REPORT 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 LIC. MANUEL FERNANDO SOTO 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE 
 
 OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS 
 
 AND PUBLIC WORKS. 
 
 £ f TRANSLATED BY 
 
 WILLIAM THO Sfo N, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH 
 IN THE 
 
 National Commercial College. 
 
 MEXICO 
 
 “Gante Press,” Calle de Gante No. 5 
 
HIDALGO RAILROAD 
 
 REPORT 
 
 PRESENTED BY MR. MANUEL FERNANDO SOTO, 
 
 Representative of the Federal Government in the Hidalgo Railroad Company 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Department of Communications and Public Works. 
 
 compliance with the instructions received from 
 5|r the Department under your charge, in which 
 ^ you ask me for a report on several points touch- 
 ing the Hidalgo Railroad Company, as representa- 
 tive of the Federal Government, I have now the 
 honor to present such report, which has been delayed 
 from causes over which I had no control, such as 
 the difficulty of obtaining the necessary official 
 statistics, that are always necessary to form the 
 basis of a report of this class. The points referred 
 to in the instructions received from your Depart- 
 ment, are three: 1st. Constitution and Organization 
 of the Hidalgo Railroad Company; 2nd. Movement 
 and operating expenses of the line constructed; and 
 3rd. Probable future of the railroad in connection 
 with the agricultural and mineral region of the 
 country which it traverses. 
 
 
4 
 
 c f c Cc 
 
 Q c £ these three points the 3rd. is the one which 
 tally suggests the most important reflections, 
 oh account of the geographical position which the 
 State of Hidalgo occupies between the valley of 
 Mexico, and the coast of the Gulf; on account of the 
 agricultural industries in the fertile plains of Ixmi- 
 quilpan, Tula and Huichapan, but principally in the 
 beautiful valley of Tulancingo, through which the 
 linehas been located; on account the continuous and 
 certain production of pulque throughout the ex- 
 tensive district in which it is cultivated; from the ex- 
 huberant vegetation and different climates of towns 
 in the Sierra Alta; from the rapid and astonishing 
 progress of one of its mining districts; from its 
 close proximity to the valleys of the Huasteca in 
 Veracruz as well as to the Ports of Tuxpan and 
 Tampico; all of which circumstances will greatly 
 contribute without any doubt, in assuring the suc- 
 cess of the Hidalgo Railroad Company, a success 
 which no intelligent man who understands the im- 
 portance of these valuable resources, will for a 
 moment doubt. 
 
FIRST PART 
 
 i 
 
 Constitution and organization of the Hidalgo Railroad Company. 
 
 On the 17th. of December, 1877. the Congress of the 
 Union passed a decree authorizing, the Executive to make 
 a contract with the Governor of the State of Hidalgo for a 
 line of railway, which, starting from Ometusco or some 
 other point on the line to Veracruz, or from Cuautitlan, or 
 other point on the lines running into the interior, should 
 terminate in Pachuca, with a branch to Tulancingo, and 
 under the same conditions as the line contracted from 
 Silao to Leon. 
 
 Acting under this authority the Secretary of Fomento 
 executed a contract with the Governor of the State of Hi- 
 dalgo, as representative of the same, for the construction 
 of a line of railroad as specified. The contract was exe- 
 cuted on the 28th. of January, 1878, and declared the 
 concession in force for the term of 99 years, providing for 
 a subsidy of eight thousand dollars per kilometre, accepting 
 a narrow guage for the road, and establishing lower freight 
 tariffs than those allowed to the Mexican R. R. Co. The 
 concession also provided the means of carrying out the expro- 
 priation of the necessary land in those cases in which the 
 company might not be able to come to an agreement with 
 regard to the price of the land required for the construc- 
 tion of the road, and conceding also to the company the 
 right to extend its lines to the Port of Tuxpan. The other 
 clauses were exactly similar to those usually emplo- 
 yed in concessions to R. R. lines. This contract was approved 
 on the 2nd. of February, 1878. 
 
 The Legistature of the State of Hidalgo also gave its 
 approbation to this contract by a decree of the 24th. of 
 June of the same year, and with the object of facilitating 
 
6 
 
 the construction, it dedicated a subsidy of $4,000 per kilo- 
 metre to that purpose, half of this sum being granted as a 
 subsidy and the rest as a loan, bearing interest at the rate 
 of 4 pg per annum and to be repaid in $100.00 bonds which 
 would be issued by the Company. 
 
 These bonds constituted a last mortgage on the line, but 
 under the condition that the preferred mortgages should 
 not go above six thousand dollars per kilometer, and were 
 made payable by the company in 50 half yearly install- 
 ments, or at the rate of 2 p g every half year. 
 
 The payments of interest and sinking fund were to be 
 made in the months of January and July for thepreceeding 
 half year, and interest began to run from the 1st. of 
 January inmediately after the issue of the bonds. 
 
 The value of these bonds or the returns from their sale 
 were to be dedicated to the payment of the Public Debt 
 recognized by the State. 
 
 In order to meet the payments of the subsidy and loan 
 amounting to $4,000 per kilometer a law was passed impos- 
 ing three new taxes: 1st. 60 cts. for each kilogram of 
 pure silver exported from the State. 2nd. An annual tax 
 of three per thousand on rural estates, valued over $100. 
 3rd. A tax of three per thousand per annum on town 
 property, the value of which should go above five hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 It was provided that the railroad company should give 
 the payers of the taxes established under this law, a repre- 
 sentation in shares which would be equivalent to the third 
 part of the amount of taxes which they might have paid, 
 always provided that the receipts or certificates of payment 
 should be presented within one year from the date of their 
 issue. The other two parts of the amount produced by the 
 tax, as well as the value of the certificates which might not 
 be presented within the specified time, would be applied in 
 equal halves to the subsidy and the loan. 
 
 The railroad itself would be under the administration of 
 a Board of Directors composed of three members, one of 
 whom would be appointed by the Federal Executive, ano- 
 ther by the State, and the third by the shareholders; a subs- 
 titute being appointed for every one of the incumbents. 
 
7 
 
 Once the construction of the road should be concluded, 
 the Government of the State would lose its right to a re- 
 presentation on the the Board of Directors, and the Board 
 would then proceed to the preparation of its bye-laws, 
 regulations and other provisions which might be required 
 for the construction and good service of the railway. 
 
 This decree is well worth studying for its profound and 
 far-seeing provisions, both of a social and financial class, 
 showing a tendency to assimilate public and private 
 interests; it converts the tax-payers into shareholders of an 
 important company, and once this praiseworthy example 
 has been given, the Federal, State and Municpial Govern- 
 ments will be able to undertake the great public works 
 which are so necessary to the country for the developement 
 of the varied and unlimited resources with which it has 
 been endowed by nature. 
 
 This plan would also be a great advance towards the 
 idea of democracy, placing the people in a position to 
 administrate their own interest, because according to this 
 idea, the Governments ought to be more than the means 
 and guarantee of liberty, but under no circunstances ought 
 they to be the absolute administrators of the same, placing 
 themselves in a responsible position with respect to its 
 interior management. This example would also carry in 
 its train the most important consequences, as it would 
 make of each tax-payer the owner of mortgage securities 
 wdiich would then circulate as money, giving a much 
 needed impulse to all kinds of enterprises and com- 
 mercial transactions, a. custom which once accepted by 
 the public might come to determine the important ques- 
 tion of facilitating capital Tor rural property. 
 
 The great desideratum in this question lies in placing 
 the propietors of rural lands in such a position, that whilst 
 preserving the administration of their property, they should 
 also enjoy the benefits of a part of its value which would 
 be represented by securities bearing interest, and at the 
 same time would be guaranted, not only by the value of 
 that same property but also by the property of their co- 
 shareholders, the same guarantee also applying to other 
 liabilities and giving these securities a value which w ould 
 enable them to circulate as money. 
 
8 
 
 This theory of Victor Considerant dates from the begin- 
 ing of this century, and has been the subject of experiments, 
 with more or less success, in France and other countries. 
 The principal difficulty in gettingthesesecurities accepted 
 by the public in all kinds of transactions, consisted in the 
 want of custom for such a practice, but if each taxpayer 
 were the holder of some of these bonds the principal dif- 
 ficulty would be overcome and the custom well established. 
 
 We can easily understand the great impulse that would 
 be given to the commercial, agricultural, mineral and in- 
 dustrial movement of the country, if the fifth part of the 
 real estate held by citizens were represented by mortgage 
 securities and if these were received by the public with the 
 same facility as coin. 
 
 The country would progress enormously, and the mort- 
 gage bank, working on a capital such as the nation requi- 
 res for its developement, would establish branches in all 
 the principl towns, issuing certificates which would be com- 
 monly received at par, or at least with a slight discount. 
 The public would then practically understand the impor- 
 tance of mortgage credit, and would extend it to all kinds 
 of industries with the modifications required by the special 
 circunstances of each. 
 
 Unfortunatly none of these reflections ocurred to the 
 proprietors of the State of Hidalgo at the time of the publi- 
 cation of the law of the 24th. of June, 1878, and they only 
 looked at the progressive scheme from the narrow stand- 
 point of the inconvenience caused by an increase in the 
 taxes, whilst the more determined amongst them were not 
 content with complaining, but also demanded judicial protec- 
 tion, alleging that the State Government had no right to 
 oblige them to become proprietors of a railroad line by force. 
 They clearly did not comprehend the importance of the 
 undertaking or the increased value that their property 
 would attain, the gratuitous assistance of the subsidy of 
 $8,000 per kilometer which had been conceded by the 
 Federation, and the income from freights on the line, which 
 would daily increase the value of the securities received 
 by the propietors in exchange for the increased tax. 
 
 Nevertheless, neither the Government nor the Legisla- 
 ture of the State were at all discouraged by the deplorable 
 
9 
 
 situacion in which the credit of the new undertaking found 
 itself; a situation which lasted for nine months until the 
 8th. of April, 1879, when the Legislature amended the 
 decree, providing that the works should be continued at 
 the cost of the State; that the tax should be lowered from 
 3 to 2 per thousand, this rate taking force from the 24th. 
 of June previous; that out of the subsequent payments the 
 tax payers shoud be compensated for the extra amount 
 which they had already paid; that the accounts should be 
 liquidated every year, determining the manner in which 
 the State Treasury should be reimbursed for its outlay, and, 
 the other creditors secured payment of their claims; that 
 the receipts of certificates of payment of tax, should not be 
 exchanged; so that the taxpayers instead of being share- 
 holders in the company, would keep their original character; 
 and lastly, that the funds dedicated to the undertaking 
 should be at the disposal of the company, as before. 
 
 The State Goverment was also authorized to transfer 
 the concession to one or more companies, whether National 
 or foreign, without laying any obligation on such company 
 to issue shares to the proprietors as referred to in the 
 preceding article, and to appoint a Board of Directors 
 which would have the same authority and obligations as 
 those conceded to the previous Board, which would act 
 until the transfer of the line. 
 
 With the object of increasing the funds for the construc- 
 tion of the road, the Legislature decreed on the 16th. of 
 August 1879, that the product of one of the three fourths 
 of a bar which the State owns in the mine of Santa Ger- 
 trudis should be dedicated to that purpose. 
 
 A decree was also passed on the same date that in case 
 the special lax levied on real estate for the contruction of 
 the railroad should be cancelled, it would be compensated 
 with 8 per cent of the total revenues of Pachuca, Tulan- 
 cingo, Apam and Tula, and if the special tax which was 
 imposed for the same purpose on the exportation of bar 
 silver should be cancelled, it would be substituded with 
 another 8 per cent of the revenues of the above mentioned 
 offices. 
 
 On th 13th. of April, 1880 the Legislature authorized the 
 Executive to hypothecate the bar in Santa Gertrudis Mine 
 
10 
 
 belonging to the State, either entirely or in part, with the 
 object of increasing the fund for the construction of the 
 railroad and at the same time of the Penitenciary. 
 
 On the 7th. of September, 1880, another contract was 
 celebrated between the Department of Fomento and the 
 Governor of the State of Hidalgo, for the establishment of 
 a branch from San Agustin to Teoloyucan, which gives 
 this road a station between the central and National R. R. 
 lines. This branch is constructed under the same condi- 
 tions as those of the principal concessions, and under the 
 new contract the concession is confirmed for a line from 
 Tulancingo to the Port of Tuxpan, but under the condition 
 that the Teoloyucan Branch should be concluded in 4 years, 
 and that once Tulancingo was reached by the Main Line 
 the continuation to Tuxpan should be carried on at the 
 rate of 32 kilometres per annum. Nevertheless, the fulfill- 
 ment of these obligations was limited by two exceptions 
 which were copied from the concession for the line to Izu- 
 car de Matamoros, the first of these being in case of superior 
 force, and the second, in case of delay in the payment of 
 the subsidy. 
 
 As in the concession for the line to Izucar, this company 
 was also authorized to raise the freight tariffs on the two 
 lines up to five cents for first class, four for second and 
 three for third class, and during the construction and for 
 five years after it was concluded, it was authorized to 
 increase the rates by one cent on all three classes, for every 
 ton of one thousand kilograms and for every kilometre 
 of distance. 
 
 The liberal provisions of the Federal Government and 
 the series of favorable decrees issued by the Legislature, 
 fully demostrated the great interest which both Goverments 
 took in the forwarding of the undertaking, and in raising 
 its credit which had sunk to such a low ebb through the 
 blind and unreasoning opposition of the property holders, 
 when they refused to accept a part in the ownership of a 
 line which was so important to their private and public 
 interests. 
 
 Nevertheless there could be no credit without confidence, 
 and the latter could not be acquired, in spite of the fact that 
 the work was continued, although very slowly; and in this 
 
11 
 
 way 19 months elapsed, which united to the 9 during which 
 the proprietors were owners of the line, made up 28 months, 
 in which time only fifteen kilometres were constructed. 
 
 At the end of that time the funds which had been pro- 
 vided were exhausted, and although several attempts were 
 made to transfer the concession, no purchaser was found. 
 
 The necessity of credit to push the works was clearly 
 felt, but under the circumstances nobody cared to advance 
 money to the State, owner of the road; because capitalists 
 clearly anticipated the difficulties which they would meet 
 with in any judicial proceedings against the State, if for any 
 cause the latter should not fulfill its obligations, and there- 
 fore preferred not to enter into the business. 
 
 The decree which the Legislature passed on the 8th. of 
 April, 1879 authorizing the Executive to transfer the road, 
 was really an official call for tenders, as it clearly specified 
 all the conditions of the transfer; but it unfortunately pro- 
 duced no result in the course of 19 months. 
 
 Mr. Gabriel Mancera, who was in charge of the cons- 
 truction of the line, and who for want of funds had to face 
 the greatest difficulties, found himself obliged to appeal 
 for help to influential friends, one of them being a gentleman 
 who now serves the Nation in the Federal Cabinet, and 
 who, convinced of the importance of the work, took the 
 greatest interest in procuring a purchaser towhon it could 
 be transferred. All these efforts produced no result, and 
 seeing Mr. Mancera that he had no resource but to conclude 
 the work under his own personal responsability, or other- 
 wise lose the advantage gained and that he was convin- 
 ced would give the best results, he made up his mind to 
 take over the concession, in order to avoid the serious 
 prejudice which would be caused to the public interest as 
 well as his own, by any suspension of the work. Under 
 these circumstances the State Government solicited from 
 the Legislature, its approbation to the contract of trans- 
 fer which had been agreed upon with Mr. Mancera, and 
 this gentleman took ever the wole undertaking with the 
 same rights and obligations which were stipulated in the 
 decrees of the 8th. of April and 16th. of August, 1879, but 
 with the following important ammendments. 
 
12 
 
 The part of the road already constructed became the 
 property of Mr. Mancera as forming part of the concessions; 
 but he would have no right to the subsidy of $2000 per 
 kilometre nor to the loan of $2000 for the same distance, 
 for those parts of the line which might be built outside of 
 the territory of the State. 
 
 The company is authorized to establish a lottery with 
 the object of procuring assistance for its funds, but under 
 the inspection of the Government, who will not permit the 
 establishment of any other such lottery until the liabilities 
 proceeding from the construction of the railroad treated of 
 in the contract, should be perfectly covered, the contract 
 coming into force from the 16th. of November 1880. 
 
 In case any doubt should arise with regard to the exe- 
 cution or interpretation of this contract, it will be deter- 
 mined by arbitration in an amicable manner, and before 
 investigating the matter the arbitrators would name a 
 third to decide between themselves, from whose decision 
 there will be no appeal. 
 
 The Executive was also authorized to deliver to the 
 company the proceeds of the mortgage on the bar of the 
 Santa Gertrudis Mine which the State owns, if it was thought 
 convenient; and it is believed that this was done in view 
 of the liquidation with the State and of the works carried 
 out. 
 
 Amongst the reasons which are set forth by the Execu- 
 tive to the Legislature in support of the contract for the 
 transfer of the concession to Mr. Gabriel Mancera, which 
 was executed on the 30th. of October, 1880, we find the 
 following: 
 
 The insuffiiciency of the State revenues and their almost 
 complete exhaustion at the end of the year 1879, when 
 nearly two thirds of the term stipulated for the construction 
 had expired, thus placing the concessions in great risk of 
 forfeiture. 
 
 The certainy that it would be very much easier for a 
 private person to procure the capital necessary for the 
 completion of the line through his own personal credit, 
 than for the State to do so, was completely justified, by the 
 fact that in 28 months the State had hardly been able to 
 
13 
 
 construct 15 kilometres, whilst within the first four months 
 after the transfer was made, 11 kilometers were completed, 
 and four others almost completed up to San Agustin; and 
 that at such a rate of progress there were good hopes of 
 reaching lrolo by the first of September, thus communica- 
 ting the line from Pachuca with the capital of the Republic 
 and with the Port of Vera Cruz by connecting in that 
 station with the Mexican Railway. 
 
 The explanation of these facts is very simple, when we 
 take into consideration that as soon as Mr. Mancera took 
 over the concession, he boldly extended the circle of his 
 operations with different strong fir ms who gave him credit, 
 with a Spanish House in London, with another French House, 
 with another still in Vera Cruz and several in the capital 
 of the Republic. In this maner he was able to obtain rails, 
 rolling stock, sleepers and all the necessary tools, and 
 above all, the funds necessary for pushing forward the 
 work and paying for the expropiations of right of way, 
 which were now more than 300. 
 
