Much dredging and rectification of banks are required
in the lower reaches before large steamers can enjoy a
free and easy course all the year round. Real difficulties
begin at Honda, just above which are the celebrated
Fall and Rapids of that name. These cause most of
the steamers to anchor a short distance below the port.
For up-country traffic this stoppage generally takes
place at La Dorada, where there is a short railway running
to Honda and then on to Ambalema. By using this
railway passengers avoid the Falls of Honda and the
narrow straits of Colombaima, where the river races
between high rocky cliffs. At Ambalema passengers
and goods once more join the river, a short distance by
small steamer being traversed before reaching Girardot,
where the railway to Bogota begins. The steamers
continue up to Neiva, and then further progress must
be made by canoes, or the peculiar raft-boats known as
Champans. On the banks of the Magdalena are numerous
ports, some little more than wharfs and warehouses.
The river has also many tributaries. Soon after leaving



76 COLOMBIA

Barranquilla on the south bank is Calamar, the river
port and railhead of the Cartagena railway. Just above,
on the north bank, is Heredia, an important collecting
depot of the rich agricultural Magdalena plains. Higher
up, on the south bank, is the mouth of the Cauca. A
regular service of steamers ply up the river from Barran-
J quilla to Valdivia ; also up a tributary of the Cauca, the
Nechi, as far as Zaragoza. The Cauca is used on many
of its stretches by both steamers and rafts, assisting in
traffic between such towns as Cali and Cartago, but the
bed is in many parts impassable owing to falls and rocks.
Returning to the Magdalena we find on its north bank
the river Cesar, which affords a waterway through fertile
regions to the Valle Dupar and the Goajira Peninsula.
Here is also the mouth of the partly navigable Lebrija,
which runs south-east, steamers going as far as Estacion
Santander, champans continuing the voyage to Puerto
Santos, where the pack-mule trail commences. Other
tributaries useful as collecting and distributing channels
are the Opon and Carare, opening up the country of
Santander ; the Sogamoso, tapping Santander and
Boyaca and the Nare, traversing part of Antioquia. To
return once more to the main stream of the Magdalena,
Jesus del Rio and Zambrano are important as the coffee
and tobacco depots of Bolivar ; Magangue" is the gateway
to the cattle-raising plains of Corozal. From Puerto
Wilches a railway is under construction to Bucaramanga,
which district is also served by La Gloria, Bodega de
Carmen, and Bodega del Sur. From Puerto Berrio a
railway runs south-west to La Quiebra and is being
continued to Medellin.



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 77

It has already been said that the navigation of the
Magdalena is by no means easy, this is due to sand-
banks, rocks, and at certain seasons lack of water.
Consequently the service is apt to be slow and somewhat
irregular, moreover, it is extremely expensive owing to the
frequent transhipments. In his report to the Board of
Trade, Mr. G. T. Milne says : " With a view to improving
conditions a canalisation tax is imposed on both exports
and imports, the product being applied to the acquisition
and upkeep of dredges." The work is carried out under
the direction of the Minister of Public Works and a
Canalisation Board. According to a recent decree the
tax is as follows — _ .. „ ,,

Dollars Gold
per ton.
On imports of general merchandise . . . . 4.5

On national manufactures for consumption

in the country .. .. .. .. 2.10

On national manufactures for export —
On sawn or squared timber, sugar, rubber,

minerals, hides, coffee, cocoa and salt . . 1.60
On timber in logs, and fibres . . . . 0.60

In 1912 this tax yielded about 117,000 dollars gold,
on an import cargo of 44,500 tons and an export cargo
of 53,300 tons. Mr. Milne adds : " While the Canalisation
Board probably does something to improve navigation,
to deal effectively with the problem (which is stated to be
getting more serious every year owing to the diminished
amount of water in the rivers through deforestation)
technical advice of the best kind available would be
necessary, with presumably the expenditure of very
large sums of money. At present canalisation works
on an extensive scale might prove to be beyond the
country's resources, although a loan, secured on the



