Report

Front matter

REPORT

LIC. MANUEL FERNANDO SOTO

REPRESENTATIVE

II Traffic and Operating Expenses of the completed lines

I have shown in the preceeding chapter, that the line to Tuxpan ought to be considered as the main line, because that is the objective point, and those to Pachuca, Irolo and Teoloyucan as branches; but 215 kilometres being still required to reach that port, and Pachuca being at present the principal center of the system, through the prosperity of its mines, each one of the branches has gone on increasing in traffic as fast as these have been completed and opened to the public service.

The Teoloyucan line which connects with the Central and National Railroads, measures 54 kilometres from San Agustin, and was duly opened to traffic, but was rendered useless by the branch from Tula to Pachuca which was conceded to the Central Railroad Company.

The line from Irolo by way of San Agustin and Tepa to Pachuca, and which was the first to be constructed, with a view to communicating with the City of Mexico and the port of Vera Cruz, has a length of GO kilometres; it was opened to public traffic on the 1st. of January, 1883, and transported in that same year 37.198 pasengers who produced an income to the Company of $25,7 13.04; and 17,882 1/2 tons of merchandise, which paid the Company $32,220.80 in freight.

The next line to be opened was that to Santa Maria, in the direction of Tulancingo, and this ought to be considered as part of the main line. It has a length of 12 kilometres and was opened to public traffic on the 5th. of May, 1884; producing an inmmediate increase in the returns, which show that it carried 56,207 passengers who paid $32,648.22; and 34.548 % tons of merchandise, which paid $53,388.66 in freight.

The Teoloyucan branch which connected with the Central and National Railroads, has a length of 54 kilometres; it starts from San Agustin and passes through the towns of Tezontepec, Tizayuca and Zumpango, also producing an increase of traffic to the Company.

The traffic on this line, which afforded an outlet to the passengers and freight from Pachuca and Tulancingo to the National Raiload, lasted until the 16th of Sept. 1890 as regards passengers, and a month more as regards freight, because on those dates the Northeastern Railroad w'as inaugurated, which starting from Peralvillo in this City, connected with the Hidalgo Railroad in Tizayuca.

The Northeastern line does not form any part of the Hidalgo system, as it was constructed under a separate concession decreed on the 28th. of August, 1888, with the same conditions of those of the latter road, but with a smaller subsidy, as it only amounts to $6,000 per kilometre, wrhilst the free importation of material for construction and maintainance is very much restricted. This line was constructed in less than two years and is now being operated by the Hidalgo Company under a lease.

The entry of this Northeastern line to the City of Mexico resulted in an economy of distance to passengers and freight of 27 kilometres with respect to the Irolo branch, and of 14 kilometres with respect to the Teoloyucan branch.

The advantages which the Hidalgo Company derives from the direct communication over the Northeastern line, with Mexico City, are plainly felt in the competition which it has to sustain with the Vera Cruz Railroad Company, which has already built a branch to Pachuca, that starting from Ometusco, runs parallel to the Hidalgo line, the other competitor being the Central Railroad, which has opened a branch from Tula to Pachuca.

Another advantage that has been obtained, is that of facilitating the transport of different kinds of building stone and other material for use in the City of Mexico, as a branch has been built with a length of 422 meters to Cerro Gordo, and another of 936 meters to Tultpetlac. Another branch is in course of construction to the Custom House, and will have a length of 286 meters.

With a view to facilitating the understanding of the situation in which the Hidalgo Company stands in the year 1891, I beg to hand you a table showing the traffic as well as its material and financial resources, that will enable you at first glance to understand its position, the different variations in the concessions and progress of the work, and the point to which it has now arrived. This table I have no doubt will give you a clear and concise idea of the results which have attended the work of the Company.

TA(BLE showing the traffic on the Hidalgo and Northeastern (Railways during

'ear i8gi, giving their length , stations ,

■k, total receipts, expenses, debts and nett profits.

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Total

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Kilograms

15,506

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Other

freight

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259,834

Pulque

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229,33 |

Coal

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42,575

Baggage

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1,955

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2nd. In the first half year, the goods carried by Express were added to the "Other freight “ and on the second year, to the baggage. ’

3rd. The weight of the silver coin was added to the "Other freight," as well as the mail bags, freight for the Federal Government and that belonging to this Company.

