# Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans/Chapter 21

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XXI.
THE MEXICAN RAILWAY MOVEMENT.
ONCE in the city of Mexico, we find ourselves at the starting-place and the objective point of nearly all the railways of the republic, from the multitude of which it is somewhat difficult to determine where all are coming from, and where they will find terminal stations.
The growth and development of these great lines has had an important bearing upon the progress of Mexico and the expansion of her commerce,—not to speak of their influence in promoting commercial and social intercourse with the United States,—and without a chapter exclusively devoted to railroads this work would be incomplete. It may, however, be passed over by the general reader, without interrupting the continuity of my narrative of travel.
It was in the year 1837 that the first government decree was issued granting a concession for the building of a railroad, from the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz; but the projector was unable to construct any portion of the road, and the grant was declared forfeited. On the 1st of May, 1842, an exclusive privilege was given for establishing a line across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, and on the 31st of the same month Santa Anna, then occupying the chair of the Executive, decreed the re-establishment of an old duty at the customs, called averia, or average, the product of which tax (two per cent additional over and above all import duties) was to be given to promote the building of a railroad inland from Vera Cruz.
This road was commenced, but the first really energetic work looking to the connection of the coast and the table land was in 1857, when Don Antonio Escandon secured the right to ​construct a line from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Revolutions disturbed the country, so that several years elapsed before active labor was entered upon, but in 1863 Senor Escandon was secured in his concession, and a consolidated fund of the public debt was created, amounting to $8,000,000, bearing five per cent interest, the capital to be paid up at the end of twenty-five years.
The war of the intervention prevented operations until, in 1864, Señor Escandon transferred his concession to the "Imperial Mexican Railway Company," which transfer was approved by Maximilian in January, 1865. After these various delays, work was begun at either end, and on the restoration of the republic one hundred and thirty-four miles were found completed. Although, upon the resumption of power by Juarez, the concession was declared forfeited, "for having contracted with a government seeking the overthrow of the Mexican republic," yet, in May, 1867, a decree was issued restoring its rights, and in November of that year work was resumed. Under the general direction of Mr. Buchanan, C. E., the rugged country between Orizaba and the plateau was entered; in September, 1869, the branch line from Apizaco to Puebla was inaugurated, and the section from Vera Cruz to Atoyac, fifty miles in length, was opened in 1870. The important city of Orizaba was placed in connection with the coast in September, 1872, and on the 1st of January, 1873, the entire line was completed from the Gulf to the city of Mexico, and solemnly inaugurated by Señor Lerdo de Tejada, President of the republic.
​nor navigable rivers, and under a government which seemed disposed to foster all undertakings which promised the development of its internal resources. In 1881, in a pamphlet entitled Los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, an eminent Mexican published a list of forty-two concessions,—since increased by five others,—few of which had subventions (or government aid) less than $8,000 per kilometre. Many of these are small concessions, several will fail to be built from lack of capital, and most of them have been merged into the greater lines, such as the Central and the National.
The concessions granted by the Mexican government, up to date, are as follows:—
Footnote 1 Footnote 2
Footnote 2 Footnote 3
The Mexican railroads, completed and in process of construction, or projected as outlined on the general map, are : —
1. The Sonora Railroad, from Benson in Arizona to Guaymas on the Gulf of California, 352 miles in length. Road completed. Connects (via short link over the Southern Pacific) with the great Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé system.
2. The Mexican Central, the main line, about 1,215 miles in length, from El Paso, on the Rio Grande, to the city of Mexico, with branch lines to Tampico, on the Gulf of Mexico,' and San Blas, on the Pacific. ​3. International, extension of the Southern Pacific and "Sunset Route" system (from San Francisco to New Orleans) from Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande, to the Pacific, probably, tapping the Central at or near Durango, receiving much valuable through traffic from the south, and sending a direct line to San Luis Potosi.
4. Mexican National, between Laredo, on the Rio Grande (Texas), and Mexico City, with line also from latter point to the Pacific at Manzanillo; narrow gauge; about 2,000 miles, including all concessions.
5. Mexican Oriental, an extension of the vast and comprehensive Missouri Pacific system southward from St. Louis. Shortest and most direct route (when completed) to the capital, where, or at Puebla, it is to connect with the Mexican Southern (Grant road) and extend to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Total length, about 1,400 miles.
6. Mexican Railway, from Vera Cruz to city of Mexico; length, with branches, about 300 miles. Finished in 1873. The pioneer road of Mexico.
