MEXICO. 



543 



from Apizaco (eighty-six miles from the capital 

 and 177 miles from Vera Cruz) to the city of 

 Puebla. It is a " standard gauge " road, was 

 built chiefly with English capital, and is con- 

 trolled in London. Its president, however, is 

 an American. Its distinctive peculiarity in 

 which it differs from the two other roads which 

 have been mentioned is that it traverses all 

 tbree of the climatic belts of Mexico, while 

 their routes are in only the tierra fria. At 

 Paso del Macho, in the tierra caliente, forty- 

 seven miles from Vera Cruz, the work ahead 

 is indicated by the substitution of a Fairlie for 

 a Baldwin locomotive on the train. From this 

 station during the next sixty miles the road 

 mounts through the tierra templada, across 

 the terraces of C6rdova and Orizaba, up to 

 Boca del Monte, 8,310 feet above the sea, and 

 thence follows the table-land 156 miles to 

 the city of Mexico. The magnificent scenery 

 and engineering of these sixty miles have long 

 been familiar to Americans by photographs 

 and written narratives. It would be trite, there- 

 fore, to descant upon them. They are unri- 

 valed, except by the engineering and scenery 

 of the present route of the Mexican National 

 Eailroad from the capital to the city of To- 

 luca. 



The main line of the Mexican Central road 

 is completed from the north only so far that 

 trains are running regularly from El Paso to 

 Chihuahua, about 225 miles, and from the south 

 only so far that they are running regularly 286 

 miles, from the city of Mexico to Lagos, to 

 which extreme point they began to run on 

 December 15, 1882. Between Lagos and Chi- 

 huahua there is, therefore, a gap of five or six 

 hundred miles, which must be traversed at 

 present by " diligence." This gap is so exten- 

 sive that it prohibits the line from becoming a 

 convenient means of access to the capital at 

 present. The Mexican " diligence," or stage- 

 coach, is a very uncomfortable vehicle, built 

 on the pattern of the old-fashioned "Concord 

 coaches," and is as dirty as it is uncomfortable. 

 The highways are very rough, and, although 

 the relays of mules are frequent, a speed of 

 more than forty or fifty miles a day can not 

 reasonably be expected. 



The Mexican Central road is of the "stand- 

 ard gauge." Its American connections are 

 with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Rail- 

 road system a fact which sufficiently identi- 

 fies its American control to anybody acquainted 

 with the subdivisions of American railroad in- 

 terests. Its Mexican controllers are men in 

 close and peculiar relations with the Federal 

 Executive. 



The main line of the Mexican National road 

 is completed from the north only so far that 

 trains are running regularly from Laredo to 

 Monterey, and from the south only so far that 

 they are running from the city of Mexico 

 through Toluca, forty-seven miles (to which 

 point they began to run in September, 1882), 

 to Maravatio, ninety-six miles farther, to which 



point it is said that they began to run regu- 

 larly during the month of February, 1883. 



The gap in which resort must be had to the 

 "diligence" in this line, therefore, is nearly 

 as extensive at present as exists in the case of 

 the Central road. Nor does the section com- 

 pleted from the city of Mexico westward and 

 northward help at all to fill it, even if that sec- 

 tion be reckoned to extend as far as Marava- 

 tio, 143 miles. Nor can it do so until after 

 the Central road is crossed at Celaya. The 

 reasons for this are evident by a glance at the 

 map, without discussion. A traveler by "dil- 

 igence " down from Monterey will of course 

 aim to strike the Mexican Central road at La- 

 gos and use it to the capital. As a main ave- 

 nue of travel between our country and the city 

 of Mexico the location of the southern part of 

 the Mexican National Railroad is highly advan- 

 tageous compared with the location of the 

 Central road ; while, on the contrary, for that 

 purpose, the location of its northern part pos- 

 sesses some striking advantages. 



The Mexican National Company owns also 

 another strip of rail, which is laid northward 

 out of the valley of Mexico by the side of the 

 Central Railroad, some thirty miles to the vil- 

 lage of El Salto, availing itself of the easy 

 grades of exit from the valley afforded by the 

 old " Spanish Drain." From El Salto numer- 

 ous surveys have been made with a design to 

 connect this strip with Toluca, in which event 

 the monstrously expensive road that this com- 

 pany has constructed directly westward from 

 the capita] to that city (with grades some of 

 which were stated by one of the engineers, who 

 went over it in company with the writer in 

 January, to be as steep as 3 '8 in 100 feet) would 

 doubtless be discontinued as the main line, and 

 the El Salto route substituted. But these sur- 

 veys were fruitless. It is now asserted, how- 

 ever, that a later survey has been successful in 

 finding a way to make the connection with 

 grades not exceeding 1*5 in 100 feet. 



The Mexican National road is of the "narrow 

 gauge." Its American connections are with 

 the Denver and Rio Grande railroad system. 



ACCESS BY SEA ON THE PACIFIC SIDE. On 

 the Pacific side steamers land passengers from 

 San Francisco at San Bias, in the State of Ja- 

 lisco. Thence it is possible to reach the Mexi- 

 can Central Railroad at Lagos or Leon by a 

 seven and a half days' journey by " diligence " 

 through the cities of Tepic and Guadalajara. 

 From Lagos to the city of Mexico by rail it is, 

 as has been mentioned, about 286 miles. From 

 Leon to the city of Mexico the distance is 266 

 miles. 



As soon as the Mexican Central road pushes 

 its lateral line from Leon or Lagos to Guadala- 

 jara it will greatly facilitate the approach from 

 this quarter. 



ACCESS BY SEA ON THE ATLANTIC SIDE. On 

 the Atlantic side there is a weekly " Alexan- 

 dre " steamer from New York for Vera Cruz 

 (starting from pier 3 North River on Thurs- 



