Show I COPPER R rica New fl Attracting Field c in Central World V rJ Africa Af At- Attention At At- t tI Great Britain I Belgium and Holland Join In Its Development Probably the most important stretch of railroad in the world ceo ceo- I to be put into commission during the past year is the Lobito lay Katanga l railway in faraway far Central Africa according to a bul bul- letin from the National Geographic society Tremendous deposits of or copper ore re In the Katanga province of Belian Belgian Bel Bel- gian ian Congo far richer than many of those lose worked elsewhere in the world are arc re primarily responsible for the con conS Inaction of the railway says the bulletin This is a repetition of the up tic between mining and railway building that has occurred over and andover andover over ver again in Africa The gold mines of f the Rand were too far from Capetown Cape Cape- town lown own for economic rail haulage therefore much shorter lines to the Indian ocean ports Durban and Lourenco Marques sprang into ex- ex stence When mines were opened in n Southern Rhodesia a railway east cast casto to o the port of Beira in Mozambique became an economic necessity and was vas quickly built WESTERN VESTERN OUTLET IMPERATIVE Later LaIer when development of the Katanga mines was started hundreds of miles to the north the tc Capeto Cairo railway was extended to the area lrea and Beira became the salt water outlet for the new field also But Buthe the he copper bound for tor Europe took its ts long and expensive rail journey in n a direction away from Europe and reaching salt water at Beira it still had ahead of it a long and slow I journey by ship around the southern tip ip of Africa Economics demanded a rail outlet westward to the Atlantic and it is this outlet of steel begun a z quarter-century quarter ago that has just been brought to completion I If Africa is divided by a line that thai extends eastward from the under rim of the great western peninsula that hangs langs over the Gulf Gult of Guinea the portion to the south will comprise the there re region ion that has been longest and most actively developed by white menThe men The Katanga copper mines He lie at al aI- al- al most the exact geographic center of this his southern region near the iron fron- tier between Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia A short distance to o the south in Northern Rhodesia are other large copper deposits in British territory The Katanga and Northern Rhodesia copper ores in effect constitute a single mining region region re gion with an international line ime dividing di die viding it THREE NATIONS COOPERATE The development of the mines and the construction of a railway connecting connect ing them with an Atlantic port has involved close cooperation among amone three governments and their citizens Great Britain Belgium and Portugal British capital and organizing ability have been the common denominator for or the enterprises cooperating with the Belgians in the mining region and andin andin andin in constructing the rail line to the Angola border and with the Portuguese Portuguese Portuguese guese in the building of the railway across Angola A uA most important clement element in the new transportation route is the Atlantic At lantic port Lob Lobito i to Ba Bay where a 1 roomy water deepwater harbor is nearly enclosed by a long sand spit It Is now recognized as the best natural harbor in Africa but it was only a deserted stretch of ot sand and water in let 1902 when the idea of the railway was first broached So rapidly does the bottom of the bay fall away that the largest ocean freighters can be brought alongside the quays lining the inner side of the sand spit Threading its way through gorges and looping to keep down the grades the railroad known in Angola as the railway climbs through difficult terrain until it reaches the top of the West African plateau After that the going is relatively easy through pleasant country most of i it adequately supplied with moisture and well adapted to use b. b by the white man The railroad has brou brought ht about abou a marked development of ot this upland region by white farmers and cattle raisers |