7. Mexican Southern (projected) from the port of Anton Lizardo, south of Vera Cruz, to city of Oaxaca and to Tehuantepec, with connections with Puebla and city of Mexico; total length (proposed), about 500 miles; consolidated with the Oriental,
8. Interoceanic, a proposed narrow-gauge, partly built, between Vera Cruz and Acapulco, of which the Morelos road is the western portion.
9. Tehuantepec, crossing the isthmus at the narrowest part, a little over a hundred miles; formerly granted to an American company, but retroceded to the Mexican government.
10. Yucatan railways: from Progreso (port) to Merida, 26 miles long, broad gauge, steel rails, all equipped; from Merida to Peto (building), narrow gauge; Calkini and Campeche (started); and the "Eastern Railway," from Merida to Valladolid, a much needed road.
First in point of historic importance is the line known as the ​Mexican Railway. This is the representative road, having been begun before the republic was well prepared for the iron horse, and having struggled through sixteen years of revolutions and civil strife. Commenced in 1857, it was not finished till 1873, and cost—owing to the engineering difficulties encountered and the disturbed state of the country—an immense sum, its present liabilities amounting (including stock) to over $39,000,000. This railway has had, says a writer on Mexico, a continuous history of vicissitude,—enough to crush out any ordinary enterprise. Its construction was ruinously delayed and frequently suspended, and its expenditures have been extravagant, probably beyond all precedent.
As it is owned entirely in England, its success does not directly affect Americans. Still, as it is often quoted by American speculators as an instance of successful Mexican railway enterprise, it would be well to inquire what has contributed to make it profitable. Its cost was greatly in excess of what it should have been,—a loss partially balanced by the monopoly it has had, and still keeps, of the transportation of railway material from coast to capital. It should be borne in mind that it is now built, equipped, complete, and in the hands of sagacious managers, who honestly administer its earnings. These were, for the year 1873, $2,117,553, and the net profits, $826,990; for 1879 (material for other roads now coming into the country), $3,257,235; net profits, $1,795,713; for 1880, total receipts, $3,709,910; profits, $2,147,589; for 1881, $4,831,215; net profits, $2,758,729. These estimates, compiled from various sources, will indicate to the reader the growth and ultimate consequence of this railroad.
To complete the picture, the following comparison is given, elicited from the eminent Mexican, Señor Romero, by the adverse criticisms of a writer in a popular magazine: "As a test of the capabilities of this road, let us make a comparison between the earnings of the Vera Cruz Railroad and roads similarly situated in the United States. Probably the two lines combining more nearly than any others similar conditions are the Union ​Pacific and the Central Pacific, having heavy mountain grades, long stretches of high table-lands and sea-coast connections. An examination of the official reports show that, in 1880, the gross earnings per mile of these three roads were respectively as follows: Union Pacific, $11,304; Central Pacific, $7,818; Vera Cruz, $12,662. The net earnings per mile were as follows: Union Pacific, $6,168; Central Pacific, $3,913; Vera Cruz, $7,330. The reports for 1881 show the gross earnings per mile to be as follows: Union Pacific, $12,516; Central Pacific, $8,758; Vera Cruz, $16,489;—and the net earnings for the same year: Union Pacific, $6,207; Central Pacific, $3,593; Vera Cruz, $10,098. It will thus be seen that, for the last year, the Vera Cruz road made a net earning of six per cent upon a capital of $168,000 per mile. A very liberal estimate would not place the cost of construction to-day at more than $50,000 per mile, upon which the present net earning would be a return of about twenty per cent. If we accept the Vera Cruz road as an evidence of what may be expected in the working of the railroads now being constructed by American companies, the foregoing exhibit is certainly not calculated to discourage American investers in those enterprises."
Apologists for the road do not fail to call attention to the fact, that the above figures represent the income of a line, including its short branch, less than three hundred miles in length. But it should be remembered that they are the earnings of a road having a monopoly of all traffic between the largest city of Mexico and its only eastern port, and with three fourths of this amount derived from the transportation of material for the construction of other roads.
lines now in progress will reduce its income so that it will do no more than hold its own. By that time, however, it will have made up for all its losses in past years, and will manage, with its subsidy, to keep its rolling stock in order, its road in repair, and its stockholders in easy circumstances.
The railway backbone of Mexico, traversing the dorsal ridge of the plateau from the city of Mexico to the Rio Grande, is the Central, running northwardly from the capital, with branches right and left, to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, and with feeders out to all important points.
