Evening star., 1898-05-14

Nh NJ &AA 1ldHSIHS "
,M1aNsN " WNA pices. flying on
NNNNSNNESft< ~ bridges over fright
umrsyI[6NkSAE& Y full chasms, whirling
SxGMNraSz2 about curves, now in
IaAWXW. The the nlsa,sst nj ,,,s,.,., dark, ark
nels 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 trip from which 1 have Just
returned During it l have ascended 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 13S miles long, but it climbs up the
steepest mountains of the globe. In less
than 100 miles it ascends more than three
miles, and at its highest point it is IL. .665
feet above where it starts at the port of
Callao on the Pacific ocean. At the top
it is still 1000 feet below the summit of
Mount Meiggs. 1t cuts right through this
peak by tunnel which carries it to the
other side of the Andes 1t then descends
to the valley of the Jauja, through the rich
silver mining region of 1auh and finally
ends at Oroya, an Indian market town H.
11S feet above the sea. 1t is one of the
most expensive roads ever built. 1t was
dear in both money and men. Seven thous
and lives We're it is said lost during it's
construction. and the first eighty-six miles
of it cost $21. 100000 or over S3OO, 900 per
mile. Between the coast and the summit
there is not an inch of down grade and
the speed Of our hand car in my journey
over 1t was only regulated by the pressure
on the brake in the hands of the Indian
who acted 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 SiytV-threp tunnels.
some of which are of the shape of n letter
S. 1t is of the standard gauge, its
track is well laid and is in excellent condi
tioIf
Built by an American.
This road was built by an American,
though it was suggested by a Peruvian.
The man who constructed it was Henry
Meiggs Meiggs laid out the road, acted as
its engineer-in-chief, raised the money to
build 1t, and in fact, is entitled to all the
credit of its construction. The road was
. originally intended to reach the Cerro de
Pasco silver mines, but the S27.00o,000 gave
out when about eightySiX miles were built
and the 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 COM
Structed by the Peruvian corporation under
what is known as the Grace contract The
ultimate intention is to extend it farther
on into the Perene, a rich coffee-raiSing dis
tTlct, ana 10 the neau Oh the steam naVlRd-
ton of the Amazon at Chanchacayo. The
preliminary surveys for this have already
been made. The total distance from the
sea to the navigable Amazon is, l am told,
not more than 210 miles, but there is at
present no sign of the road being soon COM
pleted. 1t is doubtful whether the rail-
road now pays much more than its oper-
ating expenses, and it will be long before
1t will give dividends in proportion to its
enormous cost Only two passenger trains
are run over it week, and the chief
freight down the mountains is ore.
Climbing the Andes With an Engine.
The usual trip over 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 American firm of Grace
Co., was taken up on little en-
gine and had my ride down on the
hand car. l thus had a wonderful oppor-
, tunity for studying both the railroad con-
struction and the mighty mountains up
which it climbs. Our special engine was
called La Favorita." 1t was composed of
the engine proper and a cab walled with
glass and fitted up with comfortable seats.
This observation compartment was a part
of the engine ITSELF taking the place that
the ordinary engine uses for coal. Our lit
the engine burned coal OIL and 1t was Pc
ruvian petroleum that pulled us up the
Andes. The party consisted of the Ameri-
can minister, Mr.. Dudley; the secretary of
our leSdlloH Neal, SHeFmdn, tHe
manager of the house of Grace at Lima; a
Frenchman named Piper, and Mr. Pierson.
an electric street railroad man from Ohio,
who is out here to see whether the Lima
tramways are worth buying. The engin-
eer and his helper were Peruvians. We left
at in the morning and spent the whole
day the road, stopping to take photo
graphs 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
the Rimac is what in America would be
called q good-sized creek. 1t Is nowhere
navigable and Is, in fact, q stream of
foamfng white water from the top of the
Andes to the sea. The descent is SO steep
that quiet POOLS are nowhere to be found,
and the river Is q succession Of waterfalls,
foaming churns and rushing rapids. Dur
ing the ride we could often see the river
above and below US at the same time and
we went up, up. climbing the sides Of the
mountains, cheered on our way by the
rushing Of the waters.
Among the Sugar Cane and Cotton.
We first passed through the sugar and
cotton plantations. which I'LL the valley
above Lima. The fields look like gardens
gotten 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 a sugar hacienda, In which
on one side OF the track two steam en-
gines are pulling q cable plow through the
ing with oxen and wooden plows, urging
the beasts onward with roada fifteen foaf