out of a lack of the requisite material at home.  On the contrary, the engineers of the Russian service are perhaps the most accomplished body of men to be found in any country.  Selected in their youth, irrespective of any artificial advantages of birth or position, but for having a genius for such work, and trained to a degree of excellence in all of the sciences unsurpassed in any country, they stand deservedly in the front rank.  Such was the body of men with whom Major Whistler was called to co-operate, and whose professional duties, if not directed specially by him, were to be controlled by his judgment.

Accepting the position offered to him in so flattering a manner, he sailed for St. Petersburg about mid-summer in 1842, being accompanied on his voyage by Major Bouttattz, of the Russian Engineer Corps, who had been sent to this country by the Emperor as an escort.  Arriving in St. Petersburg, and having learned the general character of the proposed work, he traveled partly by horse and partly on foot over the entire route, and made his preliminary report, which was at once accepted.

The plan contemplated the construction of a double track railroad 420 miles long, perfect in all its parts, and equipped to its utmost necessity.  The estimates amounted to nearly forty millions of dollars, and the time for its construction was reckoned at seven years.  The line selected for the road had no reference to intermediate points, and was the shortest attainable, due regard being paid to the cost of construction.  It is nearly straight, and passes over so level a country as to encounter no obstacle requiring a grade exceeding 20 feet to the mile, and for most of the distance it is level.  The right of way taken was 400 feet in width throughout the entire length.  The roadbed was raised from six to ten feet above the ordinary level of the country, and was 30 feet wide on top.

One of the most important questions to settle at the outset in regard to this great work was the width of the gauge.  At that time the opinion in England as well as in the United States among engineers was setting very strongly in favor of a gauge wider than 4 feet 81/2 inches, and the Russian engineers were decidedly in favor of such increased width.  Major Whistler, however, in an elaborate report to the Count Kleinmichel argued very strongly in favor of the ordinary gauge.  To this a commission of the most distinguished engineers in Russia replied, urging in the most forcible manner the adoption of a gauge of six feet.  Major Whistler rejoined in a report which is one of the finest models of an engineering argument ever written, and in which we have perhaps the best view of the quality of his mind.  In this document no point is omitted, each part of the question is handled with the most consummate skill, the bearing of the several parts upon the whole is shown in the clearest possible manner, and in a style which could only come from one who from his own knowledge was thoroughly familiar with all the details, not only of the railroad, but of the locomotive as well.