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TEHUANTEPEC
%
Tehuantepec Railway
its location
Features and Advantages
Under the La Sere Grant of
1869
■C/D. APPLETON ic CO
90, 91 AND 94 Granb Street, New York
^M- •
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
THE TEHUAJNTEPEC RAILWAY COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New Yorlc.
Baker * Godwin, Printers,
PrlAtiog IIouM Square, N. Y.
THERE
ABE PEW MEN LIVING
TO WHOM AMERICAN COMMERCIAL-
DEVELOPMENT IS MORE LARGELY INDEBTED THAN TO
^xisiJ^Il #♦ Witibtxt^.
IN THE TRUE SPIRIT OP AN EMINENT MERCHANT, HE HAS DEVOTED
YEARS OP PATIENT ENERGY AND OP LIBERAL AND PAR-SEEING EN-
TERPRISE TO THE GRAND WORK OP OPENING AND KEEPING OPEN
THE INTER-OCEANIC GATEWAYS OP THE WESTERN CONTINENT, AND
PROVIDING NEW CHANNELS POR THE COMMERCE OP THE ORIENT.
IT IS BELIEVED THAT HE IS NOW ABOUT TO REALIZE ANOTHER
OP THOSE SAGACIOUS PROPHECIES OP THE ROUTES OP COMMERCE
WHICH HAVE WON HIM HIS PRESENT PROUD POSITION AMONG THE
MERCANTILE LEADERS OP THE NEW WORLD. TO HIM THIS MODEST
VOLUME, DEVOTED TO THE DEPENCB AND ELUCIDATION OF IDEAS
WHICH ARE DEAR TO HIS HEART AND HOPES, AS
THE LEADING PROMOTER OP THE
TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY,
IS
INSCRIBED.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Dedication.
Intuoduction.
Grant ^rom Mexican Govkanmknt to Don
Kmilio La Sere, to open Interooeanic
Communication.
Abticlb 1. Decree of 1867 to be modified.
2. Authority to open communica-
tion across Istlimus.
8. By roads, or by water and
roads.
4. Railroad to Pacific. Carriage
road meanwhile.
5. Surveys and maps to be ap-
proved by Government.
6. Before survey Government to
appoint commissioners.
7. Surveys, &c, submitted within
eighteen months. Notice of
commencement of worlc with-
in six months thereafter.
8. Construction to begin with-
in two yearn. Fifteen leagues
to be completed each year,
and the whole line in three
years.
9. Carriage road to be built with-
in a year an.1 a half.
10. Grant of right of way and
every alternate league of
public land on each side of
road.
11. Reservation of one-half of the
land on each side of road by
Government
12. Cession of Government land
for wharves to be construct-
ed in two years after com-
pletion of road.
18. Company to have gratis fl*om
Government, lands, mater-
ials for roads, wharves, Ac.
14. Private property may be taken
and owners indemnified.
15. Light-houses to be built by
company within three years
after railroad, and to belong
to Government
16. Company to give bond in
$100,000 to complete road
and telegraph line within
prescribed time and com-
pany to be chartered by one
of the states of the U S.
Article 17. Exemption ft'om duty granted
for importation of materials
for building and running
road.
18. River to be cleared.
19. Company*B tariff.
No tax on through trafiic.
No similar concessions and
exemptions to any other
company.
22. Government protection guar-
anteed.
Certain ports of entry to be
kept open.
Minister of Finance to regu-
late trnnsportiition.
Concessions for seventy years.
Government to receive eight
per cent, from profits and
twelve cents for each pas-
senger.
After grant expires Govern-
ment may take railroad at
valuation.
Mails, &c., to be carried free.
Government property at
half rates.
Transit open to all nations.
Foreign malU to be in sealed
bags.
Government may appoint one-
fourth of directors. .
Right to navigate river Goat-
zacoalcos.
Not to conflict with right of
other vessels.
No tonnage duty for through
transportation.
84. Company responsible for Falco-
net loan.
Company to be a Mexican or-
ganisation, but to have the
privilege of forming other
companies in Mexico or the
United States.
All engaged now or hereafter
in company to be r^arded
as Mexicans.
Adtion of foreign tribunals in
respect to company not to
affect this decree.
20.
21.
28.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
80.
81.
82.
88.
85.
86.
87.
V ▼ V
Vlll
Arttclb dS. No Sale of road, Ac, without
Oovemment consent Sale
to foreign government' pro-
hibited. How bonds may be
issued and property hypothe-
cated.
39. Board of Direction may be in
United States.
40. Depot for coal and navy-yard
in HuRtulco.
41. Regarding suspension caused'
by " force majeure."
42. Restrictions on the company.
JiH,rHt. No fort to lie built on
Isthmus.
Secoihd. No armed force to
lie organised.
Third. No foreign armed
force to be carried.
Fourth. No contraband of
war to be carried.
Fifth. Transportation of na-
tional armed force and war
materials subject to Gov-
ernment authority.
Sixfh. Smugglers and crim-
inals to be discharged from
company's employ.
Seventh. Measures as to rev-
* enue laws to be observed.
43. Causes of forfeiture of privi-
leges.
Flrnt. In default of bond.
Second. For failure to pre-
sent plans and construct
road within time limited.
Third. For constructing fort
on Isthmus.
Fourth. For organizing an
armed force
Fifth. For unauthorised
transportation uf foreign
armed force.
Siefith, For carrying articles
contraband of war.
8^*'enth.. For carrying na-
tional troops without
consent.
Eighth. For suspension of
worlc for one or two years.
Ninth. Fur transfer of r^hte
and property without con-
sent of Government.
44. Company liable for non-com-
pliance with other obliga-
tions.
45. Effect of forfeiture of privi-
leges.
4G. All information concerning the
company to be furbished lo
Government.
47. Controversies concerning the
construction and execution
of this law to be decided by
Mexican tribunals.
CoirrKTAKCK or Ahesocd GRiirr.
Act to Establish Ikcobpobatioh.
Preamble Mexican Grant.
Articles of Association.
Company formed by La Sere.
Articlb 1. Name of company.
2. Duration of company.
8. Capital, $18,000,000, not liable
to assessment. Sharehold-
ers and distribution of stock.
4. Meeting of shareholders and
choice of directors
5. Shareholders may make by-
laws.
6. Company not dissolved by death
or act of shareholders.
T. Four directors first year, after-
wards seven. Mexico to
have two directors after first
8.
year.
Vacancies to be filled by re-
maining directors.
9. Choice of president, vice-prpsl-
dent, treasurer, and stfcre-
tary.
Duty of president.
Duty of treasurer,
li. Duty of secretary.
13. Description of seal.
Control of company In direct-
ors, subject to authority of
shareholders.
Contraction of debt No indi-
vidual liabilities.
Contract to be signed by presi-
dent and secretary, and
sealed.
10.
11.
14.
15.
16.
Enactmrnt bv trk General Asskmblt of
THB StATB f'F Vermowt.
Sbc. 1. Incorporation of Tehuantepec
Railway Company.
2. Authority to build or charter
vessels and hold real estate.
8. Act to take effect Inunedlately.
SpsancATiOKS as approved by Mexi-
can Government, Jan. 5th, 18G9.
lx>cation of road 53
Carriage-road ... 66
Graduation, masonry, and
bridging 67
Masonry and bridging 58
Bridging 50
Tunnels 60
Guage and rail 60
Turn-outs 61
Depots and fixtures i\\
River navigation 62
Piers and wharfs 62
light-houses 68
Telegraphs 64
Estimated cost 66
Bom) given to the Republic of Mexico 68
PART II.
lIisrroRiCAL 1
Topography 26
Inhabitants :
European 80
Creoles 30
Mestizoes 81
Indians 81
Dona Marina 88
Mljes 84
Zoques 84
Zapotecos 84
lluaves 85
Mulattoes 36
Zambc^ 86
Negroes 86
Climate 36
IX
IIaebors :
Atlantic ports 40
Pacific porta 43
Gbolooy and Minbralouy 46
TiMBKR AND VEGETABLE PRODDCTIONS :
Mahogany 52
Cedar 52
Oak 52
Ebony 52
Iron-wood 52
Acacia 62
India-rubber 52
Jabi 68
Maize 58
Frijoles 58
Sugar 53
( 'acao 53
Tobacco 53
Coffee 53
Cotton 53
Pita 54
Indigo 5H
Balsam of Peru 56
Styrax Officinale 57
Liquorice Root 57
Sarsaparilla 57
Vanilla 57
Cubeba-canina 57
Fruits 57
Ammai^ :
Cattle 58
1 lorses 59
Mules 59
Deer 60
Birds:
Wild turkey 60
Crested curassow CO
Partridge 60
Chacbalaca 60
Tinamou , ^ . . 60
Quail 61)
Pigeon 60
Dove 60
Fish 61
Towns, Productive Industry, &c. :
Minatitlan 61
San Juan Cblnameca 62
Jaltipan 63
San Martin Acayucan 64
Mai Paso 65
San Gabriel Boca del Monte . . 65
San Juan Guichicovi 66
Santa Maria Petapa 66
El Barrio de la Soledad 67
La < 'hi vela 67
Tarlfa 67
Santiago 67
Agua Escondida 67
San Miguel Chimalapa 68
Santa Maria Chimalapa 69
San Girouimo 69
■ Santo Domingo Chihuitan .... 70
Itztaltepec 70
Juchitan 71
Tebuantepec 72
Sources OF IlKVKNUE 74
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PART I.
Vignette Title Page.
Map of the world, on Mercator's Projection 52
Maj) of the Isthmus of Tehuantei^ec
PART II.
Cerro Monro (Ventosa) 25
Bay of Ventosa from Cerro Verde, looking North 23
Atuate Picadura 52
Minatitlan 62
Table Lands near El Barrio 66
CliurcU of El Barrio 67
View in the Masahua Pass 68
Piwlra Lagarto (Rio del Corte) 69
Cerro Guiu-Vixia 70
Tehuantepec from Cerro del TIgre Vi
INTRODUCTION.
The Tehuantepeo Railway Company in-
vites attention to a Grant or Concession for
seventy years, including large grants of land,
made by the Government of Mexico, on the
Gth of October, 1867, to a Company to be
formed by Don Emilio La-Sere, to open in-
teroceanic communication across the Isthmus
of Tehuantepec, by railroad, carriage-road, and
telegraph line. It is free from all taxa-
tion or imposts of any kind by the Gov-
ernment, except the payment of eight per
cent, of the net profits of the enterprise, when-
ever dividends shall be declared for the stock-
holders, and twelve cents for each through
passenger. Tliis grant was modified and con-
firmed by the Congress of that Republic on the
29th of December, 1868; approved by the Pres-
ident, January 2d, 1869 ; and published in the
Official Gazette of that Government on the 4th
of January, 1869.
Pursuant to said grant, Don Emilio La-Sere
formed the " Tehuantepec Kailway Company,"
composed wholly of citizens of the United
States. This Company, in November, 1868,
procured from the General Assembly of the
XII
State of Vermont* an act establishing its in-
corporation, with a capital of eighteen millions
of dollars ($18,000,000), divided into shares of
$100 each; and received from said La-Sere an
assigament of the grant or concession. On
the 2d day of March, 1869, to comply with the
16 til article of the grant, the Company gave to
the Republic of Mexico its bond in $100,000,
which was accepted and approved as satisfactory
by Sr. Don Juan N. Navarro, Consul-General of
Mexico in the United States, on April 14, 1869,
under instructions from his Government.
, On the 20th of April the Consul-General
notified the Company that the President of
Mexico had, on the 28th of March, • appointed
the directors to which it is entitled under the
80th article of the grant.
Col. Julius W. Adams, Consulting Engineer
of the Company, eminent in his profession, pre-
pared in August, 1868, and the Company adopt-
ed| a general project for the construction. of the
proposed works, also a map of the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, showing the proposed lines of
railway, carriage-road and telegraph, which were
submitted to the Mexican Government, Jan-
uary 5th, 1869, and were approved.
The form of the mortgage, and of the
bonds which the Company is authorized to issue
in aid of the construction, repair, and mainten-
ance of the works, were prepared by learned
counsel, and were adopted by the Company,
* The 16th article of the Grant, provi(le8 that the Comoany
shall be organized according to the laws of one of the St^ites
of the American Union. The Legislature of Vennont was the
only one in session at that time.
Xlll
and submitted for and received the approval
of the GovernmeTit, January 5th, 1869. Official
documents and farther details will be found in
the body of this work.
It admits of but little doubt that the
disscoveries of Columbus arose less from a con-
viction in his own mind that a new continent
would reward his exertions, than from, a far-
sighted conclusion to which he had arrived, that
the true connection of old Spain with the Indies
lay in the w^estern direction rather than in the
east. The whole of the discoveries at the time
of his death embraced the various islands of the
West Indies and the coast of Honduras, and he
died in the belief that he had accomplished the
object of his earliest efforts.
Explorations under others extended to the
coasts of Florida on the north and Darien on
the soutli ; but the Mexican Gulf, sweeping far
into the interior, with its concealed riches, re-
mained as yet unexplored. What he aimed to ac-
complish — a ready passage to the east by travel-
ing westward — is left for American enterprise.
Diego, the son and successor of Columbus,
first colonized Cuba, or Fernandina, as it was
called, and Velasquez, the governor of that is-
land, pushed his explorations from St. Jago,
his capital, around the coast of Yucatan, and in
lolO organized the expedition under Hernando
Cortez, which, landing at Vera Cruz, resulted in
the conquest of Mexico. The first care of Cor-
tez was to secure his conquest. The harbor of
Vera Cruz beins: considered as dano^erous, even
for the small vessels then in use, he sent. '^ a
xiv
commission composed of Lis pilots and others/^
who surveyed the coast south of Vera Cruz for
a distance of sixty leagues, as far , as the great
river Goatzacoalcos, which seemed to oflFer the
best, indeed, the only accommodation, for a safe
and suitable harbor. A spot was selected at
its mouth for a fortified post, and a colony under
Velasquez de Leon was established there in
1519.
Subsequently, in 1520, an addition was made
to the colony, under Diego de Ordaz.
It appears in the celebrated letter of Cortoz
to the Emperor Charles V., to have been an
object of intense interest with him to discover
some strait which might naturally unite the two
seas, but, as his hopes declined in this respect,
he conceived the idea of a lucrative speculation
by means of a caiTiage road over the Isthmus
of Teh uan tepee, to supply Spain with the spices
of the East Indies and the products of such new
regions as he expected to discover; and Hum-
boldt remarks in reference to the road, that the
River Goatzacoalcos furnished great facilities
for transporting across the Isthmus from Vera
Cruz materials to build vessels which he fitted
out in Tehuantepec for the Pacific ; and as an
evidence of the views which Cortez entertained
of this part of the country, he selected large
tracts of land on the Goatzacoalcos River, and
in Oaxaca, in the neighborhood of Tehuantepec.
These estates were confirmed to him by the Em-
peror Charles V., and were cultivated and the
mines worked by Cortez to great profit, and his
descendants to this day possess large tracts of
I-
XV
land in this neighborhood known as the estates
of the " Marquesanas ; " and during the life-
time of the conqueror he never lost sight of the
advantages to be realized by establishing and
maintaining the transit of the Isthmus by this
most favorable route. • On the death of Cortez
no one appeared on the stage to take an in-
terest in the project, and the government of
Spain, occupied in conquests elsewhere, allowed
the subject to sink into comparative oblivion.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century,
Dampier made an exploration of the country,
and speaks of the " bar of Goatzacoalaz as less
dangerous than any on the coast, with two
fathoms of water, and but little sea."
In 1745, the project of opening the Tehuan-
topee route was again revived, and the viceroy
of Mexico was urged to make the Goatzacoalcos
a port of entry; but merchants interested in
other parts of the country, particularly at Vera
Cruz and Acapulco, made such representations
at the court of Madrid that an order was ob-
tained prohiljiting, under the penalties of regal
displeasure, any revival of the subject. But in
1774, Don Antonio M. Bucareli, viceroy of
Mexico, ordered Don Augustin Cramer, governor
of the San Juan de Ulloa, an engineer by pro-
fession, to make a survey of the whole route.
Ho confirms the previous statement of the depth
of water on tho bar at the mouth of the river,
and adds that the bar is a permanent one, never
having changed in depth of water since its dis-
covery. His survey was made for the purpose
of opening water communication between the
XVI
two oceans, the entire practicability of wliicli
he demonstrates, and at a comparatively small
cost, and he remarks on the facilities which ex-
ist for a good road to Tehuantepoc. These re-
sults, as also those to the same purport furnished
at a later day by the viceroys of Mexico, Revil-
lagigedo and Iturrigaray, the importance of
which was urged upon the Spanish Cortes, failed
to elicit any response or action from the govern-
ment of Spain, which was fast losing its hitherto
well earned character for energy and enterprise.
However, in 1814, the Spanish Cortes waked
up sufficiently to issue a decree for the opening
of the canal by way of the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec, in preference to that of Nicaragua or Pa-
nama; but the political distractions which
shortly followed, and the subsequent independ-
ence of Mexico, left the government of Spain
without either the means or thq power to pro-
mote such a scheme.
In 1820, William D. Robinson, an American
citizen, who had spent considerable time on the
Isthmus, published the results o£ his observa-
tions on the various interoceanic routes, and
drew the attention of commercial men to the
advantages of this route. He says, speaking of
the Goatzacoalcos, that *' it is the only port in
the Mexican Gulf where vessels of war or others
of a large size can enter, and it is far superior
to Pensacola or Espiritu Santo."
When the Mexicans had established their
independence, their first natural desire was to
develop the elements of prosperity which their
territory possessed. In 1824, the State of Vera
xvu
Cruz and the Federal Government appointed
each a commission to survey the Isthmus, con-
sisting of Don J. de Ortiz and Col. Juan de Or-
begozo ; but from the engrossing political con-
tests in the State, the government was for some
years prevented from attempting the realization
of this grand enterprise^ and it was not until
1 842 that, upon the representation of Don Jos6
de Garay, the Government of Santa Anna con-
ferred upon him an exclusive grant with liberal
provisions, to construct and operate a line of
railroads in connection with river navigation, to
be operated by steam power from ocean to
to ocean across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
So important and valuable was this transit
considered by the Government of the United
States, in 1847, the time the treaty of peace with
the Republic of Mexico engaged the attention
of the Administration of Mr. Polk, that the
following correspondence took place :
Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State,
TO
Mr. Trist, United States Commissioner to Mexico.
Extract,
Department of State,
Washington, April 15th, 1847.
* » « »
1. *• Instead of Fifteen Millions of dollars stipulated to be
" paid by the fifth articles, for the extension of our boundary
over New Mexico, and Upper and Lower California, you
may increase the amount to any sum not exceeding thirty
" millions of dollars, payable by instalments of three mil-
" lions per annum, provided the right of passage and transit
** across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, secured to the United
" states by the 8th article of the Frojet shall form a part of
the treaty." — Executive Doc, No, 69, 1st Sess,, SOth Congress,
2
it
u
XVlll
Insthuctionb of TnE Mexican Government to their Com
MissiONEBS, 29th August, 1847.
Extract.
* « « *
** As regards the privilege solicited by the Government
" of tlie United States to navigate the river Tehnantepec, or
'• to traffic upon any way or road that may be established
" between the two seas, the Government of Mexico absolutely
" denies or refuses to concede any such right." — Senate Doc.
No. 52, Ut 8e88., 30th Cong., vol. 7, page 332.
This offer (sufficient nearly to build two
sucli railroads as this Company propose to con-
struct), it must be remembered, was made before
the acquisition of California ; and, although we
now have the Union Pacific Railroad built, his-
tory will demonstrate in twenty-five years that
the new impetus given to the settlement of the
Pacific coast, and the trade with the Indies, will
require these, and several more railways, to
supply the commerce of th^ world.
It is but just to the government of Mexico,
to state here, tl;at her refusal to entertain the
proposition made on the part of the govern-
ment of the United States, was wholly based
on the ground that it had already given to
Don Jose de Garay a concession embracing
the entire question. Notwithstanding the re-
fusal of Mexico, at that time, to cede to the
United States the right of transit, the grant to
Garay having been subsequently annulled, and
a new grant to citizens of the United States
having been made by Mexico, the protection
of the latter was embraced in the eighth article
of the treaty concluded between the Republic
of Mexico and the United States of America,
dated at the City of Mexico on the 30th of
XIX
December, 1853, and amended and exchanged
at tlie City of Washington on the 30th of June,
1854, known as "The Gadsden Treaty."
Garay, though himself a gentleman of enter-
prise and energy, failed to enlist the proper
material for the completion of his scheme, and
the grant to him was revoked. Since that date,
under the various governments of Mexico, there
have been three grants issued to various parties
for the accomplishment of this project, all of
of which for various reasons have failed and
been annulled by the Government itself. The
grant to La Sere is the only one in existence,
and is owned by the Tehuantepec Railway
Company, which has settled all out-standing
claims relative to this Isthmian transit, whether
in law or equity, and now enjoys its title in
peace.
It is impossible to overestimate the advan-
tages, both immediate and prospective, which
must result to the United States and to Mexico,
as well as to the commerce of the world, from
the establishment of a rapid and safe inter-
oceanic communication across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, the gateway between the Gulf and
the Pacific Ocean.
The neighboring regions of Central America,
which are now compelled to seek an outlet else-
where for their valuable productions, would, in
the event of the opening of this route, be drawn
by the most powerful of all ties, the tie of a
direct and visible commercial interest, into most
desirable relations with the United States; while
the splendid Mexican provinces on both coasts^^
XX
which are by no means fully deyeloped Ly
reav«Jon of their want of easy access to the mar-
kets of the world, would be enlivened by
immigi'ation, and enriched by the commercial
development of their mineral and vegetable
wealth.
