Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-31
PUEBLA To VERA CRUZ
Continuous Panorama of Beau
tiful Scenery.
FIRST MEXICAN RAILWAY
Nearly Forty Years to Build and Cost
Ninety Millions.
JALAPA, THE CITY OF FLOWERS
Place of Importance Before the
Spanish Conquest-Noted for It's
Beautiful Women.
JALAPA, THE CITY OF FLOWERS
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and Chicago
Record Herald

Record Herald
VERA CRUZ. Mexico, March IS, 1906
From Puebla to Vera Cruz is a con-
tinuous panorama of beautiful scenery, a
! combination of mountains plains and trop-
| iCaI jungles You start I'm the morning at
Z O'Clock at an altitude of nearly 5000 feet,
and before sunset you are at the seashore.
having passed through three zones or
climates on the way that may be compared
to Colorado. New Mexico and Florida. 1t
ii very interesting ride particularly TO
students of natural and political history.
| There is n good deal of both on the way.
| The scenery is very attractive; the history
is even more so. Mexico has been the
| scene of many exciting events from the
landing of the SpaniardS in 1913 until the
re-estabHshment of the republic in 1867.
Since then. and particularly since 1884,
when President Diaz obtained firm grasp
upon public affairs there has been little
excitement less tragedy and comedy and
more progress and prosperity, until now
Mexico is getting to be commonplace or
binary sort of country where people are
working for living and making good
money.
First Mexican Railway.
AS told you the other day the first rail-
way In Mexico was between Vera Cruz and
the capital. 1t was begun in 1887 and
although it is less than 264 miles long The
early history of that road is a striking
illustration of the way things used to be
done down here before the present prac-
ttcal administration took hold of things
All the freighting between Vera Cruz. the
principal port of the country. and the in
terror was done by oXcarts, and thousands
of them were employed. They were op-
posed to railway. of course. because it
would deprive them of their business, and
they hreathed threatening and slaughter
toward the enterprise until some brilliant
genius, whose name is lost to history, sug-
gested means of modifying them. 1t was
expensive, but effective. To keep the
carteros busy, to keep their minds off their
troubles as II were, it was decided to give
them something to do, and, instead OF be-
ginning the road at Vera Cruz and build
ing toward the interior. the carteros were
employed to haul the rails. ties and other
materials up the mountains 300 miles to
the City of Mexico, and construction was
commenced there instead.
But all the carts have disappeared The
old wagon road, paved with fiat blocks of
stone, which was the first great work of the
onquistadores, is practically abandoned.
Formerly almost everything that entered or
left the republic went that way but now
the two railways take all the freight and
passengers, and the road is used only for
local business between the farms and the
towns. An automobile came down from the
City of Mexico to Vera Cruz last year with
great difficulty, and that is said to be the
otliS wheeled VENICE that has gone over ii
for more than dozen years.
Maximilian's Arrival and Death.
When Macmillan, the Austrian prince,
entered the country to accept the throne of
an empire he went up to the capital that
way. He rode in a glded coach drawn by
SIX horses mounted in gold 1t had been
sent over from France IN advance of his
arrival in order that he might impress the
Z N. nit n u-Y,FG
was escorted by what was probably the
most brilliant cavaIcade ever seen on the
/ American continent. 1t furnished a most
/ striking contrast to the poverty of the peo-
pie and the primitive habltations along the
! way queen tarIotta came down the road
I at a gallop when she left Mexico for Paris
{ to appeal TO Louis Napoleon for stronger
I support in money and men and political in
1 hueuce, bat he refused to save the totter-
ing empire because Secretary Seward had
| notified him that the presence of a French
/ army upon American soil was offense to
the United States. Carlotta went crazy
/ with grief and anxiety and is still mel
auChOly maniec in a sanitarum near Brus-
| sells. 1t is said that she still lmagiues her
/ self Empress of Mexico, and maintains
/ mimic court behind the bars Of the insane
/ hospital.
/ Maximilian's body, after his execution at
( QueretarO. was brought down the old high
/ way In an army wagon with a military es-
I cort-rough and rugged soldiers half Of
J them Americans, ex-coufederate refugees
another striking contrast-a very different
/ cavalcade from the pageant that attended
l his entrance.
Jalapa, the City of Flowers
The only town on the road Of any impor-
| lance Is Jalapa (meanIng place Of water
/ and sand). which was large Indian set
/ tlemcut and a place of considerable impor-
/ lance before the conquest. 1t is famous
! now for several peculiarities. In the first
| place, the women of Jalapa are declared to
| be the most beautiful in all Mexico: the