4th. This table includes the traffic on the Northeastern Railway, from Mexico to Tizayuca, which is operated for account of the Hidalgo Railroad Company.

5th. In the daily averages ali fractions of less than one half have been omitted, and all o ^ t-h h CO

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III

Probable Future of the Railroad In connection with the Agricultural and Mineral Riches of the country which it traverses.

This in my opinion, is the most important part of the report and in it we have to take into consideration the situation of the Main Line and its Branches.

The Southern part of the line which runs through large pulque-producing districts, the Valley of Tulancingo, which is such a large producer of cereals, and the Teoloyucan Branch, all merit special attention.

The Pulque-producing districts, which provide a certain and continuos traffic for the Hidalgo Railroad, are well worthy of special attention on our part.

The consumption of the City of Mexico, amounts to 750 barrels daily, equivalent to lOOOcargas, and as each daily carga that is produced gives a value of $10,000 to the estate that produces it, we find that the pulque-producing lands can be fairly valued at $10,000,000, which are divided between the States of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla and Tlaxcala.

Supposing that the consumption of the Cities of Pachuca, Puebla and others, where this drink is coming into general use, should be rather less than that of the capital, we then find that the pulque producing lands, for the sole production of this liquor, are worth almost $20,000,000 and the greater part of their products are carried over the Hidalgo Railroad.

It is to be remarked, that if this liquor is useful and nutritious for the general class of labourers, it is even necessary for miners, as it has been observed in Pachuca that from the time when pulque has been allowed in the Mines, dates the disappearance of the terrible disease that is known under the name of “Madurez/* which arose from the necessity of working in cold and damp places where the sun never penetrated, and the men breathed a vitiated atmosphere. *

In the hot countries where the perspiration is continuous, because the heat of the body leaves the stomach and goes to the extremities, the use of pulque is also found to be very beneficial, and for this reason we find it introduced by railroad on the large estates in Cuautla and Yautepec; whilst it is evident that the same will happen in Izucar de Matamoros and on the estates in the District of Cuernavaca as soon as the roads to those places are completed. There is no doubt but that this product will come into general use on both sides of the Railroad to Acapulco as soon as it reaches that port.

The same thing will happen with the barley which is also cultivated on the estates, as it is the most nutritious and proper food for working animals, and gives very good results in the primary stages of the fattening of hogs.

It is more than probable that the good results obtained from the use of pulque by labourers in the mines, as a preventive against disease, will extend its use to other mineral districts in the different States, thus greatly increasing the freights on other lines of railroads, as the avandtages of this liquor become known.

From all this, I infer that the pulque estates find their importance assured by the establishment and the extension of railroads.

The contrary will happen with the products of the corn farms in the Valley of Tulancingo, as these will undoubtedly have to go through a crisis on account of the competition from other parts of the country, such as will necessarily be brought about by the opening up of railroads to to the different mining camps of the district of Pachuca, which is the natural market for the products of this valley.

In this neighbourhood, although the best lands produce even four hundredfold when well manured, a return that may be considered exceptional even on irrigated lands, the average returns give only from 100 to 200, and on account of the climate the soil requires to be very well cultivated, and have seven or eight months allowed for the growth of the plant.

The result is, that selling the corn at $3 per carga hardly covers the cost of the cultivation, all that is received above this price being profit, and all that is received under beingloss.

It is evident that corn having been brought from Patzcuaro to Pachuca, a distance of almost one hundred leagues, for $2, and the latter city being now in communication by means of three distinct railroads with the low lands of the State of Guanajuato, with Queretaro, and with the eastern districts of the State of Puebla, the valley of Tulancingo will not be able to withstand the competition unless it improves its agricultural methods by the introduction of machinery, and the employment of a system of manuring which is so far unknown.

I believe that the easiest and most inmediate remedy can be found in the use of lime, and in this matter the railroads can be of great service; but after that, the agriculturists of that valley will have to recur to the use of chemical manures.

An abundance of lime is found in Tizayuca, wiiich is one of the stations on the Hidalgo Line, wrhere the stone can be obtained for $1 the wagon-load of 120 arrobas. The same line crosses a forest on its way to Tulancingo, from whence an abundance of fuel can be procured at a low price, and where lime kilns could be established on the system of continuous burning, the stone being brought from Tizayuca and the burnt lime afterwards transported to the Valley of Tulancingo.