 On the 1st, of March, 1881, the first constitutional period 
 of the Legislature of that year was opened, and a few days 
 afterwards the commitee to which the subject had been 
 referred rendered a report approving the transfer. In the 
 discussion which followed, the company obtained due credit 
 for the energy with which it had pushed the work, and the 
 Legislature recognizing the advantages of the transfer, 
 approved the contract of the 30th. of October, 1880 by a 
 decree dated the 19th. of March, 1881. 
 
 On the 7th. of January 1882, the Secretary of Fomento 
 celebrated with Mr. Mancera, as representative of the 
 company, a new contract providing that the line to Tuxpan 
 should connect with the main lines from lrolo to Pachuca 
 in the Station of Tepa; that if the line to Tuxpan should 
 not touch the city of Tulancingo, a branch should be 
 constructed to that city from the nearest convenient point; 
 that the minimum of construction on the main line and 
 branches for each year, should be 32 kilometres; that the 
 time conceded in the contract of the 28th. of January, 1878 
 should he extended by 18 months;-that the company should 
 contribute the amount af $10,000 to the improvement of 
 the National School of Agriculture, within the period of six 
 
14 
 
 to twelve months, such amount being placed at the dispo- 
 sition of the Secretary of Fomento. 
 
 As representative of the Company, Mr. Mancera celebra- 
 ted another contract on the 21st. of September, 1882 which 
 stipulated that the obligation to construct 32 kilometres 
 per annum should be divided proportionally between dif- 
 ferent companies, in case the railroad should be divided 
 in sections; so that the total amount should be divided 
 between the different companies as they might find equi- 
 table. 
 
 Article 18 of the concession of the 28tli. of January was 
 also ammended in the sense of stipulating that the respec- 
 tive companies, whether represented by companies, syn- 
 dicates, or private individuals, should be allowed freely 
 to issue shares, bonds, and other obligations, and to dispose 
 of the same, and also to hypothecate the railroad and its de- 
 pendencies, conceding to the mortgage creditors, as further 
 security for the payment of their bonds and interest there- 
 on, the right to operate any of the properties belonging to 
 the company, either wholly or in part. At the same time it 
 was declared that such mortgages would not have any 
 force unless they were made in favour of private indivi- 
 duals or shareholders and in accordance with the clauses 
 of that contract. 
 
 It was provided that all the mortgage bonds should 
 clearly state, that the road would become the property of 
 the Nation at the end of ninety-nine years; that the Nation 
 would not recognize any liabilities whose amount exceeded 
 $10,000 per kilometre, nor would it pay on the capital 
 guaranteed by the mortgage, any interest higher than six 
 per cent; and lastly, it would not be responsable for the 
 payment of interest which had come due before the termi- 
 nation of the concession. 
 
 The mortgages and other instruments which might be 
 executed by the company would have to be registered in 
 the City of Mexico; which would give them validity with 
 respect to any matter or transaction referring to the whole 
 line. 
 
 By this contract a modification was also made in Article 
 52 of the concession of the 28th. of January 1878, in the 
 following terms: 
 
15 
 
 That at the expiration of ninety-nine years, the railroad 
 with all its appurtenances, will become the property of the 
 Nation and that the rolling stock after being val ued by compe- 
 tent valuators would be paid to the Company out of the net 
 proceeds of its operation, with interest at the rate of six 
 per cent on the unpaid part of the value. 
 
 For the purpose of making a valuation of the rolling 
 stock, experts would be appointed by each of the interested 
 parties, who then would appoint an arbitrator in case of 
 disagreement whose decision would be final and without 
 appeal. 
 
 That within the 3rd. and 2nd. years previous to the expi- 
 ration of the concession, an inventory of the trains and 
 movable property of the company shall be taken, with the 
 assistance of an expert who will be named by the Govern- 
 ment; and any sale made of the same without permission 
 from the Government shall be void, the same condition 
 applying to the furniture in the service of the company. 
 
 That the expropriations of the lands, waters and cons- 
 truction material required for the service of the company, 
 shall be made in accordance with the provisions of a decree 
 of the 13th. of September, 1880, with respect to the Mexican 
 National R. R. Go. 
 
 That the Company shall be authorized to increase its 
 tariffs by one cent per ton on freight of all classes, and 
 half a cent per kilometre for each traveller, as long as the 
 construction lasts and during five years after completion. 
 
 In consequence, the following tariff per kilometre has 
 been in force from the 16th. of March 1886. 
 
 Passengers: 1st. Class, 2 7 2 cts. per kilometre; 2nd., 2 cts*; 
 and 3rd., l l l 2 cts.; merchandise: special class C., 12 cts.; 1st. 
 Class, 6 cts.; 2nd. class, 5 cts.; and third class, 4 cts. 
 
 The same contract stipulated that the charge on natio- 
 nal or foreign coal, should only be one cent and half per 
 ton per kilometre, that the immigrants and colonists who 
 might be transported over the lines of the company, should 
 only pay the same fare as soldiers on service, always pro- 
 vided that they present a special order from the Depart- 
 ment of Fomento; that for the space of one year the Company 
 
16 
 
 should allow, without any payment whatsoever, the passage 
 of trains over the line between Teoloyucan and Zumpango, 
 that might be carrying construction materials for account 
 of the Department of Fomento but always with three con- 
 ditions: 
 
 First, that the weight of the locomotives should not 
 exceed twenty- two tons; second that they should be subject 
 to the time tables arranged by the company, and third, that 
 the trains should not travel at a higher speed than twenty 
 kilometres per hour. 
 
 On the 9th. of May, 1885, the 6th. Congress of the State 
 of Hidalgo passed a decree which contains the following 
 provisions: 
 
 That in accordance with the Federal Mining Code, the 
 mines, placers, or mineral beds should pay 2 per cent of 
 their gross products. — That the nonassesable shares which 
 belong to the State, in accordance with its own laws of 1871 
 and 1881, should be returned to the possession of the origi- 
 nal owners, without prejudice to the rights which the State 
 might have for the amount of profits uncollected,— that the 
 law of 1884 and the regulations for its execution should be 
 repealed, but that the State should collect the back 
 dues which were still pending under that laws,— that any 
 person defrauding the state out of the dues established 
 under the present law would be liable to prosecution as 
 accomplices in the crimen of fraud or robbery, according 
 to the circumstances of the case; that besides the application 
 of the penalty provided by law, the persons so convicted 
 of fraud should be liable to the payment of four times the 
 amount of the duty or tax so defrauded. The Executive is 
 authorized to issue regulations for the carrying out of this 
 law, and to commute the taxes with the owners or repre- 
 sentatives of the mines or placers. This law came into for- 
 ce from the 1st, of July to the 31st. of December, 1885. 
 
 Under the same date, the Legislature passed another 
 decree approving the contract which reformed the previous 
 one of the 30th. of October, 1880 and, the clauses of which, in 
 accordance with the previous decree, are as follows: 
 
 In place of the loan of $2,000 per kilometre which was 
 to be reimbursed by the company after a period of 25 years, 
 
17 
 
 it was stipulated that the company should receive a subsidy 
 of $1,000 more; from which itresulted that the subsidy paid 
 by the State amounted to $3,000 for every kilometre already 
 constructed, or that thereafter might be constructed. 
 
 It was also stipulated that for the collection of the sub- 
 sidy which the Company was to receive from the State, the 
 former would appoint Agents, who in view of the accounts, 
 should collect the product of the 2 per cent tax from the 
 Office of the Administration of Revenues. Also that the 
 Company would begin to receive this tax from 1st. of July, 
 on which date the previous tax would cease to be levied. 
 Also that the Company should be empowered to arrange 
 commutations with the mining companies, in accordance 
 with the conditions specified by the Executive, and allow- 
 ing discounts which would not go beyond 24 per cent, for 
 which purpose, the Executive should agree with the Com- 
 pany ever a set of regulations. 
 
 That the tax of 2 per thousand which was created to 
 help in the construction of the railroad, should be received 
 be the company up to the 31st. of December, 1885, and 
 after that by the State, together with the amounts not col- 
 lected. That in the first two months of each year, a liquidation 
 should be made of the amounts received in the previous 
 year by the Company, and of the amounts due to it for the 
 subsidy of $3,000 per kilometre, adding to the balance 
 shown, interest at the rate of 6 per cent. 
 
 That in case such liquidation should show a balance 
 against the Company, either on account of the length 
 constructed or on the back payments made by the State, if 
 such balances should amount to more than $1,500 per kilo- 
 metre, the State will at once stop all payment of subsidy, 
 and such payment shall not be resumed until the company 
 is again in credit. 
 
 That if, on the contrary, the liquidation shows a balance 
 against the Government of more than $15,000, the Execu- 
 tive will give orders that the Company shall receive, over 
 and above the tax on silver above spoken of, 8 per cent of 
 the receipts of the revenue offices of the districts of Pachu- 
 ca and Tulancingo. 
 
 That if, on terminating the construction of all the lines 
 of the Company, the accounts should show a balance to its 
 
18 
 
 debit, this balance will be paid with the corresponding 
 interest, within the year following the liquidation. 
 
 That the account between the Government and the com- 
 pany for the previous years, shall be newly liquidated on 
 the basis of three thousand dollars subsidy for each kilo- 
 metre, suppresing at the same time the $2,000 of loan. 
 
 That all the rights granted under the concessions from 
 the Federal and State Governments, whether in the present 
 or in previous laws, shall be passed over to the new conces- 
 sionaire in full; but the articles referring to the loan of $2,000 
 per kilometre are repealed, and lastly, that this contract 
 should be submmittedto the approbation of the Legislature. 
 
 As we have shown, this contract, which was approved 
 by the Legislature, is very fair and just; it foresees all pos- 
 sible circumstances, with a view to securing the rights of 
 the State until the conclusion of the work, and can be con- 
 sidered as the basis for the present organization of the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 The previous decrees of the Legislature and the contracts 
 with the Department of Fomento, also form clear and ex- 
 plicit contracts, facilitating the transfer to the Company 
 which may be organized with a competent capital, and 
 which may be in a position to push the work forward and 
 conclude it within a short time, and perhaps the transfer 
 would have been already concluded if the financial crisis 
 in Europe had not suspended the negotiations which were 
 commenced with that object and were well advanced. 
 
 The lines belonging to the Hidalgo Railroad are as fo- 
 llows: 
 
 From Tizayuca towards Tulancingo, 72 kilometres 
 
 Branch from Tizayuca to Teoloyucan, .... 26 „ 
 
 „ from San Agustin to Irolo, 28 „ 
 
 „ from Tepa to Pachuca, 26 „ 
 
 Total, 152 
 
19 
 
 The same Company also operates the Northeastearn Rail- 
 road, whose principal line measures 50 kilometres between 
 the station of Tizayuca and that of Peralvillo in this city. 
 
 The lines from Hidalgo connect in Teoloyucan with those 
 of the Mexican Central and National, and in Irolo with the 
 Mexican Railroad to VeraCruz, and with the Interoceanic. 
 
 It is therefore plain that both the main line and the 
 branches have been ably calculated, seeing that they have 
 been connected with those of the most important railroad 
 companies crossing the country in all directions, and that 
 consequently, they have secured the progressive devel- 
 opment of the central and eastern districts of the State of 
 Hidalgo, through which the lines at present run or will 
 shortly do so. 
 
 From these facts we can safely infer that the present 
 organization of the Company has been sufficient to cons- 
 truct the 152 kilometres which constitute the present main 
 line and three branches, and which can be considered as a 
 third part of the entire work. Only about 215 kilometres 
 are required for its completion, but as the line is at present 
 under survey, no exact information can be given as to the 
 distance still to be built. 
 
 At the same time it must be borne in mind, that 
 when the Company took such pains to improve its organi- 
 zation and solicited foreign capital with which to push the 
 work, it took into consideration, that although 215 kilome- 
 tres are still required to reach Tuxpan, 33 of these would 
 be located in a line running north and south through the 
 valley of Tulancingo; 68 would be required to cross the Sie- 
 rra Alta, this being the most difficult and expensive part of 
 the line, the average cost of each kilometre being calcula- 
 ted at $30,000 giving a total of more than $2,000,000 as 
 the cost of this section with its stations and rolling stock. 
 
 The balance of 104 kilometres would be built in the 
 Huasteca country, where the difficulties would not consist 
 in the unevenness of the ground, but rather in the scarcity 
 of laborers throughout this thinly peopled district. 
 
 The above facts induce me to believe that the Company 
 will insist in attempting to induce a foreign company to take 
 up the road and improve its organization, and that mean- 
 while it will costruct the 43 kilometres required to cross 
 
20 
 
 the valley of Tulancingo, a work which in my opinion, can 
 very well be carried out with the present organization. 
 
 At the same time the expropriation of the first 12 kilome - 
 tres in the Southern part of the valley will probably be 
 found very expensive, as that part of the line is situated 
 in the most fertile and valuable part of the valley, the 
 other 31 kilometres in the northern part being of a very 
 inferior value. 
 
 The construction would have been very much further 
 advanced, but for the delay in the payment of the federal 
 subsidies, on which a very respectable amount is still owing; 
 and if this subsidy had been paid punctually I feel not the 
 slightest doubt but that with these funds and with the 
 credit which the Company enjoys, the line would have 
 already reached the heart of the Sierra Alta: and the large 
 coal formations ofHuaya and Zacualtipan would be in full 
 work. 
 
 The working of these coal beds and of others of even 
 better quality which are found further along the projected 
 line of the Hidalgo Railroad, will no doubt, largely contri- 
 bute to improve the organization of the Company by means 
 of foreign capital. 
 
 The mortgage indebtedness of the Company, amounts to 
 $140,960.13 and the other indebtedness of different clases, 
 to $645,510.88. The amount of subsidy due from the Fe- 
 deral Treasury and as yet unpaid, amounts to $443,971.70. 
 
 In spite of all these financial difficulties, the Company is 
 pushing the work forward with all its resources, and has 
 now reached the station of Romeros which will soon be 
 opened to the public service. After that it will reach that 
 of Santiago, 12 kilometres further on and 5 from the Station 
 of Tulancingo, this distance being required by the neces- 
 sity of developing the grade. 
 
 In Santiago the railroad will receive the lumber and 
 fire wood which are sent to Pachuca from the districts of 
 Zacatlan, Chignahuapan and Huauchinango, in the State of 
 Puebla, as well as the sugar, the fruits, the fine woods and 
 other products of the mountains, besides the passengers 
 who would travel from these three districts to Mexico or to 
 Pachuca. 
 
21 
 
 With regard to the administrative organization of the 
 Company, it is arranged as follows: 
 
 D. Gabriel Mancera, Director, General Manager 
 
 and Representative with the 
 Government. 
 
 D. Rafael Lopez de Anaya, . . Secretary. 
 
 Lie. D. Manuel Fernando Soto, .Representative of the Fe- 
 deral Government. 
 
 D. Manuel Rivera, Inspecting Engineer. 
 
 D. Antonio Caso, Chief Engineer. 
 
 D. Francisco Barrera, Engineer. 
 
 D. Manuel Alonso, „ 
 
 D. Juan Magana „ 
 
 D. Pedro Negrete, „ 
 
 D. Ricardo Tangassi, Draughtsman. 
 
 D. Jose San Vicente, Manager. 
 
 II 
 
 Traffic and Operating Expenses of the completed lines. 
 
 I have shown in the preceeding chapter, that the line to 
 Tuxpan ought to be considered as the main line, because 
 that is the objective point, and those to Pachuca, Irolo and 
 Teoloyucan as branches; but 215 kilometres being still 
 required to reach that port, and Pachuca being at present 
 the principal center of the system, through the prosperity 
 of its mines, each one of the branches has gone on increas- 
 ing in traffic as fast as these have been completed and 
 opened to the public service. 
 
 The Teoloyucan line which connects with the Central 
 and National Railroads, measures 54 kilometres from San 
 Agustin, and was duly opened to traffic, but was rendered 
 useless by the branch from Tula to Pachuca which was con- 
 ceded to the Central Railroad Company. 
 
 The line from Irolo by way of San Agustin and Tepa to 
 Pachuca, and which was the first to be constructed, with a 
 view to communicating with the City of Mexico and the 
 port of Vera Cruz, has a length of GO kilometres; it was 
 
opened to public traffic on the 1st. of January, 1883, and 
 transported in that same year 37.198 pasengers who pro- 
 duced an income to the Company of $25,7 13.04; and 17,882 1 / 2 
 tons of merchandise, which paid the Company $32,220.80 
 in freight. 
 
 The next line to be opened was that to Santa Maria, in 
 the direction of Tulancingo, and this ought to be consider- 
 ed as part of the main line. It has a length of 12 kilome- 
 tres and was opened to public traffic on the 5th. of May, 
 1884; producing an inmmediate increase in the returns, 
 which show that it carried 56,207 passengers who paid 
 $32,648.22; and 34.548 % tons of merchandise, which paid 
 $53,388.66 in freight. 
 
 The Teoloyucan branch which connected with the Central 
 and National Railroads, has a length of 54 kilometres; it 
 starts from San Agustin and passes through the towns of 
 Tezontepec, Tizayuca and Zumpango, also producing an 
 increase of traffic to the Company. 
 
 The traffic on this line, which afforded an outlet to the 
 passengers and freight from Pachuca and Tulancingo to 
 the National Raiload, lasted until the 16th of Sept. 1890 as 
 regards passengers, and a month more as regards freight, 
 because on those dates the Northeastern Railroad w'as 
 inaugurated, which starting from Peralvillo in this City, 
 connected with the Hidalgo Railroad in Tizayuca. 
 
 The Northeastern line does not form any part of the 
 Hidalgo system, as it was constructed under a separate 
 concession decreed on the 28th. of August, 1888, with the 
 same conditions of those of the latter road, but with a smal- 
 ler subsidy, as it only amounts to $6,000 per kilometre, 
 w r hilst the free importation of material for construction and 
 maintainance is very much restricted. This line was cons- 
 tructed in less than two years and is now being operated 
 by the Hidalgo Company under a lease. 
 
 The entry of this Northeastern line to the City of Mexico 
 resulted in an economy of distance to passengers and freight 
 of 27 kilometres with respect to the Irolo branch, and of 
 14 kilometres with respect to the Teoloyucan branch. 
 
 The advantages which the Hidalgo Company derives 
 from the direct communication over the Northeastern line, 
 with Mexico City, are plainly felt in the competition which 
 
23 
 
 it has to sustain with the Vera Cruz Railroad Company, 
 which has already built a branch to Pachuca, that starting 
 from Ometusco, runs parallel to the Hidalgo line, the other 
 competitor being the Central Railroad, which has opened a 
 branch from Tula to Pachuca. 
 
