The true northerner., 1875-05-21
CHICAGO TO MEXICO.

How the Illinois Central company Are
Opening Up Through Trsnic with Mexico
and Cuba-A Description of One of the
Greatest Enginee ering Feats In the World.
[From the Inter-ocean.l
The management of the Illinois Cen
trail railway have adopted policy that is
ut once expensive and grand. The COM
pany are now ticketing passengers and
checking baggage, as well as shipping
freight, through to Vera Cruz, the City
of Mexico, Havana, Cuba, and beyond.
This through traffic with Mexico is some
thing new and promises largely, and for
that reason is worthy of more than q
passing notice. The route is by rail over
the Illinois Central to New Orleans, then
by steamer to Vera Cruz, and by rail
over the Vera Cruz and Mexico railway
to the City of Mexico. The fare to Vera
Cruz is $93, and to the City of Mexico
Sill. The time to Vera Cruz is three
days, cnd to the City of Mexico six days.
Steamers now run regularly between
New Orleans and Vera Cruz, and addi-
tions are to be made to the fleet as soon
as the through traffic will warrant it.
Excursion tickets are already issued by
the Central Company to the City of Mex
leo at $164 for the round trip from Chi
cago and back. Mr.. johnson, the Gen
eral Passenger Agent, seems determined
to "do Mexico" and says he will not be
satisfied until n large through business is
built up. There is line of steamers
between Vera Cruz and Liverpool which
Mr.. johnson claims he can put out of
business, because by bringing passengers
to New Orleans and then by rail to New
York, and putting them on board our
fine transatlantic steamers, the time of
the Mexicans can be beaten fully seven
days.
But it is to describe one of the won
ders of the world in railroading as much
as anything else that this article is writ
ten. This is the road between Vera Cruz
and the city Of Mexico. Considering
the natural difficulties that have been
overcome, it is triumph of engineering
skill. The entire distance from Mexico
to Vera Cruz is only about 200 miles, but
the cost of construction is said to have
been over S40,0 900. These figures
look large at distance, but they do not
surprise one SO much after he has passed
over the line. His surprise, then, is that
the work has been accomplished at any
cost. Commencing at the level of the
sea, this line runs into the heart Of
the Cordilleras up to height
of 1920 feet, and then gradually de-
scends again into the basin of the great
Mexican plateau. Along its route the
traveller experiences every variety of
climate, from the burning plains of the
tropic zone up to rare, chilly atmosphere
close to the snow line. So rapid is the
rise and fall in some places that the
negotiations of the different zones melt
into each other with startling effect, and
before the bewildered eye can satisfy it
self in one place line is crossed and
new world begins. The heaviest grades
on the route are on the eastern slope of
the mountains. From point forty-six
miles below Boca del Monte, the summit
station, there is rise of $500 feet
From Maltrata, thirteen miles below the
same station, the rise is 5000 feet. The
larger part of this last-mentioned rise is
q continuous four-percent. grade. 1t is
only exceeded by certain grades in Peru,
which have a five-per-cent. incline. The
engines used on these roads are monsters
OF the Fairlie patent. They are
double-enders, have two smoke
stacks and twelve driving wheels, and
weigh over sixty tons each. The ease
with which they handle heavy train on
a mountain side is admirable, but their
complicated machinery makes them La
BILE to get out of order, and American
locomotives are gradually taking their
place. Altogether on the road through
the mountains there are seventeen tun-
Il Tl,aaa oil lnn1 Nx-ifh
of the most durable character, and are
well ventilated. All the bridges are of
iron. They are mostly used III crossing
ravines. Several of them are built on
a curve, in order to assist the trains
around the sharp turns, and the beauty
of their construction never escapes the
attention of the observing traveller.
Those who have crossed the Sierra Ne
vadas and looked down from the dizzy
shelf of "Cape Horn," on the Pacific
road, have some idea of mountain travel
on railroad car but the works even on
that famous line and the scenery itself
are thrown into the shade by this Mexi-
can railway. From the car window the
traveller looks out on peaks whose tops
are continually covered with snow. He
feels himself whirled around the brow of
a precipice, and looks down thousands
of feet below, where the orange and the
banana are in bloom. The scenery is SO
varied, and there is so much of it, that
the eye wearies and the senses become
satiated. For miles the road doubles it
self back and forth on the mountain
sides like great serpent. You see
roads all around you. They seem to run
into each other and to shoot off promis--
cuously in every direction, and in your
efforts to unravel things the points of
the compass get out of place and you are
hopelessly bewildered.
The Central is now tributary to Ha-
vana over its own road and two Lines of
steamers. The fare from Chicago to
Havana is $5S, and for the round trip,
800.
A Man Of Family.