Under such processes the Hidalgo Railroad Company would increase its freights, and the agriculturists of the valley would be in a favourable condition to compete in the Pachuca market with the cereals that would reach it by the other railroad lines which have been established.

The Zumpango line of the Hidalgo Railroad, and the North-eastern line which reaches Peralvillo, will also contribute to the improvements in agriculture, as they will facilitate the working on a large scale of the beds of nitrate of soda which are found in the neighbourhood of Lakes Zumpango and Texcocoin the Valley of Mexico, and which can furnish an abundances of artificial manures.

From several experiments that have been made with these nitrates, under the George Ville system, I do not feel the slightest doubt of our arriving at satisfactory results in the production of artificial manures, much more satisfactory than those which have been reached in Europe, where the raw materials for their manufacture command much higher prices than in this country.

The transport of the nitrate of soda from these lakes would be another great reason for improvement, both in the amount of freight carried by the Hidalgo Company, as well as in the agricultural products on the main line and branches, without taking into consideration the improvement in the country on the other lines of' railroads when ever these manures came into general use, as they have done in Europe and the United States.

I very much fear that this nitrate will be worked on a large scale, and exported abroad for use in agriculture, and that with the fatal inertia that proceeds from our routine methods and from the ignorance of our agricultural classes, we Mexicans will not put forth any efforts to retain this valuable provision of nature.

Probably the same will happen in this matter as happens in the Spanish ports and even in the Mexican, where large quantities of bones are shipped to be employed as manure abroad, whilst the land which has produced them and which really requires them, daily grows poorer.

Siebig says, that any country which exports the bones it produces will come to proverty in the course of time, and the country which receives them will become fertile. This explains to us how it happens that the Argentine Republic annually exports to England, bones to the value of millions of dollars.

In the inmediate neighborhood of Tulancingo and in the ravines to the westward of the same valley, we find deposits of chalk and of sulphate of alumina which serve amongst other purposes, for the preparation of a manure which is made with the help of the mud out of the sewers, in the proportion of two pounds for each cubic metre of mud. The preparation of this manure, is not only a powerful help to the fertility of the soil, but also results in the disinfection of the atmosphere, and contributes to the sanitation of townsnnd villages.

By the employment of this process, we should get rid of those pools of stagnant and fermenting liquids formed of human excreta, accompanied by the waters in which clothes have been washed and refuse of the kitchens; the whole fermenting in the sun and producing typhus, fevers of all kinds and many other diseases.

Two small tanks placed in each house would be enough to disinfect and solidify these matters with the sulphate, and the product would be eagerly purchased by the farmers, thus forming a new industry in the exploitation of the sulphate of alumina and providing a valuable manure which would increase the agricultural productiveness of the country besides a safe increase in the freights of the Hidaigo Railroad and connecting lines.

The working of the chalk with the object of applying it to the utilization of the stable dung which is now abandoned to the acti on of air and sun, losing its ammonia and reducing its fertilizing value to the fifth part of what it ought to be, would also be a great advance in the science of agriculture; as this same stable dung when properly prepared with powdered chalk, effects a chemical transformation in the ammonia and preserves its action on the plants for nine years, in place of the three which is its present utmost duration.

The working of this chalk on a large scale would also be a new industry of the greatest utility both to agriculture and to the Railroad Company, through the increase it would occasion in freights.

IV Future of the Vega of Mextitlan

According to the surveys which have been made up to the present, the Railroad would have to commence ascending in the neighborhood of Apulco in order to take the direction of the basin of the river Chiflon, and afterwards cross the Sierra Alta, which forms part of the Sierra Madre, and divides the Valley of Tulancingo from the Huasteca district, sitauted on coast of the Gulf of Mexico. In the country lying between Apulco and the river Chiflon, a branch of the Railroad will very soon have to be built extending over the southern slopes of the mountain of Zacualtipan, and providing an outlet to the products of the Vega of Mextitlan.

This valley has a great future before it in agriculture* having anextent of ten leagues with several towns and villages, and an area of 4,000 fanegas adapted for the cultivation of corn, with a soil of the most fertile kind producing as much as four to six hundred fold.