 Another advantage that has been obtained, is that of 
 facilitating the transport of different kinds of building 
 stone and other material for use in the City of Mexico, as 
 a branch has been built with a length of 422 meters to 
 Cerro Gordo, and another of 936 meters to Tultpetlac. 
 Another branch is in course of construction to the Custom 
 House, and will have a length of 286 meters. 
 
 With a view to facilitating the understanding of the sit- 
 uation in which the Hidalgo Company stands in the year 
 1891, I beg to hand you a table showing the traffic as well 
 as its material and financial resources, that will enable you 
 at first glance to understand its position, the different va- 
 riations in the concessions and progress of the work, and 
 the point to which it has now arrived. This table I have no 
 doubt will give you a clear and concise idea of the results 
 which have attended the work of the Company. 
 
TA(BLE showing the traffic on the Hidalgo and Northeastern (Railways during 
 
 24 
 
 'ear i8gi, giving their length , stations , 
 
 ■k, total receipts, expenses, debts and nett profits. 
 
 _ 
 
 Total 
 
 a? 
 
 s 
 
 a3 
 
 u 
 
 g 
 
 2 
 
 tsfi‘oos‘ui 
 
 o 
 
 ! “ 
 
 ! 
 
 Animals 
 
 u 
 
 X> 
 
 B 
 
 a 
 
 25 
 
 8 
 
 uf 
 
 »o 
 
 Silver coin 
 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 c© 
 
 ' 5 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 ti 
 > ^ 
 
 Kilograms 
 
 15,506 
 
 <M 
 
 1 
 
 Other 
 
 freight 
 
 X 
 
 g 
 
 S3 
 
 Sc 
 
 c 
 
 2 
 
 Ol 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 <3> 
 
 qp 
 
 00 
 
 C5 
 
 259,834 
 
 Pulque 
 
 sta«j3o[fx 
 
 .... ..... ' J 
 
 s 
 
 t-H 
 
 Cl 
 
 lO 
 
 ▼H 
 
 cc 
 
 Ore 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 3 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 QC 
 
 1 
 
 229,33 | 
 
 Coal 
 
 GO 
 
 s 
 
 sfi 
 
 u 
 
 to 
 
 c 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 oT 
 
 CO 
 
 42,575 
 
 Baggage 
 
 Kilograms 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 fc- 
 
 1,955 
 
 s 1 
 
 l 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 ) 
 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 0 
 
 
 
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 c 
 
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 £ 
 
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 8 
 
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 tijoav 
 
 .sAbq 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 sJ3joqBq[ 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 Eh 
 
 
 u 
 
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 w 
 
 
 W 
 
 > 
 
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 ca 
 
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 Q 1 
 
 ffl 
 
 B 
 
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 b 
 
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 cn 
 
 c5 
 
 m 
 
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 c5 
 
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 CQ 
 
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 aj 
 
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 X3 
 
 ao 
 
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 C£ < 
 C3 
 
 S-l F 
 © 
 
 <3 
 
 © 
 
 EH 
 
 l 
 
 latter did not work dbo days. 
 
 2nd. In the first half year, the goods carried by Express were added to the "Other freight “ 
 and on the second year, to the baggage. ’ 
 
 3rd. The weight of the silver coin was added to the "Other freight," as well as the mail 
 bags, freight for the Federal Government and that belonging to this Company. 
 
4th. This table includes the traffic on the Northeastern Railway, from Mexico to Tizayuca, 
 which is operated for account of the Hidalgo Railroad Company. 
 
 5th. In the daily averages ali fractions of less than one half have been omitted, and all 
 
 25 
 
 (M ^ i 05 03 © 
 
 o ^ t-h h CO 
 
 CM i-H 
 
 © 
 
 -1-3 
 
 "A 
 
 3 
 
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 c3 
 
 73 
 
 © 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
 03 
 
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 CD 
 
 S-i 
 
 
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 CO 
 
 2 
 
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 Ph 
 
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 S-t 
 
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 $h 
 
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 73 
 
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 CM CO GO GO O 
 05 GO O t-h CO t- 
 
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 05 
 
 
 
 
 
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 73 
 
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 73 
 
 
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 03 
 
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 c3 
 
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 73 
 
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26 
 
 III 
 
 Probable Future of the Railroad In connection with the Agricultural 
 and Mineral Riches of the country which it traverses. 
 
 This in my opinion, is the most important part of the 
 report and in it we have to take into consideration the si- 
 tuation of the Main Line and its Branches. 
 
 The Southern part of the line which runs through large 
 pulque-producing districts, the Valley of Tulancingo, which 
 is such a large producer of cereals, and the Teoloyucan 
 Branch, all merit special attention. 
 
 The Pulque-producing districts, which provide a certain 
 and continuos traffic for the Hidalgo Railroad, are well 
 worthy of special attention on our part. 
 
 The consumption of the City of Mexico, amounts to 750 
 barrels daily, equivalent to lOOOcargas, and as each daily 
 carga that is produced gives a value of $10,000 to the esta- 
 te that produces it, we find that the pulque-producing lands 
 can be fairly valued at $10,000,000, which are divided 
 between the States of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla and Tlax- 
 cala. 
 
 Supposing that the consumption of the Cities of Pachuca, 
 Puebla and others, where this drink is coming into general 
 use, should be rather less than that of the capital, we then 
 find that the pulque producing lands, for the sole produc- 
 tion of this liquor, are worth almost $20,000,000 and the 
 greater part of their products are carried over the Hidalgo 
 Railroad. 
 
 It is to be remarked, that if this liquor is useful and nu- 
 tritious for the general class of labourers, it is even neces- 
 sary for miners, as it has been observed in Pachuca that 
 from the time when pulque has been allowed in the Mines, 
 dates the disappearance of the terrible disease that is known 
 
27 
 
 under the name of “Madurez/* which arose from the neces- 
 sity of working in cold and damp places where the sun 
 never penetrated, and the men breathed a vitiated atmos- 
 phere. * 
 
 In the hot countries where the perspiration is continuous, 
 because the heat of the body leaves the stomach and goes 
 to the extremities, the use of pulque is also found to be 
 very beneficial, and for this reason we find it introduced 
 by railroad on the large estates in Cuautla and Yautepec; 
 whilst it is evident that the same will happen in Izucar de 
 Matamoros and on the estates in the District of Cuernava- 
 ca as soon as the roads to those places are completed. There 
 is no doubt but that this product will come into general 
 use on both sides of the Railroad to Acapulco as soon as it 
 reaches that port. 
 
 The same thing will happen with the barley which is 
 also cultivated on the estates, as it is the most nutritious 
 and proper food for working animals, and gives very good 
 results in the primary stages of the fattening of hogs. 
 
 It is more than probable that the good results obtained 
 from the use of pulque by labourers in the mines, as a pre- 
 ventive against disease, will extend its use to other mi- 
 neral districts in the different States, thus greatly increas- 
 ing the freights on other lines of railroads, as the avand- 
 tages of this liquor become known. 
 
 From all this, I infer that the pulque estates find their 
 importance assured by the establishment and the extension 
 of railroads. 
 
 The contrary will happen with the products of the corn 
 farms in the Valley of Tulancingo, as these will undoubt- 
 edly have to go through a crisis on account of the competi- 
 tion from other parts of the country, such as will neces- 
 sarily be brought about by the opening up of railroads to 
 to the different mining camps of the district of Pachuca, 
 which is the natural market for the products of this valley. 
 
 In this neighbourhood, although the best lands produce 
 even four hundredfold when well manured, a return that 
 may be considered exceptional even on irrigated lands, 
 the average returns give only from 100 to 200, and on 
 
28 
 
 account of the climate the soil requires to be very well 
 cultivated, and have seven or eight months allowed for the 
 growth of the plant. 
 
 The result is, that selling the corn at $3 per carga hardly 
 covers the cost of the cultivation, all that is received above 
 this price being profit, and all that is received under being- 
 loss. 
 
 It is evident that corn having been brought from Patz- 
 cuaro to Pachuca, a distance of almost one hundred leagues, 
 for $2, and the latter city being now in communication by 
 means of three distinct railroads with the low lands of the 
 State of Guanajuato, with Queretaro, and with the eastern 
 districts of the State of Puebla, the valley of Tulancingo 
 will not be able to withstand the competition unless it im- 
 proves its agricultural methods by the introduction of ma- 
 chinery, and the employment of a system of manuring 
 which is so far unknown. 
 
 I believe that the easiest and most inmediate remedy can 
 be found in the use of lime, and in this matter the railroads 
 can be of great service; but after that, the agriculturists 
 of that valley will have to recur to the use of chemical 
 manures. 
 
 An abundance of lime is found in Tizayuca, wiiich is one 
 of the stations on the Hidalgo Line, w r here the stone can be 
 obtained for $1 the wagon-load of 120 arrobas. The same 
 line crosses a forest on its way to Tulancingo, from whence 
 an abundance of fuel can be procured at a low price, and 
 where lime kilns could be established on the system of 
 continuous burning, the stone being brought from Tizayu- 
 ca and the burnt lime afterwards transported to the Valley 
 of Tulancingo. 
 
 Under such processes the Hidalgo Railroad Company 
 would increase its freights, and the agriculturists of the 
 valley would be in a favourable condition to compete in the 
 Pachuca market with the cereals that would reach it 
 by the other railroad lines which have been established. 
 
 The Zumpango line of the Hidalgo Railroad, and the 
 North-eastern line which reaches Peralvillo, will also con- 
 tribute to the improvements in agriculture, as they will 
 
facilitate the working on a large scale of the beds of nitrate 
 of soda which are found in the neighbourhood of Lakes 
 Zumpango and Texcocoin the Valley of Mexico, and which 
 can furnish an abundances of artificial manures. 
 
 From several experiments that have been made with 
 these nitrates, under the George Ville system, I do not feel 
 the slightest doubt of our arriving at satisfactory results in 
 the production of artificial manures, much more satisfac- 
 tory than those which have been reached in Europe, where 
 the raw materials for their manufacture command much 
 higher prices than in this country. 
 
 The transport of the nitrate of soda from these lakes 
 would be another great reason for improvement, both in 
 the amount of freight carried by the Hidalgo Company, as 
 well as in the agricultural products on the main line and 
 branches, without taking into consideration the improve- 
 ment in the country on the other lines of' railroads when 
 ever these manures came into general use, as they have 
 done in Europe and the United States. 
 
 I very much fear that this nitrate will be worked on a 
 large scale, and exported abroad for use in agriculture, and 
 that with the fatal inertia that proceeds from our routine 
 methods and from the ignorance of our agricultural classes, 
 we Mexicans will not put forth any efforts to retain this 
 valuable provision of nature. 
 
 Probably the same will happen in this matter as happens 
 in the Spanish ports and even in the Mexican, where large 
 quantities of bones are shipped to be employed as ma- 
 nure abroad, whilst the land which has produced them and 
 which really requires them, daily grows poorer. 
 
 Siebig says, that any country which exports the bones 
 it produces will come to proverty in the course of time, and 
 the country which receives them will become fertile. This 
 explains to us how it happens that the Argentine Republic 
 annually exports to England, bones to the value of millions 
 of dollars. 
 
 In the inmediate neighborhood of Tulancingo and in the 
 ravines to the westward of the same valley, we find depo- 
 sits of chalk and of sulphate of alumina which serve amongst 
 other purposes, for the preparation of a manure which is 
 
30 
 
 made with the help of the mud out of the sewers, in the 
 proportion of two pounds for each cubic metre of mud. The 
 preparation of this manure, is not only a powerful help to 
 the fertility of the soil, but also results in the disinfection 
 of the atmosphere, and contributes to the sanitation of 
 townsnnd villages. 
 
 By the employment of this process, we should get rid of 
 those pools of stagnant and fermenting liquids formed of 
 human excreta, accompanied by the waters in which clothes 
 have been washed and refuse of the kitchens; the whole 
 fermenting in the sun and producing typhus, fevers of all 
 kinds and many other diseases. 
 
 Two small tanks placed in each house would be enough 
 to disinfect and solidify these matters with the sulphate, and 
 the product would be eagerly purchased by the farmers, 
 thus forming a new industry in the exploitation of the 
 sulphate of alumina and providing a valuable manure 
 which would increase the agricultural productiveness of 
 the country besides a safe increase in the freights of the 
 Hidaigo Railroad and connecting lines. 
 
 The working of the chalk with the object of applying it 
 to the utilization of the stable dung which is now abando- 
 ned to the acti on of air and sun, losing its ammonia and 
 reducing its fertilizing value to the fifth part of what it 
 ought to be, would also be a great advance in the science 
 of agriculture; as this same stable dung when properly pre- 
 pared with powdered chalk, effects a chemical transforma- 
 tion in the ammonia and preserves its action on the plants 
 for nine years, in place of the three which is its present 
 utmost duration. 
 
 The working of this chalk on a large scale would also be 
 a new industry of the greatest utility both to agriculture 
 and to the Railroad Company, through the increase it would 
 occasion in freights. 
 
31 
 
 IV 
 
 Future of the Vega of Mextitlan- 
 
 According to the surveys which have been made up to 
 the present, the Railroad would have to commence ascen- 
 ding in the neighborhood of Apulco in order to take the di- 
 rection of the basin of the river Chiflon, and afterwards cross 
 the Sierra Alta, which forms part of the Sierra Madre, and 
 divides the Valley of Tulancingo from the Huasteca dis- 
 trict, sitauted on coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In the country 
 lying between Apulco and the river Chiflon, a branch of 
 the Railroad will very soon have to be built extending over 
 the southern slopes of the mountain of Zacualtipan, and 
 providing an outlet to the products of the Vega of Mexti- 
 tlan. 
 
 This valley has a great future before it in agriculture* 
 having anextent of ten leagues with several towns and villa- 
 ges, and an area of 4,000 fanegas adapted for the cultiva- 
 tion of corn, with a soil of the most fertile kind producing 
 as much as four to six hundred fold. 
 
 In order to give a better understanding of the depth of 
 this alluvial soil, it is enough to say that the little church 
 of a village which was inundated a few years ago at the 
 same time as the entire valley, has remained more than half 
 buried, and the parishioners who attend religious services 
 are now obliged to enter the church by the window of the 
 choir and then descend by a ladder to the floor of the 
 church. 
 
 A few years ago a limited company was organized for 
 the purpose of draining the Vega, by means of a tunnel 
 through the ridge which detains the water, the proprietors 
 of the lands thus drained, paying a dollar or a dollar and a 
 half for the period of fifteen years, for each quart of corn 
 sown, according to the depth of the w r ater. The work was 
 duly commenced, and a good part of the tunnel was driven. 
 
32 
 
 but it was not lined with masonry, and though it drained a 
 part of the lake, the want of lining allowed the tunnel to 
 cave in at certain points and the water rose again in the 
 lake. 
 
 I understand that the capital of the Company was insufficient 
 for the magnitude of this work, but I also believe that the 
 proximity of a railroad on the eastern side of the valley 
 would promote to the re-organization of this Company, even 
 though it might be necessary to amend its bye-laws; be- 
 cause this work would require other auxiliary works, such 
 as irrigation canals, over a country extending for ten 
 leagues. 
 
 This valley, if it were all sown with corn and producing 
 its average of 500 fold, would give us the enormous amount 
 of 2,000,000 fanegas per annum, and even if it did not pro- 
 duce more than the tenth part, it would ruin the cultivators 
 of corn in the temperate and cold zones, and principally 
 those of the valley of Tulancingo, which is the nearest and 
 requires most cultivation. In the Vega of Mextitlan they do 
 not require to do more than sow the corn and hoe it up, 
 whilst the wages are not more than a third part of those 
 paid in the valley of Tulancingo. 
 
 Nevertheless, the work is at present unfinished, and to 
 complete it in a safe manner, it will be necessary to clean 
 out and line the tunnel, as well as the irrigation canals; and 
 although a part of the Vega may drain itself, as happened 
 four years ago, I believe that it would be only prudent for 
 the cultivators of that district to bear in mind the probabi- 
 lities of its completion, so as to take up land in that neigh- 
 horhod and turn their attention to the cultivation of tropical 
 products such as cotton, tobacco, indigo, rice, and many 
 others that require a hot climate, thus giving a practical 
 proof to the inhabitants of the Vega, that tropical products 
 give a much better profit than corn. 
 
 But this is not enough to bring about an equilibrium bet- 
 ween production and consumption, as it is very probable 
 that once the railroad approaches on the eastern side of the 
 Vega, a company would be organized to take over the 
 undertaking in its present state and to complete the work, 
 and that some years will pass yet before the inhabitants 
 abandon the cultivation of corn and dedicate themselves to 
 
33 
 
 the cultivation of tropical products, and that meanwhile the 
 other cultvators of that crop will find themselves ruined. 
 
 This case, which is not so very remote, is very similar to 
 that which passed in France with the cultivation of wheat, 
 when that which was cultivated in the west of the United 
 States began to arrive in that country and sell at $6, whilst 
 in France, the same as amongst ourselves, the ordinary 
 price of wheat was $7 to $10. People then saw clearly the 
 necessity of abandoning the cultivation of wheat and of 
 turning their attention to the breeding of milch cows in all 
 those points where a suficiencv of water was found for the 
 cultivation of forage; aind the result has been that this 
 necessity has considerably developed and perfected the 
 breeding of stock for the different purposes of milking, 
 slaughter, and draught. 
 
 This remarkable event which took place in France a few 
 years ago ought to be taken into consideration by those 
 farmers who dedicate their attention to the cultivation of 
 corn, and principaly by those of the Valley of Tulancingo, 
 who now produce from 50 to 100,000 cargas in each year 
 according to the more or less favorable weather of the seas- 
 on; for if the year 1801 was so favorable for them, the prece- 
 ding one ot 1890 was so unfortunate for those farms which 
 have no irrigation, that they hardly harvested the corn 
 which was indispensably required for the rations of their 
 laborers. 
 
 The valley of Tulancingo may be considered as divided 
 into two parts: the southern part being the smaller, the 
 more fertile because is is irrigated by two streams, and there- 
 fore the more valuable and productive, but at the same 
 time limited to about foursquare leagues, but unfortunately 
 it has no irrigation and is subject to the vicissitudes of all the 
 seasons of the year. 
 
 It is very evident to me, that the farmers in the south- 
 ern part of the valley, are those who will have to improve 
 their methods of cultivation by the employment of ma- 
 nures, whether of lime or of any other chemical preparation; 
 by the introduction of machinery on a much larger scale, 
 by tho improvement of their breed of stock, aud by the cul- 
 tivation of forage in the way that was done in France when 
 
34 
 
 the farmers were threatened with ruin by the importation 
 of wheat from the United States. At the same time we must 
 bear in mind that in that country the agricultural disaster 
 could to some extent be avoided by an increase in the cus- 
 toms duties; whereas in our case, once the railroad has reach- 
 ed the neighborhood of the V ega, no such remedy is at 
 hand, and therefore it is indispensable that the productions 
 of this valley should be altered so as to provide against the 
 disturbance of the equilibrium between itself and the con- 
 sumption. 
 