The longest of any Mexican line,—direct, 1,215 miles,—it has also the largest subsidy, $9,500 per kilometre, amounting to about $32,000,000. It runs through a country rich in mineral and agricultural resources, and connects the largest centres of population in the south, although it crosses certain areas of sterile plains in the north.
The company was incorporated in 1880, under the General Railroad Laws of Massachusetts. "The capital stock is fixed ​at $32,000 per mile ($20,000 per kilometre), according to the declaration of November 29, 1880; and the mortgage bonds and obligations shall not exceed an equal sum per mile, and these quantities shall not be increased without the previous consent of the Federal Executive of Mexico. The capital stock is divided into shares of the par value of $100 each, transferable upon the books of the company under such regulations as the General Board of Directors may prescribe." (By-Laws, Art. I.)
Its obligations were, that the line from Mexico to Leon should be finished by December 31, 1882 (completed in advance of time specified); that to the Pacific, within five years; to Paso del Norte, within eight years after completion of road from Mexico to Leon. A bond of $150,000 to be deposited with the government in the city of Mexico.
The history of this road, in connection with that of the Mexican (Vera Cruz) and that of the National (Palmer-Sullivan), well illustrates the advance of the railway movement in Mexico, after the initiatory attempt had so signally succeeded. The following statement is chiefly taken from the Report of the company, but has been verified in detail by the author of this work. This road was commenced in June, 1880, with a force of three hundred men, grading northwardly from the city of Mexico. The railway concession provides a subsidy of about $15,200 per kilometre, "with the right to import materials for construction, repair, and operation for fifteen years, and exemption from all taxation for fifty years after the completion of all the lines, and authorizes the construction and operation for ninety-nine years of a telegraph line and of a standard-gauge railway from the city of Mexico, through the capitals and centres of population of the interior States, to Paso del Norte, and from any point on that line through Guadalajara to the Pacific coast." In addition, the company bought the Guanajuato Railway, the concessions made to the States of Chihuahua, Aguascalientes, and San Luis Potosi, besides obtaining another to the port of Tampico. "The subsidy is payable in certificates, in which merchants are compelled to pay eight per cent of all duties at the frontier and maritime custom-houses." ​The Mexican Central runs through the centre of the table land, which already supports a population of nearly four million inhabitants. The following is a list of the cities upon the line, not including those of less than eight thousand inhabitants, with their population, the State capitals being marked with stars.
| *Aguascalientes | 35,000 |
| *Chihuahua | 16,000 |
| *Durango | 28,000 |
| *Guanajuato | 63,000 |
| *Guadalajara | 93,875 |
| *Mexico | 260,000 |
| *Queretaro | 48,000 |
| *San Luis Potosi | 45,000 |
| *Zacatecas | 64,000 |
| Paso del Norte | 8,000 |
| San Juan del Rio | 11,000 |
| Tula | 10,000 |
| Salamanca | 19,450 |
| Irapuato | 21,311 |
| Lagos | 20,000 |
| Celaya | 30,000 |
| Silao | 38,000 |
| Sayula | 16,000 |
| Tepic | 14,000 |
| Salvatierra | 8,000 |
| Leon | 82,000 |
| | ________ |
| | 930,636 |
In round numbers, probably a million.
The feasibility of this vast project has already been demonstrated, in the almost triumphal advance from the valley of Mexico to the valley of the Rio Grande. Of the region traversed Humboldt says: "So regular is the great plateau (formed exclusively by the broad, undulating, flattened crest of the Mexican Andes), and so gentle are the slopes where depressions occur, that the journey from Mexico to Santa Fé, New Mexico (about twelve hundred miles), might be performed in a four-wheeled vehicle. . . . . The two extremities, Mexico City and Santa Fé, ​are respectively 7,462 and 7,047 feet above the sea; but the elevation at El Paso del Norte is only 3,800 feet. The table lands of Chihuahua are from 4,000 to 5,000 feet."
Exceedingly rough hill and mountain work presents itself, first, in securing egress from the valley of Mexico itself, and again in the States of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Durango. Intervening between these ridges are broad valleys and immense plains, which offer few obstacles to the railway constructor of the present day. The region, throughout the entire distance traversed by the trunk line, is the healthiest in the world; but the coast termini of its Gulf and Pacific branches are in a climate not noted for its salubrity.
