New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-10-06
ACROSS THE ANDES.
THE RAILROAD TO RE FINISHED IN 1899

THE RAILROAD TO III flNlShED I'm io'~'
IRON AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
Montevideo September 2
The year 1892 will probably be slgnahzed III
South America by q most interesting event III
civil engineering and in international overland
commerce This will be nothing less than the
completion and opening of the 1ransandean Rail
road. forming another railroad line from the At
lantie To- the Pacific and the first across the
continent OF South America 1t IS nineteen years
since this work was begun, and it Is now con-
fdently expected that it will be finished by the
beginning of S92. The road Is to run from
Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso, distance OF 81
miles. There are now Gao miles Of it finished
at the Buenos Ayres end and eighty-two at the
VALPARAISO end or the remaining 149 miles, about
one-tlrd is practically complete, the rails beng
laid The passage of the Andes is accomplished
at the Cumbre Pass which is 1905 feet above
sea-level. The railroad, however, does not reach
the summit of the pass but pierces the mountains
by means of tunnel more than three miles
long, at an elevation of 1O,450 feet above the
sea. Ills makes it one of the highest if not the
highest railroad in the world. There is nothing
in Europe to compare with it. The st. Gothard
Railroad is 1888 feet high, and that on the Rgi
only attans an elevation of 5,753 feet. The
grades are of course, very steep. For con-
siderable distance the rise is more than 422 feet
to the mile foot in every twelve and hall.
On this portion of the line a rackrail Is en-
ployed. similar to those on the Ilartz and other
mountain roads.
One unfortunate feature of the road, which
will seriously impair its value, is the diversity OF
gauges adopted The different sections of the
road have been built by different companies, and
each company has its own gauge. Thus there
are $40 miles, from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza, OF
5 feet inches gauge: the So miles from Val
paraso to Santa Rosa are of feet 1-2
inches gauge, and the remaining 149 miles. from
Mendoza to Santa Rosa being laid in the
narrow gauge of one metre. Thus, even when
the road ie finished il will not be possible to run
a train through from end to end. The serious
ness of the defect is now appreciated, however
and il is probable that steps will be taken to
make the gauge uniform
The opening of this Transandean Railroad will
do away with great deal of the navigation around
Cape Horn, which has been the only means Of
commerce between the east and west coasts OF
South America. 1t will Also of course, prove Of
enormous benefit in other ways to both Chill and
the River Plate countries. Especially, 1t Will
give The coal and copper and other products of the
mines of Chill splendid market in the Argentine
Republic; and it will allow the produce Of the
fertile farms in the latter country to have better
ciic Coast And the produetiveness of the land in
the valley of the River Plate seems to have no
limit The soil greatly resembles that of the rich
est wheat districts of South Dakota, and in
places that of the Nile Delta There hundreds
of miles of the richest black loan, fifteen or
twenty feet deep There are thousands of acres
around Montevideo and BuenoS Ayres that have
been under constant cultivation for 200 years
in all that time no artificial fertilizer has been
applied to the SOIL yet there is no perceptiblc
failing in its reproducing powers There are
nearly a thousand million aares OF such land. The
climate. too, is most favorable. There is scarcely
a week In the year in which outdoor work cannot
he done on the farms Billiards unknown,
and even the bitter cold OF the Middle Atlantic
States is not experienced here. In summer the
heat is great but dos not surpaSs that of New
England The only defects of the climate are the
Irregularities of the rainfall There are sometimes
drouths and sometimes floods. But this evil is
being steadily overcome by systems of irrigation
and by wholesale tree-pantng on the open plains
The Chilians have very properly been nicknamed
the Yankees of South America" They do in.
deed exhibit the characteristic Yankee thrift and
enterprise. But the Argentine Republic has of
late years also become much like the United States
especially the Western States The enormous i'm
migration. amounting TO hundreds of thousands
annually gives the people the same cosmopolitan
character. The vast plains, devoted TO wheat
growing and to cattle raising, remind one greatly
Of the prairies and plains Of the United States
The opening of direct railroad commerce between
the East and West coasts viii effect u practical
commercial and Industrial union between the ma.
tons Chill will be the New England Of South
America the mining and manufacturing region,
while the River Plate country will correspond to
the Mississippi Valley as the great agricultural
country of this continent