Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-22
The Western Coast Of South America.
 From The Iron Age-1

[From The Iron Age]
 With characteristic enterprise English merchants are inquiring into the possibii- ties of the western states of South America, a new interest in this subject being stirred up, doubtless, by the proposede construction of the Panama Ship Canal Correspondents from the leading London journals are look ing in all the shore to report concerning the development of trade, present and prospect i've. Already there is frequent steam com munication between all the principal ports by means of steam lines from Panama, some- times four a week, coasting the whole conti- nent all the way down to the Straits of Ma gellan, and through the Straits to the River Platte Monte Video and Buenos AYres oth- CTS plying between intervening ports and some of these connect not only with the reg ular British mail steamers from Southamp- ton, but the French line from Cherbourg, the American line from New York, and the North Pacific British line from the West Coast of Central America and from San Francisco.
 We lately referred to the efforts of mer- chants in San Francisco to get larger con- trol of the Mexican trade by securing ware house accommodations at the ports of Mazat- Ian, Guaymas, &c. but beyond these points the English steam lines have things pretty much their own way, and 1t is noticeable that the business of that part of the world, so far as pertains to ocean commerce, is mainly ow- ing to British steamship enterprise, the Americans showing little disposition to com plete. When it is borne in mind that from Panama to Callao, the principal seaport of Peru, is a run of 1532 miles, usually accom- plished in nlne days, and occasionally in six, the splendid field for steamship enterprise found on that distant shore can easily be un- derstood
 When we remember too the part which the late Henry Meiggs and other noted Amer ican engineers have acted on the western coast of South America, constructing nearly all the railroads in Chili and Peru, we must confess tc feeling bordering on chagrin and modification at seeing how completely Amer jeans have allowed themselves to be or,sma- neuyered as pioneers in commercial enter prise among the South American republics. MT. John G. Meiggs, brother of the late Henry, when in New York few days ago, spoke of the grand railway system, designed to correct what has been called ''the griev- ous fault of nature'' in placing the most charming and productive division of Peruvi- an territory some distance inland, while those parts most accessible are utterly lar ren, and remarked as follows:
 Seven railroads have been projected, but some of them are still unfinished. The road from Mollendo to Polo, on Lake Titicaca, is 32O miles long; from uo to Moquegua there is road 70 miles in length, and from Pacas- mayo to Magdalena there is 8 road of so miles. Of the great road from Callao, through Lima to Oroya, 86 miles of the 136 are completed. This road crosses the Andes at an elevation of 15 200 feet above the level of the sea- passing through the summit by means of tunnel three-quarters of a mile in length. Of the 26O miles of Chimtote and Huarez road, 66 miles are finished. The completion of the Oroya road will greatly ad- vance the development of the country. It IS the intention to continue it to Cerro de Pasco.
 A correspondent of the London Times ferring to these past achievements, says:
 They proposed to construct several great railway lines from the sea coast to the Andes, cross both the chains of those mountains and the intervening table-land, and carry them on along the valleys of the great Eastern slope to those points where the rivers become nav igable, whence the traffic would continue by water through Brazil down the Amazon as far as it's mouth in the Atlantic, thus opening a communication between the two oceans by rail and steam. The railways would have to be from POO to 300 miles in length, and to be carried up to height averageing at least 12,- 900 feet above the level of the sea: and it has been ascertained that Perm possesses about 3623 miles of navigable streams of its own, all tributary to the Maranon or Amazon before that river crosses the border into the empire of Brazil
 Of late the increase of the coasting trade. which is carried on all along the coast of Co., umbia and Equador, as well as of Peru, has been enormous, according to the authority just quoted, and is susceptible of indefinite extension. This is particularly true of tls sugar production Peru having exported no less than 100.O00 tons in the year 1s7S and a great deal of cotton is exported of quail y which brings three farthings a pound more in the London market than the Ameri- can. American capitalists should bear these. facts in mind, and not leave this field wholly to Great Britain