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106 lN'I'ER ATIOr AL A~IERICAN UONFERENCE.
tbe building of a wb:uf at Santo Toma~; tbe total cost of road am1 wl.Jarf is fixed at
$10,000,000. Snrvey are to be commenced in six months, and tbe construction in one
year. A copy of tbe contract is issued by tbe Bnreau of Statistics, State D~partment.
Gilatemala Central, from San José to Guatemala City, 71.8 miles. Gauge, 1 meter;
maximum grade, 4! per cent. Tbis line is subsidized by theGuatemalanGovernment
to tbe extent of $100,000 per annum for twenty-:five years. The completed road was
opened in September, 1884. It is tborol'lgbly built and '' ell ballasted. '!'be cross–
t.ies are partly native wood and partly California redwood.
A braneh toLa Antigua is projected. The total cost of the completed line was
$2,500,000. Tbe highest elevation reached is 5,010 feet.
It is reported that this road has recently been purchased by American capitalista,
along witb thefranchise previously obtained by Mr. Cottn.
Surveys are in progresa for a railway to run from Guatemala City toa connection
with the Mexican Paci:fic Railroad at tbe .Mexican border.
Tbe railroad system of Guatemala includes two short linea of track-one of them
reacbing from San José, the principal Paciti.c port, to tbe capital, 72 miles, and the
other from Champerico, a few leagues uortbward, to the coffee plautations·of the in–
terior, abont 2'2 miles. Both are useful factors in the development of the country;
but more important to the commercial interests of the United States ís the proposed
line-which is intended to connect Port Barrios, on the Caribbean Sea, witb the capi·
tal and the Pacific thus shortening the transportation distance from Guatemala to
the trade centers of our own country by several thousand miles. This railroad has
been contemplated for many years, and a liberal concession was made by the Gov–
ernment to citizens of tbe Uníted States for its construction; but the grantees after
several extensions of their privilege, have :finally abandoned tbe project, and the
Governmentis doing a small amonnt of work upon it without much encouragement for
itscompletion. Labor is acaree on theAtlantic side of the continent and the clímateis
very severe; few laborers being able to endure tbe miasm wb ich constantly arises from
the jungles along the coast. Lastfallseveral ship-loads of white and colored laborera
were imported from New Orleans to do the grading, but the experiment was disas–
trous, resulting in a frightful amount of disease and mortality, so that tbe United
States con.sul-general was obliged to appeal to the Government for a naval vessel to
carry tbe sick back to their bornes. But the present engineer-in-chief stateB that a
recent acquisition of negroes experienced in railroad building has been fonnd very
efficient and tbe laborers have very good health. The importance of tbe líne to Ameri·
can commerce leads to the hope that all obstacles to its s¡;eedy completion will be
removed. -
The country along tbe Atlantic eoast is rich in tropical vegetation, and would be
rapidly developed if means of transportation were afforded; but the difficulties already
encountered make tbe ontlook somewhat discouraging.
The railroad from San José to Guatemala City has been in progress o! construction
for five years; the concession being originally granted to a native by whom it was
transferred to General Butterfield, ofNew York. The latter completed the linc asfar
as Escnintla, a town 25 miles from 1he coast, which has long been the center of a
large, thickly settled and finely cultivated area, produeing valuable crops of coffee,
sngar, cocoa, cotton, and other tropical prodncts. Tbere are 500 miles of wagon-roads
reaching Escuintla, and the town has always been a mat:ket of great importance.
General Butter:field abandoned the railroad at this poínt, when its completion was
nndertaken by a of capitalists from the Pacific coast, who laid the last rail
an(l. opened it to commerce in Angust, 18R4. Although constrncted throngh a moun~
ainoas country, with au average grade of 4 per cent., tbe road willcompare well with
any narrow-ga.uge line in the world, and is probably the best in Central America. It
is laid with steel rails upon hard-wood ties, many of which were imported; is:firmly
ballasted, and ita many bridges were constrncted with regard to permanence and
afety. The equipment of the road appears to be amply sufficient, its station-houses
are commodious structures built upon modern pJans; its management is courteous,
liberal, and enterprising, and this institntion, most important to the commercial
welfare of Guatemala, is in all respects a credit to the Republic the citizens of
California, whose energy and capital carried it throngh. By ~iving as low rates of
freight as the cost oí constrnction will permit; and by a studwus regard for the in–
terests oí their sllippers the managers of this road have done mnch to com–
meree and cheapen the co..'>t of il!lported goods.
The other railroaa from Champerico to Retalhulen has brought life in a similar
manner to a valuable sectiou of the country, has very largely increased the pro–
ductiva area of the department through which it runs. This road was also _con–
etructed bythe citizens of the United States and has proved remunerative to its ow.n-