The governor of Cape Colony opened the new fifty-eight mile Capetown and Wellington Railway in an impressive ceremony.  Begun in March 1859, the single line had suffered a slow rate of construction and finishing touches continued for several months. Still, it was the first completed in the colony and had six intermediate stops, including at Salt River and Stellenbosch. (By John Osborne) 

The 130 mile Sweet Water Canal ran from the Nile River to the area where Ferdinand de Lesseps' Suez Canal Company was building the great link between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The Company itself had constructed eighty miles of the project and the provision of fresh water to the town of Suez, as well at its role as a transportation link for the remaining three years of the canal construction, was vital.  (By John Osborne)