In the Statistics of the Republic of Mexico for 1880, Señor Barcena, a high Mexican authority, thus describes the route:—
"On leaving the city of Mexico, the road runs to the fertile valley of Tula, in which cereals are cultivated with great success, and to which come the agricultural productions of Ixmiquilpam, and of various warm regions found to the north of Mezquital, among the mountains of the State of Hidalgo. Here are also found various sorts of building and ornamental woods. On the road's advancing toward Queretaro it encounters the productions of the valleys of Huichipam, San Juan del Rio, etc., where are cultivated, on a very large scale, the grains which now come to the market of Mexico City. From Queretaro the road enters the Bajio, an extensive and rich region, where every year are raised enormous crops of cereals. In these regions are raised many irrigation crops, since there is an ample supply of water in the dry season, coming from the tanks on the plantations. Besides, subterranean water is found at little depth, which facilitates irrigation, and to this are due the vegetable gardens and the orchards of Leon and Salamanca.
"From Leon the road will pass on to Lagos, where will be found an abundance of wheat and other grains, coming from the valley of Lagos itself, and from those of Arandes, Atotonilco, Tecuan, etc. In following the general route, the road touches the important city of Lagos, and afterward San Juan, Jalos, ​Tepatitlan, and Zapotlanejo, important towns, with good and varied agricultural productions. The connection with San Juan de los Lagos will be very favorable to the railroad at the period of the fair in that city, which is attended by the traders of near and distant districts.
"The advantages which will result from the railway reaching the city of Guadalajara need no argument, since it is the second city of the republic,—important by reason of its population of more than eighty thousand souls, its mercantile and industrial resources, and, still more, by reason of its position in regard to the Pacific ports.
"The concession gives the company liberty to select the terminus of the line, and thus it has an ample contour of coast to choose from. By selecting the port of San Blas for its Pacific terminus, the line will start westward from Guadalajara, profiting from the grains, sugars, coffee, brandy and mescal wine, etc., which are produced in its vicinity, as well as in the rich valley lands of Ameca, Ahualuco, Etzatlan, Tequila, and Magdalena. The road will pass ​through the centre of a belt of fifteen leagues in average breadth, bounded by the Tololotlan and Ameca rivers. The agricultural production will be notably increased in this belt, so well suited to the culture of coffee, cotton, cane, and rice, and the rivers will be taken advantage of for the establishment of mills of various kinds. On the railway reaching Tepic, it will strike a town of considerable commercial importance, dealing in rich and abundant agricultural, mineral, and industrial products. . . . .
"We will now notice some of the mining centres on the line of the road. On reaching Tula (on the main line), the railroad can there receive the metals and ore which come from Actopan, Zimapan, the Cardinal, Jacala, and Encarnacion, as well as from the other mining districts of the northern region of the road. We have taken for granted that the mineral products of Pachuca, Real del Monte, El Chico, etc., will come to the city of Mexico, which will be the centre of deposit and export for the Mexican, the Central, the Construction Company's (Palmer and Sullivan), and the Southern railways.
"At San Juan del Rio the Central road will receive a great part of the mineral productions of the Sierra Gorda, while the mines of Las Aguas, El Doctor, Maconi, Jalpam, Rio Blanco, and others, will receive a powerful impulse. The Las Aguas mine abounds in argentiferous veins, as is also the case in the celebrated 'Doctor' mine, near which are found deposits of mercury and of anthracite coal. The whole of this region is an extensive mineral belt, which may be explored with the best results. To these productions must be added the excellent marbles of Vizarron, and the precious opals which are found so plentifully on the estate of Esperanza and in Amealco, at short distances from the line of the railway.
"On approaching Guanajuato the road enters a metalliferous region of great importance, which is being actively worked. From Salamanca will be exported the kaoline and the white clays of that region, or there will be established new porcelain works, whose products will circulate throughout the country, or be taken abroad. Leon will furnish as freight its valuable building and ornamental stones, which are interspersed with ​yellow jaspers, presenting an appearance very similar to that of wood. At Lagos may be received the products of the Comanja and Sauceda mines, rich belts which may be worked on the largest scale. The product of the iron works at Comanja is of good quality, and will be largely shipped, and serve in the construction of railroads. To the north of Lagos is encountered the mercurial region of Puesto, and there are also some deposits of tin. From Guadalajara toward the Pacific are mining districts of much importance, near to the routes likely to be taken by the railway. Following the general direction now taken by the San Blas road are, at a short distance from Guadalajara, the mineral districts of Ameca and Etzatlan. Among the hills of the municipality of Ameca exist native gold, sulphurets of silver and copper, magnetic oxides, and hematites of iron. Etzatlan is a mineral district of importance, worked with more or less activity. Following the road toward Magdalena is found, at a little distance, the mine of Hostotipaquillo, and some isolated metalliferous deposits which have not been sufficiently explored. On reaching Tepic, a mineral belt of great value is touched, such as the deposits of Acuitalpico, La Yesca, etc., as well as those which have not been explored, and which must exist in abundance in the Cordilleras of Alica.
