Although Chile cannot boast of many excellent harbors, with her extended coast line her ports are naturally numerous; 59 is the official number, of which 15 are primary ports with custom houses, while the rest are dependent, save Punta Arenas, which is proudly apart as a free port, the only one in this part of the world. The primary ports are not necessarily those with the best harbors, but were made such on account of the demands of commerce.
The service along the coast is similar to that of Peru except that the boats of the Peruvian Steamship Line do not go beyond their own shores, while there is additional service by Chilian steamers. Before the War 40 per cent of the engaged shipping was British. Service to and from Europe, formerly by way of the Straits, long ended at Valparaiso, later extending to Callao, and for one or two sailings to Panamá. The exigencies of war interfered with the execution of plans which are now being carried out or modified. European express service below Panamá is likely to be confined to the ports of Callao, Mollendo, Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta, Valparaiso, and Punta Arenas, with a possible call for coal at Coronel. Other express service may include Coquimbo and Talcahuano. Aside from the leading coastal lines a few companies operate smaller ships locally; on the sea, and 843 miles on the several navigable rivers at the south. There is also service among the southern islands and to Juan Fernandez, 400 miles to the west.
Valparaiso, as the most important Pacific port south of Panama, deserves especial attention. This rapidly growing city, population about 200,000, to one coming from the north seems quite European, with an atmosphere more crisp and businesslike than that of courtly Lima or picturesque La Paz. The semicircular bay is called a good harbor except when the north winds blow, as they are liable to do in winter. Some years ago a British steamer lying at anchor, in an unusually strong blow was sunk with all on board. A breakwater expected to avert such danger, has for some time been in construction; but the depth of water off shore has made the work difficult. Freight was formerly discharged into lighters and people into rowboats, the steamers anchoring at some distance from shore. Now, however, a fiscal mole 100 feet long, one half with a depth of water of 43 feet, the rest of 36 feet, provides all facilities. Valparaiso has fair hotels, providing insufficient accommodation for the rapidly increasing travel and business. In many respects the city is quite up to date, but unhappily here and in Santiago Americans in winter suffer more with the cold when sitting indoors than in La Paz and Lima, though for walking outside it is comfortable enough with the temperature near freezing. As a rule dwelling houses have no heating apparatus, no stoves, but in some hotel dining rooms electric heaters are employed, and oil stoves may be provided for Americans in their rooms. While Chile has coal mines, their production is insufficient for the use of shipping and of their varied industries, and the people are not accustomed to use either the native or the imported article for heating purposes.
The business section of Valparaiso is on a narrow strip of shore between the bay and the amphitheatre of hills, the level sector varying in width from two blocks to half a mile. Climbing up the slopes and crowning the hill tops is most of the residential district. The business section, largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1906, has been rebuilt in a more substantial manner, and it well compares with other cities of its size. Ascensors run by cable on inclined planes are in general use for the ascent of the bluffs, though paths and a few carriage roads wind steeply upward in the cañons here and there separating the hills, some of which rise to a height of 1000 feet. The suburb of Viña del Mar, population 34,000, a fashionable summer resort with a fine beach and club house, distant a half hour by rail, is much frequented by the foreign devotees of golf, tennis, and other athletic sports.
Other Ports. Of the other principal ports we have observed that Arica is the terminus of the Arica-La Paz Railway, that Iquique is important for nitrates, Antofagasta for nitrates, copper, and as the medium of commerce with Bolivia by the old railway to Oruro and now to La Paz; Coquimbo as the port of a province with both mineral and agricultural wealth. Below Valparaiso are better harbors. Concepción, the largest city south of Santiago, 350 miles distant, is spoken of as the outlet of the rich Province of that name, but being 12 miles from the mouth of the Bio-Bio River it is not a real seaport and is served by Talcahuano, 9 miles away, which has one of the best harbors on the coast. For this reason, though a much smaller city, population 24,000, it was selected as a military port and for the Government dry docks. A little farther south on Arauco Bay are Coronel and Lota, both important coaling stations, at one of which all steamers call; Lota, the larger city, has all conveniences for shipping. At the tip of the mainland in the Straits is Punta Arenas, not visited by the regular coasting steamers, but a port where every passing ship is likely to make a brief call.
While the Chilians have always cultivated a taste for the sea, for strategical more than commercial reasons railway construction has of late been strongly favored. In this medium of traffic Chile in proportion to her area is far ahead of the other West Coast countries. It is true that the difficulties of topography are less. The oldest existing line in Latin America was here constructed in 1849 by a Bostonian, William Wheelright, who later founded the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the earliest giving regular steamship service to Europe from the West Coast. This first railway line was from the port Caldera to the mining town Copiapó. The line from Valparaiso to Santiago, also constructed by Americans, was finished in 1863. Government ownership is popular in Chile, and of the 8000 miles of road in operation the State owns over 5000, with considerable extensions planned. Unfortunately six different gauges have been used, varying from 2 feet 6 inches on the Antofagasta Bolivia Line to 5 feet 6 inches on the Central Railway.
