Evening star., 1914-11-08

ert and carry but little else than nj
trate of soda. They range in length
from fifty miles to three or four hun
dred, and their business is in propor-
tion to the nitrate factories or ofcinas
with which they connect The Pisa
qua railroad, that runs between Pisa
qua and lquique, has length or 800
miles, and its capitalization is S10,OO0,-
900. It's gauge is only sixteen inches.
Nevertheless, it has been paying over
per cent on its common stock for a
number of years, and its net receipts
are now more than $17,000,O00 per an
mum. That road is owned In England.
!. ::
Another profitable road is the Anglo
Chilean nitrate road, which runs from
the port of Tocopilla to several differ
ent oficinas, having length of sew
enty-odd miles 1t is capitalized at
$4,000, 900 and in 1911 it's dividend was
Is per cent And then there is a road
from Mejiliones that connects with the
Antofaga sta railway to Bolivia. Ihat
road is about eighty miles lon3, ana IL
has !: thirty-inch gauge. II WIN carry
the copper of the Guggcnhelm syndl.
cate mines down to the coast ana
should have an enormous pront tnere-
from. At present it is part OF the
Antofa ga sta Bolivia railway SYSTEM
which is exceedingly profitable The
Taltal Railway Company, Which run.
from the southern n!trate neids ~ ,iie
port of Taltal on the facane' pa,u % g
dividend of per cent in 19lZ. All Oh
these railroads are feeders or the
longitudinal system, ana that sss.e,i nii
has been built to connect them as wen
as to give a lire noflh anu "o"'''
throughout the republic 80 a.,
most interesting feature OF the
Chilean railway situation IS ihe nun ~.
her of lines that have peeh piiihliei ~
cross the continent, traversing the
Andes and joining the Argentine ran
way systems to those OF the west coast
The only one of these that ms s'i pee'
completed is that when eNtehu, iio.t
VALPARAISO to Buenos Ares. h's 10
abo,t AS long as the distance between
New York and Chicago. IL crosses tne
Andes at an altitude OF lo'aou ieel
above the sea through M .uilhel tnat 70
nearly two miles long. Inc roao was
exnensiye to build. and II is SO COSTLY
to ooerate that it's freight rates VIII
always be high. 1t mas RACK any
pinion or cog railroad System VI tIoo1 a.
Twenty-Five miles. and the gauge IS
such that freight has to be transferred
twice during the journey across the
continent The fare from Santiago ~
Buenos Aires is $50, with a very sLiaii
allowance for baggage. rms IS more
than three times as much as tne Gust
of the trip from New YORK 10 Chlcaso.
Another transcontlnehtal n, iIiii i.on onu
that will soon be completed Will con-
meet the port of Antofagasta Win
Buenos Aires This is an extension OF
a branch of the Antofa gasta, boilvla
railway. 1 have already described my
Journey over it from Bolivia TO the sea.
The transcontinental extension leaves
the main line at Uyuni, where IL mas an
altitude of about 1850 feet, and thence
passes through a rich mineral district
crossing Bolivia to the frontler' at La
Quiaca. where it will connect with the
great railway system of Argentina The
road has already been constructed TO
Tupiza, and within less than year
it should be connected with the Argen-
tine system. The distance between the
two points is now only siXty-six miles.
This road will never be a general pas
senEer line across South America. Inc
distance is too great. 1t will. however
be the short cut from the Paclnc ocean
to the upper part of the Argentine Ike
public. and will be Bolivia's outlet 10
the Atlantic.
Chile has plans and surveys already
made for several very important trans
continental railways south of the pres
ent line from Valparaiso to Buenos
Aires. Some of them will have their
termini at Bahai Blanca, the Argentine
port on the Atlantic ocean, q days
ride south of Buenos Aires, and one
will connect Talcahuano, the great