A TRIP OVER THE SOUTHERN ROUTE—NEW RAILWAYS AND PUBLIC ROADS
[Illustration: IRON BRIDGE OVER THE URUBAMBA RIVER.]
In no country have greater obstacles been overcome in the construction
of railways and public roads than in Peru, the physical features of
which present the most varied peculiarities. The millions that were
spent in building the Oroya railway alone would have sufficed to cover
many times its mileage on a level plain; and nearly all the railways of
the country present evidences of difficult engineering and expensive
construction. The lines at present in operation cover about fifteen
hundred miles, while those projected and under construction will more
than double that mileage. Most of these railways are the property of the
state, the Peruvian Corporation having the use and management of them
until 1956. Several important lines belong to Peruvian or foreign
enterprises, or to private concerns; and in the extension of existing
railways, these enterprises play an important part. The branch from
Oroya to Cerro de Pasco was built by North American capital; and new
lines are being constructed by other foreign companies. The railways
which in 1890 were turned over to the Peruvian Corporation for a term of
years in cancellation of the foreign debt of Peru, included, in addition
to the Central, or Oroya Route, the Southern railway, and the shorter
lines from Paita to Piura, sixty miles; from Pacasmayo to Guadalupe and
Yonan, the same distance; from Salaverry to Trujillo and Ascope, fifty
miles; from Chimbote to Suchiman, thirty miles; and from Pisco to Ica,
fifty miles. Some of these lines have since been extended, the Southern
railway having been completed to Cuzco in the present year.
[Illustration: ANCIENT SUSPENSION BRIDGE ON THE ROAD FROM HUANCAYO TO
CAÑETE.]
The Southern railway covers a distance of two hundred and eighty-five
miles, from the seaport of Mollendo to Juliaca, where it divides, the
main line going from Juliaca to Cuzco, two hundred miles to the north,
and a short branch extending south for twenty-five miles to the port of
Puno, on Lake Titicaca. The first section of this railway was built in
1870, from Mollendo to Arequipa, across the arid sandhills of the coast.
A journey over this of the road has little to offer in variety of
scenery, yet there is a peculiar fascination about its drifting
crescents that seem to move with rhythmical undulation like the waves of
the sea. Barren and dull as the prospect appears, it is not without
interest, because so unlike anything one sees elsewhere. Along the first
part of the route, a glimpse of green fields brightens the view as the
train skirts the valley of Tambo before entering the Pampas of Cachendo
and Islay, where not a blade of grass is to be seen. But the most of the
route lies across the Pampas until, within a few miles of Arequipa, the
sierra comes into view, and the fertile valley of Vitor is passed, with
its plantations of maize and its flourishing orchards. From this point,
a new railway is being built to the valleys of Siguas, Majes, and
Camaná, in southwestern Arequipa. As the train speeds through Uchumayo,
Tiabaya, and Tingo, the dreariness of the desert is forgotten in the
smiling gardens of the _campiña_, and when a curve of the road shows
Arequipa’s white towers against a background of green with the
snow-crowned Misti just behind, the traveller is ready to believe all
that enthusiasm relates in praise of its charm.
Mollendo, the seaport terminus of the Southern railway, is one of the
most important cities of the southern coast. As it lies within the arid
region, its water supply comes from the sierra eighty-five miles
distant, through an aqueduct made of iron pipes, from which half a
million gallons of water are discharged daily. This is said to be the
longest iron aqueduct in the world. The port of Mollendo is visited by
all ships trading on the west coast, and is the chief outlet for an
extensive region in Peru and northwestern Bolivia. In order to improve
the port, a breakwater is now being constructed along a reef of
partially submerged rocks, extending about six hundred feet to the
northeast of Ponce Island, which forms the harbor. This breakwater will
protect the bay from the heavy surf which formerly dashed over the
rocks, and will thus facilitate the working of the launches in loading
and unloading merchandise from the ships, besides increasing the
discharging capacity of the port. The breakwater consists of a sea wall
of concrete on the inner side of the reef, with heavy concrete blocks
weighing many tons, placed irregularly to seaward to break the force of
the surf. A new landing-place of iron and concrete is also to be
constructed.