At the present day, lines of steamships,
American, English, and French, in connection
with a railway across the Isthmus of Panama,
are maintained and made immensely profitable
by the commerce which unites the wealthy and
increasing population of the Pacific coast of
North and South America with the United
States and with Europe. Yet the commerce
thus carried on is forced to make a long and
circuitous journey, involving unnecessary ex-
penditure both of time and money, and
yearly exposing thousands of passengers of all
nations to the unwholesome influences of the
climate of the Isthmus of Panama.*
No one, therefore, can doubt that a line of
communication across the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec, passing through a region the superior
healthiness of which has been attested by repeat-
ed surveys, and shortening the distance about
1,500 miles^ statute, and time of transit between
New York and San Francisco no less than six
or seven days, must speedily draw to itself
* Don Alonzo Guzman, in the account of his voyage from the
island of Espanola to Peru, via Panama, in 1534, published by
the Hakluyt Society, in 1862, says, that on his arrival at the
port of Nombre de Dios, in the Province of Castilla del Oro, he
learned that the native name of the place means Bones, and was
so called on account of the number of people who have died there.
k
xxi
the greater portion of the great interoceanic
trade, and become, in fact, the highway from
Europe and Atlantic America to the States of
the Pacific, to South America, to the islands of
tlie Southern Sea, and the older continents of
Asia and of Africa.
In a political point of view it plainly mat-
ters but little by whom this great work shall
be constructed, if only it be under the control
and supervision of the Mexican Government.
We have seen in the old world that the
independence of Egypt, which it was first sup-
posed would be threatened by the construc-
tion of the Suez Canal by English and French
enterprise across Egyptian territory, to unite
the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean,
has in fact been fortified thereby, and made
more important to all civilized nations.
A similar effect must assuredly follow in
Mexico, from similar causes, the more especially
that in a few years the increase of wealth and
population accruing to Mexico from an inter-
oceanic route and the settlement of the lands
of the Company, must render the Republic, al-
ready so populous and so rich, stronger than
ever before to protect its own interests and main-
tain its own dignity.
As the public are but little apprised of the
peculiar features, geographical, physical, or com-
mercial, of the several Isthmian interoceanic tran-
sit?, the aim of the present paper is to sketch, as
briefly as possible, the advantages to be antici-
pated by adopting the route by way of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The exposition of
XXll
the Isthmian routes in detail is foreign to our
object, although a most careful comparative ex
amination has been made of them all, as well as
of the trans-continental routes between the At-
lantic and Pacific Oceans. The conclusions that
have been arrived at, are based upon data de-
rived from the best known sources, official and
private; and, while we disparage no other
transit, we present to the public the best and
most reliable array of facts to show the superi-
ority of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, espe-
cially so far as the United States is concerned.
We would wish to acknowledge in this place
our indebtedness to the individual sources from
which we have drawn our information, biit
they are so extended that we can only
refer in general to the list of authorities
published in the report of Rear Admiral
Davis, U. S. N., superintendent of the Na-
tional Observatory, in relation to the various
proposed lines for interoceanic canals and rail-
roads between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
communicated to Congress, July, 1866. Most
of the papers referred to in this list bearing upon
the route in question have been open to us, and
in addition we have had the advantage of per-
sonal intercourse with gentlemen resident on
the Isthmus, or who have visited it either for
commercial purposes or scientific exploration.
We must, however, make one exception in the
list of authorities quoted by Admiral Davis,
and particularize as a source from which we
have largely drawn, the admirable report of
J. J. Williams, C. R, New York, 1852, being
XXlll
the result of a survey for a railroad to
connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
made by the scientific commission under the
direction of Major (now Major General) J. G.
Barnard, U. S. Engineers.
In conclusion we may say of the vignette
on the title page, that it illustrates the twentj^-
second article of the grant, the determination
of the Mexican Government, the wishes of the
Company, and the hopes of Commerce.
SIMON STEVENS,
President
Tehuantepec Railroad Company.
174 Chambers Street, New York.
June nth, 1869.
TEHUANTEPEC CONCESION 1)E LA SERK.
Mexico, Lunes^ 4 de Enero de 1869.
Ministerio de Fomento, Colonizacion, Indus-
tria 7 Comercio.
£l C. presidente de la republica se ha servido diri-
girme el decrcto que sigue :
''BENITO JUAREZ, Presidente comtitucional de
lo8 EstadoS'Unidos mexicanos, d todos sus hahi-
tantes, sahed ;
" Que el Congreso de la Union ha decretado lo
siguicnte :
" El congreso do la Union dccrcta :
''Art. 1. — El dccreto expedidopor el Ejccutivo en
6 de Octiibro de 1867, autorizaudo a D. Emilio La-
Sere, 6 d la compania que el forraara para abrir la co-
niunicacion interocednica por el Istmode Tehuan tepee,
queda modificado en los terminos siguientes :
" Art. 2. — So autoriza a la compania que forme D.
Emilio La-Sere, para la apcrtura de la comunicacion
interoceanica por el Istmo de Tehuantepec, con las
condiciones expresadas en cste decreto.
" Art. 3. — La compania que forme La-Sere, podra
hacer la comunicacion por agua, en la parte navegable
delrio Goatzacoalcos ; y en donde ella concluya prin-
cipiaran los caminos a que se refiere el articulo sigui-
cnte ; pero si no juzga conveniente hacer uso del rio,
comenzardn los caminos desde el punto de su desembo-
cadura.
TEHUANTEPEC U SERE GRANT.
Mexico, Monday y Mh Janua/ry^ 1869.
Department of Improvement, Colonization,
Industry, and Commerce.
The Citizen President of the Eepublic has been
pleased to address me the following decree :
BENITO JUAREZ, ComUl/atimal President of
the Meodcan United States, to all its inhabitants :
Be it known that the Congress of the Union has
decreed the following :
The Congress of the Union decrees :
Article Ibt. — The decree issued by the Executive Decree of iser to
on the 6th October, 1867, authorizing Don Emilio La
Sere, or the company that he may form, to open
the inter-oceanic communication across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, is modified in the following terms:
Article 2d. — Authorization is granted to the com- Authority to open
n communication
pany, that Don Emilio La Sere may form, to open across lathmua.
the inter-oceanic communication across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, with the conditions expressed in this de-
cree. •
Article 3d. — The company to be formed by La By roads or by
_^^ JT ./ ./ water and roads.
Sere may establish communication by water in the
navigable portion of the Goatzacoalcos River, and,
where that ends, the roads will commence as refer-
red to in the following articles; but if it should
not be deemed expedient to use the river, the roads will
commence at the mouth of the same.
/
"Art. 4. — La compaflia La-Sere debera construir
un ferrocarril de la mejor clase, que partiendo del punto
en que termine la navegacion del no GoatzacoaleoB 6
de Bu desembocadura, Begun lo expresa el articulo
anterior, U^ue hasta el puerto de la Ventosa, 6 cual-
quiera otro del Pacifico que Be creyere mas conveniente
que este. Entretanto Be eoncluye el camino de fierro,
La-Sere eBtablecerd la comunicacion por medio de
un camino carretero, que couBervard en buen estado
de Bervicio, y con Iob puentes necesarios para el trdns-
ito de carruages que conduzcan paBageros y mercanci-
as de poco peso.
" Art. 5. — ^Hechos los reconocimientos necesarios
para el ferrocarril y para el camir^o carretero, y levan-
tados los pianos correspondientes por los ingenieros, se
Bometerdn & la aprobacion del Gobiemo general, sin lo
cual no podr4n ponerse en ejecucion.
" AlRt. 6. — ^La compafiia La-Sere avisard oportuna-
mente al Gobiemo cudndo debe empezar el reconoci-
miento del terreno por donde ban de pasar los caminos,
para que aquel nombre el comisionado 6 comisionados
que lo representen en las operaciones que hayan de
practicarse, pagdndose por la compania los honorarios
de aquellos. Para el deslinde de los terrenos baldios
que deban cederse d la compafiia, intervendrdn los
peritos que nombre el Gobierno, pagdndose tambien
BUS honorarios por ella.
"Art. 7. — ^En el termino de diez y ocho meses,
contados jdesde la fecha de esta concesion, deberdn
estar hechas las exploraciones del terreno, levantados
y presentados los pianos que marquen la direccion de
los caminos, y sometidos d la aprobacion del Gobiemo,
al que se dai^ aviso dentro de los primeros seis meses,
de que va d procederse d los trabajos, d fui de que el
comisionado 6 comisionados de que habla la primera
parte del articulo anterior, se hallen presentes para
inspeccionar las obras que bc ejecuten.
Aeticle 4th. — The La Sere Company i8 bound cma ^aSia^e-
to construct a first-class railroad, starting from the '<»* meanwhile,
point where navigation on the Goatzacoalcos River
terminates, or from its mouth in conformity with the
preceding article, and continue said road to the port
of Yentosa, or to any other port on the Pacific that
may be deemed more suitable. While the railroad is
being finished, La Sere will establish the conmiuni-
cation by means of a carriage road, which he will keep
in a good serviceable condition, and with bridges
necessary for the passage of vehicles carrying passen-
gers and merchandise of light burden.
Article 5th. — The necessary surveys being made ^^ JJ|
for the railroad and for the carriage road, an(i the cor- Jl^If^ ?y ®*»^-
responding maps or plans being made by the engineers,
these will be submitted for the approbation of the
General Government, without which they will not be
allowed to be carried into execution.
Article 6th. — The La Sere Company shall notify 5«'ore survey,
^ Government to
the Government opportunely of the time when the appoint commia-
*^ •' Blonen.
survey of the lands through which the roads are to
pass, is to begin, so that the Government may appoint
the commissioner or commissioners who are to repre-
sent it in the operations which will follow, their fees to
be paid by the company. For the demarcation of the un-
claimed lands to be ceded to the company, the experts
that the Government may name will intervene ; these
also will be paid by the company.
Article 7th. — ^Within the term of eighteen months, ^JJ^^i^'"**'
counting from the date of this grant, the surveys of n5u^S "coS^"'
the ground are to be made, the plans showing the £®Sx^SthI****'
lines of the roads are to be made, and submitted *^«'«*^»'-
for the approbation of the Government, and notice will
be given within the first six months that the works
are going to be commenced, in order that the commis-
sioner or commissioners referred to in the first part of
the preceding article, may be present to inspect the
works that may be executed.
"Art. 8. — ^La compafiia La-Sere comenzard la
construccion del ferrocarril j linea telegr&fica, dentro
de seis meses, contados despues del afio j medio de que
habla el articulo anterior, debiendo terminar en cada
aiio, & Batisfaccion del Gobierno, un tramo de quince
legiias por lo m6nos, hasta la conclusion de toda la
linea, que serd precisamente tres afios despues del dia
en que empezaron los trabajos. Las quince leguas
que la compafiia estd obligada & dejar construidas
anualmente, podrdn serlo en tramos aislados unos de
«
otros, con tal que no se separen del trayecto general
aprobado por el Ejecutivo.
"Art. 9. — La compafiia comenzard la construccion
del camino carretero al mismo tiempo que la del fer-
rocarril, J la terminard d satisfaccion del Gobierno
dentro de un afio y medio d lo mas, contado desde la
fecha fijada para comenzarlos.
"Art. 10. — De los terrenos baldios que hubiere,
el Gobierno da d la compafiia la faja que necesitare
para la linea de los caminos, j ademas la mitad de los
baldios que se encuentren dentro de una legua lateral
por cada lado de solo el ferrocarril, en todo el espacio
que recorra. Dichos terrenos baldios se dividirdn
donde su extension lo permita, en cuadros de una legua
cada uno ; y en donde tuvieren mgnos de dos leguas
en su longitud d lo largo del camino (6 en las frac-
ciones de m6nos de dos leguas), se dividirdn por mitad,
perteneciendo una d la Nacion y otra d la compafiia.
Las porciones divididas se numerardn en cada lado,
comenzando en ambos por el numero 1 en el Norte, y
siguiendo en el orden numerico Mcia el Sur; de man-
era que el ntimero 1 del lado de Occidente, 6 sea el la-
do derecho del camino, quede frente del ntimero 1 del
lado de Oriente 6 lado izquierdo, d no ser que pasando
el camino por lugares en que por un solo lado haya
baldios dentro de la linea lateral, hubiere puntos de
interseccion en terrenos de propiedad particular, en
Abticle 8th. — ^The La Sere Company shall com- S^ wJn^J^JjJki
mence the conBtruction of the railroad and telegraph ^® y^^^^ ^^^
line within six months, counted after the year and a y^^^^Xie
half mentioned in the preceding article, and the com- "J^ ***^ ,
pany is to complete within each year, to the satisfac-
tion of the Government, a section of at least fifteen
leagues, until the completion of the whole line, which
must be precisely three years from the day on which
the works were commenced. The fifteen leagues which
the company is obliged to construct annually, may be
made by it in sections separate from each other, pro-
vided that they should not be apart from the general line
of road approved by the Executive.
Abticle 9th. — The company shall commence the carriage-road to
construction oi the carriage road at the same time year and a taif.
as that of the railroad, and shall complete the former
to the satisfaction of the Government within a year
and a half at the utmost, counting from the date fixed
for its commencement.
Abticle 10th. — Of the unclaimed lands that may Grant of un-
. 1 /^ . - - claimed lands
exist, the Government flnives to the company the along une, and
' . .?iT At -I -I one hall of those
stnp that it may reqmre for the line of the roads, and within a league
•■■ *f ^ ^ 'on each side.
besides this, the half of the unclaimed lands (which may
be found within a lateral league) on each side of the
railroad only, through the whole length of its line
Said unclaimed landfi will be divided, where their ex-
tent will allow, into squares of a league each ; and
where they cover less than two leagues longitudinally
along the side of the road (or the fractious of less than
two leagues), will be divided into halves, one belonging
to the Nation and the other to the company. The
portions divided will be numbered on each side, com-
mencing on both by No. 1 on the north, and follow-
ing in numerical order toward the south, so that No. 1
on the western side, or be it the right side of the
road, should be opposite to No. 1 on the eastern or
left side, unless the road should pass through places
where only on one side of it there should be un-
claimed lands, within the lateral line, where there
8
cuyo caso quedard interrumpido el orden expresado,
siguiendo luego hasta el fin del camino la numeracion
prescrita para las porciones del terreno per ambos
lados.
"Art. 11. — ^La Nacion se reserva desde luego, en
pleno dorainio, en el lado occidental 6 derecho del
camino, todas las porciones seiialadas con los numeroe
impares 1, 3, 5, &c., j de la misma manera se reserva
en el lado oriental 6 izquierdo del camino, todas las
porciones marcadas con los ndmeros pares 2, 4, 6, &c,,
cediendo A los concesionarios en propiedad, revocable
solo en el caso de que no concluyan el camino, las
porciones senaladas con los ntimeros pares en el lado
occidental 6 derecho del camino, y las porciones mar-
cadas con los numeros impares en el lado oriental 6
izquierdo. Si por el caso de interseccion enunciado
en el articulo anterior, se encontraren mas porciones
de terrenos baldios en un lado del camino que en el
otro, los que hubiere de exceso en cualquiera de los dos
lados, seran divididos por mitad entre la Nacion y los
concesionarios; de manera que se observen siempre
precisamente delegua en legua, las dos alternativas, de
lado y de frente, entre las porciones nacionales y las de
la empresa.
" Art. 12. — El Gobiemo concede & la compania, si
lo hubiere, el terreno para los muelles, diques y otras
obras iudispensables en los puertos de Goatzacoalcos y
de la Ventosa, comprometi^ndose la compaiiia a con-
struir por su cuenta, & satisfaccion del Gobierno, en los
dos alios siguientes d la fecha en que se construya el
ferrocarril, dichos muelles y diques; haciendo desde
luego las obras precisas para facilitar la descarga de los
buques y evitar la averia de las mercancias.
" Aet. 13. — La compania tomara gratis de las tier-
ras que fueren del dominio publico, por el tiempo que
lo fueren, sin que esto importe para el Gobiemo la ob-
ligacion de no enagenarlas, en todo 6 en parte, los
might be points of intersection on lands of private prop-
erty, in which case the said order would be interrupted,
and afterwards the prescribed numeration continuing
to the end of the road, for the portions of land on both
sides.
Article 11th. — The Nation reserves for itself, in JteaenraUon of
. - one-half of the
full dominion, all the portions on the western or right land on each side
' . -I -I of road by CK)v-
side of the road marked with the odd numbere 1, 3, 5, emment.
&c., and in like manner reserves for itself on the east-
em, or left side of the road, all the portions marked
with the even numbers, 2, 4, 6, &c., ceding to the
grantees in proprietorship, revokable only in case that
they should not finish the road, all the portions marked
with the even numbers on the western or right side
of the road, and the portions marked with the odd
numbers on the eastern or left side. If, in case of in-
tersection as specified in the preceding article, there
should be found more portions of unclaimed lands on
one side of the road than on the other, those that
should be in excess on either of the two sides, will be
divided in halves between the Nation and the grantees,
so that the two alternatives of side and frontage be
exactly observed from league to league between the
National portion and that of the company.
Abticle 12th. — The Government cedes to the com- ceaaion of Gov-
ernment land for
pany such ground as it may own, for wharves, docks, Jj^^J^^^
and other indispensable works, in the ports of Goatz- *om^£5on^r
acoalcos and Yentosa, the company engaging to con- '<^-
struct said wharves and docks at its own cost, to the
satisfaction of the Government, in the two years follow-
ing the date in which the railroad will be constructed ;
making at once the necessary works to facilitate the
discharge of vessels, and to avoid damage to merchan-
dise.
«
Article 13th. — The company may take, eratis. company to have
y: *i *J t% from Government
from the lands which may be of public domam, for land materials fof
^^ ^ , , roads, wharve&i
the time that they may be so, without implying thereby Ac.
any obligation on the part of the Government, not to
2
10
materiales necesarios para la construccion y conserva-
cion de loB caminoB, tel^grafoB, moelles, diques 6 de 8us
pertenencias
" Art. 14. — Lo8 terrenos y materiales de propiedad
particular que uecesitare la compafiia, Iob tomard in-
demnizaudo & bus dueflos conforme & las leyes.
"Art. 15 — La compafiia tendrA obligacion de con-
Btruir y conservar faros de primera clase en donde fuere
mas conveniente & los dos extremes de la via, debiendo
quedar conclmdos dentro de tres anos despues de ter-
minado el ferrocarril, los que seran de la perteneneia
exclusiva del Gobierno.
" Art. 16. — A los sesenta dias de la fecha de esta ley,
la compailia dard unafianza por valor de cien mil pesos
filer te8, d satisfaccion del ministro de Mexico en Wash-
ington 6 de quien le supliere, siendo indispensable esta
eondicion para la existencia y validez de las concesiones
hechas por este deereto, y perdiendo los concesionarios
la expresada suma en case de que no cumplan dentro
de los plazos senalados las obligaciones de presentar
loB pianos y de comenzar y acabar los caminos y linea
telegrdiicai Con la mencionada iianza se asegurard
tambien la obligacion que contrae la compafiia de
aoreditar que estd organizada ya conforme d las leyes
de uno de los Estados de la Union Americana.
^"Art. 17. — ^Durante el tiempo necesario para la
construccion del ferrocarril, la compafiia podrd im-
portar al Istmo, libres de derechos, los materiales, md-
quinaS) herramientas, carbon de piedra, carruages y
iitiles necesarios para la construccion de la via y de sus
pertenencias. Fasado el t^rmino de la construccion
del camino, solo podrd introducir, libres de derechos,
las mdquinas, carbon de piedra, carros y rieles que ue-
cesitare, durando esta exencion por espacio de setenta
afios, y haciendo la compafiia uso de ella, asi oomo de
11
sell Of alienate them, in whole or in part, the materials
nec^sary for the construction and repairs of the roads,
telegraphs, wharves, docks, or their appurtenances.
Article 14th. — The lands and materials of private Private property
* to be taken, but
property, which may be needed by the company, will o^ersindemni-
be taken by it, indemnifying the owners m conformity
with the laws.
Article 15th. — The company will be obliged to ught-houses to
construct and keep in repair light-houses of first JS^^thLTh?^
class, where most desirable, at the extreme ends of the roS^aSftobl".
road, which are to be finished within three years from mSStf* ®°^®™"
the termination of the building of the railroad ; said
light-houses remaining as the exclusive property of the
Government.
Aritole 16th. — Sixty days from the date of this company to give
law, the company will give a bond in the sum of to ^^ipitte^^SS
one hundred thousand dollars coin, satisfactory to the unt^^SirSre-
Mexican Minister at Washington, or to whomsoever ■*^*^**™®*
may fill his place, this condition being indispensable
for the existence and validity of the concessions made
by this decree, and the grantees forfeiting the said sum?
in case of non-compliance within the terms of time
marked, with the obligations to present the plans and
to commence and finish the roads and telegraph line.
With the said bond the obligation will be insured,
which the company contracts to accredit, that it is
already organized according to the laws of one of the
States of the American Union.
Article 17th. — During the time necessary for the f^cemption from
C3 ./ cinty granted for
construction of the railroad, the company shall have Jj^SSsfor**'
the right to import on the Isthmus, free of duties, the n^^^rowT*** ""'
materials, machinery, tools, mineral coal, carriages,
and necessary utensils for the construction of the
road and its appurtenances. After the expiration of
the time fixed for the construction of the road, it will
only be allowed to introduce, free of duty, the ma-
chines, mineral coal, cars and rails, which it may re-
quire ; this exemption lasting for the space of seventy
years, and the company making use of it, as well as of
12
la anterior, Begun las reglas que se dicten pop el min-
isterio de hacienda.
" Art. 18. — La compafiia tiene obligacion de limpiar
el no Goatzacoalcos en la parte de 61 que dedique & la
navegacion.
" Abt. 19 — Se concede & la compafiia la facultad
de cobrar peages, dereclios de trdnsito, de muelles, de
almacenage j cualesquiera otros, por fletes de mercan-
cias, conduccion de pasageros y trasmision de tele-
gramas ; pero la tarifa que se fije por la compafiia para
la suma en junto de todos esos dereclios, excepto sola-
mente el de almacenage, no excedera de cincuenta cen-
tavos por legua para cada pasagero, de tres centavos
por legua para cada arroba de niercancias, de uno por
ciento del valor de los metales preciosos j de alhajas,
entendiendose esta asignacion para toda la travesia del
camino por tierra j por agua ; j de diez centavos por
cada palabra de los telegramas.
"Art. 20. — ^El Gobiemo no exigird, durante los
setenta anos de la concesion, impuesto ni contribucion
alguna, ya sea sobre las mercancias que pasen solo de
trdnsito por el Istmo, ya sea de los pasageros, ya sea de
los telegramas, 6 ya, en fin, sobre los capitales inverti-
dos en los caminos y linea telegrdfica, y en toda la em-
presa. Las mercancias que se consuman en puntos
del Istmo, 6 que se extraigan de ellos, no disfrutardn
de esta exencion.
