THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Peace as well as war has its heroes. In the industrial development of
Chile there are two names of North Americans that deserve to stand side
by side with those of O’Higgins and Cochrane, heroes of the war of
independence. In Valparaiso will be found a monument to the memory of
William Wheelwright, who had the vision of a Franklin. Chance determined
the destiny of this remarkable man. Wrecked on the shores of the Rio
de la Plata, in 1823, the youthful Wheelwright saw the needs of this
great continent, and he determined to devote his energies towards the
development of harbours and transportation. He became a supercargo on a
vessel bound around Cape Horn, and in this way reached Valparaiso. At
first he was looked upon as a dreamer. American capitalists turned down
his scheme, and even the British did not welcome him at first.
“If that insane Wheelwright calls here again,” said an English consul to
his servant, “do not admit him.” Nothing daunted, however, Wheelwright
went to London and succeeded in interesting some moneyed men in a scheme
for direct transportation between England and the west coast. The first
steamship traversed the Straits of Magellan under this concession and
reached a Chilean port in 1840. This was the beginning of the Pacific
Steam Navigation Company, which proved of inestimable benefit in the
upbuilding of Chile and Peru. It was not many years until this company
was operating vessels as far as Panama.
The next vision of this master of industry was the problem of conquering
the Andes. Could they be penetrated? Could the seemingly insurmountable
difficulties be overcome? He planned a railroad from the port of Caldera
across the Andes. This port was opened and the railroad constructed as
far as Copiapó. This scheme got no farther, but it was only the beginning
of colossal schemes. He planned and built the railroad from Valparaiso
toward the capital as far as Llai Llai, but there it stopped because of
lack of funds. His struggles with the opposition to this line read like
some of the contests in the English Parliament over the first railroad
projects. Wheelwright then turned his attention to Argentina and built
the first railroad in that republic, a line from Rosario to Cordoba, a
distance of two hundred and forty-six miles. His last public work was a
short railroad running from Buenos Aires to Ensenada, in 1873. Although
he had further plans for public improvements his health failed, and he
sailed for London to seek medical advice, where he died that same year.
His remains are buried at Newburyport, Mass., the place of his birth,
where they lie amidst a long line of sturdy Puritan ancestors.
In Catskill, New York, a boy was born on the 7th of July, 1811. His name
was Henry Meiggs. His history reads like romance, for he made and lost
several fortunes both on the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts. Elected as
treasurer of San Francisco County, California, he loaned public money to
friends who did not pay it back. He then fled as a defaulter to South
America. He first landed in Chile. The uncompleted railroad to the
capital, that had been begun by Wheelwright, first engaged the mental
activities of this remarkable man. For a decade the government had been
planning to extend this railroad “to-morrow.” Meiggs negotiated with the
government and finally secured the contract. With characteristic Yankee
ingenuity he succeeded in getting a clause inserted giving a premium for
each section completed within a specified time. He succeeded in building
each section in the shortest period and collected the maximum premium.
The result was that Meiggs realized a profit of more than a million
dollars, and made a great reputation for himself. Since that time the
Chilean government is very chary about such bonuses.
Meiggs married a Chilean woman and built a magnificent residence in
Santiago. But his later enterprises were in Peru. He built the railroad
from Mollendo to Arequipa. His greatest undertaking, however, was the
famous Oroya Railroad over the Andes, the highest railroad in the world
and one of its wonders. Great gorges were surmounted, rushing streams
spanned with bridges where such work seemed impossible, tunnels bored
where men had to hang over precipices by means of ropes to secure a start
and other obstacles of nature were overcome. Before the completion of
the road Meiggs was compelled to use his own private fortune. But he
accomplished the task. One hears many tales of this eccentric man in
Chile and Peru. It stands to his credit that, although he lived in luxury
and spent money lavishly, he paid all his debts back in the land of his
birth in order to stand before the world as an honest man.
The problem of connecting the widely separated sections of Chile with
easy and convenient means of transportation has been and is a serious
one. It was but natural, owing to the long extent of coast line, that the
first attention of the Chilean government was given to ocean navigation.
