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Following the Independence of Peru in 1824, numerous British emigrated to Peru and played a major role in the development of commercial, industrial and scientific enterprises in Peru. Their contribution can be summarized in the following areas:
The following is a description of individuals and the work they performed in the above areas. AgricultureIn the agriculture industry, the name of Henry Swayne is associated with the introduction of technology in sugar and cotton plantations in the Cañete and Nepeña valleys in the Peruvian coast. His contribution is described in a separate page. Another who successfully labored for the improvement of the sugar industry was James P. Cahill, an Irishman, who introduced in 1865, the most complete and modern machinery from the United States, giving an impetus to this industry. BankingShortly after its Independence from Spain, the Republic of Peru contracted, between 1822 and 1825, three-6% loans with English banks in London, the rate of emission being 88, 82 and 78 for a total amount of £1,816,000. No interest was paid from 1825 until the discovery of guano in the Chincha Islands in 1842. In 1849, General Osma, representing the Peruvian Government, was sent to London to arrange with the bond-holders, who consented to change the terms of the outstanding loans from 6% to 4% and to receive in payments 24-year coupons due a new stock of 3%. In 1852, General Mendiburu was sent to London to sign a Guano-loan with Murrieta and Co. and Hambro & Son for £ 2,600,000 at 4.5 %, emitted at 85, which was followed by another for £1,700,000 at 3% , again through Hambro & Son, and another with Uribarren and Montane of Paris for £ 2,600,000 at 4.5 % interest, all secured by guano. Another loan, intended for the construction of the Tacna-Arica railway, costing £400,000 at a rate of 4.5 %, was contracted with Joseph Hegan of Liverpool and Lima. The guano resources at the Chincha Islands were estimated at 15.25 million tons, worth £76 million and producing an annual rent for the Peruvian Government of £1 million. In 1870, a railway loan for £12 million was established between Schroders and the Peruvian Government, issued at 81 1/4 and at 6%, followed in 1872 by a 5% loan for £23.25 million, issued at 77 1/2 by Schroders and Stern; a smaller loan for the construction of the railway from Pisco to Ica was secured with Thomson and Bonar. In 1877, the Peruvian debt with British firms stood at £31,840,220. Due to the guano reserves running low and a severe economic crisis affecting the economies of the South American nations at the time, the coupons for the last two years were unpaid and the bonds were priced at one-tenth of their face value. Among the English banks established in Peru in the 1870's we find the Anglo-Peruvian, with a capital of £746,000 and offices in Lima and London and the Mexico and South America Bank with £500,000 capital and offices in Mexico and Lima. The British capital in Peru in 1877 is summarized as follows:
2 banks
£1,250,000 MiningThe rich mineral wealth of Peru and the tales of El Dorado enticed numerous explorers and entrepreneurs from Britain. In the 1870's, the value of the famous mine of Cerro de Pasco was estimated at £120 million and it has been documented that in colonial times, the mine of Potosi produced 4,000 pounds of silver weekly.The silver in Potosi, the richest and largest in the world, was said to be discovered in 1545 by an Indian, "who falling over a precipice tore up a shrub and found the roots impregnated with silver". An Irishman, Edmond Temple, representing the Potosi Mining Co. in London, embarked in 1826 on a exploration campaign across South America with unfortunate results. Having heard of the treasure for the ransom of Atahualpa, he and his associate, Baron Czettritz, search for a treasure supposed to have been thrown by the Incas in Lake Titicaca (12,761 feet above sea level) when Atahualpa was put to death by Pizarro. After spending 8 month and £70,000 exploring for the treasure and hearing about the collapse of his company in London, they ended up "wandering in the port of Arica, almost starving and after having sold their watches for food". In spite of of his misfortune, Temple concluded in his diary with a "strong recommendation for Irish immigration to Cordova, Salta or Tarija" Another Irishman, General John Thomond O'Brien, born in the south of Ireland about 1790 and who is said to have kept possession of Pizarro's golden canopy (a kind of umbrella borne by the Viceroys of Peru in processions), turned his attention to mining pursuits after having played a commanding role in the military campaigns for the Independence of Argentina, Chile and Peru. He received from the Peruvian Government a grant for the famous silver mine of Salcedo, near Puno O'Brien and his associate, Mr. Page who represented Rundell and Bridge (London jewelers), embarked in an effort to provide food and supplies to their miners at Lake Chiquito, located at 18,000 feet above sea level, from the port of Arica, located 240 miles away in the Pacific coast. They purchased a boat in Arica, stripped it of anchor and rigging and after two years of hard labor managed to launch her on the lake. This was the first attempt to establish regular communications between the valleys in Bolivia and the Pacific coast. Unfortunately for O'Brien and Page, a storm destroyed the vessel and with it the hopes of carrying on the mining works. Other remarkable efforts of O'Brien include the transportation of a steam engine across the Andes, digging through the Laycaycota mountain a canal 2,000 feet long, traversed by 9 locks and laying a railroad for the conveyance of ore.
