El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-02

the most valuable soil of the world But
that is another story.
American Gives idea for Road.
The first scheme for making a rail-
way across the Andes was originated
by an American. This was William
Wheelwright of whom I have already
written in my letters from Chile.
Wheelwright was born at NewbUrypOrt,
Mass. in 1898. At the age of 26 he be-
came United States consul ito Guaya-
quill, Ecuador; and three years later
went to Valparaiso, where he estab-
Gshed a line of passenger vessels along
the west coast. He was the founder Of
the first steamship service of that
coast, and about IS years ago he had
a line of steamers going from Chile to
the Isthmus of Panama. William
WheelWright planned a railway that
should cross the mountains from Cal
dera, on the Pacific to Rosario, on the
Rio de Ia Plata, several hundred miles
from its mouth at the Atlantic.
Fails to Reach Mountains.
He started this road way back in the
fiftieS, but it never reached the noun
tains and did little more than connect
the silver mines of Copiapo with Cal
dera- Meiggs, another American, also
had schemes for crossing the noun
tains but his chief work was done
farther nOrthward in central and south
ern Peru.
The present road originated with two
brothers, Juan and Mateo Clark, who
got a concession along back in the sew
entities, and who started building on
both the Chilean and Argentine sides
about 1889. The work went slowly, be-
ing stopped again and again, but it
was finally completed as far as the
ends of the tunnel on both sides Of the
Andes, about 1890. Then the cOnstruc-
ton stopped. The engineers seemed
afraid of the tunnel, and the money
could not be raised until W. r. Grace q
Co. of New York took the contract and
! began to work on both sides Of the
mountains. The gangs pushed their
ways in from the frontiers Of the two
countries and late in 1910 they came
/ together. The plans were so carefully
made that for some time the Workmen
in Chile could hear the WOrkmen in Ar
gentina digging the way through the
thin veil of rock that was left. Then
dynamite charge was set off. the wall
fell and the mountains were conquered.
Tunnel in the Clouds.
The tunnel goes through the noun
tains at an altitude lof 1O,468 feet and
2000 feet lower than the top Of the old
pass by which the mule trains now go,
and near which stands the famous
statue, The Christ of the Andes" The
tunnel has a length of 1895 feet, and
all the way is through rock.
''Christ OF the Andes"
"The Christ of the Andes is not visi-
BILE from the railroad, but it is well
worth a trip up the mountains. 1t is
one or the wonderful statues Of the
world. and there is none that compares
with it in the nobility of the sentiment
it commentaries. It is a greater mOnu-
ment of civilization than Andrew Car
negie's famous Peace Palace at The
Hague, or that other peace palace
which he erected in Costa Rica, which
the earthquake threw down. Indeed, it
is a question whether the European
war has not practically destroyed his
peace monument in Europe.
The peace monument on the top Of
the Andes is a bronze figure of the
Christ placed on the boundary between
Chile and Argentina, to commemorate
the treaty of peace made between the
two republics in 1903 It marks the
settlement Of a dispute which involved
a territory as large as our state of
Kansas, or more than One-third as
large as either Germany or France.
The statue was cast from old Argen-
tine cannon. 1t is 26 feet high and it
stands on granite pedestal One hand
of the Christ is Outstretched in bless
ing, and the other uphoIds the cross.
On the pedestal are engraved these
words:
Are Sworn to Peace.
Sooner shall these mountains erum-
bic into dust than the people of Ar
gentiHa and Chile break the peace
which they have sworn to maintain at
the feet of Christ, the Redeemer."
The English, the French and the Ger
mans are inclined to look at the coun-
tries of lower South America as a part
of the backwOods of the world, and
some Of them are prone to sneer at
their lack of culture and morals. In
these days, when organized murder has
become a national virtue and written
obligations between countries are mere
" scraps of white paper, is it not re-
freshing to think Of THE Christ of the
Andes?"