Furthermore, the Chileans have proven to be good navigators, and the
record of their steamships has been very good. There has been the further
advantage in developing this means of transportation in the fact that
no part of Chile is very far distant from the Pacific coast. This has
developed a large number of short railways, which run from the ports to
the mineral or agricultural districts of the interior. There are in all
sixteen ports open to international commerce, and forty-four inferior
ports which are used in the coast trade. The different character of the
northern, central and southern sections has created a demand for exchange
of products between those sections, which has made the coast trade of
great importance.
The ports of Chile were opened to the commerce of all the world as soon
as the independent government was fully organized. It is a historic fact
that among the first vessels that arrived in Chile, after independence
had been achieved, was a frigate from New York, which brought one of the
first printing presses to South America and also some American printers,
who established the first Chilean periodical. At first Valparaiso claimed
nearly all of the tonnage, because of its nearness to the capital. At
that time, also, the Chilean seacoast was not more than half as long
as it is at the present time. Vessels soon began to operate under the
Chilean flag, although most of the first vessels were owned by foreign
capital. As early as 1834 there were no less than one hundred and
thirty-four national vessels, principally engaged in the coast trade.
When William Wheelwright organized the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
a new era in Chilean prosperity was begun. Two vessels, the _Chile_ and
_Peru_, both of them small boats, constituted the beginning of the fleet
which finally developed into the great company, which for many years
plied between the west coast and Europe. It has recently been absorbed by
another English company, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.
[Illustration: THE HARBOUR, VALPARAISO.]
This English company, as well as other companies, were subsidized by
the Chilean government, in order to get better coast service between
the various ports. This service was eventually extended to the city of
Panama. In 1870 the most powerful Chilean company was organized under the
name of the Compañia Sul Americana de Vapores, which soon became a very
active competitor of the English company. The number of its vessels was
continually added to, most of them being built by English shipbuilders,
until to-day this company has more than twenty boats. Many of these are
very comfortable steamers, of considerable capacity, and operate all the
way between Puerto Montt and Panama. In addition to this company, there
are a number of small companies, owned by Chilean capital, and other
steamers belonging to private individuals, or business houses which carry
on a coast trade more or less extensive. The Chilean company and the
English company, which for a long time were active rivals, have at last
entered into an operating agreement. By the terms of this agreement
the government subsidy is shared, and the two companies operate an
alternating service between Valparaiso and Panama. The laws of Chile
governing maritime transportation are very liberal, and the fees levied
at the various ports are exceedingly reasonable. It has been recognized
by Chile that the development of commercial relations with the various
countries of America depends, to a great extent, upon the existence of
regular and rapid lines of navigation which will transport products at
reasonable rates.
The government has spent a great deal of money in recent years in
dredging the channels, placing buoys at the dangerous points and erecting
lighthouses along the coast, until to-day there are more than fifty
lighthouses which are regularly maintained by Chile.
What will eventually prove to be the backbone of the Chilean railway
system is termed the Longitudinal Railway, work upon which is being
prosecuted actively by the government at various places. When completed
it is planned to have a continuous railway from Tacna, in the north, to
Puerto Montt, at the south, a distance of almost two thousand miles. It
has been found that wherever the railroad has been extended, development
has followed. This has been especially true of the great central valley
through which rails have been laid as far as Osorno, only seventy-eight
miles from Puerto Montt. This line has been constructed entirely by the
government. It is built of standard gauge width, and also upon the same
gauge for some distance north of Santiago. Through the north central
part of Chile the government roads have all been built upon the narrow
gauge plan, one metre in width, because the occasional transverse spurs
of the Andes, which run toward the coast, have made construction more
difficult, and it has been easier to make the necessary curves by using
that gauge, so that the line could be built as inexpensive as possible.
At the present time nearly all of the energies of the government are
being applied to the completion of this great project, which has already
cost it many millions of dollars.