 This same conflict of interests which will follow the 
 prolongation of the Hidalgo Railroad, is a proof of the gene- 
 ral fact that the agricultural production will be prodigiously 
 increased, and will serve as a strong impulse to the advan- 
 cement and modification of the present methods of cultiva- 
 tion, as the farmers will find themselves between the horns 
 of a terrible dilemma; “Either progress or ruin.“ 
 
 With respect to the northern part of the valley, which 
 is traversed by the Rio Grande and the Rio Tortugas, flow- 
 ing in deep ravines that prevent the Utilization of the little 
 water that flows in the dry season, I believe that irrigation 
 could be carried out by means of hydraulic pumps, moved 
 by steam power; that forage plants could be introduced 
 which would he appropiate for those dry lands, thus facili- 
 tating the breeding of stock which would be selected out 
 of those breeds best adapted to fattening and for draught. 
 
 That the plantations of maguey could be extended as 
 well as the cultivation of barley, the latter crop requiring 
 only four or five months to ripen during the rainy season, 
 besides plantations of the maguey that produces ixtle, 
 
 I believe that this will be done throughout the 25 leagues 
 contained in that part of the valley, but they will not be 
 able to sow corn at a cost of $3 per carga, because once 
 the Vega is drained, they will be able to buy it at a $1.50 
 to $2.00 on the line of the Hidalgo Railroad, 
 
 Perhaps in the southern part, and with the help of the 
 irrigation which secures the crop of winter barley, they 
 will also be able to secure the wheat crop after preparing 
 the seed with chemical substances so as to prevent smut, as 
 for the last two years experiments have been made with the 
 
35 
 
 best results; and if in the course of a few years these results 
 are confirmed, we will be able to consider this branch of 
 agriculture saved, because in that valley, when the wheat is 
 not attacked by smut, it produces from 30 to 60 fold; although 
 this does not happen above oncein every five or six years. 
 
 This advantage however, will be of no use to the farmers 
 in the northern part of the valley, as they have no irriga- 
 tion, or at least, only a little artificial irrigation in certain 
 periods of the year. 
 
 The remarkable difference that we find bet wen the wheat 
 crops in this part of the central table lands of our country, 
 and those which are harvested in Europe and the United 
 States, consists in the fact that here the winters are dry and 
 the frosts leave very little humidity behind them, whilst in 
 many winters not a single drop of water falls. In other 
 countries they have a certainty of an abundant tall of rain 
 and perhaps of snow, causing the wheat which is already 
 sown to germinate and strike out its roots under the layer 
 of snow, which provides the earth with the moisture requi- 
 red for its developement. 
 
 That is the reason why in those countries the wheat 
 barley, rye and oats form the principal food of the people 
 whilst with us the corn performs that office, as we can only 
 count on the rains of the Spring, Summer and Autumn and 
 only very rarely in winter. 
 
 The exportation of corn to Yucatan by way of Tuxpan, 
 whenever the Hidalgo reaches that port, is another very 
 natural solution of the question, as that peninsula receives 
 flour and corn from the Uuited States, the same as other 
 ports on the Gulf Coast. This is due to the high freight tar- 
 iffs of the Mexican Railroad which will not give any reduc- 
 tion such as it allows for the goods whichare to be exported, 
 alleging that although those for Yucatan and Coast towns 
 are also embarked, nevertheless they do not go abroad. 
 From this arises the strange anomaly that the products of 
 our agriculture cannot provide the wants of that important 
 section of the country, and that those districts have to 
 import their necessary food from abroad, to the great pre- 
 judice of the national agriculture. 
 
36 
 
 For this reason it appears to me evident, that if the irri' 
 gation farms in the districts through which the Hidalgo 
 Railroad will run, can only avoid the attacks of smut in 
 their growing wheat, increase their production by the use 
 of manures and machinery, and improve their breed of 
 cattle, they need not fear the drainage of the Vega; becau- 
 se although that favored district may by able to harvest 
 wonderful crops of corn, they will find a natural outlet for 
 it through the port of Tuxpan to the peninsula of Yucatan 
 as well as for the flour which will come from the valley of 
 Tulancingo, with a large increase in amount as the result 
 of the improved methods of cultivation. T am also convin- 
 ced that the inhabitants of the Vega will be practically 
 persuaded that the cultivation of tropical products is and 
 always will be more profitable through the depreciation of 
 silver, as they will substitute them with great advantage in 
 the payments which the trade of the country constantly has 
 to make abroad. And lastly that the completion of the Hi- 
 dalgo line to the port of Tuxpan, will work a beneficial 
 transformation both for the agricultural and general pros- 
 perity of the country. 
 
 V. 
 
 Minning District of Pachuca. 
 
 The mining industry is today the most important in the 
 State of Hidalgo, not only on account of the prosperous con- 
 dition of some of its mines which are working with profit, 
 and others which can almost cover their expenses, but 
 principally because they arouse a spirit of enterprise and 
 animate the people to work, thus multiplying the number 
 of mines opened. In this way the hope of profit rather than 
 the reality, is what develops this industry, because when 
 the profit is reached the operating expenses are very much 
 increased, though unfortunately this rarely happens in this 
 deceitful branch of industry. 
 
37 
 
 This is clearly seen by what passes in the mining dis- 
 tricts of Pachuca, which have seventeen mines giving a 
 profit, 18 which contribute something towards expenses, 
 and 106 which produce absolutely nothing, there also being 
 19 which had been denounced at the end of 1891 but which 
 have not been opened. 
 
 In Real del Monte, distant 10 kilometres from Pachuca, 
 there were two mines working to a profit, 12 which con- 
 tributed more or less to wards working expenses, 57 which 
 produced nothing and 6 which had been denounced and 
 not opened at the end of 1891. 
 
 In the district of El Chico, 74 kilometres from Pachuca, 
 there were 8 mines which contributed towards expenses, 
 but there were 22 in work without producing anything, 
 and the mines denounced and as yet not opened by the 
 end of 1891 numbered 8. 
 
 In the Arenai, 20 kilometres from Pachuca, there were 
 3 mines which contributed toward expenses, 11 mines work- 
 ing without producing anything, and 6 which had been de- 
 nounced without being opened by the end of 1891. 
 
 Besides these there were the following mines being wor- 
 ked but without producing any ore: 3 in Epazayuca, 16 ki- 
 lometres from Pachuca; 1 in Singuilucan, 24 kilometres from 
 Pachuca; 1 in Omitlan, 28 kilometres from Pachuca, and 2 
 in Atotonilco el Grande, 10 kilometres from Pachuca. 
 
 There are other mines also which have been granted a 
 special protection for the whole or part of the year 1891, 
 and of these we have 32 in Pachuca, 6 in Real del Monte, 
 3 in El Chico and 6 in Arenai. 
 
 And lastly there are 38 mines abandoned and not claim- 
 ed, of which 13 are found in Pachuca, 1 in Real del Mon- 
 te, 22 in El Chico and 2 in Omitlan. 
 
 There is another mine which, although abandoned, was 
 denounced at the end of 1891, coutaining cinnabar and si- 
 tuated in Tulancingo, a distance of 60 kilometres from 
 Pachuca. 
 
 From these data we clearly see how deceitful the min- 
 ing bnsines is from its very nature, its results depending 
 entirely upon an uncertain event, as is proved by the fact 
 
38 
 
 that out of 320 mines only about 18 are giving a profit, or 
 in other words that only 20 per cent of the mines are pay- 
 ing. 
 
 In view of these facts, we cannot but ask ourselves; whe- 
 ther it is more convenient to push these industries or to put 
 impediments in their way so as to prevent their develop- 
 ment, by increasing taxes. If it is eventually determined 
 to handicap them with a heavy tax, ought this to be the same 
 for all mines, or ought a distinction to be made, between 
 the mines that are worked to a profit, those that contribute 
 towards the expenses, and those which produce absolutely 
 nothing? It is the duty of the legislator to determine these 
 important questions, as they directly affect the justice and 
 economical principle of the taxes imposed, and consequen- 
 tly, the development or destruction of the natural resour- 
 ces of the country. 
 
 At the same time, it is necessary to bear in mind, that 
 amongst the owners of the mines which are not at present 
 producing, there is a most meritorious class of men who are 
 known under the name of buscones, and these are the men who 
 organize small companies with very slight resources, and 
 who, as soon as they find anything in the shape of a true 
 vein, take out a few stones with silver ore in order to pre- 
 sent them as proofs of their discovery to some person of 
 influence in mining circles, wdio after getting the stone as- 
 sayed and the mine inspected by experts, with a proper re- 
 port respecting its importance and the probable results of 
 its working, will in course of time form a company. 
 
 This report, which in many cases is nothing more than 
 a more letter attached to the assay report, combined with 
 the credit of the person forming the company, gives rise to 
 its organization, and to the establishment of regular mining- 
 works, of more or less importance, according to the capital 
 of the company. 
 
 In forming the contract with the company, the miners who 
 formed the original company, do not receive more than four 
 or six free bars which they sell little by little at a ridicu- 
 lously low price, according to the urgency of their needs, 
 until they lose the entire stock. 
 
39 
 
 As the mines generally require to be worked for years 
 before they render any profits, it generally turns out that 
 the real discoverers of the mines do not enjoy the fruits 
 of their discovery, and that after the lapse of a few years 
 the holders of assessable stock in the second organization, 
 either sell their shares at a low price or allow them to be 
 declared abandoned by the Boards of Directors, because, 
 either through disgust or through necessity, they default 
 on their assessments and forfeit their shares for want of 
 purchasers. 
 
 But the way in which the buscones organize their com- 
 panies is really very original; two or three mining laborers 
 will each give a days’ work in the week; other two or three 
 will contribute 50 cents each per week, and others a dollar; 
 so that when they calculate the value of the work and the 
 money colleted they find themselves with an income of 
 $ 5 to $ 10 or even a little more per week; and I ask, is 
 it just or even natural to impose upon these men a tax 
 which would discourage them, when on the contrary they 
 ought to receive a premium for their discovery, which they 
 have obtained at the cost of so much hard work and perse- 
 verance? 
 
 And if this tax was levied on a company of buscones , 
 supposing it to be $ 1 per week when they collect $ 10, it 
 would result in a cruel and grinding tax of 10 per cent on 
 the amount spent on an adventurous business, and would 
 only yield $ 52 per annum to the Government; but even if 
 the tax was reduced to 10 cents per week it would still be 
 excessive, being 1 per cent on the amount of the expenses, 
 and its incidence will appear still more injust if we consi- 
 der the poverty of these people and that the tax would not 
 yield to the Government more than $ 5.20 per annum. 
 
 If the tax were to be increased it would have the result 
 of suspending the work of these companies of buscones, and 
 would be the cause of great discontent among the mass of 
 the inhabitants of the mining disttricts and great perjudice 
 would be inflicted on all the interests concerned by the 
 suppression of these useful companies. 
 
 In the same way that a general commanding a military 
 force in campaign, requires a force of scouts who will 
 bring him news of the enemy, on which to organize his ope- 
 
40 
 
 rations, so in the mining industry the buscones are those who 
 bring news of the veins which serve as a basis for the 
 organization of Companies. 
 
 \ It would be impossibe to give a satisfactory explanation 
 of the conduct of a general who suppressed his force of 
 scouts through motives of economy, and in the same way 
 it would be impossible to explain the political economy 
 which would place financial or legal obstacles in the way 
 oi these buscones ; because they do not receive any salary 
 from the Government as explorers, and they are the obs- 
 cure heroes of the mining industry who render valuable 
 services to the community at large. 
 
 Besides this, these buscones do not belong to the inferior 
 class of laborers, nor are they of the prodigal class who 
 do not go back to their work until have they have spent 
 the last cent of their wages; far from this, the buscones be- 
 long to the most economical and orderly class, seeing that 
 they sacrifice everything to a uncertain future, and I be- 
 lieve that it would be bad policy to oppress them with a 
 tax, the economic results of which would most likely be 
 disastrous. 
 
 A tax imposed on the mines which are making no profits, 
 but merely contributing with the little ore that they extract, 
 to the expenses of exploration, should also be well thought 
 over before being determined on; as these mines are alrea- 
 dy taxed 9 per cent on their gross product, and as the help 
 they afford is so uncertain, the result is that every dollar 
 which they produce really costs them $1.50, whilst in many 
 cases it will cost them $2 or up to $10, the area of their 
 setts being also very uncertain. 
 
 For example, in the case of the Arevalo mine in the dis- 
 trict of El Chico, a mine that has not rendered any profits 
 during the last 27 years, which owes more than $3,000,000 
 and which has 16 setts, a tax on the area of its 16 setts 
 would be insupportably oppressive, as it would iucrease the 
 already heavy debt, and still further discourage its share- 
 holders who are now waiting to see a little profit. 
 
 And it cannot be said that even the 18 mines which are 
 at present giving a profit, are in any great bonanza, as their 
 dividends hardly amount to the fourth or sixth part of what 
 
41 
 
 they were in the years 1860 to 1891 in the Rosario and 
 Guatemozin mines, as at that time the first of these mines* 
 gave a half yearly dividend of more than $40,000 per bar, 
 which is equivalent to $7,000 per month and the second gave 
 a return of $6,000 per month per bar. 
 
 We now see that the mine of Amistad gives a dividend of 
 $2,700 per month; Santa Gertrudis, $2,400; La Sorpresa, 
 $1,600; San Eugenio, $1,500; La Luz Xotol, $1,500; Trom- 
 pillo, $1,200; Maravillas, $1,000; Guadalupe el Fresnillo, 
 $1,000; el Pabellon, $800; La Blanca, $500; Barron, $150; 
 El Rosario, $80; La Soledad and El Tulipan are hardly 
 commencing to return a profit. So that we find it necessary 
 to sum up the monthly dividends of four or six mines to reach 
 the $6,000 or $7,000 which the dividends ot the Rosario or 
 Guatemozin formely amounted to. 
 
 But as the number of profitable mines is today larger, 
 although the dividends are smaller, the enthusiasm is pro- 
 portionately increased, as well as the disbursements made 
 by the shareholders with the object of working other mines. 
 
 If we were in possession of mining statistics and could 
 make a comparison of the total dividends received from 
 the Pachuca mines, with the total amounts expended on 
 them since their opening, we would find an inmense dispro- 
 portion. 
 
 I have entered at length into these explanations, because 
 I want my readers to understand the adventurous and 
 variable conditions of mining operations, showing that the 
 results are uncertain, and that therefore they ought not to 
 be confounded with other branches of business; the mining 
 industry really demanding a special legislation intended to 
 protect the developement of such an importat branch of the 
 national resources. I also wish to point out the origin of 
 the present prosperity of the mines in the district of Pa- 
 chuca, which not only arises from the profits derived from 
 the 18 mines above mentioned, but principally from those 
 which are not paying dividends and which are very much 
 more numerous than the other class. Every dollar extrac- 
 ted from the mines, which although not giving a profit, 
 contribute something towards the expenses, costs the enthu- 
 siastic shareholders two or more dollars, whilst in those 
 
42 
 
 tfrhich have not yet reached ore, all the expenses of opera 
 •ting are supported by the shareholders, and consequently, 
 the prosperity of the district proceeds from the pockets of 
 the shareholders rather than from the profits derived from 
 the few mines which pay them; and that is the reason why 
 I say that in this class of business the illusion and the hope 
 of eventual riches, form a great incentive. 
 
 If any mining statistics existed and we could find out the 
 indebtedness of each mine to its shareholders, we would 
 be astonished to see the millions that such an account 
 would amount to; and we could then better explain the 
 origin of the prosperity of the mining district of Pachuca, 
 as we would understand that the eleven millions which is 
 supposed to be its present annual production, cut a very 
 small figure beside the amount which has been disbursed 
 by the shareholders in arriving at their present prosperous 
 condition, or in attenmpting to do so. 
 
 The ores which are extracted from these mines can be 
 divided into three classes, of which the smallest is trans- 
 ported by railroad to be treated abroad; another larger 
 part is transported by the Central Railroad to Guanajuato, 
 where on account of the scarcity of ores it is cheaply trea- 
 ted, or else it is sold to the Monterey Smelters; whilst by 
 far the greater part is divided among the 37 reduction 
 works, which exist in the Pachuca district. 
 
 These reduction works are found distributed in the follow- 
 ing manner: 15 in Pachuca; 1 in the Real del Monte; 10 
 in the district of El Chico; 2 in Atotonilco el Grande; 6 
 in Omitlan and 3 in Huasca; the most important being those 
 of Pachuca and of Huasca. 
 
 There are also two iron smelting furnaces in the munici- 
 pality of Metepec: that of Apulco and that of San Luis; and 
 two others in the municipality of Acaxochitan; that of La 
 Trinidad and Los Reyes. 
 
 As I have shown, the mining industry is of the very great- 
 est service to the construction of railways, not only for 
 the transportation of salt, quicksilver, sulphate of copper, 
 lumber, firewood, tallow, cordage, machinery, coal and 
 other materials required for its development, but also 
 
43 
 
 beause it cheapens the freights on grain, fodder and pul- 
 qfue, and provides a comfortable living for a very large 
 number of people who find continuous employment in the 
 mines and reduction work Besides this, it attracts comerce 
 by the good market which is afforded by the people employed, 
 and its also employs the railroad for the transport of its 
 ores and the iron manufactures which proceed from the 
 large furnaces situated at the foot of the mountains. In the 
 course of time the railroad will have the task of transpor- 
 ting the immense dumps which have accumulated for cen- 
 uries around the mines, and which will become valuable 
 whenever the systems of treatment at present known, become 
 perfected. 
 
 The statistics of the Hidalgo Railroad show us that it trans- 
 ported during the year 1891, 8,370 tons and 600 kilogra- 
 mes of ore, and 18,539 tons of coal, which costs placed in 
 Pachuca $17 per ton, and serves the country by preven- 
 ting the destruction of the forest which otherwise would 
 have been cut down for firewood to fed the 30 steam en- 
 gines which are now at work in the district. 
 
