The Dominion in 1983 | Page 9

and a host of minor parts. Wheels died hard. Electric
locomotives using them were brought out and were considered to do
the very fastest thing possible in locomotion, and such was in fact the
case while wheels were used, for wheels could not have borne a faster
pace without flying to pieces from centrifugal force. But when an
inventor devised a machine on runners to move on lubricated rails, a
great step was gained, though the invention was not a success, and
when, after this, liquid carbonic acid, or carbonic acid ice expanding
again to a gas was employed as a motive power, another advance was
made. Then the greatest lift of all was given. The solidification of
oxygen and hydrogen by an easy process was discovered and mankind

presented with a new motive power. In due time a way was found to
make the solid substance re-assume the gaseous form either suddenly
or by degrees, and thenceforth thousands of potential horse-power
could be obtained in a form convenient for storing or carrying about. It
is now as simple a matter to buy a hundred horse-power over the
counter as a pound of sugar.
From Toronto to Winnipeg in thirty minutes! From Winnipeg to the
Pacific in forty minutes! Such is our usual pace in 1983. By hiring a
special car the whole distance from Toronto to Victoria can be
accomplished in fifty minutes. A higher speed still is quite possible, but
is not permitted because of the risk of collision with other cars.
Collisions have never yet occurred on account of the rigid adherence to
very strict regulations. Cars that take short trips of 50 to 100 miles
between stations, seldom travel more than 500 feet from the earth, but
for long distances about 1,500 feet is usual. The broad metal slides for
receiving the cars and for their departure, which extend for a mile on
each side of all our stations, are the only portions of the rocket system
which much resemble anything connected with railroads. It is said that
great skill and long practice on the conductor's part are required to
cause the cars to alight well on the slides and draw up at the stations.
The slides at many stations are nearly level with the ground, but ascend
in opposite directions, till at the distance of a mile, where they end,
they are 100 feet high. The cars are now made quite cylindrical,
tapering off abruptly at the closed end. The outside is entirely of metal,
very highly polished, and showing no projections except a flange on
each side, two broad runners underneath, and a 40 foot rear flange or
vane. The dimensions are usually--diameter of cylinder, 20 feet; length,
45 feet. The high polish is necessary to avoid heating when the highest
speed is attained. Passengers are seated in a luxurious chamber in the
interior of the cylinder, which is suspended like the compass of a vessel,
and therefore always retains an upright position whatever may be the
position of the car when travelling. About fifty passengers can be
accommodated at one time. The tube emerging a little beyond the
mouth of the cylinder, through which the expanding gases are expelled,
can be slightly deviated from its axial position in any direction, and
thus what little steering is required is easily effected. The long
projecting 40 foot vane or tail which steadies the motion of the whole

machine is, in the newest patents, made to assist it in alighting on the
slides easily and without jarring. Such is the splendid apparatus, briefly
described, which brings all the ends of the earth together and makes the
whole world a public park, the most distant parts of which can be
visited and returned from in the course of a day. Long tedious voyages
of a week or a month belong to the forgotten past, for Paris, Calcutta or
Hong Kong can be reached in a fraction of the time formerly occupied
in going from Toronto to Montreal. No passenger traffic is ever carried
on now in dangerous vessels upon the treacherous ocean, but solely in
the safe and comfortable rocket-car through the air a thousand feet or
more above the cruel waters. Steamships, electric ships and sailing
vessels are still common round our coasts engaged in transporting
heavy freight, but they only cross the ocean to convey some bulky
produce which cannot be divided and go by car.
Private vehicles and travelling have also undergone wonderful changes.
The much-abused horse has vanished from cities entirely, and is not
permitted to enter them, greatly to the preservation of health and
cleanliness. All our vehicles have the automatic electric attachment and
move along briskly through the clean wide streets. The handsome
electric tricycles we are so familiar with, were hardly thought