A little more than one-half of the railway mileage in Chile has been
built and is owned by the government itself. It has not been a profitable
enterprise, for it costs about ninety-five per cent. of the gross income
for operating expenses and maintenance. One reason for this, of course,
is that the government lines, many of them, have been built through
thinly-settled territory, and where traffic up to the present time has
been very light. Then, again, the charges upon these state railways are
entirely too small, for nowhere can one travel so cheaply as upon the
government railways of Chile. Then there is also the problem which a
government must always face, in operating a public utility enterprise,
that the officials, whose duty it is to look after the work, do not apply
to it the same careful attention to detail, do not get as much work out
of their employees as a private corporation, and are likely to take a
chance at some form of graft when the opportunity affords. The question
has been seriously considered by the government of placing the operation
of the principal lines in the hands of a private company; in fact, one
company has made a proposition to operate the road between Santiago and
Valparaiso, and take for its profit simply what it can save in the cost
of operation over the present cost.
In the northern provinces there are a number of railways operating from
the coast up a greater or lesser distance inland. The oldest railway in
the republic, as well as in South America, runs from Caldera to Copiapó.
As heretofore mentioned, this great undertaking was due to William
Wheelwright. It was his plan to continue this railway over the Andes,
and it is said by engineers to present fewer difficulties than the one
finally chosen, which was partly on sentimental grounds. It is quite
possible that the dream of the American captain of industry may some day
come true as development continues. It was never extended further than
the first terminus, over which the first locomotive was run in 1851.
The first locomotive exported from the United States was used on this
railroad. A number of short branches have now been built connecting with
this main line, but rail connection with the Federal capital is still a
thing of “to-morrow.”
The most northern railway runs from the port of Arica to Tacna, and is
only about forty miles in length. From Arica an international railroad
is being built across the Andes into Bolivia, in accordance with a
treaty entered into between the two countries. It will not pass through
Tacna, as an independent route has been selected which promised fewer
difficulties. It is only about one hundred and forty miles to the
Bolivian frontier by this route, and only a little greater distance from
there to La Paz. This will make the shortest and most direct route to the
Bolivian capital. The contract has been let for the entire work, but it
is proceeding very slowly.
Proceeding along the coast the next railway centre is in the nitrate
district, where a number of short railways connect Iquique, Pisagua,
Tocapilla, Caleta Buena and other towns in that district, making up a
total of nearly four hundred miles. Antofagasta also has some short spurs
which run back into the mineral regions, and carry the ore down to that
port. The principal line at this place, however, is the international
railway which runs from Antofagasta to the Bolivian city of Oruro, and
there connects with a Bolivian railway which runs to the capital, La Paz.
This railway is constructed upon an extremely narrow gauge of thirty
inches. The Chilean section of the railway ends at Ollague, a distance
of two hundred and seventy-five miles. This railway was originally
built to aid in developing some of the rich mines in Potosi, Bolivia.
By the aid of a government subsidy, it was finally completed in 1892.
This is the largest private railway enterprise in Chile. It would be
difficult to imagine a more dreary route over which a railway could be
planned than the Chilean section of this railway. At first the question
of a water supply for the engines was a serious problem, as the water
which they were able to secure easily was so permeated with minerals
that it destroyed the boilers. The concession of supplying the city of
Antofagasta with water was finally conceded to the railway company, and,
with that monopoly as an aid, pipes were laid for a distance of more than
two hundred miles to supply the water tanks of the railway and the city
of Antofagasta. The freight hauled over this road is quite considerable,
since it is one of the two lines which at present reach from the coast to
the republic of Bolivia. Half or more of the freight, to and from that
inland republic, is shipped by this route, in addition to the product of
the mines of the famous Huanchaca Company.
In the province of Coquimbo there are several short sections of railroad,
all of which were constructed by the government. In all these lines total
about two hundred miles. It will not be long until Coquimbo will be
connected with the main line by a longitudinal railway. In the northern
section of the country there are no less than fourteen different lines,
and at least three different gauges of track.
The railways of the central valley from Santiago south form the most
extensive system in the republic. All of these railways, with the
exception of a very few branches, belong to the state, and they form
a single system which unites the principal sections of population
throughout that section. The main track follows the longitudinal valley
from north to south in a line which keeps to the same general direction
until it ends at Osorno. In its course this system crosses no less than a
dozen of the provinces of Chile. Construction has been fairly difficult,
and the expense of bridges has been unusually high. There are many long
and high bridges, such as those across the Maule, Maipo, Mallico, Laja
and Bio-Bio rivers. Most of them have been of French construction. From
Santiago to Llanquihue, there are a number of cross railways which run
from this main line to the ports, and also some that run inland toward
the Andes for a short distance. These were built by the government in its
efforts to open up the unpopulated sections. In the carboniferous zone
around the Bay of Arauco there are a number of branches which connect
the mines, the mining towns and the ports. It will not be long until the
railway will be extended to Puerto Montt, which will complete the present
plans of the government for southern extension.
