Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an extension of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. It converts the Gulf of Mexico into an American lake. In time of war it closes that Gulf to all enemies. It is the only route which our Government can control. So to speak, it renders our own territory circumnavigable. It brings New Orleans 1,400 nautical miles. nearer to San Francisco than a canal via Darien.'

"After several extensions and many failures to raise the money the grant to La Sere finally was forfeited by act of the Government on May 31, 1879. In the meantime, Mr. Edward Learned, of New York, obtained a concession in 1879, with a subsidy of $7,500 per kilometer. This grant was terminated in 1882 for failure to complete the road in the time specified in the contract, only 35 kilometers having been finished. The Government settled with the company, taking over all its property on the Isthmus and paying $125,000 in Mexican silver dollars and $1,500,000 in United States gold. From this time on the Government itself undertook to build the road.

"First, it appointed a representative, who was really an agent, to buy the material and do the work on account of the Government. A contract was then made with this agent, Mr. Belfin Sanchez, a Mexican citizen, with a subsidy of $25,000 per kilometer of road built, but the work did not progress well, and the contract was abrogated on April 25, 1888. Most of the work under this contract was on the Pacific side, that under the Learned contract being on the Atlantic side. The Government paid $562,210 as the value of the work done and the material furnished, and $170,225 as representing the contractor's profits.

"The President had been previously authorized by Congress to build the road, and under this authorization the Government issued 5 per cent gold bonds, the total issue being $13,500,000, which were sold to a German syndicate of banks at 70 per cent of their face value. A contract was signed with Edward McMurdo, of London, to build the road. He, however, died before he could enter actively into the work. In 1892 the contract was abrogated, with about $2,000,000 silver remaining from the proceeds of the issue of bonds.

"The Government made a contract on February 27, 1892, with Messrs. Stanhope, Hampson and Corthell to spend this amount in an attempt to unite the rails. The amount was not sufficient and Mr. Stanhope himself afterwards arranged for enough to accomplish this out of a special Government loan, and he expended on the work $1,111,035. In 1898, the Government entered into a partnership contract with S. Pearson & Son, of London. This was amended in 1892. This partnership or 'sociedad' was given the name of the National Railroad Company of Tehuantepec. The contractors are the administrators or managers of the company's affairs.

"The working capital is $5,000,000. The profits and losses of the operation are to be divided between the partners. The contract will

terminate in 1953, and it contemplates the construction of the harbors and ports on both oceans, the installation of port and terminal facilities and the entire rehabilitation of the railroads, cutting down steep grades, taking out objectional curves, ballasting the road complete from end to end, establishing yards and sidings, and equipping the road with sufficient rolling stock for a large interoceanic traffic. Special attention is being given to the terminals-a deep channel entrance to the natural protected harbor at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River, and a protected harbor with an interior port at Salina Cruz on the Pacific. Those ports will be provided with the most modern appliances for handling cargo with the greatest possible dispatch and economy. There will be 10 meters (32.8 feet) of water at both terminals with wharves and docks sufficient for the largest ocean vessels.

"The ascent from the Gulf of Mexico is gradual, over slowly rising land, to the table land, where the summit is about 924 feet above sea level. The descent to the Pacific plains is much more abrupt. The plains on the Atlantic slope are, however, undulating, and are traversed by many lateral streams of considerable size, tributary to the Coatzacoalcos, which is the main drainage of an extensive country subject to an annual rainfall of about 400 inches. The irregularities required in the preliminary construction, an undulating grade and considerable sharp curvature. The heavier grades were from 1 to 2 per cent and the maximum curvature about 9°, about 600 feet radius. The work of the present contract consists largely in cutting down unnecessary grades and in improving the alignment. The whole length of the route is 290 kilometers (180 miles). The gage is the standard of the United States, 4 feet 8 inches.

"The rail originally laid was 56 pounds per yard. That required by the present contract is 80 pounds. The original rail is all being renewed. The bridges are mostly wooden trestles and pile bridges, except over large rivers. Permanent structures, masonry or steel, are now being substituted for them. The entire line is being ballasted, sidings are being lengthened, yards laid down, and the whole route put into shape for a heavy interoceanic traffic, and the rolling stock is being supplied to meet the requirement.

