Page:A history of Chile.djvu/456

 410 A HISTORY OF CHILE Chile's population does not greatly exceed three mil- lions ; but they are a restless, moving, traveling, as well as aggressive people. The state also owns the line from Chanaral to Ani- mas and Salados, being about forty miles in length, or, more correctly, sixt}'-five and one-fourth kilometers. There is a large amount of private capital invested in railways; in all, private corporations own about sixteen hundred kilometers, besides the Arauco com- pany's line from Concepcion to Curanilahue, sixty- six kilometers in length, and several short lines in the coal districts of the south. There are something like twelve or thirteen lines projected, or being now con- structed by private capital, in the nitrate and mineral provinces, and the state is interested in contracts for the building of other lines, all originally to have been completed in from two to five years from November, 1888. When the lines are fully completed and in oper- ation, about one thousand kilometers more will be add- ed to the railwa3' system. The transandine railway from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso, about eight hundred and fifty miles in length, is owned by several companies. The Buenos Ayres and Pacific railway owns to Villa Mercedes, four hundred and thirty miles from Buenos Ayres; the Argentine Great Western owns from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza, two hundred and twenty miles ; Clark's Eng- lish Transandine Company controls the line from Men- doza to Los Andes on the Chilean side, a distance of one hundred and ten miles (about) to the frontier, and a further distance of forty miles to Los Andes, which is owned by a different company; thence it is fifty-four miles b}' the government line to Valparaiso. In all, five companies own the line from ocean to ocean, and there