| Show RAILWAY mr 0 E BUTTON of th united states geological abuys in one of hia report fl that who havo lent carefully studio I 1 the gr nd canon of the ca i lo 10 adnot hes tete for a moment to pronounce it by far the most sublime of all earthly s peo acles if its sublimity consisted onty in its dimension ci it could be auf get forth in ah ingle sentence ben tence U is more than miles lonar from 5 oil aces wide and from to feet deep there is in the world valleys which are longer and a few which are deeper there are valleys flanked by summits loftier than the i palisades of the kaibab still the grand canon is the sublime st thing on earth it is BO not alone by virtue of its magnitudes but by virtue of the whole its ensemble and think of a railroad through this natural wonder the thought is awe inspiring for a time it wai thought that it was an utter impossibility to accod such a feat but a surveying party that has been through the entire route has made a report from which it appears not only possible but fully practical the report bays that the first part of the route from grand junction down the grand the head of the colorado does not present any greet difficulties in fact the denver and eio grande western E K have constructed ted a road along one bank of the river that is already in operation the great difficulties of the route are not encountered until the great gorge of the marble and grand canona are reached of the 62 miles of road through the marble canyon ac miles are to be built on talus slopes 32 on cliff bench work there are about 2 miles of tunnel the grand canyon is supposed to combine every difficulty that is possible for a railroad engineer to encounter of the miles through this 51 milen are hillside slopes 43 heavy talus elopes 11 miles cliff bench work 19 miles marble beach work 85 miles of sloping granite walls ortho total length of the road amounting to 1019 miles miles are through what is known as panh work this is not expensive work and can be done with plow and sc raner as in any ordinary mountain country the 86 miles of hillside consitt of earth and loose rock the miles of ough talus slopes consist of loos reek and and earth with slopes of stratified lime and sandstone there are 99 miles of excavation through solid granite walls there would be in all about 20 miles of tunnel you may talk about the deep water harbor at galveston but should this road once be built it would prove as grat gr at a boon it would be in diorec communication with the shipping of the pacific and coal which now comee largely from foreign ports could be at a cheap rate for mile from the mouth of the colorado the river is navigable nava gable and if the road vere only built to connect with a line af steamers this would soon become the favorite route of tourists but we fear it will be some time before the roa i is built although surveys have bea oade |
