7. Potosi to Sucre.
8. Sucre through Padilla and Lagunillas to Santa Cruz and Yacuiba.
9. Tarija to junction with Argentine lines.
10. La Paz to head-waters of the Beni at Puerto Pando.
11. La Paz via Corocoro to Tacna and Arica.
12. Oruro to Potosi.
13. Potosi to Tupiza.
This scheme is very general, yet it has a solid basis. When visiting Bolivia in the Autumn of 1903 on an official mission, the plans were explained to me, and the prospective events on which were founded the expectations of realizing them. Concurring circumstances followed swiftly. At the beginning of 1905 Bolivia was in the possession of cash capital of $10,000,000,—the indemnity received from Brazil for the Acre rubber territory; Chile, for patent reasons of national policy, by a treaty agreement had obligated herself to construct the line from Arica to La Paz, and also to advance funds to Bolivia, as a guaranty for further railway building; the Peruvian Corporation, to insure its share of future traffic to the Pacific, was engaging in various projects, and minor enterprises were advancing under the encouragement given by the government.
A rough calculation of the cost of railway building was $20,000 per mile in the central plateau, $24,000 in the valleys, and $32,000 in the mountain regions. The latter estimate was too low, but taking the topography of the country in its entirety and making a general engineering reconnaissance of the proposed routes with a maximum grade of 3 per cent, it may be assumed that the 700 miles of railway which are reasonably sure to be constructed can be built for an average cost of $35,000 per mile, or $25,000,000. Half that amount of capital might be said to be in the control of the Bolivian government at the beginning of 1906. The ultimate extension projected in order to league all the parts of the country together is about 1,700 miles, but that is a matter of many years.
When the 128 miles of the Pan-American system between Viacha and Oruro are completed, there will remain only 125 miles from Uyuni to Tupiza, and then the through links will exist from Lake Titicaca to Buenos Ayres, for the Argentine government will have completed the prolongation of its line to Tupiza, the section within Bolivian territory, 55 miles in length, being constructed and operated under a special treaty. Three-fourths of the traffic of the Southern Railway from Puno to Mollendo is furnished by Bolivia, and it is important for the Peruvian Corporation, which operates that railroad, to make sure that its Bolivian freight shall not be diverted. The traffic by way of Lake Titicaca and Mollendo is about 25,000 tons annually.