Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-10-26
A Remarkable Career.
THE STORY OF THE LIFE OF HENRY MEIGGs, THE
SOUTH AMERICAN RAILWAY KING.

None but man OF AnglO-SaXOn race could
have achieved such career as that which has
Just been closed by the death of Henry Meiggs,
the ruilway king of South America Born in
the State Of New York. Meiggs was early
trained to hard work. He had thirst for ad-
venture, and his ambition reached after great
wealth. When he was about thirty-seven
years old. he plunged into the mad stream of
emigration which the California gold fever
had attracted from the older States. His first
venture was cargo of lumber for the tent
dwellers Of San Francisco. The result was
golden harvest With this gain the daring
speculator. while other people were rushing
frantically to the mines, built mills cut tim
ber and furnished building materials to the
new community The man seemed TO hold
the secret Of wealth. Everything he touched
turned into gold. As hc grew in riches he
gained the confidence Of his fellows. At a
time when society III the strange uncouth
settlement on San Francisco Bay was shifting
and Kaleidoscope, Meiggs was a tower of
strength. As the chy rose like an exhalation
on the sand-hills of the peninsula he became
the trusted and successful business man. He
drew his supplies of lumber from regions then
almost unknown, though since become the
source OF the lumber trade of the Pacific. His
sails dotted the whole coast. His enterprise
and skill constructed prodigiously long
wooden pier, the nearest to the Golden Gate,
u u
which yet peipetuates the name of its build
er. His name was a synonym for honesty.
Honest Harry Meggs" became one of the
Supervisors of the county of San Francisco,
and while in that position he secured II valua-
lde contract for planking the streets of the
city. Extensive operations of this sort re-
quired AN enormous capital. The first inan-
cial revulson after the abatement of the gold
fever had begun to show itself. Meiggs. by
6 had tla
city's financial machinery Aided by at least
one other unfaithful public servant. he pro-
cured the overissue of bonds for street work.
These he hypothecated to tide over his diff
culties. 1t was in vain. The crash was COM
ing. And in 1854, anticipating by few
months the failure of Page, Bacon 4 Co.. Ad-
ans IL Co., aud other houses. he fed. de
faulter and under suspicion of forgery The
excitement was tremendous 1t was n sort of
moral earthquake. Meiggs had cheated the
city to the extent of half million and num-
| erous creditors. some of whom had trusted
| him with money for safe-keeping, were aghast
and helpless. His fight was dramatic. He
! k pt a cheerful face-and his face was always
| cheery-up to the last moment of his stay.
| He beguiled his friends with farewell enter
tainment. the secret OF which he kept to HIM
self. In the darkness of night, one of his
| own vessels. loaded with his furniture and
personal effects, and bearing him and his fam
! lily. slipped out with the tide. Next day,
| creditors and quid-nuncs ran through the
! handsome house, where he had kept hospita-
| ble state. The walls and floors were as bare
as though they had never been inhabited.
| The fugitive had destroyed all evidence of
| his dishonest transactions had turned all
available assets into cash, gathered his house
! hold gods together, and had burned his bridges
| behind him There were no submarine or
other telegraphs in those days and no swift
steamer to pursue him as he TRANQUILITY sailed
| down toward the equator.
| Meiggs was next heard of in Chill. where
| he addressed himself to bridge ge-building with
| such success that he soon amassed fortune.
| Possibly his old love for California was still
strong upon him, for he longed to return
| Tentative of, rs for a compromise and settle
ment were mad, but the Califomians sirtu-
ously refused to listen to them. 1t was again
and again suggested that the Legislature
should pass a special indemnity act for the ex-
| Hes benefit All these suggestions fell on
barren soil. Meiggs was never again to set
foot on his native land. Occasionally wan
dering Californian lighted upon Meiggs in his
new home, presented his claim. and brought
away solid satisfaction and glowing reports of
tine hospitality and generosity of the railway
king. For Meiggs soon became u prosperous
builder and contractor. Chill paid him SIP
| 600, 600 for his work the Valparaiso and
Santiago railroad, connecting the capital with
the seaport. On this amount the contractor
is said to have netted profit of 81, 800, 900.
Returning to Peru, where he had previously
achieved great success in ridding Lima of a
wall of refuse, the deposit of centuries, Meiggs
began series of railway operations which
eclipse in magnitude any ever attempted in
the New World When he completed the
wonderful road from Mollendo to Arequipa,
finishing n line which connected the Andean
city with the sea-cOast he gave at the termi-
mus in the cloud peaks an entertainment which
was the wonder of the time. The festival at
tracted people from all parts of the world. 1t
cost, with the gifts distributed, over half a
million dollars 1t was like a dream out of
the Arabian stories. Other great engineering
enterprises were undertaken and finished
The greatest of these ''The Railroad in the
Clouds" as it has been termed. is yet unfn-
ished But the mighty work of crossing the
summit of the Andes is done. This road,
known as the Callao Lima, land Oroya rail-
way is designed to tap the upper waters of
the Amazon. and gain n trans-Andean world,
laden with the ungathered fruits of perpetual
summer" Incidentally, the line is extended
to the ancient silver mines of Cerro de Pasco,
believed to contain fabulous wealth. The
highest point reached by the road is IL, 645
above sea-level though only % miles from
Lima. The proposed eastern terminus of the
road is l29 miles from Lima, and $50 miles
from the navigable waters of the Amazon.
The railway is wonder of engineering. 1t
requires numerous bridges, some of which
seem to hang in mid-air across huge gorges
and fathomless chasms One of these bridges
over chasm 2OO0 feet deep connects tunnels
at either end, and in working here the labor
ers had to be lowered by ropes from the top
of the cliffs until they could cut themselves
standing room in the rocks. The tunnels are
81 in number and aggregate 10000 feet in
length. The contract cost of the work is
$500, 900 a mile.
1t is easy to see that labors like these, de-
manding vast courage and wonderful fertility
of invention, must have been projected and
executed by men of uncommon powers. So
far as we know the American fugitive lumber
dealer is to be credited with everything that
has been accomplished. Not only did he con-
ceive the idea of following the condor in his
dizzy flight across the Andes, but he suggest
ed the financial measures by which Peru has
been able to convert her peculiar resources
nitTates and guano-into gold and silver. That
lbs profits from these enterprises were I'M
mense may be taken for granted. But men,
overlooking the stain upon the projectors
eaely career, will pause to marvel at the au-
dacity which has evoked such mighty work
from the apathy of petty South American
Republic and has conquered difficulties which
seemed to bar the way across the continent.
Possibly the cyclopean Abors of the Aztecs,
whose ruined cities still lift themselves among
the Andes, the wonder and puzzle of mankind,
may have inspired these modern builders,
At any rate, the work is done, though the
busy brain of the master-builder sleeps at last
Meiggs finally received the Legislative act Of
indemnity which he had asked for but il
! came too late. It came when he was strug
Cling with tremendous enterprises, and too
IL
theless, he has died with cloud upon hi
name BY rare combination of events,