Items of Interest May 5, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

The engineering problem of constructing a railway through the Hindu Kush Mountains from Turkestan to India, in the opinion of Russian engineers who have made surveys, will find a comparatively easy solution by boring a tunnel under the divide separating the headwaters of the Kundus, flowing toward the Oxus River and Turkestan, from the headwaters of the Kabul River, flowing east to join the Indus River, which drains all northwestern India. Such a tunnel would, it is estimated, be about thirteen miles long and would require excavating through granite rock. Except for the thirteen miles of tunnel, the railway construction would be comparatively easy, as it would follow the valleys on either side of the divide. The cost, it is estimated, from the estuary of the Kundus River at its junction with the Oxus, to Peshawar in India, a distance of about four hundred miles, would be about forty million dollars.

In the event of the construction of this railway through the Hindu Kush, the distance from the Hook of Holland, which could be reached by steamer from England, to the Indian capital at Delhi, would be as follows: Hook of Holland-Berlin-Warsaw-Moscow, 1836 miles; Moscow-Orenburg-Tashkend, 2082 miles; Tashkend-Kagan estuary of Kundus River, 750 miles; estuary of Kundus River-Peshawar, 400 miles; Peshawar-Delhi, 627 miles; total, 5695 miles.

By the middle of June Minneapolis, Minn., with the completion of the Government dam below Minnehaha Falls and the opening of the locks to boats, will become the head of navigation on the Mississippi River. The dam, which has been under construction more than seven years and has cost $1,400,000, is virtually finished now. It will furnish water for the development of 15,200 horse-power. The power project, however, will not be completed for another year. When the flood-gates are closed the water will be backed up to a low water depth of 9½ feet, and a lake 4.86 miles long and varying in width from 800 to 1000 feet will be formed. On this body of water Minneapolis is planning for a water sports carnival from July 2 to 6.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

The Allness of God, Good