"About 127 kilometers (78 miles) from the port of Coatzacoalcos the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad joins the Tehuantepec Railroad, at the station of Santa Lucretia. This is the terminus of the former line. "It is not probable that the line of Vera Cruz will have much of the Isthmian traffic, for the reason that from Salina Cruz on the Pacific to Vera Cruz the route is 200 kilometers (124 miles) longer than from Salina Cruz to Coatzacoalcos. There is, however, likely to be an important passenger traffic and Mexican freight traffic via Vera Cruz, due to the fact that the Mexican Government has recently entered the railroad arena by arranging the "merger" previously referred to, of

several systems in which it has lately obtained a controlling interest by purchase of a majority of stock. By those negotiations the Government has a majority ownership in an extensive system, reaching from the United States border to Salina Cruz, via the Mexican National to the city of Mexico; the Interoceanic, from the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz; the Vera Cruz and Pacific from Vera Cruz to Santa Lucretia; and by its absolute ownership of the National Railroad of Tehuantepec from Santa Lucretia to Salina Cruz. This is a long link in the proposed intercontinental system from New York to Buenos Ayres. The fact that there is rail connection from the United States to the Tehuantepec Railroad is an important advantage to that railroad as an interoceanic route.

"It is important in outlining the conditions of the Tehuantepec Isthmus route to know what has been done, what has been planned, and what is yet to be done at the two terminals, for the value and real importance of this route as an interoceanic factor will depend upon the character of the terminal facilities.

"At Coatzacoalcos the Government, by a contract with Pearsons, made a dredged channel through the sea bar at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River, between the extensive deep basin inside and the deep water outside. The bar in its normal condition had about 14 feet of water on its crest. The channel was deepened to 32.8 feet, and 328 feet wide. A rise in the river bringing down the usual amount of silt and débris shoaled the channel in fourteen days to 14 feet. The plan decided upon and now being carried out as rapidly as possible is to build two permanent, substantial jetties of stone and concrete blocks on the location shown in the plan. The dikes converge from a width of about 3,445 feet at the shores to 919 feet at the sea ends, about 3,280 feet from the western shore. The plan contemplates a permanent channel through the bar 656 feet wide and 32.8 feet deep at low tide. If the works do not produce and maintain this channel, no doubt dredging will be resorted to in order to accomplish it. At this writing somewhat over one-third the length from shore of the west jetty has been built; no work has been undertaken on the east jetty as yet. The plan also shows the extensive and well-designed railroad terminal at the port. A natural depth of over 30 feet is within 100 feet of the shore line for a distance of over a mile. The wharf frontage planned extends over a mile and a quarter, with nine warehouses about 400 feet long each, back of which is a railroad yard sufficient to handle the large number of cars required for an important traffic between rail and water. Four of the nine warehouses and the wharf in front are completed.

"At Salina Cruz the conditions are entirely different. The waves of the Pacific beat upon the shore. There is no river to offer its basin for a harbor; only a long curved shore line, with a promontory of

terminate in 1953, and it contemplates the construction of the harbors and ports on both oceans, the installation of port and terminal facilities and the entire rehabilitation of the railroads, cutting down steep grades, taking out objectional curves, ballasting the road complete from end to end, establishing yards and sidings, and equipping the road with sufficient rolling stock for a large interoceanic traffic. Special attention is being given to the terminals a deep channel entrance to the natural protected harbor at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River, and a protected harbor with an interior port at Salina Cruz on the Pacific. Those ports will be provided with the most modern appliances for handling cargo with the greatest possible dispatch and economy. There will be 10 meters (32.8 feet) of water at both terminals. with wharves and docks sufficient for the largest ocean vessels.

