The Lamar register., 1900-11-14
OVER THE ANDES
AMERICAN RAILWAY CONTRAC-
TORS WORK IN ECUADOR.
High Mountain X .nge Will he Crossed by
Bands OF steel Cost of the Enterprise
VIII Excel Twenty-Five Million Dollars
-Great Eiei,; for apitaI.


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 capital: This is the thought
which strikes home To us rs we read
of the latest tremendous undertaking
carried on by .ankee pluck and ge-
MUS ana backed by foreign capital.
Should we .,cur that some adventurous
spirit was 10 tunnel the way to the
north pole we might almost be per-
suad"d to believe IL; scarcely less Won
derful is the mighty work now in pro-
cess of construction for II Scotch syn
dicate and engineered by Il New cork
bred American.
Away down in Lcuador. n land which
most of us, with our hazy geographical
vision. think of only rs IL conglomern
tion of tropical foliage, bright-hued but
ttrtlics and half-nude natives, IA SER
pentiue line of steel track is quietly
stealing through winding valleys and
fertile farming lands, rich with south
ern Ncrdurc; Is gradually creeping on
ward through swamps and everglades,
dark wl,h moist, green vegetation; Is
slowly climbing upward over the al
most impassable 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. \ 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.
Guayaquil and Quito are two flour
f.I,t Int tn Of
ton, but to get from one to the other,
although only 300 miles apart, is an
undertaking of no little difficulty. Ser
pents and pestiferous vermn lie in
wait for the unwary traveller. ana the
ghoulish condor from dizzy mountain
peaks anticipates the unearthly feast
which he may pick from the bones of
some lucklcss adventurcr lost In the
gloomy gorgcs or fallen from some
fearful precipicc. The light of civili-
zation will soon dawn. however, and
already are the pick and the shovel
the forerunncrs of the steam whistle
and the changing bell. and the snakes.
the centipedcs and the condOrs are fast
disappearing to more congeninl re-
gions.
James +. Mcdonald, "A New York con-
tractor, is the man selected to be at
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 Yorn. 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 300 miles long. but the difficulties
in the way make the task one requiring
unusual perseverance and knowledge,
and involving enormous expense. Ful-
Iy S25,OOO.OOO will be required to carry
this great project to conclusion. Stone
work and masonry that it Is neces-
sary to use to Il great extent are large
ly responsible for the heavy outlay.
At many points along the route the
rOadbeu will reach an elevation of 49,
600 to 14,OOO feet above the sea level.
Though there are at present but 1,5OO
men pushing the work forward this
number will soon he swelled by 5000
native Jamaicans. with whom Mr.. Me-
Donald is now contracting.
If Guaynuuil We're 1000 miles from
Quito the people could scarcely be
more expcctant and anxious for their
connection than are the inhabitants OF
these two tropical cities. The popula-
tion of Quito is about 10000. while
GuayaquI 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 as vehicles
Mere connection of the two cities, how
ever. is not the ultima 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.