Guatemala has more miles of railway than all the other Central American republics together. And yet there are not more than half enough to properly develop the country. There are still a number of important cities and large agricultural districts which have no rail communication with either the coast or the rest of the republic. Nothing will contribute more to the prosperity and peace of the country than an extension of the existing lines into even the most remote sections.

The larger cities are all situated at some distance from the coast and several of them at an altitude of more than a mile in the mountains. Communication with the coast and rest of the country is over long, narrow and rough trails. The transportation of commerce is slow and expensive and requires thousands of cargadors, mules and the patient burros. Furthermore, the very isolation of the people and difficulty of communication keeps them aloof from modern progress, and leaves them content with things as they are, and with no ambition for anything more advanced or better than was enjoyed by their forefathers. The Indians rather look with distrust upon the encroaching iron highways as they fear they will interfere with their employment. Their opposition, however, is a mild one and contents itself with looking on at the advancing track in an idle and listless way. They aid in the construction work when the mood is upon them, or they are compelled to by the authorities; at other times they refuse, and the question of steady and satisfactory labour is sometimes a hard one to solve by the railroad contractor.

The building of railroads has been encouraged by the present government both by liberal concessions and the granting of subsidies, and about two hundred miles have been constructed since Cabrera became President. Several other concessions have been granted but the government has not been in a position to meet the payments promised, so that the projects have been held in abeyance. It is absolutely necessary for the government to meet a fair proportion of the construction expense, otherwise railroad building would not be a profitable undertaking because of the undeveloped condition of the country.

The greatest undertaking before the country at the present time is the Pan American Railway of which little has been heard in the United States until recently, and a great many think that it is merely an idle dream. These people may be surprised to learn that it will soon be an accomplished fact so far as the North American continent is concerned. A railroad by that name has just been completed from San Geronimo, on the Tehuantepec National Railroad, in Mexico, to the Guatemala frontier, a distance of about three hundred miles. More than this, the road is already in operation and regular through trains are running to Tapachula, only a few miles from the boundary of Guatemala. As soon as the Occidental Railway of Guatemala is extended about thirty miles from Retalhuleu to connect with the Mexican line at the border, there will be an all-rail line from Canada and the United States to Guatemala City. A concession has already been granted for this line and it will be built at once by the same people who have just completed the Mexican portion of this scheme so successfully. The present line from Retalhuleu to Escuintla, about eighty miles, will become a part of the through connecting system that will be extended at least to Panama, if not beyond. This much is a certainty, and that it will be completed within a very few years is my prediction. Through trains will not be a possibility, however, unless the Guatemala and other Central American lines are broadened to standard gauge, for at present all the Central American lines in operation and in construction are built of narrow gauge width. The Mexican connecting lines are all of standard gauge construction.

A survey was made a few years ago from Oaxaca, Mexico, to the northernmost railroad connection in the Argentine Republic, and all of the Spanish-American republics are looking forward to the completion of this great scheme at some day in the future. Its construction to Panama would, I believe, be of great assistance in preserving peace and in engendering a better feeling between the states of Central America, as it would facilitate commerce among them and would give them one common interest. At present there is no railroad in any of the republics that reaches the boundary of any other, so that communication is generally by sea and through the ports.

The Occidental Railway starts at the important port of Champerico and, with the Guatemala Central, forms a through line to the capital city. It has been in operation for several years and has aided very much in the development of this section of the country. The first city touched by it on the way to the capital is Retalhuleu, the capital of a department and one of the principal cities of the republic, which boasts a population of twelve thousand inhabitants. The buildings are nearly all one-storied, and the streets are narrow and ill-paved. The sidewalks are scarcely wide enough for two people to walk abreast. Door-steps and window-sills project beyond the houses to such an extent that walking abroad at night is rather dangerous. It has an elevation of nearly a thousand feet above sea level so that its temperature is much better than on the coast. It is now one of the principal shipping points of the coffee for which this region is famous, and quite a number of Germans are engaged in that business in the city. There are no manufacturing industries outside of the small plants needed for local wants.

The road passes through many coffee fincas, or plantations, after passing a small junction point, Mulua. From this place a branch line runs to San Felipe, within about twenty-five miles of Quezaltenango, which city for a long time was in control of the coffee market of the country and the second city in the republic. The earthquake of 1902 not only ruined that city but destroyed many a fine coffee plantation. It lies in a basin surrounded by hills nearly a mile and a half above sea level and is shadowed by the volcano Santa Maria. Before disaster overtook it, the city housed a population of twenty-five thousand people. It has always been noted as one of the strongest centres of the priestly power—at least second only to the capital. The road to Quezaltenango in the rainy season is almost impassable. Take one of our country lanes, cut ditches across it, dig deep pits in it, throw some big stones in the centre of it, and run a few streams across it, and you have a fair sample of what this road is when the rains are beating upon it each day. A concession has been granted to complete this branch to Quezaltenango, and it is an improvement much needed. The completion of the line is promised in the near future by the government.

