The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-15
1T Was Built by an American, and It's
Highest Point Is More than $4,000
Feet Above the Sea Level.
ANDEAN TRIP ON 4 HAND-CAR
SOME WONDERS OF THESE GREAT
SOUTH AMERICAN FOUNTAINS.
Frank G, Carpenters Description OF
Some of the Most Impressive
Scenes the Globe Affords.
Copyright, 1898. by Frank C. carpenter)

(CODyr1gnt, 1880, pE ridilA N' NdipchNcA1
LIMA, Peru, April 16.-Down the Andes
ON a hand car Coasting over the steepest
railroad of the world. Ddshing through
clouds to find clouds below you.
Hanging to precipices. flying on bridges
over frightful chasms, whirling about
curves now in the midnight darkness of
winding tunnels and now where the light
of day makes you shudder at the depths
below you.
This will give you a faint idea Of the
last part of a trip from which I have just
returned During it have assembled to the
very top of the mountains and have come
back again to this point, which is just six
| miles from the sea- My trip was over the
famous Oroya Railroad, the most wonderful
piece of railroad engineering ever con-
structed or planned. The road is all told
| only 1873 miles long, but it climbs up the
steepest mountains of the globe. In less
| than one hundred miles it ascends more
| than three miles and at its highest point 1t
| is 1866 feet above where it starts at the
port of Callao. on the Pacific ocean. At the
top it is still two thousand feet below the
summit of Mount Meiggs. 1t cuts right
through this peak by a tunnel which car
ries it to the other side of the Andes. 1t
then descends to the valley of the Jauja,
/ @SSAOA@
Yauli, and finally ends at Oroya, an Indian
market town 12,17S feet above the sea. DIT
is one of the most expensive roads ever
built. 1t was dear in both money and men.
Seven thousand lives were, it is said, lost
during its construction. and the first eighty
six miles of it cost $27 900, or over 100000
per mile Between the coast and the sum
init there is not an inch of down grade.
| and the speed of our hand car in my journey
| over it was only regulated by the pressure
| on the brake in the hands of the Indian
| who acted as conductor. On many parts of
| the road the grade is over per cent. and
| at such grades the track winds about and
up the Andes, passing through cuts in the
solid rock and through sixty-three tunnels,
some of which are of the shape Of letter
S. 1t is of the standard gauge, its track is
well laid and is in excellent condition.
BUILT BY AN AMERICAN.
This road was built by an American.
though it was suggested by Peruvian. The
man who constructed it was Henry Meiggs.
Meiggs laid out the road, acted as the engi-
neer-in-chief, raised the money to build it,
and, in fact, is entitled to all the credit of
it's construction. The road was originally in
tended to reach the Cerro de Pasco silver
mines, but the $27.oO0,O00 gave out when
extension is still some forty odd miles away
from these famous mountains of copper and
silver. The portion of the road above where
Meiggs left off was constructed by the Pc
ruvian corporation under what is known as
the Grace contract. The ultimate intention
is to extend it further out into the Perene,
rich coffee raising district, and to the
head of the steam navigation of the Anna
zon at Chanchacayo. The preliminary sur
veys for this have already been made. The
total distance from the sea to the navigable
Amazon is, 1 am told, not more than 210
miles, but there is at present no sign of the
| road being soon completed 1t is doubtful
whether the railroad now pays much more
| than its operating expenses, and it will be
long before it will give dividends in proper
ton to it's enormous cost. Only two passen-
ger trains are run over 1t a week. and the
chief freight down the mountains is ore.
The usual trip oyer this road is taken on
the regular passenger train, which carries
the traveller up the mountains one day and
| brings him back the next. Through the
kindness of the influential American firm
of Grace & Co, I was taken up on a huta
engine and had my ride down on the hand
car. I thus had a wonderful opportunity
| for studying both the railroad construction
anu tH0 IlliSHly HOuuldlHS up winch 1t
climbs. Our special engine was called la
| Favorita." 1t was composed of the engine
proper and a cab walled with glass and fit
! ted up with comfortable seats. This OBJ
| servation compartment was a part of the
engine itself. taking the place that the or
binary engine uses for coal. Our little en-
CINE burned coal oil, and it was Peruvian
| petroleum that pulled up the Andes
| The party consisted of the American min
ister Mr.. Dudley; the secretary of our le@
| cation, Mr.. Neal; Mr. Sherman, the man.
ager Of the House Of Grace, at Lima; a
| Frenchman named Piper and Mr. Pierson,
an electric street-rairoad man from Ohio,
! VINO is out here to see whether the Lima
tramways are worth buying. The engineer
and his helper were Peruvians. We left at
in the morning and spent the whole day
on the road, stopping to take photographs
at the most interesting points. and going
on as fast or as slow as we wished Lima
you know, is situated in the valley of the
Rimac river. 1t is right at the foot of the
Andes, and our trip was up the mountains
along the course of this river to its very
source on the summit. AT Lima the Rimac
is what in America would be called a good
sized creek. 1t is nowhere Havigable and
is, in fact, stream of foaming white water
iOlll tie top OI lIlc <aAuSS 10 the sea. The
descent is so steep that quiet pools are no.
where to be found. and the river is a sue
cesson Of waterfalls. foaming churns and
rushing rapids. During the ride we could
| often see the river above and below us at
the same time, and we went up, up. climb
ing the sides of the mountains, cheered on
our way by the rushing of the waters.
IN THE ANDES
We first passed through the sugar and cot
ton plantations which fill the valley above
Lima. The fields look like gardens got up
for show They are surrounded by mud
walls, and the crops are as green as those
of the United States in June. Now we pass
sugar hacienda, in which on one side of
the track two steam engines are pulling a
cable pillow through the field while on the
other side men are blowing with oxen and
wooden plows. urging the beasts onward
with goads fifteen feet long. In the cotton
fields gangs Of Indian workmen are work.
ing under overseers on horseback The cot
ton plants are in blossom, and the fields look
like vast gardens Of pink and yellow roses.
The men weed the plants and they are as