198 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[March 6, 1885. 



water by means of a submerged pontoon, similar to those 

 in use all over the world ; but no suoli force as that used in 

 hauling a ship up out of the water on a marine railway is 

 required on the ship railway, although, as is well known, ships 

 are constantly taken on the marine railway without injury. 

 In the Eads system, however, there is no necessity for 

 using any force whatever on the ship itself. 



It is lifted out of the water in a cradle which rests upon 

 a series of rails ; and these being brought even with the 

 tracks on the dry land, the cradle in its capacity of a car 

 is wheeled along an almost level railway across the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec (see Fig. 1), and when it reaches the other 

 side a similar means is employed to float it again. This i.s 

 the whole project — a combination of the lifting dock in 

 general use and an improvement upon the marine railway, 

 because the ship is never, as in the latter, required to be 

 ofl'an even keel. 



The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is in Mexico, and in the 

 extreme northern end of the long, slim neck of land which 

 separates North from South America, while the Isthmus 

 of Panama is on the extreme south end of Central America, 

 and at the farther end of this strip of land. The advantages 

 of the Tehuantepec route in time and distance are plainly 

 apparent. 



From New York to San Francisco rid the Panama 

 Canal, a steamship would be compelled to pass the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec, sail south about 1,200 miles, and, after 

 crossing, sail north again the same distance before reaching 

 the short route to San Francisco. From Gulf ports to San 

 Francisco and the East, the difference in distance in favour 

 of Tehuantepec is still more marked ; the route between 

 New Orleans and San Francisco, vid Tehuantepec, being 

 about 1,900 miles shorter than vid Panama. From Liver- 

 pool to San Francisco there is a saving of GOO miles i-id 

 Tehuaiitcj ec. With sailing-vessels — and sailing-vessels, 

 much as we hear of steamers, carry fully three quarters of 

 the world's freights to-day, and are likely to continue to 

 carry slow freights — the contrast is still more marked. 



A sailing-vessel, having crossed the Isthmus vid Panama, 

 is left in a very ocean of waters, over which reigns a 

 perennial calm, broken only by occasional squalls and 

 baffling zephyrs. She must be towed hundreds of miles 

 until the region of the trade winds is reached. This, of 

 course, serves to add a large expense to the voyage, and to 

 lengthen it many days, so that when we !-ay the voyage 

 between the Atlantic States and California is shorter by 

 1,200 miles vid Tehuantepec than it is vid Panama, we 

 greatly underestimate the advantages of the former route. 

 It would be a generous estimate to allow for only ten days' 

 — good authorities say from twenty to thirty days' — delay 

 between the Pacific side of the Panama Canal and the 

 point where a sailing-ship strikes the north-east trades, by 

 reason of calms and the slow progress made while in tow. 

 Allowing that a sailing-.ship can average 170 statute miles 

 in a day's run, this would add 1,700 miles to the 1,200 

 miles extra run required vid Panama, and hence would 

 serve, practically, to make the Tehuantepec route 2,000 

 miles shorter in the run from New York to San Francisco, 

 and 3,."i00 miles shorter Ln the run from New Orleans to 

 San Francisco. 



The railway route would serve to shorten by ten thou- 

 sand miles tlie ])resent voyage vid Cape Horn from New 

 York to San Francisco, which now is 15,687 miles, and to 

 reduce the distance by water between New Orleans and 

 San Francisco from 10,112 miles to something less than 

 4,000 miles. 



Mr. Eads knew that ships had been going on and off 

 lifting docks without injury from time immemorial, and 

 that vessels that could safely withstand the terrible buffet- 



ing of ocean waves could be moved over a smooth road- 

 bed without fear of injury. In order to be sure as to the 

 road-bed, he took with him to the isthmus Mr. E. L. Cort- 

 hell, an experienced and able engineer, who had success- 

 fully carried out his plans at the mouths of the Mississippi, 

 and is an expert in railroad construction, having been 

 chief engineer of the West Shore Railroad. Being a prac- 

 tical man, Eads naturally sought to discover a route that 

 would furnish a substantial road-bed, possess something in 

 the shape of harbours at either end, and, above all, a 

 location outside of that, to the mariner, vexatious belt of 

 perpetual calm. He found a cross-section of the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec which combined all these qualities ; nay, 

 more, for of all the routes across the narrow strip of land 

 joining Mexico with South America, none shortens so 

 much as this the voyage from the Atlantic and Gulf 

 States to California. 



Having selected the site for his ship railway, he now 

 sought a concession from the Mexican Government. This 

 was obtained in 1881, and extends over a period of ninety- 

 nine years from its date. It authorises the construction 

 across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec of a ship railway, an 

 ordinary railway, and a line of telegraph. Besides this, it 

 exempts all ships and merchandise in transitu fi'om govern- 

 ment duty, grants the concessionaire a million acres of 

 public land, and guarantees protection during the con- 

 struction and subsequent operation of the works. To 

 crown all, the right is given the company to obtain the 

 aid of any foreign Government, and in consideration of 

 this assistance the company is authorised by the terms of 

 the concession to discriminate in favour of the commerce 

 of such Government against that of all other countries, 

 save, of course, Mexico. The concession obtained, Mr. 

 Eads set about having a careful survey made, topographical 

 and ph3sical. 



The length of the whole line will be about 134 miles from 

 Atlantic to Pacific. Beginning on the Atlantic side, the 

 route will start from the Gulf of Mexico, the ships sailing up 

 the Coatzacoalcos River to Minatitlan, a distance of about 

 25 miles. From Minatitlan there extends for about 35 

 miles an alluvial plain having an underlying stratum of 

 heavy, tenacious clay. In the elevation and ridges clay 

 loam and sand are found. Next comes an undulating table 

 land, and then irregular mountain spurs of the main Cor- 

 dilleras, that run through the entire continent, making at 

 this point one of the most marked depressions to be found 

 in its whole length. From this basin the line ])asses through 

 a valley formed by a small stream to the plains of Tarifa, 

 where is situated the summit of the line. This is 736 ft. 

 above low tide. After traversing these plains, the Pass of 

 Tarifa is reached. This is the most accessible of the many 

 passes in this depression in the mountain chain. From 

 here the line gradually sinks to the Pacific, reaching the 

 plains on this side 118 miles distant from Minatitlan. 

 {To he continued.) 



We give the following, for wliatever it may be worth, from the 

 American Dru(ifiisf. The accident is, of course, one which may 

 )ierfcctly well have happened: — "A despatch from Knoxville, 

 'J'enn., reports the death of a farmer at Somerset, Kcntnck}', by an 

 nerolite falling on his head from a cloudless sky. The farmer, it is 

 said, was killed instnntly, his head having been crushed in. His 

 clothing was torn and burned, and his body was stre.iked with 

 burning streams of molten iron or detached stones of white heat. 

 Uis limbs were charred and bent out of all shape. The only other 

 case of human life being destroyed by a meteor is said to have 

 happened in Saxony over one thousand years ago, and other cases 

 are reported. As several millions of meteors are said to enter our 

 atmosphere every day, it is lucky that more of ns do not suffer 

 from the bombardment." 



