Social Memories of the Guayaquil- Quito Railway 1897-1960

(Ecuador)

2012-11

1. SUMMARY

Until the early twentieth century, trade between the coast and the highlands of Ecuador was made

on the backs of mules or indigenous carriers. About 7,000 annual mules were used for the exchange

between these regions. The trip from Guayaquil to Quito took 10 to 12 days, the discomforts of the

journey were numerous during the dry season and in the rainy season the trip was almost

impossible1.

The need to establish communication pathways that eased interregional communication was

present in the Ecuadorian presidents since the mid-nineteenth century. The two figures representing

the political and ideological opposite trend: Gabriel Garcia Moreno and Eloy Alfaro. Despite their

differences, they shared the idea that the steam engine was necessary to articulate regions and

represented the insertion of the country to progress and modernity.

Garcia Moreno was able to improve the connection between the main urban centers of Ecuador

with the construction of the railroad between Yaguachi and Milagro, which was inaugurated in May

1874. Years later, Eloy Alfaro was the one who gave a permanent, massive and rapid road between

Guayaquil and Quito.

This was noted and recognized by the archbishop of Quito, Federico Gonzalez Suarez, who at the

train's arrival at Quito in June, 1908, said: "This glory, the Railroad, belongs to the Liberal Party, no

one can take it away: the Conservative Party could have done it, but did not, forgive me,

Conservative Party, but my congratulations are for General Alfaro. 2"

But beyond knowing who the executor of the work was, are the motivation, circumstances and

effects of this event for the country. We have therefore considered it appropriate to recover through

this nomination, the written records and charts that show the history of the railroad from its

construction until it stopped operating. In this regard, the proposal was initiated in 1897, with the

signing of the first contract with the U.S. Engineer Archer Harman and runs through the mid-

twentieth century.

This proposal includes manuscripts, prints, photographs, maps, drawings and objects from the late

nineteenth century and mid twentieth century, guarded in the National Archives of the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, National Archives, Archive "Ciudad Alfaro", Historical Archives and Library of the

Ministry of Culture, Archives of the Public Railway Company of Ecuador, Archive-Library of the

National Assembly, National Library, Central University Library, and the Johnson Family Collection.

1 Kim Clark, La obra redentora. El ferrocarril y la nación en Ecuador 1895-1930, Quito, Corporación Editora

Nacional, 2004, p. 26. 2 Jorge Moreno Egas, “El Ferrocarril transandino”, en: Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar- Taller de Estudios Históricos.

Revolución Liberal. Perspectiva general de la Revolución Liberal, Quito, Diario La Hora, 1995.

It includes unpublished sources related to the construction of the railroad between Guayaquil and

Quito, the political, economic and cultural significance of this fact in the history of Ecuador. In this

regard, the documents retrieved provide information on economic reforms: expansion of the

domestic market and trade flows between the mountains and the coast, recovery and

commodification of land.

Besides national integration, it allowed an unprecedented movement of people, products and ideas,

changes in the labor market, with the movement of labor for the construction of the railway, to the

skilled jobs that the company required to operate and its long-term effects.

On the other hand, we can learn the financing, controversies within the Republic and between the

government and the Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company. Finally, the new rhythm that marked

large and small cities changed the image of many mountain towns.

Being the railroad one of the most important and symbolic works of the liberal period in Ecuador,

this proposal is inserted into national and international events that will be held to commemorate the

centenary of the killing of Eloy Alfaro La Hoguera Bárbara Centenario Eloy Alfaro.

This nomination was chosen as much of the documentation that accounts for this fact is dispersed,

fragmented or lost. In this paper we hope to recover and safeguard the heritage assets that still

survive. The recovery of this social memory of great symbolism for Ecuadorians, will allow

historiography to reconstruct some events that were part of this and that due to ignorance have

been forgotten.

