North Park union., 1900-11-23
OVER THE ANDES
AMERICAN RAILWAY coNTRAc.
TORS WORK IN ECUADOR.
High hoantaia Rangs win BE Crossed b.
Hands of stssl-Coss OF the Ents.pFiss
win Excel Twenty Ave Million Dollars
-0roat Field for Capital.

VIII American enterprise ever reach
Its limit. WIN American brains and
energy capture In the near future all
the contracts Of foreign us well as do
nestle capital? This is the thought
which strikes home to us US we read
of the latest tremendous undertaking
carried on by Aankee pluck and ge-
MUS and backed by foreign capital.
Should we near that some adventurous
spirit was to tunnel the way to the
north pole we might almost be per-
suaded to believe 1t; scarcely less Won
derful Is the mighty work now In pro-
cess Of construction for Scotch syn
dicate and engineered by New, lork-
bred American.
Away down In Ecuador, a land which
most of us, with our hazy geographical
vision, think OF only as conglomera-
ton OF tropical foliage, bright-hued but
terfiies and half-nude natives, q ser
pentine line Of steel track Is quietly
stealing through winding valleys and
fertile farming lands, rich with south
ern verdure; is gradually creeping on
ward through swamps and everglades,
dark wl,h moist, green vegetation; Is
slowly climbing upward over the al
most impossible heights of the haugh-
ty Andes that have stood for centuries
forbidding barriers to the puny devices
of man, only to be conquered finally
by Yankee ingenuity. A syndicate Of
wealthy Scotchmen and Lonuoners dis
covered the possibilities of this land
of promise; the next thing was to open
UP avenues of commerce and human
travel.
Il Quit two
ishing cities-that Is, in point of popula-
ton, but to get from one to the other,
although only 800 miles apart, IL an
undertaking OF no little difficulty. Ser
pents and pcstiferous vermin lie in
wait for the unwary traveller, ana the
shoulish condor from dizzy mountain
peaks anticipates the uncarthly feast
which he may pick from the bones of
some luckless udvcnturcr lost In the
gloomy gorges or fallen from some
fearful prccipice. The light Of civil
zation will soon dawn, however, and
already are the pick and the shovel
the forerunners of the steam whistle
and the changing bell, and the snakes,
the centipedes and the condors are fast
disappearing to more congcnial re-
gions.
James Z. Mcdonald, n New York con-
tractor, is the man selected TO be Mt
the head of this great engineering ell
terprise. Mr.. McDonald's experience
in railroad building has been wide and
varied Many thousand ties have been
laid and many miles OF steel rails fas-
tened under his supervision. Born in
New Yora, he prepared for college In
the South and finally took his degree
from the University of Tennessee. The
road from Guayaluil to Quito, which
he is now engineering. Is said to be
but 800 miles long, but the difficulties
in the way. make the task one requiring
unusual perseverance and knowledge.
and involving enormous expense. Full
ly S25 600, 600 will be required to carry
this great project to conclusion. Stone
work and masonry that 1t liz neces-
sary to use to great extent are large
" responsible for the heavy outlay.
At many points along the route the
roadbeu will reach an elevation OF 49,
600 to 1900 feet above the sea level
Though there are at present but LOON
men pushing the work forward this
number will soon Ike swellel by 5000
native Jamaicans. with whom Mr.. Nc
Donald Is now contracting.
II Guayauuil were / 900 miles from
Quito the people could scarcely be
more eXpcctant and anxious for their
connection than are the inhabitants or
these two tropical cities. The populn-
ton of Quito is about $1,000. while
Guayaqu.l will double that figure. Yet
these people are living in these days
of quick transportation with only the
forest trails and mountain passes as
roads and pack animals rs vehicles.
Mere connection of the two cities, how
ever, is not the ultimate object of this
enterprise. Along the whole line OF
the road lies n country just bursting
to be opened up and developed that 1t
may coin money for English and Amer
lean capital.
Ecuador is n country so little devel-
oped as commercial and mining CEN
ter that 1t seems. like all tropical cOun-
tries when first laid bare to the eye of
civilization. Il veritablc fairyland OF
beauty and riches.