In order to give a better understanding of the depth of this alluvial soil, it is enough to say that the little church of a village which was inundated a few years ago at the same time as the entire valley, has remained more than half buried, and the parishioners who attend religious services are now obliged to enter the church by the window of the choir and then descend by a ladder to the floor of the church.

A few years ago a limited company was organized for the purpose of draining the Vega, by means of a tunnel through the ridge which detains the water, the proprietors of the lands thus drained, paying a dollar or a dollar and a half for the period of fifteen years, for each quart of corn sown, according to the depth of the wrater. The work was duly commenced, and a good part of the tunnel was driven.

but it was not lined with masonry, and though it drained a part of the lake, the want of lining allowed the tunnel to cave in at certain points and the water rose again in the lake.

I understand that the capital of the Company was insufficient for the magnitude of this work, but I also believe that the proximity of a railroad on the eastern side of the valley would promote to the re-organization of this Company, even though it might be necessary to amend its bye-laws; because this work would require other auxiliary works, such as irrigation canals, over a country extending for ten leagues.

This valley, if it were all sown with corn and producing its average of 500 fold, would give us the enormous amount of 2,000,000 fanegas per annum, and even if it did not produce more than the tenth part, it would ruin the cultivators of corn in the temperate and cold zones, and principally those of the valley of Tulancingo, which is the nearest and requires most cultivation. In the Vega of Mextitlan they do not require to do more than sow the corn and hoe it up, whilst the wages are not more than a third part of those paid in the valley of Tulancingo.

Nevertheless, the work is at present unfinished, and to complete it in a safe manner, it will be necessary to clean out and line the tunnel, as well as the irrigation canals; and although a part of the Vega may drain itself, as happened four years ago, I believe that it would be only prudent for the cultivators of that district to bear in mind the probabilities of its completion, so as to take up land in that neighhorhod and turn their attention to the cultivation of tropical products such as cotton, tobacco, indigo, rice, and many others that require a hot climate, thus giving a practical proof to the inhabitants of the Vega, that tropical products give a much better profit than corn.

But this is not enough to bring about an equilibrium between production and consumption, as it is very probable that once the railroad approaches on the eastern side of the Vega, a company would be organized to take over the undertaking in its present state and to complete the work, and that some years will pass yet before the inhabitants abandon the cultivation of corn and dedicate themselves to the cultivation of tropical products, and that meanwhile the other cultvators of that crop will find themselves ruined.

This case, which is not so very remote, is very similar to that which passed in France with the cultivation of wheat, when that which was cultivated in the west of the United States began to arrive in that country and sell at $6, whilst in France, the same as amongst ourselves, the ordinary price of wheat was $7 to $10. People then saw clearly the necessity of abandoning the cultivation of wheat and of turning their attention to the breeding of milch cows in all those points where a suficiencv of water was found for the cultivation of forage; aind the result has been that this necessity has considerably developed and perfected the breeding of stock for the different purposes of milking, slaughter, and draught.

This remarkable event which took place in France a few years ago ought to be taken into consideration by those farmers who dedicate their attention to the cultivation of corn, and principaly by those of the Valley of Tulancingo, who now produce from 50 to 100,000 cargas in each year according to the more or less favorable weather of the season; for if the year 1801 was so favorable for them, the preceding one ot 1890 was so unfortunate for those farms which have no irrigation, that they hardly harvested the corn which was indispensably required for the rations of their laborers.

The valley of Tulancingo may be considered as divided into two parts: the southern part being the smaller, the more fertile because is is irrigated by two streams, and therefore the more valuable and productive, but at the same time limited to about foursquare leagues, but unfortunately it has no irrigation and is subject to the vicissitudes of all the seasons of the year.

It is very evident to me, that the farmers in the southern part of the valley, are those who will have to improve their methods of cultivation by the employment of manures, whether of lime or of any other chemical preparation; by the introduction of machinery on a much larger scale, by tho improvement of their breed of stock, aud by the cultivation of forage in the way that was done in France when the farmers were threatened with ruin by the importation of wheat from the United States. At the same time we must bear in mind that in that country the agricultural disaster could to some extent be avoided by an increase in the customs duties; whereas in our case, once the railroad has reached the neighborhood of the V ega, no such remedy is at hand, and therefore it is indispensable that the productions of this valley should be altered so as to provide against the disturbance of the equilibrium between itself and the consumption.

