In South Australia a short line was built in 1856 from the city of Adelaide to Port Adelaide. Another line was constructed in 1857 from Adelaide to Salisbury, which three years later was extended to Kapunda. The colony had then forty miles of road. The increase during the next decade was only ninety-three miles. Since then the development has been much more rapid, the whole system of railroads comprising 1,752 miles in 1889. All the roads save a few suburban lines are owned and operated by the colony. Their total cost is not far from $60,000,000, and their net annual revenue is about two and one-half per cent. of the capital invested.
The colony of Queensland has only a system of narrow-gauge roads, with the construction of which it commenced in 1865. Up to September, 1887, the colonial government had constructed 1,641 miles of road at a total cost of $47,700,000. The total number of miles has since been increased to 2,058. The net revenue of the roads was a little over one million dollars in 1886.
The transportation facilities of West Australia are still far behind those of her sister colonies. The first line was opened in 1873, and the total number of miles of road operated in the colony in 1889 was only 496. The government controls nearly all the railroads of the colony.
Of the islands of Australasia, Tasmania and New Zealand are as yet the only ones that have railroad communication. The former built its first road in 1870 and had at the end of the year 1890 about 1,900 miles in operation. New Zealand opened its first railroad between Christchurch and Lyttleton on December 1, 1863. The development of the system was slow at first, there being but 25 miles of road in operation in 1870. In 1891 the number of miles of road had increased to 1,916, all but 92 miles being operated by the colonial government. The total amount expended by the government for railroads is $55,000,000. The net revenue in 1887 was about 2-1/2 per cent of the amount invested.
In South America railroad building is of comparatively recent date. The first road was built in 1851, but the line was short and remained the only one for several years. With thirty million people the South American states have at present but little more than 16,000 miles of railroad, a condition which must at least in part be ascribed to the peculiar conservatism of the Latin race.
The United States of Colombia possesses less than 250 miles of road. Its first line was the Panama Railroad, from Colon to Aspinwall. It connects the Pacific with the Atlantic ocean, is 48 miles long and was constructed in 1855. This, as well as the several other roads of Colombia, is the property of private companies. A number of new roads have recently been surveyed.
Venezuela opened in 1866 a road, 56 miles long, from Puerto Caballo to Palito, which in 1870 was extended to Aroa. A number of other short roads, aggregating about 350 miles, have since been constructed. The total extent of railroad in Venezuela was 432 miles in 1889, of which the greater part was operated by private companies. Several important lines are in the process of construction, and will connect Caracas with Carabobo, San Carlos and the port of La Guayra.
The Republic of Ecuador constructed in 1876 a road from Jaguachi to Puente de Chimbo, a distance of 43 miles. This line was recently extended to Siambe, and has now a total length of 94 miles. In 1886 a charter was granted to a North American company, authorizing the construction of a road from San Lorenzo to Esmeraldas and guaranteeing certain dividends on the investment. At the close of the year 1889 Ecuador had 167 miles of road.
The first railroad in Peru was built in 1851, connecting the seaport Callao with the capital, Lima. After this but little was done for more than twenty years. At the beginning of the seventies an extensive railroad system was projected at the instigation of President Don Manuel Pardo, and the construction of the principal road of the system from Mollendo on the Pacific Ocean to Santa Rosa was at once entered upon. This road ascends the Western Cordillera, crosses a number of prodigious mountain passes, reaches Lake Titicaca, and then proceeds in a northwesterly direction to Santa Rosa. It is over 300 miles long, and reaches near Puna an altitude of 14,700 feet. An extension of this line from Santa Rosa to the old Inca city Cuzco was opened in 1875, but was subsequently destroyed in the war with Chile, and has not been reopened. Another road, extending from Callao to San Mateo, was opened in 1876. It is eighty-seven miles long, and reaches with its enormous grades a height of over 13,000 feet. It belongs, with the Santa Rosa road, to the boldest creations of railroad engineering. Since the war with Chile railroad enterprise has been checked. The number of miles of road in operation rose from 962 in 1875 to 1,615 in 1880, but was, owing to the abandonment of certain lines, diminished to 813 in 1884. Since that time about 400 miles of new road have been opened.
In the Republic of Bolivia the first railroad was built about twenty years ago from Antofogasta to Solar. After the cession of the province of Antofogasta to Chile there remained but thirty-five miles of road in Bolivia. More than 200 miles have since been added by the construction of several short roads, chiefly the property of mining companies.