. The earth and its inhabitants ... ns of a railway system, which jointlyfar exceed in length the carriage-roads of the country. Not only Lima, but mostof the larger inland towns on the Pacific slope, are connected by rail with theirseaports. Even the arduous attempt to surmount the barrier of the WesternCordillera was made, at a time when the profits of the guano trade rendered theexpense a question of minor importance. Over £20,000,000 were employed inthis undertaking, an enormous sum for a population of 3,000,000, scattered over avast area. The original plan was to push forward the northern
. The earth and its inhabitants ... ns of a railway system, which jointlyfar exceed in length the carriage-roads of the country. Not only Lima, but mostof the larger inland towns on the Pacific slope, are connected by rail with theirseaports. Even the arduous attempt to surmount the barrier of the WesternCordillera was made, at a time when the profits of the guano trade rendered theexpense a question of minor importance. Over £20,000,000 were employed inthis undertaking, an enormous sum for a population of 3,000,000, scattered over avast area. The original plan was to push forward the northern, central and southerntrans-Andean lines ; the first running from Pacasmayo through Cajamarca to the 348 SOUTH AMEEICA—THE ANDES EEQIONS. upper Maranon ; the second forming a junction with the Callao-Linia line to reachthe Rio Jauja valley and ramify thence over the inter-A^ndean plateaux ; thethird starting from Mollendo and climbing the slopes to Arequipa, then crossing Fig. 135.—Communications of Peku. Sc;de 1 ; 18 Railways Deep-sea Navigation. Coast Navisration. 310 Miles. the Cordillera and descending to Puno, here sending off two branches, onetowards Cuzco, the other towards Bolivia. Of these three trunk lines, the southern made most rapid progress, and beforethe disastrous Chilian war the section between the coast and Lake Titicaca wasalready finished. The Lima route had reached the crest of the Andes by an RAILWAYS OP PERU. 349 incline which is a triumph of engineering skill ; but it had not yet connected thecapital with any important place on the plateaux. Lastly, the Pacasmayo linehad not yet surmounted the gorges of the Rio Jequetepeque. These undertakings were arrested by the war, and several lines, deprived oftheir rolling-stock, were abandoned, and fell out of repair. After a decade ofinaction the work has been slowly resumed, and in 1892 the Arequipa-Puno line Fig. 136.—Lima-Oroya Railway; View taken at Chicla.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
