Arizona republican., 1905-07-04
OVER DEEP GORGES.
Strenuous Task of Engineers Building
 Railways in Mexico.


 "The task of building transcont- 1 mental railways in Mexico, leading from these great central highlands across the western Sierras to the Pa cific coast" said Professor Edmund Otis Hovey, of the American Museum of Natural History who recently re- turned from an extensive trip through Northwestern Mexico, lis one of the most interesting engineering prob lems of today.
 If anyone takes the map of Mexico and studies the railroads, he will see that there is no direct communication anywhere between the central high plateau and the vast and populous district lying along the Pacific ocean
 Thirteen or fourteen spurs run westward from the national lines of Mexico. the Mexican Central and Oth- CT roads towards the west, but not one of them has yet been able to get down through the maze of canyons forming the 'brealI-of' of the western escarpment of the great plateau.
 At present, for instance, the resi- dent of Guaymas, one of the principal Mexican ports on the Gulf of Califor- nia, who wishes to go to Chihuahua, only 25O miles distant in a straight line, must make railway journey Of aDOQI 1,lUU llHeS. ana pass tilIOuSn portions of the United States on his way.
 Political reasons alone, however, have not been sufficient to induce comparatively poor people like the Mexicans to overcome the engineering difficulties incident to the cOnstruc- tion of direct routes from the plateau to the Pacific. The great development of mining interests in the southwest eTn part of the United States and the north of Mexico, combined with the increasing scarcity of timber suitable for the extensive use of mines, and the consequent increased first cost of such timber and long haul from more distant sources of supply, have turned the attention of American capitalists toward the great forests of pine that have been long known to exist on the high mesas of the western Sierra mountains.
 This necessity for new supplies of timber has accomplished what even the known riches of Mexican mines failed to bring about, and new railroads ale pushing into the heart of the noun tains and are sure in the near future to conquer the canyons lying between the high plateaus and the Pacific coast"
 AlullIS IldCIialGIy CdIl De NcIIltu on mule back to almost inaccessible deGles in the mountains, and high gold and silver ores will pay the transpor- tation charges on cargoes as well as on it's own conveyance to smeIters. Timber, however, is too awkward to be carried on mule back, and must have a cheaper method of transportation which can be supplied only by the rail- roads.
 From Chihuahua the Chihuahua and Pacific railroad is pushing it's way westward, and has reached Temo- sachic on the edge of the ArOs can yon but there encounters the great land grant acquired recently by Col. w. C. Greene, who perceived long ago the necessity of obtaining timber land nearer to his great copper mines in Cananea, Sonora, than are the forests of Washington and Louisiana, which are the present sources of supply. Tn order to reach his land grant of timber lands and valuable mineral de- pOsits, Col. Greene recently bought the Sierra Madre and Pacific railway which was already built and in oper- ation for 15O miles from Fl Paso di- rectly toward the center of his pos l sessions, and at once began it's exten- sion toward the coveted timber. From CaSaS GrandeS the rO9dDed, Tn the last l few months, has been made ready for the rails 12O miles, and is now at thS edge of the great forest near the new 1 ly established town of Dietrich.
 Prom Diedrich the road will be ex- tended across the Aros canyon to the most valuable pine lands which are upon the mesa Veuado and neighbor- ing pIateaus. This railroad will tap the rich mining districts of Guayaro-