The wageworker., 1906-09-28
ONE GREAT ROUTE.
5,oo0-MILE PAN-AMERiCAN RAIL
ROAD IN SIGHT,.
Immense Project Long Planned Has
Now Actually Been Commenced
Money to Complete 1t Is
Arranged For.

Another link is in sight for the
5,OOO-mile Pan-American railroad
which will some day enable citizen
of Alaska to make a continuous train
journey through zones temperate,
tropic and again temperate, and at
the Straits of Magellan to dip his
hands in antarctic chilled water-a
scenic railway crossing the Panama
canal. with grade rising from below
sea level to 10000 feet above on the
majestic plateaus of the Andes!
Is it dream of enthusiasm? Then
must hardheaded bankers of New
York have suddenly become overen-
thusiastic in supplying $15,O0O,O00 of
capital, and the presid ent of Bolivia
quite lost his wits when the other day
he started with SO much pomp the
building of the new railway lines in
his country, says the New York Trib-
une. Speyer & Co. and the National
City bank, never accused of overen-
thusiasm before, are the capitalists.
They agree to supply another $1G,0OO,-
600, if necessary, and the Bolivian
government promises to make repay
ment within 25 years from date. More
than $1O,000,000 is to be provided for
railways by the people who name
themselves after Ell Libertador Simon
Bolivar, making the total about $37,
100000.
1t is true that this money will be
largely used on the lines of a general
system of internal railway develop
ment, yet Bolivia will be bisected by
a trunk road from Peru, on the north,
to Argentina on the south, following
the surveyed route of the Pan-Amer-
| lean scheme. The main line of this
trunk will be 459 miles long, adding
264 miles to the existing but made
| Quate and probably to be superseded
route of the narrow gauge Antofagasta
railroad. All internal lines projected
total distance of nearly 1000 miles,
about five times the length of those
existing. They include Viacha to
! Porto Pando, POI miles; Viacha to
| Oruro, 1873 miles; Oruro to Potosi, 165
miles; Oruro to Cochabamba, 129
miles, and Oyuni to Tupiza, 126 miles
From two to ten years is estimated
| as the time necessary to complete the
| various sections.
OF the Is republics that are coop
| Grating to startle with the locomotive
! whistle the condor sailing over An
dean abysses and to compete with
llama, donkey and Indian as freight
| carriers, Bolivia and Peru are now
| showing the greatest activity. The
| dizzy engineering feats of climbing
the higher mountains of the world, en-
| larging the gold bearing Incas trail
| along precipices, tunneling through
| impossible rock walls and shutting
back and forth on steel spans across
| tortuous chasms never passed by man.
| have already been accomplished with
| large success in Peru. The pioneer
genius of Henry Meiggs has it's mon
uments.
It inspires poet to think of the
snOw-clad peaks rising four miles in
| air 1t makes a railway traffic man.
ager rub his hands when he considers
the present llama-donkey-Indian style
of transportation at minimum cost
of 20 cents ton a mile. Moreover,
railway runs at the same speed and
at equal cost in both directions. What
will happen to the old-established wa
ter routes of South America, that take
twice as long and double cost to go
upstream? 1t takes two weeks to
float cargo of rubber, gold or cof-
fee 1910 miles down the Madeira
river but a month for boats to go up.
And in the dry season, when the river
runs low, traffic is at standstill.
The Pan-American line, as starting
from the present Mexican railroad ter
minus at Ayutla. the northern bound
airy of Guatemala, and extending to
the river Quiaca, of the boundary be-
tween Bolivia and Argentina (whence
existing lines run south and east), it
is estimated will cost $500, 200, 900.
Mileage and cost are surpassed by
single systems in this country, it is
pointed out Some engineers, think
ing of CULTS and heights to conquer,
have deemed the average estimate Of
$4,000 a mile optimistic. Yet the
actual cost of road from Lake Titi-
caca, the inland sea of South America,
corresponding to Baikal in Siberia, to
Bolivias capital city, La Paz, has
proved to be only $4,000 mile. This
line begins to run along the great cen
trail plateau of Bolivia, a prairie r.,
900 feet above the sea, and misty
with clouds, yet surmounted by the
, lordly peaks, more than four miles
, high, of the Illampu Cordilleras. On
this majestic plain the present main
line is to be built. Here the engi
neering difficulties are practically nil
and there is no fear of encounterins
! such chimera as the moving noun
tain that lately baffied the builders OF
: an Argentine railroad. The mountain
, is a great cone of mud, that changes
it's shape when the river Medic frets
, in the rainy season. A steel spar
500 feet long is believed to have con
, quered the unstable foe.
When "Booking" Meant Booking"
, A railway clerk will nowaday.
A | Q00 nacSnnua1-c ho1r. for