—a

"The ascent from the Gulf of Mexico is gradual, over slowly rising land, to the table land, where the summit is about 924 feet above sea level. The descent to the Pacific plains is much more abrupt. The plains on the Atlantic slope are, however, undulating, and are traversed by many lateral streams of considerable size, tributary to the Coatzacoalcos, which is the main drainage of an extensive country subject to an annual rainfall of about 400 inches. The irregularities required in the preliminary construction, an undulating grade and considerable sharp curvature. The heavier grades were from 14 to 2 per cent and the maximum curvature about 9o, about 600 feet radius. The work of the present contract consists largely in cutting down unnecessary grades and in improving the alignment. The whole length of the route is 290 kilometers (180 miles). The gage is the standard of the United States, 4 feet 8 inches.

"The rail originally laid was 56 pounds per yard. That required by the present contract is 80 pounds. The original rail is all being renewed. The bridges are mostly wooden trestles and pile bridges, except over large rivers. Permanent structures, masonry or steel, are now being substituted for them. The entire line is being ballasted, sidings are being lengthened, yards laid down, and the whole route put into shape for a heavy interoceanic traffic, and the rolling stock is being supplied to meet the requirement.

"About 127 kilometers (78 miles) from the port of Coatzacoalcos the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railroad joins the Tehuantepec Railroad, at the station of Santa Lucretia. This is the terminus of the former line. "It is not probable that the line of Vera Cruz will have much of the Isthmian traffic, for the reason that from Salina Cruz on the Pacific to Vera Cruz the route is 200 kilometers (124 miles) longer than from Salina Cruz to Coatzacoalcos. There is, however, likely to be an important passenger traffic and Mexican freight traffic via Vera Cruz, due to the fact that the Mexican Government has recently entered the railroad arena by arranging the "merger" previously referred to, of

several systems in which it has lately obtained a controlling interest by purchase of a majority of stock. By those negotiations the Government has a majority ownership in an extensive system, reaching from the United States border to Salina Cruz, via the Mexican National to the city of Mexico; the Interoceanic, from the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz; the Vera Cruz and Pacific from Vera Cruz to Santa Lucretia; and by its absolute ownership of the National Railroad of Tehuantepec from Santa Lucretia to Salina Cruz. This is a long link in the proposed intercontinental system from New York to Buenos Ayres. The fact that there is rail connection from the United States to the Tehuantepec Railroad is an important advantage to that railroad as an interoceanic route.

"It is important in outlining the conditions of the Tehuantepec Isthmus route to know what has been done, what has been planned, and what is yet to be done at the two terminals, for the value and real importance of this route as an interoceanic factor will depend upon the character of the terminal facilities.

"At Coatzacoalcos the Government, by a contract with Pearsons, made a dredged channel through the sea bar at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River, between the extensive deep basin inside and the deep water outside. The bar in its normal condition had about 14 feet of water on its crest. The channel was deepened to 32.8 feet, and 328 feet wide. A rise in the river bringing down the usual amount of silt and débris shoaled the channel in fourteen days to 14 feet. The plan decided upon and now being carried out as rapidly as possible is to build two permanent, substantial jetties of stone and concrete blocks on the location shown in the plan. The dikes converge from a width of about 3,445 feet at the shores to 919 feet at the sea ends, about 3,280 feet from the western shore. The plan contemplates a permanent channel through the bar 656 feet wide and 32.8 feet deep at low tide. If the works do not produce and maintain this channel, no doubt dredging will be resorted to in order to accomplish it. At this writing somewhat over one-third the length from shore of the west jetty has been built; no work has been undertaken on the east jetty as yet. The plan also shows the extensive and well-designed railroad terminal at the port. A natural depth of over 30 feet is within 100 feet of the shore line for a distance of over a mile. The wharf frontage planned extends over a mile and a quarter, with nine warehouses about 400 feet long each, back of which is a railroad yard sufficient to handle the large number of cars required for an important traffic between rail and water. Four of the nine warehouses and the wharf in front are completed.

"At Salina Cruz the conditions are entirely different. The waves of the Pacific beat upon the shore. There is no river to offer its basin for a harbor; only a long curved shore line, with a promontory of