Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE CAPE TO CAIRO RAILWAY. 151 of railway, to be driven right through Africa, appealed even to the hard-headed financiers of Cape Town and Johan- nesburg, and money was imme- diately forthcom- ing to enable Mr. Rhodes to make a commencement from the terminus of the existing Bechu analand railways north- THE OLD WAY OF TRAVELLING IN SOUTH AFRICA, AND---------- (Photo, British South Africa Company.) wards through Mafeking and the old Tati goldfields to Bulawayo, a short time previously the head leraal of the last of the Matabele chiefs, Lobengula. This sec- tion of the line, however, proved to be much more expensive than had been an- ticipated, and long before the rails reached Bulawayo Mr. Rhodes found himself com- pelled to dip deeply into his private purse to provide the necessary capital. He was not the man, however, to let a question of money stand in the way of the realization of any scheme upon which he had set his heart, especially as he had the immense resources of the powerful De Beers Diamond Mining Com- pany at liis disposal. The “ Cape to Cairo ” line—to give it the popular name conceived in a happy moment by Mr. Rhodes—was built in sections, money being provided for each sec- tion as the one behind it was finished. Thus the first sec- tion of the line ran from the terminus of the Cape Government railway system at Vryburg to How the Line was built. THE NEW WAY. (Photo, British South Africa Company.) Mafeking ; and the sec- ond from Mafeking over the border into Rho- desia and on to Bula- wayo, now the com- mercial capital of that great country. The combined length of these two sections is 558 miles. Construc- tion between Vryburg and Bulawayo was a record-breaking piece of work, despite the draw- backs which handi-