PROPOSED RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT OF THE 

 HINTERLAND OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



By E. C. Buck, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., F.G.S., F.R.G.S. 



The Hinterland of British Guiana is enveloped in a golden haze of 

 romance conjuring up thoughts of pleasant vales, lofty mountains, and 

 rolling savannahs, not to mention the golden store of the precious metal 

 after which all men's souls hanker. 



With the march of universal progress, it is naturally the wish and 

 duty of the colonists to run steel rails into the little known territory and 

 to wake the echoes of the drowsing country with the shriek and pound of 

 the locomotive. The Hinterland, this talent, probably the richest in the 

 storehouse of the colony, has been practically wrapped in a napkin from 

 the time the land was first laid down (to use a geological term). Events 

 have, however, during the past decade, been shaping out a definite destiny 

 for this part of the country and quite recently, definite and tangible 

 schemes have been produced. It is of the recent scheme by Mr. Bland, 

 and of the writer's alternative route that this article is mainly concerned 

 with. 



In 1913 under the policy of the late Governor, Sir Walter Egertom 

 K.C.M.G., a reconnaissance survey was made from Wismar to the Brazilian 

 boundary by Mr. Bland of the Nigerian Government Railways. 



Mr. Bland wrote a very able report on his investigations and con- 

 clusions and, briefly summarized, they are as follows : 



The proposed line of meter gauge was to start from Wismar, but 

 Mr. Bland states that undoubtedly it would be a great advantage to have 

 the terminus in Georgetown, but the disadvantages also pointed out by 

 him are very marked if the line was to be extended from Wismar to 

 Georgetown and that the railway would parallel for 65 miles a navio-able 

 river, and the terminal arrangements at Georgetown would be costly, and 

 the major part of land required would have to be expropriated. 



The foregoing reasons are sound in fact, but the weak part about 

 Mr. Bland's scheme was the location of the line to Wismar at all, thus 

 leaving himself no alternative to come to Georgetown, except by the east 

 bank of the Demerara River. 



From Wismar the line was to strike inland along the watershed of 

 the Demerara and Essequebo Rivers, very nearly approaching the latter 

 river when opposite the Omai Mine in the Potaro District. Mr. Bland 

 proposed an alternative route for a short portion of the way in the Potaro 

 District, but the route running near and along the east bank of the 



