Evening star., 1925-04-30
SAL|NA CRUZ AGAIN
OPEN TO BIC SHIPS
Reopening of "Mexico's Pan
anna" to Pacific Traffic An
/ nounced to Shipping.

Salina Cruz, Mexico's Panama, is
open again to larger vessels, accord
ing to news that has gone forth to
Pacific shipping.
This West Coast Mexican port is
an example of how an important hap
pening in world economics can wreck
the prosperity of a remote COM
munity," says a bulletin from head.
quarters of the National Geographic
Society, "and how nature-aided by
mans neglect-can overcome in a few
years the millions spent on great en-
cheering projects.
Port of Isthmian Railway.
"Salina Cruz looks important on a
map, Sitting pretty at the Pacific
end of MeXico'S 100-mile ocean-to-
ocean railway across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec. Note from statistics
that a great British engineering firm
spent $40. .000,0 900 constructing there
some of the worlds best port facilities,
and Salina Cruz looks important
financially. But there is an economic
'nigger in the woodpile' that doesn't
show up in the picture-the Panama
Canal, 1000 miles to the southeast.
It's completion burst Salina Cruz's
bubble of prosperity.
THE port works at Safna Cruz
were completed in 1908 and imme-
tiiately a big business sprang into ex-
Istence. Thousands of tons OF Ha-
~aiian sugar which formerly had
made the slow voyage of many days
around South America poured into
Salina Cruz to be whisked across to
the Atlantic In day. Numerous big
ships came, too, with miscellaneous
commodities.
THE wharves were piled high with
boxes and bales, batteries of electric
cranes bent over and rose like men,
bers of a physical culture class, switch
engines Snorted, and train after train
pulled out for the short trip to the
Atlantic. At one time freight trains
moved in each direction daily on such
close schedules that the locomotives
almost bumped into the cabooses of
the trains ahead.
Once a Commerce Center.
THE stable Diaz regime was in con-
troll in Mexico when Salina Cruz
jumped into activity. The Mexican
revolutions that began a few years
later interfered somewhat with the
business of the port, but the traffic
still managed to go on in spurts. Then
almost simultaneously came the World
War and the opening of the Panama
Canal, and Salina Cruz became a
sleepy little seaside village with the
a
few small ships came in the cranes
stopped their tireless bobbing and be-
came gaunt, dead machines, their
arms fixed like abandoned semaphores.
Railway equipment ruSted on Sidings:
people drtfted away. The population
dropped from 10, 900 to barely 5000.
Engineers had known from the
first that sand brought in by the
coastal current was Salina Cruzs
great enemy, and that continuous
dredging was the price that must be
paid for port that could accommo-
date deep-draft freighters. After the
great slump in traffic, dredging was
carried on only intermittently and
sand soon blocked the harbor en-
trance to all but small boats. The
recent opening of the port to large
craft may mean a new growth for
the town, for while it can never rival
Panama, there is an excellent oppor-
tunity, under stable conditions, for
building up business in goods requir-
ing such quick transit that the elimi-
nation of the extra milage by way of
Panama is worth while. There is also
possible, in the future, the develop
ment of a considerable business in
the exchange of goods between the
two Mexican coasts.
Healthier Than Most Tropic Ports.
"'Salfna Cruz was a made-to-order
town and as a consequence is health
Ter than most tropical ports. When
the port site was selected a small vii
iage existed on a little lagoon. 1t was
deadly fever hole and was COM
pletely wiped out. The stagnant Ia
goon was dredged into a harbor basin
end connected with the sea- A wide,
massive wharf was built across the
seaward side of the basin with a ship
entrance 100 feet wide. On this huge
wharf six tremendous warehouses
were built, each more than 400 feet
long. Railways were built along the
edges and a battery of Is large cleo
trio cranes was installed From the
ends of the wharf curving breakwa-
ters were built out into the sea, almost
inclosing an outer harbor of several
hundred acres.
Just as the breakwaters inclose the
harbor, Salina Cruz is itself inclosed
by a semi-circuIar ridge of high hills
whose ends meet the sea to the east
and west. forming a little basin about
three-quarters of a mile wide and a
little over mile long. This basin is
a barren desert, and in the middle of
it, half a mile from the sea, is the
town. The climate is very hot and
dry, and all of the inhabitants who
can do SO keep themselves secluded
until after sunset. 'NortherS,' which
blow up about twice a week during the
dry season, furnish a relief, but they
create sandstorms which are a trial
in themselves. SO prevalent are these
winds that the few trees in the park
n tho SO11t n