 Nevertheless, the fact that the ores are exported either 
 to foreign countries or to the States of Guanajuato and 
 Nuevo Leon for treatment, shows that there are not enough 
 establishments in the State of Hidalgo to perform that ser- 
 vice; and if in those States this treatment is caried out to 
 greater perfection or with less cost, if shows the necessity 
 of drawing attention to the fact and studying the necessary 
 improvements. 
 
 At the distance of 14 kilometres from Pachuca is situa- 
 ted the mining district of El Chico which contains nume- 
 rous waterfalls, but which it would be very difficulty to 
 reach with a railroad on account of the elevation of its 
 mountains above the former city; but it will be easy to 
 transport the force produced by these waterfalls to Pachu- 
 ca by means of electricity, utilizing in it the service of 
 of the mines, in the reduction works and even in electric 
 lighting of those establishments and of the streets, shops 
 and houses of the city, in the way that it is done in Europe 
 and the United States. 
 
 Once the railroad arrives in the village of Santiago, from 
 which it is now only 8 kilometres distant, reduction works 
 
44 
 
 could be established there, as has been already proposed, 
 there being plenty of water power to be found in that 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Further on, and on crossing the Sierra Alta, numerous 
 ravines would be found in the inmediate proximity of the 
 railroad line, with sufficient water for the establishment of 
 reductton works, and which would give life and animation 
 to the neighboring villages. 
 
 On the other hand, I have already shown that coal beds 
 exist between Huaya and Zacuaitipan, and although the 
 samples that have been extracted from the surface appear 
 to be only lignite, there is no doubt that these beds will be 
 worked as soon as the railroad gets near that neighborhood, 
 as this lignite has already been tried with very fair results 
 in some of the reduction works. It is very probable that 
 by sinking on these beds, the quality will greatly improve, 
 and on account of its proximity, it will be able to compete 
 advantageeusly with the coal which is today brought to 
 Pachuca at a cost of $17 per ton.- 
 
 In order to reduce the adventurous character of mining 
 and increase the probabilities of profit, two great requisites 
 are required: science and cheap coal. 
 
 The American Government has understood this impor- 
 tant point, and spends large sums every year on geological 
 and botanical studies of its country, by means of scientific 
 expeditions which travel all over it, and yearly publish 
 extensive reports giving an account of their studies. These 
 are further illustrated by handsome engravings, as well as 
 topographical and geological maps of every kind, and give 
 the people abundant information on the resources of their 
 country, encouraging them to undertake new enterprises 
 that materialy aid in its development. 
 
 Mechanical science is now rendering the greatest servi- 
 ces in the operation of mines; the mechanical drills will 
 now bore a hole in seven minutes which formerly required 
 the work of two men for ten hours and the compressed air 
 engine which moves those drills also serves to ventilate the 
 workings and enable them to be operated. We have an 
 example of this in the mine of Arevalo in the districts of 
 
45 
 
 El Chico, where part of the compressed air is utilized as mo- 
 tive power for the drills and part for the ventilation of the 
 workings* 
 
 Steam engines also permit us today to undertake work 
 in the mines at depths that never could be attained in for- 
 mer years, with the old fashioned mule hoist and rope, 
 with the help of which a depth of 200 varas was reached 
 after long and difficult labor. 
 
 In the reduction works, the Chilian mills, the stone crus- 
 hers, pulverizers, concentrators and ore washers are found 
 to be of the very greatest service. Chemistry has also ren- 
 dered the very greatest services to the mining industry, by 
 the discovery of high explosives, such is dynamite, which 
 is now so cheap and so generally used. It also discovered 
 the different proceses of treatment, and although in this 
 country they have not been able to supersede the Arabian 
 system which was introduced in 1554 in Pachuca by Bar- 
 tolome Medina, they have certainly modified its methods by 
 means of the barrels, pans, and other appliances which 
 are extensively used in some of the reduction works, al- 
 though the secret of the process is in many cases well guar- 
 ded from the public. 
 
 At the same time there is no doubt that in England, in 
 the country of Cornwall as well as in other places, the treat- 
 ment is superior to our own, as from the accounts issued 
 by those establishments, we find that ores which in this 
 country only assay eight marks per monton * turn out to 
 contain eleven marks according to their assays, besides 
 which, they utilize all the other metals contained in the 
 ores, that under our systems are entirely lost for want of 
 scientific knowledge and of cheap coal. 
 
 The same can be said with respect to Germany, as in 
 Saxony, where a great reduction works has for many years 
 been established under the special protection of King John, 
 they have learned to utilize all the metals contained in the 
 the ore by a system of boilers; so that on many occasions 
 they extract the silver free of cost, and the cost of treat- 
 
 * A mark is 8 ounces Troy and a monton is 3060 lbs. Avordupois Trans- 
 lator. 
 
46 
 
 ment is completely covered by the value of the other 
 metals extracted, that with us are lost for want of scien- 
 tific knowledge and of cheap coal. 
 
 In Europe it would be impossible to work the_ mines 
 which only render low grade ore, but for their improved 
 systems of treatment, so contrary to our old fashioned sys- 
 tems. 
 
 But without going so far as Europe, we see that ores 
 assaying four marks are not treated in Pachuca, because 
 they do not pay their cost. Without taking info considera- 
 tion the loss of silver and of quicksilver, the treatment of 
 each monton costs $30 in Pachuca, whilst the same ores 
 are sold for shipment to Guanajuato or Monterrey at $4 
 to $5 a monton, in spite of the loss of silver and quicksilver 
 and the heavy freight over a hundred or three hundred 
 leagues to those two points, where the treatment can be 
 carried out a profit. 
 
 From the above facts I infer that the two great requi- 
 sites for the development of the mining industry are scien- 
 ce and cheap coal, and that the Hidalgo Railroad will be 
 able to render important services, not only in providing 
 facilities of transportation for the ores and other merchan- 
 dise, but also by the introduction of coal from Sierra Alta 
 and from the Huasteca. 
 
 At the same time we must not forget the necessity of 
 improving onr scientific knowledge. If the miners would 
 associate themselves with the object of forming societies 
 to push forward their own industry; if there were in this 
 capital, a central board which would publish a weekly 
 paper on mining, and at the same time keep itself in close 
 touch with the local and foreign societies, so as to receive 
 and forward all kinds of reports and reviews; if these so- 
 cieties, obtaining the cooperation of the Federal and State 
 Governments, would send to Europe, to the United States 
 and to the South American Republics, their most eminent 
 scientific and practical men, with the object of studying in 
 those different countries the improvements that they may 
 have introduced in the working of mines and the treat- 
 ment of ores, we might be able to transplant to this coun- 
 
47 
 
 try the most advanced systems know in the world, and ele* 
 vate the scieuce of mining to the level of the century in 
 which we live. 
 
 VI 
 
 Riches of the Sierra Alta- 
 
 The exploitation of the Sierra Alta in the neighborhood of 
 the line which the Hidalgo Railroad would follow, will 
 serve as a good example to the other towns of the same 
 Sierra, and induce them to take the proper steps for the 
 development of their own districts. 
 
 The variety of climates, which range from the coldest to 
 the hottest and the humidity produced by the abundant 
 dews which daily bathe the exuberant vegetation, have 
 made of these extensive ranges one of the most beautiful 
 and richest countries in the whole world. 
 
 If up to the present day this country has not been pro- 
 perly developed, its backward condition is only due to the 
 absence of communication, to the isolation and want of 
 culture in the different Indian races who live in a perpetual 
 antagonism over questions of boundaries, and to the vicious 
 municipal administration of our Government; but a railroad 
 will create a traffic, will substitute an easy and continuous 
 communication for the present isolation, will create new 
 industries and interests which will do away with these 
 continual disputes as to boundaries and at the same time 
 will improve the administration, by means of the coloni- 
 zation which invariably follows up the opening of a country 
 to traffic. 
 
 I have already said that whenever the line reaches the 
 districts of Huaya and Zacualtipan, the coal beds which 
 are there so abundant will be inmediately opened up. We 
 know of the existence of coal beds which cover an area of 
 7 leagues between rhe two towns and it is clear that the 
 
48 
 
 operation of these coal deposits would bring abont the es- 
 tablishment of colonies of more or less importance, accord- 
 ing to the development of the works. 
 
 The valuable and plentiful forests of construction and 
 furniture woods, would be cut aud prepared by mechani- 
 cal saws, which as yet are entirely unknown in those dis- 
 tricts, and would afterwards be transported by the Railroad 
 forming a new and important branch of husiness, both for 
 the road and for those owning the forests. 
 
 The fisheries in the rivers, now carried out with dyna- 
 mite or by means of an herb which attacks the eyes of the 
 fish, and driving them desperate obliges them to jump on 
 the banks where they die in a few minutes, would be im- 
 proved by the use of nets, which would not kill the little 
 fish nor prevent their reproduction. 
 
 * 
 
 The coarse brown sugar, which is now so imperfectly 
 extracted by means of wooden cylinders called trapiches 
 and in which a very large proportion of the cane juice is 
 lost through the want of pressure and the imperfection of the 
 machine, will also be then extracted with the most impro- 
 ved machinery, as there is not the slightest doubt that 
 companies would be organized which would buy the cane 
 from the cultivators and extract the sugar, introducing 
 probably the diffusion process which is now being studied 
 in the United States as the most perfect aud economical, 
 and which would give the best results in this neighborhood 
 on account of the proximity and cheapness of coal. 
 
 The very great difference between the production of 
 the sugar cane in the State of Morelos and in the Sierra 
 Alta, is a subject well worthy of study. 
 
 In the State of Morelos, the land is monopolized between 
 17 large estates; whereas in the Sierra Alta the land is di- 
 vided between all the residents. 
 
 In the State of Morelos the soil is impoverished and re- 
 quires manure; in the Sierra Alta it may be said to be vir- 
 gin soil, as in many villages it is allowed to rest for seven 
 years, the cultivators moving their cultivation to some 
 other tract and leaving the fields which they had cultiva- 
 ted for seven consecutive years for the grazing of cattle. 
 
49 
 
 In Morelos the cultivation of sugar cane requires irriga- 
 tion, while in Sierra Alta the abundant dews which fall 
 in the night, give all the humidity required, and leave the 
 ground and plants thoroughly soaked as if it had rained all 
 night. 
 
 In Morelos it is necessary to plant the cane afresh every 
 year and give it proper cultivation, whereas in the Sierra 
 Alta it is only necessary to plant, hoe, and cut it, the same 
 as corn, and once sown it lasts eleven or more years, 
 it being considered a fugacious plant and the second 
 growth from the preceding year is enough to procure a 
 vigorous reproduction. 
 
 Butagainst all these advantages, the planters of More- 
 los have been able to organize and regulate the work on 
 their plantations with plenty of resources, establishing ma- 
 chinery for the extraction of their sugar and distilleries for 
 the extraction of alcohol, and are not compelled to sell 
 their products at any price they can get, but rather to fix 
 their own price in all markets where they sell. 
 
 On the contrary, in the Sierra Alta w r here there are no 
 capitalists, companies will be westablished for the introduc- 
 tion of suitable plants which will grind the cane and extract 
 the sugar on the banks of the streams, thus utilizing the 
 water power which is there so abundant, and introducing 
 economies in the production wilich will not only enable 
 them to compete with the large plantations of Morelos and 
 the southern part of Puebla, but also to export by the Hi- 
 dalgo Railroad through the port of Tuxpan. 
 
 The same thing will undoubtedly happen with respect 
 to tobacco, rubber, rice, indigo and cotton, which fibre has 
 hitherto not been cultivated, because it gives such a fine 
 staple that the manufacturers declare it only useful for the 
 manufacture of book muslin, but by studying the differen- 
 species of this plant, there is no doubt of one being found 
 adapted to cultivation in those mountains. 
 
 The cultivation of coffee'is another very important indus- 
 try which has extended itself though the whole of this Sie- 
 rra without any particular care having been taken in the 
 selection of seed, or generally in the cultivation of the 
 
50 
 
 plant. Only two years ago the municipality of Pahuatlan, 
 in the State of Puebla, and distant nine leagues from Tu- 
 lancingo, produced a crop worth $30,000, and if this splen- 
 did example which has greatly encouraged the neighboring 
 villages to undertake the same industry, were followed up 
 by endeavors to procure the best seed, we might at once 
 declare that the coffee crops in the Sierra Alta would 
 shortly be worth millions of dollars per annum. 
 
 The chile crop will will also be of great importance, as 
 at present the people only cultivate the chilpotle, which is 
 harvested in Achiotepec at the end of the year, but it would 
 be necessary to extend this cultivation to other parts and 
 to make trials of other different kinds of chilis adapted 
 both to the home and foreign markets. 
 
 With the object of organizing local associations, which 
 I look upon as the only means of saving society from the 
 grave conflict between capital and labor which is at present 
 agitating the world, I have done my best to propagate the 
 culture of ramie, and in order to secure good results for 
 these proposed associations, I have endeavored to obtain 
 their support on the part of the French Company which 
 was formed by M. Fabier, this Company having underta- 
 ken to purchase all the fibre which was brought to it, at a 
 specified price, and to furnish machines which it would 
 sell under a guarantee, to all the cultivators who desired 
 to extract the fibre. I believe this business has an immense 
 future before it in the Sierra Alta, seeing that M Fabier 
 calculates the product of each hectare at 7,800 kilograms 
 for each cutting, with a value of 910 francs, or in other 
 words, that each cutting will produce 709 arrobas with a 
 net value of $182. 
 
 In the Sierra Alta, as in all hot climates, four to six cut- 
 tings can be taken per annum; but even if we only calcu- 
 late on four, we find that each hectare of land will give 
 us a net product of $628 per annum. 
 
 At the same time I believe, that as M. Fabier has never 
 been to Sierra Alta, his calculations are too low for that 
 locality, as Don San Jose’ Cruz of Pahuatlan has calcula- 
 ted a very much higher product with one sole plant which 
 be cultivated and which produced 80 shoots in one year. 
 
51 
 
 I believe that the General and State Governments, ought 
 to give some attention to his wonderful product and make 
 the few necessary sacrifices required to develop the culti- 
 vation of this plant in all those places in which the climate 
 and the humidity will allow of it. 
 
 For example; the Department of Fomento and the State 
 Governments of Veracruz, might rent a few hectares of 
 the Hacienda Motzorongo where extensive plantations of 
 ramie already exist, and might cultivate them as nurseries 
 for that plant, from which they would sell to the other 
 State Governments and these in their turn to the municipa- 
 lities of those localities most adapted to its propagation. 
 
 It is of the greatest importance to the country to substi- 
 tute the payments which are now made in foreign markets 
 by means of silver, with the product of the soil, and the 
 expense of renting a few hectares on that estate, would 
 be so low after the dissolution of the Mexican Ramie Com- 
 pany, that in my opinion,, this new expense would be en- 
 tirely justified. 
 
 Besides this, the State Governments would then contri- 
 bute by paying the value of the plants purchased, thus co- 
 vering its cost and very likely a good deal more. 
 
 The school of Agriculture ought also to prepare a few 
 nursery beds for the propagation of this plant with a view 
 to selling it, whilst some ought to be placed in the public 
 gardens so as to familiarize the people with its appearence 
 and importance. I have a small nursery of my own in Tu- 
 lancingo, which climate is a little colder than that of this 
 capital aud I have had M. Fabier’s Manual of Ramie Cul- 
 ture republished with the object of giving away plants 
 and books to some of the people resident in that district, 
 and principally to those of the Sierra Alta; as the ramie 
 which is produced in the temperate zone, although it can 
 only be cut twice in the year has twice the value of the 
 fibre which is produced in the hot country. As a proof of 
 this we find, that the fibre produced in France is worth 
 twice as much as that which is imported from Algeria or 
 Egypt, thus proving that it can be profitably cultivated in 
 the temperante climates and in places where irrigation 
 can be obtained. 
 
52 
 
 There are several other industrial plants whose cultiva 
 tion deserves a special study with a view to exporting 
 their products on a large scale; and amongst these w'e have 
 the vegetable wax plant and the chicle plant. The wax 
 plant is produced spontaneusly in the elevated and damp 
 localities of the Sierra Alta, and it is only necessary to 
 crush the plant and place it in boiling water, for the libera- 
 ted wax to rise to the surface, whence it is collected. At 
 first it is of a green color but is easily bleached by a che- 
 mical process and it can be worked in exactly the same 
 manner as bees wax. The other plant I have spoken of is 
 the chicle which is also spontaneusly produced in the dry 
 and cold soils; it is best cultivated on the dry lands where 
 the pulque maguey grows, and it is utilized by the Indians 
 of Ixtenco in the neighborhood of Huamantla (State of Tlax- 
 cala), who extract it by the same methods as are employed 
 with the wax, that is to say crushing the plant and placing 
 it afterwards in boiling water so as to collect the product 
 which rises to the surface. 
 
 As the chicle is sold at a high price in the United States 
 for certain industrial purposes, it would be easy for us to 
 study the cultivation and product, and it appears to me 
 that the Department of Fomento and the State Govern- 
 ments ought to procure the development of the cultivation 
 of these and other industrial or medicinal plants, such as 
 the javali cane. 
 
 In this manner we would push forward the exportation 
 of national products, as far as possible, and fulfill one of 
 the most urgent necessities of the country, which is also 
 intimately allied ith wthe future of the railroads. 
 
 The price of chicle has undergone an extraordinary in- 
 crease during late years; in 1889 it was selling at $28.56 
 per quintal; in 1890, at $38.28; and 1891, at $52.36 thus 
 almost doubling its value within two years. Through a 
 companion of mine in the Agricultural Society, I have 
 begged for a few plants from Ixtenco with the object of cul- 
 tivating and propagating it; but I believe that the School 
 of Agriculture ought to establish nursery beds for this 
 plant, so as to give an impulse to its cultivation. 
 
 The diversity of climates and the fertility of the soil 
 which are to be found in the Sierra Alta, adaptthat country 
 
53 
 
 to a great degree, to the cultivation of fruit bearing trees 
 and shrubs, whilst its proximity to the port of Tuxpan faci- 
 litates the exportation of its products to the United States 
 ports, whenever the railroad should be constructed. 
 
 The State of Hidalgo produces many excellent fruits, 
 some of which are cultivated in Sierra Alta whilst others 
 can be extensively cultivated, on a much larger scale than 
 at the present day, in the same places where they are at 
 present produced. Some of these are, the pineapples of 
 Huahutla, the oranges of Zimapan, the plaintain of Tlaspa- 
 naloya (State of Puebla) the “aguacate** of Tecozutla, the 
 peach, grape and fig of Ixmiquilpam, the prickly pear of 
 Alfajayuca, the prunes and apricots of Tulancingo, the cul- 
 tivation of which is at present abandoned, the “chirimoya“ 
 from the Barranca, and from the villages of San Juan, San 
 Francisco and Toxtla de Acaxochitlan, whilst many other 
 fruits are found whose cultivation will be largely increased 
 as soon as the Hidalgo Railroad affords an outlet by com- 
 pleting its line to Tuxpan. 
 
