The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-10-15
TINE MONTE CHRISTIE OF SOUTH AMKR-
1CA.
Henry Meisgs, Of Peru-sOme Of HIS Eek.
plOits-The Man Who Gave n 5000, 900
m1nnar
I'm, Y. Tribune,l

glolts- T6e Man who gave n 5000, 600
IN. Y. Tribune.l
In striking. contrasts and singular pic
turesaueness, few careers in any age can equal
that which he's closed with the death Of Henry
Gun railway contractor There Is IN the history
Of his life. sufficient Of startling Incident 10
most striking features of the story there is the
contrast betweea q great depth Of disaster and
!, surprising Peeuniary success; between an .ex-
spread honor. His career is an epitome s' of
modern enter.prise In It's triumph over natural
Of the possibility OF Overcoming the most. most
adverse circumstances by superior energy.
o,l Henry Meg3s was born at Catskill, in this
5ert that he began business as merchant In
BOSTON, isD i; He me to this eiy about the year
ss Mesa S sls Of Mss hr ma hsR Ws
swimming with the tide. being engaged in the
iabgs m Tth w which he had BECOME
game his first disaster. and he was bankrupt.
IL the fact that. although the period succee ding
that had never been euualled In this country
he recovered from the losses Of bis bankruptcy
years from his failure He had in 1888 a large
lumber yard. In what was then called Williams
purR, ana he was OF one time president of the
contracts there was one for building Sc Marks
Church, which he completed. In after years he
lieying that church from debt. In 1919 he again
faied In business, and once more returned to
this city; His fortune here was for u time un-
certain but he has left his name on record as
among those OF our citizens who have assisted
the cause OF art He gained the reputation of
~ ~ ana was TOT several years
Mr. Meiggs was among the ca. lest to. be at
tracted by the discoveries of gold in California
and 70 perceive the opportunity of advancing
his fortunes there. A vast number of adyen.
fSr rs had gonee hther in sashe year when
lnade-and there was a great scarcity among
tho neW population on the Pacific coast Of all
ton. Especially WAS there sy want Of the ma
terials for dwellings, and some spectators
made handsome profits by sending thither iron
On arrival Meggs on this G ocoas 20 tx kep}
closely IN the lins Of his ordinary business; he
loaded vessel and went TO the land Of gold. He
is said to have sold his lumber on arrival for
twenty times its cost. and he soon became
promlnent figure among the busting busi-
ness men OF San Francisco. He was elected
member Of lie, municipal council He owned
the interior. He had 500 men employed In
telling trees for single sawamil on the Bay Of
s ian II soe a AZ rolled hs built
veving lumber from different points on the
coast. Ia 1854 he had ordered d, propeller to DO
vessels out to sea. There was commercial
CRISIS H. gathering at San Francisco. the affairs
bankers began to refuse to him needed accom-
modations. His Arm had provided most of the
lumber for T. municipal works. including the
cisco having been engaged in earryi
through vast schemes Of Improvement in
real ESTATE. With the approach of q crisis
ton, IN oil kinds of properly. Mr.. Meiggs
lived n 9 handsome mansion on San Francis
sS on am WERE hs en aR 0 npd
his partners-were chiefly, obtained on the
pedga q city Mas The pinch for
to seclre the delivery Of the propeller at Phiia-
stated to The representa- Ives Of AZ Ha%bn r Gas
aso shoaldersd ssooos Of Mr.; Msgsss inn;ae ee
months after th is transa aion., Mr.. Meiggs was
a E,a 4, and fg Nj \, from Justice
have never been fully aseertafned He took
successful pains at the time to conceal them
wholly. Having Q schooner at command. he
mansion in San Francisco had contained
everything. even, to the mante ornaments of
was astonished to learn that Mr.. Msiggs with
H. had ,s sail I, for parts mn pRnkpqxn The ety
tiye were found to be nearly million dollars.
The street Improvement bonds, upon which his
Looms we're Obtained. were discovered to be in
that some OF the signatures to the bonds were
forged but that particular feature seems doubt
the pver-issue there is no ooubt.
When next heard from. Mr.. Meiggs was a build
road in Chill He was again on the upward
road Of fortune. BY 1858 he had effected CON
tract for railway building with the Chiian gov
600. Theneefolth he was South America great |
railway, cSpIn on and he transferred the
many public works which he under ook in that |
country was the Improvement Of, the environs
81 a th The city 1h WAS SURROUNDED By ram
fuse Of many generations. Mr.. Meggs re-
placed this by park, elegantly ornamented, of |
good to provide Tor his own a fortune In sob bx
ing properly for building lots lie cont t1
in Peru 81 these e' th eSs n are 81 nsb
and most the rem pss SbRDrosh Ss
which must rank among the most daring
achievements OF modern engineering. II is a |
Pacific Oceans by a railway across the Andes, |
from Callan, to the head of navigation on the |
Amazon. The height assembled by this railway |
Is within l36 feet OF that Of the summit OF Mont
Blanc. The road bends upon itself with sharp |
angles as IL ascends the mountain Sides like a |
STRUGGLING peaks with thirty-two tunnels wi viii ID
often come together SO closely that they seem |
continuous to the traveller. Great gorges had to |
bridges that seem to hang In mid-air. In sew
eral instances the mountain sides were so pre-
cipftous that the workmen could only reach the |
point at which a tunnel started. by being let
Gown with ropes from. the edge of the |
cliff. held there till they had cut for
urlll was used in many of the borings, where
the rocks were hard enough to scratch glass.
one OF the bridges. over a chasm 1000 feet deep |
leads to tunnel at either end The difficulties
OF the work were vastly increased by the need
81 transporting all the implements. material
and workmen up to these almost inaccessible
heights. One branch of the road ia planned to |
reach the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco, which
are estimated as containing $500. 600 600 worth of
ore. The greater portion of the work is COM
plefed and fs in running order trains now GO
ing to the highest points on schedule time. But
the government of Peru has latteriy run short |
of funds, and the great c ntraotor was conse.
quently impeded by his own financial troubles.
Fabulous. stories have been told about the