492 



The Review of Reviews. 



June 1. 1906. 



THE PAN=AMERICAN RAILWAY. 



Mr. Charles M. Pepper discusses under this head- 

 ing in Scnbncr's, what he calls " the commercial 

 corollary to the Monroe doctrine " for the United 

 States — a vast railway of some 5000 miles linking 

 Alaska with Buenos Ayres and Hudson Bay with 

 Patagonia. The idea is not new ; it has already 

 appealed to many minds, but the writer admits that 

 it can only be transferred from the ideal tO' the real 

 sphere by the co-operation of the many different and 

 sometimes rather squabbling and difficult States: — 



The broad idea of the Pan-American Railway may be 

 grasped from a glance at the map. where it appears as a 

 project in profile. The general direction Is north-west 

 and south-east along the giant chains of the Andes. A 

 thorough inter-continental railroad should follow the 

 route most advantageous for opening up undeveloped re- 

 sources and for insuring immigration and permanent set- 

 tlement. The governing principle of a long continental 

 backbone line with ribs includes development of mineral, 

 agricultural and timber resources, while climate is not to 

 be overlooked. To temper the tropics is leasible by follow- 

 ing the plateaux of the Andes. 



No engineering obstacles which are yet to be overcome 

 in the Andes, anywhere from the tapering spurs in Central 

 America to the rounded tops in Patagonia, equal those 

 •which were surmounted by Henry Meiggs when he built the 

 f,-imous railway from Callao to Oroya, or rather when he 

 constructed the most difficult sections, for he did not live 

 to see the completion of the whole. The wonders of that 

 line, incomparable in their scenic grandeur, with its 



inflnitv of switchbacks, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, sharp 

 curves and grades, culminating in the Galera Tunnel, 

 15.665 feel above sea-level, show the marvels of which 

 engineering genius is capable when backed witli unlimited 

 funds. 



He proceeds to hold out a wonderful prospect to 

 the twentieth century tourist taking the through 

 journev on the Pan-American line of the future. He 

 will see 



the relation of sea-level plains, inter-mountain plateaux, 

 profound viiUevs, shallow depressions, rushing rivers, dry 

 gorges, tortuous canyons, sinuous passes; the sparkling 

 verdure and brilliant foliage of the tropics; the treeless 

 regions of the Andine deserts, naked cliffs and jutting 

 precipices, fleece-hidden summit.s, and the pinnacled peaks 

 of tlie eternal snows, often passing from the rankest 

 wealth of nature to its most sterile and grudging gifts 

 almost as swiftly as the imagination can conceive the 

 change. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF NIAGARA. 



The Latest Exploit of the Modern Vandal. 

 It is enough to take one's breath away to hear 

 that if prompt action be not taken by the Govern- 

 ments of the United States and of the British Em- 

 pire, American and Canadian enterprise in a few 

 years will have dried up the American half of 

 Niagara. This, however, is absolutely ti^e. The 



Head- Works ol Ontario Co. Toronto and Niagara Power Co. Cinadian Niagara Power Co. Ontario Cc's Transformer House (on Hill), 



Niagara Falls Power Co. Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. 



The Utilisation of Niagara Falls by Electric Power Stations. 



Correspondence has been going on lietween the British Ambassador at Washington and tlie United States Secr^ 

 tarv, on the question of saving Niagara from the inroads of industrial enterprise^ w IL^^o£Sf^Viti^,°n Ld the 

 national Waterways has reported, it is believed that a treaty will be arranged between Great Britain and the 

 United States for the preservation of the Falls. 