 Among the statistical data of the exportation through 
 the port of Tuxpan during the financial year which con- 
 cluded in June, 1891, I can only find 147 tons of fruit 
 shipped with an estimated value of $913, and none at all 
 in the previous years, but when we examine the data which 
 are published by the other Republics of our continent and 
 especially by those of Central America, we find that their 
 exportations of fruit to the United States amount to hundreds 
 of thousands of dollars every year. 
 
 For this reason I think that our local governments ought 
 to devote attention to encouraging the plantations of fruit 
 trees, which would enable us advantageously to compete 
 with those other countries and even to export flowers, which 
 our own country produces so abundantly, and which today 
 sell at such high prices. 
 
 But besides the exploitation of the important products I 
 have mentioned, we ought to consider the Hidalgo Railroad 
 from several other fundamental points of view: 
 
 First, — Exportation of National products through the 
 port of Tuxpan. 
 
 Second, — Exploitation of the Huasteca country. 
 
54 
 
 Third, — Irrigation of the Huasteca and canalization of 
 its rivers. 
 
 Fourth, — Interior port of Tamiahua and the Hidalgo 
 Railroad. 
 
 Fifth, — Interoeeanic communication through the capital 
 of the Republic. 
 
 Sixth, — The Hidalgo Railroad and communication with 
 the United States; and 
 
 Seventh, —That the Hidalgo Railroad will tend to iden- 
 tify the interests of some of the frontier Staies with the 
 centres of the Republic. 
 
 I propose to treat these seven points which are of the 
 greatest importance to the progress and prosperity of the 
 Republic, in the second part of my report. 
 
55 
 
 SECOND PART 
 
 i 
 
 Exportation of National products through the port of Tuxpaii. 
 
 The nation will be prosperous on the coast whenever the 
 Hidalgo Railroad reaches the Port of Tuxpan, because the 
 metropolis will have a port on the Gulf not more than 80 
 leagues distant, and the national industries will progress in 
 proportion to the increase in the products of those districts. 
 If we examine the annual exportation of national products 
 through that port, now when it has no railroad comunica- 
 tion, we can form an idea of its rapid progress when once 
 it has obtained that advantage. 
 
 We thus find that in the financial year of 1888 to 1889, 
 this Port shipped 4,502 tons of fine woods, 903 of chicle, 
 744 of dye wood, 402 of honey, 104 of oxhides, 43 of va- 
 nilla and other goods, giving a total of 6 679 tons with a 
 value of $1,439,560.98. 
 
 During the year 1889 to 1890 the exportation amounted 
 to 520 tons of fine woods, 778 tons of chicle, 443 tons of 
 honey, 349 tons of dye wood, 21 tons of rubber, 56 tons of 
 vanilla and sundry other products that brought up the 
 amount to 6,894 tons with a value of $1,659,711.79. 
 
 In the financial year of 1890 to 1891, the exports were; 5,020 
 tons of fine woods, 892 of chicle, 433 of honey, 14 of coarse 
 brown sugar, 43 of fruit, 56 of vanilla and sundry other 
 products which gave the amount of 7,788 tons, with a va- 
 lue of $1,579,635.78 
 
56 
 
 The invoice value of the imports amounted to $164,200.39 
 for the financial year of 1888 to 1889, the amount of duties 
 paid amounting to $86,997.28. 
 
 In the year 1889 to 1890, the imports acording to invoice 
 value amounted to $142,539.41, and the duties paid on them 
 to $76,005.69. 
 
 In the year of 1890 to 1891, the imports acording to in- 
 voice value amounted to $115,774.83, and the duties paid 
 $145,928.81. 
 
 We thus find that the sura of the exports for the three financial 
 
 years, amounts to $ 4.355,303 92 
 
 The imports to 422,604 63 
 
 Showing a difference in favor of exports 3.932,699 29 
 
 Considering the financial situation of the country, a si- 
 tuation which had been brought about by the depreciation 
 of silver, and the necessity of substituting this product in 
 our foreign payments, with the products of agriculture, we 
 find in these figures the best argument for calling upon the 
 government to give its best attention and protection to the 
 Hidalgo Railroad Company, by this means promoting on a 
 large scale the explotation of the rich country in the Sie- 
 rra and in the Huasteca, and enormously increasing the 
 exportation of agricultural products. 
 
 We find that in Tuxpan the exportations for three years 
 has exceeded importation by about $4,000,000.00 and that 
 this exportation is ten times greater than the importation. 
 I ask what would be the financial situation of the country 
 and of the Government, if the same happened at all the 
 maritime and frontier custom houses of the Republic? The 
 Nation and the Government would have an easy life, 
 always advancing in the path of prosperity because they 
 would have an abundance of the coin which today is so 
 scarce. 
 
 This in my opinion ought to be the financial policy of 
 the Government, the objective point which ought to be 
 continually kept in’ sight in whatever undertaking it em- 
 barks, and with more impulse when the results are favora- 
 ble and obtained within a short time. 
 
 Let us consider the situation of Tuxpan from this point 
 of view; 12 leagues to the south of this Port, is situated the 
 
57 
 
 canton of Papantla, in the State of Veracruz, where the 
 merchants of Tuxpan make important purchases of coffee, 
 tobacco and vanilla, which alone raise the exports to the 
 enormous sum of $1,200,000.00, the half of this export being 
 shipped by way of Tuxpan. On the line that will be fol- 
 lowed by this branch of the railroad we have a country 
 producing an immense number of the most beautiful furni- 
 ture woods, dyewoods and construction woods, zarzaparril- 
 la, chicle and other vegetables, which are also exported by 
 the merchants of Tuxpan, and which would be enormously 
 increased in amount by the facility of traffic, with great 
 advantage to producers, to the national interests and to 
 those of the Hidalgo Railroad Company. 
 
 If we look to the country north of the Port of Tuxpan, 
 we find that both the nation and the company will obtain 
 very important advantages through the construction of the 
 line. Here we find that we would count on the navigation 
 of the lakes of Tantanachoco, Tamiahua and Pueblo Viejo, 
 the canalization of which is at present being pushed forward, 
 the same as that of the bayous of Chijol and of the Infierni- 
 llo, which when concluded will open a direct communication 
 between the Ports of Tuxpan and of Tampico, with such 
 low freights that no railroad will be able to compete with 
 the steamers navigating those lakes. 
 
 II 
 
 Exploitation of the Etuasteda- 
 
 Besides the communication by lagoon between Tampico 
 and Tuxpan, the latter port will also have communication 
 with other extensive districts of the Huasteca, by means 
 of the rivers, lagoons and lakes which will give a naviga- 
 tion of more than 400 leagues; an advantage which is not 
 obtained in any other part of the Republic. Some of these 
 rivers like the Panuco, are navigable up to the foot of the 
 
58 
 
 Huejutla mountains, and its confluent the Valles can be na- 
 vigated up to the Huasteca Potosina, whilst others are like Ta- 
 mesi, which is navigable by steamer for a distance of 33 lea- 
 gues above Tampico, the tide making its influence felt up to 
 the town of Panuco, which is situated 82 leagues above Tam- 
 pico. This proves a very slight difference of level in the cur- 
 rent and consequently, the great facility of colonizing 
 the river for the improvement of the navigation and of 
 utilizing a part of the waters for agricultural purposes by 
 means of irrigation canals. 
 
 This extensive and fertile country has an area with a 
 figure rather like a segment of an irregular poligon, with 
 respect to its interior communications, if the Railroad from 
 Tuxpan to the capital of the Republic should be built. One 
 side of the poligon would be formed by the line of the Gulf 
 Railroad from Ciudad Victoria to Tampico; another would 
 be a line from Tampico to Tuxpan by way of the three 
 lagoons, whilst another line would be formed by the ex- 
 tension of the Hidalgo Railroad to Tuxpan, between this 
 Port and the place called La Jabonera which is the end 
 of the Huasteca. Within these three lines we would have 
 extensive and fertile districts traversed by more than 400 
 leagues of river navigation, and as soon as this country 
 was colonized irrigation canals would be carried out with 
 the object of cultivating cotton, indigo, coffee, tobacco, su- 
 gar cane, ramie, and an immense number of other tropical 
 products which would be easily transported to the Ports 
 of Tampico and Tuxpan for exportation to the United 
 States by the Mexican Gulf Railroad, to the Capital of the 
 Republic and the neighboring States by the Hidalgo Rail- 
 road, and to the central States of this Republic by the 
 Tampico branch of the Mexican Central. 
 
 In spite of the present scarcity of inhabitants, this im- 
 portant district derives a great profit from its principal in- 
 dustry, which is the breeding of stock, and this will be 
 greatly developed by the general adoption of the Par& 
 grass and its irrigation, this kind of pasture having been 
 found to give the very best results. 
 
 At present the crops consist of grass, corn, beans and 
 other products of immediate necessity, but these are raised 
 
59 
 
 on a small scale, for want of laborers. An immense quan- 
 tity of stock is bred but in the years of drought the ani- 
 mals die by the thousand, and the proprietors and the coun- 
 try in general suffer enormous losses. Although the small 
 amount of corn sown gives splendid results in ordinary 
 years, its price rises greatly in years of drought. The pre- 
 sent principal food of this district besides corn, is salt or 
 fresh meat, beans and coffee, but in the neighborhood of 
 the Port, rivers and lakes they use a good deal of fish, 
 rice, bread of American flour and a few fruits brought from 
 the neighboring, districts, whilst the palmito is their only 
 vegetable. 
 
 Nevertheless in the Ports of Tampico and Tuxpan they 
 obtain food of a much superior quality in abundance and 
 at a low price, and in Tampico principally the people ob- 
 tain as good and luxuriours food as in the City of Mexico 
 and at a very much lower price. 
 
 From what I have shown of the economical situation of 
 the Huasteca district at the present day, the reader will 
 be able to form an idea of the enormous advantages which 
 the country will gain from the opening up of this territory, 
 and of the profits which would be derived by a Railroad 
 line placing it in communication with the capital of the 
 Republic and the neighboring States. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Irrigation of the Huaateoa and canalization of its riviers- 
 
 To further explain the present situation of the Huasteca, 
 we have only to say, that this extensive district hardly 
 supports at present a population of 3,000 inhabitants, count- 
 ing that of the Ports of Tampico and Tuxpan, and even 
 this is unequally divided. 
 
 The result of this is that the cultivators cannot make 
 any use of their extensive lands except for the breeding 
 of cattle and horses, and even for these purposes they have 
 neither the capital nor the laborers required to develop 
 
60 
 
 their important industry, or improve the breeds. They re- 
 quire laborers to cut the forest and cleau off the land in 
 order to sow it with Par& grass, and they can hardly do it 
 on a small scale in spite of the high wages now offering. 
 They require to secure the maintenance of their laborers 
 by raising crops of corn and beans, but even then they do 
 not find them, and in seasons of drought the corn rises up 
 to $24 per carga, whilst the cattle die for want of feeding 
 sheds which cannot be constructed for the same reason. 
 
 In 1864, I have myself purchased corn in Ciudad Victo - 
 ria at $24, and have been obliged to transport it to the 
 hacienda of Tancasnequi to feed it to the animals, this 
 being the highest navigable point on the river Tamesi in 
 the direction of Tampico. The saddest sight on this journey, 
 was to find on the banks of this river, and in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the hacienda, more than 50 horses stret- 
 ched on the ground, many of them actually dead of thirst 
 and the rest dying for want of a slope which would enable 
 them to descend to the water, five meters below the plain. 
 I related what I had seen to the proprietor of the hacienda, 
 remarking that the work of five men for two or three days 
 would have been enough to dig out a slope to reach the 
 water and save the lives of these animales; but he answe- 
 red me that he had hardly enough laborers for the necessary 
 cattle herds, for which reason he was suffering great losses 
 during that year of drought. Thirst is an afliction that pro- 
 duces effects on animals and up to a certain point domes- 
 ticats them, and when taking pity on these dying animals, 
 I stopped and had water given lo them out of the provision 
 I carried for the journey, these untamed horses drank it 
 with perfect docility. 
 
 Two days afterwards, whilst navigating on the same ri- 
 ver in the direction of Tampico in a canoe which was 
 towed br a steamer, we saw a tiger at a disttance of 12 
 meters climbing down the trunk of a tree situated on the 
 banks; he drank water in the stream and climbed back on 
 the same trunk to dissapear in the forest, and this in spite 
 of the noise made by the steam engine and of the shouts 
 of surprise of the passengers travelling in the canoe. 
 
 It is evident, that however rich and extensive a district 
 may be, it requires the work of man to be made producti- 
 
61 
 
 ve. In the present case, I believe it necessary to organize 
 strong companies which would open irrigation canals, fur- 
 nished with iron dams which will take up a good part of the 
 Avater from the rivers, so as to fertilize large areas of land. 
 Another plan would be the establishment of hydraulic 
 pumps moved by proper machinery or by the current 
 itself, as is done on many farms and factories in United 
 States* The execution of the first, plan would require a 
 large capital, but its result would also be magnificent, as 
 it would assure a constant fertility over large tracts of 
 country. 
 
 The system of pumps is better adapted to the land own- 
 ers of small capital, as it is less costly to establish; but 
 whichever plan is adopted for the utilization of the water, 
 colonization is indispensable, whether it is promoted by the 
 Government of the Union, by those of the States or by the 
 proprietors for their own account, as without the work of 
 man the soil cannot be made to produce. 
 
 Only a few years ago, each square league of land in the 
 Huasteca, hardly averaged in value from $500 to $1000 
 and there were estates with 50, 100 or 130 square leagues, 
 which in spite of their enormous area hardly produced any- 
 thing. Nevertheless during the last 20 years, the cultiva- 
 tion of Para grass has greatly increased the value of many 
 of these estates, and Lie. D. Cayetano G6mez Perez has 
 assured me that he lately had to do with the sale of an es- 
 tate which was originally sold for $6,000, and which af- 
 terwards, when laid down to Para grass, was resold for 
 $40,000. 
 
 This case, and a few more like it, may by considered as 
 exceptional, because this estate is situated at the foot of 
 the mountains, where there are facilities for obtaining la- 
 bor and where the abundant dews of the morning largely 
 contribute to the growth and reproduction of the grass, 
 which is abundant the whole year round and has a won- 
 derful growth in the hot country when it is helped with a 
 little humidity. 
 
 These favorable conditions, have caused its extension 
 in many estates at the foot of the mountains, not only with 
 the object of improving the stock already on the estates, 
 
62 
 
 but also with the object of making a business of the pur- 
 chase of stock at a low price on the frontier so as to fat- 
 ten and sell them at a much higher price in the valley of 
 Mexico and the neighboring States. 
 
 Through the construction of the Mexican Gulf Railroad 
 and the branch from San Luis to Tampico of the Central, 
 the corn will never return to its occasional price of $24 
 per carga, as it can be brought from the frontier and even 
 from the neighboring Republic by way of Laredo and Mon- 
 terey, at a much lower price, It can also be brought by 
 the Central from the towns and country estates of the Sie- 
 rra Madre or even from more distant points in the State of 
 Guanajuato. But once the line is completed from Tuxpan 
 to the City of Mexico, corn can be taken to the Huasteca 
 from districts only 25 leagues distant, where the moun- 
 tains commence, or if it should not be found there it could 
 be brought from the valley of Mexico, which is distant 80 
 leagues, in the same manner that it has been brought 
 from Patzcuaro to Pachuca a distance of more than 100 
 leagues. 
 
 At the present day, through the ready coinunication 
 given by the Railroads, prices cannot be greatly raised, 
 because as the waters alway seek their level through 
 their own fluidity and the force of gravity, so prices tend 
 to an equalization through the cheapness and velocity of 
 transport over the railroads. 
 
 It can be objected, that if one of the most important ele- 
 ments for the cultivation of the Huasteca district, is the 
 distribution of the waters of the rivers by means of irriga- 
 tion canals, it is evident that at least during the dry seas- 
 ons of each year, no navigation will be possible, and for 
 that reason a great part of the facility for comunication 
 will be lost. 
 
 To this it is easy to answer, that when agriculture in the 
 Huasteca utilizes all the waters of its rivers during the dry 
 seasons, the number of its inhabitants will be so great and 
 the amount of its products as well, that the river comuni- 
 cations will be easily substituted by means of branches 
 from the great railroad systems. 
 
63 
 
 * 
 
 Even to day, without our having reached at these con- 
 ditions, the Mexican Central will certainly be under the 
 necessity of constructing a branch towards the coai bed 
 at Tenipoai at the foot of the Sierra Madre, not only for 
 the purpose of shipping it through the Ports of Tampico 
 and Tuxpan for the service of the maritime navigation 
 and that of the lagoons between the two ports, but also for 
 the service of its own lines. 
 
 It may very well be that the Hidalgo Railroad should 
 find it necessary, for its own interest, to connect its Tux- 
 pan branch with the Tampico branch of the Mexican Cen- 
 tral, so as to be able to bring coal from Tempoal to Pa- 
 chuca, where it is so much required, as well as to the City 
 of Mexico and central States, to say nothing of what itself 
 requires for the service af its locomotives, 
 
 It must also be remembered, that each new industry of 
 any importance which may be established in the Iluasteca 
 will require the establishment of new branches of the 
 railroads already constructed, or that hereafter may be 
 constructed, 
 
 From all this we must conclude that the line which will 
 be constructed from Mexico to Tuxpan, will be the one to 
 give the greatest impulse to the appraching economical 
 and social transformation of the Huasteca, both because it 
 is the one which can with the greatest facility and cheap- 
 ness furnish provisions in years of drought, and because it 
 will afford the best means of transporting cattle to the 
 valley of Mexico and neighboring States. This at present 
 constitutes the principal resources of the Huasteca district, 
 but in the course of time the road will be able to transport 
 large quantities of coal to the mining districts of Pachuca, 
 where over 30 steam-engines, some of which are very pow- 
 erful consume foreign coal or that which is brought from 
 the northern frontier at a price of $17 per ton. 
 
 i 
 
 Besides the foreign merchandise, the road would have 
 the transportation from the coast to the same point, of the 
 abundant products of the fisheries on the sea coast and 
 lagoons, as well as the valuable woods and other products 
 of the canton of Papantla, situated in the State of Vera 
 Cruz, and from the Sierra. 
 