78 COLOMBIA

revenue derived from the tax and expended by responsible
foreign engineers and contractors, might greatly improve
existing conditions. The first essential would be a
thorough investigation of the problem by a competent
engineer. If his report should be favourable to expendi-
ture a loan could presumably be arranged on condition
that the collection of the tax by the lending house was
satisfactorily provided for. In the event of the necessary
works being deemed beyond the country's resources, the
only solution of the difficulty would seem to be for the
Government to assist such railway enterprises as would
tend to facilitate communication between the littoral
and the interior. Eventually a trunk line, linking up
existing and projected railways, may cross the country
from ocean to ocean ; but it seems improbable that a work
of this magnitude will be undertaken in the near future."
Before discussing this and other aspects of the railway
problem we must say a few words about the steamboat
accommodation in the Magdalena, and also on the other
navigable waterway systems of the Republic. That
such facilities as the Magdalena offers should largely
monopolise attention is explained when we realise that
close upon 80 per cent, of the value of imports, and over
60 per cent, of the exports pass through the Customs
of Barranquilla and Cartagena, and as only a small
proportion of these goods remain in the two cities, or
are distributed in their neighbourhoods by rail or carts,
or transhipped to Santa Marta, it is clear what a pre-
ponderating part this river plays in the business life of
the country. While there is a fair amount of competition
in the provision of steamboat service, the two leading



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT



79



organisations are a local company, the Empresa Han-
seatica, and an English company, the Empresa Aliadas,
both of which are managed by Colombian firms. The
Hanseatica has a fleet of seven steamers of 1,269 tons in
all, and the Aliadas twenty-nine steamers of over 6,000
tons. These steamers, and those of other owners, are
flat-bottomed stern-wheelers, drawing little water and
designed on the lines of the American river steamboats.
A weekly express mail service to Bogota, and inter-
mediate services, are run by the Aliadas for a monthly
Government subsidy of £1,000. Passenger rates and
cargo freights are on a tariff approved by the Government,
rebates being allowed on certain classes of goods. Thus
the charge for carriage of general merchandise from
Puerto Colombia to La Dorado, thence over rail to
Arranca Plumas, then by river, and again by rail to
Bogota is about £12 per ton, calculated thus in gold
dollars per ton —



Railway freight, Puerto Colombia to Barran-

quilla
River freight, Barranquilla to La Dorado
Sundry charges : Manifest and Stamps
Loading river steamer
Canalisation tax
Customs despatch
Cartage
Commission
Through freight, La Dorado-Bogota



3.63

14.0

1.60

.60

2.0

.20

.10

1.20

35.35

58.68



The through rates from Cartagena are the same. It
should be noted that there is a rebate of 25 per cent, on
the river freights for agricultural and mining machinery,



80 COLOMBIA

tools and wire netting, and 50 per cent, on railway
material.

Mention has already been made of the Cauca, which
taps part of Bolivar, Antioquia, Caldas, El Valle and
Cauca. It is navigable from the Magdalena, near
Magangue, to Rio Nuevo ; but thence to the city of
Antioquia the river is impassable. Above that there is a
considerable reach of fair waterway, a busy traffic being
kept up from a little above Cali and rather beyond
Cartago. The Nechi and other tributaries bring addi-
tional traffic to this river, giving access to districts lying
eastward.

The Sinu, draining the low-lying cattle and sugar
plantation lands of western Bolivar, is open to steamers
from the Gulf of Cispata to Monteria.

Going west, there is the Atrato, falling into the Gulf
of Darien and navigable as far as Quibdo. Plans have
been prepared for a short canal from Cupica Bay, by
which this river would be given an outlet into the Pacific.

While the eastern slopes of the Cordillera and wide
valley of the department of El Valle is served by the
Cauca, the western slope and coastal forest regions are
served by the San Juan, which is open for steamers
from Buenaventura to San Pablo, and for small boats to
Dipurdu. There is a project to join the San Juan with
the Atrato by canalisation, which would also have the
effect of giving direct water communication between the
Atlantic and the Pacific. But the engineering diffi-
culties are very considerable and the probable cost,
in view of the class of possible traffic, appears prohibitive.

The Pat i a drains the south-western border of Cauca



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 81

and the western part of Narino, flowing into the Pacific
not far from the Ecuadorian frontier.

On the eastern side, the Meta rising in the Cerro del
Nevado (where snow-capped peaks, 14,140 ft. above
sea-level, feed enormous glaciers), lying to the south-west
of Bogota, skirts the foot-hills of the Eastern Cordillera,
and, flowing through the great territory of Meta and the
southern border of the Comisaria of Arauca, which is
tapped by tributaries, joins the Orinoco at the Venezuelan
frontier, and affords an outlet into the Atlantic through
Lake Maracaibo.

