The Mexican Southern Railroad was a passenger and freight railroad in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
connecting Oaxaca with Puebla. It was chartered in 1881 by a consortium of Mexican and American investors including former President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
. Construction delays plagued the company and by 1885, it was bankrupt. Under new ownership, construction was completed in 1892. The line became profitable for its owners until nationalized in 1936.
Investors
The idea for the Mexican Southern sprang from discussions between former United States President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
and Mexican politician
Matías Romero
Matías Romero Avendaño (24 February 1837 – 30 December 1898) was a Mexican politician and diplomat who served three times as Secretary of Finance and twice as ambassador of Mexico to the United States during the 19th century.
Early life
R ...
. Romero and Grant had been friends since the late 1860s, when Romero represented Mexico as
ambassador to the United States
The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization.
See also
*Ambassadors of the United States
Notes
{{reflist, 30em
External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...
while Grant was serving as commanding general in Washington. Grant had been interested in Mexico since his service there in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
in the 1840s. While there, Grant had developed a sympathy for the Mexican people and later supported their rebellion against
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Maximilian
Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name.
The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names.
List of people
Monarchs
*Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459 ...
, the foreign prince installed by French troops while the United States was fighting its
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. After leaving office, Grant visited Mexico in 1880 before attempting to be nominated for a third term as President. When that effort failed, he turned his attention to building a post-presidential career in business.
Romero was also focused on business, and especially with the idea of attracting foreign investment to Mexico. After seeing the success of the Sonora Railway Company in doing so in 1879, he turned his attention to railroads and Grant. Even before the
1880 Republican National Convention
The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880, at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Delegates nominated James A. Garfield of Ohio and Chester A. Arthur of New York as the offic ...
, Romero approached Grant about railway promotion. That October, with Grant's political chances foreclosed, Romero visited him in the United States and offered him the presidency of a potential railroad, which he hoped to build south from
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
to the
Guatemala border. The governor of the southern Mexican state of
Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
granted Romero a concession to build there. Romero and Grant held a banquet at
Delmonico's
Delmonico's is the name of a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The original version was widely recognized as the United States ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to pitch the idea to wealthy American investors. That winter, they worked to convince the
New York state legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...
to incorporate the venture, which they did on March 1, 1881. Grant served as president of the new company, with
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
executive
Grenville Dodge as vice president and
Russell Sage
Russell Risley Sage (August 4, 1816 – July 22, 1906) was an American financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York. As a frequent partner of Jay Gould in various transactions, he amassed a fortune. Olivia Slocum Sage, his s ...
, another railroad man, as treasurer.
Construction and operation
Grant and Romero left for Mexico City later that month. After lobbying the government there for two months, they received permission to construct the railroad, and Grant returned to the United States. The Mexican government's terms included no subsidy and required construction to be complete in ten years. Because of its prominent president, the new venture received a great deal of attention in the American press. ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' published an article about it describing the company and its aims:
The investors' ambition exceeded even that description, as Grant obtained a concession from the Guatemalan government to continue the railroad a further 250 miles into that country. At the same time, Grant joined American President
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
in lobbying Congress to approve a free-trade agreement with Mexico, which they declined to do. Meanwhile, surveying of the Mexican Southern's route continued slowly and by 1883 construction had barely begun. In 1884, the company ran out of money and the northern segment was placed in receivership. The southern segment followed in 1885 with the failure of
Grant's other business interests in New York, and the Mexican government declared the charter forfeit. Grant died later that same year.
The Mexican government awarded the Mexican Southern's former charter to Governor
Luis Mier y Terán
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...
in 1886, but the company was quickly bankrupt again. A British company,
Read and Campbell, acquired the company in 1888 and, at last, began construction. The company by then had limited its ambitions to that of a regional railway and only planned to build from
Puebla
Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...
to Oaxaca. Beginning in Puebla, the line reached
Tehuacán "By faith and hope"
,
, image_map =
, mapsize = 300 px
, map_caption = Location of Tehuacán within the state of Puebla.
, image_map1 = Puebla en México.svg
, mapsize1 = 300 px
, ma ...
in January 1891. It reached the Tomellín Canyon later that year. Construction reached
Oaxaca City
Oaxaca de Juárez (), also Oaxaca City or simply Oaxaca (Valley Zapotec languages, Zapotec: ''Ndua''), is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state Oaxaca. It is the municipal seat for the surr ...
and was complete in November 1892.
Mexican President
The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
presided over the opening day ceremonies. Two short branches were later constructed out of Oaxaca. The company also acquired a
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
line between Tehuacán and
Esperanza
Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and may refer to:
Places Philippines
* Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, a municipality
* Esperanza, Masbate, a municipality
* Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, a municipality
United States
* Esperanza, Mississippi, ...
.
The railroad was successful enough to pay
dividends
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
between 1897 and 1914. There was soon enough commerce on the line to require the company to borrow train cars from nearby railroads. Proposals to extend the road to
Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period ...
were raised from time to time, but never executed. In 1909, the
Interoceanic Railway of Mexico
The Interoceanic Railway of Mexico (''Ferrocarril Interoceánico de México'') was one of the primary pre- nationalization railways of Mexico. Incorporated in Great Britain in 1888 to complete an unfinished project and compete with the Mexican Rai ...
obtained a lease of the Mexican Southern. The Interoceanic, a division of the
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México
Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (better known as N de M and especially in its final years as FNM) was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 (dating from the regime of Porfirio Díaz), a major railroad con ...
, was nationalized in 1936. Mexico privatized the railroads again in 1995, but nearly all passenger rail service, including the Puebla-Oaxaca stretch of line, has been suspended since 1997. The former Oaxaca station was converted to
a museum in 2003.
References
Sources
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{{refend
Defunct railway companies of Mexico
Railway companies established in 1881
Railway lines opened in 1892
Ulysses S. Grant
Transportation in Oaxaca
Transportation in Puebla
Porfiriato