46 PROPOSED RAILWAY ROUTE ACROSS THE ANDES. [Jan. 23, 1860. 



Miles. 



1. Port of Rosario, on the La Plata, to Cordova 250 



2. Cordova to the eastern base of the Andes 350 



3. Eastern base of the Andes to Junction with Tres Puntos 



Railway 320 



4. Junction with Tres Puntos Railway to Caldera 80 



Total length 1000 



As regards the first section ; a district of 6 miles in breadth, along 

 its entire length, has been granted by the Argentine Confederation. 

 This land is good for arable purposes, and not to be excelled for 

 grazing. 



The second section is still a gradually rising plain, and passes 

 through a region of great wealth, pastoral, agricultural, and mineral. 

 A concession of 3600 square miles has been made here, to the rail- 

 way. 



The third is barren waste throughout, and would depend for its 

 support upon the through traffic. The San Francisco Pass is believed 

 to be always open. For the last nine years it has never been closed 

 by snow. The La Eosas Pass had been examined, but was con- 

 sidered inferior to the San Francisco. 



The nature of the difficulties Mr. Wheelwright proposes to cope 

 with are expressed as follows, in the report of his own surveyor : — 



" The first point at which the gradient begins to assume a serious character 

 is at the junction of the San Andres and Saipote valleys. Here we find 

 water and vegetation, and for 10 miles the surface of the ground is much cut 

 up and broken by the stream passing through it, and by the debris from the 

 small ravines on either side. Until we reach Maricunga, after leaving the 

 10th mile, we find but little or no vegetation and no obstruction to a railway, 

 with the exception of a possible tunnel 500 feet in length. This tunnel might 

 be found to be unnecessary upon further inspection. Just beyond Maricunga 

 commence the most serious gradients, and a tunnel of more than half a mile 

 in length will be needed to pass from Moreno's valley to the main valley, but 

 the rest of the work to the Cuesta de los Chilenos will be trifling. To pass 

 the Cuesta another tunnel will be needed, on a grade of 100 feet to the mile ; 

 and its length, for the purposes of estimating, might be stated at 2 miles, 

 although I am inclined to think that an instrumental location would reduce 

 it to one-half. We are now on the central plateau of the Andes. From 

 Laguna Salada to the Rio Llama we rise for 18 miles at the rate of 2 feet per 

 mile, and then, according to the Table, we have a gradient of 619 feet per 

 mile for 3 miles. This, however, could easily be reduced to 200 feet per 

 raile by projecting the line farther to the south, and following the bank of 

 the stream, thus increasing the length to 9 miles instead of 3 miles as it now 

 stands. This heavy gradient has been necessary to reach the plains of Tres 

 Cruces, about 30 miles long and 10 miles broad. We pass through the centre 

 of them over a gently rolling surface for 10 miles, when Ave bear more to the 

 eastward for the Barancas de las Llamas. These Barancas are a spur from 

 the Las Llamas mountains, and extend quite across the plain to the Volcano 

 range on the other side, and serve as a barrier between the Tres Cruces and 



