The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-07-23
a Railroad in the Andes.

railroad. the construction Of which made
Henry Meigs, the California fugitive, not
only rich, but famous. This road has been
counted as the eighth wonder of the world,
for there is nothing in the Rocky Noun
tains OF the Alps which compares with it
as an example Of engineering science on.
presents sublimer scenery. But neither
scenic grandeur nor engineering genius
alone can make d railroad pay, particularly
IL it goes 10 where. In this instance the
money gave out when the road was only
partially completed, there remaining fifty
miles between the present terminus (Chi-
cla) and the point which was aimed at
the mines Of Cerro del Pasco, probably the
richest and most extensive silver deposit
in the world. Most of the grading and
tunnels between Chicla and the mines
have been completed, and it only remains
TO lay the ties and rails and put in the
bridges to send locomotive over the
Andes into the great valley which
stretches north and south between the two
Cordllleras
MI Grace gets a property which cost
S27 500, -eighty-six miles of railroad
already equipped and in operation, fifty
miles OF the most expensive tunneling and
grading in the world, for nothing, pro-
Ylded he will complete the line.
And more than this, he gets Cerro del
Pasco silver mines, which were discoy-
cred $50 years ago by the Jesuits. and have
yielded hundreds Of millions of dollars,
even under the primitive system of work.
ing which has been applied to them by the
monks and native Indians. This Cerro
del Pasco district has given Peru it's fame
fol mineral wealth, and competent engin-
GERS assert that it contains the richest sill
yer deposit in the world. The silver is not
In assure veins, but imam enormous mass
OF ore, similar to the carbonates of Lead
vile, yielding from $40 to $500 per ton.
and worked at the cost of So per ton.
Even the tailings, which the priests and
Indians have left during the two and
half centuries they have been digging away
in their rude manner, can be shipped to
New York at aproft, and they amount to
millions Of tons, with silver enough in
them to pay the cost of constructing the
road, and affording it a business that will
pay the expense of operation.
will not repeat the fables and tradi- |
tons about these mines, of which the air |
is full. The Eldorado, for which the
world was hunting two centuries ago, was
but a~shadow of the substance said to have |
been found here. Away in the heart Of |
the Andes, almost beyond the reach of |
men, involving an enormous cost of trans |
portat1on, and an expense of operation |
which miners of modern times would con-
slider improbable, the priests and monks
in past centuries have found untold tons
of treasure. The one-fifth of which was
always setapart for the King of Spain, and |
OF which record was scrupulously kept |
| by the vlceroys, reached into the millions. |
and the tithes which were paid to the |
Church amounted to millions more. Dur
ing the last few decades the mines have |
scarcely been worked, for as large pro-
duct Of silver as Peru could consume was
found in more convenient localities.
The railroad was begun by Mr. Meigs in |
~. Starting from the sea, it ascends the |
narrow valley of the once sacred Rimac,
rising 5000 feet in the first forty-six miles
to beautiful valley. where the people of |
Lima have found an attractive summer |
resort then it follows winding, giddy |
pathway along the edge of precipices and |
over bridges that seem suspended in the |
/ q fbo A,oJo
1855 feet-the most elevated spot in the |
world where piston rod is moved by |
steam-and ends at Oroya, 12,17S feet |
above the sea. Between the coast and the |
summit there is not an inch of down grade. |
and the track has been forced through the |
mountains by series of sixty-three tun-
nes, whose aggregate length is 81 900 feet.
| The great tunnel of Galera, by viii oh |
The pinnacle OF the Andes is pierced, Will |
be, when completed, $500 feet long. and |
will be the highest elevation on the earth's
surface where any such work has been un-
dertaken. Besides boring the mountains |
of granite and blasting clefts along their
sides to rest the track upon, steep cuttings
and superb bridges, the system of reverse
| tangents had to be adopted in canyons that |
were too narrow for curve. So the track |
zlgzags up the mountain side, on the |
switch and back-up principle, the trains
taking one leap forward, and after |
being switched on to another track an
other leap backward, until the summit is
won so that often there are four or five |
lines o. tTae's parallel to each other, one
| above anolner, on the mountain side. AL |
most the entire length of the road was
made by blasting. There is no earth in
sight except what was carted up for use in |
ballasting. and the work of grading was
done, not by the pick and shovel, but with
the drill and hundreds of thousands of
| pounds of powder.
Ii IS estimated that the construction of |
| this road cost Peru 1000 lives from pesti-
lence and accident. Land slides, falling |
boulders, premature explosions. sorrache
"a disease which attacks those who are |
not accustomed to the raw air of the high |
altitudes-fevers caused by deposits of rot
ten granite, and other causes resulting in |
afrightful mortality during the seven years
the road was under construction, but the |
project was pushed on until the funds gave
out, The cost in human life was no OBJ
stacle. At several points it was necessary |
to lower men by ropes over the edges of |
precipices to drill holes in rocks and put |
in charges of blasting powder, and this
reckless style Of construction was attended |
| by frequent fatalities.
| A curious accident occurred at one point |
on the line, where a plumber was solder |
ing q leak in water pipe A train of
mules was being driven up the trail, loaded
with cans of powder. One of them rubbed |
against the plummeI, who struck at the
animal with his red-hot soldering iron,
which in some way came in contact with
the powder and caused an explosion which
blew the whole train of mules, the gang of
workmen, the plumber, and everybody who
was by over the precipice, whose sides and
bottom were strewn with fragments of