64 
 
 As stated by Major Gorsuch in his report to the Depart- 
 ment of Fomento, the Company which constructs the line, 
 will have an abundant traffic with the mere products of 
 the Huasteca and the Sierra, even though Tuxpan were 
 not a sea port, and its importance will be greatly increased 
 by its affording means of transportation for the asphalt and 
 petroleum which abound in all that country. 
 
 IV 
 
 The interior port of Tamaulipas and the Hidalgo Railroad. 
 
 I have above said that the irrigation canals and coloni- 
 zation of the fertile lands of the Huasteca district, will be 
 a necessary consequence of the construction of the two 
 railroad lines and of the canalization of the twQ rivers and 
 of the three lagoons which is now being carried out, and 
 these important improvements will make it imperiously 
 necessary to construct a new port which will facilitate the 
 exportation of the rich and varied tropical products of 
 these districts; for which reason I consider this point as 
 the third fundamental subject of the present report. 
 
 It appears as if nature had anticipated this case, and had 
 therefore formed the lagoon of Tamiahua, thus providing 
 an inland port on the Gulf. In soma parts of the lake accor- 
 ding to a plan of sounding which was published a few 
 years ago, we have a depth of as much as 27 varas which 
 extends over a large area. 
 
 But is it not only the depth which will facilitate this 
 great work, but also the communication of the lake with 
 the rivers of Tampico, Tuxpan and Tanhuijo, as it is situa- 
 ted between the two first and separted from the sea by a 
 narrow isthmus which runs along its whole length, and 
 which hardly has a width of a league and a half in a few 
 points. 
 
65 
 
 The principal works required for the construction of the 
 port, would be: the opening of a passage through the 
 isthmus which would communicate the lagoon with the sea, 
 the deepening of the lagoon in those parts where it might be 
 required so as to allow communication with the canal 
 through the isthums, the wharves inside and the exterior 
 works. 
 
 These exterior works would consist of two jetties built 
 in the direction of the canal, and which would project 
 into the sea far enough to prevent the mouth being closed 
 up by the sands travelling from the north, as frequently 
 happens now on the bars of Tuxpan and Tampico. These 
 sands at present frequently prevent communication with 
 the sea, to the great prejudice to the commercial interests 
 of the Port, an evil that will happily be put a stop to when 
 the present harbor works are concluded. 
 
 When I was in the Port of Tampico in the year 1860, I 
 saw a ship there with a deeper draught than the others, 
 and was told that she had been detained there several 
 months on account of the shallow water on the bar; I ask- 
 ed how the increase of sand on the bar could be preven- 
 ted, and was told that this could be done by the frequent 
 passage of vessels and that when in the year 1847 the 
 American squadron occupied the Port, a steamer was kept 
 continually going backwards over the bar and dragging 
 heavy chains over the bottom so as to prevent the accu- 
 mulation of sands which were moved by the northers, and 
 which, meeting the current in the river, formed the bar at 
 its mouth. 
 
 I was also told that a permanent remedy could be found 
 in the construction of a sea wall winch should project into 
 the sea in the direction of the current, so that reaching a 
 certain depth, the northers would not be able to drive the 
 sand into the mouth of the river. 
 
 This w r as at that period the opinion of the best informed 
 persons in that Port, and speaking now T of the canal which 
 would be required through the isthmus of Tamiahua, it 
 would very likely be necessary to construct a similar work, 
 although of less magnitude, as the current issuing from the 
 canal w r onld be less than that of the Tampico river which 
 comes from a long distance. 
 
66 
 
 These jetties would have the advantage of resting on 
 some of the small islands or reefs which are found in front 
 of the isthmus, and would give the Republic the advantage 
 of a safe and land locked harbor on the Gulf such as it 
 has not obtained up to the present date. 
 
 Great fears are entertained that the Vera Cruz Harbor 
 works, which from the beginning gave rise to serious and 
 interesting scientific discussions, will not give all the good 
 results hoped for, because it is now foreseen that when 
 concluded they will not produce the desired efects, that 
 illustrious engineers of European reputation have made 
 mistakes; that in order to complete the works as specified 
 it would be necessary to spend a third more than the esti- 
 mates, and that the total cost will be raised to the enor- 
 mous sum of $7,500,000, for which reason it would be ne- 
 cessary to reform the contract increasing the amount and 
 extending tbe period for the conclusion of the works; but 
 that even when these are completed, the Port although 
 improved, will not have either the facility of entrance or 
 the security which ought to be obtained in the most impor- 
 tant port of the Republic on the Gulf Coast. 
 
 To these serious difficulties we ought to add the insupe- 
 rable calamity of the yellow fever epidemics which every 
 year attack the unfortunate Port of Vera Cruz, decimating 
 the residents who are not natives of the place, the garrison 
 and the travellers who have to go to the Port on business, 
 and we can clearly understand that it will be impossible 
 for this Port to preserve the position that it has hitherto 
 occupied. 
 
 In June, 1860, when I visited the Port, the reigning epi- 
 demic was terrible: almost every day one or two officers 
 of the garrison died, including men of high rank such as 
 General Iniestra, and in commercial circles one or two 
 employes died every day. 
 
 The military deaths were known by the troops which 
 accompanied the bodies, and the civilians by the following 
 of their companions, but the rank and file and the laborers 
 died by hundreds, producing a panic wffiich had a terrible 
 effect on all the travellers who are not accustomed to this 
 horrible calamity* 
 
67 
 
 Speaking on this subject, D. Melclior Ocampo, who at that 
 time was in the city, said to me: “The preservation of the 
 Port in this place was no more than a foolish caprice of 
 the Spaniards, which has already cost many lives and will 
 so continue until we have a Government sufficiently strong 
 and intelligent to overcome the interests which have been 
 created, and to move the Port to a more healthy place, in 
 the interests of humanity. 44 
 
 Notwithstanding the $7,500,000 spent on the harbor 
 works and in spite of the Railroad which has been built, 
 the Port of Vera Cruz will most likely lose a great deal of 
 its commercial importance, and will probably be substitu- 
 ted by that of Anton Lizardo, both on account of its proxi- 
 mity and of its being nearer the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
 and it will most likely become more important than Vera 
 Cruz as soon as the works for its improvement are construc- 
 ted. As Mr. Ocampo said, this will be done whenever the 
 country has a government sufficiently intelligent to be able 
 to overcome the private interests established in the Port of 
 Vera Cruz. 
 
 In certainly is a fact, that both for the interests of hu- 
 manity and for the convenience and honor of the country, 
 this Port ongnt not to be allowed to keep its present posi- 
 tion. 
 
 >j 
 
 The Port of Anton Lizardo is the one that ought to be 
 selected for development as it is the nearest to the Port 
 of Vera Cruz, and would not necessitate the absolute aban- 
 donment of the interests already created, such as the Rail- 
 road and the country districts which at present have com- 
 mercial relations with that Port, this substitution would 
 not prejudice the Railroads, as they would find traffic in 
 the new countries thus opened up on the sonthern coast of 
 the State of Vera Cruz extending dowm to Tehuantepec. 
 
 The inland Port of Tamiahua would in time come to be the 
 first on the Gulf, because it would be nearer the City of 
 Mexico than Vera Cruz; because it would be a land locked 
 harbor with much larger capacity, a better climate and the 
 most extensive river communication, and besides that com- 
 municating readily with the interior States through the 
 
68 
 
 Mexican Central and with the frontier and the neighboring 
 Republic through the Mexican Gulf Road, both of which 
 would naturally extend their rails to the new Port. These ad- 
 vantageous conditions are such as Vera Cruz never will have 
 even supposing that the yellow fever is permanently stam- 
 ped out, and as I have before said at the beginning of this 
 chapter, whenever this Huasteca country enters into its 
 full development through its exceptional facility of com- 
 munication, whenever its fertile lands are brought under 
 cultivation by means of colonization and irrigation, the 
 construction and opening of the inland port of Tamiahua 
 will become an urgent necessity, and its own geographical 
 situation will make it the most important Mexican port on 
 the Gulf. 
 
 When this is done, the Government of the period, sup- 
 ported by the new interests created in the Huasteca, will 
 find itself sufficiently strong, as Mr. Ocampo said, to decree 
 and protect the construction of this Port as it now protects 
 the harbor works of Vera Cruz and of Tampico. The Rail- 
 road, which starting from the capital of Mexico will reach 
 Tuxpan, will then be one of the most important and pro- 
 ductive in the country, because it will only require to ex- 
 tend its road a distance of 12 leagues to the town of Ta- 
 miahua, or a little further to reach the new Port, which will 
 then become, with great advantage to the whole country, 
 the principal port on the Gulf. 
 
 V 
 
 Interoceanic communication through the Capital of the Republic* 
 
 We will now pass to the fourth fundamental considera- 
 tion which I consider one of the most important for the 
 construction of the railroad to Tuxpan. 
 
 If I have drawn the inference that the two railroad lines 
 which now traverse the Huasteca will result in the irriga- 
 
69 
 
 tion and colonization of its fertile soil and the canalization 
 of its rivers; and shown that the necessary consequence of 
 these improvements will be the construction of the Port of 
 Tamiahua, which will become the most important on the 
 Gulf, it is natural to conclude, that having such superior 
 advantages over the other ports, it will also be preferred 
 as a terminus for interoceanic communication. 
 
 When Gen. Rosecranz solicited a concession from the 
 Congress of the Union for Railroad construction, 1 wrote a 
 small pamphlet proposing the construction of the line to 
 Tuxpan, which is only 60 leagues distant from the capital, 
 in connection with the navigation of the river Mexcala, the 
 mouth of which would serve tor the construction of a port 
 on the Pacific, and with the idea of obtaining by this means 
 an interoceanic communication. 
 
 As a Deputy I procured the signatures ot many of my 
 colleagues, both known and unknow to myself, with the ob- 
 ject of soliciting from the Chamber, backed by the argu- 
 ments already used in my pamphlet, an appropriation of 
 $5,U00 dedicated to the expenses of an expedition which 
 should be sent by the Department of Fomento to make a 
 reconnaissance of the line between Tuxpan and the Capi- 
 tal, and afterwards from there to the river Mexcala. The 
 proposed survey would have followed the river to its mouth, 
 with the object of examining it to discover whether the na- 
 vigation could be improved and of conecting it by railroad, 
 which passing through the city of Mexico should terminate 
 in the port of Tuxpan, with ail the necessary branches in- 
 to the interior. 
 
 Congress duly appropriated the $5,000 asked for, and 
 the Department commissioned Major Gorsuch to make the 
 reconnaissance, which was extended over both lines. 
 
 With respect to the navigation of the Mexcala river, he 
 reported that it was possible but would be very costly, both 
 in its construction and it its operation, as it would be neces- 
 sary to establish a series of locks on account of the rapids 
 found in some parts and the strong current in others; and 
 that wtth the money which would be required for this cons- 
 truction the nation could build three or four other lines of 
 railroads. 
 
70 
 
 But with respect to the line to Tuxpan, he gave a very 
 favorable report, saying that not only was such a line prac- 
 ticable but also very convenient, considering the fertility 
 of the country which it would traverse, and the abundan- 
 ce and value of its forests; and that although Tuxpan was 
 not a port of entry, the mere exportation of the lumber 
 along the proposed line would guarantee the necessary 
 freights for twenty five years. 
 
 At a subsequent date, the lines to Acapulco and Manza- 
 nillo were projected, and decreed. Through the influence 
 of prominent gentlemen in the State of Michoacan, the Go- 
 vernment afterwards ordered a survey of the line to the 
 Port of Huatulco on the Pacific Coast, a survey that was 
 never concluded; and lastly, a combination was effected 
 which concentrated all the different lines into one, in- 
 cluding that to Acapulco, under which arrangement the 
 road would pass through the valley of Mexico and be ex- 
 tended to Vera Cruz by way of Jalapa. 
 
 This combination proved successful, and a company was 
 formed which obtained the concession from the Government 
 under the name of the Interoceanic, which has advanced 
 its rails through Morelos as far as Jojutla, and through Ja- 
 lapa to Vera Cruz. 
 
 Nevertheless, several obstacles have been met with on 
 the line to the South, and it is said that this will not follow 
 the direct line from Jojutla to Acapulco, but rather from 
 Puebla to Acapulco, passing through Izucar de Matamoros. 
 This new arrangement will be very advantageous to the 
 City of Puebla as it will make it the centre of Interoceanic 
 communication; but at the same time, it will be very 
 disadvantageous to the capital of the Republic which will 
 be left thirty leagues distant from this important Railroad. 
 
 But this feature of the question cannot be the last in this 
 important matter, because if an inland port is constructed 
 at Tamiahua, which is situated at the same or even less 
 distance from the capital, and which would be endowed 
 with superior conditions to that of Veracruz, it would 
 naturally be preferred, and the Hidalgo Railroad would 
 be taken advantage of from the station of Irolo which is 
 
71 
 
 only 17 leagues from the capital, as that line takes the 
 direction of Tuxpan which is only 12 leagues distant from 
 Tamiahua, with a level plain between. 
 
 The capital would then be very much nearer to the In- 
 teroceanic line, as the trains would come from Tuxpan to 
 Tulancingo, from thence to Irolo, distant 17 leagues from 
 the capital, from Irolo to Puebla, Matamaros and Acapulco, 
 and would not leave the capital, as before said, 30 leagues 
 or more on one side, which is the distance between Mexico 
 and Puebla. 
 
 But the natural and final solution of the question would 
 be arrived at if the Government would insist on the Inte- 
 roceanic Company continuing the Morelos branch to Aca- 
 pulco by way of Jojutla or some other point in that neigh- 
 borhood, even should it be found necessary to increase the 
 subsidy, because it would be very convenient that the city 
 of Mexico, which is the most important commercial centre 
 of the Republic, and the seat of the Federal Government, 
 should preserve direct communication with its port. This 
 consideration appears to me so serious in treating of Inte- 
 roceanic communication, that I believe, that if the Govern- 
 ment giving way to the great influence brought to bear by 
 persons interested in the Company, should consent to the 
 abandonment of the Morelos line, and allow the line to be 
 built through Izucar in order to reach Acapulco, the future 
 Government of the country would find itself obliged to 
 repair this serious error, which would be of the greatest 
 prejudice both to the commerce of the capital as well as 
 to the interests of the Federal Government. 
 
 For the above reasons, I come to the natural conclusion 
 that the future interests ofthe Hidalgo Railroad are intim- 
 ately allied with these of the capital, in all that refers to 
 the important question of interoceanic comrnnnication; that 
 its solution depends on the construction of the inland port 
 of Tamiahua in the near future, a necessity that will be 
 more strongly felt throngh the development of the fertile 
 districts of the Huasteca, as well as that f the Canton of 
 Papantla, the commerce of the port, the prosperity of the 
 Sierra which it will cross, the valley of Tulancingo, the 
 whole country through which it runs to the capital; and 
 
72 
 
 lastly, that this will eventually come to be half of the 
 required line for the interoceanic communication through 
 the centre of the Republic, seeing that the city of Mexico 
 sooner or later will claim the passage of this line, although 
 Puebla is at present preferred. 
 
 When this project is carried out, the privileges which 
 will be conceded to foreign merchandise in transit, travers- 
 ing the national territory over 200 leagues of railroad, 
 will greatly increase the importance of the Tuxpan line, 
 and at the same time improve its character as it will 
 become a necesary part of the interoceanic communication 
 through the capital of the Republic. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Hidalgo Railroad and Communication with the United States. 
 
 The fifth important consideration which ought to be 
 borne in mind with respect to the construction of the 
 Tuxpan railroad, and which is as important as the last, 
 will be still more so with regard to the future of the count- 
 ry, considering that it will be the line giving the shortest 
 route between the city of Mexico and the territory of the 
 United States, and will really acquire an international 
 character as soon as the line is built from Ciudad Victoria 
 to the Port of Matamoros, and even before that, if it is 
 connected with the Monterey and Gulf Railroad. 
 
 From the geographical conformation of the Republic, it 
 is evident that the Railroad lines which run from the 
 capital of Mexico to the Northern frontier, will be shorter 
 in proportion to their proximity to the Guif coast. As the 
 Tuxpan Railroad would connect with the Gulf Road up to 
 Ciudad Victoria, and from thence with the line to Mata- 
 moros, if would give the route nearest to the Gulf, and it 
 
73 
 
 is clear that once these these lines were constructed and 
 connected, they would really constitute an International 
 Railroad. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the different companies 
 would have to connect the roads in their own interests, as 
 the construction of the port of Tamiahua would oblige 
 them to do so, and at the same time to advance their mils 
 from Tampico to the new port, or else to build branches 
 which would start a little above the confluence of the 
 Panuco and Tamesi rivers so as to economize the run to 
 the port, these branches requiring to be built, on banks 
 with an elevation of 4 metres. 
 
 I specify this elevation because between the Tamesi 
 and Panuco, there is an immense triangle of several square 
 leagues, the apex of which is the confluence of these two 
 rivers, where a phenomena is produced very similar to 
 that of the Nile in Egypt, as the whole of that country is 
 converted into an extensive lake during the rainy season. 
 For this reason, the farm houses, situated Within this 
 triangle are builton piles 2 metres high, and as soon as the 
 yearly inundation approaches, the cattle are driven outside 
 of this triangle, and the residents who remain, communi- 
 cate with each other by means of boats. When the waters 
 subside, the ground is found to be covered with a rich soil 
 that produces the most exuberant vegetation and which 
 extends throughout the lower part of the valley, in the 
 form of a dark and tangled forest, where the cattle find 
 unlimited pasture. 
 
 The railroads from San Luis to Tampico and from Mon- 
 terey to Tampico, could reach the port of Tamiahua by 
 carrying high embankments across this valley; and they 
 would do so in consideration of the importance of the new 
 port and even before its construction, with a view to 
 providing themselves with a short route to the capital of 
 the Republic and the neighboring states, by connecting 
 their own lines with that of the Hidalgo. 
 
 There is no doubt that once the line from Ciudad Vic- 
 toria to Matamoros is completed, it would become the most 
 important in the Republic in consequence of its extensive 
 
74 , 
 
 traffic with the United States, which would increase year 
 by year, and especially through the shipments of tropical 
 products from the fertile districts of the Huasteca. 
 
 These districts can produce as much as is now produced 
 by the island of Cuba, seeing that although their area is 
 only about half as much as that of the. island, the cultivated 
 part of the latter really is less that of the Huasteca. The 
 island at present produces eight hundred thousand tons of 
 sugar, with a value of $60,000,000, of which 600,000 tons 
 are consumed in the United States; and it is clear that we 
 would obtain a good share of this immense consumption 
 which would give us several millions of dollars every year 
 if the trade was properly fostered. 
 