" Art. 21. — ^Respecto de la linea de transito que se
forme entre los puertos de Goatzacoalcos y la Yentosa,
6 del puerto que se elija en el Pacifico, en parte por
agua, y en parte por el ferrocarril, el Gobierno se obliga
a no otorgar a otra compafiia, durante los setenta afios
mencionados, las concesiones especificades en esta ley ;
entendiendose, respecto del cobro de impuestos, que a
ninguna otra compafiia se dispensard ni rebajara el
pago de los derechos que debieren satisfacer con arreglo
a los aranceles que estuvieren vigentes en las aduanas
maritimas.
^
13
the fonnei* one, according to the niles that may be dic-
tated by the Minister of Finance.
Article 18th. — The company is obliged to clear wvertobe
' cleared.
that part of the Goatzacoalcos River which it may use
for navigation.
Article 19th. — The right is conceded to the com- company's tariir
*-' limited.
pany to collect portages and transit-fees, wharfage,
storage, and any other fees for freight on merchandise,
transportation of passengers, and transmission of tele-
grams ; but the tariff which the company may estab-
lish for the sum total of all its fees, wharfage alone
excepted, will not exceed fifty cents per league for each
passenger, three cents per league for each arroba
(25 lbs.) of merchandise, one per cent on the value of
precious metals and jewels, this assignment being un-
derstood to be for the whole transit of the route by
land and water, and ten cents for each word of the
telegrams.
Article 20th. — The Government will not exact Notax on through
during the seventy years of the concession, any impost
or contribution, be it on the merchandise which may
pass only on transit through the Isthmus, be it on the
the passengers, be it on the telegrams, or be it, in fine,
on the capital expended on the roads and telegraphic
line, and in the whole enterprise. The merchandise
which may be consumed in points on the Isthmus, or
exported therefrom, shall not enjoy this exemption.
Article 21st. — With respect to the line of trans- Nodmiiarcon-
1T1TT -1 /» c*«8*o*>» and ex-
it that may be established between the ports of empttonatoany
Goatzacoalcos and Ventosa, or such Pacific port
as may be chosen, partly by water and partly by
railroad, the Government obligates itself not to grant
to any other company during the said seventy years,
the concessions specified in this law. It being under-
stood, in regard to the collection of imposts, that no
other company will be exempted from, or have any re-
duction made, in the payment of the duties as exacted
by the tariffs which may be in force in the maritime
custom houses.
14
"Aet. 22. — ^El Grobiemo protejerd la prosecucion,
conservacion y seguridad de los trabajos, con toda la
fiierza que estimare conveniente para una obra de
grande y notoria ntilidad publica.
" Aet. 23. — El Gobierno conservard abiertos y ha-
bilitadoB para el comercio de altura, durante Iob setenta
afios de la concesion, el puerto de Goatzacoalcos en el
Golfo de Mexico, y en el Pacifico el de la Ventosa 6
cualquiera otro que Be creyere mas conveniente que
este.
" Aet. 24. — La facultad concedida & la compafiia
para el trasporte de mercancias, se reglamentard por el
MiniBterio de Hacienda, procurando evitar los abuses
y facilitar la pronta expedicion de aquellas ; sin que se
entienda por dicha facultad que la compafda tiene de-
recho de abrir expendio de mercancias en ningun punto
del Istmo.
" Aet. 26. — Las concesiones hechas & la compafiia
durardn setenta alios, contados desde que el ferrocarril
y tel6grafo se pongan al servicio publico ; y en todo
ese tiempo el Gobierno recibird un 8 por ciento de 1^6
utilidades liqoidas de la empresa, siempre que.se ha^an
dividendos & los accionistas, y bajo el concepto, de que
luego que haya utilidades, se hard por lo meno^ un di-
videndo anual. Tambien percibird el Gobierno, medi-
ante liquidacion y pago por meses, doce contavos por
cada uno de los pasegeros que transiten por la via
general.
"Art. 26. — Al cspirar el plazo de la concesion,
tendra el Gobierno mexicano el derecho de adquirir la
propiedad del ferrocarril con bus cstaciones, tel6grafos,
muelles, diques, utiles y pertenencias, por el avaluo
que de ellos hicieren dos peritos nombrados uno por el
Gobierno y otro por la compafiia, 6 por un tereero
designado por los primeros en case de discordia.
Si el Gobierno no usare del derecho que le concede
la fraccion anterior, la compafiia La-Sere continuard
15
Article 22d. — The Government will protect the Gavemment pro-
*" , - tection granted.
prosecution, preservation, and safety of the works with
all the force that it may deem desirable for a great
work of notorious public utility.
Article 23d. — The Government will keep open as CCTtaJn porta of
■^ ^ entry to be kept
ports of entry during the seventy years of the grant, op«°-
the port of Goatzacoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico, and
of Ventosa, on the Pacific, or any other port that may
be deemed preferable.
Article 24th. — The privilege granted to the com- Minister of w-
r r> o nanoe to regulate
pany for the transportation of merchandise will be privileges,
regulated by the Minister of Finance, trying to pre-
vent abuses, and to facilitate its quick transmission ;
nor by said privilege is it to be construed that the
company has the right to open the sale of merchandise
on any point of the Isthmus.
Article 25th. — The concessions made to the com- conoeaeionB for
seventy years.
pany will continue for seventy years, counting from the ^f^^j^Jt *«•
time when the railroad and telegraph are placed in the ^J^^^f^^l^'
public service, and during all that time the Government ^^^^^ ^"^"
will receive eight per cent of the net profits of the enter-
prise, whenever dividends shall be declared for the
stockholders, and with the understanding that as soon
as there may be profits, one annual dividend, at least,
will be declared. The Government will also receive,
in monthly settlement and payment, twelve cents for
each passenger going over the general road.
Article 26th. — On the expiration of the term of After grant ex-
this grant the Mexican Government shall have the mCTltma^Ske
' T^, . • .1 • 1 r« i» xl_ •! J railroad at valua*
right to. acquire the proprietorship oi the railroad, uon.
with its stations, telegraphs, wharves, docks, tools, and
appurtenances, for the valuation that may be made by
two experts, one named by the Government, and the
other by the company, or by a third, appointed by the
former, in case of disagreement.
Should the Government not use the right given to
it by the previous clause, the La Sere Company will
16
gozando la propiedad j posesion del camino con todas
BUS obras y material ; pero cesaran las exenciones que
le concede esta ley, y seguird pagando al Gobierno el 8
por ciento de las utilidades liquidas, y los doce centa-
vos por pasagero en los tdrminos que el articulo an-
terior lo previene.
" Art. 27. — La compaSia estara obligada d Uevar d
cualquier punto, en todo el transito del camino, libres
de gastos, la correspondencia 6 impresos que transiten
por 61, y d que d6 curso la oficina respectiva, recibien-
doloB y entregdndolos con las formalidades debidas.
De la misma manera trasportard todos los frutos y ob-
jetos que scan de propiedad del Gobierno, por la mitad
de la tarifa. Igualmente conducird sin estipendio al-
guno, los oficiales, tropas, empleados 6 agentes del
Gobierno general 6 de los Estados, cuando caminen
por causa del servicio ptiblico. Trasmitird tambien,
libres de gastos, por su linea.telegrdfica, todos los men-
sages enviados por funcionarios 6 empleados de la Re-
publica mexicana, 6 de cualquiera de sus Estados, sobre
negocios publicos. Los metales y productos agricolos
6 industriales de la Eepublica, serdn trasportados por
un 30 por ciento m6nos del precio de tarifa, sujetdn-
dose d las reglas que se dicten por el Ministerio de
Hacienda.
" Art. 28. — ^El trdnsito por la via de comunicaeion
serd libre para todos los habitantes del globo ; pero se
aumentard un 25 por ciento d las mercancias de las na-
clones que no tuvieren tratado de neutralidad con Mex-
ico, respecto del trdnsito del Istmo.
"Art. 29. — La compafiia tendrd facultad de tras-
portar en balijas cerradas, que no podrdn abrirse, la
correspondencia extrangera, por la via de comunica-
eion ; y dichas balijas serdn selladas por la administra-
cion de correos, 6 la de las aduanas maritimas.
17
continue enjoying the proprietorship and possession of
the road, with all its works and material ; but the ex-
emptions granted by this law will cease, and it will
continue paying to the Government the eight per cent,
of the net profits, and the twelve cents per passenger, ac-
cording to the terms specified in the preceding article.
Article 27th. — The company will be obliged to ^^^i^J^s^g^-
carry to any point on the whole line of the road, free S^iTratS!^'^^
of charges, the correspondence and printed matter
sent by it from the respective post offices, and the com-
pany will receive and deliver the same with the due
formalities. The company will also carry, for half
tariff rates, all the freight and property of the Govern-
ment. Also, the company will give free transportation
to the officers, troops, employees, and agents of the
General Government, or of the State Governments
when 'traveling for purposes of public service. It also
ynll transmit, free of charge, by its telegraphic line, all
the messages sent by functionaries or employees of the
Mexican Republic, or any of its States, on public mat-
ters. The metals, agricultural and industrial products
of the Republic, will be transported at a reduction of
thirty per cent, less than the tariff rates, and be sub-
ject to the regulations that may be dictated by the
Minister of Finance.
Article 28th. — The transit by this route of com- Transit open to
munication will be open to all the inhabitants of the
globe, but will be increased twenty-five per cent, on
the merchandise of the nations not having a treaty of
neutrality with Mexico with regard to the transit of
the Isthmus,
Article 29th. — The company will have the privi- Foreign maiiB to
•*^ *' *^ be In sealed bagp.
lege ot transporting by this route foreign correspond-
ence, in closed mail bags, which must not be opened ;
and said mail bags will be sealed by the postmasters,
or the collectors of the maritime customs.
3
18
" Aet. 30. — El Gobierno nombrard la cuarta parte
de lo8 directores de la compailia, y los nombrados por
61 tendrdn las mismas facultades j prerogativas que los
otros ; podra tambien constituir en el Istmo una com-
ision que vigile las obras y trabajos que se emprendan
en virtud de este contrato.
" Art. 31. — Los vapores 6 buques de la compaiiia
tendran derecho de navegar en el rio de Goatzacoalcos,
durante los setenta ailos de la concision, haci^ndolo
precisamente con bandera mexicana, y estando obliga-
dos & tener la dotacion de ofieiales y tripulaciones que
las leyes requieren para los buques nacionales, formdn-
dola con inexicanos por nacimiento 6 por naturaliza-
cion. Para el segundo caso se daran & la compania las
cartas de naturalizacion que pida.
" Art. 32. — La concesion otorgada en el articulo
anterior, no se opone a que otros buques y vapores na-
veguen en el rio Goatzacoalcos, para el comercio y cu-
alesquiera otros objetos, siempre que esa navegacion
sea arreglada d las leyes de la Reptiblica mexicana.
" Art. 33. — Los buques de la compaiiia que con-
duzcan tinicamente pasageros, correspondencia y mer-
cancias para el trdnsito de toda la via, estardn exentos
del derecho de toneladas. Si condujeren ademas mer-
cancias para algun punto del Istmo, pagardn el derecho
de toneladas por solo lo relativo d' esas mismas mercan-
cias, y no por lo demas.
" Art. 34. — La compafiia se hard cargo de pagar lo
que legal y justamente pueda deberse del prestamo que
Mr. Francisco P. Falconett hizo a la empresa Sloo,
continuando el Gobierno libre de toda respousabilidad
futura respecto de ese prestamo, y sin que pof esto se
disminuya la parte de utilidades que le pertenezcan de
los productos del camino.
19
Article 30th. — The Government will name one- Government may
appoint one-
fourth of the number of the directors of the company, fourth of direc-
and those named by it will have the same rights and
prerogatives as the others. It will also have the right
to appoint a commission on the Isthmus to watch the
works and operations that may be undertaken in virtue
of this contract.
Article 31st. — The steamers and vessels of the Right to navigate
, River.
company shall have the right to navigate the Goatz-
acoalcos Eiver, during the seventy years of the con-
cession, doing it necessarily under the Mexican flag,
and being obliged to have the muster of officers and
crew that the law requires for national vessels, forming
it with Mexicans by birth or by naturalization. In the
latter case, letters of naturalization will be given when-
ever the company may demand.
Article 32d. — The privilege granted in the pre- Not to conflict
,. . 1 . n. . 1 1 . . -with right of
ceding article is not to coniuct with the navigation oi other vessels,
the Goatzacoalcos River by other steamers and vessels,
for purposes of trade or otherwise, which vessels, in
their navigation, are to observe the existing laws of
the Mexican Eepublic.
Article 33d. — The company's vessels, carrying ex- ^^^^S^hteaM-
clusively passengers, correspondence, and merchandise, potation,
for the transit of the whole route, shall be exempt from
tonnage duty. Should they, besides, carry merchan-
dise for any point on the Isthmus, they will pay ton-
nage duty only on that portion appropriated for said
merchandise, and no more.
Article 34th.- — The company will undertake to Company respon-
pay whatever may be legally and justly due on the loan.
loan that Mr. Francis P. Falconet made to the Sloo
Enterprise, the Government to continue free from all
responsibility in future with respect to said loan, and
without diminishing for that reason the part of the
profits that may belong to it out of the proceeds of
the road*
20
" Art. 35. — La empresa & que esta ley se refiere, es
y seni siempre exclusivamente mexicana ; y la compa-
flia de La-Sere para el trdnsito de Tebuantepec, aun
cuando se forme en el extrangero, se considerard, sin em-
bargo, como conBtituida ahora en la Republica mexi-
cana, cual si en ella misma se bubiere formado y or-
ganizado, con arreglo & las leyes mexicanas ; j)ero si
estimare oportuno constitnir compafiias separadas, bajo
las razones sociales que escoja, para cada uno 6 para
varios de los ramos comprendidos en las operaeiones
que debe ejeeutar, podrd instituir tales compafiias, for-
mdndolas y organizdndolas, ya sea en la republica, ya
en los Estados-Unidos, conforme & la leyes generales 6
especiales del lugar en que las instituya, aunque siem-
pre deberdn ser consideradas como dependientes en
todo de la misma compafiia principal, exclusivamente
mexicana, y sujetas en consecuencia d las prescripcio-
nes de esta ley.
" Art. 86. — En virtud de lo provenido en el articu-
lo anterior, la compafiia LaSere, y cualquiera otra que
pueda sucederle, asi como todos los extrangeros y los
sucesores de estos que tomen parte en la empresa, sea
como accionistas, empleados, 6 con cualquiera otro ti-
tulo 6 cardcter, seran considerados como mexicanos en
todo lo que d dicha empresa se refiera ; no podrdn ale-
gar respecto de los titulos relacionados con la empresa,
derecbos de extrangeria ; solo tendran en caso de den-
egacion de justicia, los mismos derecbos y medios de
bacerlos valer en todo lo concemiente d la empresa,
que los que las leyes de la Republica conceden a los
mexicanos ; y no podran bacer valer dichos derecbos
si no ante los tribunales mexicanos.
" Art. 37. — Las restricciones del articulo anterior
no tendrdn lugar en las discusiones 6 diferencias que se
susciten entre extrangeros accionistas, y fuera de la
Republica, en cuyo caso se podrdn examinar y decidir
como si las restricciones no existiesen ; pero sin que las
21
Article 35th. — The enterprise to which this law company to b««
Mexican organi-
refers, is, and will ever be exclusively Mexican, and wition,butto
•' ' have the privilege
the La Sere Company for the transit of Tehuante- of forming other
^ ^ companies in
pec, though it may be formed abroad, will be con- uS^g^J^®
sidered, nothwithstanding, as now constituted within
the Mexican Republic, as much so as if it had been
formed and organized within it according to the Mex-
ican laws ; but if he should deem it opportune to or-
ganize different companies, with the titles or names
that he may elect, for the purpose of carrying out one
or more of the objects comprehended in the operations
that he hereby undertakes, he can constitute such conr.-
panies, forming and organizing them, be it in this Re-
public, or be it in the United States, in conformity with
the general or special laws of the place where he con-
stitutes them, though they are always to be considered
as dependencies of the one principal company, exclu-
sively Mexican, and consequently subject to the pre--
scriptions of this decree.
Abticle 86th. — In virtue of the pro visions. of the ah engaged now
preceding article, the La Sere Company, and any other company to be
which may succeed it, as also all the foreigners and leans,
their successors who may take part in the enterprise,
whether as stockholders, employees, or under any other
title or character, will be regarded as Mexicans in
all that concerns said enterprise — they shall not
bring forward any claims based on their rights as
foreigners in any matter connected with said enter- .
prise; and in case of appeal for redress, they shall only
have the same rights and means of asserting them, in
anything concerning the enterprise, that the laws of
the Republic grant to Mexicans, and they shall only
make good their said rights before the Mexican tri-
bunals.
Aeticle 37th. — The restrictions contained in the Actions off of eigti
, , tribunals in re-
preceding article shall not be operative in any contro- ^^^^^^^^
versies or differences that may arise between foreign decree,
stockholders, out of the republic, in which ease they
may be examined and adjudged as if the said restric-
22
decisiones de los tribunales extrangeros afecten en
manera alguna d las prescripciones de este decreto, a
la compaflia La-Sere, la eual se reputa mexicana para
todos los efectos del raismo decreto, y d los intereses
mexicanos.
" Aet. 38. — La compaflia que forme La-Sere, no po-
drd traspasar, ni enagenar, ni liipotecar las concesiones
de esta ley, ni el ferrocarril, ni el telegrafo, ni los di-
qnes y muelles, sin consentimiento previo del Gobierno
general, y en ningun caso podrd traspasar, ni enagenar,
ni liipotecar las concesiones, ni el ferrocarril, ni el tel-
egrafo, ni los diques y muelles, & ningun Gobierno ex-
trangero, siendo nula y de ningun valor la enagenacion
6 hipoteca que se hiciere. Tampoco podrd la compa-
flia admitir en ningun caso como socio d un Gobierno
6 Estado extrangero, siendo igualmente nula y de nin-
gun valor cualquiera estipulacion que hiciere en este
sentido. Se autoriza, sin embargo, d la compaflia para
que sin la aprobacion del Gobierno pueda expedir y
vender bonos y obligaciones, cudndo, en las cantidades
y por el precio que juzgare conveniente, y para as^u-
rar el pago, hipotecando solo el ferrocarril, linea tele-
grdfica, estaciones, muelles, diques y demas obras, con
tal que la hipoteca no se extienda d la concesion, y que
se concluya d favor de individuos 6 asociaciones parti-
culares.
" Art. 39. — ^D. Emilio La-Sere podrd establecer en
Nueva-York 6 en cualquiera otro punto de los Estados-
Unidos, la junta directiva de la compaiiia, contrayendo
la obligacion de constituir en Mexico un apoderado,
araplia y suficientemente autorizado, y con las instruc-
ciones necesarias para entenderse con el Gobierno gen-
eral y demas autoridades de la ReplibUca, en todos los
negocios que se relieren d las obligaciones que le im-
pone este decreto d la empresa.
"Art. 40. — Se permite d la compania que forme
La-Sere, establecer d su costa en el puerto de Huatul-
23
tions did not exist. But the actions of foreign tri-
bunals are not to affect in any way the provisions of
this decree, as towards the La Sere Company, which
shall be reputed Mexican for all the effects of said de-
cree and as Mexican interests.
Article 38th. — The company to be formed by La No sale of road.
Sere shall not transfer, sell, alienate, or hypothecate eniment consent.
the concessions of this law, nor the railroad nor the government pro-
' hibited. How
telegraph, nor the docks and wharves, without the pre- Bonds may be i«-
, *^ ^ ^ 1 /^ t /^ Bued and property
V10U3 consent of the General Government, and under hypothecated.
no circumstances will it be able to transfer, sell, or
hypothecate the concessions, or railroad, or telegraph,
or docks and wharves, to any foreign government ; such
sale, alienation, or hypothecation would of itself be a
nullity and of no value. Neither sl^all the company
admit, in any event, ^s associate, a foreign govern-
ment or State; any stipulation which might be made
in this sense would be equally null and of no value.
The company is, however, authorized, without the
approbation of the Government, to issue and sell
'^^onds and obligations, when, in amounts and for
the price it may deem advisable, and to secure pay-
ment by hypothecating only the railroad, telegraphic
line, stations, wharves, docks and other works; pro-
vided, that the hypothecation should not extend to the
grant, and that it should be made to individuals or
private associations.
Article 39th. — Don Emilio La Sere has power to Board of directors
establish in New York, or in any other place of the sutea.
United States, the board of directors of the company,
contracting the obligation to appoint a representative in
Mexico, fully and sufficiently empowered, and famished
with the necessary instructions to treat with the Gen-
eral Government and other authorities of the Republic
on all matters which may refer to the obligations that
this decree imposes on the enterprise.
Article 40th. — ^Permission is ffiven to the corn- ^P®* '°' ^*l .
o ' and navy yard m
pany to be formed by La Sere to establish, at its Huatuico.
cost, in the port of Huatuico, a depot for mineral
24
CO, un deposito de carbon de piedra j un astillero, que
e8tar4 bajo la iminediata vigilancia de la antoridad,
para la reparacion de los vapores que se ocupen en la
conduccion de pasageros j mercancias por el Istmo ;
pero sin que en ningnn caso se entienda concedida la
propiedad del terreno destinado & tales establecimien-
tos.
" Art. 41 — Las obligaciones que contrae La-Sere
respecto de los plazos lijados en esta ley, se suspenderdn
en todo caso fortuito 6 de fuerza mayor, que impida
directa y absolutamente el cumplimiento de tales obli-
gaciones ; y la suspension durard solo por el tienipo
que dure el impedimento. D. Emilio La-Sere debera
presentar al Gobiemo general las noticias y pruebas de
haber ocurrido un caso fortuito 6 de fuerza mayor, del
cardcter mencionado, dentro del t^miino de tres meses
de liaber comenzado el impedimento; y por solo el
hecho de no presentar tales noticias y pruebas dentro
del termino ^efialado, no podrd ya La-Sere alegar en
ningun tiempo la circumstancia de caso fortuito 6 de
fuerza mayor. Igualmente debera presentar La-Sere
al Gobiemo general las noticias y pruebas de que los
trabajos ban continuado en el acto de cesar el impedi-
mento, 6 d lo m6nos dentro de dos meses despues de
liaber cesado, haci^ndose la expresada presentacion
dentro de los dos meses siguientes a los dos menciona-
do8. Solamente se abonara a D. Emilio La-Sere el
tiempo que hubiere durado el impedimento, 6 a lo
sumo dos meses mas.
