The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-12-04

The r,aiSroas - Ts~ Fin shed In 1891
T.rs,o c ss.r. .s--sEnorm sns tiratics.
Tho year .SaS will probably be signal
lied in sou. b A nerica by a most inter
esfing cvcrt IA s'iyiI engineering and in
i7fernatscslsl ov>r and commerce. This
viii be nothing less than the completion
and opening Cd another railroad line from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. and the first
across the continent Of South America
II Is nineteen years since this work was
becuu. and it is now confidently expected
that il will lie finished by the beginning
of 1892. The road is TO run from Buenos
Arres to Valparaiso. a distance Of S1l
miles There are now GO miles of it
finished at the Buenos Ayrcs end and
eiehty-two at the Valparaiso end OF the
remaining i49 miles about one-third IS
nracticaIly complete. the rails being laid.
4 The passareof the Andes is accomplished
at the Cunlbre pass. which is l3.0l5 feet
above sea level The railroad. however.
does not reach the summit of the pass
but piorces tie mountains by means Of
I a tunnel more than three miles long. at
an elevation Of 10. $50 feet above the sea.
i This makes 1t one Of the highest. if not
the highest. railroad in the world There
Is nothing il Europe 20 compare with II
/ The ST. Gothard railroad is 3.sSS feet
high. and that on the Rigi only sttains
an elevation Of 5.753 feet. The grades
are. of course. very steep For con-
siderable distance the rise is more than
zoe feet 90 the mile. or one foot in every
twelve and half. On this portion Of the
line racLrail is employed similar to
those on the Hartz and other mountain
roads
One unfortunate feature of the read.
which viii 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 GO miles from Buenos Ayres to Men
doza Of feet 6inches gauge. the eighty
two miles from Valparaiso to Santa Rosa
are feet 81 inches gauge, and the re-
manning 149 miles from Mendoza TO
Santa Rosa are being laid in the narrow
gauge of one metre. Thus. even when
the road is finished. it viii not be possible
to run train through from end TO end.
The seriousness Of the defect is now APP
preciated. however. and it is probable
that steps Will be taken 10 make the
gauge uniform.
The opening OF the transandean rail
road 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 Il viii also. of course. prove
Of enormous benefit in other ways TO both
Chill and the River Plate countries.
Especially it viii give the coal and cop
per and other products of the mines Of
Chill a splendid market in the Argentine
Republic: and it will allow the produce
Of the fertile farms in the latter country
TO have better access TO the poorly sup
piled raarkets of the Pacific coast. And
the productiveness Of the land in the val
ley Of the River Plate seems to have no
limit The soil greatly resembles that Of
the richest wheat districts of South Da-
kota. and in places that of the Nile delta
There are hundreds of miles Of the rich
est black loan. fifteen or twenty feet
deep. There are thousands of acres
around Montevideo and Buenos Ayres
that have been under constant cultiya-
ton for 200 years: in all that time no ar
tificial fertilizer has been applied TO the
soil. yet there is no perceptible failing In
its crop producing powers. There are
nearly thousand million acres of such
land
The climate. too. is most favorable.
There is scarcely a week in the year in
which outdoor work cannot be done on
the farms. Blizzards arc unknown, aud
even the bitter cold of the middle At
lantic states is not experienced here. In
summer the heat is great, but does not
surpass that Of New England. The only
defects Of She climate arc the irregulari-
ties Of the rainfall. There are some
times dTushts and sometimes floods.
But this vi is being steadily overcome
by systems Of irrigation and by whole
sale tree planting on the open plains.
The Chilians have properly been nick
named the yankees Of South America"
They do, indeed. exhibit the character
istlc Yankee thrift ana enterprise. but
the Argentine Republic has of late years
also become much like the United States,
especially the western states. The enor-
nous immigration, amounting to hun
dreds of thousands annually, gives the
people the same cosmopolitan character.
The vast plains. devoted to wheat grow
ing 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 ard
west coasts viii effect a practical COM
mercial and industrial union between
the nations. Chill viii be the New Eng
land of South America, the mining and
manufacturing region, while the River
Plate country will correspond to the
Mississippi valley as the great agricul-
tural country Of this continent.-Co
New York Tribune.