Evening star., 1925-08-02
MEICGS, RAILWAY BUILDER
IN ANDES, HIGHLY HONORED
Trophy Given for Engineering Feat Per-
manently Placed in Pan-American
Union Building Here.

called Infernillo. or Little Hell. .
where the locomotive is seen unex
pectedly emerging from the bowels o. b,
great mountain, and then CROSSING
deep and precipitous ravine by
means of very lofty viaduct, which
terminates in the mouth of another
tunnel in which the locomotive once
more disappears, in order to pass
through another mountain, equallyst
lofty and rugged, leaving always be-
hind it during it's marvellous ascenj
one hill after another. Proceedin@
onward and overcoming all kinds OF,
obstacles In its uninterrupted journev s,
upward, before it has reached a dis
| tance of ITO kilometers from the
| shores of the Pacific Ocean, the loco
motive suddenly appears among the,
snowclad creSts of the Andes range q
at a height Of about 5000 meters.
above the point of starting. ~
One Portion Little He'll"
The name "Infernillo." or Little
He'll" is bestowed upon one section
of the famous Oroya Railroad be
cause the Rimac River thunders and
foams down through a narrow gorge.
the cliffs of which reach hundreds OF ;,
feet toward the sky and shut out the
light of day. The line, after leaving
a tunnel, crosses the river on a.
bridge of 160 feet span and at IA
height of 165 feet above the water.
and then enters another tunnel. Al
the time of Mr.. Meiggs' death, in Sep
tenber, 1877, the cifiC-Transandine
Callao, Lima and Oroya Railway ter
minated at Chicla, 81 miles from
Callao, but the principal tunneliner
and much Of the grade work and
track for the remainder of the line,
to Oroya had been accomplished and
little additional labor was required 10
| put the rest of the railway into run
ming order. The so-called 'Infernillo %
! Bridge is 10,924 feet above sea level.
Tunnels totaling q 900 feet In length
were pierced during the Meiggs
period of the roads construction. In
the most difficult section for construc--
| ton, from Tambo de Viso to Rio
Blanco, distance of IA miles, the
ascent is 2.673 feet, and this Andean .
region was penetrated by the boring
| of % tunnels.
| 1t was not so many years after
railroad building had begun in the
| United States before enterprise along
| this line began in South America. q
| citizen of the United States, named
| William Wheelwright, of Newbur!
port, Mass. who had conceived and
carried into effect the idea of navi- +.
eating the Pacific Ocean by steam.
vessels, later turning his attention
to the promotion of railways. 1t was
| through Wheelwright that Meiggs be- e.
came engaged in this undertaking
| Partly because of the war between
Peru and Chile. 1879 to 1888, the
railroad projected by Meiggs was not
| completed to Oroya until 1898. a.
number of years after his death. Cn-7
der the stimulus of other captains of
! industry from the United States. the
Oroya railroad has since been extend
ed to Cerro de Pasco. This railroa d -
among the clouds is one of the most
| remarkable achievements of modern
engineering, it is freely admitted. il
was through the far-sighted enter"
prise of Henry Meiggs that the rail-,
way system of Peru was projected
Hand by his indomitable energy that
several important lines were con
J structed. =
fCopyright 1921