 According to the reports of our Consul General in the 
 United States, the exportation of our products during the 
 year 1890, amounted to $22,285,915, and our importations 
 from that country to $13,285,287; so that the total move- 
 ment amounted to $35,976,202. These figures ought to be 
 enough to obtain the acceptation of the idea. 
 
 But even without the construction of the line to Mata- 
 moros, once the Tuxpan line was completed, and connected 
 with the Gulf Railroad, it would be preferred for travel 
 from the city of Mexico to Monterey and Laredo, over that 
 of the National which runs by way of Acambaro, Celaya 
 and San Luis Potosi, as it would be much the shorter 
 route. 
 
 I so clearly see the convenience of connecting the Tux- 
 pan line with that of the Monterey and Gulf, even before 
 the construction of the port of Tamiahua, that I have no 
 doubt of the concession for this purpose being solicited by 
 one or other of the Companies; and in this manner the Hi- 
 dalgo road will be able to control the traffic from Mexico to 
 Tampico, on account of the difficulties which are presented by 
 the direct line through 40 leagues of Sierra, by way of the 
 districts of Jacala and Huejuetla, whilst the Hidalgo 
 Railroad will only have about 17 leagues or very little 
 more in the Sierra, and that through an inhabited district. 
 
 From the special conditions of this line, I am convinced 
 that once it is constructed as far as Tuxpan, it will have 
 
-75 
 
 to be extended to Tampico and there connected with the 
 Monterey and Gulf Railroad, so that it will come to be 
 generally accepted as the Tampico Railroad, and in time 
 assume an international character, having at the same 
 time the great advantage of being the shortest line to the 
 United States. 
 
 To these advantages we may add the annual influx of 
 American tourists, who always leave some thousands of dol- 
 lars in the country, and who will gladly prefer to travel by 
 this line, for the sake of the beautiful scenery in the sierra, 
 which fully confirms the common saying that Mexico is the 
 Switzerland of America. 
 
 / 
 
 VII 
 
 The Hidalgo Railroad Tends to identify the interests cf some of the Frontier 
 States with the Centre of the Republic. 
 
 We will now pass to the sixth important consideration, 
 and in order to arrive at a logical conclusion, it is neces- 
 sary to make a careful examination of some important an- 
 tecedents. 
 
 In afirming that the construction of this Railroad would 
 have a great importance with respect to the future of 
 he country, as it would from part of the shortest route to 
 the American frontier, it certainly was not with the impres- 
 sion that the peaceable conquest of the country by the Ame- 
 ricans would be an advantage for ourselves. Far from 
 this, I consider it to be a serious danger and believe that 
 it can only be counteracted by fostering the development 
 of our natural resources, employing the same means which 
 that gigantic nation has used for the purpose; but without 
 bringing to our colonies people from that nationality who 
 shamelessly proclaim a policy of annexation. 
 
76 
 
 I believe that the Federal and State governments ought 
 to give their best attention to the means most adapted to 
 the establishment of colonies composed of Europeans, as a 
 means of attending to a most urgent necessity, the saving 
 of our nationality. 
 
 The emigration of Europeans to the Americas, is a neces- 
 sary evil that cannot in any way be prevented, as the ter- 
 ritory of the European nations is altogether insufficient to 
 contain the ever increasing numbers of the population, and 
 this forms the reason for that torrent of emigrants which is 
 constantly leaving Europe and spreading itself over the 
 rest of the globe, but principally over America. 
 
 By colonization and credit banks, by the sale of waste 
 lands, by the colonization and navigation of their rivers, by 
 the construction of railroads, by the working of mines, and 
 by the development of their fisheries and all their natural 
 resources, and without any interior Custom Houses, the 
 Americans have peopled their immense deserts, thanks to 
 the fundamental principle of their constitution, which gua- 
 rantees the liberty of the individual, and above all the res- 
 pect to all creeds, this being one of the principles that most 
 distinguishes the civilization of the present century T and be- 
 sides these privileges, they have prohibited monopolies, thus 
 guaranteeing to every man fhe right to a free disposition 
 of the fruit of his labor. 
 
 The colonies which have been established on the basis 
 of the freest and the most complete administrative decent- 
 ralization, have absolutely no similarity to the mean and 
 mismanaged administration of our towns, where the Govern- 
 ments are obliged to take on themselves the office of tutors, 
 and the functionaries of the different localities become 
 humble dependants, unable to do anything without orders 
 from above. 
 
 These colenies, without the help of the strong and central 
 pow r er or of large standing armies, and in spite of the 
 attacks from the savages of the desert, have been convert- 
 ed into towns, cities, districts, Federal territories and lastly 
 into sovereign states, free and independent through the 
 impulse of liberty, which is the youth of nations, and of 
 work which is the action of man and nature. 
 
77 
 
 The result of this policy of liberty and work is that our 
 neighbor, who at the end ■of last century only counted 
 3,000,000 inhabitants, now counts 64,000,000 thanks to 
 the powerful help of emigration; whilst we, governed under 
 the abject principles of centralism, more or less disguised, 
 and the absolute subjection which we inherited from 
 Ancient Spain, have hardly doubled our population in the 
 same space of time, the proportion of progress in the two 
 nations being as one to sixteen in rather more than a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 It appears very likely that if this enormous disproportion 
 between the progress of the two countries continues to 
 increase, the Mexican nationality will not be able to 
 subsist for another half century, and for this reason I 
 consider our nationality in great danger if we do not 
 change our policy, by fully accepting the principles of 
 true liberty, and colonizing our country under the protec- 
 tion of the Federal and State Governments as well as the 
 large landed proprietors, thus filling up the large tracts 
 that to-day are deserted and almost improductive but 
 which would greatly increase in value if they were 
 colonized. 
 
 There are two other artificial causes of the greatest 
 importance, which greatly increase the present emigration 
 from Europe. These are the want of harmony in the social 
 and political aspirations of the Governments and peoples 
 of that continent; and the obligatory service in the army, 
 which is the necessary result of that want of harmony, 
 and which is resorted to for the purpose of preserving and 
 increasing the large standing armies. 
 
 These two causes produce their inevitable result in the 
 increase of poverty, and from this proceeds the present 
 war between labor and capital, which has now come to be 
 the most important social question in the nations of Europe 
 and even in the United States, where the fabulous fortunes 
 which have been realized, are now commencing to absorb 
 the fruit of labor. 
 
 To prove these melancholy truths, it is only necessary 
 to examine a few statistics and deduce the consequences 
 
78 
 
 fro mtheir figures. Let us take the most recent, of the 
 year 1890, and from only one port of the United States, 
 that of New York. 
 
 The immigrants arriving at this port in the whole of the 
 year, were 450,664 against 328,691 in 1889, showing an 
 increase of 121,873 in one year. 
 
 Out of this total, we find that 74,382 came from Germany; 
 70,716 from Italy; 35,424 from Ireland; 33,504 from Russia 
 and the rest from different countries of Europe. 
 
 In view of these figures, we can understand that the 
 extreme poverty and the fear of the conscription, are the 
 reasons for the enormous emigration from Germany, in 
 spite of its having been prohibited by the Government and 
 in spite of the heavy expense that the nation is under of 
 paying pensions to all the laborers who are rendered 
 helpless either by age or by accident; but still the emi- 
 gration continues and even increases. 
 
 In Italy the poverty is still greater, seeing that with 
 a population of little more than half that of Germany 
 the emigration is almost equal, and it is well known that 
 from the date of its entering into the Triple Alliance, the great 
 increase in the army, navy and fortifications have main- 
 tained a constant deficit in the national finances, and that 
 the country is at present undergoing as very serious finan- 
 cial crisis, through the heavy duties which France has im- 
 posed on Italians products. The depopulation is to be noted 
 in all the cities and in Rome alone, there are over two 
 thousand houses without tenants. In the month of July 
 last, five thousand five hundred emigrants sailed for Ame- 
 rican from the port of Genoa. 
 
 With respect to Ireland, which once contained eight 
 millions of inhabitants and now only contains five, an 
 emigration of 35,000 is excessive for so small a population, 
 and It is to be noted that on account of the land question 
 and the agitation for Home Rule, which have been going 
 on for some years, the emigration from this island has been so 
 excessive, that it is now calculated that there are a lar- 
 ger number of Irish in the neighboring nation than in their 
 own country, where poverty is still on the increase. 
 
79 
 
 Russia, which requires to colonize its railroad line in 
 order to secure its conquest in Central Asia, is also losing 
 population on account of the social, political and religious 
 disputes which may be summed up in the word Nihilism, 
 
 which is undermining that collossal empire with its 
 
 114,000,000, of inhabitants. 
 
 It is therefore clearly to be seen that the poverty in Eu- 
 rope and emigration of the laboring classes are rather the 
 result of the want of harmony in the political and social 
 aspirations of those nations, than of the excess of popula- 
 tion within their geographical limits, and that these evils 
 would be necessarily increased by a declaration of war on 
 that continent. 
 
 If the statistics of one sole port of the United States 
 show such an excessive immigration, what would it be if we 
 could compile the statistics of the others ports in that coun- 
 try which receive these immigrants, as well as those of 
 the Argentine Republic, Brasil, Uruguay, and the other 
 American Republics, not forgetting the West India Islands? 
 
 Under these opportune circumstances I think it would 
 be very possible with the aid of a well considered policy 
 and a few sacrifices on our part, to deflect to the shores of 
 Mexico a current of immigration that would undoubtedly 
 tend to secure our nationality. 
 
 Once these premises are established, we come to the ca- 
 pital question, and the one that directly touches our natio- 
 nal interest, with the urgent necessity of building the Tux- 
 pan Railroad. 
 
 In order to secure our nationality, ought we estabish co- 
 lonization from the frontiers towards the centre, or from 
 the centre towards the frontiers? 
 
 This is the pressing question which demands our utmost 
 attention, because on its solution depends to a very extent 
 the salvation of our nationality. Because if this stream of 
 emigration comes to Mexico, brought in the interests, and 
 under the direction of American colonizers; if they take 
 their language, their laws and customs from the neighboring 
 nation; if they establish themselves on our present deser- 
 tedn frotier, without a sufficient mixture, either by mar- 
 riage or by any other means with Mexican colonies, we 
 
80 
 
 can at once foresee that the colonies will flourish through 
 the fertility and other resources of the country, and through 
 the civilization they bring with them, which is superior to 
 our own; but they will not flourish to the advantage of Me- 
 xico, but rather to that of the neighboring republic, as 
 has before happend in the deplorable question of the flou- 
 rishing colonies of Texas, wdiich resulted in the loss to this 
 country of such a large slice of its territory. It will be one 
 of the duties-of our Government to foresee these evils and 
 prevent their repetition. 
 
 If any such event took place our own race would be 
 subjected, and our Indians would become the helots of the 
 new colonies. 
 
 On the other hand, the contrary wonld happen, if we co- 
 lonize the country from the centre towards the frontier, 
 aud of this we already have some examples. We can see 
 what has passed in Real del Monte of the State of Hidalgo, 
 where the English people who formed a mining colony 
 under the protection of a Company have become assimila- 
 ted with the Mexicans. 
 
 The enginer Don Manuel Jauregui has told me, that in 
 1859 a French colony was established near the town of 
 Tuxpan, but lasted only a short time because the young^ 
 people commenced to intermarry with the people of the 
 country, and several of these new families in the course of 
 time amassed respectable fortunes, some of them still 
 residing in that neighborhood. The same thing may be said 
 of the colony of Jicaltepec. 
 
 In this manner the two races conbined to form a new one 
 which is more intelligent, more active and enterprising, 
 improving the general population of the country and rein- 
 forcing the national spirit instead of debilitating it. 
 
 In the matter of colonization, our easy and benvolent 
 character and even some of our defects are in our favor, 
 such as the prodigality which gains us the synpathy of 
 foreigners. In Real de Monte, I have seen Englishmen 
 w r ho having formed a small capital have gone back to their 
 country to enjoy it, but have often returned saying that 
 they did not feel confortable and missad this country, and 
 this even happens with Spaniards. 
 
81 
 
 Besides this, we daily see foreigners of different nationali- 
 ties who get on betterwith the Mexicans than with other 
 foreigners, and who in spite of their clubs and charitable 
 societies, more frequently acquire intimate relations with 
 them than with their countrymen, and even when they have 
 come here as invaders, as was the case with the French, 
 Austrians and Belgians, many of them have settled in the 
 country and have already acquired large capital. 
 
 Fortunately for the colonization and nationality of Me- 
 xico, the American character is haughty, exclusive, 
 domineering, and presumptuous, assuming a superiority 
 which is generally wanting. 
 
 On account of this, in the Unitrd States, although a 
 person may know the language of a foreigner who speaks 
 to him, he pretends not to understand so as to oblige him 
 to adopt the English language; for this reason again in the 
 enterprises which are being established on the frontier, 
 they employ the smallest number of Mexicans possible and 
 pay them lower wages than to their own countrymen; on 
 this account also, in spite of the contracts which stipulate 
 that the Railroad Companies shall employ a certain pro- 
 portion of Mexicans, they discharge them in groups, as they 
 despise the protests of our Government. For this reason, 
 under the pretext of diferential tariffs and in spite of their 
 concessions, they ruin the agriculture of the country, 
 giving lower rates of freight on the grain and cattle 
 coming from the States than on those that come from 
 Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, which 
 are much nearer to the city of Mexico, all of which is well 
 known to the Government through the complaints of the 
 Agricultural Society. 
 
 For this reason, many employees of the American lines 
 treat the public with a brutal despotism, which hurts the 
 feelings of all the passengers, and the Companies in this 
 country treat the protests of the public and of the press 
 with contempt, thus increasing the antipathies of race and 
 stupidly drawing on themselves the odium and ill will of 
 the inhabitants, and for this reason, although more than 40 
 years have passed since the country was obliged to cede 
 to the neighboring nation a valuable part of its territory, 
 
82 
 
 the Mexicans who have there remained have not been able 
 to identify themselves with our neighbors, and earnestly 
 desire to return to us whenever they have not acquired 
 real estate. 
 
 Their situation as foreigners in the country that was 
 once theirs, must be extrenely painful, and this situation is 
 that which is being prepared for our own children, if we 
 do not take the proper precautions to prevent the absorb- 
 tion of the country, by the neighboring republic. 
 
 These notable differences of character indicate to us 
 even today what would be the fate of the people of this 
 country, if ever the pacific conquest were consummated, by 
 the want of foresight on the part of our Government, and 
 how easily and opportunely it could now be prevented, by 
 introducing a European immigration, whose race would 
 then assimilate with ours. 
 
 At the present day, the American Companies have 
 extended their enterprises along the whole of our frontier, 
 from Lower California to the mouth of the Rio Bravo; they 
 have bought the best mines and large estates, the first 
 giving them millions of dollars of income per annum. These 
 Companies and the laborers whom they have brought, 
 keep up a great deal more communication with their own 
 country over the Railroad lines which have been establish- 
 ed, than they do with the towns of this Republic; and this 
 is another reason why I consider it very necessary that we 
 should colonize the lands between the present American 
 colonies with immigrants from Europe, and thus secure the 
 nationality of that territory and form also a chain of 
 colonies that would connect the centre and the frontier and 
 prevent the much feared pacific conquest. 
 
 More than ever is it necessary that we should rigorously 
 execute that prudent and patriotic law, which prohibits 
 the establishment of American colonies, within the distance 
 of 20 leagues from the frontier. 
 
 Among the intermediate territories which bind our fron- 
 tier corresponding to the States of Nuevo Leon Tamaulipas 
 and Coahuila with the centre of the Republic and especially 
 with the capital, we may consider the extensive valleys of 
 the Huasteca which extend from the neighborhoodof Ciudad 
 
83 
 
 Victoria to the Valley of Pantepec and the Jabonera, hardly 
 more than 50 leagues distant from the city of Mexico, and 
 from the coast of the Mexican Gulf to the foot of the Sierra 
 Madre, where the Huasteca Potosina terminates. These 
 fertile districts with more than 400 leagues of interior 
 navigation and crossed by two long lines of Railway, with 
 two ports and with an extensive lake which in time will 
 become the first port of the Gulf, and where real estate on 
 account of the scarcity of population is so excessively 
 cheap, are altogether so favorable for the settlement of 
 Europen colonies, that it would be difficult to find another 
 district so well adapted for the purpose in the whole 
 Republic. 
 
 At the same time this happy combination of circumstances 
 must clearly demostrate to the Federal Government, to the 
 States which have a share in this district, and to all 
 thoughtful men who look to the future, that the Huasteca 
 is the necessary link in the chain which must unite the 
 interests of that part of the Northern frontier with the 
 centre of the Republic. In order to procure the unity 
 which is new wanting within the new elements rapidly 
 growing on the frontier, and to identify these with the 
 national spirit, it is necessary to procure the prosperity 
 and development of the natural resources of these districts, 
 thus preventing the great danger that now threatens us 
 with the pacific conquest by the North Americans. If this 
 is a certainty and naturally demonstrated, it is not neces- 
 sary to be a statesman in order to foresee and understand its 
 consequences, but only to be a Mexican and have the 
 instinct of self preservation; and at the same time we can 
 clearly deduce the necessity of pushing forward tbe cons- 
 truction of the Railroad line to the Port of Tuxpan, not 
 only as a source of prosperity, but also as a powerful 
 means of securing our nationality. 
 
 If the Company is formed ot Mexicans, like that of the 
 Hidalgo, the guarantee for this praiseworthy object, will 
 be more secure, and still more ample the satisfaction in push- 
 ing forward this work which is so urgently required by 
 the country. I trust that these ideas will be taken into con- 
 sideration by our Government and that it will give a deci- 
 ded and practical protection to the Hidalgo Railroad Com- 
 
84 
 
 pany, enabling it to continue its works with activity and 
 reach the Port of Tuxpan at the earliest moment possible. 
 
 These are in my opinion, the important advantages which 
 the nation would obtain through a line of Railroad to the 
 Port of Tuxpan, and with these I conclude the second part 
 of this report, after having examined in the first the ad- 
 vantages that would be obtained by the State of Hidalgo 
 and the districts in the more or less immediate neighbor- 
 hood of the line, and which, raplidly developing their natu- 
 ral resourses and greatly increasing their exportation, would 
 contribute in a very effective w T ay to the solution of the 
 important question now 7 before the Nation, the depreciation 
 of silver. 
 
 Mexico, 15th. of June, 1892. 
 
 SlZauiwC of. Soto. 
 
 
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