Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/575

Rh the direction of Engineer Buchanan, and 134 miles had been completed when the republic was restored by the fall of Maximilian. At the end of 1872, this line, which is called the Mexican Railway, was so far advanced that it was opened on the 1st of January, 1873, by the president of the republic, Lerdo de Tejada, with due solemnities and accompanying festivities.

Although occasionally efforts were made to cause its abandonment, by damaging the tracks and rolling stock, opposition gradually yielded. There already existed, it is true, a number of short disconnected railway tracks, scattered throughout the country, especially in the neighborhood of the city of Mexico; but these were of no service to commerce, and were merely crude native efforts in different localities, many of them being mere tram-ways, on which mules were the motive power. The ultimate triumph of the projectors of the Mexican Railway impressed alike presidents, ministers, and the enlightened portion of the public. They perceived, at last, that extensive railroad systems were a necessity for the progress of the country; that through-lines, placing the distant regions of the interior in easy communication with the capital, extending northward to the United States, and connected in course of time with interoceanic lines, would develop the boundless resources of their country, and procure for Mexico the means of reaching all the great commercial markets of the world. An enlightened policy followed hand in hand with this conviction. During the progressive administrations of Lerdo de Tejada and Diaz, every encouragement has been given to promoters of railroad enterprises. Many concessions were granted, with