Minor Ports are Esmeraldas, Bahia, Manta, Cayo, Machalilla, Manglar Alto, Ballenita.
Railways
Guayaquil-Quito Railway. The American built railway to Quito, 290 miles long, opened in June, 1908, begins on the opposite side of the river at a place called Durán, to which passengers are ferried by the company. Here are the railway offices, repair shops, and warehouses. The railway traverses a fine country where sugar cane, coffee, cacao, bananas, and plantains are cultivated, to Bucay, nearly 1000 feet above the sea, at the foot of the Cordillera, 57 miles from Durán. A steep climb here begins with at times a 4¹⁄₂ per cent grade. Above Huigra at 4000 feet, where the upland Indian in poncho appears, is a section where land-slides and washouts are common. Here is a famous switchback where the train backs up the face of a precipice on a ledge cut in the rock. At the Alausi Loop, besides a fine view of a splendid river gorge, the system of terrace cultivation is well seen, every available foot being thus employed up to 12,000 feet.
There is a slight descent to Riobamba, altitude 9200, where the night is spent. On this healthful plateau wheat is cultivated, in increasing quantity since the coming of the railway. Beyond Riobamba, which is noted for its market, made picturesque by hundreds of Indians from the surrounding country, the highest point of the railway is reached, the Chimborazo Pass, 11,841 feet. A descent follows to Ambato, altitude 8550 feet. The climate is more equable than most of the other basins enjoy, and the “Fair” held here is the most famous in Ecuador. In the Latacunga Valley are good pasture lands with cattle, and irrigated fields where fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone are raised. At a height almost equal to that of the Chimborazo Pass, the road crosses the base of Cotopaxi, from whose crest the smoke is ever curling. The fertile valley of Machachi beyond, with its rows on right and left of famous volcanoes, often covered with green up to the eternal snows, presents a picture unique in all the world. The Chillo Valley near, contains cotton and woolen mills run by water power, manufacturing cheap cloth for the use of the natives. Quito has for some time been the terminus of the railway. Owing to engineering difficulties its cost was so great that it has not been a paying proposition; with settled conditions good returns are hoped for. Wood has been used as fuel but a change to oil is expected.
Additional railways are planned, and construction work is going on at several points. The line is being prolonged from Quito to Ibarra, 105 miles, another link in the Pan American chain. Several other roads are expected to climb to Quito from the coast. The first of these to be completed is the Esmeraldas Railway from the port San Lorenzo 125 miles to Ibarra. Construction is well advanced.
Another railroad of 186 miles planned from Bahia de Caráquez is now operated to Chone, 20 miles only. Its completion may follow that of Esmeraldas. One more is talked of from Ancon de Sardinas, all to extend to Quito. To the east connection is planned with the Amazon Basin by means of a railway from Ambato to San Antonio on the Curaray River, from which steam navigation would be made by the Curaray and the Napo to the Amazon. From Ambato 20 miles have been constructed. From Sibambe, a little below Alausi, a railway is begun to Cuenca, 125 miles. A railway 94 miles long from Guayaquil to Santa Elena is half finished, 1921. The Government of Ecuador is said to have authorized a concession for the construction of a railway from Puerto Bolívar on the Pacific to Borja, just below the Pongo de Manseriche on the Marañón.
Other Means of Communication
Aside from the few railways, water ways and mule trails are the means of communication. The rivers, and the estuaries, tide water channels, are of great importance, even streams practicable only for canoes. On the Ecuador littoral 600 miles altogether are deemed navigable, these at present of greater use than the Amazon tributaries, which in the future will have a development of assured value.
On the water ways of the Pacific system the steamboat, the flat boat or chata, the raft, and the canoe, all have their place. Steamboats of from 25 to 125 tons serve the Guayas River System above Guayaquil, this including nearly a dozen streams or estuaries, in winter penetrating to the foot of the Cordilleras. If the natural water ways were properly developed and a few artificial canals were opened, a much larger field of the richest territory would be accessible. The chatas, boats without sails carrying from 4 to 50 tons, are of lighter draught, the rafts too are important. Made of bamboo and balsa wood they are very light, a single log 40 feet long being able to support 2 tons. Rafts of 20 or 30 logs, in part roofed over, carry the entire family as well as heavy freight. Thanks to the strong tide on the rivers they float down stream very rapidly, returning with a load up stream at turn of tide, more slowly, but without additional propulsion, far above Guayaquil. In this way 48 miles a day may be covered. Canoes of course have the same advantage and steamboats also, these being often delayed at Puná or Guayaquil to have the benefit of the tide which runs 8 miles an hour. The canoes, which are able to carry from 500 to 50,000 pounds of freight, bring from remote places valuable cargoes of cacao or other stuff and return laden with supplies. Few roads or trails exist in this section, but there are some, available in the dry season, especially in the better populated districts of Guayas. A trail through the jungle called a trocha, made with axe and machete, is soon overgrown again.
In the Andine section there is one good cart road leading from Quito 115 miles south. The trails to the east are five in number; the most frequented, the one from the Pichincha Province (Quito) to the pueblos or villages of the Napo (a high road is now being constructed), one from Tungurahua farther south through Baños to Canelas; one from Chimborazo to Macas; one from Azuay to Gualaquiza; one from Loja to Zumba and Chita, and on to Jaen in Peru.