Detailed Description

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Title: Documentos relativos a la elección de ruta para el ferrocarril del Pacífico, desde el kilómetro 63 de la vía del Sur hasta la ciudad de Popayán
Creator: Ministerio de Obras Públicas
Publication Info: Bogotá : Imprenta Nacional, 1920.
Physical Details: 1-37 p. ; 24 x 17 cm
Physical Condition: TWO COPIES: Wrappers yellowing at edges, as are interior pages, but fair to good overall.

Summary: Contains several reports from experts on the subject of possible routes for the Pacific railroad. At the end, the government decided to build the railway following the left margin of the Cauca River.
Historical Notes: During the first decades of the twentieth century, from the loss of Panama to the worldwide economic depression, Colombia experienced the longest period of political stability in its history to that point. Political stability came accompanied, to a certain extent, by steady economic and technological development, as well as urbanization, and social policies aimed towards converting Colombia into a modern nation. Beginning in the 1870s, Colombian governments saw railroads as the icon of modernity, the panacea for the economic development of the country. Just between 1904 and 1909, for example -roughly the Rafael Reyes presidency-, Colombian railways in operation grew in length from 565 to 901 kilometers. Bogotá was finally connected to the Magdalena River by the Girardot Railroad, which linked that river port with the capital, and continued to Facatativá. Other key routes were also developed, such as the Antioquia Railroad in 1914, which linked Medellín with the Magdalena, and the Pacific Railroad in 1915 , that would connect Cali with the Pacific port of Buenaventura. (See for example Juan Santiago Correa Restrepo, De Buenaventura al Caribe: El ferrocarril del Pacífico y la conexión interoceánica, 1872-2012. Bogotá: CESA, 2012).
Donor Notes: Detailed discussion of the routes proposed from kilometer 63 south to Popayán, with statistics, et al., plus costs. An official survey by the Ministry of Public Works. - J.L.H.

Subject(s): Colombia -- Economic conditions -- 20th century
Railroads -- Colombia -- History -- 20th century
Railroads -- Colombia -- Cauca
Ferrocarril del Pacífico
Sociedad Colombiana de Ingenieros

Type: Pamphlet
Language: Spanish
Format: JPG
PDF - Color
Donor: J. León Helguera
Collection: Helguera
Institution: Vanderbilt university
Accession Number: P01464
Record Number: 507