The Guaviare river rises on the southern slope of the
Cerro del Nevado, and just below Uribe is joined by the
Ariari, which rises in the foot-hills of the Cordillera de
Sumapaz and passes by the town of Arana. The
Guaviare continuing with a north-eastward trend, cuts
the Meta territory almost in two and flows into the
Orinoco. One day it may become of great importance.
The Yupura, which flows right through the Caqueta
territory, tapping it right and left by means of many
tributaries, and the Putumayo, south of the Caqueta,
both of which flow into the Marahon, are waterways
whose usefulness are bound to be largely developed in the
near future.

Other rivers are navigable, though they are generally
tributaries of the systems already mentioned. Some
particulars of these will be found in the chapter on
Ports and Harbours.

Railways. — For the moment the railways of Colombia
present an extraordinary absence of systematic develop-
ment. There are fourteen lines, ranging from 15 to 55



82 COLOMBIA

miles in length, dotted about the country, few having
any direct connection with any other. This seemingly
haphazard scattering of short stretches of railways in
isolated districts is to a considerable extent the result
of the old Sovereign State regime, when there were seven
or eight Governments each ambitious to enter into the
civilised world's race for railway construction, but without
much regard to what their neighbours were doing, or
to the needs of the Confederation as a whole.

Two of the obviously necessary lines are those of the
Barranquilla and the Cartagena railways, both owned by
English companies. The first is 15 miles long and links
up Puerto Colombia with Barranquilla, and has a capital
(in shares and bonds) of £300,000. The second runs
between Cartagena and Calamar on the Magdalena, a
distance of 65 miles ; it has a capital of £1,350,000.
The Barranquilla railway carries four times as many
passengers and rather over twice as many goods as the
Cartagena line. Both perform a useful purpose, yet they
entail an expensive system of transhipment.

Santa Marta Railway. Santa Marta, whose port is
regularly visited by the Elders-Fife line as well as the
ships of the United Fruit Company and the Hamburg
American line, is the starting-point of a railway, owned by
the English Santa Marta Railway Company, Ltd. (capital,
shares and bonds, £506,370), which runs to Cienega on the
river Fundacion. It has 72 miles of track, and is more-
over fed by about 10 miles of short private lines serving
banana plantation estates. There is a project to carry
the line to Banco on the Magdalena, near to its confluence
with the Cesar. This would add about 135 miles to the line.



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 83

On the Pacific coast the Cauca railway, which was
started forty years ago and has had a chequered career,
is now in the hands of a local company, the Compania del
Ferrocarril del Pacifico. It has a paid-up share capital
of 854,000 dollars gold, and a bonded debt floated in
London of £119,200. Its line runs from Buenaventura
towards Cali, which it has nearly reached, about 83 miles
being open and in operation.

Harking back to the Magdalena, at a point known as
Puerto Wilches we find the Great Central Northern Railway
Company, Ltd. (an English concern with a share and
bond capital of £1,001,760 ; the Government of Colombia
holding £50,000 of shares), constructing a line to Bucar-
amanga, of which over 12 miles are completed. This
company secured the right to prolong its line from
Bucaramanga, so as to form a junction with the
Ferrocarril del Norte.

Higher up the river, on the west bank, is busy Puerto
Berrio, where commences the Antioquia Railway (which
is owned by the department). It is now nearly com-
pleted as far as Medellin, a distance of 120 miles.
Practically an extension of this railway is being run from
Medellin through Amaga to the Cauca river. This
extension now reaches Caldas, 19 miles distant, and still
has to be carried another 23 miles. Mr. Milne states that
freights on this railway, from Puerto Berrio to Cisneros
(109 kiloms.) are 20 cents gold on general merchandise,
18 cents on cotton yarn, petroleum, flour and salt, and
15 cents on machinery, galvanised iron, wire fencing
and steel, all per ton-kilometre.

Some distance farther up on the west bank, just below



84 COLOMBIA

Honda, commences the La Dorada Railway, owned by the
Dorada Extension Railway, Ltd., with a capital of
£700,000. As elsewhere already explained, three of its
Stations, La Dorada, Honda and Arranca Plumas are
on the Magdalena, and there is an extension to Ambalema.
Its chief reason for existence is to act as a portage, carrying
all passengers and goods traffic between La Dorada and
Ambalema, thus avoiding the impassable rapids about
Honda. It also receives much traffic from Manizales
and elsewhere, which comes over the Quindio pass road.
The main, or river skirting line, is 31 miles long, and the
extension 51.

