The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-08
CHlLE'S ANDEAN GATEWAY
Antofagasta and It's New Transcontinenta] Route
Across South America

United States.
The first part of this trip was over
the high plateau of BOLIVIA. This i
d Semi-deSert country about 500 miles
long and of varying width Jts onIy
vegetation is half-Starved grass and
dry bushes, but it feeds thousands of
sheep, alpacas and llamas. and we
had animal life in sight almost all Of
the way down to Oruro. Now and
then we passed a village of indians
and always there were the scattered
nuts OF n Aymaras spotting the
plain. The latter were round in shape
ana many of them had roofs made
or mud bricks, symmetericaIly Joined.
A single family often had several of
these round nuts and in addition cor
rails for its stock.
At n Of the stations where we
stopped to get u dining car we saw
a great drove Of llamas. They had
brought fuel to the railway for ship
ment to La Paz and were about to
start back with merchandise for their
return trip to a town in the hills. The
fuel was what | might call Bolivian
cord wood. 1t consisted of the limbs
or Stunted evergreens, each as big
around as your finger. They had
been grubbed rom the mountains
and packed up in bundles about three
~ 1do~A "io lWO ISCt III llllCh-
ness.
Further down the road we saw
great piles Of peat-moss, another fuel
that grows in the Andes. The moss
is of a woody r%esinous nature, and
when lighted gives out a great heat.
1t grows on the top Of the ground in
disks ranging in size from the dame
ter OF a tin wash basin to that of a
tube.
All along the railroad we could see
also the piles of English or Australian
coal used by the engines. This is in
the shape of briquettes, laid up in
regular order. At Uyuni, where the
new road for the Argentine is to DIN
the La Paz-AntOfagasta line, l saw
thousands Of these bricks. They were
corded up, as 1t were, and around the
edges Of the pile l noticed that a
white band had been painted. l ask
ed the reason, and "a told that it
was to prevent the Indians from
stealing the coal. Such fuel in the
high Andes is worth $50 a ton
Our ride owe the Bolivian plateau
was through a country as smooth as q
floor. The plateau is covered with
stones. It is supposed to have beer
at one time a vast inland sea, and sea
shells are often found upon it. Prof
AgassiZ said hat the water level OF
the ancient Andean sea was three OF
foul hundred feet higher than the
present level of the plateau. If SO
it has all disappeared, as today the
only large bodies Of water found there
are in the lakes Titicaca and POOpO
The latter is a brackish lake oineG
to Lake Titicaca by the River Desa.
guadero. 1t is only about one-thirG
as large as Lake Titicaca. Lake
Poopo is the home Of many wild foW
and the region about it is filed will
birds of many kinds, including wil(
ducks and ~f1amingoes. The lake ha'
no visibl outlet, but the waters from
Titicaca are always flowing into i
land there must be some underground
channel that carries the surplus
away.
Oruro is thirty-six hours from An
tofagasta. 1t is a thriving mimi:
town, situated 12, 500 feet above tn
sea in the hear Of the Bolivian desert
a great trade with the tin mimi;
regions Of the interior. It's popula
ton rises and falls as tin goes u
and down. The town has a govern
ment palace, a theatre, a publ
library and a mineral museum. l
has many business houses and som
very respectable stores. The street
! are paved WIFI CODDlcS, diIO q IlONOl
carriage carried me at a cost of $
from one end of the town to tn
other. 1t has a plaza upo whic-
the public buildings face, but alto
gether it is exceedingly dreary.
Leaving there, I ook the narroN
guage railroad down to the sea. Tn
, track has now a width Of only thirt
inches, but it is to be widened to
, gague of forty inches, which is tn
, standard gauge for this part of tn
, world. The main line starts at An
tofagasta and crosses a pass owe
! $4,000 feet at a distance OF 2z5 miie
9 from the coast. 1t then descends to
!, level of more than $4,000 feet, Whlc
+ it keeps practically all the way mort
to OrurO.
\ The trip from Oruro to the sea
= oyar one of the most ~picturesqu
routes of the Andes. The most G
e the way is bleak and desertiike, Of
= one sees several smoking volcanoe
" -,>@ colt Ia lQO with gree