The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-07-24
Railroad Building i'm Peru,

Noting the recent return of Mr.. Jesse
ID. Wetmore of San Francisco, the Alta
of that city says:
Mr.. Wetmore came to California in
40, and was at one time well-known in
this city as a street contractor. During
the last twelve years he has been con-
nected with railroad operations in Chill
and Peru, and was the first to work the
extensive guano mines in Mexillones,
Bolivia. He built and established the
first Protestant church in the city of
Santiago, Chill, about eight years ago.
In June, 1871, he undertook the work
of constructing the eastern division of
the Lima and Oroya railroad in Peru.
The work of grading was commenced at
the little Indian town of Oroya, which
takes its name from the swinging bridge
erected across a rapid torrent of the
eastern watershed of the Andes. Here
the altitude is 12,200 feet above the
level of the sea. The line going west
toward the Pacific rapidly ascends the
Andes to an altitude of over 15, 900 feet,
where the summit tunnel is located.
In all the country embracing the in
terror basins of the Andean chain, no
frewood is obtained, and lumber for
the most ordinary purposes is very
costly. Poles are brought on the backs
of mules from the eastern base of the
Cordilleras, distance of over twenty
FIVE leagues, and boards are packed in
short pieces across the great snow ridge
from the Pacific Coast. For light pack
ing, great numbers of llamas are found
serviceable and superior to asses or
mules, inasmuch as they can be subsist-
ed on the coarse grasses that grow on
the elevated pampas, while the other
beasts of burden are sustained by the
alfaefa raised in the Tarma and other
valleys, whence cost of transportation
is considerable. Notwithstanding the
difficulties, the cold weather, the ex-
treme rarity of the atmosphere, the
scarcity of all articles necessary in the
preparation of railroad work, and the
indolent character of the native Inca
Indian laborer, the work is now accom-
plished, and the road-bed is ready to
receive the ties and rails as soon as the
western division is made to connect, so
that the iron and wood may be brought
up on the finished track.
Mr.. Wetmore, wife, and daughter
hdNO pCOh ii'thS iCOCuuly dp fisCu,
occupying an old church near the sum-
NIT Of the Andes, at an altitude higher
than that of Mont Blanc. The ladies
seem to have endured the extraordinary
hardship imposed by the climate of
such an elevated region with remark
able fortitude, and have come down
from the SHOWS and the clouds with
buoyant spirits and good health. They
were obliged to cross attitudes of over
16,50O feet, and have Travelled on
several occasions twelve and fifteen
leagues a day over great ridges and
folds of these Titan mountains, and all
the time being above the sea from
10000 to 10000 feet. Miss Wetmore
has brought with her a collection of
valuable archaeological specimens, relics
of the ancient life that once was diffused
throughout the desolate mountain val
leys and ridges. Among them are
skulls of the Aymara Indians, pottery
from old Inca graves, &c. Fine wool
llama skins and specimens of minerals
silver, lime, &C., are also brought
with her."