BY RAIL FROM PARIS TO NEW YORK.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10502, 25 November 1901, Page 2

BY RAIL FROM PARIS TO NEW YORK.

Another great railway is "in the *ir," this time joining the East and West as not ; even the' Siberian line does. Tho project is nothing less than to connectParis with New York by a railway, which shall leave . the Tsans-Siborian line at Irkutsk, and shall thence go ' north-east until the shores of Behring Straits are reached, at a spot where the " water-way is no wider than the English Channel" at Dover. Bridging the terrible currents that foam through <he straits is out of the question, oven if there was not the additional danger of ice floes, but a tunnel is considered possible, and it is already under considaration by American and Belgian engineers. On the American side of the Straits the task of building a railway would present no difficulties to men who .constructed the line to Klondyke, and it would be a continuation of that line which would be taken on to the Straits. Surveyors are already work-ing on this extension. The survey on the Russian side is to be made by Mr L.arry de Windt, an intrepid explorer, whose two previous failures. to make the overland journey from Paris to New York have but inspired him with firmer resolve to be successful on the third attempt. On his first journey- he managed to get across the Straits on the ice, but was made a prisoner by the chief of a tribe of Tchnktchis, .* race of extremely filthy habits and customs. His sufferings were .so great that he nearly lost his life. Last year fee attempted the journey by way of the East, but owing to the trouble in China he could not get permission to ' cross the remote regions of Siberia. On this occasion, however, he is being helped by the Russian authorities, and the assistance of the American Na7y Department will also be at his service if he needs i.t. Travelling to Irkutsk from - Paris by way, of the Siberian rsulway, Mr De Windt will" then proceed by a sleigh journey of 1300 miles to Yakutsk, wliere he will pick up a companion who will already have collected dos; and reindeer teams- for the difficult journey of 1500 miles to Nijni 'Kolyaisk, the most remote .north-easterly settlement in Siberia, lying on the bhoros of the Arctic Ocean. Tne travellers will have to make their way thither over one of the most lonely regions in the world, one that is never visited save by a stray Siberian trader, and at 1 >ng intervals by a party of political prisoacrs. There are no houses nor inhabitants of any kind throughout the journey, except rough , uninhabited shanties, 150 ~ miles apart, where a fire can Bo lighted. At Nijni Kolymsk, -where there are some 2000 prisoners, Mr De V-jndt hopes "to fall in with some Tchaif clii caravan returning from a trading expedition, and to' travel with it to the shores .of Behring Straits, carefully avoiding the districts wherein he met with such inhospitable treatment some years ago. He will then cross on theice to the American side, unless it is broken, in which case an American revenue cutter will be -waiting to take him across. The journey from Paris to New York will occupy, if all goes well, from December to June, and by the time it is over the travellers should have collected a fine stock of now experiences.