U.S. Minister Isaac P. Christiancy

Isaac Peckham Christiancy was born in Johnstown, New York in 1812. In 1836 he moved to Michigan where he studied law and entered politics. In 1872 he served as Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1875, he began a term in Congress as a U.S. senator.

Newly arrived in Washington, he became involved with a young woman, Miss Lillie Lugenbeel, a a 20 year-old clerk in the Treasury Department. It is here that the story becomes difficult to follow. He claims he was forced to marry her to avoid a claim of "breach of promise", although he discouraged her because of the difference in their ages. There are stories that she left him the day after the marriage. He claims that the day after the wedding, she realized she was in love with someone else and wanted a divorce. To avoid further disgrace or according to other accounts, because of failing health, he took the position of U.S. Minister to Peru in 1879. Another report says that he took her to Peru to get her away from bad influences.

She however did not go to Peru with him, but came down at a later time reportedly at his request, taking passage on the same steamship as George Haight, one of the torpedo men. It was rumored that they struck up a romantic relationship on board ship which continued after their arrival in Peru. This caused considerable conflict between the couple and she returned to New York, where apparently she spread negative remarks about him that reached the U.S. newspapers, charges which included incompetency and habitual use of stimulants and narcotics.

A letter to I.P. Christiancy dated May 7th, 1880 attested to his professional demeanor in an effort to refute those charges and was signed , among others, by associates of Henry Meiggs, such as Charles S. Rand, William M. Bush, and William H. Cilley. (IP Christiancy papers) Its significance is that it helps to identify a fraction of the Americans in Peru at that time and, perhaps, the established alliances. A little more about these signatories:

Charles S. Rand served as a director of the Public Works and Development Company formed in March of 1874. The directorate included Henry Meiggs, president, and Francisco Garcia Calderon, vice president (Henry Meigg's lawyer and a pallbearer at his funeral). Charles S. Rand is also listed in Henry Meigg's will as one of those responsible to take over Henry Meigg's contracts.

William M. Bush was the chief clerk of Meigg's office in Lima and is also listed in Henry Meigg's will as a potential executor of Meigg's contracts.

William H. Cilley, a friend of Charles Flint and from New Hampshire, was in charge of the Oroya line beginning some time around the fall of 1871 and later worked on the development of the mines at Cerro de Pasco. He was a director of the Public Works and Development Company, and was a pallbearer at Meigg's funeral and listed in his will as one of those responsble for taking over Henry Meigg's contracts.

John L. Thorndike was born in New York in 1835. He built railroads in the U.S. and Canada, leaving for Chile in 1857 to help build the Santiago-Valparaiso Railway. He was on the directorate of the Public Works and Develpment Company and was a pallbearer at Henry Meigg's funeral. He surveyed and directed the building of the Arequipa-Puno line. He married a Peruvian, and remained in Lima, where he still lived in 1936. (Stewart, 1946, pg. 87)

Edward C. Dubois was a pallbearer at Henry Meigg's funeral and was later operator of the northern railroad.

Four possible signatories were Jorge Johnston, Cesar Rivero, Russell Keith, and Charles F. Davis who also appear to have attended the opening festivities for the Arequipa railroad line.

Resources:

Isaac Peckham Christiancy Papers. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Stewart, Watt. 1946. Henry Meiggs: Yankee Pizarro. Durham, N.C.: Duke University. 370 pp.

W.R. Grace Seeks Torpedo Experts

W.R. Grace contacted a Civil War veteran, Captain Griffin. The Captain agreed to sink the Almirante Cochrane or the Blanco Encalada for one million dollars. With Griffin not willing to lower his price, Grace said he would contact men of the Navy or on the Confederate side. He suggested that his brother in Peru, Michael Grace, contact American torpedo men there and also William H. Cilley. Cilley had been the superintendent of the Oroya railroad, and was still in Peru trying to salvage the Henry Meigg's fortunes. On June 21, 1879 William Alfred Scott of England and John Shertzer, both long time residents of Peru, were engaged to build floating torpedos in Iquique.

Cerro de Pasco Mines

Henry Meiggs viewed the completion of the Oroya Railroad and the future of the Cerro de Pasco mines as strongly interconnected. The Cerro de Pasco mines were located high in the Andes and the railroad would provide the means to transport the minerals (such as silver, gold, copper or zinc) down to Lima and even the port of Callao.

Meiggs proposed completion of the railway to Cerro de Pasco, using his own funds. In exchange he sought a grant to all the mineral lands in the area not currently exploited. An agreement was reached with the government on February 3, 1877.

Meiggs assigned William H. Cilley, formerly in charge of railway construction for the Oroya line, to begin the development of the mines. Work on both the railroad and the mines came to a standstill on the outbreak of war between Chile and Peru.

Resources:
Stewart, Watt. 1946. Henry Meiggs: Yankee Pizarro. Durham, N.C.: Duke University. 370 pp.

The Oroya Railroad

In 1870 Henry Meiggs began building the Oroya railroad, with the goal of linking the coastal cities of Lima and Callao with the high Andes and the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco. This railroad was an amazing feat of engineering. It climbed more than 14,000 feet in only 78 miles with multiple switchbacks, 65 tunnels and 61 bridges. The line was built in seven years by 8,000 to 10,000 Peruvians, Chileans, Bolivians, and Chinese, with the assistance of 600 mules.

The construction of the line reportedly cost Peru 7,000 workers through accident and disease. Landslides, falling boulders, premature explosions and altitude sickness caused considerable delays.(Werlich, 1978, pg. 94)

Starting from the sea, the Oroya ascended the narrow valley of the Rimac through sparse vegetation and masses of torn and twisted rock. The track rose 5,000 feet in the first 46 miles. At first the line climbed through banana groves and fields of sugar cane, with patches of corn and alfalfa. The view narrowed as one entered a valley, its slopes thickly terraced with ruins. There it stopped at Chosica, a sunny resort, before reaching Matucana. Following a winding pathway along the edge of precipices and over bridges, the track tunneled through the Andes at an altitude of 15,645 feet, the highest spot at that time in the world reached by a railroad. This photo taken near Matucana shows one of the steel bridges of the Central Railroad. The photograph courtesy of Håkan Svensson (Xauxa) Peru 1981 (Gnu Free Documentation License, Wikimedia).

Meiggs put William H. Cilley of New Hampshire in charge of the Lima and Oroya railroads. [A Cilley was engaged in 1865 by the Chileans to procure a gunmaker, an Englishman, with a view to founding and constructing guns and cannon. Is this the same person (Trigg, 2002)]

Resources:

Trigg, Angela. 2002. The Life of Daniel Trigg C.S.N. http://cssvirginia.org/vacsn4/original/td1909.htm

Werlich, David P. 1978. Peru: a short history. Carbondale, Ill., Southern Illinois University Press. 434 pp.