Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-22
THE TERUANTEPEC RAILWAY
PROSPECTS OF BIG MEXICAN
TRANSPORTATION ENTERPRISE.
Line Across Marrow Part of Mexico
Was an American Idea-The
Eads' Ship Railway.

Hardly has work COMMENCED in earnest
on the construction of the Panama canal
when rival route, of which little was said
during the progress of building, is now
about ready to be opened to the trade Of the
world. This new trade route is the Tehuan-
tepec National railway. built across the 18TH
mus of the same name by the firm Of S.
Pearson & Son. Limited, of London, under
contract with the Mexican government. with
| terminal facilities for deep water shipping
| at the ports of Coatzacoalcos. on the Gulf
| Of Mexico. and Salina Cruz, on the Pacific
The isthmus proper lies between the paral-
lels OF 16 and 1S degrees north latitude and
the meridians of 81 and 95 degrees west
longitude. The Coatzacoalcos river, which
rises in the foothills of the Sierra Madre
mountain range, flows into the Gulf OF Mex
leo. and at Its mouth a natural haroor 1s
formed which is INSTRUCTED by a bar On
the Pacific side there is no natural shelter:
IN fact. hardly an open ocean roadstead
AS the bird flies it Is about 125 miles across
the isthmus from ocean TO ocean, but by
the route which the railway is compelled
to follow, owing to heavy grades, the dis
lance is 100 miles.
Projected in 1847.
The project of a ship railway across the
isthmus is, strictly speaking, an American
idea, and early 1877 Negotiations were
| opened with the Mexican government on
behalf of the United States for the con-
struction Of railway. Later surveys were
made and attempts begun at both railway
building and canal digging, and this long
before Capt. James B. Eads planned his
project for an isthmian railway. 1t was
not, however until 1882 that serious efforts
were made to unite these sections and form
through line, but when this was done
the construction was SO poor that 1T was OF
little use for traffic. In 1898 the enterprise
was taken in hand by the firm of S. Pear
son e. Son. Limited. of London, the road
to be operated Jointly by the Mexican gov
eminent and the English firm under a fifty
one year contract The original contracts,
however, were modified in 1902 so as to in
Guide substantially the entire rebuilding OF
the railway and the construction of harboI
WORKS at CoatZacoalcoS and Salina Cruz.
Good Piece of Construction.
AS 1t exists today the Tehuantepec Ma
tional railway is an unusually good work of
railway construction and seems capable of
sustaining all the freight traffic that can be
obtained for it. The road is standard gauge
of feet So inches. For the clayey soil
there is rock ballast and gravel. The sleep
ers are creosoted pine. California redwood
and native hardwood. Eighty pound rails
We're employed and the locomotives and roll
ing stock are of the best makes. The best
steel bridges, with solid masonry and abut
ments, are utilized wherever a river is to
be crossed, and this is especially important
on account of the torrertial rains of the wet
season. Moreover, the locomotives burn
fuel oil from Beaumont, Tex, loaded in
tank steamers and delivered at Coatzacoal-
cos. where the railway company has a large
steel storage tank of capacity of 800 600
gallons. from which It is distributed to
smaller supply tanks along the line each
having capacity of $500 gallons.
The gulf or Atlantic terminal is at the
mouth of the Coatzacoalcos river. The en-
gineering problem of dredging a channel
o. fhn no to
following the Eads plan at the mouth of the
Mississippi. Converging ietties have been
built from the mouth of the river to the sea
in which the current is confined and scours
out the channel. The normal bar is ii feet
on the crest. The channel has been deepen-
ed to SO feet and to 32s feet wide In this
way a deep inner basin has been created
The jetties bikes converge from g. AS feet
at the shores to $40 feet at the sea ends
There are one and quarter miles of wharf
age. steel wharves. and the plans include
nine warehouses, each 400 feet in length.
Problem at Salina Cruz.
At Salina Cruz. on the Pacific, the engi-
neering problem was much more serious
than on the gulf The northers which sweep
across the isthnus beat the surf out to the
sea, and since there is no natural shelter
1t was necessary to construct both an outer
or refuge harbor and an inner harbor with
wharves and dry docks. The only advantage
offered by nature was the rocky promontory
80 feet high, from the base of which
breakwaters could be extended These
breakwaters have been constructed with the
convex sides turned seward. The jetties
at the entrance are Cos feet across The
east breakwater Is one kilometer long and
the west Dreakwater about 1900 feet long
But the real harbor is to be the inner basin,
which will be entered by ships from the
outer harbor and in which absolutely still
water is to be found. The interior basin is
wholly artificial and occupies on the shore
the former site of the old town of Santa
Cruz. the excavation having been done by
two dredgers the Mexico and the Britain
mic. At the front of the basin is a wall of
concrete monoliths. each meters wide -
meters long and II meters high, the tops
being four meters above low water. This
monolith wall is protected by a rubble wall
finished with cement, and the Intervening
space between both walls has been filled
in with sand and other material so as to
give level, uniform surface about seventy
meters wide An entrance thirty meters
wide has been left in the dividing wall for
the passage of ships from the outer harbor
to the inner basin, this entrance being
spanned by two swing bridges.