The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-11-07
SOUTH AMERICAN PROGRESS,
An Across-ths Continent Railroad
and What it is Expected to
ACCOMPLISH

and What it is Expected to
Accomplish.
From Montevideo Letter to New York Tribune.
The wear 1892 will probably be signal
zed in South America by a most inter
,sting event in civil engineering and
overland commerce. This
will be the completion and opening OF
the Transandean railroad, forming an
other railroad line from the Atlantic to
the Pacific and the first across the con
tinent of South America. 1t is nineteen
wears since this work was begun and ii
is now confidently expected that 1t VIII
be fms he'd by the beginning OF loS2
The road is to run from Buenos Ayres TO
VALPARAISO, a distance of 81 miles
There are now $40 miles of it finished at
the Buenos Ayres end and eighty-tWo at
the Valparaiso end. Of the remaining
149 miles about one-third is practlcaiiv
complete. the rails being laid. The pas
sage of the Andes accomplished at the
Combre pass, which is 1905 feet above
the sea level. The railroad, however,
doas not reach the summit of the pass,
but pierces the mountains by means OF
a tunnel more than three miles long, at
an elevation of 10, 450 feet above the sea-
This makes it one of.the highest, II not
the highest railroad in the world. Ihere
is nothing in Europe to compare WIN IT,
The ST. Gothard railroad is 3,7SS feet
high and that on the Rigi only attalns
an elevatation of &, 753 feet. The grades
are. of course, very steep. For con
siderable distance the rise is more than
4ee feet to the mile, or one foot III every
twelve and a half On this portion OF
the line a rack rail is employed similar
to those on the Hartz and other noun
tain roads.
One unfortunate feature of the road,
which will seriously impair its valne, is
the diversity of guages adopted. Inc
a;fyerent sections of the road have been
built by different companies, and each
has it's own gauge. Thus there are $40
miles from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza OF
8 feet inches gauge, the ~ miles from
VALPARAISO to Santa Rosa are feet 81
inches gauge, and the remaining l49
miles from Mendoza TO Santa Rosa are
beine laid in the narrow gauge OF one
meter. Thus, even when the ROAD Is
finished, it will not be possible TO run
train through from end to end. Inc
seriousness of the defect is now appre-
slated. however. and it is probable steps
will be taken to make the gauge uni
form. The opening of the Transandean
railway will do away with a great Ut ai
of the navigation around cape horh'
which has been the only means OF COM
,narea between the east and west coast
of South America. 1t will also, OF course,
nroye of enormous benefit in other ways
to both Chill and the River Plata coun-
tries. Especially will it 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 III the
latter country to have better access TO
tho poorly supplied markets OF the
Pacific coast. And the productlyeness
of the land in the valley of the River
Plata seems to have no limit. The SOIL
greatly resembles that OF the richest
wheat districts of South Dakota, and III
nIaces that of the Nile delta. There are
thousands of acres around Montevldeo
and Buenos Ayres that have been under
constant cultivation for two hundred
years; in all that time no artificial fertl-
lizer has been applied to the soil, yet
there is no perceptible failing in its crop
producing powers. There are nearly g
thousand million acres of such land.
The climate, too, is most favorable
There is scarcely a week in the year III
which outdoor work cannot be done on
the farms Billiards are unknown, and
even the bitter cold of the middle Allan
tic States is not experienced here. IL
summer the heat is great, but does not
surpass that of New England. The onl!
defects of the climate are the lrregularl
ties of the rainfall. There are sometimes
droughts and sometimes floods. But
this evil is being steadily overcome 10y
systems of irrigation and by wholesale
tree planting on the open plains. The
Chilians have properly been nick-named
the yankees of South America.
They do, indeed, exhibit the charac-
teristic Yankee thrift and enterprise
But the Argentine Republic has OF late
wears also become much like the United
States, especially the western States
The enormous immigration, 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
Dlains of the United States. The open
ing of direct railroad commerce between
the east and west coasts will effect q
practical commercial and industrial
union between the nations. Chill will
be the New England of South America,
the mining and manufacturing region,
while the River Plata country will cor
respond to the Mississippi valley as
the great agricultural country OF this
continent.