Let us compare this project with that which is favoured by Sir Charles Bernard. In his address to the Scottish Geographical Society in November 1887, some months before Sir Andrew Clarke had arranged with the King of Siam for the surveying of the Siamese system of railways, he said: “A railway is now being made, and will be open within eighteen months, to Mandalay. That line will doubtless be continued to Bhamo, 700 miles from the sea, and 35 miles from the border of China. The ancient route of traffic between Burmah and China was by Bhamo and the Irawadi valley. We ought to make the most of that route, and exhaust its possibilities, before we committed ourselves to creating another and a wholly new route. No doubt the lofty passes on the old path between Bhamo and Yunnan-fu are most serious obstacles to a railway on that route. But it might be possible to find much easier gradients if the Shweli valley and other valleys leading towards Sunning-fu, instead of to Tali-fu, were examined. A thorough examination of the country would take one or two seasons.”
We have seen that the branch line for connecting Maulmain and Raheng will probably cost about 1½ million sterling. Mr Archer, our vice-consul at Zimmé, reported in 1887 upon the portion of our proposed railway from Raheng to China that lies in Siam and its Shan States, as follows:—
“Best Route for Railway through Northern Siam.—If the railroad were made to pass through Zimmé, the great mass of mountains between the city and Kiang Hai would probably prove a serious difficulty. But if it were to follow the valleys of the Meh Nam and Meh Wang as far as Lakon (our route), there would appear to be no great natural difficulties to overcome, and thence north-eastward to Muang Ngow the road would lie over easy undulating country. From Muang Ngow to Penyow the watershed of the Meh Nam and Meh Kong must be crossed; but it is of no great elevation (merely undulating ground), and I believe would not present any serious difficulties. Once this range is passed, the whole way to Kiang Hsen, and some distance farther northward, is on almost quite level ground, apparently highly suitable for a railway. This route I think preferable, not only because it offers greater natural facilities, but because a large portion of the country traversed is capable of great development, and it is evident that the advantages of a railway to these States are based, not on the actual wealth, but on the consequent development, of the country.”
To learn the character of the country along our route between Kiang Hsen and Kiang Hung, we can turn to Garnier’s account of the part of his journey skirting the river from Kiang Hsen to Sop Yong, a place half-way between Kiang Hsen and Kiang Hung. There were no serious physical difficulties noted by him on this part of his journey, and his party turned inland at Sop Yong simply because it was the rainy season, and the plains neighbouring the river were swampy. The only other European observer who has traversed any portion of our route between Kiang Hsen and Kiang Hung is Mr Archer, who, in his journey back from Kiang Tung in 1887, struck it at Muang Len (Lim, a place 35 miles to the north of Kiang Hsen). In the account of his journey he reports that “Muang Len has a more prosperous appearance than any Chiengtung (Kiang Tung) district I had yet seen. The valley is broad, and there are numerous villages with extensive rice-fields. These settlements are comparatively new, for, after the destruction of Chiengsen (Kiang Hsen) in 1803, Chiengmai (Zimmé) advanced up the valley of the Meh Kong and took off captives all the inhabitants they could find. The junction of the Meh Len with the Meh Kong is about a day’s journey from the village where we encamped. From Muang Len to Huapong, also a prosperous-looking district, is a day’s journey on a good road, mostly through bamboo forest; and the next day, May 31st, we passed through Hong Luk, crossed the Meh Sai, and reached Ban Tham in Chiengsen, about 10 miles below the Siamese fort. Hong Luk is a populous and well-cultivated district. In passing through Wieng Phan, just south of the Meh Sai, and close to the Siamese fort, I saw a settlement just being made in the jungle by Chiengtung people, who were busy putting up their houses.”
From all information gained by explorers, it is evident that from Raheng northwards to Kiang Hung, a distance of 470 miles, the line for our proposed railway is exceptionally free from physical difficulties. Kiang Hung lies 2000 feet above sea-level. Near this important town the Meh Kong or Cambodia river will have to be crossed; and after crossing the river, an ascent of 2520 feet will have to be made by the railway along the slope of the Yunnan plateau to Ssumao, the frontier-post of China. The total length of this line from Maulmain to Ssumao is estimated at 700 miles.