[Illustration: RAILWAY UP THE SIERRA FROM MOLLENDO TO AREQUIPA.]
The railway from Mollendo to Arequipa reaches its highest altitude at
its destination, Arequipa being situated eight hundred feet above sea
level. From Arequipa to Puno the ascent is much greater, reaching
fifteen thousand feet at Crucero Alto, about midway along the route. The
first train from Arequipa to Puno arrived at the shore of Lake Titicaca
on the 1st of January, 1874. The cost of this railway was four and a
half million pounds sterling. Along its route are several bridges, and a
tunnel four hundred feet long pierces the mountain about thirty miles
east of Arequipa. As the train begins its ascent from Arequipa to
Juliaca, the city remains in view for several miles, and the white crest
of the Misti flashes in sight several times before it is hidden finally
behind the higher peaks of the sierra. After crossing the Chili River,
over a massive bridge sixteen hundred feet long and seventy feet above
the stream, the train makes a rapid run to Yura, fifteen miles distant,
where the most noted mineral springs of Peru are situated, a singularly
picturesque resort.
[Illustration: MOLLENDO, TERMINUS OF THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY.]
[Illustration: THE TOWN OF MOLLENDO.]
From Yura, the ascent soon brings one to the region of the _puna_, and
here very little vegetation is to be seen. Pampa de Arrieros is as bleak
and barren as a plateau at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet always
is; and the train speeds along for thirty miles with little change of
scene until it crosses the Sumbay bridge and climbs up to Vincocaya and
Crucero Alto. From Pampa de Arrieros, a magnificent view of the snow
mountain Coropuna is presented, this lofty peak towering nearly
twenty-three thousand feet above the level of the sea. The volcano
Ubinas comes into view a few leagues beyond Vincocaya, just before the
station of Lagunillas is reached. Lagunillas, or “Little Lagoons” is so
called from the lakes of Cachipascana and Saracocha, which lie on the
boundary line between the Departments of Arequipa and Puno, at an
altitude of thirteen thousand six hundred feet, more than a thousand
feet higher than Lake Titicaca. There are few signs of human activity at
the smaller railway stations of the _puna_, only a few cloaked figures
appearing on the platform as the train stops; but at the junction of
Juliaca the scene is one of animation, and many enterprising venders
congregate outside the car windows to sell their wares. The Indian
women, in their short skirts and _mantos_, or shawls, and their flat,
stiff-brimmed hats, present a curious spectacle to the foreign
traveller. Their dress is very sombre, in contrast to the bright colors
worn by the Indians of the lower sierra. In Puno, one sees both the
Aymará and the Quichua Indians, these two races meeting on the shores of
Lake Titicaca. The Aymarás are better sailors than their cousins of the
lower valleys, and the native boats, or balsas, that ply the lake are
usually owned by Aymará traders. The balsas are made of the reeds of
totora which are found on the banks of the lake, and are so lashed
together as to make the skiff water-tight and not easily capsized.
[Illustration: NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE AND OLD COACH ROAD BETWEEN SICUANI AND
CUZCO.]
A few months after the opening of the railway from Mollendo to Puno, two
screw steamers, the _Yavary_ and the _Yapura_, were launched for service
on the lake, having been brought out from England in pieces, which were
carried up to Puno with great difficulty and put together in the
company’s factory on the lake shore. New steamers have since been added;
the _Inca_ and _Coya_, recently launched, have a capacity of five
hundred tons, are lighted by electricity, and provide accommodations for
a hundred passengers. The voyage from Puno across to Guaqui, the
Bolivian port, is made in a day.
From Juliaca to Cuzco, the journey is one of constant and varied
interest. Nature presents many aspects in snow peaks and sloping
valleys, and on the plateau are to be seen herds of llamas and alpacas.
At the railway stations, groups of Indians offer for sale
curiously-shaped objects in pottery, and the brilliantly colored
blankets of this region. The jars, water-bottles, and ornaments which
they make are often highly glazed and wrought in unique fashion. Horses,
bearing cavaliers of the time of Charles V., in full armor, are favorite
ornaments, though there are also water-carriers and peddlers with packs
on their backs, and market women of wonderful dimensions. Most of these
articles are made to be useful as well as ornamental, serving as
water-bottles, toothpick-holders, match safes, etc. As works of art
these efforts are among the crudest, but they are made by the most
primitive process and represent much patience and industry. At Pucará,
these venders throng the station platform, Juliaca being more noted for
its blanket weavers. The Indians are very industrious, and whatever load
they may be carrying is never allowed to interfere with their spinning,
which goes on all the time, the bundles being strapped on their backs so
as to leave their arms free.
