Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-06-13
ANDES RAILROAD.
AN AMERICAN BUYS IT FROM
THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT.
Twenty-six Million Dollars and Sey-
en- Thousand Lives Sacrificed
1918 Feet Above the Sea.
INew YORK Sun.

LIMA, April 21st.-Michael 2. Grace, of
New York, the brother and partner of
Mayor Grace, has just concluded the pur-
chase from the Government of Peru Of the
wonderful Orova Railroad, the construction
of which made Henry Meigs the Califor-
MIA 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 Mountains or the Alps which
compares with it as an example of en-
giuecring science, or presents sublimer
scenery. But neither scenic grandeur nor
engineering genius alone can make rail
road pay, particularly il It goes nowhere.
In this instance the money gave out when
the road was only partially completed,
there remaining fifty miles between the
present terminus (Chicla) 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 1t
only remains to lay the rails and put IN the
bridges to send
A LOCOMOTIVE OYER TIE ANDES
Into the great valley which stretches north
and south between the two Cordillcras.
This Mr. Grace has agreed to DO. The CON-
pletion of the line TO the mining regions
will cost SIC, 000, 900, bat the portion OF the
line already constructed and III operation,
with all It's rolling stock, station houses,
and equipments of every sort, he gets Tor
practically nothing. as under the conditions
of ninety nine years lease be has the use
of the railroad and ell that belongs with il
for nothing for the first seven years, and
pays but S25, 600 per year for rental for the
property during the remainder of the term.
In other words, Nh Grace gets property
which cost $27 600, G00-eighty-s miles Of
railroad already equipped and in operation,
fifty miles of the most expensive tunnel
ing and grading in the world-for nothing,
provided he will complete the line. And
more than this, he gets the Cerro del Pasco
silver mines, which were discovered $50
years ago by the Jesuits and have yielded
hundreds of millions of dollars, even I'M
der the primitive system of working which
has been applied 10 them by the monks
and the native Indians. This Cerro del
Pasco district has given Peru its fame for
mineral wealth, and competent engineers
assert that it contains the
RICHEST SILVER DEPOSIT IL THE WORLD.
The silver is not in iissure veins, but in an
enormous mass of ore, similar to the car
Donates Of Leadyille, yielding from $40 to
800 per ton, and worked at cost OF s. 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 profit, and they amount
to millions of tons, with silver enough III
them To pay the cost OF constructing the
road, and affording it business that will
pay the expense OF operation. About 10
per cent of the Cerro del Pasco district is
now occupied by native miners, who are
pegging along i'll the old-fashioned way
losing more silver than they win III their
operations, and securing about one-Guarter
of the profit they could gain by the use of
improved machinery Their mines are
constantly flooded with water. and have TO
be abandoned the greater part OF the year.
There are also number of old mines
which were worked first by the Jesuits and
then by the Government, but which were
long since given up and allowed to fill with
water. These abandoned mines Mr.. Grace
agrees TO pump and place in working order,
and when they are cleared he has the priv
ilege OF working them to his own profit for
ninety-nine years. The local miners have
gross product for introducing pumping
machinery and operating it. The same
set OF pumps will serve the whole district,
and the revenue which will be derived
from
TIE NATIVE MINERS
Will pay the expenses of keeping in order
the mines which Mr.. Grace will operate.
1t is estimated that $780, 900 will clean up
the property and pay for the necessary ma
chinerv 10 do thorough work and the profits
cannot be overestimated if all that is told
of the mines is true. | will not repeat the
fables and traditions about these mines of
which the air is full. The I'll Dorado, for
which the world was hunting two centuries
ago, was but u shadow of the substance
said to have been found here. Away in
in the heart OF the Andes, almost beyond
the reach of men, involving an enormous
cost for transportation, and an expense of
operation which miners OF modern times
would consider improbable, the priests
and monks in past centuries have found
untold tons of treasure. The one-tilth,
which was always set apart for the King OF
Spain, and of which a record was scrupu-
lousy kept by the Viceroys, reached into
the millions, and the tithes which were
paid to the Church amounted to millions
more. During the last few decades the
mines have scarcely been worked, for as
large product of silver as Peru could con-
sumo was found i'll more convenient To-
calites.
THE RAILROAD
Was begun by Mr. Meigs in 1870. Starting
from the sea, it ascends the narrow valley
of the once sacred Rimac, rising 5000 feet
in the first forty miles, to a healthy val
ley, where the people of Lima have found
an attractive summer resort; then it fol-
lows winding, giddy pathway along the
edge of precipices and over bridges that