Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish
Sir: In fulfillment of the promise contained in my dispatch No. 365, of March 23, I now proceed to furnish some data concerning the railroad now in process of construction between this city and the port of Vera Cruz. I went carefully over the completed as well as much of the unfinished work on this line, accompanied by several officers of the railway company, who supplied me with every facility for thorough observation.
The total length of this railway, when completed, will be two hundred [Page 632] and sixty-one miles. A branch, thirty miles long, now connects the main line with the city of Puebla; it leaves the main line at the station of Apizaco, eighty-six and a half miles from the city of Mexico. In 1864 a contract was entered into for the construction of this line, a small portion of it being then in operation for traffic, though in a very imperfect condition. The contract by an English company (Smith, Knight & Co.) included the purchase of the open sections, and the putting them into a thoroughly satisfactory condition. In October, 1864, the engineers of the company, Colonel Talcott and Mr. Samuel, were both in Mexico, and the contractors’ agent commenced work, and carried it on vigorously, until the month of May, 1866, when the works were suspended in consequence of the non-payment of the subvention by the so-called government of the empire.
In November, 1866, Colonel Talcott resigned, and Mr. Alister Fraser was appointed to act as resident engineer in Mexico. A new arrangement was entered into, by which the works were to be carried out by Mr. George B. Crawley as contractor, in place of Smith, Knight & Co. After a series of interruptions and difficulties, during the siege of Mexico, a new commencement was made, and the company’s resident engineer, Mr. Fraser, became engineer for the contractor. Mr. Samuel was made consulting engineer to the board in London, and Mr. William Cross Buchanan was appointed the company’s chief engineer, in direct charge of all the works. Unfortunately, Mr. Fraser was shortly taken ill, and was obliged to go home. As soon as Mr. Crawley, the contractor, became aware of this, he appointed Mr. Thomas Braniff as his agent in Mexico, and the works have been steadily pushed on for the last two years in a very satisfactory manner. Mr. Braniff is a citizen of the United States, a man of great energy and administrative ability, and has achieved an honorable reputation in connection with the construction of railways in the republic of Chili. The branch to Puebla was finished and opened to the public on the 16th day of September, 1869, and the works in the Tierra Caliente were started afresh on a new survey in November, 1869, and on the 1st of January of the present year some seven and a half miles of the most difficult work on the line were completed and opened to the public.
Several large works have been successfully erected on the lower section just opened; and the line has been completed from Vera Cruz inland for a distance of fifty-five miles.
Mr. Braniff has the work well in hand, and expects to have the line finished by July as far as a place called Fortin, about seventy miles from Vera, Cruz. Several bridges have been erected of iron and stone, three of them over 100 feet in height, and in spans of from 140 to 66 feet. At the Fortin mentioned above a very large barranca or gully occurs. Various designs were submitted for a bridge over this, and the last one, designed by Mr. William Cross Buchanan, was a suspension-bridge of 900 feet span, to be principally of steel. These designs were, however, all abandoned, and a new line was surveyed which will pass down on one side of the barranca, cross the Metlac River on a comparatively small bridge, and, rising on the opposite side, join the original line at a convenient point. This line will cost much less, and be a solid road throughout, with gradients of 1 in 40, or 2½ per cent., and 1 in 33, or 3 per cent., and no curve less than 350 feet radius. A very great saving to the company will be effected by this new line, and at least twelve months will be gained in time.
The total distance at present open to the public (including the branch) is one hundred and sixty-three miles, leaving one hundred and twenty-eight [Page 633] miles to complete. A very large portion of these one hundred and twenty-eight miles is partially completed already. In one portion, a distance of over seventy miles, 90 per cent. is finished of the earthworks; and over the portion called the Cumbres of Maltrata, where there are curves of 350 feet radius, and a continuous grade for twenty-two miles of 4 percent., or one in twenty-five, over 60 per cent. of the earth-works are finished.
Two years’ steady work would complete the whole line, and when opened to the public will, in my opinion, be one of the best paying lines in the world. There could be no competition, and every pound of traffic that now is carried over the roads on mules or in wagons would go by rail. To the traveling public diligence journeys would become a dream of the past, and Mexico would advance, as all nations do where railways exist.
The management of this railway is in the hands of a board of directors in London, and in Mexico there is a local board composed of five directors. The opened sections are managed by a traffic manager appointed by the company.
When completed, the Mexican Bailway will be, in an engineering point of view, one of the exceptional railways of the world, and in a commercial view I believe it will be a most perfect success. From the present returns of traffic it is impossible to calculate what the future returns may be. Railways in most countries have created a traffic for themselves, and Mexico will not be behind in this respect. Wars and pronunciamentos will gradually cease, and peace and prosperity will follow in the track of the locomotive.
The obliging superintendent of traffic, Mr. W. H. Mills, has furnished me the following:
Memorandum of the receipts and expenditures on the two opened sections of the line:
MEXICO AND PUEBLA SECTION.
| Length, 115¾ miles. | |
| Total receipts for the six months ending December 31, 1870 | $332,233 95 6/8 |
| Total working expenses for the six months ending December 31, 1870 | 166,989 22⅞ |
| Balance | 165,244 72⅞ |
| Total receipts for the two months, January and February, 1871 | $107,473 29⅞ |
| Total working expenses | 53,089 48½ |
| Balance | 54,383 81⅜ |
VERA CRUZ SECTION.
| Length, 47¼ miles. | |
| Total receipts for the six months ending December 31, 1871 | $96,937 25¼ |
| Total working expenses. | 92,147 28½ |
| Balance | 4,789 96¾ |
| Total receipts for the two months, January and February, 1871 | $46,902 26⅜ |
| Total working expenses | 35,277 86¾ |
| Balance | 11,624 39⅝ |
The amount of money that is annually paid to this company by the federal government of Mexico amounts to about $1,000,000, viz, $560,000 as subvention, and 15 per cent. of the importation duties on all the custom-houses.
[Page 634]Upon my return to the capital I addressed a brief note to the department for foreign affairs, announcing my arrival, and returning thanks for official courtesies, (A,) to which Mr. Aspiroz replied on the 28th ultimo, (B.)
Your obedient servant,