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National Geographic : 1896 Feb
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THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAIL WAY some permanent structures. Since 1878, including the last con tract and excluding interest, Mexico has spent on the route $16,000,000 in gold and $2,670,170 in Mexican silver. The completion and operation of this railroad will greatly fa cilitate the construction of the ship railway when the time arrives to build it, as it may with great advantage be employed to dis tribute supplies, materials, and laborers along the line of the ship railway, and thus be used as an auxiliary line, which Mr Eads had intended to build in advance for this purpose. Permit me now to state the part taken by Mr Eads in solving the problem of interoceanic transit. In a letter to the New York Tribune, June 10, 1879, he advocated a ship railway at Panama instead of a ship canal. As against the doubtful project of a ship canal and in favor of a ship railway he said: " My own studies have satisfied me of the entire feasibility of such trans portation by railroad, and I have no hesitation in saying that for a sum not exceeding one-third of the estimated cost of the canal, namely, about $50,000,000, the largest ships which enter the port of New York can be transferred, when fully loaded, with absolute safety across the isthmus, on a railway constructed for the purpose, within twenty-four hours from the moment they are taken in charge in one sea until they are delivered into the other, ready to depart on their journey." He urged the construction of a ship railway on De Lesseps, but the great Frenchman said, "A canal at sea level or nothing." He found nothing, at a cost not of $120,000,000, but of $250,000,000. Mr Eads then turned his attention to the much more advan tageous route at Tehuantepec, only 800 miles from the Mississippi jetties, and it was my good fortune to be henceforth associated with him until his death. The concessions of May, 1881, modified in 1885, provided for the construction and operation of the ship railway for 99 years. Many liberal provisions were included, such as the donation of about 2,700,000 acres of land, ample rights of way, right to col lect tonnage and wharf dues. Far the most valuable grant was the guaranty that one-third of the net revenue of the company for fifteen years from the opening of the railway should amount to $1,250,000, with the right to secure a similar guaranty for $2,500,000 to cover the remaining two-thirds of the interest from foreign nations, but with the understanding that this guaranty should be sought from the United States. Mr Eads made the plans with his customary skill, and after obtaining the approval of many prominent naval architects and
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