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THE RAILWAY CONQUEST
OF THE WORLD
[Frontispiece
WHERE THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY STRIKES ACROSS SALT LAKE
The “cut off” across the water is 27 miles in length, of which 15 milesare represented by solid earth embankment.
CONQUESTS OF SCIENCE
THE
RAILWAY CONQUEST
OF THE WORLD
BY
FREDERICK A. TALBOT
AUTHOR OF
“THE NEW GARDEN OF CANADA,” “THE MAKING OF A GREAT CANADIAN RAILWAY,” &C.
ILLUSTRATED
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
vii
Copyright London 1911 by William Heinemann
PREFACE
There is the unfathomable fascination of romance connectedwith the construction of great railways, thoughlittle is known of the beginning and the growth of thegreat trunk roads of the world; of the heavy tax whichtheir construction imposed upon the ingenuity, skill andresource of their builders. Speeding along swiftly in aluxurious Pullman car over a road-bed as smooth as anasphalt pavement conveys no impression of the perils anddangers faced or of the infinite labour expended in themaking of that steel highway. To-day the earth is girdledwith some 700,000 miles of railways, and there are fewcountries in which the locomotive has not made itsappearance.
This volume has been written with the express purposeof telling in a popular manner this story of romance. Itis obviously impossible to deal with every great railwayundertaking in the compass of a single volume; but thosedescribed may safely be considered representative, andthey are the largest and most interesting enterprisesbetween the two poles.
In the writing of this volume I have been assistedby innumerable friends who have been identified closelywith the introduction of Stephenson’s invention intofresh fields of conquest. I am indebted especially tothe following gentlemen: Messrs. Norman B. Dickson,M.INST.C.E.; A. M. Cleland, the Northern Pacific RailwayCompany; the late J. C. Meredith, chief engineer,the Florida East Coast Railway; A. L. Lawley; R. R.Gales, M.INST.C.E.; H. E. Gwyther, chief engineer,viiithe Leopoldina Railway Company, Ltd.; Francis B.Clarke, president of the Spokane, Portland and SeattleRailway; William Hood, chief engineer, the SouthernPacific Company; F. A. Miller, the Chicago, Milwaukeeand Puget Sound Railway; the I. R. Austrian RailwayMinistry; W. Weston, the Denver, North-western andPacific Railway Company; the Pennsylvania Steel Company;W. T. Robson, the Canadian P