| Show ROUTE PROPOSED BETWEEN ALASKA AND PATAGONIA the dream of charles M pepper united states and pan amer lean railway com comi i missioner a ago when cecil was in the height ot his african successes and was doing more than any othel man to develop the british interest there he startled the world by his pro of a cape to cairo railroad and in spite of the skepticism of most peo pie went tea dlly ahead with his plans and to day what people then declared was but a wild dream has come ver near being a reality in this country to day we hear of an alaska to patagonia railroad ind we think of it as a bit ol 01 bit its projector Is just a much in earnest as was rhoades in re gard to his african continental road and he declares he expects to see his plans realized some day the man who Is so daring as to sug gest such a vast enterprise is air I 1 charles M pepper he is PERU SCENERY THROUGH WHICH ROAD WILL PASS states and pan american railway corn missioner and he maintains that hia project far from being impossible la already probable and the direct corol lary to the monroe doctrine he quotes late george M pullman who keen student of railway develop ment as he was predicted that one day there would be through sleepers between denver and buenos ayres mr pepper has seen pan american conditions both as a newspaper corre and as a delegate to the pan american congress in 1901 and since his appo rement as railway commis lioner he has made a costly survey with a view of a pan american rail road such a road as he proposes in bolves the cooperation of 15 of the south american republican and the rail links necessary to complete such a system would be 5 miles in length and would cost 00 to show that the plans tor this gl gantic system have passed beyond the problematic stage mr pepper says it may be said that in the begin ning of 1906 every central and every south american country has a definite raf n l 1 ew jaA part of the pan ameri can system and some of them as in the case of peru and bolivia have enacted special legislation all of them are sympathetic toward an inter conti cental trunk line because it coincides with their plans for internal develop ment and external trade the project as it appears on the pro file of the map of the survey made by W shunk as engineer in chief from 1892 to 1898 shows the general diorec alon of the road to be northwest and southeast along the giant chains of the andes the governing principle Is a long continental backbone with brand ribs in every direction taking inac consideration mineral agricultural anc timber resources without omitting ell matic conditions mr pepper has prepared a table showing what parts of the proposed system are already in operation and what parts are under consideration the road from new york to laredo 2 miles Is in operation as I 1 also that from laredo to mexico city from mexico city to the guatemala border there are miles of road 0 which are being operated in cen aral america there are miles in op miles being built and 59 miles projected in panama pro ejected in colombia 20 miles in opera tion and milea projected in acus dor miles in operation 77 miles in construction and miles projected in peru there are milea in op aeration miles under con and 1285 projected in bolivia miles in operation miles under construction and mile projected and in the argentine re public there are 1 miles of road it operation and miles under con st ruction in an imaginary trip over the future system mr pepper grows enthus las tic over the wonderful display of na tural beauties along the line of thi road when the twentieth centura tourist takes the through railway jour ney he will see the relation of sea level plains inter mountain plateaux profound valleys shallow depressions rushing rivers mighty gulches tortu ous canyons sinuous passes the spark ling verdure and the brilliant foliage of the tropics the treeless regions ol 01 the andes desert naked cliffs and jut ting precipices fleece hidden summits and the p keaka of the eternal snows often passing from the rankest wealth of nature to its most sterile and grudging gifts almost as swiftly as the imagination can conceive the change |
