The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-10-25
Henry Meiggs' Wonderful Railroad
In tho AudaS

III the AuutSs
Not MANY wears after Henry Meiggs
fed from San Francisco to South Amer
lea he took a contract for building the
bridge on the remarkable line from Val
paraiso to Santiago, finally took charge
of the line itself. He was allowed tour
years in which to complete this great
piece of mountain work; he accom-
plished it in two, and of the Sl2,OOO,OOo
expended on it netted profit OF one
eighth. This performance made him the
acknowledged railroad king OF South
America, and secured for him the mag !
nifcent and in their way unparalleled |
railway enterprises which Peru was then
planning to open up her own mountain
hemmed resources.
In1867 Mr. Meiggs began the construc-
ton of the line from the Andean city OF
Arequipa to the Pacific at Mollendo,.
line the dizzy grandeur of which is only
riyaled by his own subsequent achieve
ments. The work was completed on
New Years day, 1871, when he offered
to the hundreds of guests he had assem-
bled from all parts of the world, a ban
quet at Arequipa, which, served ON that
lofty table-land and in that remote re-
gion, seemed like a page out OF Aladdin:
! Two hundred thousand dollars are said
to have been expended upon the festival:
| The commemorative medals, many OF
very large size in gold and silver, struck
off and lavishly distributed, and the
abundant and princely gifts made to his
guests are estimated to have increased
| his outlay to $75O,OO0. Only the
| khedive at the fetes of Suez has in our
time surpassed this splendid hospitality.
1t was hardly an extravaganza, how
ever, for the profits accruing from his
contract-he received Sll, ,25O,OOO Tor
building the one hundred and seven
miles of road-were enormous. A por-
ton of these profits he set aside to dis
charge the debts due his Californian
creditors, and the Legislature passed acts
of immunity covering his exit of 1854
and inviting him to return. He had no
intention, however, of returning to San
Francisco to become miner or specu-
lator
Before the completion of the Arequipa
road in 1870, he had signed contracts to
build no fewer than six other Peruvian
railroads, at collective cost OF Sl15,-
000, 900. In 1872 the lilo and Moquegua
road, sixty-three miles, built at cost OF
Sc, ,281 ,250, was finished; in 1873 the
| 1aScdSIldNO, SududiOupt ~ -uaSOhiOllo
road, eighty-three miles, built at cost
of Sc ,656, ,25O, and the colossal Arequips
& Puno road, which crosses the Andes
at a height of more than $4,000 feet
and reaches Lake Titicaca by line 22(
miles in length From Puno to the
ancient capital of the Incas, Cuzo, thi
road extends for 230 miles more.
While these works were going on he wa
pushing up the Andes at the north thu
> Titanic works of the Oroya line, which
l in the wild magnifcence of scenery i
traverses, rivals its more southern com
. peer These were all but parts of th'
gigantic system of lines, to cost SOM
, $21O, 100000, projected by Mr.. Meigg
. and adopted for execution by Peru.
. Of course these vast undertaking
=, neither are nor were expected to be i'm
= mediately profitable in our sense OF tina
;, word. They were intended to open tn
Il great inter-Andean regions of Peru t
. the Pacific, and to make her Amazon
II ian wealth available, and were almos
- without exception government works
The finances Of Peru were and are SO IL
volved that at times Mr.. Meiggs, hs
been compelled to suspend operation
/ but he has never suffered the main ou
line of the works to be seriously inte
,s fered with.
1S OF all these roads the most importa1
70 and interesting is likely to be the Orov
~ Callao line, which is to be evidently ca
p ried across both Cordilleras and to reac
m the head waters of the Amazonian sy
II tenn. This was interfered with for
H. time by a short line some nine miles
h. length which has long been in operatio
H. between Callao and Lima, the Engli:
n owners of which, having a monopol
rv undertook to charge Mr.. Meiggs exc
w bitant rates for transporting his materi
cat and machinery. 1t is needless to S;
ed that Mr.. Meiggs finally built his oy
IT. line to the sea coast, and went on wi
Il his work independently. During the fiji
cd forty-six miles this great Orova Iii
II climbs up five thousand feet. In t
W. next sixty miles it mounts 10000 fe
"a more.
To- 1t winds along the edge of precipice
'Iv it LEAPS from cliff to cliff by bridg
ke that seem to hang in the air; it piert
,se the mountains by series of sixty-th1
a tunnels, at the average distance of t.
pe miles apart; and at the summit, 1876
81. feet above the sea, it cuts through
ed rock by tunnel of nearly 1000 fe
nd The iron viaduct of Auga de Verrus
HE spring SIG feet across chasm 23o fl
deep. After ascending a grade of 1O5
,.o 211 feet to the mile for twenty-thl
,,1 ,ot1 miles, the line reaches the chasm of
,paatyS Infernilla, afssure 1000 feet deep, W
ae sides as smooth as mason-work, and
,na ~ torrent of the River Rimac at the b
,n5 ,n5 tom. The railway crosses this gorge
,eu vas feet above the river by bridge openi
va 'a' into tunnel at each end. In drivi
'"' these tunnels the workmen were lower
by ropes from the top of the cliff, a
hanging in that way they they hammer
.. at the face of the rock until they
his cut themselves standing room.
red One of the objective points of t
all railroad was the famous silver mines
OF the Cerro de Pasco, formerly the rich
the in the world, but long since flooded g
md neglected because of the difficulty
ley reaching them with heavy machine
OF Mr.. Meiggs had recently entered i
lch new contracts with the Peruvian G
on ernment for opening and working th
ose mines, and it was but the other day t
ng, we received telegram announcing t
ted the engineers estimated the amount
are silver already made available in
rd, world famous region by Mr.. Meiggs'
ort plorations, or to be made so available,
llso $3.50, 100000.
do
md BOSTON Commercial Advertiser:
rue gentleman, whose place of b.