CHAPTER XII

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.

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.

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.