Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-01-22

The Arroyd Railroad, Peru-of Won Ter
RAJ Piece OF bfgfneeriag'-4 Trip 20 the
! Summit OF the 4ndes-sorae UNPLEASANT
seRsatioss-Harry Meigss.
| Correspondence San Francisco Bulletin.l
LIMA, October a, ISIS.
UP THE ANDfs.
10, for the summit of the Andesi and let
him who would not fall by the wayside pre-
abstain from strong driD ks and eat In mode
i ration, for the bloody "verrugas" lie I'm am
bush at the height of four TO six thousand
! feet, and above eight thousand feet the
| steaithy "soToehe" scorchiDg "sorrumpio"
blasts at mid day above the snow line. But
our way is TO longer the slow but pic
| OF former days had abundant time to become
| accustomed to the changes In altitude and
! climate; now meaDdering along the river
| bank; new winding his way up the steep
| noun tain side, barren OF trees and life, now
| hanging on the lace of the precipice, thou
sands of feet above the roaring Rimac at its
! base; al row swinging In mid air on one OF
! the frail structures that were used for cross
| ing its waters. No. Science and American
energy and skill have leveled q highway
| tbrc ugh this wilderness of mountains, and
| the tireless iron horse now puffs defiance al
| the fmpossibilities OF the past, and, in a
days time, accomplishes the journey of
weeks before. No time for aptation TO
the mighty changes ~ he hour, for In half a
day you have rassed from the sea shore To
fifteen thousand six hundred and forty 1--WE
feet above IL. Enough atmospheric pressure
has been displaced In the passage TO burst
your body into fragments II IL had been in
simultaneously removed.
The lofty domes and c-aggy peaks that rise
| In endless confusion before You until the
blue line OF the heavens seem almost over
| head, are the next hour below you, and YOU
are again confronted by others equally high
and app arently equally impossible; and SO
| on 10 near the summit, where the blue line
| spreads out on the right and on the left, and
I n q lIxy lie Oft
! Galena tunnel, 3, SEQ feet long, through which
! the road passes the summit. shuts out the
| light OF day and divides the waters that fiow
| on the east.
ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIEs-TRIUMP
VINO can comprehend this mighty work In
one trip, or in fifty trips? You have passed
over one hundred and four miles of railroad
! from the sea shore TO the acknowledgements
not over eighty as the mule trail goes-and
nearly half that distance has been over the
DIoad plain OF Lima and up the open valley
| of the Rimac, without any serious obstacle
] 10 overcome, and with q rise that amounts
TO less than five thousand feet. In the re-
siStv tunneis and in MANI you pass , hhrongh
rocks so hard that the core of the diamond
drill used In their construction, scores glass
as readily as the point OF the diamond itself
More than tunnel TO each mile, and in total
length within a fraction OF five miles, or one
eleventh OF the whole distance. Nor is this
an. Above the mouth Or some of these tun-
hundreds OF feet TO the face of the precipice
by mears of which the engineers had first to
lower themselves, and while swinging in
mid air locate the place, and afterw ards the
men, TO begin the work of excavation and
make for themselves foothold in the per
pendicular face Of the solid rock.
At place called the "In6ernillas ULittIe
Hells) the road crosses the river on an iron
bridge, one hundred and sixty feet long and
ahundred aEd sixty five feet above the water.
Both ends of this bridge spring from the
smooth race OF opposing precipices, that rise
In sheer perpendicular height from TWO TO
three thous and feet. The tunnels OF approach
are through the solid rock, as most OF the
tunnels Oh the road have cunes, and in some
| Instances reverse cunes.
Emerging from the upper tunnel the road
CccuI les the river beo, and another tunnel
| was cut through the point of another preci-
! pice to make passage for its waters, which
mere roar ard tumble like n cataract. or
these iron bridges there are from forty TO
fifty, varying in height from twenty TO two
hundred and fifty feet, and ir length from
twenty to six hundred feet, ali resting
on the solid rock itself, or on m sorry equally
! strong. The approach 10 the "TarrugasS
/ bridge, the highest bridge In the world, is
through cut hundred and five feet on one
| side, and sixty feet on the other. This bridge
! has three piers of iron network one hun
! dred and ninety seven, two hundred and
| nity-two and one hundred and forty-siX feet
| high, respectively. Seen at some distance
| III the morning light, from the bottom of the
! ravlne 1t spans, ii looss like the work of
! fairies In the night in its delicate ana sym
metrlcsl tracery; but, once upon it, you lind
III as hond as the rocks upon which IL stands.
! In Milling up and hewiDg down the alter
mating gorges and spurs of the mountain
| side, you encounter fills with a center depth
OF one hundred and sixty feet, and cuts In
the solid rock OF even greater depth, and
| these often where the sides of the mountain
| are so steep that the lower slope of the EN-
DanBment extends tn the river. Seve raj hun
dred feet below, and the upper slope OF the
cut several hundreds of feet up the side OF the
| mountain.
|
But IN building this goad the apparently
| lnsoluble problems OF construction were moi
confined TO these unpai alleled cuttings, nils.
| bridges and tunnels; but even with the ad
| vantage of the steep grades of three and four
per cent. maximum 2l1 feet 10 The mile)
| allowed, according to radius OF curves land
| this part OF the road is nearly all curyeNl
the most serious problem of all for the en-
| gineers' solution was how to gain height
| within the Strengthened limits OF the auel-
rada, to which nature has restricted the very
| possibility of road over these abrupt noun
| tains. Taking advantage of the mountain
| Side, at places where least obstacles were
encountered, or awaiting themselves of some
continent quelrada, which the ice of former
! ages had scooped out, when the Andean
chaln was, perhaps, several thousand feet
higher than 1t is now, the engineers of the
| ROAD lnaugurated system OF Developments
| as they are called, by means of which they
| gain altitude at the expense Of length OF
road bed. In other words, the road, either
by curve where II is possible, but oftener
by means of a < doubles on itself and by
| running back from one to several miles, but
| always up steep grade, which, contrasted
| with the parallel y lines above or below
| give the appearance of running up an in
| clined plane; and then, by means of another
| curve, or retakes its nominal direction,
and winds its way along TO the level OF
the river again. In this way a gain is often
effected of One-one foot vertically for
every foot, or foot and half, the lines
are apart horizontally; and nothing
| shows more forcibly than this, the extreme
steepntss of the mountain sides traversei by
| this road. But to express it in the actual
| figures of the developments themselves: At
| San BartolOme where the first development
! is met with, the distance run from the point
! where the road doubles on its track by
means of c until it comes back TO a par
| allel point higher up the mountain side, is
| three and one-third miles, and the gain in
| vertical height is 5i5 feet, and the distance
| apart horizontally OF the two lines at these
| points is only S55 feet. On what is known as
| the Parac development, where advantage is
| taken OF a continent quelrada, the distance
| run is about the same, but the gain in verti-
| cal height is $50 feet, while the horizontal
| distance between the tracks at the same
| points is only 465 feet, showing an average
| slope sleeper than one 10 one, or foot for foot.
| OF these developments there are nine before
| reaching the summit, and by means OF them
| gain Of four thousand feet of altitude is