The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-08-12
TEHUANTEPEC.
The Famous Railway Now
Completed.
OF BENEFIT TO SAN FRANCISCO.
Making Harbors for the Protection of
Shipping-New Lines of
Steamers.

The announcement of the completion of
the Tehuantepec Railroad has been made
by the Mexican Government, and it is GEN.
fidently anticipated that by the first OF
the coming year interoceanic traffic Will
be inaugurated. Until, however. tie pier
at Sallna Cruz, the Pacific terminus OF the
road, is completed, and the bar at the
mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River. the
eastern terminus, is dredged, the railroad
will be available only for local traffic.
At Salina Cruz the pier will extend into
the Pacific distance of 900 feet of which
800 feet is complete. The material for the
balance has been delivered. and nothing
now remains to be done but to finish the
ocean end, work requiring but few
weeks Of active effort Upon this
pier the rails are TO be laid, ware
houses built and every appurtenance
for the quick discharge and loading Of
steamers and sailing vessels is to be pro-
vided. The depth of water will enable
vessels of any draft to lie alongside the
mole, where freight will be discharged
from the hold direct 10 the cars. The
pier, however. is only intended for tenn
porary purposes. 1t will be succeeded by
sells can anchor secure from the dangers to
which they would be subjected in an open
roadstead.
At Salina Cruz are ago0ns of depth suf-
flclent 10 float the largest ships, but sepa-
rated from the ocean by huge banks OF
sand. BY dredging an entrance to these
lagoons harbor can be created absolutely
safe, Of ample depth and sufficiently great
IN area to accommodate large fleet. The
construction Of the harbor will soon be
commenced and prosecuted TO completion
just as rapidly as the magnitude and diff
culties Of the undertaking will admit.
AT the eastern end of the road no such
difficulties exist. The lower part of the
CoatZacoalcos River is broad and deep and
for thirty miles vessels OF the largest draft
Can find secure and ample anchorage. The
banks Of the river are nigh and the tracks
Of the road can be laid directly upon them,
while vessels can be moored alongside In
twenty-five feet of water and receive and
discharge freight with the greatest facility
and speed. There is bar al the mouth of
the river which now prevents vessels
drawing more than twelve feet from en-
tering. but the necessary operations for
dredging through this bar to depth of
twenty-five feet have been inaugurated and
IL is expected will prove work of but lit
tie difficulty. The contractors say IL will
be completed by the first of the coming
year without fail. The removal of this
obstruction will make Coalzacoalcos har-
Dor the finest in the whole bile, land
locked, easy Of approach, deep and secure
and pronounced by an eminent American
engineer as the finest on the Atlantic
coast of North America south OF Chesa-
peake Bay"
The Tehuantepec Railway runs across
the isthmus Of that name at the point
where the territory of the republic of
10 nd haYa bor
tains are Of the lowest altitude. The
isthmus itself is less than 200 miles in
width, situated between 16 and Is degrees
north latitude.
From the time of Cortez. the great i'm
portance of the Tehuantepec route to the
commercial interests of the world has
been recognized by every civilized Govern
meut 1t is the nearest narrow pass in
America TO line joining the great centers
of the worlds commerce-San Francisco,
Hong-KOng, Yokohama, Shanghai, New
York. Liverpool, Havre, Hamburg and
the Mediterranean.
Our Government has long been anxious
to control this route. When Commits
sioner Irish visited Mexico subsequent to
the Mexican War he was directed 10 offer
Mexico the princely sum of SO. 100000 for
an exclusive right of way through the
Isthmus, but though the country was ex-
hausted from the long and destructive
war which she had waged against the
United States, her people were too patri-
otto to even consider the cession of so
valuable possession as the Tehuantepec
isthmus and rejected the proposition of
the United States.
The result Of numerous surveys only
confirmed all previous estimates of the
immense value of Tehuantepec as the ave-
nue. for successful commercial enterprise
in the building of an interoceanic railroad.
Applications had been repeatedly made TO
the Mexican Government for concession
for building it and granted with most lib
eral privileges where the resources OF the
grantees appeared to be- adequate tor the
accomplishment of the project, but in
every instance these attempts came to
naught. All the concessions were aban-