One of the most notable of these early achievements was the Takasaki-Naoyetsu line, which was commenced originally to facilitate the transportation of constructional material for another road. The engineers were baulked by the Usui Pass, and this gap was left open, the two sections on either side of the range being opened for traffic in 1887. The intervening division was undertaken subsequently, being deferred from time to time in the hope that an easier location than had been plotted would be found. Though the engineers searched the mountains diligently, they failed to secure any improvement free from heavy work, and at last the mountain division was taken in hand. The grades were so steep, however, that the rack had to be introduced, the Abt system being selected. The engineers found this section particularly trying, as they had to drive no less than 26 tunnels through mountain spurs in a distance of 7 miles, while the deep clefts in the mountain’s flanks called for massive masonry bridges. This work, however, was completed in 1893, and it served to provide through communication between Tokio and Naoyetsu. It is doubtful whether the iron road ever has made such a phenomenal growth in other parts of the world within a short time as has characterised its development in the East. In China there was not a mile of line in 1877. To-day over 10,000 miles of railways have been built, are under construction, or are projected. In Japan the network has grown from 18 miles in 1872, to 5,141 miles at the end of the 1910 fiscal year, of which total 4,634 miles belong to the State, and 597 to private companies, while the former at that date had 2,790 miles in hand, and private enterprise about 160 miles. CHAPTER XXVI THE CONQUEST OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS Although the first trans-continental railway across the North American continent tapped San Francisco, this was not the route that was advocated in the first instance. Public fancy was inclined rather to the suggestion that the Pacific should be gained more to the north, at the estuary of the Columbia River. This feeling was fostered, no doubt, because that country loomed more prominently in the popular eye, as a result of the famous expedition of Lewis and Clark during the years 1804–6, wherein they trailed across the unknown corner of the continent and gained the Pacific via the Columbia River. The operations of the Hudson Bay Trading Company and its numerous rivals also had served to familiarise the public with this great territory.