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Title: From Paris to New York by Land

Author: Harry de Windt

Release Date: July 8, 2008 [EBook #26007]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Harry de Windt]

FROM PARIS TO NEW YORK BY LAND

BY HARRY DE WINDT
F.R.G.S.

[Illustration]

THOMAS NELSON & SONS
LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN AND NEW YORK

TO MY WIFE

PREFACE

Many who read the following account of our long land journey will not
unnaturally ask: "What was the object of this stupendous voyage, or the
reward to be gained by this apparently unnecessary risk of life and
endurance of hardships?"

I would reply that my primary purpose was to ascertain the feasibility
of constructing a railway to connect the chief cities of France and
America, Paris and New York. The European Press was at the time of our
departure largely interested in this question, which fact induced the
proprietors of the _Daily Express_ of London, the _Journal_ of Paris,
and the New York _World_ to contribute towards the expenses of the
expedition. Another reason is one with which I fancy most Englishmen
will readily sympathise--viz., the feat had never before been performed,
and my first attempt to accomplish it in 1896 (with New York as the
starting-point) had failed half way on the Siberian shores of Bering
Straits.

The invaluable assistance rendered by the United States Government in
the despatch of a revenue cutter to our relief on the Siberian coast is
duly acknowledged in another portion of this volume, but I would here
express my sincere thanks to the "Compagnie Internationale des
Wagonslits" for furnishing the expedition with a free pass from Paris
to the city of Irkutsk, in Eastern Siberia. In America the "Southern
Pacific" and "Wabash" Lines extended the same courtesies, thus enabling
us to travel free of cost across the United States, as guests of two of
the most luxurious railways in the world.

45 AVE