The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-12-06
NO. IL.
ACROSS THE ANDES IN PALACE CARS.
The Railroad to BE Finished in 1909.
Three Gauges-Enormous Grades


Three Gauges-Enurmous Grades.
The year 1892 will probably be signal
lied in South America by most inter-
esting event in civil engineering and in
international oveSland commerce. This
will be nothing less than the completion
and opening of another railroad line from
the Atlantic 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 confidently expecwd
that it will be finished by the beginni,.,
of 1892. The road is to run from Bucnos
Ayres to Valparaiso. distance of S71
miles. There are now $40 miles of it
finished at the l5uenos Ayres end and
eighty-two at the Valparaiso end. Of the
remaining l49 miles about one-third is
practically complete, the rails being 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 bv means of
tunnel more than three miles long. at
all elevation of 0,450 feet above the sea.
This 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 3,7SS feet
high, and that on the Rigi only attains
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, or one foot in every
twelve and half. On this portion of the
line a rackrail is employed similar to
those on the Hartz and other mountain
roads.
One unfortunate feature of the road
which will seriously impair it's 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 GAO miles from Buenos Ayres to Men
doza of feet inches gauge, the eighty
two miles from Valparaiso to Santa Rosa
are 4 feet 81 inches gauge. and the re-
naming l49 miles from Mendoza to
Santa Rosa are being laid in the narrow
gauge OF one metre. Thus, even when
the road is finished, it will not be possible
to run train through from end to end.
The seriousness of the defect is now ap-
preciated, however, and it is probable
that steps will be taken to 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. 1t will also, of course, prove
OF enormous benefit in other ways to both
Chill and the River Plate countries.
Especially it will give the coal and cop
per 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 access to the poorly sup
piled markets 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 cultiva-
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 week in the year in
which outdoor work cannot be done on
the farms. BliZZards are unknown, and
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 the climate are the irregulari-
ties of the rainfall. There are some-
times droughts and sometimes floods.
But this evil 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 Cf South America"
They do, indeed, exhibit the character
istic Yankee thrift and 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 and
west coasts will effect practical COM
mercial and industrial union between
the nations. Chill will 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 agricui-
tural country of this continent.
New York Tribune.
Carload of Cinnamon.
A telegram received hGZo today from