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INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCE. 125
T l that ruight have bnilt railroads brought remunerative order out
of a realm of natural wealth has been y spent in fostering and suppress–
ing revolntious.
The interna! resources of Colomuia in precious wetals, coal, iron, copper, gums,
dye woocls, medicinal plants, fibers, and va.luable timber shonlJ. rank her arnong the
rnost pro ·peroml in tlle family of repablics.
The ouly road in this consular clistrict iu actual Ret'\'Íce is thc Bolivar, between
Ba.rranquiUa and calgar, the port for shipment. A lmmch road to l:'tterto Colombia.,
not yet corullletet1, will terminate at the pier nO\Y lmi lúing, where stea111ers can dis–
charge and receive fi·ei gh t iu the fu ture. l'he railroar considered are the Bolí–
var, Canea, .Jirardot, the Autioqnia, and the Dura,tlo. the Bulivar first as ueiug
tlte til'st in import::mce in its sen·ict> nnd aic1 to foreig rce, as well as in its per–
fect man:1gemt>nt.
A slight digression here ma.y ob,·iate a more prolonged explauation later. The
month ot· (lelta. of tlw MagJ.n.lena. River, the gren.t comm0n :iat artery for cight States
of th1~ Repnulic, is obr;tructed more or less at all seasous uy a s liiftiug IJar forrued by
tbe sedime11t of the ~Iagda.leua, the Canea, aud their hnmlrcds of tribntaries. It is
aud has been a. "marine cemetery," so to peak, for the past forty or fifty years.
Vesscls enter tho river sometimes wioh fwm 18 to 20 fcet of water on the bar, but a
few days later, wbeu cleared for ueparture, there tnay ue but 9 or 10. Loaded vessels
ontwa.rcl bouud bave waited sixty or seventy chtys watching fur the fa.Yorab! e com–
bination, which selüom occurs, of a fa ir \Yind, good depth o1 water ou the bar, a mod–
erate :;ea, anda reliaule pilot to get saJely out uf this aquatic trap. Aml it is notan
e.s:aggeratiou to say that one-quarter part of the sailing has been lost iu exit or
entmnce. Ves:>els ha>e been lost on the bar wheu in to 11owerful tng-boat and
piloted by oue of the best experts on the coaf't. Duriug the pa t month an American
schooner, the .P. G. French, of New Haven, could not get out on account of tbe heavy
sea ou tbe bar, the prevailing northerly wind, and the uncertainty of tbe eccentric
channel, which may or may not be as it v.·as upou the entrauce. A British barken–
tine has been nearly two months in the sarne dilemma, ami ou the ;¿6th ultimo ~he Ger–
man brig Em·ique was lost with a valuable cargo, and two of herofficers were drowned,
in eu<leavoring to reach the proper entrance to thi, delra, of thb :Magdalena; a rivcr
800 miles in navigable leugth, exclusive of its tribnta.ries, oue of tbe great ri,ers of
the world, bnt without a light-house, a beacon, orPveu a buoy to mark its entrance,
with no laudruarks, no pilots, and a ch::mnel as sllifting and unstaule a· tbe sauds
that bar the entrance. It was to obviate this peril tolife nml property tbat the Bolí–
var Railroad was constrncted.
Whrn the branch to Puerto Colombia is completad steam-ships can líe alongside a
pier in smooth water, iu a port easy of a ccess, to discbarge and receive freight. Six–
teen thonsand three hundreú and se\·enty-one tons of exlJort::; from the ioterior have
been pa sed over this road for ship:neut duriug the ;,-ear ld 7, and 11, '4 ' ton of im–
ports have beeu delivered at the Barranquilla terruiuus for the interior trade.
The export are from the marbrinal t owns <Jnd vmagcs along the rivera accessible
by river steamers, and only a fractioual part or wltat migbt be seut to the coa ·t for
foreigu markets reaches commercial cbanuels through a lack uf proper ruads aud the
scarcity of labor. Seven steam- hip linos touch at Salgar to di charge aud receive
freight, mail , and passeugers. Gerrnan liue from Ha.mbnrg twice a month; Royal
Mail twice a ruooth to and from -,outhamptou; West India aud Pacilic, English,
t~ice a rnonth from LiYerpool; Atla , Euglish, from New York, twice a month; Har–
rtson, Eugli»h, Liverpool and rTew Orleans, twice a. month; General Tra.nsatlantic,
French, twice a month, an Spauish line twice a month . The pa::,senger traffic
over the Bolívar road from to the Salgar terminns has more thau doublecl during
the past three vear .
Should the Dorado and the Antioquia roads be pushed to eompletion there would
be four trains or more daily to Salgar in teacl of only two, as at preseut. But of these
roads we will speak in the proper routine.
T~e Bolivar is uncler American mauagement; is ownecl by prívate part ies. 1 he
ro!hng stock now in servíce, of English manufaeture, will be revlaced as tbe necessity
ar1ses witb Ameriran. The extension of the hranch r oad to Puerto Colombia on the
uorthwest side of Salgar Bay, makes the distance from tbe Barrauquilla terminus to
the pier eightecu miles. The Salgar termint:s wHl proba.bly be abandonctl in the im–
tnedi:tte fnture.
. .Barranquilla. to algar wharf is 14 miles. and tbe nece sity for steam-tugs
hghters between Salg-ar and the hipping wi!l oon be aboli het!, and probauly l
rates of freight will h • estahlished to the pier at Pnerto Colombia.
The r~te for pa · ·engers at present is 5 per capit:t for first-clas"l from Barr::mquilla.
!o the a4ipp;ng1 o vice veraa ¡ ""3 fvr second cJa, ; and freight at the rate of .."'2.50 per
~on.
The Cf!,uc lrow.l,-This ro;.d, tbc oonsrru-'tkm ot' which wua commeucoo in 1 i8
~uq ra...'l !¡1) :ih~~~ .vitl_ _·:}Ú a.ü!l tht1 ¡,:¡Sy ha..:k 1f ~}¡ (}r!;uc•-. R~Vlj ~ híl!S H- pre n~