The Railway Conquest of the World (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from The Railway Conquest of the World

This volume has been written with the express purpose of telling in a popular manner this story of romance. It is obviously impossible to deal with every great railway undertaking in the compass of a single volume; but those described may safely be considered representative, and they are the largest and most interesting enterprises between the two poles.

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CHAPTER the railway surveyor's adventurous life "One's experience is varied from camping out in tents at fifty degrees below zero, to spending a large amount of time in the wilderness, when provisions are very short and one has to depend upon fish for food." This was the description of the task of discovering a path for the iron road through a new country, as related to me by the late John E. Schwitzer, one of the most brilliant railway engineers that Canada has produced, and one who had climbed the ladder of success from the humble capacity of rodman at a few shillings per week, to the position of chief engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, within the short space of twenty-two years. From his unique experience he was fitted to speak with authority, and his statement sums up the life of a surveyor in a nutshell. So far as the loneliness and the need to fish for food are concerned I can speak from experience. This article of diet is plentiful, but its monotony palls very qui

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; CHAP PAGE; I THE RAILWAY SURVEYOR'S ADVENTUROUS LIFE I; II THE ROMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION 12; III THE BORING OF THE GOTTHARD TUNNEL 30; IV THE RAILWAY INVASION OF CANADA 46; V THE FIRST TRANS-CONTINENTAL ACROSS THE UNITED; STATES59; VI THE LONGEST "TOY" RAILWAY 76; VII THE WONDERS OF THE TYROL 88; VIII THE RECLAMATION OF ALASKA 102; IX THE HOLY RAILWAY TO MECCA 117; X THE HIGHEST LINE IN THE WORLD 128; XI CECIL RHODES' DREAM-FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO; (i NORTHWARDS FROM CAPE TOWN) -139; XII CECIL RHODES' DREAM-FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO; (ll SOUTHWARDS FROM CAIRO) 152; XIII GRIDIRONING THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 162; XIV » THE IRON HORSE IN AUSTRALASIA (i) -175 XV THE IRON HORSE IN AUSTRALASIA (ll) 186; XVI ACROSS SIBERIA BY RAIL198; XVII THE LEOPOLDINA RAILWAY214; XVIII THE FIRST CANADIAN TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILWAY 224; ix; x