Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1877-10-20
Ar. Henry Aeisgs, The Seuth Aneri-
IS H can Railroad King. zsi.

called attention to this famous repre-
sentative of American character and
genius. A London paper, which can
not be suspected of partially towards
any thing American, recently spoke OF
him in the following strain: Meiggs is
one of the most interesting specimens
of American enterprise in existence.
His life is romance. Thirty years ago
he was n respectable citizen of New
York, best known perhaps As patron
Of music. He went to California in the
early days of the gold excitement, and
made fortune there, not BY digging
but by trading. He became prosper
Gus dealer in 90 lumber" having saw
mills in the back country, and large
establishment in the city of San Fran
cisco, where he was elected member
Of the Municipal Council. One morn
ing, in 1854 or 1855, Meiggs was miss
ing He had gone aboard a schooner Of
his own, with his whole family, slowed
the hold with every fragment of prop
erty that he could carry away, stripping
even the furniture from his house, and
the ornaments from his parlor mantel,
and, unsupported, had dropped quietly
down the bay. and sailed. for South
America. He left behind about a mil
lion dollars of liabilities, and
CARRYING such luggage as surely no alb
sconding bankrupt ever took with him
before he waited gayly over summer
seas, and when the world next heard of
him he was one of the richest men of
Peru. He had engaged, among other
things, in improving the City of Lima,
and all that he touched .prospered. The
city was surrounded by q ruined adobe
wall, and the wall was surrounded by a
huge mound Of filth and rubbish almost
as high as the rampant itself, where .
long line of untidy generations had de-
posted domestic refuse. Meiggs I'M
dertook to clear all this away, in con-
sideration of receiving from the Govern
ment a certain amount of the land thus
redeemed. In the place Of the old wall
and the dust heap he created a park,
seven and half miles in extent, with
avenues and shrubbery, and on either
side remained valuable building lots, Of
which he found himself the fortunate
possessOr. Then he began to build rail.
ways for the Peruvian Government, and
we heard that he was growing richer
and richer. He paid his debts in Sar
Francisco. He made such honest re
paration for his delinquencies that the
Legislature of California passed q specia
act to relieve him from the consequence:
of his wrong-doings; and if hi
chose to go back there now he would b
received with open arms. But the tale.
of his fabulous wealth were greatly ex
aggerated, for it appears that he ex
hausted his money in his railway enter
prises, and about year and half age
he was obliged to suspend the works fol
want of means. Now, however, he ha:
formed a company OF Americans ant
Peruvians to complete the undertakings
: engines, wagons, and other materials
have been purchased in this country
and engineers and contractors are going
out to Peru at once. Meiggs has al
ready completed four railways, at cos
of about S55, 900, 900, and his presen,
plans embrace three more, all Of which
are under way. The most important
and interesting is the great road which
begins at Callao, on the coast, runs W
to Lima, and then climbs boldly acros:
the Andes, with the intention Of cross
ing both Cordilleras, and reaching the
nayigable waters of one of the head
streams of inc Amazon There was al.
ready line from Callao to Lima, seven
and half miles, when Mr.. Meiggs be.
gan; but the owners charged him enor.
nous rates for. transportation, so he
built another line of his own, and went
on in comfort. During the first forty.
six miles the line climbs up 5000 feet
In the next sixty miles it mounts 1O,00(
feet more. 1t winds along the edge Of
precipices; it leaps from cliff to cliff by
bridges that seem to hang in the air; il