THE FIRST TRANSANDINE RAILROAD 



399 



rih.iM 1, 



W". K. Grace & Co. 



STATION OP USPALLATA, ARGENTINA 



was incorporated to carry out the under- 

 taking. Actual work on the road was 

 at last commenced, and in 1888 the first 

 train left Mendoza, bound westward to- 

 ward the Andes. The construction now 

 continued steadily until 189 1, when work 

 was suspended for eight years. 



Meanwhile the Clarks had obtained a 

 Chilian concession for a railway from 

 A alparaiso eastward to the Argentine 

 frontier, and work on this end of the line 

 was begun in 1889. Eventually the Clark 

 brothers were obliged, through financial 

 embarrassment, to give up these conces- 

 sions, and both divisions came under the 

 control of an English company. 



In 1899 work on the Argentine side 

 was resumed and steadily prosecuted 

 until the approach of the summit tunnel 

 was attained. Construction on the Chil- 

 ian side, on the contrary, progressed 

 slowlv, and it was not until 1903, when 

 W. R. Grace & Co., of New York and 

 London, were awarded the contract of 

 completing the road, that work at the 



western ena was energetically carried on. 

 In 1906 an agreement was entered into 

 by the companies representing the road 

 on the two sides of the .Andes. 



THE SUMMIT tunnel: A MARVELOUS 

 ENGINEERING FEAT 



It was agreed to pierce the summit 

 tunnel, the final connecting link, by 

 means of the same contractors and under 

 one control and authority. The result 

 has demonstrated the wisdom of this de- 

 cision. 



The drilling of this unique i)assage- 

 way, two miles in length and situated 

 two miles above the sea (although 2.000 

 feet below the mule trail over the moun- 

 tain pass of Uspallata — 12,60; feetL was 

 a stupendous undertaking. Fortunately, 

 engineering science, and improved appli- 

 ances for tunneling in particular, has 

 made great strides since those early days 

 when "the Transandine was projected — 

 when the piercing of this Cumbre, or 

 Summit, ttmnel was reckoned as an in- 



