ENGINEERING. 



327 



selves on the ground outside and filled the air 

 with their lamentations. In the evening it was 

 placed on a hearse, with plumes made from the 

 priceless feathers of a rare Hawaiian bird, and, 

 in the glare of numerous torches, was drawn 

 to the tomb by members of the Poola Society. 



ENGINEERING. The Canadian Pacific Railway. 

 The first through passenger-train on this 

 northernmost of the transcontinental railway 

 lines left Montreal on November 2, and reached 

 Port Moody, the Pacific terminus, with little 

 delay. Surveys for this route began in 1870, 

 and the Government, after mature deliberation, 

 undertook the construction of the road, and by 

 the end of 1880 had finished 432 miles of track 

 between Winnipeg and Lake Superior, 213 

 miles up the Frazer river in British Columbia, 

 and sundry other less important sections. In 

 1881 the company was reorganized, under the 

 name of the Canadian Pacific Railway Com- 

 pany, which assumed control with 710 miles 

 of completed road, $25,000,000 in cash, and 

 25,000,000 acres of land. It was exempted 

 from taxation or customs duties on construc- 

 tion material, and agreed to have the whole 

 line in running order within ten years. Under 

 the general management of W. C. Van Home, 

 of Milwaukee, Wis., the work was pushed for- 

 ward with great energy. 



By the end of 1882, 600 miles of track were 

 laid westward from Winnipeg, and in Novem- 

 ber, 1883, the rails reached the summit of the 

 Rocky mountains. The average daily advance 

 between Winnipeg and the mountains was over 

 2J- miles, and 3f miles was by no means an 

 unusual day's work. The engineering and 

 climatic difficulties that have been overcome 

 were greater than in the case of any of the 

 more southerly lines, and it may be added that 

 the difficulty of operating the road will be 

 greatly enhanced by the semi-Arctic condi- 

 tions of a large part of the route. North 

 of Lake Superior the country is broken and 

 rugged, covered with dense forests and inter- 

 sected by rapid rivers. In May of the present 

 year the various sections were united, and a 

 continuous line of rails 2,500 miles long reached 

 westward from Quebec. Beyond this there 

 remained three formidable ranges, namely, the 

 Rocky mountains, the Selkirks, equally high, 

 and the Gold Range ; besides which the Co- 

 lumbia river had to be twice crossed before 

 meeting the Pacific section at the Sushwap 

 Lakes. The work was undertaken by Ameri- 

 can engineers and contractors, and, although 

 pushed forward with the most astonishing ra- 

 pidity, was well done in all respects. There 

 are 2,640 ties to each mile, and the construc- 

 tion in general is at least 20 per cent, heavier 

 than would be necessary in a more southern 

 latitude. To accomplish this work in what is 

 described as " a virgin desert," and in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of well-armed wild tribes of 

 Indians, called for army-like organization. At 

 times there were 40,000 names on the pay-roll, 

 and the question of supplies for men and horses 



was a vital one. The grading parties were 

 distributed 150 miles, more or less, ahead of 

 the track-layers. For the whole working sea- 

 son a daily average of 15,000 pounds of pro- 

 visions and 1,700 bushels of oats had to be 

 forwarded, besides all the track-laying supplies, 

 machinery, and equipment. At intervals of fif- 

 teen miles, or at every alternate siding station, 

 houses were established with tanks and quar- 

 ters for the agent, and the contractor who had 

 the construction of these in charge kept up 

 with the track-layers for the whole distance, 

 and as each 100- mile section was finished trains 

 were put on schedule time at twenty miles an 

 hour. The engineering was organized in divis- 

 ions of thirty miles, and as each was finished 

 the men advanced to the front. Mr. E. T. 

 Abbott, one of the engineers in charge, says 

 that the engineers usually found men sitting 

 on their shovels ahead of the foremost gang, 

 waiting to be set at work. It is highly credit- 

 able to the management that in spite of all this 

 dispatch very few accidents occurred involving 

 loss of life, and, barring a few cases of horse- 

 stealing by Indians, no trouble was experienced 

 from this source. Mr. Abbott is responsible 

 for the statement that this feat of rapid con- 

 struction was accomplished by an apparently 

 reckless but perfectly legitimate expenditure 

 of money, the orders to engineers being to 

 "get there" regardless of cost. The com- 

 pleted line from Quebec to Port Moody is 

 3,100 miles, besides 1,500 miles of branches, 

 and the work has been finished nearly six 

 years in advance of contract time. 



Railways in New South Wales. Of the several 

 lines in course of construction, that from Syd- 

 ney to New Castle, a distance of 93 miles, is 

 the most important, since it connects the north- 

 ern and southern systems, and establishes con- 

 tinuous communication between the British 

 colonies of Queensland and Victoria. When 

 fully finished, the length of rail connecting the 

 northern and southern extremities of the col- 

 ony will be 866 miles. The section between 

 the two principal cities named involves costly 

 bridge-work over the Hawksbury and Para- 

 matta rivers, as well as over numerous creeks 

 and gullies. That over the Paramatta river 

 carries a double track upon lattice girders, each 

 478 feet long and 17 feet 6 inches deep. These 

 rest on cast-iron cylinders, 11 feet in diameter 

 below, and 9 feet above the water-line. The 

 cylinders are carried down to depths varying 

 from 70 feet to 126 feet below the girders. 

 There are six spans of 150 feet each in the 

 clear. The total length of the bridge is 956 

 feet. The Hawksbury river bridge is 2,830 

 feet long, and of almost identical construction. 

 At last advices these bridges were not com- 

 pleted, owing to delay in receipt of material. 

 The line second in importance is between 

 Blaney and Murrumburah (108 miles). It 

 joins the western and southern systems by a 

 shortened route, which avoids the mountains. 

 Another extension, involving considerable en- 



