ANOTHER LINK

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 150, 22 December 1945, Page 8

ANOTHER LINK

AMERICAN HIGHWAY

PATAGONIA TO ALASKA

The most .formidable barrier along the 3336-mile Pan-American Highway route between the TexasMexico border and the Canal Zone, Costa Rica's "Death Pass." has been '•holed through," according to reports received by the Transportation Department of the Office of Inter-American Affairs in Washington, says the "Christian Science Monitor." Road-building crews working from Angostura in the north and from San Isidro de Perez . Zeleden, 25 miles to the south in El General Valley, have connected their two sections despite the difficulties of breaching this pass, which is more than 10,000 feet above sea level. The junction was made at El Tope, the highest point in the pass. Construction of a highway over Death Pass called for such expensive road work that it is being financed entirely from a 12,000,000-dollar appropriation voted by the United States Congress. The United States Public Roads Administration is supervising the work which is being done by a United States construction company. Construction on the Pan-American Highway route elsewhere in Costa Rica is being done on a co-operative basis, the United States providing twothirds of the funds and Costa Rica, one-third.

Much has been published in late years about the Pan-American Highway and many have been the predictions as to the date when it will be possible to motor from Alaska to Patagonia over a hard-surfaced road. Thousands are familiar with the excellence of Mexico's highways, but the stretch from Mexico City to the Guatemalan border has remained a nebulous vision.

In addition, the new highway over Death Pass will add to the national domain for future agricultural development more, than 500 square miles of fertile land in isolated El General Valley to the south of the pass. At j present, this valley, with an average altitude of 2500 feet, is sparsely settled, principally because there has been no way to ship produce grown there to the outside world. DIFFICULT ACCESS. To the north and east, El General Valley has been cut off from central Costa Rica by the forbidding Talamanca Range, whose peaks tower nearly 15,000 feet above sea level. To the west, a coastal range averaging some 5000 feet in altitude has prevented access to the Pacific. To the south there is nothing but a jungle trail for 132 miles as far as Volcan, Panama. Volcan is 33 miles south of the Costa Rican-Panamanian border. The one pass over the Talamanca Range is Death Pass, until now crossed only on foot or on horseback. It is so named because of the many travellers who have, perished in its crossing. Death Pass has been known since prehistoric times. It was first used by white men when Franciscan missionaries made their way across with the aid of Indian guides in the early 16th century to establish missions on the other side. Later it became part of the old Spanish "gold trail' from Panama to San Jose, capital of Costa Rica, which is 60 miles north of the Psss The Death Pass trail winds around the shoulders of Mount Boruca—l4,ooo feet—and for a distance of some 15 miles its altitude averages over 10,000 feet above sea level with grades of 7 and 8 per cent. From the top of the pass to San Isidro, the highway drops more than 8000 feet in 25 miles. From San Isidro to the border of Panama— a distance of 99 miles—there is only a jungle trail at present. Estimated cost of an all-weather highway from San Isidro to the Panama border is around 8,250,000 dollars. In order to get construction equipment to the scene, a second highway^ has been built from the Pacific coast port of Dominical to San Isidro. This road is 25 miles long and has grades up to 17 per cent.