12 HENRY DEANE, 
suitable line, and the construction of the same after an 
estimate had been submitted. 
The problem was this :—The junction thus proposed was 
at Clarence, 3,658 feet above the sea level ; a spur extended 
out north about 26 miles, the end of which overlooked the 
Wolgan Valley, the bottom of which proved by levelling to 
be about 1,750 feet above sea level. According to the 
programme laid out for the Company’s operations, the 
output was to be on such a scale that with. shale, oil, and 
r fined products taken into account, there would be a daily 
gross tonnage of at least 1,000 tons to convey over the line. 
On my arrival on the scene, I found amongst the 
proposals there was one to run a railway to the end of the 
spur with a rope incline to the valley. This had been 
roughly worked out, but it was not decided whether the 
scheme should include a line of standard or narrow gauge, 
Mr. Sutherland himself favoured standard gauge throughout 
and the descent, if possible, into the valley by a locomotive 
lin In searching for this, I had the assistance of Mr. 
Marshall, formerly of my staff in the Railway Construction 
Branch, and afterwards in the South African Service. Mr. 
Marshall deserves the utmost credit for his energy and 
perseverance in working over this very difficult country. 
The result was that we managed by the introduction of 1 
in 25 grades and 5 chain curves to get down from the 
ridge into the valley ; nothing flatter in the way of curves 
would have done it, and there was just room by the 
adoption of the grades mentioned, and by the insertion of 
a tunnel 20 chains long, to get sufficient length to squeeze 
through. 
The difficulty of the problem may be gathered from the 
following data :—The best point for the junction was found 
at 86 m. 60 ch. where the rail level is 3,400, at 7 miles out 
a narrow part of the ridge has to be traversed where the 
