The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1920-09-30
BUILDS PERU ROAD
UP AMONG CLOUDS
UNIVERSITY ENGINEER CON-
STRUCTS RAILWAY HIGH
Err UP THAN TOP OF
MT. RAINIER
Uses American Steel, Cement and
Timber to Build Line Over the
Andes in South America.


Building railways up around the
height of the top of Mount Rainier
with materials shipped half way across
the globe has been the experience OF
Claude G. Newton, former student OF
the State University, who recently re.
turned to Seattle from Peru. While
in that South American republic Mr..
Newton built an 11.37-mile cutoff on
the Central Railway where it crosses
over the summit of the Andes noun
tains and attains a maximum height
of 1866 feet. Practically all of the
materials which he used We're shipped
to him from the United States. and
as engineering supplies are none too
plentiful in this country since the war,
the stock in Peru was even more linn
tied.
The history of the old road over the
Andes is full of engineering romance
and tragedy as was that of many OF
the early ventures of American tech
meal men in foreign fields. The road
was started by an American con-
tractor, Henry Meiggs, who went to
South America from San Francisco
in 1868, but he died before it was COM
pleted. and war between Peru and
Chile in 1879 stopped construction,
which was not resumed until 1893.
The completed road with it's branches
is about 400 kilometers, or PAT miles,
long.
White Men Incapacitated
The cutoff built by Mr.. Newton con-
meets the towns of MorOcocha, where
one of the largest Peruvian mines is
,cated, and Pachachaca, and was put
in to expedite the delivery of the
Morococha ores to the smelter at
Oroya. The difficulties of construc-
tion in such a country can best be I'M
derstOod by knowledge of the sick
ness, soioche, which attacks all but the
the extreme attitudes. The newcomer
finds his breathing difficult and his
efforts feeble. He is affected with Sc
we're headaches and other general re-
suits not unlike those which come
upon travellers at sea. Men going to
the high attitudes are frequently at
tackled with pneumonia,
The natives, born to the rarified at
mosphere and equipped with big bar
rel chests and big hearts, are able to
work in the upper mountains, one OF
them being able to accomplish as
much as any three Americans no mat
ter how long the latter may have been
in the country trying 80 get acclimat-
ed. At that the laborers do not do
the work in a day that would be done
by man similarly employed in this
country. The llamas which are used
for packing will work like a burro
and carry their eighty to one hundred
pound load without complaint up to
$4,000 feet above sea level, but there
they lie down and say they have done
enough and are through.
The railway, which is a standard
gauge line and built with a maximum
grade of four per cent, winds through
siXty-five tunnels over sixty-one can
yons and along steep pretipces in get
ting from the coast up the sides of
the steep mountain range. The eli
mate along the coast is very hot and
sultry, but in the upper reaches,
where Mr. Newton worked, it furnish
es an alarming variety, especially dur
ing the winter months. A day may
start in clear with hot sun and then
turn into violent hailstorm with a
two-inch precipitation of hailstOnes
and brilliant tightening display-the
larger the size OF the hail the heavier
the flashes.
The ties which were used in the
construction of the cutoff were Ore
gon pine, sawed sticks, costing 1925
each in Peru, or about $40 thousand.
which does not seem excessive here
now, but would have seemed so year
or more ago. when the ties were
shipped. The lumber market in Peru.
Mr.. Newton says, is largely controlled
by the mining activities, which with
agriculture are the most active indus.
tries of the country. There is little
native lumber used in heavy construc.
ton.
Cement is also shipped into the
south American countries from the
States, but its use is also affected nv
the mining development. Mr.. New.
ton was much impressed by the min.
ing possibilities of Peru. and believes
mat II American capital goes into that
country and develops the mineral re.
sources there will be a proportionatelv
large demand for American goods
there. AT present the controlling ele.
iheht in the country is English. with
corresponding desire for English