The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03
Across the Andes by Rail
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER

There is but little vegetation on the Pacific side of the slope. Outside the irrigated valleys the chief plants are cacti, and among them is the giant cac- tus, which is peculiar to this region. It has spines from 10 to F feet in length, and in some ways resembles the organ cactus of Mexico and Arizona. Not a few of these cacti were covered with flowers of bright red. which I, at first, thought were the blossoms of the cacti, but later found were towering parasites that grow on the high lands of this part of the world
 little further up the mountains the cacti disappeared there was some mois- ture and We had short bushes with yell low and blue flowers upon them. Higher up still these bushes vanished, and we came into canyons and hills of volcanic rock. which changed in color with the sun and the shade. On one. side of the canyon the rocks were bright yellow while on the other they were of a gray turned opalescent by the shadows cast by the sun. VIZ s.4
 It was at Rio Blanco, on the Chilean
 
 from there on we mounted by a series of jerks, each jerk marking a cog .n the railroad. There are 25 miles of cog system, some of which, as T have said, go upward an per cent grade The whole road over the steepest part of the mountains Is marrow gauge Ill miles long, Its rails weight about 50 pounds to the yard, and the ties are of oak The engines were built especially for climbing the mountains. They were made by Kit son & Co. of Leeds, England and are said to be very strong The locomotives are double with rack and pinion arrange ment at the front.
 All of the trains have first and second class cars. My fellow-passengers of the first class were chiefly business men and clerks. Nearly every one wore duster. but this was to avoid the dirt of the low lands rather than that of the mountains A large part Of the Argentine pampas is covered with sand. and the trip across them is one of the dustiest known to the world. In. the second class were chiefly Chilean peasants-
 As we crossed the high Andes I could sec the enormous cost of construction and maintenance. We passed mary gangs of men repairing the track, and everywhere the track had to be watched for dirt slides such as we have at Panama. In tho winter there is danger also from the ayalanches. although the higher sections have been protected by the snow sheds, S10oo00 having been spent for snow pro- lection in the past two years It is only by such protection that trains are able to run throughout the winter The labor used upon the railway is Chilean and Argentinian. Each country furnishes the laborers for it's own part of the track. The ordinary wages are from 75 cents to I.n a day, according to the time of l.1,. ficlals of the road are Englishmen, and SD are the engineers. The conductors are natives.
 Our first station in the Argentine Re- public was at Las Cuevas, the station at the eastern end of the tunnel The first official l met was a soldier, one of the guards of the Argentine frontier. and the next was the customs officer who came into the cars and examined our baggage. He was very lenent and the passengers had no trouble whatever. Leaving Cuevas, we had dining car on the train, and were served with a very good meal at price equal to about s115 of our money. The meal started with an appetizer of cold ham and bologna sausage, and this was followed by cabbage soup. We then had an excellent omeette hot from the stove, and the next course was roast chicken. After
 
 served with a sauce, and the meal closed with dessert of canned peaches and coffee. Bread and butter were served
 The scenery on the Argentine side of the mountains is not so bold as that on the Chilean side. The first part of the way is through a bleak and bare desert. and on the higher levels the mountains are rocky and sterile. Shortly after leaving Las Cuevas, l caught sight of Aconcagua, about 15 miles away It's peak Is a mighty irregular mass of snow with ragged black rock reaching from the snow line down to the rocky valley through which it is secn It's top is almost 23.000 feet above the sea. and it rises several hundred feet above