Page:A history of Chile.djvu/458

 412 A HISTORY OF CHILE be conveyed into the mountains on muleback, and the waterfalls must be made to generate electric power, and electricity to turn machinery to drive the great drills through the long tunnels. The private lines of railways in operation in Chile just before the late civil war were as follows; Iquique to Pisagua and branches, three hundred kilometers ; Mejillones to Cerro Gordo, twenty-nine kilometers; Ari- ca to Tacna, sixty-three kilometers; Antofagasta to Huan Chaca and branch, four hundred and forty kil- ometers; Taltal and Cochiyugal, eighty-two kilometers; Caldera and Copiapo and branches to Chanarcillo, San Antonio and Puquios, two hundred and forty-two kil- ometers; between the two Carrizals and Cerro Blanco mine, eighty-one kilometers ; Coquimbo to La Serena and to Ovalle and Panulcillo, one hundred and thirty- eight kilometers ; La Serena to Vicuna, seventy-eight kilometers ; Tongoi to Tamaya, iifty-five kilometers ; Laraquete to Moquegua, forty kilometers. Other lines are nearing completion. In the year 1890, there were thirteen thousand seven hundred and thirty miles of telegraph lines, of which eight thousand miles were owned by the state. There were four hundred and eleven telegraph offices, of which three hundred and four belonged to the state. Over these government lines six hundred and three thousand six hundred and twenty-eight messages were sent, be- side those sent over the private wires. There were at that same time five hundred and six postoffices, the mails carrying from seventeen to twenty millions of letters annually. Next to the railways, an important item in the an- nual budget is the support of the army and navy. Large and costly buildings have been erected in the capital for purposes of military schools and government bar-