STREET IN EL PASO.
"The first railway which was opened from the United States to the City of Mexico was the Mexican Central, which runs from El Paso, Texas, or rather from Paso del Norte, Mexico, which is opposite to El Paso, on the other side of the Rio Grande. Its length is 1224 miles, and it was completed March 8, 1884, at the station of Fresnillo, 750 miles from Paso del Norte, the line having been built from both ends at the same time. Three years and six months were required for its construction, and the line is said to have cost more than thirty-two millions of dollars; eight miles of track were laid during the last day of the work before the two ends of the line were brought together; and considering all the disadvantages of the enterprise, it reflects great credit upon those who managed it.
"For more than four years the Mexican Central was the only all-rail route for travellers from the United States to the City of Mexico, and it had a practical monopoly of business. In 1888 two other lines were opened; or perhaps we might say, another line and half of a third. These are the Mexican National Railway, from Laredo, Texas, to Mexico City, a distance of 825 miles, and the International Railway, from Piedras Negras, Mexico, opposite Eagle Pass, Texas, to a point on the Mexican Central, about half-way between El Paso and Mexico. The International is the one which we call half a line, as it makes a new route into Mexico, and from all we can learn a very good one too.
"The Central is a standard-gauge road, four feet eight and one-half inches wide, while the National is a narrow-gauge line, three feet between the rails; the advantage of the National line is that it is much shorter than the Central, as I will proceed to show.
"From St. Louis to Mexico City, by way of Laredo, the distance is 1823 miles, while by the Central line it is 2584 miles; there is thus a saving of 761 miles, or about thirty hours in time. But the Central will take us through five or six interesting cities, while the National only goes near Monterey, San Luis Potosi, and Toluca.
"Fred and I have decided to ask uncle to go by neither one route nor the other, but to travel by both of them, and the International line in addition; and this is the way we propose to do it:
"We'll go from St. Louis to Laredo because of the saving of time and distance, and then we'll go to Monterey, which is an interesting city, by the National Railway. After we've done Monterey we'll go farther on, to Saltillo, and there we can cross over to Jaral, about forty miles, and find ourselves on the main line of the International Railway. There the train will pick us up and carry us to Torreon, on the Mexican Central Railway, and from there we can continue to the capital, seeing the best part of the Central line, or rather of the country through which it runs. The northern part of the route of the Central is said to be dreary and uninteresting, and so we shall be able to avoid it by the plan we have made."
The scheme was duly unfolded to the Doctor, who promptly gave his approval and commended the youths for the careful study they had made of the railway system of northern Mexico. "Later on," said he, "we will consider the subject of railways in other parts of Mexico, and I'm sure you will be able to make some interesting notes about it for your friends at home. Mexico was for a long time very backward in railway enterprises, but in the past few years she has gone ahead very rapidly. Ten years ago there were not five hundred miles of railway in the country; now there are nearly, if not quite, five thousand miles, and in ten years from this time there will be double that number. The Mexico of to-day is very different from the Mexico of a quarter of a century ago."