view of Reviews, show three views of the Iwall, which is 5 feet wide at the top and 16 feet wide at the bottom, and concaved on the southern side, with substantial riprap protection. The riprap consists of large granite blocks and extends seaward for 27 feet from the base of the wall; its height ranges from 3 feet to 5 feet above the surface of the water. The wall itself, which is built of concrete, stands on a foundation of piles driven into the clay beneath. The sea wall alone was not judged a sufficient measure of protection, for the cation of the city on the island, and the sea wall is indicated by the outer of the two lines drawn inside the city limits. The shaded portion of the city represents the part on which the grade is to be raised. The character of the surface soil is like that of any other sand bar in the ocean, and the storm washed a large amount of sand from the gulf front of the city out towards the west jetty, creating flats at the eastern end of the city. The approach for vessels is on this side, as the exposed shore facing the Gulf of Mexico offers no protection for vessels. reason that it would be quite possible, in the event of another hurricane, for water to come around the end of the wall and do much damage in the low land behind it, where it would be confined. Hence it was decided to raise the grade of that portion of the city which was flooded, to a height of 17 feet above mean high water, or level with the top of the wall. The average filling is to a depth of 7 to 8 feet, but in some places from 17 to 20 feet of earth must be filled in and the total work involves 11,000,000 cubic yards of filling, at an estimated cost of $2,100,000 in addition to the cost of the wall. The accompanying map, traced from the government pilot chart, shows the lo The means of accomplishing this filling in of the city behind the wall without encountering prohibitive difficulties occasioned much discussion and several plans were suggested. It was necessary, first of all, to get the material for filling at a short enough carry to be economically feasible. There was plenty of sand on the shoals directly east and southeast of the sea wall; but this sand, which is cov ered with water at a low tide depth of from 1 to 12 feet, served as a protecting beach of considerable value and it was considered inadvisable to strip it away. Moreover, the wave motion on the sea front and the danger of storms would have seriously interfered with the work of self dredges which should discharge over the sea wall, and of running long suction pipes seaward from shore stations, discharging over the sea wall. It was proposed also to establish a borrow pit south of the city on Galveston Island (not shown on the accompanying map). This plan would have been feasible enough except for the cost of relay stations and the fact that the great borrow pits would limit the city's growth in a direction to which it is naturally tending. The prohibitive cost also prevented the establishment of a similar borrow pit operated by dredge, grab, or steam shovel, from which the sand would be hauled to the city on a temporary railroad. the city streets, but will also serve to carry off waste water. Two types of dredges are to be used. The canal will be dug from the north, or channel side, of the city by means of a cutter dredge, a plan of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, with a photographic reproduction of the cutter at the end of the suction pipe. The dredging mechanism consists of a centrifugal pump, fed from a single suction ladder which carries a built up cutter. The latter is cylindrical, with straight blade milling cutters mounted around and concentrically with the end of the suction pipe. In this type the whole cutter may be secured to the end of the suction pipe Hydraulic dredging along the wharf front on the north of the city was good in that it would deepen the channel and dispose of some of the sand put there by the flood; but it would have occasioned a tremendous impediment to business, with the necessary piping through the principal streets and back flow of waste water. The plan finally adopted for filling the low portion of the city was devised by Lindon W. Bates, who is engineer of the work in progress. In addition to a large number of dredging operations abroad, it will be recollected that Mr. Bates dredged a section of the Chicago drainage canal. The basis of Mr. Bates' plan is to dredge a canal, which will be 100 feet wide on the bottom and 20 feet deep, parallel to and just inside the sea wall, as shown by the inner line in the accompanying map. The canal will not only afford a convenient inlet into the heart of the portion to be filled without involving piping through (From Railroad Gazette) and rotary motion imparted to both together; or the cutter shaft may be journaled, by a suitable bearing provided in the end of the suction pipe, which is then made stationary. The material severed by the cutter is drawn through the spaces between the knives and openings are also provided in the conical disk at the end of the cutter fitted with detachable knives, an arrangement which has been found advantageous in clayey soils. Power is transmitted to the cutter by means of a shaft on the top of a ladder which drives the cutter by means of spur gearing where the axes are parallel, or beveled gearing when the bend is employed. A thrust block on the bend casting contains the upper end of the cutter spindle, and this thrust block, in common with all bearings under water, is lubricated with water under pressure, so as to exclude sand or grit. The gears are encased in sand-tight hoods, with the same object. The pump discharge is taken through the stern of the vessel, and flexible connection is made with a line of pipe pontoons. After the canal is completed by cutter dredges, sand will be dredged from the flats on the north side of the channel by means of dredges of a different type. These other dredges will be vessels of about 1,000 tons, carrying approximately 1,365 yards of filling material, which will be drawn into hoppers in the hold by means of a suction pipe. The dredge will then proceed up the canal to the discharge by waste water, and there will be no danger from storms, as the dredges will always work under shelter. The top of the seawall will be used as a walk, and