A number of towns of more or less importance are reached by the railroad. With the exception of Mazatenango, a town of about the size of Retalhuleu, and Patulul, they are all sleepy looking places where the hungry-looking dogs and buzzards are the only creatures that seem to be busy or even looking for something to do. It is a good thing for these places that these scavengers do keep busy, for they are the only health officers in commission, and they have no human assistants. The most of the dogs are not fed in order to encourage them to forage for a living, and the number of thin, cadaverous-looking dogs wandering around and searching for a chance to fill a great aching void in their interior anatomy is truly astonishing and equals Constantinople. Bernal Diaz, the historian of the conquest, says the natives used to raise a certain species of dog that never barked and was very good eating and the flesh of which was sold in the market.

At Escuintla the Occidental Railway connects with the Guatemala Central, which runs from San Jose, the principal port, to the capital. This city seems destined to be the railway centre of the country for here the Pan American railroad will cross the interoceanic line. At present it is a much less important city than formerly, when it was the headquarters of the dealers in the coffee, indigo, and the cochineal trade. Aniline dyes have taken the place of the old dyes, other towns have shared its importance as a coffee centre and the town is said to be only a ghost of its former self. It is, however, still an ideal, lazy, tropical town where the greater part of the twelve thousand inhabitants take life easy. The narrow, cobbled streets are bordered by dismal-looking adobe huts, and palms line the Avenue of San Luis which were ancient when the oldest inhabitant was a youth.

In the winter time Escuintla is a resort for the inhabitants of the capital who come here for the hot baths and a warmer climate, for the elevation is only about three hundred feet above sea level. In the summer the temperature at midday is decidedly hot and even animals seek the shade. The large-leaved plants fold up until about three o’clock, when the rain begins first with a few large drops. A torrent then follows which ceases as suddenly as it began, when a new life appears, the plants open, and the roses are again fresh and fragrant. The Indian women of Escuintla are quite attractive and will draw the attention of an American as they walk along the street balancing jars of water holding from three to five gallons on their heads. They are well developed and naturally graceful and wear many coral necklaces or bangles of small silver coins. From ten to thirty they are in their prime and at forty they are old women.

The Central railway was built by C. P. Huntington and his associates, and is the oldest and, for a long time, was the only railroad in the country. It is about seventy-five miles in length and is a well-constructed road. The most of the traffic from the capital and interior to the Pacific passes over this line to its port, San Jose, which is very similar in its facilities to Champerico.

This road, in connection with the Guatemala Northern, completed a year ago, makes the third interoceanic railway south of our own borders, the other two being the Tehuantepec National, in Mexico, and the Panama railroad. Another road will soon be completed in Costa Rica, so it is claimed. Over the Guatemala Northern Railroad it is now possible to travel from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios, the principal Gulf port, by rail. This road was the dream of President Rufino Barrios a quarter of a century ago, as he had already at that time granted a concession for its construction. The first spike was driven in 1892 and two years later the line was opened as far as El Rancho, a distance of one hundred and twenty-nine miles, while the entire distance from port to capital is nearly two hundred miles. The government finances running low by that time, it was leased to a private company who operated it for revenue only. It was not a bonanza for the operators even when they used all the income for profit and operating expenses without placing any of it back in the road. The difficulties in the operation of a railroad in a tropical country are many and they were all encountered here. The ties soon decayed, and in the rainy season the streams became raging torrents which washed away bridges and the tracks along their banks. The rolling stock was likewise neglected and in a few years the road was practically abandoned. Furthermore, the road being without a good terminus, the freight offered for transportation was relatively small.

Only one train each week to connect with the mail steamers was run for several years. Finally, in 1902, the government took up the project with renewed vigour and secured the services of Sir William Van Horne, the man who made possible the Canadian Pacific transcontinental line, and later built the Cuban railways. Hundreds of men were placed at work reconstructing the road, building new bridges and completing the gap to the capital of about seventy miles. This last extension was within the mountain ranges and required some remarkable engineering feats. There are many tunnels and cuts through solid rock and the longest stretch of straight track is less than a mile. This last section was finally opened for traffic on the 19th of January, 1908, and imposing ceremonies were begun that day which continued throughout the entire week. President Cabrera and his cabinet, and the diplomatic corps took part in the ceremonies, and were passengers on the first through passenger train which was run from the capital to the Gulf on that date. The dream of several presidents and the despair of many engineers has at last become a reality, and another ocean-to-ocean line has been thrown open for the world’s commerce.