Still higher up, at Girardot, commences a narrow
gauge railway, owned by the English Colombian National
Railway Company, Ltd. (capital £900,000, one-third
owned by the Government, and a bonded debt of
£1,480,000).

The 82 miles of the Colombiano National Railway
end at Facatativa, whence another railway of 24 miles
starts for Bogota across the plateau. It carries over
70 per cent, of traffic to and from the Sabana of Bogota,
though up to 1913 more than half of the total found
its way down to the valley by way of the Honda mule
track and the Camboa cart road. Bogota itself is the
centre of four railways serving the Cundinamarca
plateau. Besides the Girardot line there is the Sabana
(practically owned by the Government), which has
25 miles out, to Facatativa. The Ferrocarril del Norte,
owned by the English Colombian Northern Company,
Ltd. (capital, shares and bonds, £780,000) has a 29 mile
line to Zipaquira. It has made over its concession




53



^






COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 85

for the construction of an extension from its terminus
to Chiquinquira, where it would connect up with an
extension from Bucaramanga, to the Colombian Central
Railway Company, a short branch (9 miles) connecting
Zipaquira and Nemocon. The Ferrocarril del Sur, the
property of the Government, runs from Bogota to Sibate,
a distance of 19 miles. It is proposed ultimately to link
up Girardot with Ibague, in Tolima. Work has already
been commenced on this Tolima Railway, which is the
property of the Government, from the Ibague end, about
15 miles being in working order.

North-east of Bucaramanga, in Norte de Santander,
is the go-ahead town of Cucuta. In 1888 its merchants,
with the assistance of the Municipality which owns a
third share, constructed a railway 37 miles long to
Puerto Villamizar, on the Zulia river ; subsequently an
extension of 10 miles was made to the Venezuelan
frontier, joining the town of Chiguara.

Such is the railway position to-day. The Government
is credited with projects to link up these various isolated
lines. The Buenaventura line to Cali would be carried
north, passing through various towns, to join the Cauca-
Medellin line and so through to Puerto Berrio. Thence it
would turn south to join the Dorada line, where a branch
would run to Tocaima on the Girardot line, thus linking
up with Bogota. From Bogota the Norte is to be pro-
longed to Chiquinquira, forming a conjunction with the
Bucaramanga line to Puerto Wilches. A line across the
Quindio would connect Cartago with Girardot, and a
branch line from Medellin would run to the Gulf of
Uraba. A branch would run- from Girardot to La

7— (2248)



86 COLOMBIA

Plata, while the Buenaventura railway would be run
south through Popayan and Pasto to the Ecuadorian
frontier. To complete the network, a branch would be
built from Bucaramanga to Cucuta. Thus only the
three Atlantic lines would be left unconnected.

A free hand has been reserved by the Government in
the matter of railway construction. A law passed in
1892 gives power to the Executive to grant concessions
without reference to the Legislature. Subsidies may be
granted in the form of not more than 300 hectars of public
lands, plus a sum not exceeding 10,000 dollars gold,
payable in 6 per cent, amortisable bonds, per kilometre
open to traffic ; or a guarantee for not more than twenty
years of interest not exceeding 7 per cent, on capital
actually invested, and not exceeding 30,000 dollars gold
per kilometre open to traffic. This guarantee ceases if and
when the railway succeeds earning in three consecutive
years a profit sufficient to pay the guaranteed interest.
A concession may be given for as long as 100 years.
As a rule, the Government reserves power to purchase the
railway at any time after fifty years on valuation, and after
seventy-five years on payment of 50 per cent, of actual value.

It will be readily gathered from what has been said
above that when all allowances have been made for
river traffic and railway service, the commerce of the
country as a whole is still chiefly dependent on ordinary
land transport. While in a few districts, mainly in the
immediate neighbourhood of a few of the big cities, there
are good high-roads, available for public and private
motor traffic, and a rather larger mileage open to heavily
built carts, most places are only accessible for foot



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 87

passengers, pack-horses and mules, over more or less well
denned tracks.

