Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1908 — Rallways In Algerian Desert. [ARTICLE]

Rallways In Algerian Desert.

The opening of - tne railroad from South Oraso to Bechar, a distance of 445 miles into the interior, was tne most Interesting event of the year 1905. Considering the great difficulties encountered; not the least of which was the scarcity of water, the line being entirely through a desert, the construction was rapid. The last section, from Ben Zireg to Bechar, was built in ten months, and the roadbed is solid enough to permit of a speed of fifty miles an hour. This section is thirty-two miles long. The most remarkable result of the building of this line has been the rapid pacification of the country traversed. At Ben Zlrez, a station for the oasis of Flguig, near which the Governor-Gener-al and his' escort were attacked by brigands less than two years ago, a market' has been established which did a business ot over >2,000,000 in 1904 and 1905. (All the stations along the line have been fortified, so that any attempt at organized robbery can be immediately suppressed.—United States Consular Reports.