The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-12-14


viii American enterprise ever reach
it's limit. VIII American brains and
energy capture IN the near future all
the contracts of foreign as well as do
nestle capitalY This is the thought
which strikes home to us as we read
of the latest tremendous undertaking
carried on by lankee 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 ii scarcely less won
derful is he mighty work now In pro
cess of construction for a Scotch syn
dictate and engineered by a New cork
bred American.
Away down ia beuadOr, a land which
most Of us, with our hazy geographical
vision, think Of only as a conglomera-
ton OF tropical f0liEgc, bright-hued but
TEXTILES and half-nnde 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 with 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 ScOtchnes and LOndOners dis
covered the possibilities of this land
Of promise; the next thing was to open
up avenues Of commerce and human
travel.
Guayaquil and Quito are two -four
ishing cities-thatki In point Of pOpula-
ton, but to get from one to the other,
although only 300 miles apart, is an
undertaking of no little difficulty. Ser
penis and pestiferOus vermin lie In
wait for the unwqry traveller, ana the
ghOulish condor from dizzy mountain
peaks anticipates the |unearthly feast
which he may pick from the bones of
some luckless adventurer lost in the
gloomy gorges or fallen from some
fearful precipiee. The light Of civili-
cation 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 cOngenial re-
gions.
James 2. Mcdonald, a New York con-
tractor, is the man selected to be at
the head Of this great engineering en-
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 Guayaquil to Quito, which
he is now engineering, is said to be
but 800 miles long, but the difficulties
In the way make the task n requiring
unusual perseverance and knowledge,
and involving enormous expense. Full
ly S25, 100000 will be required to carry
this great project to conclusion. Stone
work and masonry that it is neces-
sary to use to a 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 feel above the sea level.
Though there are at present but 1900
men pushing the work forward this
number will soe \ be swelled by 5000
pative Jamaicans, with whom Mr.. Nc
Donald is now contracting.
If Guayaquil were 1000 miles from
Quito the people could scarcely be
more expectant and anxious for their
connection than are the inhabitants OF
these two tropical cities. The pOpula-
ton of Quito is about $4,000, while
Guayaqul 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 a country just bursting
to be opened up and developed that II
may coin money for English and Amer.
lean capital.
Ecuador is n country so little devel-
Oped as a commercial and mining cen.
ter that Ii seems. like all tropical coun.
tries when first laid bare to the eye OF
civilization. a verltable fairyland OF
beauty and riches.