" Art. 42. — Se imponen a la compaiiia La-Sere las
restricciones siguientes :
" Primera, No podrd construir ninguna fortaleza
en el Istmo.
" Segunda, No podrd organizar fuerza armada de
ninguna clase ; pero los empleados de la compafiia po-
drdn estar armados para su defensa personal.
25
coal, and a sLip yard, which will be under the imme-
diate vigilance of the authority, for the repair of
steamers which may be engaged in the transportation
of passengers and merchandise to and from the Isthmus ;
but in no. event is it to be understood that the pro-
prietorship of the grounds used for such establishments
is conceded.
Abticle 41st. — The obligations contracted by La obUgationa as to
c^\ .1 1 /». n-iii. *™e suspended
bere. with respect to the terms of tune fixed by this during operation
' * , , •'of "force ma-
law, will be suspended in any fortuitous case, or of iew«"
" force majeure," which may prevent, directly or ab-
solutely, compliance with said obligations, and the
suspension will continue only for the time the impedi-
ment lasts. Don Emilio La Sere shall present to
the General Government the notices and proof of
a fortuitous case, or of " force majeure," of the char-
acter mentioned having occurred within the term of
three months from the commencement of the impedi-
ment, and for the sole fact of not presenting such no-
tices and proofs within the term specified, La Sere
will not be able any longer to allege, at any time, the
circumstance of a fortuitous case, or case of " force
majeure." La Sere shall also present to the General
Government the notices and proofs that the works
were resumed immediately on the cessation of the im-
pediments, or at least within two months from the
time of such cessation, and notice of such fact will have
to be made within two months from the termination of
the two just mentioned. All that will be allowed to
Don Emilio La Sere will be the time of the duration
of the impediment, or, at the utmost, two months more.
Aeticle 42d. — The following restrictions are im- BestricUons.
posed on the La Sere Company :
I^irst It shall not construct any fort on the Noforttobebuiit
T .^ " on Isthmus.
Isthmus.
Second. It shall not organize an armed force of any no armed force
kind, but the employees of the company may be arm-
ed for their personal defense.
4
26
" Tercera. No podrd dar passage a fuerza alguna
armada extrangera, sin expresa autorizacion del Gobi-
erno pjeneral. •
" CucMrta. Ko podra conducir ningunos efectos de
un beligerante, declarados contrabando de giierra por
las leyes de' la Eeptiblica mexieana, sin expresa autor-
izacion del Gobiemo general.
'^ Quinta. No podrd dar pasage a fuerza alguna
armada nacional, ni conducir municiones 6 pertrechos
de guerra nacionales, sin expresa autorizacion del Go-
biemo general, 6 de otra autoridad competente.
" /Sexta. Despedira inmediatamente de su servicio
a cualquiera de sus dependientes que haga 6 proteja el
contrabando, 6 que cometa cualquier delito, y auxili-
ara al Gobiemo para su persecucion.
'^Setima. Pondra en ejecucion los medios que se
le designen por el Gobierno general, para que todo
pasagero observe las leyes aduanales de la Kepublica,
" Abt. 43. — Las concesiones otorgadas en la pre-
sente ley, caducardn por las causas siguientes :
" Primera. Por no dar la fianza dentro de noven-
ta dias contados desde la fecha de esta ley, por valor
de ($100,000) cien mil pesos, de que habla el art. 16.
" Segunda. Por no cumplir las obligaciones relati vas
&, la presentacion de los pianos y d la construccion de
los tramos y de todo el camino, dentro de los plazos
fijados al efecto en esta ley.
" Tercera. Por construir alguna fortaleza en el
Istmo de Tehuantepec,
" CuaHa, Por organizar fuerza armada de cual-
quiera clase que sea, sin comprender en esto d los
empleados armados para su defensa personal.
27
Third, It shall not ffive passage to any foreign No foreign armed
,_ ._ ^ ^ ^,./^° force to be car-
armed force without an express authorization from rfed.
the General Government.
Fourth, It shall not carry any effects of a belliff- no contraband of
*f *f o war to be carried .
erent, declared contraband of war by the laws of
the Mexican Republic, without an express authoriza-
tion from the General Government.
Fifth. It shall not give passage to any national Transportation of
X ^ ^ ^ . ^, "^ . . national armed
armed torce, nor to carry national ammunition or force and war
materials subject
articles of war, without express authorization from to Government
' ^ authority.
the General Government or from some other com-
petent authority.
Sixth. It shall immediately discharge from itsser^" smugglers and
• /»»xij«ii 1 L , criminals to be
ice any oi its subordinates who smuggle or protect discharged from
1 • . . 1 T n company's ero-
smugglmg, or commit any crime, and shall co-operate pioy.
with the Government in the prosecution of the same.
Seventh. It shall execute all the measures that U^JSTiaws^to
the General Government may designate, in order ^ ^"^^^
that all passengers may observe the revenue laws of the
Kepublic.
Article 4:3d. — The privileges granted by this de- ^Jf^^jJ*"'® °'
cree will be forfeited for any of the following reasons : •
First For failing to give, within ninety days, Jjnd'*"**^'
counted from the date of this decree, tlie security for
one hundred thousand dollars, as mentioned in Arti-
cle 16.
Second. For failing to comply with the obligations For failure to
c -t •' o present plans
of this decree relative to the presentation of the plans, Joad^^thS time
and to the construction of the sections of the road, and ^^^^^
of the whole roa.d, within the terms of time as fixed
by this law.
Third. For constructing any fort on the Isthmus For constructing
^ „, , , o ./ fort on Isthmus.
01 iehuantepec.
Fourth. For organizing an armed force, whatever rororganiringan
• 1 111.-1 .-I armed force.
its character may be, but this does not include the em-
ployees of the company, who may be armed for their
personal defense.
28
" QuirUa. Por dar pasage d cualquiera fuerza
armada extrangera, sin expresa autorizacion del Gobi-
emo general, excepto en el caso de fuerza mayor,
plenamente justifiieado.
^^ Sexta. Por conducir, sin expresa autorizacion
del Gobiemo general, efectos de alguna poteneia beli-
gerante, de los declarados contrabando de guerra por
las lejes de la Bepiiblioa mexicana.
^'Setima. Por dar pasage & cualquiera fuerza
armada nacional, 6 conducir municiones 6 pertrechos
de guerra nacionales, sin expresa autorizacion del
Gobiemo general, 6 de otra autoridad competente, a
no ser que haya fuerza mayor, plenamente justificada.
" Octava. Por suspender durante un afio consecu-
tivo los trabajos en el camino, 6 por dos afios cuando
se haya empleado en el ferrocarril y demas obras un
millon de pesos por lo menos.
" J^avena, Por infringir cualquiera de las clausu-
las de esta ley, en las que se previene que no podrd la
compaflia La Sere traspasar, ni enagenar, ni hipotecar
las concesiones de la misma ley, ni el ferrocarril ni el
'tel%rafo, ni los muelles y diques, sin previo consenti-
miento, del Gobierno general ; y que en ningun caso
podrd traspasar, ni enagenar, ni hipotecar las conces-
iones, ni el ferrocarril, ni el tel6grafo, ni los muelles y
diques & ningun gobierno 6 Estado extrangero; no
pudiendo tampoco en ningun caso, admitir como socio
a ningun Gobiemo 6 Estado extrangero.
^^ Art. 44. — ^En caso de que la compania faltare A
las otras obligaciones 6 restricciones que le impone
esta ley, quedard sujeta d la reparacion de la falta, y
d la correspondiente indemnizacion.
" Aet. 45. — En cualquiera de los casos especifi ca-
dofl en 6l artfcido 42, perderd la compaflia las con-
cesiones otorgadas en esta ley, de las cuales podrd
29
I'ifth. For giving passage to any foreign armed For unauthorised
tranannrtAtJnn ftf
force without express authorization from the General foreign armed
Government, except in the case of overpowering force,
fully justified.
SiQsth. For carrying:, without express authorization ForcanTingarti-
•/ C57 r des coDtraband
from the General Government, effects of any belliger- o'^*'-
ent power of those declared by the laws of the Mexican
Republic contraband of war.
Seventh. For giving passage to any National armed fot carrying Na-
„ . . . . . , tlonal armies
force, or carrying National ammunition or articles of without consent.
war, without an express authorization from the Gen-
eral Government or other competent authority, unless
done under the compulsion of superior force, fully
justified.
Eighth. For suspending during one consecutive Por suspension of
year the works on the road ; or for two years, when one two years,
million of dollars, at least, have been expended on the
railroad, and other works.
Ninth. For violating any of the clauses of this de- rights^id
For transfer of
riglits and prop-
cree in which it is provided that the La Sere Company ^^ SaJvem-''"
shall not transfer, sell, alienate, or hypothecate the *°®°^
concessions of this same law, nor the railroad, nor tele-
graph, nor the whai'ves and docks, without the pre-
vious consent of the General Government, and that
in no event shall it transfer, sell, alienate, or hypothe-
cate the concessions, raikoad, telegraph, wharves,
and docks to any foreign government or State, nor in
any event admit as associate any foreign government
or State.
Article 44th. — In case the company should fail to company iiabi«
, *' . '®' non-compli-
comply with any of the other obligations or restrictions ajj® 'Sina***^*'
which this law imposes, it shall be subject to the
reparation of the fault, and to the corresponding in-
demnity.
Abticle 45th. — In any of the cases specified in Effect of forfeiture
Article 42d the company will forfeit the privileges
granted by this law, and the Government will be
30
disponer el gobierno d bu arbitrio ; pero la compania
La-Sere conservard tmicamente como de sn propiedad,
los edificios que hubiere construido, la parte de camino
ya concluida, las locomotoras, Irenes y demas objetos
empleados en su servicio ; y el Gobierno de la Kepub-
lica, 6 individuo 6 compafiia & quien este conceda bu
derecho, lo tendrd para tomarlo todo, previo el pago
correspondiente segun el avaluo que al efeeto practi-
car&n peritos nombrados por ambas partes.
" Aet. 46. — liB, compafiia que forme La-Sere queda
obligada & dar al Gobierno general anualmente, los
informes que tenga d bien pedirle respecto de la or-
ganizacion de la empresa, del estado de los trabajos
del ferrocarril, del capital empleado en el, y de todo
cuanto el ministerio de fomento crea necesario para
tener conocimiento exacto de lo perteneeiente & la via
de comunicacion por el Istmo de Tehuantepec.
" Art. 47. — Toda duda 6 controversia sobre la in-
teligencia 6 ejecucion de esta ley, serd decidida por los
tribunales federales competentes de la Eepublica mexi-
cana, con arreglo & las leyes de la raisma.
" Salon de sesiones del Congreso )
DE LA Union. >■
MEXICO, Diciembre 29 de 1868. )
JOSE M. MATA,
Diputado Presidente.
JUAN SANCHEZ AZCONA,
Dvputado Secretario.
JULIO zArate,
Diputado Secretario.
31
able to dispose of theiu at pleasure, but the La Sere
Company will only retain as its property the build-
ings which it may have constructed, the part of the
road already finished, the engines, rolling stock and
other objects in its service ; and the Government of the
Republic, or the individual or company to whom it
may concede its right, will have to take it all, subject
to corresponding reimbursement, according to valua-
tion, which, for the purpose, will be made by arbi-
trators, named on both sides.
Article 46th. — The company which La Sere may ah information
couccmin fir tihc
form, is obliged to furnish to the General Government, company to be
annually, the information which may be asked from it, emment
as to the organization of the undertaking, the condition
of the works of the railroad, the capital invested in it,
and everything that the Minister of the Department
of Improvement . may desire to ascertain concern-
ing the route of inter-oceanic communication across the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Article 47th. — All doubts or controversy as to the controversies
*' ^ concerning the
construction or execution of this law will be decided construction and
execution of this
by the competent Federal Tribunals of the Republic {f^^exte^^^^^
of Mexico, and in conformity with its laws. tribunals.
Hai.l of the Sessions of the Congress )
OF the Union, V
Mexico, 29th December, 1868. )
JOSE M. MATA,
Deputy President.
JUAN SANCHEZ ASCONA,
Deputy Secretary.
JULIO ZlRATE,
Deputy Secretary.
32
" Pot tarUOj mando Be imprima, publique, circule
y 86 le de el debido cumplimiento.
" Dado en el palacio nacional de Mexico,
a 2 de Enero de 1869.
BENITO JUAKEZ.
*^ Al C. Blas Baloarcel,
Ministro de Fom&rvto^ Cclonizacion^ Industria
y Comeroio,^^
Y lo comunico a vd. para su inteligencia y fines
consiguientes.
Independencia y Libertad.
M6xico, Enero 2 de 1869,
BALCARCEL,"
^69. S
33
2herefo7*e^ I order that it be printed, published,
circulated, and duly observed.
Given in the National Palace of Mexico,
on the 2d of January, 1869.
BENITO JUAEEZ.
To the citizen Blas Balcarcel,
Minister of TmproveTnent, Colonization^ Indies-
try, and Commerce.
And I communicate it to you for your intelligence
and corresponding ends.
Independence and Libertt, )
Mexico, 2d of Jan'y, 1869. J
BALCAECEL.
TRASPASO
Dl LA
MODIFIOADA OONOESION
EMILIO LA SEEE
A LA
C0MPA]5lA DEL FEEEOCARRIL DE
TEHUANTEPEC.
Febrero 1^ DE 1869.
-»♦♦-
Sepase par las preaervtes :
Que el Gobierno de M^jico en Octubre del ano de
nuetro sefior mil, oehocientoSj sesenta y siete, concedio
autoridad d una compafiia que se iba & establecer el
Sefior Don Emilio La Sere, para que Be abriera una
comunicacion inter-oceanic d traves del Istmo de
Tehuantepec, bajo ciertas condiciones y con ciertas
privilegios, expresadoB en la concesion & que se refiere,
cuya concesion fu6 modificada y ratificada por el Con-
greso de M^jico, el veintinueve de Diciembre del aQo
de nuestro senor, mil ochocientos, sesenta y oclio, y en
el dia dos de Enero de mil ocliocientos sesenta y nueve
fue por el Presidente Constitucional mandada imprimir,
publicar, circular y observar y la cual concesion fde
en debida forma publicada en el Diario Oficial del
Supremo Gobierno de la Repdblica de Mdjico el dia
cuatro de Enero del aiio de nuestro sefior mil, ocho-
cientos, sesenta y nueve.
En tanto que^ el dicho La Sere en conformidad con
lo concesion ha establecido una compafiia con los
objetos y con las facultades que quedan mencionados^
bajo el titulo de Compania del Ferrocarril de Te
HUANTEPEO, cuya incorporacion fu^ concedida por la
Asamblea General del Estado de Vermont.
CONVEYANCE
OF
AMENDED G-RANT.
EMILIO LA SERE
TO THE
TEHUANTEPEC RAILWAY COMPANY.
Dated February Ist, 1869.
-♦•♦-
Know all meii hy these presents :
That whereas the Government of Mexico, in Octo-
ber, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven,
granted authority to a company to be formed by Don
Emilio La Sere to open inter-oceanic communication
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, upon certain con-
ditions, and with certain rights expressed in the grant,
to which reference is to be had, which said grant was
modified and confirmed by the Congress of Mexico on
the 29th day of December, 1868, and on the 2d day of
January, 1869, was ordered by the Constitutional
President of Mexico to be printed, pubKshed, cir-
culated, and observed, and which was duly printed
and published in the Diario Official of the Supreme
Government of the Republic of Mexico, on the 4th
day of January, 1869 ; and
WJiereaSy the said La Sere, in pursuance of the
said grant, has formed a company for the purposes and
with the powers therein mentioned, under the name
of the Tehuantepec Railway Company, the incorpo-
ration of which company has been established by the
General Assembly of the State of Vermont :
36
P(yr lo tanto j en consideracion de la materia de
que se trata j de un peso pagado por dicha compaflia
& dicho La Sere y por otras buenas 4 importantes con-
sideracioneSy dicho Emilio La S^re ha coneedido
J transferido y por estas presentes concede, y trans-
fere & dicha Compafiia del Ferrocarril de Tehuau-
tepec, todoB los derechos, privilegios 6 inmunidades,
concedidoB, mencionadoB 6 Bobreentendidos en la dicha
conccBion como quedo modificada y ratificada, y por
este, el dicho La Sere declara que dicha compafiia
est4 revcBtida con todos los derechos y facultades
con que el Gobiemo de Mfejico intento revestir la com-
pafiia que se iba & formar el dicho La Sere, como queda
mencionado en aquella concesion asi modificada y rati-
ficada.
Ml testimonio de lo cuod^ el dicho La Sere firmo y
Bello el preBcnte el primer dia de Febrero del afio de
nuestro sefior mil, ochocientOB, sesenta y nueve.
EMILIO LA SERE. [sello.J
Firmado, sellado y entregado
en presencia de
Charles B. Elliman.
J. B. Perry.
Estados Unidos de la AmSrioay Estado de Nueoa
Yorhy Ciudad y Condado de Nueva York :
Hoy dia diez y ocho de Febrero del afio de nuestro
senor mil, ochocientos sesenta y nueve, ante mi com-
parecio personalmente Emilio La S^re, d quien doy f6
y conozco y en mi presencia firm6 el presente decla-
rando liaberlo otorgado para los fines y efectos que en
61 se expresan.
En testimonio de lo cual y para que conste firmo el
presente y le sello con el sello de mi oficio el dia y
afio dntes mencionado.
HENRY STANTOlf,
Notario Publico,
Estado, Ciudad y Condado de Nuevft York,
37
Therefore^ in consideration of the premises, and of
one dollar paid by the said company to the said La
Sere, and for other good and valuable considerations^
the said Emilio La Sere has granted, assigned, and
transferred, and does hereby grant, assign, and trans-
fer to the Tehiiantepec Railway Company aforesaid all
the rights, privileges, and franchises granted, men-
tioned, or intended in or by the said grant as so modi-
fied and confirmed, and does hereby declare that the
said company is fully invested with all the rights and
powers with which the Government of Mexico in-
tended to clothe the company to be formed by the said
La Sere as mentioned in the said grant as so modified
and confirmed.
In witness whereof the said La Sere has hereto set
his hand and seal, this first day of J'ebruary, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-nine.
EMILIO LA SERE, [seal.]
Signed, sealed, and deUvered
in presence of
Charles B. Elliman.
J. B. Perry.
United States of America^ State of New York^ City
and County of New York :
On this eighteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
before me personally came Emilio La Sere, to me
known to be the individual described in and who
executed the foregoing instrument, and acknowledged
that he executed the same for the purposes therein
mentioned.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand
and affixed my official seal, the day and year last above
written.
HENRY STANTON,
Notary Public,
State, City, and County of New York,
V
ACTA
PARA ESTABLECER EL ESCRITCRAMIESTO
Dl LA
CoMPMU DElFeRROCARRIL DeT
• » i
Consider ANDO5 que el Gobierno de Mexico, en
Ootubre de mil oelio cientos sesenta y siete, concedio
autoridad ^ una compaliia que debia formar Don
Emilio La SiiRE, para abrir una comunicacion inter-
oceinica al traves del Istmo de Tehuantepec, bajo
ciertaB condiciones y con ciertos derechos expresados
en la concesion hoy archivada en la oficina del Secre-
tario de Estado de este Estado, ^ la cual ee precise
referirBc; y
Cofmdera/ndo^ que el citado La Sere, en virtud de
dicha concesion y de los articulos de asociacion, hd
formado una compania con el objeto y las facultades
que en adelante se mencionan, y bajo el nombre de la
CoMPAlJiA DEL Febrocarril DE Tehuantepec, en la
forma siguiente, d saber :
ARTICULOS DE ASOCIACION DE LA COMPANIA DtL FEBRO-
CARRIL DE TEHUANTEPEC.
• CoNSiDERANDo, quc cl Gobicmo de Mexico, en
Octubre de 1867, concedio autoridad d una compafiia
que debia formar Don Emilio La Sere, para abrir una
comunicacion interocednica al traves del Istmo de
Tehuantepec, bajo ciertas condiciones y con ciertos
derechos expresados en la concesion d que es preciso
referirse ; y
Condderando^ que el citado La Sere, en virtud de
dicha concesion, hd formado una compafiia con el
objeto y lae faQultades que aqui s^ inencionan ;
AN ACT
TO ESTABLISH THE INCORPORATION
OF THE
Tehuantepec Railway Company.
Whereas, the Government of Mexico, in October, PrcamweMexi-
can grant.
eighteen hundred and sixty-seven, granted authority
to a company to be formed by Don Emilio La SiRE,
to open inter-oceanic communication across the Isth-
mus of Tehuantepec, upon certain conditions and
with certain rights expressed in the grant, now on file
in the office of the Secretary of State of this State, to
which reference is to be had ; and
Whereas^ the said La Sere, in pursuance of the
said grant, has by articles of association formed a
company, for the purposes and with the powers
hereinafter mentioned, under the name of Tehuan-
tepec Railway Company, in the following words, to
wit:
AETICLES OF ASSOCIATION OF THE TEHUANTEPEC EAIL-
WAY COMPANY, 1867.
Whereas, the Government of Mexico, in October, Articles of asso-
1867, granted authority to a company to be formed
by Don Emilio La Sere to open inter-oceanic com-
munication across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, upon
certain conditions and with certain rights expressed in
the grant, to which reference is to be had ; and
WkereOB^ the said La Sere, iil pursuance of the tasere formed
said grant, has formed a company for the ptlrpoues ^ ^^^'
and with the powers therein meiltiolled ;
40
Pot ta/nto^ por la presente se atestigua y declara lo
que sigue :
Primero. — ^El nombre de dicha compafiia es Com-
PANIA DEL FeBROCABBIL DK TeHUANTEPEC.
Segundo. — ^La compafiia continuard raientras dure
la citada concesion, y durante el tiempo que se la
prorogue.
