Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-17
My, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, JULY II, 1878.
CROSSING THE ANDES.
Trial Trip OG the l:ulls.O aslsa ORGY
ltA5lrOHal.

CROSSING THE ANDES.
Trial "Trip " the C"ilao and Oroyn
ltajlrt,ntl.
A correspondent of the Panama
Star and Herald, writing from Lima
under date of June ;, gives an inter-
esting account of trial trip on the
Callao and Oroyn Railroad, which
took place June l. It will he rcmem-
bercd that the contract for building the
road, intended to vanquish the Andes
by steam, was signed between the
Peruvian Government and Mr.. Henry
Meiggs in the year 1869, and that the
first earth was turned on Jan. l, 1872.
The road was to be delivered complete
to the Government Jan. l, 1876, at the
cost of about $25, OOO, 600, or 27, ,OOO,.
600 soles. 1t was ut first estimated
that there would be 100000 cubic
yards of filling and excavation, and
there are many difficult cuts through
solid rock, four viailucts of iron, meas.
uring in the aggbegaR. 1890 metres
thirty eight bridges over the Rimac,
and forty.t tunnels through live
rock, covering a distance of nearly
20, 600 metres. The following descrip-
tion of the trip is condensed from the
correspondents letter to the Star and
Herald:
The fog clouds lay thick over Lima
when the expedition left for the capital
of the viceroys of Spain, to perform a
feat never dreamed of by even those
daring governors. The idea of van
gushing the obstacles presented by
the Andes was to be tested. The little
locomotive Favoritc, built in New Jcr-
scy, drawing an elegant carriage, capa-
bic OF holding ten persons, and in all
weighing about ten tons, set forth at
"a. NJ. from the Lima Station of the
Callao and Oroya railway, commonly
called the Trans-Andcan line, to greet
the rocks at the Corlillera with the
sound of her steam whistle. The di-
rector OF the wonderful works over
which the fairy engine was to take ito
way, Mr.. John G. Mciggs, had very
courteously invited Mr.. w. Henry
Hubert, IN associate editor of the New
York World, to make his first journey
to the rocky mountains of South
America, and the invitation was ex-
tended to several others.
At tho Indian village of San Barto-
lone the real journey began. 1t is
situated thirty-nine miles from Lima,
at the foot of the Andes. The stone
bridge across the Rimac, constructed
in the middle of the sixteenth century,
the Balta Bridge, in strange contrast
with 1.-THE one a mitlj;eval work, the
other after the model of tho Thames
Bridge at Twickenham-an the great
breakwatcr erected by Mr.. Meiggs,
have been passed. The party is thirty.
nine miles from the capital, and more
than 1000 feet above the sea level.
Now comes the toiling up the noun.
tain.
Running along the valley OF the
tortuous Rimac for Il mile or two, our
little engine turned on v, and rapid
ly rushing toward it's natural enemies,
the Andes, began the ascent. To say
that the locomotive was like a fly seal
ing 4 plate of glass, would not be an
exaggeration. Double, double, toll,
but no trouble; as easily as bird
1les through the air did the <Favorita'
surmount the stupendous sleeps. At
many points the winding path OF the
railway is 50 marked that the voyager,
looking from the car window, can per
ceive at the distance of a quarter of a
mile beneath the line over which he
passed five minutes before, but sepa-
rated from him by a length of two or
three miles of road. This isextraOrdinary,
and we'll may it be called triumphant,
progress continued until the height of
200 feet is attained from the valley,
and the starting point of st.
Bartolome; then a level for
short time is struck along the mountain
side, but while the difficulties of the
ascent arc forgotten, the cuts and fill.
ing call for even greater astonlshment.
Cuts of considera BILE length and height,
blasted out from the solid granite,
frown down on the engine as if in anger
ut their defeat; long filings, made mp
from the remnants Of the volcanic rocks
found or blasted on the spot; tunnels
blown with powder from the reluctant
mountains; ono beautiful of masonry,
of 800 feet another rooted in by its
mother rock, bringing to mind the
Mammoth Cave with the stalactites de-
pendent on every side, but through
which grand engines of forty tons
weight pass daily four times. dragging
huge construction trains behind them.
All along this section the work of the
unfortunate aborigines may be seen at
every moment; the hills are terraced
with the ridges.
An iron pier viaduct of huge proper
tiOns now presents itself. The central
pier, 252 feet in highth, rests on solid
masonry over 70 feet square from end
to end the bridge measures SIS Eng
lish feet, and the width is from IL to
Is feet, (your correspondent had not
the courage to venture on q sure-footed
ex animation, he preferred safer view
from the locomotive carriage.) This
is the famed Verrugas Viaduct. The
scene is more than impressive, it
strikes the beholder with awe. Look
ing down through the open sleepers
you see the dwellings of the laborers
reduced to mere card houses the fig.
urcs of the workmen engaged in pre-
serving the structure intact, appear As
dolls; the immense net work of iron
road girders and binders is like a
spiders web.
The railway proceeds from this last
bridge to the point known as the
Oroya, an insignificant village about
thirty miles from the pass of the last OF
the Andes to he traversed by the loco.
motive, but, os is hereafter explained,
of great value in the eyes of a civi.
engineer. It is 1856 miles from Callao.
ami the pass by actual measure is 49,,
900 feet above the level Of the Pacificl
In this neighborhool the works are
being pushed ." with activity. Six
thousand laborcrs of all nationalitics
have nearly completed the eartllwork !;
but the great tunnel ut til" summit of
the Corflillera, called tn. Giallera, $500
feet in extent, tasks the abilities of the
contractor to the ntmest. Boring
| thrOnUh sOli1 0ronita tho diamond