Omaha daily bee., 1914-08-09

mileage, not including tho Corro de Pasco
extension, is less than $50 miles.
The Southern road from Mollendo TO
la Par, including the trip across the lake,
covers a distance OF more than 500 miles
II is 22S miles from the sea, where Il
crosses the Andes, and there IL lie 1000
feet lower than the altitude OF the pass
OF the Peruvian Central.
The La Paz-Antofagasta line has n
mileage OF more than 100 miles end its
highest point on the main line is over
1900 feet above the sea. The highest
point on the africa line is Just under
l4,0OO feet. but the Antofagasta line is
| building branches that are almost as
high as the highest point on the Moro
oocha branch of the Central above Lima.
One OF these runs from Ollague to Cola
buasi. where there are copper mines
owned by the Guggenheims. said to be
among the richest mines of the world
The other begins at Rio Mulato, between
Oruro and Uyuni. and goes to Potosl.
the famous mountain that has produced
billions OF dollars in silver and that
promises to produce like values in tin.
The Rio Mulato and Potosi branch crosses
pass 1854 feet high. or only fifty-one
feet lower than the pass to Morococha,
where are the great copper mines, largely
owned by Americans
Most Difficult to Build.
OF all these lines the most difficult of
construction was the Central Peruvian. II
was begun in 1875 by Henry Meiggs and
its first eighty-six miles are said to have
cost more than $4,000 a mile. That road
is OF standard gauge. and It has no gra-
a
in 100. 1t has sixty-seven bridges, one OF
which is $40 feet long, spanning a ravine
800 feet deep. Melggs also built the
greater part of the Southern railway, and
that without cogs, and he was the con-
structor of the road from Valparaiso to
Santiago that now forms a part OF the
first great route between the Pacific and
the Atlantic
outside the Meiggs roads, the new line
Just opened from africa to la Paz has
been the most expensive and the most
difficult of construction. The Arica-La
Paz road is less than half as long as the
Peruvian Southern, and only about one
third as long as that from Antofagasta
to La Paz. Its length is under $50 miles.
1t begins at the seacoast, and crosses
the Andes at less than 1900 feet above
| the level of the ocean. On some parts of
the route the grades are so steep that
the reck-and-pinion system has to be
used. The maximum grade of the ord-
nary line is only about 3 per cent, while
some of the cog sections reach a grade
OF per cent The cog section is longer
than that of any other railroad, and
there are many engineers who claim that
it cannot be worked at a profit. The COG
system is about the same as that of the
roads up Pixies peak, Mount Washington
and the Rigi. It does well for tourist
traffic, but whether it will work with the
heavy freights is a question. One of the
civil engineers engaged in its construc-
ton tells me he thinks that the cog part
of the road may eventually be run by
electricity.
Building Railroads Everywhere.
During my stay in La Paz have met
Sir John jackson. whose company has
built the Arica-La Paz system. He is
one of the famous engineers of the world
and his company has work going on all
over the globe. 1t is arranging to con-
meet the Bolivian and the Argentine rail-
way systems.
When the Panama canal is completed
the shortest route from the United
States TO Bolivia will be by way of
africa. That port is 200 miles from
Panama. and by the canal it will be
less than 5000 miles from New Orleans.
Most tourists will prefer to go by way of
Mollendo and the Peruvian Southern, the
gradient of which is more gentle and