​which it is proper the road should touch at, although not so stipulated in the concession. As the road goes northward it will traverse a rich agricultural region, principally in the State of Durango, where, on a great scale, are cultivated cotton, sugar-cane, and the cereals. The railroad will carry life and colonization to that section, which sadly lacks labor and means of communication. The same may be said of the plains which the road crosses until reaching Paso del Norte."
The foregoing has been quoted at length, not only as accurately descriptive of the country, but as the expression of a progressive Mexican, speaking for the more enlightened of his brethren. Though the Central nominally began work in June, 1880, little progress was made until late in that year; but by August, 1882, over four hundred miles of track had been laid, and surveys made for a large portion of the line. By obtaining permission to enter Mexico from the north, the management was enabled to push its construction trains from both ends, thus saving immense cost in freights, and long and vexatious delays.
On August 2, 1882, the first train crossed the Border, at El Paso, from the United States into Mexico. Progress over the desert plains was rapid, and by the middle of September, 1882, the road was completed to Chihuahua, the isolated northern capital of the great State of the same name, when twenty-five thousand people assembled at the celebration of this event, including some two thousand from the United States.
From the city of Mexico working northward, the advance has been even more rapid, owing to the accumulation of material and the incentive of rich regions to be opened up. After entering Tula, the ancient seat of Toltec empire, the engineers of the Central bent every energy towards gaining the populous centres beyond. Never halting in their triumphant progress northward, everywhere hailed with joyous acclamations, they successively reached and passed Queretaro, Celaya, and Silao, reaching at last, in November, 1882, the gate of Guanajuato, the capital city of a great mining State. This city, being intrenched among almost inaccessible hills, was connected with the trunk line by a branch, at the opening of which it was estimated that at least ​eighty thousand people gathered to witness the arrival of the train from Mexico, with its freight of distinguished passengers. The festivities on this occasion were kept up for two days, and by night the city was brilliantly illuminated. The 1st of January, 1883, found the work advanced beyond the expectations of its most sanguine friends, and the entire State of Guanajuato spanned entirely by the iron road.
The year 1883 opened with over six hundred miles of road completed and in running order; viz. from El Paso southward to Chihuahua, two hundred and twenty-five miles, graded one hundred and twenty-five miles beyond; and from the city of Mexico to Lagos northward, about three hundred miles, and graded one hundred miles farther. On the Tampico branch, towards San Luis Potosi, about one hundred miles were completed, and on the Pacific branch, easterly from San Bias, about twenty miles. January 1, 1884, found over 1,050 miles of completed track, and but 160 miles intervening between the termini of the northern and southern divisions.
Next in sequence to be considered is the long narrow-gauge line known as the Mexican National, with a total length of about two thousand miles, and a subsidy of $11,270 per mile. It first runs westerly from the city of Mexico, to Manzanillo, on the Pacific, passing through the important cities of Toluca and Morelia. Shortly before reaching the latter large city, it sends its northern trunk up towards San Luis Potosi, crossing the Central at a point west of Queretaro, and entering the United States at Laredo, on the Rio Grande.
Connecting directly with the systems of Texas and the other Southern States, the National forms a short line from the capital to St. Louis and New York, over the Gould System for the former city, and over the great Pennsylvania Central for the East. The distance from Boston to the city of Mexico by this route is about three thousand miles.
It is built in pursuance of a decree of the Mexican Congress, and known as the "Palmer-Sullivan Concession," executed in September, 1880, for the construction of certain roads and ​telegraphs; first, from Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, "following the line that may prove most favorable for the mutual interests of the company and the nation"; second, from Mexico to the northern frontier; third, from Matamoras to Monterey; fourth, from Zacatecas to San Luis Potosi, and also to Lagos. Work was begun in September, 1880, and its progress, though not so rapid as that of the Central, has been marked. The total subsidies accruing from the various concessions will aggregate over $20,000,000.