Tercero, — ^El capital de la compafiia es de diez y
ocho millones de pesos, divididos en acciones de cien
pesos cada una, cuyo capital serd considerado como
equivalente de los derechos, privilegios y franquicias
otorgados por dicha concesion, y no estard sujeto d
otras contribuciones 6 demandas, y la cantidad total
se dividird entre los accionistas en la forma siguiente :
A Emilio La SisE, treinta mil acciones.
A Lms EuGENio Habgous, mil acciones.
A Pedbo a. Habgous, mil acciones.
A HoBAcio J. Heisch, cien acciones.
A Simon Stevens, Fideicomisario, ciento cuarenta
y siete mil novecientas acciones.
Cuarto, — Los accionistas se reuniran una vez al
afio, el segundo lunes de Enero, para elegir directores,
hacer 6 cambiar los reglamentos, y despachar los
demas negocios corrientes de la compafiia. Tambien
pueden ser convocados en cualquiera otra epoca por el
Presidente 6 dos directores cualquiera, avisando con
dos meses de anticipacion en anuncio inserto en tres
periodicos diarios de la ciudad de Nueva York.
Qy/into. — ^Los accionistas pueden en cualquiera
reunion regular, y por los votos de la mayoria de
intereses, redactar y establecer reglamentos que pro-
vean d la construccion, operacion, y manejo del ferro-
carril u otras obras de la compafiia, el modo de admitir
nuevos accionistas y el de hacer el traspaso de las
acciones y los intereses de los. accionistas d nuevos
accionistas 6 d los apoderados, el ntimero de empleados,
k"
41
Therefore^ it is hereby witnessed and declared as
follows :
First, — The name of the said company is The Name.
Tehuaih^pec Railway Company.
Second. — The company is to continue during the Duration,
continuance of the said grant and of any extension
thereof.
Third. — The capital of the company is eighteen £;p»*ai. $i8,ooo,.
millions of dollars, divided into shares of one hundred aasewment.
dollars each, which capital is to be deemed an equiva-
lent for the rights, privileges, and franchises conferred
by the said grant, and not liable to further contribu-
tion or assessment ; and the whole amount thereof is
divided among the shareholders, as follows :
To Emilio La S^re, thirty thousand shares. shareholders and
1. •' dlBtribution of
To Louis Eug6ne Haeoous, one thousand shared, stock.
To Peter A. Hargous, one thousand shares.
To Horace J. Heisch, one hundred shares.
To Simon Stevens, trustee, one hundred and forty-
seven thousand nine hundred shares.
Fourth. — The shareholders shall meet once a year. Meeting of share-
on the second Monday of January, to choose the o? di^wiore.* ^ *^
directors, make or change the by-laws, and transact
other proper business of the company. They may
also be convened at any other time by the President
or any two directors, upon two months' previous
notice inserted in three of the daily newspapers in the
city of New York.
Fifth. — The shareholders at any regular meeting shareholders may
*i ^ /» ..«• /» 1 ihftke by-laws,
may, by the votes of a majority m interest, frame and
establish by-laws providing for the construction,
operation, and management of the railway and other
works of the company ; the mode of admitting new
shareholders, and of transferring the shares and in-
terests of shareholders to new shareholders ol* assigns j
6
42
BUS deberes y compensaciones, el modo de celebrar
contratos, j generalmente los medios y raanera de
establecer el ferrocarril y otras obras de la refeiida
eompailia, el de proseguirlas, y el de la gerencia y
inanejo de toda la propriedad y asuDtoB de dicha
compafLia.
Sexto. — ^La compafiia no se considerard disuelta por
la muerte 6 acta de cuaqluier accioniBta, pero su sucesor
en intereses ocupard bu lugar, y Iob derechoB de eada
aceionista dependerdn del complimiento, por parte
suya, de las obligaciones que bo le imponen por la re-
ferida conoesion, por estoB artieuloB, y por Iob regla-
mentoB, y en caso de no cumplir con Iob mismos, des-
pues de hab^rsele notificado por escrito, y con seBenta
diaB de anticipacion, que asi lo haga, perderd bub dere-
choB, loB cualeB pasardn & ser adquisicion de Iob demas
accionistas.
Setimo. — La referida compafiia Berd manejada du-
rante el primer ailo por cuatro directorcB, y despnes
del primer atLo por Biete directores. Para el primer
afio Berdn directorcB, Emilio La-S^re^ LuiB E. Hargous,
y Simon Stevens, que son tres de los actuales accionistas,
dejando al Gobierno de Mexico que nombre otro para
dicho afio. Las tres personas mencionadas conservaran
«u empleo de directores hasta el segundo Ldnes de
Enero de mil ocho cientos sesenta y nueve, y hasta que
otros sean elegidos en su lugar. En cada afio despues
del primero se elegirdn anualmente cinco directores
por los accionistas y de entre ellos mismos, y los dos
restantes seran nombrados por el Gobierno de Mexico.
Octavo. — Toda vacante que ocurra entre los direc-
tores, por muerte, dimision, u otra causa, serd cubierta
durante el resto del plazo por el voto de los directores
restantes.
I^owno. — Los directores de la compafiia elegirdn
Uno de entre ellos que serd Presidente, y de entre los
accionistas se elegird un Vice-Presidente, un Tesorero,
y un Secretario de la compafiia.
43
the number, duties, and compensation of officers ; the
manner of making contracts, and generally the means
and mode of establishing the railway and other works
of the said company, and carrying them on, and of
controlling and managing all the property and affairs
of the said company,*
Sixth. — The company shall not be deemed dis- company not du-
*■ *' solved by death
solved by the death or act of any shareholder, but his ^^^^^ *******
successor in interest shall stand in his place ; and the
rights of each shareholder shall depend on his own
fulfilment of the conditions imposed on him by the
said grant, and these articles and the by-laws ; and in
case of his failure to fulfil the same after sixty days'
notice in writing to him to do so, his rights shall be
forfeited to and devolve upon the remaining share-
holders.
Seventh. — The said company is to be mana&:ed four directors
*■ , ° first year; after*
during the first year by four directors, and after the ^^^^ w^ai-
first year by seven directors. For the first year
Emilio La S6re, Louis E. Hargous, and Simon Stevens,
being three of the present shareholders, shall be
directors, leaving to the Government of Mexico to
appoint one other for that year. The three persons
last named shall hold their offices of directors till the
second Monday of January, one thousand eight hun-
dred and sixty-nine, and until others are chosen in
their places. For every year after the first, five Mexico to have
directors shall be chosen annually by the shareholders after first year.
out of their own number, and the remaining two shall
be appointed by the Government of Mexico.
Eighth. — ^Any vacancy that may happen among vacancies to
the directors by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall maining dirJc-
be filled for the remainder of the term by the votes of "*
the remaining directors.
Ninth. — The directors of the company shall choose choice of presi-
one of their number to be President, and from among dent. Treasurer,
the stockholders shall choose a Vice-President, a
Treasurer, and a Secretary of the company.
44
Decimo, — Serd obligacion del Presidente presidir
todas las reuniones de accionistas y directores, y en
general atender d Iob negocios de la compafiia bajo la
direccion de los accionistas y directores ; y en su
ausencia 6 por imposibilidad de presidir, ocnpara su
lugar el Vice-Presidente.
Undeeimo. — Serd obligacion del Teaorero Uevar los
libros de certificados de acciones, y de todos los fondos
de la compaflia, que serdn depositados en un banco
designado por los directores, y serdn desembolsados
bajo su direccion ; pero no se pagard cantidad alguna
d no ser en virtud de voto de los directores. y con
cheques firmados por ^1 Tesorero y refrendados por el
Presidente.
Duodecimo. — Serd obligacion del Secretario Uevar
todos los libros y documentos de la compafiia que no
scan llevados por el Tesorero, y tomar cuenta y razon
de los votos y transacciones de los accionistas y direc-
tores.
Dedmo-tercio, — El sello serd de forma circular,
contendrd el escudo de annas de Mexico, con las pala-
bras " CoMPANiA del Ferbooarbil de Tehuantepec,
1867," grabadas en la circunferencia.
Decimo-cuarto. — Los directores pueden nombrar y
relevar d su albedrio todos los empleados subalternos
de la compafiia, y tendran el manejo y gerencia general
de los negocios de la compafiia, siempre con sujecion a
la autoridad superior de los accionistas.
ft
Deeimo-quinto. — No se incurrird en ninguna deuda,
6 cualquiera otra obligacion por parte de la compafiia,
d no ser por voto de los directores en reunion regular,
y las mismas solo serdn pagaderas con las propiedades
de la compafiia, y en ningun caso estaran sujetos los
accionistas d responsabilidades personalee de ninguna
calse.
45
Tenth. — It shall be the duty of the President to »«ty of Presi-
preside at all meetings of the shareholders and direc-
tors, and generally to superintend the business of the
company under the direction of the shareholders and
directors ; in his absence or inability to act, the Vice-
President shall take his place.
Eleventh. — It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to Duty of Treaa-
keep the books of share certificates, and all the moneys
of the company which shall be deposited in a bank
designated by the directors, and shall be disbursed
under their direction ; but no money shall be paid
except in pursuance of a vote of the directors, and
upon checks signed by the Treasurer, and counter-
signed by the President.
2welfth.—^li shall be the duty of the Secretary to Duty of secre-
keep all the books and papers of the company not
kept by the Treasurer, and to record the votes and
transactions of the shareholders and directors.
Thirteenth.— The seal shall be in circular form. Description of
containing the coat of arms of Mexico, with the words ^^
^' Tehuantepec Railway Company, 1867," on the cir-
cumference.
Fourteenth. — The directors may appoint and re- control of com-
** *" *■ pany in directors
move at pleasure all subordinate oflScers of the com- subject to autho-
■*• rity of share*
pany, and shall have the general management and holders,
control of the affairs of the company, subject always
to the superior authority of the shareholders.
Fifteenth. — ^No debt or other obligation of the contracuonof
*^ , . , , ° ^ , debt. Nolndi-
company can be incurred except by a vote of the viduai uabrnties.
directors at a regular meeting, and the same must be
made payable only out of the property of the com-
pany ; and in no event shall the shareholders be sub-
ject to any personal responsibility whatever.
46
Decimo-sexto. — ^Todo contrato de la compafiia debe
Ber firmado por fel Presidente y el Secretario, y sellado
con el sello de la compafiia.
En fe de lo cual, el citado Emilio La-Sere j los
demae accionistas de dicha compafiia, han firmado y
sellado la presente, hoy, diez y seis de Diciembre de
mil ocho cientoB sesenta y siete.
EMILIO LA-SEEE. [sello.]
L. E. HAEGOUS. [sello.]
P. A. HAEGOUS. [sello.]
H. J. HEISCH. [sello.]
SIMON STEVENS, [sello.]
Fideicomisario.
Sellado y entregado en
presencia de
Chaio^es B. Elliman.
W. H. MoBGAN.
Por tanto,
La Asamblea General dd Estado de Vermont
deer eta por la presente :
Articido 1. — Que Emilio La-Sere, Luis Eugenio
Hargous, Pedro A. Hargous, Horacio J. Heisch, y
Simon Stevens, y cualesquiera otras personas que en
lo sucesivo sean accionistas de dicha compafiia, quedan
autorizadas por la presente en cuerpo corporado bajo
el nombre de Compafiia del Ferrocarril de Tehuan-
tepec, con todos los derechos, privilegios y franquicias
otorgadas por la antedicha concesion del Gobiemo de
Mexico, 6 que en lo sucesivo sean otorgadas por cual-
quiera concesion adicional, con el fin de Uevar d cabo
todos los objetos i que se reflere dicha concesion, con
sujecion d las clausulas de los antedichos articulos de
asociacion.
47
Sixteenth. — ^Every contract of the company must S*^°*~®*"£J^
be signed by the President and Secretary, and sealed J^^^J^SS
with the seal of the company.
In witness whereof the said Emilio La S6re and
the other shareholders of the said company have
hereto set their hands and seals, this sixteenth day of
December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
seven.
EMILIO LA SfiEp. [seal.]
L. E. HARG0U8. [seal.]
P. A. HARGOUS. [seal.]
H. J. HEISCH. [seal.]
SIMON STEVENS, [seal.]
Trustee.
Sealed and delivered in
the presence of
Chables B. Elliman.
W. H. MoiaoAK.
Therefore,
It is hereby enacted hy the General Asaemhly of
the State of Vermont :
y&c^ww 1.— That Emilio La Sere, Louis Eugene incorpomtion of
Hargous, Peter A. Hargous, Horace J. Heisch, and RauJJay^w^-
Simon Stevens, and such other persons as shall here- ^'''
after become stockholders in said company, are hereby
constituted a body corporate by the name of the
Tehuantepeo Railway Company, with all the rights,
privileges, and franchises given by the above-mentioned
grant from the Government of MexicOj or that may here-
after be given by any amendment or enlargement of
said grant, or by any additional grant) and for the pur-
pose of carrying out aU the objects contemplated in
said grant, subject to the provisions of the aforesaid
articles of association.
48
Articulo 2. — Y la referida compafiia queda autori-
zada para construir, comprar 6 fletar buques de vapor
6 de otra clase, y todo el equipo necesario para los
mismos, y para hacerloB navegar desde y hasta cnal-
quiera de los terminoB del citado Ferrocarril de
Teliuantepec, & caalquiera otro puerto 6 puertos, con
objeto de trasportar flete 6 pasageros desde y hasta
caalquiera de dichos terminos; y puede adquirir y
conservar los bienes raices necesarios para establecer
convenientes diques, atracaderos, nauelles y almacenes
para los mismos.
Articxdo 3. — ^Esta acta tendrd efecto desde sn apro-
bacion.
Aprobado el 10 de Noviembre de 1868.
JOHN B. PAGE,
Gobemador.
ESTADO DE VeKMONT,
Oficina del Segbetaeio de Estado.
Oertifico que lo que antecede es copia exacta del
acta de la Asamblea General, aprobada el 10 de
Noviembre, 1868, y archivada en esta oficina.
En fe de lo cual firmo con mi nombre, y
estampo el sello de esta oficiana, en Mont*
[l. 8.] pelier, d once de Noviembre del ailo del
Sefior mil ocho-cientos sesenta y ocho.
GEOEGE NICHOLS,
Secretario de Estado.
49
Section 2. — And the said company is authorized to Authority to
■*■ •' build or charter
build, purchase, or charter steam or other vessels, and ^^^^^ ^^ ^«w
, ' real estate.
all proper equipments for the same, and to run the
same to and from either of the termini of said
Tehuantepec Kailway to any other port or ports, for
the purpose of carrying freight or passengers to and
from the same ; and may acquire and hold any real
estate necessary for suitable docks, piers, wharves, and
warehouses for the same.
Sectim 3. — This act shall take effect from its i^^eiy*^
passage.
Approved, Nov. 10, 1868.
JOHN B. PAGE,
Governor.
State of Vermont,
Office of Secbetaky of State.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy
of an act of the General Assembly, approved Novem-
ber 10, 1868, and* now on file in this office.
In witness whereof, 1 hereunto subscribe my
name, and cause the seal of this office to
[l. 8.] be affixed, at Montpelier, this eleventh day
of November, A. D. one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.
GEORGE NICHOLS,
Secretary of State.
. ■'« ,-<£ , « i ti *s ^. ■/' A
PROJECT
ADOPTED BY THE
Tehuantepec Railway Company,
FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROPOSED
RAILWAY, CAERIAGE-EOAD AND TELE-
GRAPH LINE,
ACROSS THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC,
August 31st, 1868.
Approyed by the Mexican Goyernment, Jannary 5ih, 1869.
-»♦♦-
Engineer's Office, )
New York, August, 1868. [
To Simon Stevens, Esq.,
President of the TehuantepeG
Railway Company^ New York.
Sir : In accordance with your instructions, I here-
witli submit the general specifications of the project
for the contemplated line of communication by rail-
road between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific
Ocean, across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, based upon
the detailed information in your possession, acquired
by the various surveys and explorations which have
been made from time to time, and which I have care-
fully studied, having in view as a guide the spirit and
letter of the grant conferred by President Juarez, of
the Mexican Republic, upon Don Emilio La Sere, and
under which grant your Company is organized.
52
Accompanying the specification is a Map, exhibit-
ing in red line the proposed route of Railroad across
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and in green the route for
a Carriage Road, and dotted in yelloio the line of Tel-
egraph.
With the data in my possession, I have selected
these lines of route as in my judgment best calculated
to further the interests of both parties in the grant,
having always in view the true interests of the Com-
pany and the wants of commerce.
The surveys of the Goatzacoalcos River show
ample depth of water from the bar at the mouth of
the river to Minatitlan, a distance of twenty miles.
It would appear that the bar has undergone little
if any change since the time of Cortez ; and the nature
of the ridi'e constitutinor the bar offers no serious im-
pediment to modern skill in opening a channel of
three hundred feet in width through the bar, with a
depth of water at low tide of eighteen feet. After
the bar is passed, sea steamers will find no difficulty in
making Minatitlan at all stages of water; and for
sailing vessels, the advantages of this terminus may
repay the outlay requisite to provide steam tugs for
the ascent of the river to Minatitlan. Though future
examinations may show the possibility of the existence
of a feasible line for a railroad from the mouth of the
river, and following the line of sand hills towards
Miniapan, and crossing the Rio Tierra Nueva, and
thence following the ridge to near the village of Cosu-
Hacaque, where it would branch from the route which
makes Minatitlan its terminus, yet it would not be
prudent at this date to fix upon the precise northern
terminus of the road on the Gulf, as before determin-
ing so important a question minute and detailed ex-
aminations should be made, more than such as would
suffice for the determination of the bare feasibility of
routes.
The principles which should govern in the con-
53
struction of the road would be the same in either
ease.
The same may be said in reference to the terminus
on the Pacific coast. Ventosa has been regarded as
the proper terminus, and I propose for descriptive
purposes so to regard it ; yet I would suggest that, if
possible, the right be reserved of making Salina Cruz
the port for the terminus of the road, should future
examinations show its advantages over the port of
Ventosa. As the proper crossing of the Tehuantepec
River is at Huilotepec in either case, it affects neither
tlie location nor length of the road to any appreciable
extent.
It should be borne in mind that even in the United
States, comparatively well settled and open, changes
of location are frequently considered desirable after
the construction of the roads have made some progress :
how much more will this possibly be called for in a
country so difficult and heavily timbered as this, and
where in the absence of correct maps the precise
bearing of important and controlling obstacles cannot
be known with certainty until minute examination
has developed them. Experience has shown that of
all the funds invested in public works, none makes a
better return than that expended in determining be-
yond question the most advantageous locations.
Having in view these possible modifications, the
general line of location of the works and the principles
which win govern in their construction may bo stated
as follows :
I.— LOCATION OF EOAD.
Leaving the precise point in the village of Mina-
titlan open to future negotiation with property-hold-
ers, the line taking the slope of the ridge north of that
village, passes just south of Cosuliacaque, thence just
south of Tesistepec, following (with but slight varia-
54
tion and for the purpose of correct alignment) the line
of overflow, thence curving to the south and east of
Lake Otiapa, thence curving southerly to the eastward
of tlie hacienda of Almagro, thence nearly straight to
within one mile west of Mount Encantada, thence
curving westwardly, and direct to the selected crossing
of the Jaltepec, about 5 miles west of Suchil, known
as " Hargousana."
For this division of the road, the line is quite direct,
the curves of easy radius, and the grades' gentle.
The principle governing in its location being to
preserve the grade from about 3 to 5 feet above the
level of extreme overflow, and at the foot of the slopes
of high land which constitutes the dividing ridge be-
tween the waters of the San Juan and Goatzacoalcos
Rivers, and following this line to preserve the shortest
practicable route to the crossing of the Jaltepec. At
Ilargousana the Jaltepec is crossed at a level of 110
feet above high tide at Ventosa; the line from thence
south, following a depression in the ridge, and rising
for 1^ miles at the rate of 60 feet to the mile, to the
summit which divides the waters of the Jaltepec from
those of the Jumuapa Kiver. This summit is just
south of the Picadura to Suchil, and is 290 feet above
the tide.* The line thence descends for 8 miles, crossing
several branches of the Jumuapa, until it reaches the
latter at Paso de la Puerta ; crossing the river at this
place at a height of 155 feet above tide, the line then
follows a branch of the Jumuapa which lies in the
direction of the route to the summit between the val-
leys of the Jumuapa and the Sarabia, a distance of '6
miles, 2- miles of which is at the rate of 60 feet to the
mile, with a total rise in that distance of 195 feet.
From this summit the line continues direct to the
Sarabia River, a distance of 4 miles, over a gently
* W^here reference is made to tide, it means the level of high tide
at Ventosa. ...
55
undulating profile, and crossing the latter river at a
height above tide of 305 feet (or .a fall of. but 47 feet
in 4 miles), curves to the eastward, and following a
branch of the Sarabia for 2 miles, with a rise of 20
feet per mile, reaches the summit between the Sarabia
and Malatengo Eivers at a height above tide of 340
feet ; thence following over a gently descending grade
a tributary of the Malatengo (Arroyo de los Venados
about 2 miles south of Boca del Monte), it crosses the
latter river about 280 feet above tide, and near its
junction with the Rio Almaloya, and skirting the base
of the upland between the two rivers, takes the valley
of the Rio Almaloya, which it follows to the plains of
Chivela, a distance of 24 miles, rising in that distance
410 feet, or a mean rise of 17 feet per mile, with no
grade of over 25 feet per mile. Still following a
branch of the Almaloya (the Otate), it crosses the
Chivela plains, and enters the pass of Masahua, at a
height of 793 feet above tide, or a rise of 103 feet in
4i miles. This is the extreme height of the grade at
the summit pass which divides the waters which flow
into the Pacific from those which flow into the At-
lantic. .
At this point, within a hundred yards of the head
waters of the Almaloya, a branch of the Rio Verde
(Torrente de Masahua), heads up between Cerro Espi-
nosa and Cerro Masahuita of the Masahua range, and
ofiers a means of gradual descent to the Pacific
plains. ,
Following the circuitous valley of this stream a
distance of 9 mile?, and descending at the rate of 60
feet per mile for 8 miles, we reach the foot of the
mountain range, and crossing the Rio Verde at the
Rancho de la Martar, at a height of 240 feet above
tide, find ourselves on the Pacific plains. From this
point to whichever port in the Pacific is selected, the
most direct line is tlirough Iluilotepec, where a good
crossing of the Tehuantcpcc River offers. The total
56
distance from Minatitlan to Ventosa by this location
is 162 miles. It might be thought that Tehiiantepec,
where the crossing of the river of that name offers
some advantages, should be included in the line of the
location ; but in a great international road, as this is
designed to be, it is scarcely proper to add 4 miles of
distance to the main line of road for any purpose of
local advantage, however desirable it might be.