immediately back of it, on the made land, there will be a driveway thirty feet wide, paved with stone and concrete. There will be another walk on the inner side of the driveway and the remaining space will be sodded and planted with trees and shrubs, which will serve the double purpose of tying down the soil and making an esplanade and continuous park along the sea front of the city. VIEW OF WALL FROM SEA FRONT, SHOWING CONCAVE SURFACE AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF COMPLETION (From Railroad Gazette) station, where connection will be made to a discharge pipe on the bank. The sand in the hold is mixed with water in the hoppers and discharged by means of a centrifugal pump. At the completion of the work the canal will be filled from the inner end, while the dredges gradually retire from it. In addition to the grade change in the city, the navigable waters and channels of the bay close to the city will be deepened considerably by the method of dredging, and it is estimated that this improvement will be worth one and a half millions to the city. Owing to the canal, the business center of the city will not be encumbered by pipes or its streets injured The project for thus redeeming the city from what amounted to almost total destruction and making it apparently secure for all time, is doubly interesting when it is realized that the population of Galveston is only about 40,000, and that the energy and initiation for the work, as well as the financial means, come almost entirely from the city itself.-Railroad Gazette. Overhead Construction vs. the The utterances of Mr. George Westinghouse are always interesting and generally sound. However, what might at first blush be considered a rank heresy emanating from this well known engineer, appeared in the New York Evening Post a few weeks ago relative to third-rail dangers. He insists that there was never any good reason for abandoning overhead construction in favor of the third rail for electric traction purposes, provided the former had been treated as an engineering work to be designed and constructed as carefully as a bridge or any other important overhead structure. Whether his views are in the main correct or not, we know that the great difficulty in the way of electrifying steam roads is the terminal. The complication and danger attending the use of the third rail in a maze of tracks and switches is appalling to say the least. Mr. Westinghouse's propositions are arranged categorically under six heads as follows, to which is appended a brief argument, also given in part: 1. "That the operation of the elevated trains by electricity has been an undoubted success, and an enormous advantage to the traveling public, notwithstanding the fact that the continuous third rail has been employed to supply the current. 2. "That the deaths and injuries to passengers and employes, considering the number of people involved, compare most favorably with any other railway operation in the world. 3. "That if a third rail charged with an immense power of electricity and located upon the surface near the other rails is to be used for the supply of electricity to the trains, then there will always be a source of danger to those who have occasion to come near such third rail; and in addition there will always be a great source of danger due to the fact that a car may be derailed, or that some iron material may become detached and make a short circuit between such third rail and the train. tions it may be stated that the third rail is impossible for use on main railways at important junctions and terminals; that the Pennsylvania Railroad does not propose to use the third rail in its underground work between New Jersey and Long Island; that the overhead wire was used at the Zossen experiments in Germany, when a speed of 120 miles per hour was obtained; and finally, that the New York Railroad Commissioners have recently declared that they would not permit the use of a third rail on interurban lines crossed many times by highways." Railway Machinery. Early Transportation in Manitoba. "In a recent folder issued by the Canadian Northern Railway some space is devoted to the early settlement of Manitoba and to the transportation facilities in pre-railroad days," says The Railway and Shipping World. "The flat-bottom stern-wheel steamers of the Red River from United States points landed passengers and freight at various points along the river to Fort Garry, where Winnipeg now stands, and from thence the Red River carts transported it overland. Two of the illustrations given in the folder are reproduced on the next page. One represents the arrival of the first locomotive and flat cars at Winnipeg on one of the Red River boats, and the other the departure of a string of Red River carts for distant points. In connection with the first-mentioned view it will be of interest to record that the equipment shown consisted of a wood-burning locomotive, 20 flat cars and one caboose, which were purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad at Brainerd, Minn., and were shipped on the steamer Dakota and tow barges, belonging to the Red River Transportation Co. The equipment was loaded at Fisher's Landing, Minn., in June, 1877, and was consigned to Joseph Whitehead, railway contractor, Winnipeg. Capt. A. Russell and W. Griggs, pilot, had charge of the steamer, and H. Swinford, now general agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Winnipeg, was general agent of the R. R. T. Co. in Winnipeg at the time, and collected freight charges on this particular shipment. Someone who was in charge of the outfit got up steam on the locomotive and blew the whistle for hours on the way down. The flags on the steamer were flying and "In support of these last two proposi- nearly everyone in town celebrated the 4. "That this third-rail danger may be lessened by the subdivision of the third rail into sections with provision for the automatic supply of the required amount of current to each section only as required, but that such arrangement will only minimize the third-rail danger. 5. "That such third-rail danger may be entirely obviated by resorting to the use of overhead conductors, for which the elevated structure is peculiarly suited. 6. "That there never was a good reason why the overhead wire should not have been used. |