n6 0eo0rapbical IRotes on 



Company ; and these four lines connect us with the main systems of 

 the United States, our lines being in fact extensions of the United 

 States railway system. 



We have now two lines from the City of Mexico to Veracruz, the 

 old Veracruz road passing by Orizaba, and the Interoceanic, which 

 runs from Veracruz by Jalapa and the City of Mexico and is intended 

 to reach the Pacific. All of our roads, excepting the one built by Mr. 

 Huntington, have had large subsidies paid by the Mexican Govern- 

 ment, and in one case, that of the Veracruz railroad, the subsidy paid 

 was $560,000 per year, for twenty-eight years, or about $57,471 per 

 English mile, although the average subsidy per mile, according to 

 President Diaz's report, dated November 30, 1896, is $14,380. 



The Tehuantepec railway, running from Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf 

 of Mexico to Salina Cruz on the Pacific, about one hundred and thirty 

 miles in length, has been built at great expense and at a great sacrifice 

 by the Mexican Government. I published in the Engineering Maga- 

 zine for March, 1894,' an article stating the different efforts made by 

 the Mexican Government to have that road built, and the advantages 

 that we expected from it as a highway of trade between the Atlantic 

 and the Pacific. The Mexican Government has recently made a con- 

 tract with Messrs. E. Weetman, Pearson & Son, of London, for the 

 building of good harbors at both ends of the road, and when that is 

 accomplished we expect that a great deal of eastern trade will pass 

 through Tehuantepec. 



With the exception of the Tehuantepec road, we have not yet any 

 road running from the Atlantic to the Pacific, although several are in 

 process of construction. The descent of the mountains is on the Pa- 

 cific slope a great deal more difficult than on the Gulf coast, where the 

 large centres of population are located near the Gulf, and this explains 

 why none of the roads have so far been able to reach the Pacific Ocean. 



Our railway system extends now, in the direction of Guatemala, as 

 far as the city of Oaxaca, where we are only about five hundred miles 

 away from our frontier with Guatemala. In other directions, our sys- 

 tem reaches the principal cities and commercial and mining centres of 

 the country. 



The total mileage of railway in 1895 was 6989} English miles. 

 President Diaz, in his above mentioned report gives, the total mileage 

 of railways in Mexico as 11,469 kilometres or 7126 miles ; and in his 

 message to Congress on April i, 1897, he stated that the railway mile- 

 age had been increased by 238 kilometres 550 metres, finished and 

 received by the Government, and 248 kilometres built, but not yet re- 

 ceived officially^ making a total mileage of 11,955 kilometres 550 

 metres, or 7.429 miles. 



1 This paper will appear in this volume. 



