" Thnehri " and Development 189 



co rumen cement, and without the connection to the coast which will be afforded 

 by the trunk line would lose the greater part of their usefulness. Lines of this 

 description connected with a trunk line are also much more independent of any 

 particular mining centre, for to whatever portion of a river valley mining 

 activity changes, they will still be made use of.] 



Route of the Railway. 



The section from Georgetown to Wismar, if built, would run up the 

 right bank of Demerara river, but at some distance back from the river, 

 through thick forest. The Demerara would be cross' d just above Wismar. 

 From Wismar the rail.vay would continue to traverse forest land deviat- 

 ing a little from the direction of its objective to the right bank of the 

 Essequibo at, or near, the mouth of the Potaro river. The object of this 

 diversion is to serve the interests of the second largest gold mining 

 district in the colony, that comprised in the valley of the Potaro and 

 Konawaruk rivers, the bases from which the existing two prosperous 

 mines are being worked, being only a few hours from this point. In- 

 cidentally it would shorten and make much easier the journey to the 

 great Kaieteur Falls and probably lead to the amelioration of the Gon- 

 dii ions of travel over the remaining forty miles of the journey up the 

 valley of the Potaro river. 



Lines to Mineral Districts. 



19. Potaro mouth station of the main interior line should become 

 the great junction for other subsidiary lines. From it should radiate a 

 short line up the Tiger Creek valley, on right bmk of Potaro, to serve 

 the Minniehaha, and if possible, the upper Konawaruk mining district, 

 with a continuation to the Kaieteur Falls and plateau. From here also, 

 as I have suggested above, sectional light lines should be run to the 

 upper navigable portion of the Mazaruni, to the Cuyuni and to the 

 Barama — all lines running through highly mineralised districts where 

 gold and diamonds are being, and have been, worked for a long time. 

 These subsidiary lines I strongly advocate being built, in the first in- 

 stance, of narrow 20-inch gauge and ve y light construction. (Decau- 

 ville type burning wood cut locally.) 



20. From Potaro mouth the line would continue to run between the 

 Demerara and Essequibo river valleys, still through forest, until it crosses 

 the latter waterway probably at the Kurupukari rapid where Mr. Bland 

 proposes the Essequibo should be bridged. Up to this point, about 175 

 miles from Ooergetown and 110 from Wismar, the line would traverse 

 valuable timber forests from which greenheart timber has only been ex- 

 tracted in the lower sections and only there where water transport is 

 obtainable close to the trees. After crossing the Essequibo, and running 

 between the Burro-Burro and Rupununi rivers some fifty miles more of 

 forest, probably rich in valuable timber, would be passed through before 

 the first, Northern, or Annai savannah is reached, then after skirting for 

 fifteen miles the eastern limit of the great Pakaraima mountains, through 

 the narrow strip of forest lying between the mountain country and the 