[Illustration: ANCIENT VIADUCT SOTOCCHACA, AYACUCHO.]
From Tirapata, the headquarters of the Inca Mining Company and an
important town of the plateau, the railway crosses a bridge and makes a
slight ascent to Ayaviri and Santa Rosa, and a steeper climb to La Raya,
which is the highest point between Juliaca and Cuzco. La Raya marks the
boundary between the Departments of Puno and Cuzco, and is also the
summit of the watershed which divides the Amazon system from that of
Lake Titicaca. It is situated at an altitude of fourteen thousand one
hundred and fifty feet above sea level. From La Raya, the train descends
rapidly to Aguas Calientes (hot springs), Marangani, and Sicuani, two
thousand five hundred feet lower, in the valley of the Vilcanota River.
Before the completion of the railway to Cuzco, a diligence carried
passengers from Sicuani to the ancient Inca capital, and, although the
modern method of travel is to be preferred for many reasons, there was
something charming in the drive along the old coach road that cannot be
enjoyed by the traveller who is being whirled over the route at railway
speed.
Formerly, the train arrived at Sicuani in the evening and passengers
spent the night in one of the quaintest and most interesting towns of
Peru, before taking the diligence to continue their journey to Cuzco.
The market place of Sicuani is a glow of color when the Indians fill it
with their wares. In the early morning they may be seen coming down the
mountain into the town, the men wearing a dress introduced by the
Spaniards during the time of the viceroyalty, with knee trousers and a
coat of the period of Louis XIV., the women gorgeous in their
_almillas_, or chemises of bright red or yellow; their _chamarras_,
jackets of bright blue or green velvet; their _chumpes_, many-colored
scarfs wound around their waists; and their flat, broad-brimmed hats
made of cloth, lined with red and covered with silver braid. They scurry
along the mountain road in high glee, their llamas in the lead with
heads erect and long straight ears adorned with tassels of red, yellow
and green woollen yarn. All the dignity of the procession is borne in
the stately carriage of the llamas, whose leisurely movements are never
disturbed by anything but fright.
[Illustration: RAILWAY ENGINEERS’ CAMP ON THE LINE BETWEEN CHECCACUPE
AND CUZCO.]
Since the railway has been opened to Cuzco, there is no longer any
necessity to break the journey between Sicuani and that city, as was
done in the days of the diligence, when a stop was made at Cusipata,
“the happy place,” after a wonderful ride along the valley of the
Vilcanota, crossing the Checcacupe River and revelling in scenes full of
historical interest and romantic charm. The second day’s ride used to
take one from Cusipata to Cuzco, past the ruins of Viracocha’s famous
temple, and close to the lake of Urcos, where, tradition says, the chain
of Huascar was buried when the Inca’s subjects learned that the
Spaniards were coming to Cuzco. This wonderful chain of gold, which is
said to have been long enough to enclose the plaza of Cuzco three times
and so heavy that each link weighed a hundred pounds, has been the
object of many expeditions to Urcos. Near this spot, Almagro and Pizarro
fought one of their bitterest battles, and in the neighborhood tradition
locates many victories of the Incas’ armies in earlier times.
The rope bridges formerly swung across the river have in many cases been
replaced by bridges of stone, though a few of the older construction
remain and are still strong and serviceable. Ruins of the ancient
aqueducts are to be seen, as well as the Incaic _andenes_ of the
mountain side. The road passes through deep gulches mantled with green
and under the shadow of sheer palisades towering a hundred feet above.
Rippling streams pour their silvery tide into the river that winds its
broadening course along the valley, and pepper trees, eucalyptus, furze
bushes six feet high, and prickly cactus, grow in profusion along the
roadside. The present railway follows closely the old diligence road.
