Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/415

Rh Ometuzco is one of the stations of the Vera Cruz Railroad, forty-two miles from the City of Mexico; therefore the wagon-road from Ometuzco to Tanjuco will only be about two hundred miles in length when finished. The works on this road were commenced on the 15th of October, 1868, and have been progressing ever since, notwithstanding the reduced resources of the Government. The work is divided into three main divisions: first, from Ometuzco to Zacualtipan; second, from Zacualtipan to Huejutla, and third, from Huejutla to Tanjuco. The works on the first division are pretty well advanced; the first section, comprising about thirty miles from Ometuzco to the City of Tulancingo, has been open to the public for the last eight months, and will soon be completed to Zacualtipan, ninety miles from Ometuzco.

If the resources of the Government will permit the work to progress as it has during the present year, through communication may be opened within two years, when this portion of the country, which contains so many undeveloped elements of wealth, and a population as large in proportion to its extent as any other part of the Republic, will commence a development, which, with peace, will exceed the brightest anticipations of the friends of the enterprise.

The projected line of railroad known as the "Tuxpan," which is to run—if built—from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, is a most important enterprise. It will run through a beautiful and highly productive country, and the local trade ought to be sufficient to support it, in' its full length.

Benito Juarez has now been ten years in power in Mexico, and with such a premier as Lerdo de Tejada,