MAGNITUDE OF PUBLIC WORKS IN THIS COUNTRY.
[The following article will be of interest to those who are watching the development of this country, as a fulfillment of prophecy.—Ed.] THE following bird's-eye view of a number of great public works in the United States which surpass anything of a similar character to be found in any other part of the world, is worthy of particular notice: The Julian aqueduct of Rome is two miles longer than the Croton aqueduct of New York, built by John B. Jervis and Horatio Allen, but the Croton carries more water than all the seven aqueducts of Rome put together, and more than any other aqueduct in the world, and is longer than any other except the Julian. The Illinois Central Railroad, built by Col. Mason, is the longest line ever constructed by one company, and in point of workmanship is equal to any European road. The National road, over the Cumberland mountains, built by the United States engineer corps, is more expensive and durable by far than the Appian way. The stone arch over Cabin John's Creek, on the Washington aqueduct built by Capt. Meigs, is about fifty feet greater span than any other arch in the world, and is more beautiful in proportion than the arch over the Oca, so celebrated for its magnificence. The tunnel built by Mr. Haupt, on the summit of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was a more difficult work than the tunnel under the Thames. The structures on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Harper's Ferry, and beyond the summit, built by Latrobe, and the Starrucca Viaduct, and the New York and Erie Railroad, built by Julius Adams, are equal in magnificence and excellence of workmanship to anything Brunel ever did in England or Moran in France. The Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River at Lewiston, built by Major133Serrell, is 1,042 feet 10 inches in one span, and is 48 feet greater than any other single span in the world, being twice as great and quite as strong as Telford's celebrated bridge over the Menai Strait in England. The United States Dry-Dock at Brooklyn is the largest dry-dock in the world by many feet. The workmanship, done under the direction of Mr. McAlpine and Gen. Stuart, is equal, if not superior, to anything of the kind anywhere. The plates of iron used in the gates of this dock are the largest that had ever been made up to the time they were rolled. The flight of combined locks on the Erie Canal at Lockport, built by the State Engineers, are equalled only in one place in Christendom—(Sweden.) The Railroad Suspension Bridge built by Roebling over the Niagara is within a few feet of twice the span of Stephenson's great tabular bridge in England, the largest structure of the kind. It is 800 feet in one span, and is two stories high, the railroad being above the public highway. Nothing like it exists anywhere else. The Lighthouse on Minot's Lodge, being built by Capt. Alexander, is in a more exposed situation, and as far as proceeded with is more securely bolted together than the famous Eddystone lighthouse in England. The bridge at Wheeling, built by Charles Ellet, is exceeded in span only by the Lewiston bridge, and is heavier than it; it is the second largest span in the world, and is much more beautiful than the Fribourg bridge, its European rival. In carpentry we are unexcelled in the world. Such structures in timber as the dry-docks at San Francisco and Philadelphia, McCullam's and Col. Seymour's bridges on the Erie railroad, and branches, the timber viaducts on the Catawissa, built by Stancliff, Col. Long's bridges on the various New England railroads, and How's trusses at Harrisburg, have not their equals across the Atlantic. Then, again, in Europe many structures are built that might have been avoided—a few hundred feet of detour would have saved the great Box Tunnel. Now we maintain that the location of Sidell's division, for example, on the Erie, evinced more skill in avoiding the necessity of great structures, than could be shown in building them. The stones on either corner of the Exchange, in Boston, built by Rogers, are larger than any single stone in Cleopatra's Needle, and those now being put into the United States treasury at Washington, are much heavier than any stone of Pompey's Pillar, or the Pyramids of Egypt. As to the difficulties of location, there is no country where more science and skill have been brought to bear than in ours, and it is a remarkable fact that, in point of time last year, our average traveling was faster by two and a half miles per hour than in England, comparing our principal lines with theirs, while the charges on the American lines were but little over half the English rates.—Ex.