Roads. — On the Sabana of Bogota some excellent
highways are to be found. The most notable of these
is the Carretera Central del Norte, which unites Bogota
to Santa Rosa in Boyaca. It passes through the
municipalities of Usaquen, Chia, Cajica, Sopo, Tocancipa,
Gachancipa, Nemocon, Suesca, Choconta, Villa Pinzon,
Boyaca and Santa Rosa, a distance of 200 miles, and is
traversable by carriages and motors. Next in importance
is the Carretera de Cambao, uniting Bogota with Cambao
some 130 miles away on the Magdalena. These are
supplemented by a number of smaller roads and bridle
paths. In Antioquia the good cart roads also radiate
from the capital. There is the North Eastern road to
Santo Domingo, the southern to Caldas, and others to
Envigado and La Quiebra. In Atlantico the only cart
road is that between Barranquilla and Usiacuri, about
30 miles long. In Bolivar there are projects for highways
uniting Barranquilla with Calamar and Turbaco, and
another between Monteria and Magangue. In Boyaca
fairly good branch roads from the great North Road
unite Quetame with Sogamoso and so with the Magdalena,
the other running out to Carare. Over a mile of the new
road to unite Samaca, Sachica and Chiquinquira, has
been constructed. In El Valle a road of some 40 miles
unites Buga and Palmira. In Norte de Santander the
Carretera Central del Norte is under construction, and
is making slow progress. In Santander the only cart
road is between Bucaramanga and Florida, a distance of
about 15 miles. It is not a long list.



88 COLOMBIA

Apart from these are several well-known and much
frequented tracks, some traversed by horses and mules,
others only possible for foot passengers. The most
famous of these is the Quindio road, which may be
entered from Girardot on the Magdalena, touching at
Ibague and then over the Central Cordillera by the
Quindio Pass into the Cauca valley to Cartago. Another
ancient and much frequented road is that from Neiva
on the Magdalena, across the paramos of Guanacas and
Coconucos on the Central Cordillera to Popoyan. A track
is being made between Quibdo, capital of the Choco
territory, to Bolivar.

Many of these tracks are difficult at the best of times,
and even the good ones are often impassable in the
rainy season. Mules are preferred to horses, as being
hardier and more sure-footed. For pack mules a load,
or cargo, is limited to two packs of from 60 to 70 kilogs.
each, according to the route to be traversed, and for light
but bulky loads 300 cubic decimetres is the limit. For
the more difficult tracks and passes smaller and lighter
packs are necessary as they have to be carried on men's
or women's backs. In all districts mule and carrier
contractors will be found, with their strings of well
trained beasts or human porters.

It is obvious that for such transport as this careful
packing is essential, not only as regards size and weight,
but the strength of the cases or bales and the outer
waterproof covering.

In the past very serious mistakes have been made in
connection with the sending out of heavy merchandise.
While wonders have been done in transporting machinery



COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT 89

into the interior, for instance railway material to the
Bogota plateau before the days of the Girardot and cart
roads, on the other hand it has often happened that
expensive mining and milling machinery, sent out from
Europe, has had to be abandoned in the forest as being
too bulky and heavy.



CHAPTER X

HARBOURS AND PORTS

Taking the seaports in order of their importance Puerto
Colombia, sometimes called Savanilla, comes easily first,
not only on the Atlantic coast, but in the whole Republic.
It lies slightly to the west of the mouth of the Magdalena,
and is the chief port of call for all steamers from Europe
and the United States. As a matter of fact Puerto
Colombia is the modern and seawardly situated suburb
of the older port and town of Savanilla, but even now
there is very little water inshore, so that a screwpile
pier, a mile long, though soon to be extended by 20 ft.,
has been constructed for the accommodation of vessels.
Steamers drawing 25 ft. of water can be berthed at the
pierhead, there being room for two large and two small
vessels. From the pierhead four lines of rails connect
with the single track railway to Barranquilla, which is
the real port and the Customs headquarters. Both pier
and railway are the property of the Barranquilla Railway
and Pier Company, Ltd., which has a capital of £200,000
in shares and £100,000 in bonds. Puerto Colombia
and Savanilla are in themselves quite small places, having
a population of 1,202.

Barranquilla, 17 miles up stream from Puerto Colombia
on the western bank, is the true port. Founded in
1629, it was not until the middle of last century that its
advantages as a trade distributing centre was recognised,
and for long it maintained an unequal struggle with its

90



HARBOURS AND PORTS 91

near by sister city of Cartagena, but to-day it holds the
premier place, where the chief Custom House of the
Republic is situated and the most developed business and
manufacturing circles are found. It has good quays,
ship repairing yards, great warehouses, public markets,
water supply, electric lighting and tramways, theatres,