The original concessions to this company were hampered by a great many conditions, the fulfilment of which created unnecessary expenses, and delayed the progress of the road. But early in 1883 the Mexican government combined all these conflicting concessions into one, and allowing a full limit of ten years, instead of eight as at first, for the completion of the entire system. It also increased the subsidy to an even $7,000 per kilometre, or $11,270 per mile, which is to be paid by six per cent of the customs duties received in all parts of the republic. The larger or more important centres reached by this road, with their populations, are:—
| Monterrey | 42,000 |
| Saltillo | 17,000 |
| Maravatio | 12,000 |
| Acambaro | 17,000 |
| Toluca | 12,000 |
| Mexico | 260,000 |
| Morelia | 25,000 |
| Zamora | 14,000 |
| Zapotlan | 20,000 |
| Manzanillo | 5,000 |
| Colima | 31,000 |
| Guadalajara | 93,000 |
The manager of this road. General Palmer, was one of the first to study the problem of railway connection between Mexico and the United States. The difficulties in the way of his ​undertaking at first seemed insuperable, and they by no means diminished as the work progressed. The road was many months in penetrating the mountains between the city of Mexico and Toluca, and endured a great deal of ill-deserved abuse because it persisted so patiently in overcoming the most difficult obstacles at the outset. Its system of working in sections, at various isolated portions of the route, though at first discouraging, eventually proved the most rapid and satisfactory, especially as labor could be commanded that otherwise might not have been available. The road has long since passed the bounds of the valley of Mexico, and has pursued the same undeviating march of triumph as has been witnessed in the advance of the Central.
To illustrate the condition of the road during the first year of its existence, I introduce a description of the departure from the central office of the weekly pay train, which I accompanied.
​The guards rode ahead, then followed the seven silver-laden mules at a swift trot, which they kept up the whole distance, out and back, of fifty miles. A few miles out, after passing through great fields of maguey, over the muddiest of roads, between ditches white with the bloom of sagittaria, we reached San Estevan, where we again struck the track. A few miles beyond is Rio Hondo (the Deep River). Here we halted to pay away a few hundred dollars, then pursued our course again. At Rio Hondo is a large cotton and woollen mill, a model establishment, very large and complete. Ascending by a steep path to the barren table-land above, we had some eight miles of uninteresting road. Above Rio Hondo, which is twelve miles from Mexico, is the spot where poor Greenwood was murdered in 1880. He was an engineer in the employ of the company, who had gone out only a little in advance of his men, when he was shot, his murderers taking his horse, watch, and money. Though the Mexican government pretends to visit such villains with swift retribution, yet these murderers, though caught, have never suffered the penalty of their horrible crime. A cross marks the spot, one of many that adorn the road, over this long stretch of "bad lands."
On this road we were joined by a contractor, who soon left us, taking two mules with their loads of silver. The road-bed is out of sight from the plateau, as it follows the course of the Rio Hondo through deep cuts. Owing to the many cuts and bridges, work here is extremely difficult; there are twenty-six bridges in this section of three miles, and sixty between Mexico and Toluca. At a dismal village called San Bartolome, the laborers gathered about us, and one of the bags of silver was again opened, and a few hundred dollars paid out. Then we were in our saddles and off again.
Mr. Pritchard, the superintendent, had received intelligence that a party of bandits intended attacking the train somewhere along the route, and had with great difficulty secured the escort of rural guards from government. As it was, owing probably to our strong escort, we were not molested; but only the next day, a party of five, three on horses and two afoot, attacked and ​robbed two engineers just above this point. This proves the accuracy of our information, and shows how uncertain is travel as yet in this region. San Franciscito, a small town twenty-five miles from Mexico, was our destination, and after dinner, with some engineers living in the company's house, we proceeded to pay the men. There were about a thousand of them, ranged in long rows in the streets, a motley crowd, clad only in cotton shirts and pantaloons, with a sarape added, or a cape of palm leaves. This cloak, called capote de palma, is much worn by the shepherds; it makes the wearer look like the roof of a thatched hut; but it turns the rain, and is cheap. The silver was counted out in piles upon a table, and each man paid as his name was called and checked upon a duplicate list. They were not allowed inside the room, of course, but took their money through a small aperture in the window, it being thrown into their hats, each man departing with a "Gracias, señor." It took three hours to pay away about four thousand dollars, during which time the rain was falling in torrents. At four o'clock we mounted for our return trip of twenty-five miles, every man protected by his sarape, and by a rubber poncho that fell from his shoulders and covered his saddle and a good portion of his horse. The rain had swollen the rivers and the "bad lands" were slippery as soap, so that three of our party suffered severe falls, and the paymaster's horse fell upon him, inflicting such injuries as to confine him to his bed for a week afterward.