2. INFORMATION ON THE AUTHOR OF THE PROPOSAL

2.1. Name

Historic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration

National Archive

Historic Archive and Library of the Ministry of Culture

Archive of the Railroad Company

Historic Archive “Ciudad Alfaro”

Archive-Library of the Legislative Palace

National Library

Central University Library

2.2 Relation to the documentary heritage element

Archives and Libraries submitting this nomination have made a work of research and selection of

documentary sources that account for one of the momentous events of Ecuador's history, the

construction of the railway that connected the regions of the Coast and Highlands of Ecuador, taking

a significant step towards the development and modernization of the country. This selection was

due to the criteria stated in the guidelines of the Program, ie authenticity, importance, and it also

satisfies the criteria of time, subject, topic, and people.

2.3. Contact Person(s):

Maria Soledad Castro Ponce

2.4. Information (include address, telephone, fax, e-mail)

Responsible for the Historic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration of

Ecuador

Address: Av. 10 de Agosto 11-83 y Carrión

Telephone: 2993200 Ext. 12780

Email: mcastro@mmrree.gob.ec

3. IDENTIFICATION OR DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Social Memories of the Guayaquil- Quito Railway 1897-1960

SUMMARY OF HERITAGE NOMINATED PER ARCHIVE –LIBRARY AND TYPE OF DOCUMENT

COLLECTION MANUSCRIPTS &

TYPED DOCUMENTS

MAPS PRINTS PHOTOS OTHER

MRECI

AH/ML/BC

34 1 6

AN 71 2

AHMC 67 90

AH FF.EE. 58 5 10 3

AHCA 8 2

ABAN 192

BN 17

BUC 3

CFJ 2 7

TOTAL 363 8 105 100 2

BIOGRAPHIC DATA AND INSCRIPTION

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration

The documentation is selected in three areas: Historical Archive, Boundary Map Library and Central

Library.

In the Historic Archive, Ministry of Foreign Affairs fund, in the series: C Communications

received from the Legation of Ecuador to the United States and F Communications received

from several authorities, is where most of the documentation related to the subject is

found, from 1897 to 1940. This provides references of the first contacts with U.S. contractors

to finance the work, the efforts with Central American countries to hire workers, giving land

to the Southern Railway Company for offices (stations, workshops, yards, docks and

factories in the path Chimbo-Sibambe), breach of contracts and disputes arising between the

construction companies and the government.

Additionally, the report entitled "The Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company," prepared by

Coverdale & Colpitts, Consulting Engineers of New York in 1928, contains extremely interesting data

such as valuation of properties, controversies between the government and the bondholders of the

first mortgage; recommendations to improve the railway; opinion on the possibility of electrification

of a mountain road, traffic analysis of freight and passengers and the state of public debt.

National archive

In the Funds: Notaries, Maps and Plans and the Supreme Court, General Section, we were able to

locate important documents ranging from 1897, among others, the original contract with Harman

Hacher of June 14, 1897, likewise, various contracts for land transfers and trials for expropriation

proceedings for the construction of the railway. Two volumes, with communications sent by the

Ministry of Public Works to the Southern Railway Company and other authorities, which include

communications regarding the invoice requested from other States, prior to construction of the

railway.

Archive “Ciudad de Alfaro”

Guards a replica of the miniature train, which was given by Archer Harman to President Eloy Alfaro,

a metal plate for printing postcards as a souvenir of the arrival of the train to the city of Quito, and a

report on trains’ movement of 1957.

Historic Archive and Library - Ministry of Culture

The information from photographs comes from the Audiovisual Fund; Funds Jijón, Larrea and Social

Sciences, regarding printed material. More than eighty photographs are guarded by the Historical

Archive of the Ministry of Culture, which contains rich and varied graphic information on people

involved in the work.

Eloy Alfaro and Archer Harman appear as icons in the construction of the railway, also workers,

passengers, openings, locomotives, rails, landscapes and cities are highlighted in the selected set.

The preferred area of these Images is the Devil's Nose, because that region had the greatest

difficulty during construction. There are photographs of the stations, bridges and human clusters

that show participation and movement around the construction.