This same conflict of interests which will follow the prolongation of the Hidalgo Railroad, is a proof of the general fact that the agricultural production will be prodigiously increased, and will serve as a strong impulse to the advancement and modification of the present methods of cultivation, as the farmers will find themselves between the horns of a terrible dilemma; “Either progress or ruin.“

With respect to the northern part of the valley, which is traversed by the Rio Grande and the Rio Tortugas, flowing in deep ravines that prevent the Utilization of the little water that flows in the dry season, I believe that irrigation could be carried out by means of hydraulic pumps, moved by steam power; that forage plants could be introduced which would he appropiate for those dry lands, thus facilitating the breeding of stock which would be selected out of those breeds best adapted to fattening and for draught.

That the plantations of maguey could be extended as well as the cultivation of barley, the latter crop requiring only four or five months to ripen during the rainy season, besides plantations of the maguey that produces ixtle,

I believe that this will be done throughout the 25 leagues contained in that part of the valley, but they will not be able to sow corn at a cost of $3 per carga, because once the Vega is drained, they will be able to buy it at a $1.50 to $2.00 on the line of the Hidalgo Railroad,

Perhaps in the southern part, and with the help of the irrigation which secures the crop of winter barley, they will also be able to secure the wheat crop after preparing the seed with chemical substances so as to prevent smut, as for the last two years experiments have been made with the best results; and if in the course of a few years these results are confirmed, we will be able to consider this branch of agriculture saved, because in that valley, when the wheat is not attacked by smut, it produces from 30 to 60 fold; although this does not happen above oncein every five or six years.

This advantage however, will be of no use to the farmers in the northern part of the valley, as they have no irrigation, or at least, only a little artificial irrigation in certain periods of the year.

The remarkable difference that we find bet wen the wheat crops in this part of the central table lands of our country, and those which are harvested in Europe and the United States, consists in the fact that here the winters are dry and the frosts leave very little humidity behind them, whilst in many winters not a single drop of water falls. In other countries they have a certainty of an abundant tall of rain and perhaps of snow, causing the wheat which is already sown to germinate and strike out its roots under the layer of snow, which provides the earth with the moisture required for its developement.

That is the reason why in those countries the wheat barley, rye and oats form the principal food of the people whilst with us the corn performs that office, as we can only count on the rains of the Spring, Summer and Autumn and only very rarely in winter.

The exportation of corn to Yucatan by way of Tuxpan, whenever the Hidalgo reaches that port, is another very natural solution of the question, as that peninsula receives flour and corn from the Uuited States, the same as other ports on the Gulf Coast. This is due to the high freight tariffs of the Mexican Railroad which will not give any reduction such as it allows for the goods whichare to be exported, alleging that although those for Yucatan and Coast towns are also embarked, nevertheless they do not go abroad. From this arises the strange anomaly that the products of our agriculture cannot provide the wants of that important section of the country, and that those districts have to import their necessary food from abroad, to the great prejudice of the national agriculture.

For this reason it appears to me evident, that if the irri' gation farms in the districts through which the Hidalgo Railroad will run, can only avoid the attacks of smut in their growing wheat, increase their production by the use of manures and machinery, and improve their breed of cattle, they need not fear the drainage of the Vega; because although that favored district may by able to harvest wonderful crops of corn, they will find a natural outlet for it through the port of Tuxpan to the peninsula of Yucatan as well as for the flour which will come from the valley of Tulancingo, with a large increase in amount as the result of the improved methods of cultivation. T am also convinced that the inhabitants of the Vega will be practically persuaded that the cultivation of tropical products is and always will be more profitable through the depreciation of silver, as they will substitute them with great advantage in the payments which the trade of the country constantly has to make abroad. And lastly that the completion of the Hidalgo line to the port of Tuxpan, will work a beneficial transformation both for the agricultural and general prosperity of the country.

V. Minning District of Pachuca

The mining industry is today the most important in the State of Hidalgo, not only on account of the prosperous condition of some of its mines which are working with profit, and others which can almost cover their expenses, but principally because they arouse a spirit of enterprise and animate the people to work, thus multiplying the number of mines opened. In this way the hope of profit rather than the reality, is what develops this industry, because when the profit is reached the operating expenses are very much increased, though unfortunately this rarely happens in this deceitful branch of industry.