miles and 58 feet of railroad 

 were completed between daylight and sundown, a feat hitherto 

 unparalleled in railway construction, and as such one well deserving 

 of record in these columns. 



French Atlantic Cable. — The successful completion of the 

 laying of the French Atlantic cable is another engineering achieve- 

 ment of which the present age may fairly boast. The manufacture 

 of the core for this cable was commenced on September 14, 1868, 

 at the gutta-percha works, and the cable was finished in the first 

 week of last June, at the sheathing works at East Greenwich. 

 The route along which this cable is laid is well to the southward of 

 existing cables; the point of departure from the French coast is 

 between Brest and Cape Ushant, and the landing-place on the 

 American coast is the small French island of St. Pierre. From 

 thence a shallow-water cable is laid down the coast to Duxbury 

 Cove, near Boston, Massachusetts. The greatest depth of water is 

 2200 fathoms in the deep-sea section. The quantity of cable manu- 

 factured for these sections is 3564 nautical miles, or about one-third 

 longer than either of the existing Atlantic cables. The Great 

 Eastern, with the main portion of the cable on board, reached Brest 

 on the 21st June last, the French shore-end having been previously 

 laid. A splice having been successfully made, the Great Eastern 

 steamed off on her trans-Atlantic voyage early on the morning of 

 the 22nd June, accompanied by a small fleet of minor vessels car- 

 rying other portions of the cable. On 15th July the laying of the 

 cable was completed to St. Pierre, without the occurrence of any 

 serious hitch or delay of any kind ; and on the 15th of August last 



