Just a half century after Wheelwright suggested to English capitalists the feasibility of a railroad across the Andes to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, the road was opened to traffic, although not by the route contemplated by him. On the 27th of November, 1909, the last thin line of rock, which remained to complete the tunnel between Chile and Argentina, was demolished by the explosion of a dynamite charge. Through the opening thus made the workmen who had been employed on the two ends mingled, and a line of communication which has been the dream of two generations, was completed, that may change the political relations of South America, and which will have a marked effect on commercial relations throughout the world. On the 25th of May, of last year, this route was formally inaugurated, and an all-rail route was thus opened up between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Valparaiso, Chile, thus establishing the first transcontinental railroad on the continent of South America. That date is a hallowed one in both republics, for it is the first centenary of the revolution which gave independence to both nations; and it is fitting that so auspicious an event should celebrate that occasion. To the South Americans it is as great an accomplishment as was the opening up of the first through line across the United States. At the present time the trip is made from one terminus to the other, a distance of eight hundred and eighty-eight miles, in thirty-eight hours, and the officials hope to reduce the running time to twenty-nine hours. [Illustration: BRIDGE OF THE INCAS] This through line is made up of three different systems, and there are as many different gauges of track. The longest section is that through Argentina, which is seven hundred and seventy-eight miles in length, or seven-eighths of the entire distance. All of this is now owned and operated by the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway, although it was built in several different sections and by different companies.