II.— CARRIAGE ROAD.
The Carriage Road, which it is in contemplation
to complete previous to the construction of the rail-
road, will serve not more as an auxiliary to the latter
than as a means of developing the resources of the
Isthmus, and will, to avail as much as possible of the
large expenditure already made to this end, be located
as follows: — ^From Minatitlan to Cosuliacaque, thence
to Jaltipan, thence to Acayucam, thence to Sayula,
thence passing 1^ miles west of the Hacienda of Al-
megro, thence to Pavons Monterea, thence to Hargou-
sana (Jaltepec River), thence to Tortugas, thence to
Sarabia, thence to Antigua llacienda, thence to Al-
maloya and Otate, thence to Chivela, thence to the
Rio Verde, thence to San Geronimo, thence to Te-
huantepec, thence to Ventosa — a distance of 208
miles. The road bed to be cleared and ditched where
necessary, culverts to be built at the stream crossings,
and the Jaltepec, Tortugas, Puerta, Sarabia, Malar
tengo, Arroyo de Xochiapa, Almaloya, Torente de
Guichilona, Rio de los Perros, Tehuantepec Rivers to
be bridged with substantial timber truss bridges on
pile bent abutments and piers.
The timber to be cleared for a width of 50 feet,
and the road-bed to be properly graded for wheel
travel for a width of at least 15 feet. The best assur-
ance of the proper character of this portion of the
work will rest in the fact that the economy with which
57
the railroad construction will progress will be largely
dependent upon the efHciency of this road, and its
ability to sustain the heavy trafBc of material and
supplies which will seek it at all times and seasons.
It will be perceived that the railroad takes the valley
of the Almaloya, while the carriage road follows the
picaduras near and to west of Nisi Conejo, distant
from the railroad line some five miles. This grows
out of the fact that the valley of the Almaloya oifers
no inducement for settlement ; and if the carriage-line
were taken through it at great expense, it would be
merely for the use of laborers and supplies, and would
go into disuse on the completion of the railroad ;
whereas, as now located, the carriage road would be
of value to the material interests of the Isthmus as
now opened and in prospect, and serve passably
well by picaduras to the railroad line, for the supply
to the latter of provisions and material during its
construction.
III.— GRADUATION, MASONEY, AND
BRIDGING.
Wherever the banks are less tlian 8 feet in height,
the site of the road will be cleared to a width of 100
feet, and all -perishable matter burnt up; where the
embankment is higher, the land wnll be cleared for a
distance of 15 feet from the foot of the slopes. Wher-
ever the embankments are less than 3 feet in height,
the ground will be cleared of all perishable matter,
the' stumps of the trees will be grubbed up, and all
muck and vegetable matter removed. In excavating
through heavy timber, the latter will be cleared at
least 50 feet from the top of the slopes.
The width of all embankments at grade of a height
of 25 feet and under, will be 16 feet, for a single track
road, with side slopes of IJ to 1. Embankments of
over 25 feet in height will, for every 10 feet in height,
58
liave an additional width at grade of 1 foot. The ex-
cavation in earth will be 26 feet wide at grade level,
with ditches of 4 feet in width on each side, and 1^
feet in depth, and a side slope of IJ to 1. Side cuts
will have a width of grade of 20 feet, with ditches of
4 feet in width. Kock excavation will be 22 feet in
width, with side slopes of i to ^, depending upon the
nature of the rock, with ditches of 3 feet in width.
Wherever the excavation exceeds the quantity requi-
site to make the bank, the surplus shall be used to
widen the bank to 30 feet for a double track ; and on
the contrary, wl i ere ver there is a deiiciency in the cut
to make the adjoining bank, the quantity needed shall
be obtained by widening the cut imiformly, provided
in so doing rock excavation be not encountered.
Tliere will be no grade over 60 feet per mile, and
no curves of less than 1,100 feet radius. There are
many first-class roads in the United States with a rul-
ing grade greater than this, and with curves of less
radijis. A speed of 20 miles per hour can be main-
tained on such grade, with a train of over 500 passeng-
ers and their baggage. Such grade, therefore, cannot
be considered objectionable for the Isthmus transit.
MASONRY AND BRIDGING.
Ths masonry of all bridges or culverts, where they
do not rest on the solid rock, shall in all cases be
founded on hard bottom below the scouring action of
the stream. Wherever a hard bottom cannot be had,
the foundations shall rest on a grillage of timber, at
such depths as shall insure their being constantly wet.
The timber shall be of large dimensions, leveled on a
uniform bearing, and placed in contact side by side ;
and hewn on the four faces, and covered with a plat-
form of 6-inch plank, well bolted and spiked to the
same. Where soft bottom or quicksand is encountered,
the whole area shall be properly piled to a good bear-
ing, the piles capped, and the spaces filled in with
59
broken stone, and floored and spiked or bolted to the
caps. The masonry of culverts shall be good picked
rubble masonry — heavy stones selected for the lower
courses — which shall be properly bonded, breaking
joint throughout, and conforming in every particular
to detailed plans, which will be furnished by the
engineer for each work.
All walls which come to grade, or parapet walls,
shall be neatly coped with flat stone of good dimens-
ions, well and truly squared and bedded. The arch
stones shall in all cases be the whole (^epth of the arch,
cut on the ends or rings, and the whole shall in every
respect be what is known in the United States as
" first class culvert masonry," and laid dry.
Abutment and pier masonry for bridges shall be
substantia), durable stone, of as large dimensions as
can be readily procured, laid in courses, with cut beds
and square joints, properly bonded and breaking joint;
A proper proportion of headers, which shall extend
into the backing, and binding it to the face work. No
stone shall be less than one foot in thickness for heavy
work, and no stone shall have a less bed than twice its
rise. The coping for such work shall be of large di-
mensions, neatly cut, and properly cramped and dow-
eled, the whole well laid in full beds of good cement
mortar, agreeably to the plans of the engineer, which
shall be in detail for each work. The foundations will
be as previously specified, and laid with extreme care
— the work of the description known in the United
States as " cut range work, rock face."
BREDGING.
•
All the permanent truss bridges of over 50 feet span
will be of Ij*on, The trusses, where the level of the
water will admit of it, to be so placed that the track
shall be on their upper chords. The plans of these
bridges will be matured by the engineer in conformity
with the best practice of the day, and made under his
9
60
directions, in the United States, and taken out in
pieces, and put up in conformity with his directions.*
The shorter bridges, and trestles over ravines, and ap-
proaches to permanent bridges, and other places M^here,
for facilitating the completion of the work, rapidity of
execution is of importance, timber structures will be
used until after the opening qf the road, when they
will be replaced either by solid banks, arched mason-
ry, or iron bridging, as may be most to the interest of
the Company. These structures will be carefully
planned, of heavy, durable timber, and well put to-
gether with iron bolts, and in a workmanlike manner,
agreeable to the method adopted on first class roads in
the United States.
IV.— TUNNELS.
The tunnels which may be needed will be of a full
size for a single track road, that is to say, of a clear
width of 18 feet, and a height of 19 feet above rails.
In the event of the rock or other material encountered
in the excavation of the tunnel proving treacherous,
or liable to failure, the same will be properly arched
with brick, leaving the dimensions in the clear of the
tunnel as above stated.
v.— GAUGE AND KAIL.
Omitting in this place the arguments and discus-
sions upon which the decision is based, it will be
sufficient to state that the experience of many years
use of various gauges in the United States has demon-
strated the fact that, neither in net tonnage trans-
ported, nor in speed or safety or economy, have the
wider gauges established any superiority over the
narrower gauge of 4 feet 8J inches, whilst in a new
enterprise, especially, it has manifest disadvantages.
Accordingly, it is proposed to adopt the prevailing
gauge in use in the United States, viz., of 4 feet 8^
61
inches. The dimensions and weight of rail proposed
is that of the pattern of the Erie Railroad and the
Union Pacific, with the iron fish-joints now being in-
troduced on the former road as the latest modern
practice, nsing therewith the superior quality of cross-
ties found on the Isthmus, to the number of 3,000 to
each mile of track, with four 6-inch wrought iron
spikes to each cross-tie.
VI.— TURNOUTS.
At Minatitlan, and at the port on the Pacific, the
road will be opened with four tracks in addition to
the main track, giving a total of over 10,000 lineal
feet of turnout at each of these points. At Hargou-
sana, or at the point selected for the repair shops of the
Company, there will be at the least 10,000 feet of side
track, and, in addition, there will be 8 intermediate
stations with 2,000 feet of side track at each, or a total
of nearly 9 miles of side track ; to be increased at
such points, and to such extent, from time to time, as
the wants of the road may indicate as desirable.
VII.— DEPOTS AND FIXTURES.
There will be a central engine house and repair-
shop at " Hargousana," or such other point as may be
selected, with stalls for 10 engines, with arrangements
for ultimate extension, to be built of brick, with slate
or iron roof, and turn-tables of iron. The locomotive
repair shops, with steam engine, machinery, and tools
for repairs of all the engines in use, and so planned as
to admit of extension for ultimate use in the construc-
tion of cars and carriages, to be of brick, with iron
roof; substantial houses to be erected for the use of
the mechanics and their families.
At each terminal station there will be an engine-
house, with stalls for 6 engines, also of brick, with iron
roof, and repair shop, with the requisite tools for
62
smaller repairs, and turn-tables of iron. The passenger
houses at these terminal stations, and also at the cent-
ral station, to be substantial structures of brick with
iron roofs. Kefreshment rooms and other accommoda-
tions, similar to the first class station houses in tlie
United States, to be provided at these points. The
freight houses at these terminal stations to be of irbn,
of single story, at least 300 feet in length, 30 feet in
width, with derricks, cranes and scales, and side tracks
for the prompt disposal of freight. The freight houses
at the intermediate stations to be of timber, about 90
feet by 30 feet, closed in securely from the weather,
with rooms under the same roof for passengers and
officers of the Company ; at each of the stations and
at intermediate points, giving a supply for every 10
miles of road, iron water tanks will be provided, each
to hold at least 6,000 gallons of water, with the most
approved iron pumps (wherever the latter are needed)
and fixtures complete, and timber wood sheds, each of
a capacity of from 300 to 400 cords of wood.
VIII.— KIVER NAVIGATION.
The channel through the bar at the mouth of the
Goatzacoalcos to be excavated to a width of 300 feet,
and depth of 18 feet at low water. The river from
Minatitlan to Suchil, and Jaltepec to Hargousana,
to be cleared of snags, and dredged where necessary
to a depth of 2^ feet at extreme low water; danger-
ous rocks to be removed, and tlie river rendered safe
for light-draught steamers to those points.
IX.— PIERS AKD WIIAEFS.
The only work of a temporary character which is
contemplated, will be that of the piers and. wharfs,
the proper extent of which cannot be determined until
a better knowledge of the localities shall furnish the
requisite information to govern their construction.
63
At Ventosa, for convenience of landing at all
times, a breakwater will be built from within the
Morro point, curving towards the southeast for a
length of about 1,500 feet into 30 feet of water.
This pier will be 40 feet wide at top, and with a
side slope of 3 inches to a foot, and built of cribs of
timber, sunk and filled with stone, the sides planked
with 6-inch plank, bolted and spiked to the crib tim-
bers.
Tlie pier will be 10 feet above high water, and will
form a nucleus for further and more permanent works
as may be needed.
A double rail track will extend to the head of
the pier.
At Minatitlan, a bulk-head, with a frontage of at
least 600 feet, will be built of crib work filled in with
stone, to be replaced ultimately by iron sheet piling if
necessary.
A double line of rails to run parallel to the front.
The wharfs at Suchil and Ilargousana will be formed
by piling the requisite frontage on the river, and with
caps bolted to the pile heads, w^ith heavy plank floor-
ing spiked to the caps, the whole properly braced and
bolted.
X.— LIGHT HOUSES.
A brick or iron tower, of such height as, together
with its site, will give an elevation of 130 feet above
the sea, will be built on the west bank of the Goatza-
coalcos Kiver, and furnished with a sea light capable
of being seen at sea for a distance of 20 mijes.
A beacon or harbor light will be placed in about
8 feet water, within the bar, on an iron screw-pile pier,
elevated 15 feet above high water.
A similar light, of the same order and elevation,
to be placed on the Morro point, and a beacon light
on the pier head, will be put up at Ventosa*
64:
XL— TELEGEAPH.
The telegraph line will commence at the mouth of
the Goatzacbalcos Kiver, and following the sand hills,
cross the Rio Tierra Nueva near the Kanclio Calcados,
and, taking the high land above the overflow, reach
Minatitlan ; thence it will follow the carriage road
until after the completion of the railroa:d, when it will
be transferred permanently to the latter line. A branch
also will extend from Ilargousana to Suchil.
The above specification embraces what would be
considered in the United States that of a first class
road, with a capacity suflicient for the immediate
transportation, without the possibility of hindrance or
delay, of a yearly tonnage of 100,000 tons of mer-
chandise and 100,000 passengers.
In conclusion, I would beg leave to recommend that
in view of the rapid improvements now being made in
all branches of mechanical work, particularly such as
the one under consideration, tlie engineer should not
be confined too closely to existing works elsewhere as
a guide, but may, with the approval of the Company,
as the work progresses, introduce such improvements
as may be thought conducive to the success of the
enterprise, although not specified in the above project.
JULIUS W. ADAMS, Engineer.
Vice-President of the American Society of
Civil Engineers,
Examined, approved and recommended for adoption,
(Signed,) MARSHALL O. ROBERTS.
Adopted by the Teiiuantepeo Railway Company,
New York, August 31st, 1S68.
(Signed,) SIMON STEVENS,
[seal. ] Presiden t.
Tehiuxntfpec Railway Co.
Attest :
(Signed,) PETER A. HARGOUS,
Secretary.
65
ESTIMATED COST OF KAILWAY.
Engineer's Office,
Tehuantepec Railway Co.,
New York, Feb. 22d, 1869.
Simon Stevens, Esq.,
President.
Sir: At your request I have examined all the
maps, profiles, and reports, and such other data in my
possession bearing in any way upon the subject of the
cost of constructing a railway across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, and beg leave to*report the result as fol-
lows :
I have taken the quantities of material, as estimated
by Major Barnard in 1852 for the construction of the
several divisions of this road, and make such changes
in the prices, as in my judgment were called for to rep-
resent the comparative values of executing the vari-
ous kinds of works then and now.
I have adopted 4 feet 8 inches as the guage of the
road, being all that is needed for requisite power to
move anything which can be transported to advantage
on railroads. I have assumed 16 feet width of banks,
and 26 feet width of cuts in earth as suflScient, and
should recommend that most of the bridges of any ex-
tent, as well as embankments over 20 feet in height,
should be built on trestles to serve until the road is
opened, when the more permanent structure can be
put in.
ESTIMATE.
Wagon road from Minatitlan ma Jaltepec
crossing at Hargousana to Ventosa, com-
plete,208 miles $160,000
Passenger and freight house at Hargous-
ana or Jaltepec crossing, including ma-
chine shop, fixtures and machinery for
the whole road 120,000
66
Passenger and freight houses and light re-
pair shops at Ventosa and Minatitlan. . . 120,000
Wood and water stations 18,000
Clearing, grading, bridging, and prepara-
tion of roadbed complete, from Minatit-
lan to Ventosa, 162 miles , 5,948,000
For one mile of superstructure I estimate
as follows. (Iron imported free of duty). 8,600
172 miles of track including 10 miles of
turnouts complete 1,462,000
*
EQUIPMENT.
8 freight engines, 30 tons, each $14,000. . $112,000
6 passenger " 26 " " 12,000 . . 72,000
14 " cars 4,000.. 56,000
10 " and baggage, 2d class 3,500. . 35,000
120 freight cars, open and box 900 . . 108,000
35 repair cars of all kinds 12,000
This equipment will suffice to open the road with
a capacity for 100,000 passengers, and 100,000 tons of
freight yearly : Of course this item will undergo a con-
stant and steady increase to meet the requirements of
the trade.
Recapitulation of cost of opening passenger and
freight traffic from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific
Ocean.
Auxiliary wagon road, Minatitlan to Ven-
tosa $160,000
Railroad fixtures at Jaltepec, Ventosa,
Minatitlan, and line of E. E 258,000
Grading, bridging, and preparation of road-
bed, Minatitlan to Ventosa, 162 miles. 5,948,000
Superstructure, 172 miles 1,462,000
Engineering and superintendence 600,000
Equipments 395,000
$8,823,00^
67
Jaltepec or Hargousana becomes a proper point
for the great machine shops of the company ; although
not in the centre of the road when complete, it is
within the ordinary days run of an engine to Ventosa,
and the river from Minatitlan will always be used
more or less as far as this point, and, if the enterprise
is destined to work any permanent benefit to the Isth-
mus, it must be looked for^ through the building up of
a trading centre, accessible in all directions by the
limited means at command of the natives. Such a
point is the neighborhood of Suchil, and the establish-
ment of the machine shops of the company at this
point, will inure to the mutual benefit of the road,
and the local traffic which no other point could prom-
ise.
The passage from Minatitlan by train to Ventosa
may be estimated at eight hours.
It is a difficult matter to estimate the progressive
increase in travel growing out of increased facilities
for its accommodation.
It is not likely that the travel the first year would
form any standard of comparison for what would in-
evitably follow. All great improvments, even when
projected on established lines of travel, shows this.
If the advantages of a far more healthy and salu-
brious climate, a saving of 1,700 miles of sea voyage,
commodious harbors on either side, increased economy
of transportation, freedom from, taxation, and the en-
ormous impulse which the development of the China
trade will give to the shorter routes of travel across
the continent, fail to give your road an income equal
at least to that of the Panama railroad, the result will
falsify all the predictions which are legitimately de-
ducible from the experience of existing lines of travel.
Kespectfully submitted,
JULIUS W. ADAMS,
Engineer.
10
68
Bond of the Tehuantepec Hallway Co. given to the
Hepublic of Mexico^ pursuant to Article IQth of the
grant
*
BOND.
Know all men hy these presents :
That we, the Tehuantepec Knilway Company as
principal, and Marshall O. Roberts as surety, are
jointly and severally held and firmly bound unto the
Hepublic of Mexico in the penal sum of one hundred
thousand dollars [100,000] of the coined money of
JMexico, to be paid to the said Republic at the National
Treasury in the city of Mexico ; to which payment
well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, our suc-
cessors, and rcpresentativ'es firmly by these presents.
Sealed with our seals, and dated the eighteenth day
of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Whereas^ the Government of Mexico, on the sixth
day of October, A. D., one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven, granted authority to a company to be
formed by Don Emilio La Sere to open interoceanic
communication across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec,
upon certain conditions and with certain rights ex-
pressed in the grant to which reference is to be had,
which grant was modified and confirmed by the Con-
gress of Mexico, the 59th day of December, 1868, and
on the 2d day of January, 1869, was ordered by the
Constitutional President of Mexico to be printed, pub-
lished, circulated, and observed, and which was duly
printed and published in the Diarlo Official of the
Supreme Government of the Republic of Mexico, on
the itii day of January, 1869, and,
Whereas^ the said La Sere, in pursuance of the said
grant, has formed a company which has procured from
the General Assembly of the State of Vermont the
69
establishment of its incorporation, which company is
established and organized in such manner as to fulfil
all the requirements of the said grant.
Now then, the condition of this obligation is such,
that if the company shall, within eighteen months from
the 2d day of January, 1869, as specified in the said
grant, comply with its obligations to present plans and
to commence and finish the construction of the roads
and telegraph line mentioned in the said grant, and
according to the terms thereof, and if the said company
shall, within the said specified periods, comply with
its obligations as mentioned in Article sixteen of the
said grant, and according to the terms thereof, then
this obligation shall be void, otherwise it shall continue
in full force.
(Signed) SIMON STEVENS,
[seal.] President Tehuaniepec
Hallway Co.
(Signed) MAESHALL O. EGBERTS.
Surety.
(Signed) P. A. Habgous,
Secretary.
UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA.
State, Crrr and County of New York.
On the eighteenth day of February, A. D., one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, before me,
Henry Stanton, a notary public, duly commissioned
and sworn in and for the city and county of New
York, personally came Peter A. Hargous, to me known
to be the Secretary of the Tehuantepec Eailway Com-
pany, with whom I am personally acquainted, who,
being by me duly sworn, said that he resided in the
city and county of New York, in the State of New
York, in the United States of America ; that he was
Secretary of the said Tehuantepec Eailway Company ;
that he knew the common seal of the said company ;
70
that the seal aflSxcd to the foregoing instrument was
such common seal ; that it was so affixed by order of
the Board of Directors of the said company, and that
he signed his name thereto by the like order as Secre-
tary of the said company :
And the said Peter A. Ilargous farther said, that
he was acquainted with Simon Stevens, and knew him
to be the President of said company ; that the signa-
ture of the said Simon Stevens subscribed to the said
instrument was in the genuine handwriting of the said
Simon Stevens, and was thereto subscribed by the
like order of the said Board of Directors, and in the
presence of him, the said Peter A. Ilargous.
And, also, on the day and year aforesaid, before
me personally, came Simon Stevens, to me known to
be the President of the Tehuantepec Kailway Com-
pany, with whom I am personally acquainted, who,
being by me duly sworn, said that he resided in the
city and county of New York, in the State of New
York, in the United States of America ; that he was
President of the said Tehuantepec Kailway Company ;
that he knew the common seal of the said company ;
that the seal affixed to the foregoing instrument was
such common seal ; that it was so affixed by order of
the Board of Directors of the said company, and he
signed his name thereto by the like order as President
of the said company.
And, also, on the day and year aforesaid, personally
came Marshall O. Koberts, to me known to be one of
the individuals described in and who executed the
foregoing instrument as surety, and acknowledged that
he executed the same as and for the purposes therein
mentioned.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and affixed my official seal the day and year
[seal.] last above written.
