“To New York by Rail.”

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4, 24 July 1912, Page 34

“To New York by Rail.”

AN IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT. (By HARRY DE WINDT, F.R.G.S.) I en years ago considerable interest was evinced in England as to the feasibility of a railway from France to America. And this has recently been renewed by the Titanic tragedy, judging from the letters which have since appeared in the Press from nervous seafarers. who contend that the journey by rail to America would be pleasanter and less perilous than a voyage across the Atlantic: and who apparently estimate that the construction of this stupendous lim- would be merely a Question of time, capital and labour. I am glad to Im- able to modify this erroneous impression. and may first mention that the land journey from Paris to New York has only once been actually accomplished, in the history of exploration, by myself and two companions. My expedit ion left Paris in December. 190 i, to ascertain (for a London newspaper) whether a line could be laid from that city to railhead in America via Siberia. Alaska, and the Behring Straits. And here is the result of our practical experience of a journey which, as I have said, has never, before op since, been made, or even attempted. I race, on Mercator’s map of the world, our route, from Paris to Moscow, and thence, by Trans-Sila-rian railway, to Irkutsk. From here strike due north to the little town of Yakutsk, the village of \ erkoyansk. and thence, in a northeasterly direction, to the native settlement of Sredni-Kolymsk (a little bell of political exiles, which they <mly reach after a two years’ journey from Petersburg!). Now follow the Arctic coast to Behring Straits, cross the latter, and descend the American continent via Nome City, the Klondyke, and

Seattle, to San Francisco- Thence by rail, due east, to New York. That would be practically the route of the suggested line, over a distance (as we covered it) of 18,494 miles. The generally irksome ten days’ trip to Irkutsk scarcely counts in a voyage

of this magnitude; but, from Irkutsk, I shall divide the Asiatic portion of our journey into three sections: (1) IrkutskYakutsk. 2,000 miles; (2) Yakutsk-Sredni-Kolymsk, 2.000 miles; and (3) Sredni-Kolymsk-Behring Straits, 1.500 miles.

Swamp and Forest. The Great Lena River is the only high road between Irkutsk and Yakutsk, for, owing to swamps and dense, impenetrable forests, there is no way by land. In summer you use boats, in winter, horse-sleds, over the river ice; which latter journey occupied, in our case, nearly a month, travelling night and day, under very trying conditions. Yet, this was the easiest portion of the Asiatic side, for it was seldom over 45deg. below zero, rest-houses were only 30 miles apart, and we could generally rely on food and shelter. But note that, in this first section, a track would have to be hewn through 2,0110 miles (considerably more than the distance from London to Constantinople) of virgin forest; and that we were detained, sometimes for days, by blinding blizzards and drifting snow. “But that was in winter!” the reader may argue, being unaware that, during summer-time, the second section of our Asiatic _ journey (from Yakutsk to Sredni-Kolymsk) is rendered absolutely impassable by the lakes and limitless swamps which then submerge this barren region, ami extend, without a break (save for the precipitous Yerkoyansk mountains) to the Arctic Ocean’ ’and Behring Straits. From May until July Yakutsk is practically an island surrounded by a shallow sea, hundreds of miles in extent, formed by the overflowing Lena and its tributaries—a town ent off from the rest of the world, which none may leave, or approach, without great difficulty and even peril. North of Yakutsk. 1 am often asked why I embarked upon this journey in mid-winter, yet the reason is very simple; for only at that season is travel north of Yakutsk rendered possible in reindeer sleds by the hard and frozen ground. For perhaps seven months of the year a train might also take advantage of this temporary solidity of the soil, but where (even if successfully laid) would rails and sleepers vanish to in the general break-up of the ice and Hoods of springtime? An 1 every scrap of timber needed for construction would have to be imported into this barren, treeless waste! I may add. incidentally, that it took us nearly two months with reindeer (during which we met under a score of human beings) to reach the Arctic Ocean from Yakutsk; under such painful and exhausting cli-

ma tic conditions as I would never, willingly, undergo again. And now for the third, and perhaps worst, section of the Asiatic side —from the mud huts of Sredni-Kolymsk (peopled by a few filthy Yakutes and half-crazy political exiles) to the Behring Straits. The distance was, roughly speaking, 1,500 miles, which we accomplished (after a narrow shave of death by starvation) in dog-sleds, in

about two months. No human being (I was told at Kolymsk) had ever ventured more than a. few miles along that bleak and storm-swept coast in winter, and the nearest known native settlement was at least 000 miles distant to the eastward. Briefly, we eventually reached it, and obtained walrus meat, or all of us must have perished. But I smile when I think of a railway trundling comfortably along that precipitous, iron-bound coast, where towering cliffs descend sheer into the frozen ocean, while inland rocky, impassable ranges

so impeded our progress that we found it easier to travel over rough, and often mountainous, sea-ice! Furious gales were here of daily occurrence, and occasionally blizzards which, in a single night, would entirely alter the aspect of the grim Arctic waste, and pile up great mountains of snow, sufficiently firm and massive to bury a score of ponderous Pullman cars!

78 Degrees Below Zero. And what about provisions, or even water and metal rails, in a temperature we once experienced of 7Sdeg below zero! No wonder that when, at last, we reached the Straits, every man was convinced of the absolute impossibility of. the construction of a Franco-Ameri-can railway, even at a prodigious cost of human life and money! For Arctie America closely resembles, and presents the same obstacles, as the regions 1 have described. Behring Straits could, of course, be tunnelled at the outlay of

several millions sterling—that is, at any rate, practicable, and would be essential, for no bridge ever built would withstand the overwhelming rush of ice through the Straits in springtime. But why further discuss a scheme which is so obviously futile, not to say impossible! However, nervous travellers by sea should be consoled by the fact that, even were this all-world railway ever realised, the journey from Paris to New York would certainly occupy at least six weeks (it took us over eight months) ; with the off chance, en route, of death by cold or starvation! Moreover, statistics show that there are few safer places in the world, as a rule, than a staunch liner in mid-ocean.—“ Pall Mall Gazette.”