Public WorksThe dock and pier at the port of Callao, built by the English firm Thomas Brassey & Co. in 1874, was considered at its time, as one of the finest monuments of English workmanship in South America. One of Brassey's engineer, Mr. Hodges, who had built the Victoria bridge in Canada, commenced the works which took four and one half years, employed 700 men, 3 locomotives and 15 steam engines. The dock piers were built of concrete blocks weighing 10 tons each, of which 60 were placed daily. The total quantity of material placed every 24 hours was about 2,500 tons. The area of the dock and pier was 984 by 820 feet. This facility was to be held by the company for a period of 60 years, at the expiration of which would become the property of the Peruvian Government. Also at Callao is the St. George floating-dock, constructed by Randolph Elder & Co. of Glasgow for George Petrie, manager of the Pacific S.N. Co, who obtained .the concession in 1863, with a privilege for 20 years. It consisted of 3,000 tons of iron, the dimensions 300 by 76 feet, allowing the reception of vessels of 21 feet draught and lifting 5,000 tons dead weight. This work was engineered by James Anderson and managed by Noel West. This work, which cost was £42,000, was paying 12 % dividend after deducting 33 % of the gross receipts for the Peruvian Government. Other public work of importance, conducted with British capital were the water plant and city works for the city of Lima at a cost of £16,000,000 RailwaysMost of the railways in South America were constructed by British or American engineers with British capital; others for Government accounts in which case the funds came from British loans. Between 1870 and 1872, Peru borrowed in London the then enormous sum of £35 million for the construction of railways. Mr. Henry Meiggs, an American contractor, undertook most of the lines in which the Peruvian Government spent £27 million and then came short of funds. In 1877, Meigg in arrangements with the Government, resumed the works of which the most famous is the railway connecting the port of Callao with the mining district of La Oroya, intended to serve as transportation for the rich silver ore of Cerro de Pasco. The Callao -La Oroya railway is considered one of the wonders of the world, ascending 15,000 feet over sea level by a series of daring tunnel and bridges. At the Ticlio station (elevation 15,610 feet above sea level), it is the highest railway in the world. This engineering marvel and Mr. Meiggs deserve a separate chapter of their own, a special mention is given here at the end of this section. The following is a summary of the various Peruvian railways completed or in course of construction on December 31, 1876.
Miles
Cost (£) The average cost was nearly £18,000 per mile. The railway from Tacna to Bolivia, 108 miles, cost £34,000 per mile; the Callao-La Oroya, 145 miles, cost £29,000 per mile. The English line, from Lima to Callao and Chorrillos, 17 miles, was built for £200,000 and was the only railway in Peru giving a fair dividend at the time. The Daily News, an English newspaper published in Argentina in 1874, described Meiggs and his work in the following way. "'The life of Henry Meiggs, "the South American Railway King", is a romance. Thirty years ago he was a respectable citizen of New York, best known as a patron for music. He went to California in the early days of the gold excitement and made a fortune by trading. He became a dealer in lumber, having sawmills in the back country and establishments in San Francisco. Great quantities of heavy planking were used there as the city began to grow; it was employed instead of pavement. One morning, in 1854, Mr. Meiggs was missing. He had gone aboard a schooner of his own, with his whole family, and sailed for South America. He left behind about a million dollars of liabilities. There was, of course, a panic and a series of failures, lasting two years, in the course of which all the lumber dealers in San Francisco went down. Meanwhile the fugitive, when he world next heard of him, was one of the richest men of Peru. He had engaged, among other things, in improving the city of Lima, and all that he touched prospered. The city was surrounded by a ruined adobe wall and a huge mound of filth and rubbish. Meiggs cleared all this away, receiving from the Government a certain amount of the land redeemed. In place of the old wall and dust heap he created a park, seven and a half miles in extent, with avenues and shrubbery, and on either side remained valuable building lots, of which he found himself the fortunate possessor. Then he began to build railways for the Peruvian Government, and thus was growing richer and richer. He paid his debt in San Francisco. He made such honest reparation that the Legislature of California passed a special act in his favor. Now he has formed a company of Americans and Peruvians to complete the railways; engines, wagons and other material have been purchased in the United States; and engineers and contractors are going out to Peru at once. Meiggs has already completed four railways, at a cost of about 55,000,000 dollars, and his present plans embrace three more, all of which are under way. The most important is the great road which begins at Callao, climbs across the Andes, and reaches the navigable waters of one of the head streams of the Amazon. During the first 46 miles the line climbs up 5,000 feet. In the next 60 miles it mounts 10,000 feet more. It winds along the edge of precipices; it leaps from cliff to cliff by bridges that seem to hang in the air; it pierces the mountains by a series of 63 tunnels at the average of two miles apart; and at the summit, 15,645 feet above sea level, it cuts through the rock by a tunnel of nearly 4,000 feet. The iron viaduct of Agua de Verrugas springs 576 feet across a chasm 253 feet deep. After ascending a grade of 105 to 211 feet to the mile for 23 miles, the line reaches the chasm of La Infiernilla, a fissure 2,000 feet deep, with sides as smooth as mason work, and the torrent of the River Rimac at the bottom. The railway crosses this gorge 200 feet above the river by a bridge opening into the tunnel at each end. In driving these tunnels the workmen were lowered by ropes from the top of the cliff, and hanging in that way they hammered at the face of the work until they had cut themselves standing room. At the distance of 220 miles from Callao the railway will reach the famous silver mine of Cerro de Pasco, one of the richest in the world, now neglected, but supposed to contain 600,000,000 dollars worth of ore. Meiggs is to perforate this silver mountain with a great tunnel to drain off the water, and then to have exclusive privilege of working the mines."
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