The section between Mexico and Toluca is probably the roughest on the whole line, being through the mountain wall around the valley of Anahuac, while the region is almost entirely worthless; but beyond is one of the most fertile valleys in the republic, where we find Toluca, a city doing much business, celebrated for its manufactures and its great trade with Mexico, and with a population of 11,000.
The road runs through the lovely valley of Lerma, tapping the mining region of Tlalpujahua and El Oro, and penetrating the renowned forest belt, which contains great supplies of lumber, more precious to Mexico than silver or gold. ​Distant 134 miles from Mexico City is the town of Maravatio, with about 13,000 inhabitants, and 34 miles farther westward is Acambaro, the southernmost town in Guanajuato, containing a population of 17,000. It is the point at which the trunk line turns sharply to the north, and runs directly to San Luis Potosi and Texas. It is distant from Manzanillo, the Pacific terminus of the road, 443 miles, and 60 miles westward is the small, though beautiful, city of Morelia. This westward route is not devoid of attractions, as it penetrates the only lake region of Central Mexico, reaches attractive Morelia and the towns of Tzintzuntzan and Patzcuaro, ancient seats of aboriginal civilization. Skirting the great and wonderful Lake Chapala, the line passes through Guadalajara, capital of the State of Jalisco, and thence runs southward to Colima and Manzanillo.
The 1st of January, 1883, saw the completion of 550 miles of the National Railroad. Monterey was reached in September,
1882, and the road opened to traffic from Laredo and Corpus Christi, Texas, the latter the Gulf port and terminus, 400 miles distant from Saltillo, capital of the State of Coahuila, which was entered in September, 1883.
From Mexico City northward, the line was open on January 1, 1883, to Acambaro, distant 172 miles; track-laying was being rapidly pushed on the Pacific coast, and the completed line out from the capital, the El Salto branch, long since finished, in successful operation. The year 1884 opens with 875 miles of finished track on its main line and various branches.
All difficulties have vanished before its hosts of engineers and peons, and town after town has welcomed its engines with the ringing of bells, and the thanksgivings of people at last freed forever from dependence upon the burro, mule, and diligence.
A narrow-gauge railroad, crossing the country from Vera Cruz to Acapulco, was long ago projected, by way of Jalapa, Puebla, Mexico City, and Cuernavaca. This transcontinental line is continued westward from the capital by the Morelos Railroad, one of the very few enterprises purely Mexican in ​character and controlled by energetic native capitalists. It runs at first parallel with the old road to Puebla, over which travel has rolled for centuries, and which, even in this age of steam, is crowded with the mules and donkeys of the freighters. Two daily trains leave the gate of San Lazaro for the South, composed of first, second, and third class cars, the fare being two cents per mile for the former, and less than one cent for the latter. At the hacienda of Los Reyes, composed of a few scattered adobe huts, a train connects for the ancient city of Tezcoco, and eventually for Puebla.
The scenery for the most part is dreary, but plains waving with grain, like those of Ameca and Ozumba, and the great volcanoes always in sight, especially from the latter place, make the route one of varied interest. Beyond the Mexican plateau, fifty miles from the capital, the road descends over a forbidding country, known as the mal pais, or "bad lands," fifty miles farther, to the town of Cuautla. This is a place of note, situated in tierra caliente, celebrated for its great sugar plantations and tropical fruits.
On the 18th of June, 1881, the Morelos road was formally opened to this point with a grand banquet, and an assembling here of nearly all the notables of Mexico. A week later a most terrible accident occurred at the barranca of Malpais, caused by the washing away of the foundations of a bridge, by which two hundred persons, principally soldiers, were precipitated down a ravine, and the cars, loaded with lime and rum, took fire, enveloping the victims in flames. Had that accident happened at the opening of the road, when President Gonzalez, Diaz, Romero, and most of the leading men of Mexico were there, the consequences to the republic would have been most disastrous. The whole work, with its sharp and numerous curves, and its insecure bridges, seemed to justify the boast of the native population (before the accident), that the engineer was a Mexican, and had never built a road before. The disaster proved a lesson to the American engineers, especially those who came first in the dry season, when all the ravines and arroyos are bare, and who realized that they must reside here through a rainy season or ​two before they could fully understand the perils of a road from floods.