Mr Colborne Baber’s survey and levels along the Bhamo route, which proceeds from Bhamo—a town 700 miles from a seaport, situated at the head of the steamer navigation on the Irawadi—through Tali-fu to Yunnan-fu, the capital of the Chinese province of Yunnan, showed that the country traversed by the route was of an alpine character, and exceedingly difficult. The passes over the series of mountains between Bhamo and Tali-fu have their summit at a greater altitude than that of any of the passes over the Alps, with the exception of the Stelvio, which lies 800 feet above the level of perpetual snow. The Bernina, the next highest to the Stelvio, only rises 7658 feet above sea-level, whereas the pass between Bhamo and the Salween river lies at an altitude of 8730 feet; that between the Salween and the Meh Kong at 8166 feet; that between the Meh Kong and Chutung at 8510 feet; that between Chutung and the Shan-Pi river at 8410 feet; and that between the Shan-Pi and Tali-fu at 8090 feet.
To connect Bhamo with Yunnan-fu, the chief town of the Chinese province of Yunnan, would require a railway at least 967 miles in length. The stupendous cost of such a line can be judged from the report of Mr Colborne Baber, who surveyed and levelled the portion of the route lying between Momein and Yunnan-fu. He says—“The trade-route from Yunnan-fu to Teng-yuch (or Momein, the frontier-post of China with the Chinese Shan States) is the worst possible route with the least conceivable trade.” Again he says—“I do not mean that it is absolutely impossible to construct a railway. By piercing half-a-dozen Mont Cenis tunnels and erecting a few Menai bridges, the road from Burmah to Yunnan-fu could doubtless be much improved.”
The advocates of the Bhamo route assume that because the crow-line distance from Bhamo to Yunnan-fu is only 375 miles in length, these two places can be easily and cheaply connected by railway.[[27]] They seem not to have studied, or if they have studied, are unable to comprehend Mr Baber’s report, maps, and sections, which were made by him when accompanying the Grosvenor Mission from Yunnan. These have been issued both by the Royal Geographical Society and as a Parliamentary Blue-book (China, No. 3, 1878), and are therefore easily accessible.
In the Blue-book the maps are drawn to a large scale, 3 miles to the inch, and the levels of the route above sea-level are written upon it, and given separately in a table on pp. 30 and 31 of the report. The country passed over by the caravan-route is clearly delineated on these maps. The track is seen traversing high passes, between great hills, towering up thousands of feet above the crest of the passes, and crossing deep ravines and steep valleys, not in a level crow-line (that would necessitate viaducts many thousand feet high, at an expense in comparison with which the cost of the Panama Canal would be as nothing), but zigzagging up and down the valleys and ravines, and following the general contortions of the passes. Thus the crow-line of 375 miles is developed into 489½ miles for caravan traffic, so as to enable mules and human beings to clamber over the mountain-passes between the two places. To any competent engineer who studied the maps, it would be evident that the length of a railway with a ruling gradient of 100 feet to a mile, carried from Bhamo to Yunnan-fu, would be at least 967 miles.
Some of the ravines are so steep, that if the crow-line were adhered to, mules, or even goats, could not crawl up them. Let us take, for instance, the descent from the crest of the pass lying to the west of the Salween to the bridge over that river. The dead drop in a crow-line of one mile is 6300 feet, and a zigzag seven miles in length has had to be made up the face of the ravine to enable mules to ascend and descend it. Railway trains are neither flies, nor crows, nor mules, and therefore can neither crawl up precipices, follow a crow-line through the air, nor proceed up a mule-track. To ascend this ravine, this crow-line distance of one mile, the railway track, if straight, would have to be at least 63 miles long, in order to allow a locomotive to haul up a load equal to six times its own weight in addition to itself. The 100–feet-to-the-mile gradient up on the straight portions would have to be flattened at every curve of the zigzags: this means additional length, which, together with the necessary level-lengths which are required to give runaway trains a chance of being again brought under control, would add three or four miles on to the 63 miles mentioned above. It will be rather within than without the mark to allow 66 miles for the alignment of a railway over this single crow-mile of country.