El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-02
me of the glacial streams of the Alps.
Is Fed by Glaciers.

me Of the glacial streams Of the Alps
Is Fed by Glaciers.
The river is fed by the glaciers Of
Aconcagua, and it is loaded with the
earth washings of the Andes. The val
ley widens in places, and here you find
irrigated patches with little fields Of
alfalfa and barley and beans. Now
and then you pass mud hut matched
with straw, and where there is room
there is a village of similar huts. The
most of the people live on the lands
which they till. Some of the fields are
not bigger than bed quilts. They have
horses and cattle feeding upon them.
All Of the holdings are exceedingly
small saw farms of four and five
acres, and on one near station L
counted an acre Of corn, a half acre
OF barley and three pasture fields of
an acre or so. Near the track on the
edge of the grain field the farmers
were threshing. They had spread out
the sheaves of wheat inside a ring of
hard ground, and near them stood a
half dozen horses, waiting to be driven
over the straw to tread out the grain.
A little farther on I saw the threshers
at work.
Old and New Shown In Mountain Climb
AS we travelled on up the-Andes we
could see the old trail which for hun
dreds Of years has been used in cross
ing the continent We passed trains
driven by men. There were also drOves
Of horses and cattle and pack mules
taking freight from one side of the
range to the other. The mountain
trail goes over the Andes at almost
one-half mile above the railroad tun-
mel. It is much longer than the rail-
road; but the freight rates Of the lat
ter are so high that these mule trains
compete for much of the traffic
The altitude of the mountain trail is
Il. COS feet or a little higher than the
top of Enjiyama, Japan. It goes over
the Uspalata pass above the railroad
tunnel, which is 1000 feet lower. The
tunnel is two miles in length, and its
altitude is just about two miles above
the level Of the sea- The boundary
line beaween Chile and Argentina runs
through the tunnel, and it was in the
darkness that I crossed from one re-
public to the other. The longer part
Of the tunnel is in Argentina.
Scenery is Magnificent.
The scenery of this route over the
Andes is magnificent. The mountains
are much like the Rockies along the
Denver and Rio Grande railroad The
formations are Of every description,
and in some places they have the col
Ors of the Colorado canyon. Now you
go through mighty gorges, and now
under rocks which hang mountain high
over the track. A little further up are
DGduLtAul lakes that sparkle ike pul-
ished silver in the clear mountain air.
Climbing by Jerks
It was at Rio Blanco, on the Chill
can side. that we got the cog railroad,
and from there on We mounted by a
series of jerks, each jerk marking a
cog in the railroad. There are 25
miles Of cog system, some of which
go upward on an 8 percent grade.
The whole road over the steepest part
of the mountains is a narrow gage III
miles long. Its rails weigh about so
pounds to the yard. and the ties are
Of oak. The engines were built especi-
ally for climbing the mountains. They
were made by Ritson & Co, of Leeds
England, and are said to be very
strong. The locomotives are double
with a rack and piniOn arrangement
at the front.
All of the trains have first and sec