Evening star., 1899-01-28

feet higher than Leadvile The Uspallata
Pass, where the road crosses the noun
tain is 1900 feet high. but the tunnel
which passes through this will be only
l",642 feet above the sea. II will be almost
. mile lower than the tunnel through
Mount Mcigs on the railroad which goes
across tbs Andes back of Lima. Peru and
more than tlree-GuarterS of a mile lower
than the railroad from the sea up to Lake
Titicaca on the Bolivian plateau.
The building of the road is merely mat
ter OF money. 1t has no engineering diff
cCturs which cannot be easily Surmounted.
although the Andes are very steep just at
this point, making necessary different kinds
of tracks To get over Them. The summit
Will be reached by a racked rail in the CEN
ter q the track, the cars being hauled by
locomotives on cUgSed car wheels. which
work in these racks. The track will be
about the same. | understand. as that up
Mount Washington and those OIL Pike s
Peak and the RiShi. Similar roads are also
used 10 climb the mountains of Brazil back
of Santos and Rio Janeiro.
y great objection 1t seems to me in this
mountain line is that it is a narrow gauge,
Whl!" both the Chilean and the Argentine
railroads which connect with it are broad
gauge. The cog line is only three feet three
inches wide, and transfers will have to be
made at both ends of it, so that altogether
the plan of conStruc tion seems bad. There
should he one gauge from ocean to ocean,
so that goods can be taken from the Pa
cilc and remain on the cars until they are
Across the Andca by Rail.
This railroad when completed viii be one
of The great scenic railroads of the world.
Suppose we cross the continent by it. We
start at Valparaiso. the great seaport of
Chile on the Pacific. II has 10000 people,
and its houses are as fire as those of any
European seaport. They are built in ter
races rising one above arother in the shape
of an anphitheater around a magnificent
bay. There are green trees among them
and the flowers bloom all the year round
We step out OF the boats onto stone
WharVeS. and are taken in Il carriage to d
fine two-stcry stone station. There are
waiting rooms for first and secCnd-cldss
passengers, ard we find a crowd in both
places. We ask for our tickets, but are
told that 1t is yet an half hour before the
train starts and that tickets will be sold
until fifteen minutes litter. At precisely
quarter of all hour before leaving time the
agent opens the window and gives us our
tickets. We try TO check our baggage, but
are told that We must pay express rates on
every pound, and that nothing is free. We
get receipt. however, and then cross over
the track to reach the cars. We step down
to do this, for the tracks are sunken and
the platforms are level with the floor of
the cars.
While we wait for the train let us make
a note of the passengers. Beside me stands
a young English girl. with school books
under her arm, and there are English and
German merchants who are waiting for
the train for Santiago. There are Chilenos.
with big hats and ponchos, who have come
In from the country, and Chilean women,
who have their faces coated with powder.
They look the more ghastly from the
black shawls on their heads. There are
young priests in black hats and black
gowns which reach to their feet There
are Chilean military officers. in gay uni
forms. and black-eyed boys, who are going
to school from their homes in the interior.
Country Scenes in the Andes.
A bell rings at the station before the
train starts. We skirt the harbor. pass
through the swell suburb of Eina del Mar
and then come almost at once to the foot
hills of the Andes. We pass oxen plowng
in the fields. dragging wooden plows
through the burrows by pole fastened to
yoke on their heads. We go by great
vinegar DIS. lemon orchards and orange
groves, and now and then stop at village
or city of fiat One-story houses. We pass
over one low ridge after another rising
higher each time. until we come to the
great valley in which Santiago. the capital
of Chile. lies. We ride through this all
day and then strike the second range. of
the Andes. with the highest peak on our
hemisphere rising above us. That peak is
Aconcagua 1t is almost 2i.OO9 feet high.
and il touches the sky further above the
sea than any peak outside the Himalayas.