flows, till it reached in a straight line of about two miles the camp itself. All this involved necessarily very heavy works, three bridges and high embankments.
On the 10th of July, in the evening, the representatives of the company laid before the emperor—who took a great personal interest in the matter—the complete plans for the work. They expected, of course, that not much time would be allowed them for the execution, but they were not a little taken aback when Napoleon asked them if they would undertake to have the railway ready in two months. They consulted a few minutes with each other, during which they were left alone, but soon the emperor returned and demanded their answer. They stated that the difficulties were very great and the time too short: nevertheless they engaged to do the emperor's will if he, on his part, would order the authorities, from the Minister of Public Works down to the district officials, to dispense with all but the most indispensable formalities.
The promise was given, and on the very next day, early in the morning, they received the contract duly authenticated, thus giving an earnest on the part of the government that everything should be done to aid them in their remarkable enterprise. At noon a meeting of the directors took place, at which matters were generally arranged, and when the sun set that evening the first spade had been stuck in the ground near Chalons.
The first trouble—for troubles there were, many and grievous—was the want of laborers. The best and most experienced hands were sent for by telegraph from all the different works of the Great Eastern Company: they appeared in every express train from Lorraine, Burgundy and Alsace—others were imported from Belgium, Westphalia and Prussia: they received the highest wages, but were also required to do full work and in the best manner. Thus a force of twenty-four hundred first-class workmen was gathered in a few days around the first mile.
Next, all the powerful engines and machinery of the whole line were put into requisition: steam-rams, track-engines, circular saws were set to work along the line, and torches, bonfires and electric lights supplied the light of day during the short summer nights, so that relays of laborers could succeed each other without interruption. The company, moreover, provided for their food in the most careful manner. A famous Paris restaurateur, Chevet, was engaged to furnish cooked provisions for the little army of workmen, and a couple of days after the beginning of the work his movable kitchens were seen all along the line, furnishing a supply of excellent dinners at rates varying from six francs for the higher employés down to ten cents for the workmen.
All these interesting features—the almost magic rise of a railway in a heavy chalk soil, the wonderful activity of thousands of skillful laborers on so short a distance, and the almost fairy like illumination at night—attracted immense numbers of Parisians, who came by day and by night to witness the strange sight, and brought a rich reward at once to the enterprising company.
High and large embankments were of course out of the question under such circumstances, and the company adopted, therefore, our own system of trestle-works instead, planting immense piles by means of hundreds of steam-rams, which went to work at one and the same time, strengthening them simultaneously by heavy cross-timbers, and laying the track without delay on the solid structure. One such trestle bridge, two thousand feet long, crossed the valley of the Marne, a second, of only five hundred feet, that of the Vesle, and a third, of six hundred feet, the low lands of a smaller stream. When the whole line was completed, these trestle-works were filled up with earth, and at leisure changed into huge embankments. The principal bridge, however, was from the first placed upon solid béton foundations.
The construction began, of course, at Chalons, so as to remain constantly in
