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Show Will Traverse South America With a Rail and Water Way. WILL CONNECT THE PACIFIC AND ATLANTIC Was Granted Concession by Government Gov-ernment of Peru. Which Will Also Aid Him. ' What is in reality a transcontinental transcontinen-tal railroad across South America is soon to begin construction aud a Salt Lake man is the head and front of the scheme. This man is A. W. McCune, Mc-Cune, who several years ago went to South America, secured control of the Cerro dc Pasco mine and then built a railroad from Callao on tho Pacific ocean up to his mine, lie' encountered many obstacles, met with many reverses, re-verses, but he persevered and he won. Tn the construction of this railroad he had to 0 through the Andes, and where his road crosses the rango tho pass is 14.G0D feet above sea level, while tho highest point reached by the road is IC,000 feet, this at the mine. This is two and a quarter miles higher up in the air than is Salt Lake, and, as may be imagined, tho air is extremely extreme-ly rarefied. Pew people can live there for any length of time, and if there is any lung or heart trouble the end conies quickly. However, there are those who can stand such an altitude, and one man, an Englishman, in the employ em-ploy of the mining company, has lived there for thirty-four years. Present Terminus of Road. The present terminus of the proposed trans-continental railway is at Oroya, aud from this point there is the railway rail-way running up to the Cerro de Pasco mines. The superintendent of the railroad rail-road is A. II. Kerr, a former Utahn. who was superintendent of tho Sanpete Valley railroad. He left hern about four years ago to enter. tho service serv-ice of tho South American railroad. - When Mr. McCune was home on his last visit he, in a talk with a few of his close friends, informed them of tho plans he had in view for a trans-continental railroad across South America. It would be a colossal undertaking, he said, but jio felt sure that he could finance the proposition, as he had concessions con-cessions from the government of Peru and had also been promised aid from tho government. One of the concessions' conces-sions' was'a grant of 2,000,000 acres of tho finest hardwood timber in the world. Has Financed the Scheme. His friends, of course, hoped for the success of his scheme, but they were skeptical about tho matter. However, Mr. McCune was not to be deterred in ho again assured his friends, that he would succeed. Well, he has succeeded,, cw York financiers turned his proposition down. Then ho went to London and after several sev-eral conferences with tho great capitalists capital-ists of the old world, convinced them of tho feasibility of his proposal aud thoy assured him they would finance the scheme. Advices to this effect have been received in Salt Lake within the past few days. Mr. McCune is now in South America, Rail and Water Way. According to information here, there aro two lines of railroad to be constructed con-structed from tho Oroyo terminus. One of these is to a point on Ucayali river, and tho other to a point on the Pacific coast, between Aneon and Begenta bays. From tho point on the Ucayali river, which is a navigable river and which flows into the Amazon river, a lino of steamships is to bo put in commission com-mission and from there will bo a water route to the Atlantic. The railroad which will run north and oast from Oroyo to the Ucayali river will traverse one of the finest timbered countries in tho world Concession a Splendid One. The concession which has been granted grant-ed Mr. McCune is said to be a splendid one, and one which, will make him one of tho rich men of the world. There aro somo modifications which the English Eng-lish syndicate, which is behind him, desired, de-sired, and his trip to South America was for tho purposo of securing those modifications. Advices received here show that ho has been successful. |