HENRY STANTON,
Notary Public in and for the City
and County of New York,
71
El Conml genetal de la HepuMica Mejicana en tos
EstadoB Unidos.
Certifico que la firma y sello que anteceden y dicen
Henry Stanton, son del Eseribano publico, del mismo
nombre y los mismos que acostumbra usar en todos los
documentos que autoriza, por lo que se les debe dar
entera fe y credito. En f6 de lo cual doy la presente
en la Ciudad de Nueva York £i dos de Marzo, de mil
ocbocientos sesenta y nneve.
(Signed) JUAN N. NAVAERO.
[l. b.]
Certifico tambien que la fianza anterior suscrita
por Mr. Marshall O. Roberts, me ha sido presentado
hoy por la CompaQia del Ferrocarril de Tehuantepec,
para cumplir con el Art 16 de la Concession, por no
haber actualmente en Washington representante al-
guno del Gob^ Mejicano, y que yo he hecho presente
A dicha Compa. que aunque creo la fianza entera-
mente satisfactoria, no tengo instrucciones para reci-
birla, y la remitire por el proximo vapor ^ mi Gob^
])ara que la examine y diga si estd 6 no conforme con
ella.
(Signed) JUAN N. NAVAEEO.
[l. 8.]
Certifico tambien que el documente anterior es
una copia perfectamente exacta del original que envio
k mi Gobierno para su exdmen.
(Signed) JUAN N. NAVAEEO.
[l. 8.]
NuEVA York, Marao 29, de 1869.
72
NuEVA York, Abril 14 de, 1869.
Habiendo recibido hoy instrucciones y autorizacion
de rai Gobierno para aprobar la fianza anterior, case
de encontrarla satisfactoria, y siendo tal en mi con-
cepto por la presente y en nombre del Supremo Gobi-
erno de la Kepnblica Mejicana, admito la dicha fianza
y declaro que la Compafiia ha cumplido plenamente
con las obligaciones que le impone el articulo 16 de la
concesion aprobada por el Congreso de la Union el 29
de Diciembre de 1868, y sancionadapor el ejecutivo el
2 de Enero de 1869.
(Signed) JUAN N. NAVAERO.
SEAL.]
[translation.]
The Consul General' of the Sepuhlic of Mexico in the
United States.
I certify that the preceding signature and seal
saying "Henry Stanton," are those of tlie Notary
Public of that name, and the same that he afiixes to
all the documents that he authenticates, and are, there-
fore, entitled to all faith and credit.
In witness whereof, I give the present in the City
of New York on the 2d day of March, 1869.
[l. s.] (Signed) JOHN N. NAVARRO.
I also certify, that the preceding bond, signed by
Marshall O. Roberts, has been presented to me to-day
by the Tehuantepec Railway Company, in order to
comply with the lj6th Article of the grant, because
there is not actually, in Washington^ any representa-
tive of the Mexican Government; and I have made
known to said company, that although I consider the
bond to be entirely satisfactory, I have no instructions
to receive it, but will forward it by the first steamer to
my Government, in order that they may examine it
and state whether it is satisfactory or not.
[l. 8.] (Signed) JOHN N. NAVARRO.
73
I also certify, that the foregoing document is a
copy perfectly exact of the original that I send to my
Government for its examination.
[l. s.] (Signed) JOHN N. NAYAEKO.
New York, March 29, 1869.
New York, April 14th, 1869.
Having received to-day, instructions and authority
from my Government to approve the foregoing bond,
in case I find it 89,tisfactory, and being so, in my
opinion, by the present and on behalf of the Supreme
Government of the Mexican Eepublic, I admit the
said bond and declare that the Company has fully
complied with the obligations imposed on it by Article
16th of the grant approved by tlie Congress of the
Union the 29th December, 1868, and sanctioned by
the Executive the 2d January, 1869.
(Signed) JOHN N. NAY AERO.
[seal.]
Paet II
\
i
HISTORICAL AND
" GEOGRAPHICAL
NOTES
1453—1869
By HENRV STEVENS,GMB,FSA.ctc.
Ffllow of the Roval Geog. Soc. of London, Cor
Memb. Amtr. Antiq. Soc, and of the Hitt, So«. of
Mui. Conn. Maine, Vc N. J. Penn. ini WUcon.
"kBld Athm CI b Land.
CorgreM of Badajoi.
HISTORICAL.*
-•^^
A retrospect of four centuries, with a rapid
glance at the progress of modern discovery, ex-
ploration, and invention, will probably serve as
an appropriate introduction to our projected
scheme of Interoceanic Communication by means
of the Tehuai^tepeo Eailway, and show that
the time is near at hand for its accomi>lishment.
Let us, therefore, go back for a moment, and
survey the little old world and its inhabitants
as they appeared about the middle of the fif-
teenth century. According to Ptolemy, the best
recognized authority, whose geography had
stood the test of thirteen hundred years, the
then known world was a strip of some seventy
degrees wide, mostly north of the equator, with
Cadiz on the west, and farthest India or Cathay
on the east, lying between the frozen and the
burning zones, botli impassable by man. The
inhabitants, as far as known in Europe, were
Christians and Mohamedans, the one sect about
half the age of the other. Christendom, the
elder, that once held considerable portions of
Asia and Africa, had been driven back inch by
* This chapter was contributed by Hbnrt Stbtbkb, g m b ; r 8 A, 4 Trafalgar
Square, London, May 10, 1869.
inch, in spite of the Crusades, even from the
Holy Land, the place of its birth, up into the
northwest corner of Europe ; and both in lands
and people was outnumbered six to one by the
followers of Mahomet. For seven hundred
years the fairest provinces of Spain acknowl-
edged the sway of the Moors, and the Mediter-
ranean, from Jaffa to the Gates of Hercules, was
under their control. The crescent was constantly
encroaching on the cross ; while Christendom,
schismatic, dismayed, demoralized, and disheart-
ened, seemed almost incapable of further resist-
ance.
India beyond the Ganges, from the days of
Moses, Alexander, and Aristotle, to say nothing
of the geographers Pomponius Mela, Strabo,
and Ptolemy, was deemed the land of promise,
the abode of luxury, the source of wealth, and
the home of the spices ; but the routes of com-
merce thither, via Venice and Genoa, by the Eed
Sea, Egypt, the Nile, Arabia, Asia Minor, the
Black and Caspian Seas, through Persia and
Tartary, were one by one being closed to Chris-
tians. The profits of the overland carrying
trade were mostlv in the hands of the Arabians,
who inherited it from the Bomans ; but Mem-
phis, Thebes, and Cairo, that flourished by it,
had declined as it fell off, and yielded to Alex-
andria nearer the sea. Finally, in 1453, Constan-
tinople, the Christian city of Constantine, fell
into the hands of the Turks, and with it the
commerce of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus,
the last of the old trading routes from the East
to the West. Christendom for a time was dis-
consolate, and could only **pray for the conter-
ition of the Turks." The whole of the carrying
trade passed into the hands of middle men or
agents, who passed goods without news, and In-
J/A
dia became more a land of mystery than ever ;
but this apparent misfortune proved to be the
beginning of a new and brighter era.
The learned Christians of Constantinople,
with nothing but their heads and their books,
fled in exile into Italy, and became its school-
masters. At once began there the revival of
learning, which soon extended throughout the
West. *' Westward the star of empire takes its
way." The Medici family of Italy, at Venice
and Florence, welcomed these learned Greeks,
and bought their precious manuscripts of ancient
lore. The gimpowder of Europe had already
silenced the Greek fire of Asia. On the Ehine
the young printing press was just giving forth
the flrst sheets. The compass and the astrolabe,
recent inventions, began now to give confidence
to mariners and teach them that, though the old
paths of trade overland were closed, they might
venture on new ones over sea. In 1453, in
Western Euroi)e there was no tea, no coffee,
no tobacco, no Indian corn, no potatoes ; and
many of the necessities of our day were not even
known as luxuries. Though the Crusades had
failed in their immediate objects, they had ex-
posed the secrets of the India trade, and the
vast revenues of the Eastern cities. The manu-
script travels of Marco Polo and Mandeville had
found their way into the hands of thinking
men. Venice was already waning, preparatory
to yielding its trade to Portugal, the then most
rising and active maritime power. Prince
Henry the Navigator had still ten years to live
to carry out his great schemes of discovery and
exploration of the western coast of Africa. He
was an ambitious student of geography, history,
mathematics, astronomy, and navigation, and
for almost forty years had stood alone. At the
6
early age of fifteen he had a successful brush
with the Moors at Oeuta, opposite Gibraltar ; and
by 1418 had crept down the coast of Africa to
Cape Nun, lat. 28° 40', the southern boundary
of Morocco. In 1434 his captains doubled Cape
Boyador, and seven years after obtained from
Pope Martin V a grant to the crown of Portu-
gal of all he should discover from this cape to
the Indies. In 1442 Eio del Oro was reached,
and gold and negro slaves brought back. These
were two real stimulants to Portuguese discoverj%
avarice, pride, and wealth, though the conver-
sion of the infidels to Christianity, was, no doubt,
a strong additional motive power. The reintro-
duction of negro slavery, and the part it soon
Ijlayed in commerce and the world's i)r ogress, may
be ascribed to Prince Henry. He encouraged the
traffic, which, with the love of gold and the
hatred of the Moors, aroused his countrymen to
his projects, and insured the promotion of dis-
covery, in so much that by the time of the fall
of Constantinople, his captains had reached
Cape Verde, lat. 14° 45' N, probably a few de-
grees beyond, and had exploded the old theory
of a boiling belt about the equator.
In all ages there had been a prevailing notion
that one might sail round Africa ; but when once
it was demonstrated that Portuguese sailors
could cross the equator and survive. Prince
Henry's vague idea of reaching the land of si)ices
by this route was confirmi^d. At all events, he
was schooling hardy sailors, and training them
for bolder work, so that soon after the date of
the fall of Constantinople, Italy and Portugal
had reached that turn for adventure and enter-
prise, which spread like wildfire throughout the
other Slates of Europe, and caused the entire
revolution in the commerce of the world.
In 1453, Columbus was a lad of six . years at
Genoa, Vespucci of two years at Florence, and
John Oal)ot a youth at Venice. The new learn-
ing at once took deep root. When these three
Italian boys became men, behold how changed !
The sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and
navigation had grown with their growth, and
developed with marvelous rapidity. The press
had spread broadcast the learning of the ancients.
The secrets of the earth were inquired into and
revealed. Many islands of the Atlantic had been
discovered and described, and sailors knew the
coasts of Europe and Africa from Iceland to Cape
Verde. But, above all, the knowledge of the
sphericity of our earth was no longer confined to
philosophers. Alexander had told Aristotle what
he knew of the East, and Aristotle had written
down that there was but a small space of sea be-
tween Spain and the eastern coast of Indiai
Strabo had said that nothing stood in the way of
a westerly passage from Spain to India but the
great breadth of the Atlantic Ocean ; but Seneca
said this sea might be passed in a few days with
favorable winds. Pomponius Mela and Macro-
bins put in like testimony, with certain difficul-
ties about passing burning zones, and the earth
being shaped like an egg floating in water. All
these opinions were rehashed and digested by
Ptolemy of Alexandria, in the second century,
who first properly reduced the globe into 360
degrees of latitude and longtitude. In latitude
he was as correct as he was incorrect in his longi-
tude. Eoger Bacon, an Englishman, again sum-
marized these theories in his Opus Majus, in the
thirteenth century ; and in the fifteenth century
Pierre d' Ailly, a Frenchman, reviewed the whole
question, bringing together the opinions of the
ancient writers named, as well as the fathers of
8
the church, including modern philosophers, trav-
elers, and theologians, especially Eoger Bacon,
Marco Polo, and Gerson, and gave to the world
his well-known Imago Mundi. This celebrated
work, finished in 1410, was afterwards the guide,
companion and friend of Columbus. The learned
^author was Provost of the ancient Ecclesiastical
College of St Die in Lorraine, away up in the
Vosges Mountains, in the remotest corner of
France. This was on the very spot where, nearly
a century later, in the Gymnasium within the
same precincts, a confraternity of some half dozen
earnest students, lovers of geography, of whom
the poet Mathias Eingman was the soul, in a little
work called CosmographicB Introduction printed
there in May, 1507, suggested that the New
World should be named America, after a man,
inasmuch as Europe and Asia had been named
after women. Thus a little mountain town of
Prance first gave aid and comfort to Columbus
and afterwards a name to the New World.
As early as 1474, Paul Toscanelli a learned
physician of Florence, sent to Columbus the
Chart of Marco Polo, and was in correspondence
with him on these very subjects, showing that
even then the plans of Columbus were maturing.
In 1478, the great geographical work of Ptolmey,
with the 27 beautiful copper plate maps, was
printed at Eome, and about the same time many
other of the ancient historians, poets, philoso-
phers, mathematicians, and astronomers saw the
light. The Imago Mmidi was printed at Louvain,
in 1483, and there still exists at Seville, Columbus'
own copy, with many of his manuscript notes,
discovered and described about forty years ago
by our countryman, Washington Irving.
Meanwhile, the work of discovery and ex-
ploration was earnestly pursued by the Portu-
guese. In 1454 Prince Henry secured the services
of Oadamosto, an intelligent Venetian, well ac-
quainted with the trade of the East, and sent
him down the coast of Africa, where he reduced
the explorations and trade to order, aild pushed
southward the discoveries to Sierra Leone in
1463, the year of Henry's death, and the capture
of Gibralter by Spain from the Moors. Kings
Alphonso and John continued these discoveries
with so much energy that, after passing Con-
go, the bold captain, Bartholomew Diaz, reached
the Cape of Good Hope, and looked beyond it, in
1487, thus completing an exploration of some
six thousand miles of coast line in seventy years.
Bartholomew Columbus was in this expediton.
Meanwhile King John had sent overland
through Egypt, Pedro de Covilham, to India and
Eastern Africa to gain information and report. In
1487 he rei)orted that he had visited Ormuz, Goa,
Calicut, &c., and had seen pepper and ginger, and
heard of cloves and cinnamon. He visited the
eastern coast of Africa, went down as far as
Sofala, and returning northward, sent a message
to King John that he had learned for certain that
if Diaz should pursue his course round Africa he
would reach India over the Eastern Ocean via
Sofala. This theoretical discovery of Covilham
exactly coincided with the practical one of Diaz.
All these events were but leading up to the
grandest discovery the world ever knew, but it
is difficult to trace the ijrecise origin and the
gradual development of the i)lans of Columbus.
We know, however, that at the early age of
fourteen he went to sea, educated with small
knowledge of Latin and less Greek; and in
1474, at the age of twenty-seven, was in corres-
pondence with Toscanelli, and became the father
of Diego, the boy for whom, some ten years
2
10
later, he begged a night's lodging at the Con-
vent of La Eabida, By the year 1487, when the
mystery of a path to India around Africa was
solved, he had not only completely worked out
his great idea of sailing West to find the East ;
but had offered his services in carrying it out,
first to his native city, Genoa, without success,
and had two years before brought it to Spain from
Portugal where his proposals had been openly
spurned and ridiculed, but treacherously though
unsuccessfully tested. It is tolerably certain
that much of his time had been spent in active
and practical maritime service, for he had been
down the coast of Africa as far as El Mina ; had
resided at Porto Santo, one of the out-lying
Portuguese islands of the Atlantic, the daughter
of whose first governor had become his wife;
had visited England and Iceland, and was ac-
quainted with the whole of the Mediterranean.
His brother Bartholomew had been a chart-maker
at Lisbon, and was his advocate at the .court of
Henry VII. We know from the writings of his
son Ferdinand tliat he was both a practical and
a learned mathematician as well as navigator.
He had read i)robably all the comi)ilations named
above, and his own experience, together with
what he had learned from the Portuguese, had
enabled him, with his Marco Polo in his pocket,
to sift all the vague and contradictory notions of
the ancients as to the Antij)odes and the shai)e
of our earth, as well as to cypher out a theory of
his own. For seven long years, after being worn
out and disgusted elsewhere, he danced attend-
ance on the Spanish court, with no fortune but
his idea ; sometimes threadbare and barefooted,
ever pressing his suit, never flagging in his con-
fidence, questioned and ridiculed by commissions
of geographers and scientific men, without ever
11
being able to penetrate the conservative igno-
rance of the learned and the courtly, or, as he
complained, to convince any one man how it was
possible to sail west and reach the East. But
Time was working for him then, as it is now for
Interoceanic Communication.
The fortieth year from the fall of Constan-
tinople, the forty-fifth of the age of Columbus,
witnessed the death of Lorenzo de Medici ; but
other suns were rising. Copernicus, in the far
north, was in his twentieth year ; Erasmus, his
twenty-fifth ; Cortes, his seventh ; and Luther,
his tenth. Martin Behaim, the old geographer
of the Azores, aged sixty-two, was home on a
visit to his native city of Nuremberg, from which
the tide of connnerce was ebbing. Here, in
1492, he made his famous globe of the whole
world, as if to lay down upon it all the knowledge
(and all the ignorance) of the geography of the
earth, preparatory to the opening of new books.
The same eventful year witnessed the exi)ulsion
of the Moors from Kpain, the opening of the
Mediterranean, and the discovery of America.
Mohamedanism received its first check, and
Christendom received a New World. These
three Italian boys were men. When Columbus
had balanced his egg for Spain, it was easy for
Vesi)ucci and the Cabots to do it for Portugal
and England. Italy, whose noble sons did this
in foreign service, never acquired a foot of the
newly discovered lands for herself, yet how much
of the honor was and still is hers. .
In 1493, within three months from the return
of Columbus, Alexander VI, a Spaniard, a Pope
of not a year's standing, wishing to reward Fer-
dinand and Isabella for their struggles in expel-
ling the Moors, divided our globe into two parts,
by a line of demarcation i)assing from pole to
12
pole, one hundred leagues west of the Azores and
Cape Verde islands, giving to Spain all she should
discover within 180"^ to the west of it, leaving
to Portugal all her African discoveries and the
Indies for 180° east of it. But poor Portugal,
that had been struggling seventy years in the
dark in her circuitous route to India round Afri-
ca, jealous of the new short cut of Columbus,
which had been offered to her and refused, pro-
tested against the position of this meridian. It
was finally settled in the treaty of Tordesillas, of
June, 1494, with the Pope's approval, that the
line should stand at three hundred and seventy
leagues west of the Azores. Had the King of
Portugal's geographers and pilots advised him to
contend for a line further east instead of further
west, he would have received within his half the
Moluccas and the other Spiceries. As some com-
pensation for this geographical blunder, how-
ever, he secured a foothold in Brazil. Both na-
tions were now running a race of discovery of
India by divers routes. By India is here meant
all the East beyond the Ganges, including China,
Cathay, Japan, and the Spice Islands. The ac-
quisitions of the Spanish were named the West
Indies, while those of the Portuguese were called
the Bast Indies.
Never was great discovery more modestly an-
nounced. '*j1 Letter of Christopher Columbus, to
wlwm our age is much indebted, respecting the Isl-
ands of India beyond the Ganges lately discovered,^ ^
dated February, 1493. Columbus thought his suc-
cess complete. ' He aimed at Zipangu, or Japan,
and, to his dying day in 1506, believed that he
had found it nearly where his calculations had
placed it, but never was man more mistaken, and
never did mistake produce greater results. Be-
lieving our earth to be a globe, Columbus rea-
13
soned correctly that by sailing west he would
come to the east of Marco Polo, but from want
of knowledge of longitude, he, like everybody
else, from Ptolemy down, was vastly deceived as
to the size of the globe. From Cadiz to the
Ganges the distance had been computed from the
days of Alexander, but was always much over-
rated. From the Ganges to the Corea and
Cathay, and thence to Zipangu fifteen hundred
miles more, the distance was also exaggerated
by Marco Polo. So that, still going east, the
distance from Zii)angu to Cadiz was calculated to
be about equal to the space from Palos to Saint
Domingo. Upon this error in longitude hung no
doubt the problem of circumnavigating the
globe, for had Columbus suspected the real dis-
tance to Japan by the west, he would never prob-
ably have ventured to penetrate the-^^'sea of
darkness," or have foimd sailors bold enough to
accompany him. The actual distance from San
Francisco to Hong Kong is nearly one-third more
than Columbus had reckoned it from Spain to
Cuba.
The sensation produced throughout Em'ope by
this discovery of a short and direct route to India
was great, but for nearly twenty years nobody sus-
pected the truth. The simijle letter of Colum-
bus in various editions, in prose and verse, was
about all that was published for ten years, but
the intelligence gave a new impulse to maritime
discovery and commercial enterprise. Columbus,
with full honors, returned in 1493, with a well
equipped fleet to explore his Archipelago. He
returned to Spain in June, 1496. Juan de la Co-
sa went with him in this second voyage. The
Portuguese now redoubled their energies, and,
in 1497, Vasco da Gama, just ten years after Diaz'
discovery of the Cape, circumnavigated Africa
14
and reached Calcutta. The same year the Oabots,
under a license of Henry VII, given in 1496, in
trying for a short cut to Oathay by the north-
west, discovered Newfoundland and other islands,
and took possession, supposing them to be oil*
China, and erected conjointly the flags of England
and Venice, on the 24th of June, 1497. The next
year Sebastian Cabot explored the coast from La-
brador to Virginia, that is, as he exi)ressed it,
to the latitude of Gibraltar and the hnigitude of
Cuba. These discoveries were in 1498 reported
to the kings of Spain by their vigilant ambassa-
dor in London, with the remark that he had seen
Cabot's chart, and would send home a copy of it.
What steps followed it is diflicult now to trace,
but the result appears to be that Henry VII,
never following up the discoveries after 1498,
Sebastian Cabot remained quietly at home till
the death of Henry, when he took service under
the king of Spain, ])ermitting his English and
Venetian rights of discovery and plantation to
lapse. Thus ended the first English and Vene-
tian attempts to reach Cathay by the northwest.
On the 30th of May, 1498, in his third voyage,
Columbus first touched the continent of America
in VenezAiela, though some still contend that
Vespucci had anticipated him by nearly one year.
