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At that time about eighteen hundred miles. of the line had already been built to accommodate existing needs, the greater part of this amount being built northward from Cape Town. Since 1892, sixteen hundred miles of wire have been added along the northward stretch, of which nearly fourteen hundred miles. are strung along the main line of the route. Southward from the other end of the continent about fifteen hun

dred miles more are to be found. Of the remaining nine hundred miles out of the originally proposed fifty-six hundred, four hundred and fifty will in all probability be spanned by wireless telegraphy, and there are between four hundred and fifty and five hundred more to be built. before the scheme will be completed.

Every foot of the three thousand miles

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A REPAIR STATION.

which have been built in the last thirteen years was constructed at great expenditure of money and labor. A surveying party, consisting of three white men and several natives was sent in advance to lay out the path for the construction party. The surveyors traveled through forest, jungle, and swamp, over mountains, ravines, rivers, and veldt, cut off

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tion party found the greatest difficulty in securing proper facilities for transporting the materials and getting labor to carry on the work. Special boats were constructed in England and shipped to Africa to help carry the materials along the rivers. Stations were established and maintained at the principal points, where enough of the materials would be brought together to build a certain portion of the route. There were one hundred engineers in this party and several thousand natives. At one time the negroes became frightened at small-pox which broke out in camp and many of them fairly evaporated into the forest. Building materials and tools were scattered broadcast for miles around as the terrified natives threw them away. They were induced to return to work only by dint of tactful coaxing. The success of the expedition depended very largely upon the handling of all these native workers.

Many engineering difficulties were encountered in building the line. Where the wire had to be stretched over swamps or rivers the poles were mounted high in air to accommodate the great sag. Sometimes it was necessary that a swamp be skirted on account of the great weight of wire which would have come between the two poles. In crossing the Zambesi great poles were erected which withstood the tremendous strain and weight of the span of wire. These poles can be seen for miles around and stand as monuments to the vigor with which the undertaking has been carried on, All the poles used in this work are hollow and made of steel.

Trouble shooting along this overland telegraph has its peculiar difficulties. Wandering elephants and other denizens of African forests take especial delight in rubbing their backs against the telegraph poles, with the result that the supports often give way. Then a torrential rain is likely to set in and the rising floods carry off the telegraph bodily, wire, posts and poles. In addition to building the telegraph lines, the party has cut out a rough roadway, varying in width from fifty to one hundred feet. This will aid the trouble men in repairing the line and locating points of broken connection.

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The collapse of a portion of this building, while in course of construction, brought death to a dozen workmen.

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HE collapse of a portion of the Bixby Hotel at Long Beach, Cal., one of the largest reinforced concrete buildings in the country, has stemmed for a moment the tide of cement construction and proved a mine of contention. among builders and architects through out the country.

Below the old port of Wilmington, and a scant score of miles from Los Angeles, is the beach city, whose attractive homes and shining sands have made Long Beach one of the storm centers of the real estate boom which has been sweeping eastern gold into Southern California. The little town grew from hamlet to city in a night, and at once aspired to the dignity of an opera house and a half million dollar hotel.

The hotel, the Bixby, was built "between the sun and moon upon the sands," a vast and attractive hostelry, destined to add to the fame of the American Riviera.

The building is in the form of a great letter H, the bar of the letter facing the ocean to the south and the foothills to the north. The entire structure is of reinforced concrete construction, with steel supports imbedded in the concrete mass.

Five stories were completed and cement was being poured into the molds of the floor above, when, without warning the west bar of the letter H fell to the ground, carrying down a score of workmen, a dozen of whom are dead. It was morning and scores of workmen were busy about the building. The first warning was a gentle sagging of the fifth floor, followed by a sharp snapping of steel rods, and the crash of this floor upon the floor below. This floor in turn gave way beneath the load, and the whole mass gaining weight and impetus crashed through to the basement.

The unfortunate men who went down with the wreck were so deeply covered by masses of concrete and steel that the recovery of their bodies was a long and

difficult task. Out of the cloud of dust that hung for hours over the tragic scene has issued a storm of invective and accusation, criticism and discussion, which is not yet laid. Cement men rushed to the defense of the architects and engineers and laid the blame upon the builder. Brick men and many engineers laid the fault at the door of the engineers, and still the discussion goes on.

The floor which fell was eighteen days old and the forms and temporary supports had been removed. It was of six inch tiles overlaid with two inches of reinforced cement and had spans of eighteen feet. The specified load was forty pounds to the square inch and the other floors had been tested to 240 pounds.

The coroner's jury of Los Angeles County has found that the cause of the death of the workmen was the falling of cement work, caused by the premature removal of part of the timbers supporting the fifth floor, and proceeding with the construction of the roof before the supporting cement beneath was properly set.

The jury failed to find any criminal liability, the evidence tending to show that eighteen days might be considered time. for the proper curing of cement in ordinary cases. The contractor is inclined to think that his work was well and properly done, and that the break was caused by shifting of the base columns which rest in ocean sand not far from high water. The architect is just as positive that the base columns did not shift and that the cement work was faulty.

A local architect who has had wide experience in similar work gives as his opinion that "Evidence is conclusive that the disaster is due to insufficient supports for the form work while the cement was being deposited in the forms. At the time of the collapse the concrete was being deposited in the roof beams and slabs. The temporary supports gave way, precipitating the whole mass with a terrific impact upon the floor below. This was only six days old but the forms had already been removed. The fifth floor gave way and the mass crashed with double impact upon the next floor below

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