The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-10-20

e 4 number 81 tie most skllliul oi thc CnllcnO
.. with him 20 aci as chiefs of sections and the
instructed the Peruvian peasants in ,he use G
nc pick, shovel, and crOwDar, and in othe
myseries of railroad making,
I The Arequpa road was completed early Il
,anulry, 1871 The most formidable draw
back 10 his enterprise which MeiTgs enco,
Tered was The great earthquake which on A
f.. md II, 1861, shook up all Sou,h Ame.
, t. especially severe in Peru, and overthiey
q: deal of good work which had been don
On ne road But Meiggs Immediately rallied
q. Notwithstanding his own vast losses
81, uld subscription for the sufferers wi,
10 ,O0U and then went ahead wi,h his wo
ncn ne pushed with prodigious vigor ,
,lution. To commemorate this event, h
%, g25IOC0 worth of gold medals and $3.50
N,.,tu oi silver medals struck off, which
,I.ir'iOutcd among his friends He alst
magnificent entertainment al MOllendc
.. rand icte at Arequipa in honor OF tht
., .t,lon Of the road. He invited 600 guest.
10. lima, the capital of Peru, including ,ht
stuenr, Gen. Balia, and the elite OF Pc. Il
,ociety. To bring the 600 guess from
10, the seaport OF Lima, Mciggs char,e I'd
! I,Auma, one Of the British South Pac fC
Steamship Companys steamers Pre- :
| rt .5.dia was accompanied by a regiment Of
I'd Il, troops one thousand strong 1t took
. luuy,an war steamers TO carry the Gov.
II, party, thc President and Cabinet 90
ii JHc, and the soldiers in the other two
i.cndO the Archbishop of Arequipl
l., ,lcsscd the twelve locomotives which
urw the cXcursionists 107 miles up
..1v ol 5000 ieet. The tete at Arequipa
.a,nillccnt beyond description. Every
aa, lllcd with delight and graz, ica;ior
.auie affair cost Meiggs S2,000,000 in
10 could well afford the outlay, how
ne made within tsitle of $4,000 900
contract.
Meiggs continued to reGde in Lima.
a.. uu fully sustained his reputation 90
=. ,,ncencc and hospitality. His house, two
..-..., In height has over seventy rooms on
az, .,cond floor. The first floor Is occup' q
D.. ,prcs for the most part except an entrance,
-. yn is exceedingly capacious. The resi-.
u,.yt was fitted up 0hu n.I;rnished with great
s,...ud0r the princely host always sat down
10 Il dinner prepared for any number of guess
tnd might drop in on him. As Callao, the
seaport, is but seven miles from Lima, it was
a common thing for naval officers in port to
run over and dine with Meiggs, and he often
mad twenty-five or thirty oh,hand guests at
dinner. Everything was in readiness torthem {;
and if, as sometimes happened, nobody came,
he gave the food prepared for his dinner to the
poor Of the city.
When Meiggs first went to Lima he found
the city surrounded by an old and dilapidated
adobe wall, and all around The wall, and
stretching out INTO the country, was vast
mass Of refuse and clOdca OF the city, when
had been accommodating fora century. Meiggs
undertook to clear all this away, in considera-
ton of receiving a certain share OF the re-
deemed land He accomplished this work
A. -, .,>nrI apI thprDl1 pb npSl and
soon q magnificent park was created where the
old wall and refuse had been, with avenues
aud flowers and shrubbery, and hundreds of
valuable building lots belonging to Meiggs,
on either side of the avenues.
Mr.. Meiggs not only was great railroad
maker, but he became a politician also. Prior
to his advent in Peru that unhappy country
was repeatedly ravaged by revolutions In
fact, revolution had become regular line OF
business in that republic. Whenever the
outs" ran low in funds, they would drive oui
the "ins," and take their surn at the treasury
The ms always went out inch, ana were never
called to an account by their successors, VINO
were almost invariably TOO well bred TO know
anything about arithmetic, bookkeeping, or
accounts, or about anything except looting the
treasury Besides it was understood all
a-ound that there was 10 be no incOnvenient
Investigation of gorged and surfelted party
who retired with courteous alacrity before the
hostile approach of lean and hungry one.
Such a state of things would never do for
Meipgs. In order to build his railroads and
have his contracts carried out promptlyby the
Peruvian Government that Government must
be stable and respected, and the public credit
be KEEP; at par Meiggss methodOf procedure
was very simple; he paid the ringeaders OF
the revolutonists so well to keep quiet that
they could not. overthrow the Government
without loss to themselves. There has been
but one attempt at revolution since his advent
| in Peru. In that disturbance his friend, Gen.
Balta was killed.
This system of wholesale bribery and black
mail. and Meiggs enormous success with the
Areuuipa road, stimulated the Adventures and
conspirators of Peru to strike for higher
Tribes than they had yet received. They Sc
cretlv formed combination against Meiggs,
who had planned a vast scheme OF railroads
for Peru, so that when he sought 10 get his
his contracts from the Government, he en-
countered formidable opposition. To over
come this he resortcd 10 colossal bribery.
Officers of the Government and competitors
whom he bought off made fortunes out OF
him. In this way he secured contracts for
building railroads which altogether were
1907 miles in,eXient, and for which he was to
| receive SlSO,ubU,UOU. ile SCI W Nolh W COl-
stiuct the roads with characteristic energy, but
the cost in many cases exceeded his estimates,
and on the whole his vast scheme turned out
to be financial failure, both to himself and
he Government. Nearly all the roads are, in
fact useless. They run through regions
which furnish neither passengers nor freight,
and the receipts do not begin 10 pay the run,
ming expenses. On the llo and Moqueg!ua
road there is only one train week. On the
Arequipa and Puno road there are ususually
but two trains week. The Pacasmayo road
is also failure, and the Chimbote road
which was projected 10 open up what WIS
supposed TO be a rich mining region that has
since been discovered 10 be OF h,,le value--e-
mains unfinished.
The most disastrous failure of all was the
1 Csllao, Lima and Oroya road, which is com.
pleted to within about forty miles of Oroya.
| The entire length of the road is 1870 miles
This road was originally projected under the
pretext that the grain and rich product of the
i interior could he brought over il 10 The cOas,