There are no less than half a dozen transandine railways which have been
planned, and for which concessions have been granted by the government of
Chile. Two have been completed, two more have had actual work done in the
way of construction and the other two are still visionary. One project,
which bodes very fair to reach completion, is a railroad that will have
for its terminal points the Chilean port of Talcahuano and Bahia Blanca,
Argentina. It will run through Monte Aguila and Cholguan, and cross
the Andes at Lake Laja. There it will connect with the Great Southern
Railway of Argentina, which has already been built from Bahia Blanca to
Neuquen, and which is now being extended from there to Chos Malal. The
Andes at this point are not nearly so high as farther north, so that
fewer difficulties will be encountered in the construction than on those
transandine railways which have already been built. It will necessitate
a tunnel about one mile in length only to pass the summit. Engineers
who have surveyed this route report it as very feasible and strongly
recommend it. It is several hundred miles south of both Valparaiso and
Buenos Aires, passes through an extremely rich agricultural country
and ought to be constructed before many years. It will be of distinct
advantage to both republics.
Interest in railroad construction in Chile in recent years has centred in
the transandine railway via Juncal and Uspallata pass, the historic route
by which General San Martin led his conquering legions into that country.
Its completion in the spring of 1910 was a significant event, which was
duly celebrated by both Chile and Argentina. Just a half century had
passed since Wheelwright first suggested to English capitalists the
feasibility of a railroad across the Andes to connect the Atlantic with
the Pacific, when the first train passed through the two mile tunnel
that pierced the international barrier of rock at this point. Trains are
now running regularly, and the interruption caused by the winter snows
is at an end. This is the first line to connect the two oceans, and,
to the South Americans, it was as great an event as the opening of the
first transcontinental railroad in the United States. The distance from
Valparaiso to Buenos Aires is eight hundred and eighty-eight miles, and
the trip is made in thirty-eight hours. It is hoped by the officials,
however, to reduce the running time to twenty-nine hours in the course of
time.
[Illustration: JUNCAL STATION.]
The first practical steps in this undertaking were made by two
English-Chilean engineers, John and Matthew Clark. They obtained the
necessary concession from Argentina in 1872, and from Chile two years
later. The Chilean government guaranteed seven per cent. on a capital of
three millions of dollars. But this concession was unsatisfactory. In
1889 the actual work of construction was begun, but it was stopped after
less than twenty miles had been completed. The old concession having
lapsed a new one was granted in 1903 to the Transandine Construction
company on a five per cent. guarantee for twenty years. In 1906 the
road was opened to Juncal, and in 1909 to Caracoles, the mouth of the
Chilean end of the tunnel. The entire distance from Los Andes to the
tunnel is forty-eight miles. In that distance the altitude rises almost
eight thousand feet. The grade in places reaches eight per cent. There
are several miles of the Abt system of cogs. Tunnels and bridges are
numerous, and a number of avalanche sheds have been built. The Chilean
slopes of the Andes are much more abrupt than those on the Argentina
side, and the work of construction has been correspondingly more
difficult. It provides a grand scenic route for the jaded continental
traveller that furnishes scenery as grandly picturesque as anywhere else
in the world.
One unfortunate feature is the differing width of track. It will be
necessary to reload freight three times in the journey across the
continent. From Valparaiso to Los Andes the gauge is standard. Between
Los Andes and Mendoza it is one metre, and from Mendoza to Buenos Aires
it is five feet eight inches. This may possibly be changed in the future,
but it will be many years. In the meantime much trouble and extra work
will be necessitated in freight traffic. To the passenger it means only a
little annoyance, but not much delay.
[Illustration: TRANSANDINO CHILENO RAILWAY, SHOWING ABT SYSTEM OF COGS.]