Evening star., 1941-08-19
Rail Improvements
At Tehuantepec
Recall Canal Dream
Many, From Cortes Down.
Visioned Waterway
Through Mexican Neck

The reported action of the Mexi-
can President in ordering the re-
Mobilization of the now little-used
transcontinental railway across the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec has opened
up new possibilities in the way of
hemisphere defense transport, says
a bulletin Of the National Geo.
graphic Society.
Like the Isthmus of Panama,
Tehuantepec offers a short cut be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans. The Tehuantepec Isthmus,
however, at its narrowest from the
Gulf Of Mexico to the Pacific, is
about 100 airline miles wide. COM
pared with the less than 40-mile
stretch of the Panama neck. The
immediate value of the Tehuantepec
route, according to advocates of the
proposed improvements, is as an
alternate or auxiliary to the Panama
Canal in case of emergency.
The idea of an inter-ocean route
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
is more than 400 years old Cortes
dropped anchor on the Gulf of Mex
leo side in the early 1500s and
dreamed of a ship canal to the
Pacific. Given a land grant in the
neighborhood by the Spanish king,
he took the title of Marquis of Te-
huantepec."
Canal Often Suggested.
Later other Spanish conquerors
and employers made surveys of the
route and recommended the build
ing of ship canal Mexico gained
her independence from Spain and
offered concessions for a transport
line, either q canal or a railway.
The California gold rush and the
pioneer development OF Oregon
brought United States capitalists
into the picture, as American gold
hunters and homestead seekers from
the East struggled across the Te-
huantepec short cut in an effort to
be among the earliest to make the
western promised land"
In the meantime, the projects for
ship canal were abandoned be-
cause of the high cost and physical
difficulties; and it was not until the
1905 that work was finally begun
by the Mexican Government itself
on a railway across the Isthmus.
Opened in 1907, the Tehuantepec
line was thriving enterprise for a
time. The completion in 1914, how
ever, of the Panama Canal to the
south offered heavy competition,
and the railway gradually lost its
importance Today it is route used
chiefly by few foreign tourists and
business men, added to the general
trafflc stream of natives making
short trips for family visits, fiesta
outings, and market-day activities
Route Is Through Jungle.
The hot, fiat country through
which the railway runs is in striking
contrast to the mountainous region
on either side of it. Fertile and
jungle-crowded, it is land of vivic
color and slow tempo, of ripe fruits
and perfumed flowers. Travellers
say that the natural conditions ot
life there make it close to an Indiar
Garden of Eden; that its women
are among the most beautiful OF
Mexico; that the gaily-embroidered
costumes are the brightest and the
smiles of the people the happiest
There the men take it easy" under
an almost matriarchal system
whereby the woman of the family Il
housekeeper, business manager, ane
trader.
Future modernization of thi.
primitive garden spot of Tehuante.
pee will be effected not only by thu
planned railway improvement!
across the Isthmus but by the great
Pan American Highway running
southwark from the Mexico United
States border. Already the road Il
accessible for all-weather motol
traffic considerably below Mexico
City. Eventually the completed
highway will cross the Tehuantepe,
railway at point not far from the
Pacific coast.