New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-24

! Rven now, reports are daily coming up lroln
lower Mexico of the discovery OF placer
diggings in the Tehuantepec region "nlCn
cast into the shade the palmiest days Oh Gan
fornia and crowds of eager miners are hurry
inc to the new-found Ell Dorado. 10 these
mines, as well as to the agricultural regions
the proposed railway will furnish the readiest
and cheapest means OF access
We are we'll aware that petroleum" is hardly
a safe thing to mention to most Americans;
out certain it is that copiOus natural springs
and wells of it exist upon the lsthmus OF
Tehuantepec, within from five to fifty miles OF
the mouth of the Goatzacoalcos River, and
that their oily product can be brought to mar
ket at comparatively small expense and in
immense quantities Let Pennsylvania look to
| her laurels
| When, in our own country. the Illinois Gen.
trail, the Pacific, and other roads, received from
Congress donations of alternate sections for SIX
miles on either side of their line, or every
square mile in strip of land twelve miles
wide, not only was their sOlvency thereby
| assured, but a mine Of wealth was prepared
for them to open, and the world held up its
hands in admiration of the munilicence with
which the Government of the United States
fostered internal improvements. But these
| lands, rich as they are in undeyeloped wealth,
contained no ready fund which could at once
and without cultivation be made to yield
revenue, either to their individual purchasers
or to the railway companies; and for the most
part their value is necessarily thing of the
far future.
In its grant to the Tehuantepec Railway
i n 1ho n Of MayipO has not
| only given magnificent proof of its enlght-
ened interest in this enterprise, but has en-
! dowed the corporation with property which
needs only to be truthfully described to add
materially to their financial position, for each
alternate league Of the public lands on either
side of the road, or on o strip of territory
two leagues in width, is permanently con-
1 veyed to the corporation, in fee simple.
AS the road is to be, in round numbers,
fifty leagues in length, a rough calculation
reveals the fact that landed estate OF great
value has been added to the other productive
resources of the Tehuantepec enterprise. If
this was all bare prairie, like the domain of the
Illinois Central, the argument would be sufii-
| GENTLY strong; but there Is good deal more to
be said.
Near the line of the road are towns and inn
proved plantations which were already -four
ishing when the primeYal forest still covered the
farms, rocks and sands of Manhattan Island.
In the dense forests are to be found not only
an unlimited supply of building lumber of ex-
cellent quality, but the most valuable woods and
dyestuffs of commerce in inexhaustible quanti-
ties. Here is the native home of the caOut-
chouc, or india-rubber tree and the markets of
the world might be largely supplied from the
domains of the Tehuantepec Railway Com
pany. Here is sufficient mahogany to fill
the requirements of the world for a century,
only waiting the ak of the lumberman and
the means of transportation which the railroad
will supply. Here, too, are dyestuffs of many
varieties medicinal plants in constant demand
by the worlds pharmacy; native hemp, OF
ixtle, which surpasses in fneness and
0 strength of fiber any other known variety,
5 and considerable amounts of which are now
s regularly received in New-York from Yucatan
: cacao, the demand for which is yearly
n increasing; cOchineal, vanilla sarsaparilla, anC
n their kindred. The soil and climate arr
e admirably adapted to the successful cultiva
IT ton of coffee, indigo, tobacco, rice, pepper
, and maize. The coffee of this region is only
: second in quality to Java. The forests may
d be made to yield unbounded supplies of tar
n pitch, turpentine, and rosin. All tropical
: fruits, such as oranges, lemons, pine-apples,
u bananas, &c, are natures own gift and even
t the most careless and inefficient cultivation
stimulates them to most luxuTiant production.
D So that, whether as primeval wilderness OF as
cleared and cultivated land the domain of the
b Tehuantepec Railway Company may be made
Immediately productive, and local tariff built
up in all respects sufficient to warrant the con-
) structiOn of a much more expensive line And
1 this is certainly a most important feature in
' the prospects of any enterprise, as affOrding q
basis for safe operations, which is not always
t obtained even in more densely populated re-
+ gions. 1t is with q view to the development
= of the rare richness of this favored province,
quite as much as for the inter oceanic transit,
l that the Mexican Government has made so
J munifcent a donation and it is but right to
add that the great landed proprietors, whose
estates lie in the neighbOrhood, seem to be
equally alive with the Government to the i'm
pOrtant benefits which are to accrue to them
from the construction of the road, and mani
fest disposition to extend the utmost lber-
atty to its managers. The Importance of this
fact will be appreciated when it is considered
how largely these men, who are, in their way,
very much like feudal lords, can influence the
supply of labor and assist in providing the
many requirements of the employees of the
Company. In speaking of the immediate re-
sources of the Tehuantepec region, the mines
may be for the present left out of the account,
though no doubt exists of the auriferous wealth
of this portion of tho Isthmus but mention
may be made of the fact that unsurpassed
facilities exist for the manufacture of salt and
lime-the former of which already engages the