The Central Railway. This is a Government Line connecting Valparaiso with the capital Santiago, express trains with American parlor cars making the run of 117 miles in four hours. The road is now to be electrified. South along the rich Central Valley, the same Railway runs through sleeping cars to Valdivia and to Puerto Montt, the latter city 750 miles from Santiago. This section is well worth a visit, whether from a scenic or a business point of view. A bridge 1400 feet long and 300 above the bed of the Malleco River cost over $1,000,000.
There are many branches from the main line, some of these privately owned; most of them to coast ports, a few towards the Cordillera. Valdivia is the most southern ocean port to which a branch extends. Farther north, the third city of Chile, Concepción, is favored, and Talcahuano near by. From Concepción a coast road leads south to Lota, Coronel, and beyond. From Talca a line goes to Constitución, of some importance for agriculture, shipyards, and gold mining. Another branch goes to the port Pichilemu; from Santiago one extends 72 miles to the port San Antonio, nearer the capital than is Valparaiso but a secondary port to be improved by the building of docks. The Central Railway obviously forms a very important part of the real longitudinal railway, but the section which has the name Longitudinal begins farther north.
The South Longitudinal. From Calera on the Valparaiso-Santiago Railway a branch leads 45 miles to Cabildo, where begins the Longitudinal proper. This because of construction difficulties is of narrow gauge, one metre. On account of poor equipment and service, and the competition of steamship lines along the coast, its traffic is at present small; but with better facilities and increase of population it will be of much value. At last accounts there was weekly service to Antofagasta with two changes of cars, not counting the one from Valparaiso or Santiago in order to reach Cabildo. Here, three hours from Santiago, the South Longitudinal is taken to the city of Copiapó; for the Longitudinal has two sections. The ride is through a fairly pleasant country with varied scenery, the region being partly agricultural and partly mineral. In this section are heavy grades, rising to 6 per cent, requiring 28 miles of the rack system. Branches or other connecting lines here and there reach the sea. The road passes through the important port Coquimbo, and the adjoining Serena, at which point, 200 miles from Valparaiso, the desert land begins; though in river valleys there is still some verdure. From Vallenar on the main line a branch runs 31 miles to the port Huasco. A private line from the port Carrizal, 92 miles north of Huasco and 73 south of Caldera, crosses the Longitudinal. At Copiapó we come to the old line from Caldera, a fairly good port, shipping copper and doing considerable other business, though not a port of the first class. A branch in the other direction extends to San Antonio.
The North Longitudinal. At Copiapó we change to the North Longitudinal from which there is a branch to Chañaral, about 50 miles north of Caldera, on a large but exposed bay in one of the richest mineral districts of Atacama, with large smelting works, and exporting gold, silver, and copper. A private (British) railway system of 184 miles, crossing the Longitudinal, serves a nitrate district and the port of Taltal, 100 miles south of Antofagasta; a primary port on a well protected bay, with piers fitted with steam cranes, a centre of the nitrate and copper industries. Taltal is a modern town with important business houses. Besides gold, silver, and copper, the Province has some undeveloped nitrate land.
Farther on at Aguas Blancas, a railway belonging to the Bolivia-Antofagasta Company runs to Caleta Coloso, a port six miles south of Antofagasta and connected by rail with that city as well as with various nitrate properties. Farther still the Longitudinal crosses the Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway at Baquedano, where some traffic is exchanged. It is the intention of the Government to construct its own line to Antofagasta and to the port of Mejillones some miles north. Beyond this crossing, from Toco on the Longitudinal, the Anglo-Chilian Nitrate and Railway Company’s Line branches to the port of Tocopilla. At last Pintados, the one time terminus is reached, where connection is made with the Nitrate Railways, which go on to Iquique and Pisagua. But in spite of this the Government Line is now being prolonged to the former city. It is intended ultimately to extend the main line to Arica, 175 miles farther, a section likely to be unprofitable commercially but desired for other reasons. From Arica there is a railway to Tacna, near the Peruvian border, hence on completion of this section there would be through rail service from near the northern border to Puerto Montt in the far south, a primary port on the Gulf of Reloncavi. The length of the road from Puerto Montt to Jazpampa the present terminus, east of Pisagua, is 1902 miles; to Taratá, the most northern town in the mountains, the distance is 207 miles more.
The Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway. The Bolivian section of the important Antofagasta Railway has already been referred to. That in Chile deserves further consideration. British owned, like most of the Chilian railways not belonging to the State, it is the longest and most important of these. Although uncommonly narrow with a 2 foot 6 inch gauge, the sleeping cars are more comfortable than some with double the width. The road operates 835 miles of main track to La Paz, 518 of these in Chile. There is semi-weekly service to La Paz in practically two days, besides local trains. One thousand, two hundred and fifty miles of track are controlled by the Company. The climb begins at once, the road in 18 miles getting 1800 feet above the sea. At km. 36 a branch 70 miles long goes to the Boquete Nitrate Fields, altitude 5622 feet. At Prat, km. 59, a branch goes down to Mejillones, a new port, opened by the Company in 1906, called the finest harbor on the coast, capable of holding the fleets of the world (it was said when these were smaller) and so protected that shipping suffers no inconvenience from bad weather. Tocopilla, 37 miles north of Antofagasta, has direct rail connection with that city by a line 43 miles long. The main Antofagasta line, crossing the Longitudinal at km. 96, at km. 116 enters the principal nitrate district of this region and leaves it 35 miles beyond. In this section are 24 oficinas, as the nitrate plants are called, some of them models of their kind.
Going in either direction this part is traversed at night; otherwise one might be refreshed by the sight of a little green at Calama, 149 miles from Antofagasta, at six A.M. This was a copper mining centre in Inca days and a smelter is here now. At this altitude some persons stop a day, a good plan if one is not sure of his heart; though oxygen is now carried for use in emergency. At km. 254 is a short branch, 6 miles, to Chuquicamata, to be referred to later. Just beyond the Conchi station is a graceful viaduct with six lattice girder spans of 80 feet each, supported on steel trestle towers. This, called the highest viaduct in the world, is 336 feet above the water of the Rio Loa, at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. Here a branch line runs to the copper mines of Conchi Viejo. At San Pedro station, 195 miles, at 10,600 feet altitude, are reservoirs blasted from the solid rock, on which the Company spent $6,000,000 to supply Antofagasta, the nitrate fields, and the railway with water. The water comes from three different places, one of them 37 miles northeast and 14,500 feet above the sea: this source capable of supplying 6000 tons of water daily through 11-inch pipes.
The road now passes two snow capped volcanoes, from one of which smoke may be rising, and crosses a stream of lava one-third of a mile wide and several miles long, to the summit of the main line, 13,000 feet. Soon after, a borax lake belonging to a British company may be seen; 24 miles long, it is the largest single deposit in the world and the chief source of the world’s supply. At Ollague, where snow storms occasionally impede traffic, is a branch to the rich copper mines at Collahuasi. The Bolivian frontier is soon afterward crossed, and at Uyuni a change is made to the broader gauge line to La Paz.
The Trans-Andine Railway. Of all the railroads of Chile, the Trans-Andine is naturally the most famous, as a part of the only trans-continental railway south of Panama; but financially, as yet it is hardly a success. With post-war increase of traffic, there will doubtless be an improvement. The Trans-Andine section of metre gauge begins at Los Andes, altitude 2723 feet, 88 miles from Valparaiso. A change is here made from the State Line, 5.5-foot gauge. It is a distance of 43 miles to the tunnel, a steep climb up the Aconcagua River Valley, with a maximum grade of 8 per cent; 20 miles of rack railway are employed. There are 25 tunnels, and on the Aconcagua River or its branches, 118 bridges. The scenery is wild and the journey delightful. Sheds have been erected against snow and land slides. Up to 1916 the road was closed for several months each winter; but with an increase of sheds and with a force of men continually digging, the road was kept open through the years 1916, ’17 and ’18; it was seriously blocked in July, 1919. While previously passenger traffic was the more remunerative, in 1916 unusual efforts were made for the benefit of important freight which it was impossible to ship by sea.
The tunnel is at a height of 10,486 feet, its length is 10,385 feet, each practically two miles. The boundary line is near the middle, each country building to that point; but the whole is operated as one line from Los Andes to Mendoza. The line was opened in the Centennial year, April 16, 1910, in time for the Exposition at Buenos Aires. The cost of the Chilian section was about $15,000,000. Operation is at a loss, interest being paid by the Government. The capitalization is $317,000 a mile. Fifteen Trans-Andine projects have been put forward, most of them for the south, one from near Puerto Montt. One in construction is from Talcahuano to Bahia Blanca by way of Temuco. A road from Punta Arenas to the Loreto coal fields is the most southern railway in the world, as that is the most southern city. The early construction is expected of an important road at the north from Salta in Argentina by Huaytiquina on the border to Antofagasta. Of wagon roads there are said to be 20,000 miles.
The Arica-La Paz Railway is described on page 222.