The Mexican manner of railroad building, I may remark in passing, is diametrically opposed to the American. First, you must get a "concession,"—permission to build. Then you seek out some point far distant from any existing railroad, and
transport your material to that place. To begin at the coast would be contrary to Mexican tradition, and establish a damaging precedent. By beginning at the farther end of the line, you give employment to a great many carters and teamsters, which is but simple justice, as the road when built will certainly take away their freights. Realizing this, these aggrieved people make ​their charges accordingly. This way of constructing a road will take more time and capital, but you will have the sympathies of the owners of mules and diligences, and the satisfaction of having offended nobody's pet theories and traditions. The road will approach completion so gradually that it will seem as though it had always existed, and by that time you may have the pleasure of renewing the portion first built, and of employing the descendants, even to the third generation, of your original workmen.
It was in this manner that the first railroad in Yucatan was built, and various others, and was originally insisted upon by the Mexican government in regard to the two great American roads. In making the road from Tampico to San Luis Potosi, for instance, material and rolling-stock were carted into the interior over tremendous hills, at a frightful expense, because the charter read "from San Luis to Tampico," instead of the reverse.
The Mexicans have not yet recovered from their surprise at the rapid manner in which the great American work goes on. They see engineers, some young and full of theories, others old and gray with service in Peru and Brazil, taken from the steamers and transformed in a week into hard-working bands, that fall into line and labor for the roads as though they possessed an individual interest in their completion. Each engineer of an advance party is furnished with a horse, a rifle, a revolver, and a peon, is lodged and fed at a hotel if in town, or comfortably cared for if in camp.
From this chapter the reader may gather the more important details of the vast railway movement of Mexico. It is estimated that, up to January, 1884, over $60,000,000 have been expended by American capitalists alone. The question naturally arises. Will they ever recover this vast amount of capital, or obtain for it a remunerative rate of interest?
That is a question which the future alone can answer. It is the writer's opinion that more roads are being built in Mexico than the country has need for, if it goes on developing for the next thousand years. Some have been blindly entered upon, without a counting of cost, or fair consideration of the regions to be traversed. Two great lines, with their various feeders and ​branches, are all-sufficient for Mexico and for the extension, southward of the vast systems of the United States. The success of a greater number I consider more than problematical, notwithstanding the promised assistance of subsidies and the support of the Mexican government.
It is true that these subsidies, if paid, will return to them a large proportion of the cost of construction; it is equally true that Mexican commerce—upon which these subventions are dependent—must increase at a rate wholly unprecedented to yield the required revenue. If there ever was an excuse for repeating a hackneyed Mexican phrase, it occurs here; and so I say, though with a reservation, Quien sabe?—Who knows?
Yet the vast and comprehensive railroad system of Mexico was not the child of chance, but was planned by her political leaders. They recognized the necessity of rapid communication between the centre of political power and distant provinces, both for the massing of troops to quell rebellions and the development of latent resources. So they subsidized and encouraged certain lines, even in the face of popular opposition.
With the Sonora Railroad crossing the extreme northwestern province, the Central taking the centre of the great plateau, the Huntington-Pierce combination (the "Sunset Route") the next tier of States, the National the next, and the Oriental the eastern border, we have Old Mexico divided longitudinally into as many portions as would seem advisable. Add to these the various feeders that span her from Gulf to Pacific, and lastly the Tehuantepec line that crosses her narrowest part, and we shall see that our Southern sister will soon be covered with a perfect network of iron rails and telegraph lines.
* ↑ See History of the Mexican Railway, Mexico, 1876; and Los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, Mexico, 1881.
* ↑ S. is for Standard gauge, 1.435 metres in width; N. for Narrow gauge, 0.914 metre in width.
* ↑ 298,500 is Total cost in dollars.
* ↑ Represented by S. Camacho and R. Guzman.
* ↑ Represented by S. Camacho and D. Fergusson.
* ↑ United under one management.
* ↑ For description of this route, see Chapter XL, "From Coast to Capital."
* ↑ Verified from the Anuario of Mexico for 1882.
* ↑ Estadistica de la Republica Mexicana, Tomo II. pp. 442 et seq.