There are no large towns along the line of the Guatemala Northern. Zacapa, a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, is the largest place and contains the railroad shops and offices. From this city it is the ultimate intention to build a branch to San Salvador, the only Central American republic with no Atlantic seaport, and give that republic an opening to the Gulf of Mexico and the near ports of the United States. The first rails for this very feasible project have already been laid and this important line will be of great advantage to American merchants. It is said that the road will be built without delay and I sincerely hope that such will be the case. That word maÑana (to-morrow), however, cuts a very important figure in affairs in this part of the world, and money is not always as plentiful as desired.

After leaving Gualan, the next place of importance, the road plunges into the denser tropics, where forests of the graceful bamboo, and the palms which are the personification of grace and beauty, alternate with plains fit for grazing. Ferns, tall canes, and the lianes predominate in vegetation, while birds with strange voices, insects with equally strange shapes and noisy lizards become the visible life of the jungle. The road follows near the Montagua River with its ever-varying shores, where much trouble has been experienced during the rainy season. The large bridge across this stream has been torn away twice during the rainy season, and, in a number of places, the track has been washed away or has slipped into the stream a number of times. Every few miles there are section houses for the accommodation of the track employees built in the sombre forest. The management found it almost impossible to get the Indians to work in these tropical swamps. Hundreds of southern negroes had been brought over, being lured by the promise of $1.50 per day, in gold, and their board. Most of them would leave by the first boat if they had money enough to get back or could work their passage across. A party of twenty-two had just come over on the boat that took me away and a more dejected lot of “cullud gemmen” I never saw, for they had already heard of the life that was in store for them, and they were trying to devise ways and means for their return to “God’s Country,” as one of them called it.

Puerto Barrios, the terminus of this railroad, will be the great distributing centre not alone for Guatemala, but also for San Salvador, which is the smallest but most densely populated of the Central American republics. It is only a four days’ journey from New Orleans and Mobile with the present service, and the nine hundred miles of water could be covered in two and one-half to three days easily. At present it takes fifteen to eighteen days from New York to Guatemala City, via Panama, and nearly as long by the monthly steamer from that city to Puerto Barrios. The steamers from San Francisco to San Jose consume almost an equal amount of time. With proper service Guatemala City could be reached in four days from New Orleans, which would certainly give the United States a great advantage over any European country in the commerce of the future. The distance by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or from Puerto Barrios to San Jose, is two hundred and seventy miles. The opening of the railway will also reduce to an appreciable extent the freight charges which hitherto have been heavy because it was necessary to transport everything on mule back for seventy miles.

At the present time the real Puerto Barrios consists of a single row of lazy, steep-roofed, palm-thatched, native huts, that spring from the very water’s edge. There are four large wooden buildings which shelter the customs officials, local garrison, commandante and officers of the transportation company. There is also a very creditable hotel. The port officers strut around in their gay uniforms and make a very close examination of both incoming and outgoing baggage. Though the population is not numerous, the languages are many, and one can hear Spanish, German, French, English, the sibilant Chinese, and the unintelligible gibberish of the Carib.

In addition to the lines already enumerated there is a road about twenty miles in length running from the Pacific port of Ocos inland and which will reach the projected Pan American railway. There is another short road extending from Panzos, at the head of navigation on the Polochic River to Pancajche, a distance of about twenty-eight miles. This road was intended to be built to Coban, a city of twenty-five thousand people, and the largest city on the Gulf side of the mountains. It is an old place founded soon after the conquest, that has been prosperous in times past but is probably no larger now than a half century ago. It is also in a rich coffee section which furnishes the bulk of the commerce from there.

There should be a railroad from Coban to the capital. At present it takes as long to cover the intervening distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles as to travel from Chicago to San Francisco on the overland flyers. There are also several important and fair-sized cities, such as Huehuetenango, Totonicapan and Santa Cruz del QuichÉ, in the mountains which have no railway communication and where such an enterprise would be welcomed. Nothing is more needed and no improvement will aid more in developing the country than new railroads connecting these cities with the outside world.

The engineers and conductors on all the Central American roads are almost exclusively Americans—many of them, as I learned, having been discharged from American roads for various offences. Some of them gravitate that way by a succession of steps on Mexican roads. It is, nevertheless, a satisfaction to an American travelling there for he has some one to talk to in his favourite language. There is only one train a day on any of the roads, and that a mixed passenger and freight, and the speed is never great enough to alarm the timid traveller.