From Urcos, a branch line has been surveyed to the port of
Tahuantinsuyo, on the Madre de Dios River, and another line is projected
to connect the city of Cuzco with Santa Ana, the capital of the province
of Convencion, in the same department. The immense importance of the
railway to Santa Ana lies in the facilities it will afford for traffic
in the region of the Montaña that is richest in coca and other valuable
products. The law authorizing the construction of this line, prepared by
Dr. Benjamin de La Torre, was passed by Congress in October, 1907, and
the work is to be completed in three years more.
[Illustration: HIGHWAY BETWEEN THE SIERRA AND THE MONTAÑA. IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF JUNÍN.]
Not only have the Central and Southern railways been extended and
supplemented with branch lines within the past four years, but nearly
all the existing railways of the republic have been brought to form
links in the general system which the government has planned for the
facilitation of traffic throughout the whole country. From the trunk
line,—which, when completed, will extend from the border of Ecuador in
the northwest to that of Bolivia in the southeast,—branches are being
built to the head of navigation on all the great waterways of the upper
Amazon. These lines will open up the vast region of the Montaña to the
ports of the Pacific, and will multiply the available resources of the
country a hundredfold. Products of the interior which have been cut off
from the consumers of the coast by the great wall of the Andes, will be
exchanged for goods brought to the Pacific ports; and months will be
saved in the transportation of articles required for household use in
the Amazon valleys. It will no longer be the custom for deputies from
Iquitos to travel to Lima by way of Europe and Panamá, as at present,
rather than across their own country, because the foreign trip takes
less time. One of these branch lines is that previously mentioned as
under construction to connect Urcos, on the Southern railway, with the
port of Tahuantinsuyo on the Madre de Dios; another is being built from
Oroya to the Ucayali River, passing through Tarma and along the present
road to the Pichis and Perené Rivers. It is to be completed in 1913. A
third line is entirely new, to be constructed from the port of Paita to
Puerto Limon on the Marañon River, with a branch to Puerto Yurimaguas on
the Huallaga.
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE VALLEY BETWEEN SICUANI AND CUZCO, SOUTHERN
ROUTE.]
All the railways projected and under construction to connect the Pacific
seaports of Peru with the Amazon tributaries are of political as well as
commercial importance, as they will serve to unite in closer bonds the
people of the coast, the sierra and the Montaña, hitherto so remote from
one another as to have few interests in common, except such as tradition
and sentiment have preserved.
The port of Paita offers many advantages as the Pacific terminus of a
railway to the Amazon waterways. From Paita to Puerto Limon the distance
is only four hundred miles, and from Puerto Limon to Pará it is nearly
three thousand miles. At present, most of the commerce of the Montaña is
carried down to Pará over the Amazon and its tributaries, and many of
the river routes are even longer than that from Puerto Limon. It is
estimated that the railways between the Pacific coast and the Amazon
will not only provide much more rapid transportation, but also a more
economical service.
The railways of the coast have been extended during the past four years
both longitudinally and in the direction of the sierra. From the port of
Tumbes a line was recently completed to La Palizada and the
landing-place of the port was improved by the construction of a steel
pier eight hundred feet in length. The Pacasmayo and Yonan railway has
been extended to Chilete and Cajamarca, to afford an outlet for the
cereals and other products grown in those sections of the sierra. From
Chimbote to Huaraz and Recuay one of the most important of the coast
railways has been built. A line is projected to run direct from Cerro de
Pasco to the coast, with its seaport terminus at Huacho, the concession
for its construction having been given to a North American capitalist.
An important new railway connects the port of Ilo with the city of
Moquegua; it was completed during the last months of President Pardo’s
administration. Along the shore of the Pacific, a railway has recently
been completed from Lima to Huacho on the north, and another is under
construction from the capital to Pisco in the south.
Not only has railway construction received a great impetus under the
energetic and progressive government of the past few years, but the
public roads of the country have been extended and improved, new bridges
have been built, new wharves constructed in several ports, and greater
attention paid to commercial facilities than ever before.
[Illustration: SOUTHERN RAILWAY STATION, AREQUIPA.]
[Illustration: LLAMAS OF PUNO EMBARKING ON A BALSA, LAKE TITICACA.]