Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-11
P|ERCES THE ANDES
Costly Tunnel Connecting
Chile. and Argentine.
RAILWAY LINE BUILDING
Trains Expected to Run by the
First of July, 1910.
PROJECTED BIZ AN AMERICAN
Opening of Traffic Between VAL
paraiso and Buenos Aires to
Be deliberately Celebrated.
PROJECTED By AN AMERICAN
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Herald.
Cablegrams from Valparaiso announce
that the tunnel under the Andes, which
lis to allow direct railway transporta-
ton between that city and Buenos Aires,
has been pierced and it is promised that
TRAINS will be running before the LIST of
July. This is an event of the greatest
importance, for 1t will enable people to
cross the continent between Chile and
| the Argentine Republic in the winter as
well as the summer. Heretofore winter
travellers have been compelled to go
round by the Straits of Magellan, which
| is a cold and stormy voyage of four
teen or fifteen days. IT may be expected
that the formal opening of communica-
ton will be celebrated with notable cere-
monies during the coming summer, which
will add one more interesting event to
the program that commentaries the cen
tennial of the independence of the Ar
gentines.
| This tunnel has been a long time build
ing and the attempt has been abandoned
at least twice since it was first under
taken. 1t is a matter of qualification to
know that one of the greatest triumphS
| in the history of engineering has finally
been accomplished by an American syn
dictate organized by w. r. Grace & Co.
of New York
Originator of the Project.
William Wheelrisht of Camden. n. j..
grandfather of Mrs. James Bryce, wife
Of the British amba ssador in Washing
ton, was the first man to propose and
survey railway across the Andes. lie
not only built the first railroad i'm the
Argentine Republic, from Buenos Aires
I'd
Chile. from Caldera to Copiapo. in 1S49,
but was the pioneer of steam naviga-
ton on the west coast of South America.
In 1880 he conceived the plan Of estab-
fishing line Of steamers from New
York to Chile and Peru. and came to
this country for capital. He failed to
interest moneyed men in New York, but
was more successful in London, where
he orga nzed the Pacific Steam Naviga-
| ton Company. which ever since has been
tween Liverpool and Panama. A monu-
ment has been erected in his honor at
Santiago.
In 1876 Mr. Wheelright. Allen Campbell
of New York and Samuel Ward greene of
Rhode Island surveyed and partially
built the railway between Valparaiso and
Santiago and 1t was completeu by Henry
Meiggs, a fugitive bank defaulter. in
California, who also built the famous
Oroya road, which crosses the Andes in
Peru. Mr.. Meiggs surveyed a line across
the Andes to Cordova. Argentine Re
public. over the Uspallata Pass. 12.70O
feet above the sea, and first proposed
TO tunnel the mountains.
Since his day three or four different
syndicates have undertaken the work,
two of which, Clark Brothers and w. p.
Grace & Co., are Americans. The latter.
as have said, have finished the job under
contract entered into with the government
of Chile in 1903.
Tunnel a Complicated Problem.
The tunnel is one of the most COM
plicated engineering problems ever at
tempted, and is understood to have cost
about sl2,OoO0cO. On the Argentine side
the railway tracks are brought up the
mountains by a series of rack sections
or zigzag as far as the first tunnel
called FL Navarro, which is J,325 feet
long. Then by steel viaduct they cross
a tremendous gorge called the Quedebra
Blanca, TO the second tunnel, known as
Los Cueyas. which is II. 1913 feet long, and
is the highest elevation on the line This
crosses the boundary between the two
countries, and on the Chile side the noun
tains fall SO rapidly that it was neces-
sary to build a series of helicoidal OF
screw-shaped tunnels like those on the
st. Gothard road in Switzerland. describ-
ing a corkscrew, 27.S4D feet long and
dropping II, 49, feet in that distance. The
aggregate length of the several tunnels
is eleven miles, and the highest elevation
is $500 feet. which is 300 feet below
the pass of Uspallata
While the tunnels have been building
travellers have crossed the pass on horse
back and in coaches and it is not an IN
pleasant journey during the summer
months, although in winter, from April
to October. It is exceedingly dangerous
on account of the sudden billiards. and
heavy SHOWS that fill up the roads until
~, f1.1 I;1J l~1K.-
men and beasts.
Travel by Stages.
For several years a line of stages has
been running between the termini of the
railways, and during the last year or so
1T has been a journey of only four or five
hours. with comfortable quarters on both
sides Of the pass. At intervals along the
trail low cabins of heavy stone and ce-
ment. called ''casuchas," that look like
enormous bake-ovens, have been erected
as refugees for mail carriers and trav-
elers who are overtaken by storms, and
many lives have been saved by these
rude but hOspitable shelters. Sometimes
landslides and snowstormS have kept
travellers in these cells, which are not
more than sixteen feet square, for sew
eral days but that discomfort was much
better than freezing To death on the trail.
II is said that Don Ambrosio O'Hig-
gins, father of the famous Barney O'His-
gins, the lrishman who led the revou-
ton for independence from Spain. in
vented and built the first casucha when
he was inspector of highways, before the
independence Of the republic. Tney were
originally intended for the mail carriers.
Before the days of steam all mails from
Europe for the coast of South America
used to be carried over the mountains
by couriers from Buenos Aires, instead
of taking cruise of indefinite length,
often three or four months, during the
stormy season around the Horn Even
now there is a gain of from six to eight
days in time by sending the mail that
way instead of on steamer through the
Straits of Magellan.
Three Couriers Travel Together.
The couriers go in threes. One carries
the post bag. another the provisions and
the third the blankets and extra clothing,
so that they can assist or fulfill the Of
fee OF each other in case one should be
killed. 1t formerly took seven or eight
days for the mails 10 cross from Los
Andes the principal starting place on
the Chile side, TO Mendoza in the Argen-
tine Republic. Now mounted courier
often covers the distance between the rail-
way termini In three or four hours. There
has been no serious accident to a mail
carrier since August. 1881. when Victor
Lagos and Juan Guerra were overtaken
hy an avalanche. In the spring their
hodicr We're found under an enormous
pli. OF earth and snow. In July. 1850.
courier named Vidal Tnro froze to death
with tho thermometer - degrees below
B~ro
The most picturesque feature Of the
Quincy H. puenta del Inca. where there
n natural bridge similar IL that in