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(Compare with chapter on railroads.)

The original concession for building the Mexican Southern Railroad was granted on May 26, 1881.

We will describe the route of the former International and Interoceanic Railway before sketching the line of the Mexican Southern proper.

The first-named road was chartered to run from New Laredo, on the Rio Grande, to the City of Mexico, a distance of 680 miles.

The following is a condensed itinerary of this route:

A station has been erected at New Laredo, and on September 1, 1883, about 100 miles of road had been graded, but only a half-mile of track had been completed.

From New Laredo the route follows the course of the Rio Grande to Mier via Guerrero.

Leaving Mier, the road goes southward to China. The company has the option of constructing a branch to Matamoros, 100 miles distant from Mier. There are wagon-roads from China to Monterey (60 miles), and also to Matamoros (90 miles). The line passes to the eastward of Teran and Linares, running almost due south from China to Victoria, 270 miles from New Laredo.

There is not much cultivation along this division of the railway till Victoria is reached. Here many kinds of fruit and sugar-cane, as well as wheat and Indian corn, are grown. Victoria lies on the border of the tierra templada. It is