He called it Paria, and reasoned himself into the
belief that it was Paradise, whence our first
parents had been driven. In 1499, Vicente Yafiez
Pinzon and Alonzo de Ojeda, private traders, with
the latter of whom was Vespucci on his second
voyage, visited Brazil under Spanish flags ; and
in 1500 Brazil was discovered accidentally (?) by
Cabral, in that gTcat fleet which the success of
Gama had called forth. He was blown out of his
course on his way to India, and took possession
for the Portuguese. Portugal thus gained un-
15
disputed possession of Eastern Brazil by rule
of ignorance of longitude, claiming it as hers be-
cause it was east of the line of demarcation. All
the science of Spain at that time could not dis-
prove this, and therefore Pinzon abandoned it to
the Portuguese. The same year, th^ Portuguese
hearing of the voyage of the Oabots, and proba-
bly suspecting irreverence in the English for Pa-
l)al bull lines of demarcation, sent Gaspar Oor-
tereal to follow in their track. Labrador was dis-
covered, and laborers (slaves) brought back to
Lisbon the 8th of October, 1501. A second voy-
age was made the next year by the same captain,
but not returning with his ship, a third expedition
was sent in search of him, under command of his
brother. Of this last expedition nothing was
ever heard, and thus ended the Portuguese at-
tempts to reach Cathay by the northwest.
In 1501 New Granada, Darien, and Panama
were taken possession of for the Spanish by Bas-
tides, and in 1501-2 Vespucci explored the coast
of Brazil for the Portuguese, down as far as 50°
S, lat., within two or three degrees of the strait,
and in 1502 there was published an accoimt of his
exi)edition under the title of Mundus Novus.
The years 1502 to 1504 were occupied by Colum-
bus in his fourth and last voyage, in which he
was accomi>anied by his brother Bartholemew,
and his son Fcrdinando, who afterwards wrote a
life of his father. He explored the coast of Ve-
ragua, still looking for the Ganges and inquiring
for the home of the Grand Kahn. An account
of this voyage, comiug down to July 7, 1503,
was printed at Venice in 1505.
In 1502 Valentim Fernandez, a German, at-
tached to the household of the ex-queen of Por-
tugal, edited and in'inted at Lisbon a collection
of voyages in the Portuguese language, com-
16
prising Marco Polo, Nicolo Oonti, Santo Ste-
phano, &c., with a view of stirring up the peo-
ple to a more lively interest in the commerce
and navigation of the Indies. The success of
Columbus and the Oabots is referred to, and the
speedy return of Cortereal from the north, from
his second voyage, is expected. This magnificent
folio volume, the first important book (not bibli-
cal) printed in Portugal, must have had a pow-
erful effect in drawing i)oi)ular attention to the
land of spices. It was the first collection of voy-
ages printed in the vernacular tongue, and could
be read by all the unlearned who had a penny to
venture. It was translated into Spanish, and
l)rinted at Seville in 1503. No rarer books are
now known to geograi)hers. In May, 1507, the
four voyages of Vespucci were i)ublished for the
first time together, in Latin, at St Die, in France,
as stated above, as an ai)i)endage to a little work
on cosmography, a science which now began to
assume new and startling importance.
On the third of November, the same year,
there was i)ublished in Italian, at Vicenza, a
most imi)ortant collection of voyages, under the
title. Countries newly discovered^ and the New
World of Albericus Vespucci, containing accounts
of the voyages of Oadamosto to Cape Verde, in
1454-5 ; of de Cintra to Seneg.il, in 1462 ; of
Vasco da Gama, in 1497-1500; of Cabral, in
1500-1 ; of Columbus (three voyages) ; of Alonzo
Negro and the Pinzons ; of Vespucci (four voy-
ages ; of Cortereal, &c. This work was the next
year, 1508, i)rinted in Latin and German.
AH these new geographical works hitherto
printed, it will be perceived, pointed to the same
thing, enlightenment of the public as to India
beyond the Ganges, and how to go and trade
tWther. In 1508, for the first time in print, all'
J
•Mb
M«l»
17
these discoveries were collected and laid down in
a beautiful copper-plate map, by Johann Ruysch,
a German, who had probably* visited the new
found islands with the Cabots, and knew well
what he was doing. It appears in the Ptolemy
of 1508, published at Kome, accompanied by A
new description of tite world, and tlie new Naviga-
tion of tlie Ocean from Lisbon to India, by Marcus
Beneventanus. A careful study of this map and
its descrii)tive text, if we exclude all subsequent
publications, and look at the world as seen by
the geographers of that day, will greatly aid us
in clearing up many ai)parent inconsistencies.
There were three distinct and independent
fields of discovery. Mrst, the Archipelago of
Columbus in the center, filling a space of above
a thousand miles from north to south, and open
to India. This part of the map was no doubt
laid down from Columbus' own letter, the only
authority, in 1507, existing in jnunt. He had, m-
deed, coasted along Paria from Trinidad west-
ward, in June, 1498, as Pinzon, Qjeda, and others
had done subsequently, supi)osiug it to be an-
other large island, or i)art of the mainland of
Cathay, but nothing of this had then been
printed. Second, the Mundus Novus of Vespucci^
* Bencvciitanus says "Joannes vero Ruiscli Germanus Geographo-
niin mco judicio peritissiraiis, ac in pingendo orle diligentissimus cujus
adtuiniculo in hac lucubratiuncula usi sumus, dixit, sc nayigasse ab
Albionis aiistrali parte ; et tamdiu quo ad subparallelum ab subssqua-
torc ad boream subgradum, 53, perveiiit ; et in eo parallelo navigasse
ad ortus littora per angulum noctis atque plures insulas lustrasse, qua-
rum inferius dcscriptionem assignabimus.'* Anglice : But John Ruyscli,
of Germany, in my judgment a most exact geographer, and a most
painstaking one in delineating the globe, to whose aid in this little work
I am indebted, has told me that he sailed from the south of England,
and penetrated as far as the 53d degree of north latitude [straits of
Belle l8le(?)], and on that paraKel he sailed toward the shores of the
East [A8ia(?)], beaiinga little northward, and explored many islands,
the description of which I have given below,
3
18
* being the eastern coast of South America from
Darien to Upper Patagonia, one vast Island with
an unknown background. The authority for this
was what has since been called Vespucci's "Third
Letter," first printed at the end of 1502, or prob-
ably early in 1503. And third, the discoveries of
the Oabots and the Oortereals in the north, re-
presented by them as part of the mainland of
Asia. This is only Marco Polo's chart of Oathay
extended considerably to the northeast, and mod-
ified by the experience, probably, of Kuysch
himself, and the information he gathered from
the Bristol men, when he was with them iu
1497-8.*
* Tho chart of Juan do la Cosa, representing the then known
world, bearing the date of 1500, is not overlooked, but its signiiieance, .
so far as the coast line of the ITnited States is concerned, has been so
manifestly distorted by almost every one who has described it, from
its discovery by Humboldt in the library of Baron Walckenacr,
nearly forty years ago, down to the present day, that the writer hesi-
tfites to venture his opinion. But by long study and comparison of
this with other early maps, especially those of Ruysch and Peter Mar-
tyr of 1508 and 1511, he is convinced that the coast line, from Hie most
westerly of tho five English il;ig-staifs marking the extent of Cabot's
discoveries southward and westward, to a point west of Cuba, pre-
cisely like the map of Ruysch seven or eight years later, is laid down
as the eastern coast of Cathay, from the map of Marco Polo. If our
Maine friends, therefore, will place behind their re I line border,
Marco Polo's name Mangi, they will sec that this tcrrftory is farther
" down East" than \9 generally supposed, being indeed Eastern Asia.
The word Cuba, instead of Juana the name given by Columbus, and
the fact that it is represented as an island, may be accounted for by a
circumstance mentioned by Peter Martyr, that it was customary to
add to recent maps the new discoveries as they were made.
La Cosa perished in Ojeda's mad expedition in Dec, 1509. He
was a clever fellow, and a great favorite, and used to boast that he
knew more of the geography of the new lands than did Columbus him-
self. Indeed, of all others, says Peter Martyr in 1514, his charts were
the most esteemed. His knowledge and experience were great, for he
had been, between the years 1493 and 1609, on no less tlian six explor-
ing expeditions^ either as pilot or commander, with Columbus, Ojeda,
Vespucci, and Bastides, and had visited repeatedly the entire coast,
from Paria to Uraba, and thence on Uis own account, north to the mi^'
19
Columbus had placed his discoveries in the
Indian Archipelago beyond the Ganges, and the
world accepted the names he gave to the sepa-
rate islands. No new general name was required.
Cabot's discoveries being also East, were so re-
dle of Yucatan, as well as most of the islands in Coliimb.us' vast Archi-
pelago. When with Bastides, in 1501-2, he found that the Portu-
guese were meddling on the wrong side of the line of demarcation, en-
deavoring, probably, to find a shorter route to Calcutta via Darien, and
therefore, on his return to Spain, La Cosa was sent to Lisbon to re-
monstrate against this encroachment. He was there imprisoned and was
not released till August, 1504. Nothing daunted, the next year, 1606-6,
he went on an exploring and trading expedition of his own to Uraba
and Panama, and on another similar one in 1507-8. On the 11th of
November, 1 509, he embarked with Ojeda from Ilispaniola, and per-
ished soon after. From this it will be seen that he might be in Spain,
chart-making, from June to October, 1500; from September, 1502, to
1 504, autumn (except when in prison in Lisbon) ; and again parts of
the years ISOG-?, as well as parts of 1508-9. He had, therefore, am-
ple time to touch up his great chart of the world, which he mode and
dated in 1500. The date is positive, and there is probably no reason
to doubt it. But that he did retouch it subsequently is apparent from
many circumstances. In the first place, there are manifestly two dis-
tinct letterings, in what may be called thin and thick letters, probably
all by ^he same hand, but written at considerable intervals. All the
thin letters may have been put on in 1500, but it is impossible to be-
lieve that all the thick letterings could have been received or known
in time to be recorded in that year. There are many other points
for discussion, but as the writer has never had under his eye the orig-
inal chart, but judges only from M. Jomard's excellent colored, fac-
simile on threcf double elephant folio sheets, he feels that he is treading
on ticklish ground. The fac-similics (greatly reduced in size) given
by Humboldt, Ghillany, Lelewel, and other writers, are in many re-
spects defective, and tend to mislead the student, inasmuch as the col-
oring, and the lines of latitude and longitude arc left out. Some names
are misplaced and others are misspelled, while many important ones
are omitted altogether. Only the western sheet or third, is given (ex-
cept b}' Humboldt). But it should not be forgotten that the chart is
intended to represent, on a plain, the entire globe- as far as known in
1600. There is a broad green border above and beyond the Ganges,
showing that the northeast of Asia is terra incognita. But La Cosa
had the same authorities up to the Polisacus river and bay, in latitude
52'" north that Behaim had for his globe ma.le in 1492. Hence the two
works agree reraarkably well, but La Cosa, taking advantage of the
seven years progress in geography has attempted to complete Asia by
20
cognized as he placed them, and required no new
general name, but his names of particular locali-
ties, such as Terra Nova and I^accalaos, were
adopted. But as to tlie Neiv World describe<l by
Vespucci, the case is dilferent. This large coun-
laying down its northeastern coast on the otlior side of the globe,
from somewhere about Zaiton in the Corea, to and some tliirty degrees
eastward, beyond the Polsiacus river and bay, through tlie king
doms of Gog and Magog, and thence by a dream line connecting Asia
with the discoveries* of the Cabots and the' Cortereals. The Polisan-
chiu river of Fra Mauro in 1457 is the Polisacus of lluysch and
the Ptolemies of 1511, 1513, 1535, and 1540. These and the Posacus *
of Schoner, the Puluisangu of Ortelius and l*ulisangu in later maps
maps are probably the Amoor river of our day. At all events, the
river and bay are in eastern Asia, are about 50° to 52° noi th latitude, and
therefore, America on La Cosa's chart cannot extend further west than
the left flagstaff, the meridian of Porto Rico. Tiie three rivers on the
three reduced facsimiles are not in the original map of La Cosa, and,
on one of them, the important words, Mar descubierta por YnffJenea, are
placed too low down and half an inch too far west, thus conveying the
idea that the English had discovered Mangi.
In short. La Cosa's coast line, from Cuba to the first flagstaff, was
intended for Asia, and to this day answers better for Asia than Amer-
ica. The student, therefore, who is not clear on th se points is liable
to get the Polisacus (sometimes spelled Plisacus) Bay, the Gulf of
Maine, Rio Gomez, Cathay, Memphranmgog, Gog and Magog, Quinsay ,
» Cape Cod, Rhode Island, New York, Zaiton, Zipangu, Capes Raee and
Henlopen, Mangi, Carolina, Ciambu, Florida, Chicora, Cuba, etc., into a
beautiful muddle. This is no exaggeration. This utter confusion has
been made b^' compilers and amateur geographers from the times of
Ilylacomilus, Apianus, Schoner, Laurence Fries, Orintius Fine, and
Muenster, to the present day, and no doubt will continue so until
geographers look more carefully into the chronology and bibliography
of their subjects. With these explanations this map is perfectly
intelligible, and is reconcilable with other good maps made since
the discovery of the Pacific in 1513, when America first began to stand
alone in geogra]>hy independent of Asia. The question next to be
asked is, how far west and south did Sebastian Cabot go in 1497-8 ?
According to Ruysch, as far probably as Cape Sable. The remark
of Peter Martyr, in 1515 (after their eyes were opened to the size
and shape of the globe by the discovery of the Pacific), about Cabot's
reaching on the American coast the latitude of Gibralter, and finding
himself then on a meridian of longitude far enough west to leave Cuba
on his left, is sim[ily absurd, dilemmatize it as you will. Siich a voy-
age would have landed him near Cincinnati.
21
try was undoubtedly new, and as his was the
first description of it printed, his friends of the
Vosges Mountains, lovers of geography, sought
very i)roi)erly, in 1507, to comi)liment him by
giving it, instead, the beautiful name America.
This was done without the knowledge of Ves-
imcci, and was never intended to interfere with
the just rights and claims of Columbus. The
truth is, there was then no other book in print
describing Brazil but Vespucci's very simple and
interesting letter^ written (but in what language
it is doubtful) probably immediately after his re-
turn in September, 1502. He gave the country
he described no name, but the translator into
Latin, Jean Basin de Sandacourt, Canon of St
Die, entitled his little tract Miindus Novus. But
time wore on, and the mistakes of the geogra-
phers, as well as those of Columbus and Ves-
pucci, are made apparent.*
In 1505-G Nicaragua, Honduras, and Yucatan
were seen by De Soils and Pinzon, and in 1508
Juana (henceforth called Cuba) was circumnavi-
gated by Ocami)o, thus dispelling the doubt about
ita being Zipangu, or part of the main land of
Asia. 1 1 was found to be a long, narrow island,
extending east and west, and not north and
* A little book, hitherto unknown, written by Walter Lud, and
priuted at Strasburg in 1507, entitled Speculi Orhls Declaration discov-
ered by the writer in 1862, has been the means of clearing up many
unjust aspersions of historians against Vespucci, and explain ng the
tiue state of affairs. The book is now in the British Mnseum. The
writer, after unsuccessful endeavors for two years to place it in Amer-
ica, at the end of March, 1864, had the great satisfaction of calling the
attention of his friend, R. II. Major, Esq., to it, and pointing out to
him the passages referring to the Vespucci books. How well Mr.
Major has used these materials his excellent paper on the Manuscript
Map of Leonardo da Vinci, printed in the Arclueoloyla, and his admir-
able Life of Prince Henry the Navigator ^ abundantly show. The next
year the writer called Monsieur Ilarrisse's attention to it, and in his
Bib. Am. Vet. it appears, under No. 49.
f>0
south, like Zipangu. A strange conlusion now
began to seize the German geographers of Stras-
burg and Vienna. They made Cuba an island,
and called it Isabella, and then transferred all
the names from Isabella to a mainland, named
usually. Terra de Cuba, connecting it with Paria
(sometimes witli and sometimes without a nar-
row strait), standing bolt upright, and extend-
ing to 45"* north latitude, with a point like Flor-
ida, and a gulf to the west of it. This was still
supposed to be part of Asia, but in reality ex-
isted only in the imaginations of the geograph-
ers, like Antilla and San Brandan. It holds on
their maps about twenty names, some of which
are found on Ruysch's large island or main land
west of Spagnola, and all of which are found on
early maps, especially on a Portuguese portolano
described by Lelewel under date of 1501-4. It
is in the Ptolemy of 1513, extending uj) to 45°,
while on the globe of Schoiier, of 1520, it reaches
51°, and is separated from Zii)angu by five or six
degTces of Balboa's newly discovered Pacific
Ocean. Off to the northeast, in its i)roi)er lati-
tude and longitude, most of these maps h^ve
Terra de Oorte Eeal as a large island, extending
probably as far as the Oabots and the Cortereals
discovered — that is, as far west as the mcrcdinn
of Porto Rico. Some mai>s have it Terra de Cuba,
others Paria ; and one, in the Margarita Philo-
sopliica of 1515, from a misreading of Columbus'
first letter, Zoana Mela. This fancy continent
grew in size for nearly a quarter of a century,
and was hard to get rid of, but the explora-
tions of Ayllon, Gomez, Verrazano, Cartier, and
others, finally drove it from our geograx>hies.
In 1512 Florida, up to Chicora, was explored
by Ponce de Leon, but it is now certain that it
had been discovered two or three years before,
23
probably by private adventurers, but perhaps by
Ocaiupo in his return voyage. iu 1508. At all
events, it appears correctly laid down in the ex-
cellent map of Peter Martyr printed at Seville
April 11, 1511, imder the designation, Isla de
Beiintmi. This map, exhibiting an unbroken
coast line from Cape Santa Cruz, in Brazil, to
Cape Catochc, in Yucatan, with hints of conti-
nental lines from Florida northward and west-
ward, and one due north of Yucatan, if studied
by the light of Peter Martyr's tenth book of his
second decade, dated December, 1514, will fore-
shadow an approaching eclii)se of Spanish cntcr-
l)rise.
There is little doubt that, at the time of
the publication of this most important map, the
author was still under the belief that all these
new main lands somehow pertained to the conti-
nent oT Asia. It is true, he informs us that some
philosoi)hers, and he leaves us to infer that he
was one of them, had their suspicions that Co-
lumbus was mistaken in his opinion of its being
Cathay, that the globe was larger than Columbus
supposed, and that he had not really reached the
antipodes, or the kingdom of the Grand Khan.
But when Columbus, in his fourth voyage, brought
home some popi)injays, and exhibited their bril-
liant plumage at court, the good old gossiping
letter writer acknowledged that the great Dis-
coverer was right, that such beautiful birds could
come only from the East. Hence, probably, on
this map the lines west of Beimeni and north of
Yucatan are dream lines from Marco Polo. In-
deed, Peter Martyr says, in his first decade, fin-
ished in 1510 and printed shortly after, that all
these provinces of Paria, Cariena, Canehiet, Cu-
quibacoa, Uraba, Veragua, and others, are sup-
posed to i)ertaiu to the continent of India, Flor-
24
ida and Beimini tbrgotteu by Marco Polo, and left
out of his report ! Shade of Sebastian Oabot !
In 1511 Cuba was settled under favorable aus-
pices, and with Diego Velasquez as governor
over well to do colonists, it became the base of
operations for extensive explorations. On the
8th of February, 1517, Francisco Hernandez de
Cordova, accompanied by Bernal Diaz del Cas-
tillo, he of the True History, and Antonio Ala-
minos as pilot, who as a boy had sailed with Co-
lumbus, set out on an exploring expedition to
the west, to look for trade, gold, jand the long-
sought passage to the land of promise. He went
by Cape Catoche, the Bay of Campeche, as far as
Champoton, and returned. The next year, 1518,
on the 5th of April, Juan de Grijalva set out on
tlie same route, with a better fleet and fuller in-
structions, accomi)anied by Bernal Diaz, Pedro
de Alvarado, and the ever faithful Palinurus, Al-
aminos. They visited Cozumel, Cape Catoche,
Campeche, Rio Tabasco, Potonchan, and named
the country New Spain. They went as far as
Panuco. Alvarado was sent back with the sick
and heaps of gold, but Grajalva himself did not
return to Cuba till the 15th of November. The
journal of this important expedition, kept by the
chaplain, Diei), was flrst published in Italian by
Zorzi, at Venice in 1520, as an appendage to the
Itinerario of Varthema.
Three days after Grijalva's return, Hernando
Cortes, on the 18th of November, 1518, with the
instructions in his pocket, which the governor
sought in vain to recall after the return and fav-
orable rei)ort of Alvarado, embarked on that most
wonderful exi)edition of modern history, but he
did not really leave Cuba for Cozumel till the
10th of February, 1519. He followed the courses
of Cordova and Grijalva till he reached Vera
25
Crnz. From thence lie ascended tlie Grand Pla-
teau, and what followed is known to all the world.
In his Second Relation, dated 30th October, 1520,
Cortes sent to the Eini)eror a niai) of the entire
Gulf of Mexico, well laid down, which was i)rint-
ed for the first time in 1524, at Augsburg, where
Charles V had resided. On this map are the
names of all the places at which he touched
from Yucatan along the coast as far as Vera
Cruz. These are, in order, Santo Anton, Eoca
Partida, Eio de Grijalva, Eio de la Palma, Eio
de dos botas, Caribes, Santo Andres, Eio de Co-
cuqualquo, Eoca partida, Eio de Vanderas, Eio
de Alvarado, P. de Sant Juan, Seville, Almeria,
and San Pedro. The Eio de Cocuqualquo was
surveyed for many miles, probably with the hope
of finding an opening to the South Sea.
In 1519, Francisco Garay, the Governor of
Jamaica, dispatched Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda
to explore the keys and coasts of Florida, but
owing to the reefs and contrary winds, he di-
rected his way round by the northwest coast by
Mobile Bay, and the Mississii)pi river to Vera
Cruz, thus completing a full and careful survey of
the Gulf of Mexico. But still the disappointing
report to the home government of Old Spain was
— no thoroughfare. Here was the eclipse. Por-
tugal had gained a strong foothold of eight hun-
dred miles on the coast of Brazil in consequence
of removing the Line westward. In this way
Spain became hemmed in between two lines of
<lemarcation, the one the breath of the Pope,
the other the Cordilleras of the new hemisphere,
tlie one about as impassible as the other, to the
Si)anish mind.
Thus all these three fields of discovery had by
degrees crept into one vast continent, extending
from the Arctic to the Antarc
…[truncated]