The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1910-01-09
filling THE GAPS
IN ROAD
ACTIVE WORK IS BEING DONE ON
THE NEW PAN AM eRIcAN
RAILROAD


ing 10 a dispatch in the Monterey
4 News. the filling in of -wo gaps be-
tween Salvador. Guatemala and Alex
! lean railroad systems has been COM
/ nenced. The work. when completed.
will mean long step i'm the building
of pan American railroad. The line
! connecting the Salvador with the Qua
\ temala railroads has been contracted
| for. Myron c. Keith. president of the
/ United Fruit company. being the prin-
cipal promoter of the road. II will be
go kilometers in length. standard
gauge and modern in every respect.
Surveys and locations have already
been made and approved and a great
deal of the material has been ordered.
Work will be started at Santa Anna
and it Is expected that the first train
will run in about Is months. The line
will add much to the transportation IA
cilities of the two republics.
The next link In the chain will be a
line running from Ayutla, Guatemala.
to Cabelio Blanche. a station on the
Guatemala Northern. and opposite Ma
riscal. Mexico. the southern terminus
of the american railway. Work
on this line has been in progress for
some time and includes the building OF
a large international bridge across the
Suchiate river. 1t will be 60 kilo-
meters in length and. when completed,
will make through traffic from the
Alaskan border to Salvador possible
passenger service from principal
points in the United States to the City
Of Salvador will be inaugurated inside
of two years. II is hoped.
The building OF these lines will have
a wide bearing on transportation i'm
Central America and even in the Unit
ed States. Mexico and the United
States viii undoubtedly be affected to
the extent that most of the freight and
passengers for Mexico and the freight
for Europe, via the Tehauntepec Ma
tional railway across the isthmns of Te-
hauntepec, will then come by rail to
Gamboa, northern terminus "A the pan
American railway. and there be trans
ferred to the Tehauntepec National
railway and carried on across the 18TH
mus to the gulf port of Puerto. Mexico
(Coatszacoalcos). This will not so much
affect the Tehauntepec railway as II
will the port of Salina Cruz, on the
Pacific side Of the isthmus, which now
receives most of the Central American
cargoes. GambCa. Oaxlca, is situated
As kilo:neters up the line OF the Te-
route from Salina Cruz and
win surely be some day to Guatemala
what I'll Paso is to Mexico. should the
ideas of Hartman be realized
There Is no doubt that ultimately
the line will extend as far as Panama
and the next generation may be able
to travel from the extreme northern to
the -extrsne southern points of the
continent. While little Is being done In |
Brazil to make this possible, railroad
activities I'm Peru and Chile !
are encouraging enough to justify the |
holding of such a view. Thousands of
miles OF railroads are already in ex-
istence and while there are many |
large gaps to be filled before the Pan /
American railway can be n fat ac- |
comph II is safe to assume that an
Alaska to Patagonia railroad will be in
operation before many years have
passed. In a few years II will be
merely a matter of connecting the rail-
road systems down the Pacific slope
of the entire continent in the same
manner as is being done in the two in !
stances named above. While at pres |
ent little Is being done by Columbia and
Ecuador i'm railroad building great
steps in that direction are anticipated
by reason of the fact that the Pan |
anna canal will bring these countries
into closer touch with the markets of
the world In this respect the pan
American system is far better Off than
the Cape to- Cairo railroad, now build |
ing In Africa: his for the reason that |
IL would bt. an economic necessity and ]
self supporting. "A statement that can
not be made relative To the African en- |
terprse.