is not unfavourable, and for nearly one-third of the whole distance
it is what may practically be termed flat. The difficulty of passing
through the highest mountainous ranges in Europe, viz : the Alps and
Appenines, has not been nearly so great as supposed, nor the expense
per mile at all extravagant; the distance of course is greatly in-
creased, but such works as the tunnel now making under Mont Cenis
between France and Italy will never be repeated, for it is much
less expensive to go over than under such places, and if this is the
case in the Alps, what must it be in such comparatively low
elevations as are met with in the West. In proof of this there are
already two lines over the Alps, and. two more projected from
Switzerland, over the St. Gotherd and Splugen. The double range
of the Appenines is crossed by the railroad from Rome to Ancona,
which runs for forty miles in the gorges and among the mountains
of this pass ; the cost of the earthwork, bridgds, and short tunnels
on this section, in fact every thing excepting the permanent way,
did not reach ?8,000 sterling per mile ($40,000). The perma-
nent way was excessively costly, as th? rails had to be carted all the
way from Rome on the one side and Ancona on the other, and were
dragged for many miles up to the places inaccessible to any carriage,
two or three and sometimes one at a time, by buffaloes.
My Wooden system will remove entirely one great objection
advanced by Mr. Dawson against railways, viz: That roads of
communication, almost as expensive as those he proposes, must
first be constructed in order to render the country accessible
for the materials required, on the line.
No such roads of communication would be required for the
construction of a Wooden Railway ; all the materials would be found
on the ground, and the commencement of the different sections
would take place in, or close to, the woods furnishing the supply,
and the conveyance of the materials, &c., would be over the line
as it was laid. The only requisites for the construction of the