State Railways Archives

The Railway Company retains its historical documents in its offices in the cities of Quito and

Riobamba. 73 documentary groups have been recovered, from 1897 until the early 60's. Most of the

information is in the archive in Riobamba.

In various formats (print, manuscripts, maps and photos) is the data on the constructive history,

technical work, agrarian history and staff who worked in the company. It is important to note the

existence of a bond book "Guayaquil & Quito Railway Company" which includes various original

bonds of Archer Harman, the entrepreneur who founded the American company "Guayaquil & Quito

Railway Company", responsible for building most of the Southern Railway.

National Library

Contributes to this nomination with 16 works edited from 1897-1951. The contracts signed, the

railway history, and the celebration of the arrival of the first railway engine to Quito, among others.

Archive-Library of the National Assembly

Contribute with 192 documents to the Nomination. Legislative and Executive decrees that account

of the process since the beginning of the construction of the railway. The debates and controversies

aroused by this event, and its resolutions. On the other hand, it also offers reports presented by

Ministers to the National Assembly, which mark the history of the railroad. Testimonials without

which it would be difficult to understand the importance and significance of the presence of the

steam engine in Ecuador.

Central University Library

Three works related to the construction stage are kept in this Library.

4. JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROPOSAL AND/OR EVALUATION ACCORDING TO SELECTION

CRITERIA

a. Has its authenticity been demonstrated?

Without doubt, each and every one of the documents presented for this nomination have been

analyzed by the heads of the institutions that guard these collections, as well as by specialists in the

history of the liberal period in Ecuador.

b. Has its importance, singularity and impossibility of being replaced worldwide been

demonstrated?

For the history of Ecuador, the construction of the railway had great significance. This was one of the

means to integrate and connect the different regions. Unlike other Latin American countries, where

the railway works were aimed mostly for transporting export products, the Ecuadorian railway

aimed at national integration, linked to the idea of progress, it promoted socio-economic, political

and cultural changes.

For these reasons, the railway played a major role in the economic and social life of Ecuador, in

communications and public transportation of cargo and passengers; many towns arose along the

way and some cities developed and benefited from the railway project.

The subject of this nomination offers a wide field in time and space, where some important

elements converge in the history of Ecuador: the liberal political project, contradictions and

successes, local conflicts with the centralized state, labor relations, infighting dominant factions and

agreements necessary to achieve national integration, social and spatial changes.

Every testimony of the social actors involved in this proposal becomes a singular documental

heritage of great national importance, impossible to be replaced.

c. Is one or more of these criterion fulfilled: a) time b) place, c) persons, d) topic, e)

form and style

Time Criteria:

The period in which this fact took place since the late nineteenth century, is linked to the political

triumph of the bourgeoisie and the beginning of the Liberal Revolution. Therefore, it is a historic

moment in the deep transformations that took place in Ecuador.

In the economic sphere, since the late nineteenth century the coastal region of Ecuador, especially

Guayaquil and the Guayas River Basin, became an agro-export economic zone based mainly on

cocoa production, which acquired an unusual importance and led Ecuador to the first place as cocoa

exporter in the world.

This situation allowed the emergence of a commercial bourgeoisie that achieved the political and

economic control of the country, displacing the landowner class in the mountain region. In this

regard, and as Enrique Ayala expressed, this sector was one of the protagonists of the Liberal

Revolution, comprised also by a large group of farmers in the Coast, who had fought for years

against the landowner and clerical State. These sectors, with diverse interests, agreed on the

importance of implementing a Secular State3.

Eloy Alfaro's rise to power on June 5, 1895, permitted the staging of a series of actions that

substantially reformed the State, which aimed to improve the situation of the less advantaged

groups (women, peasants and workers) who were always outside the concerns of the State.

In this context, the liberal project faced stiff opposition. Landowner elites and clergy saw their

hegemonic positions threatened, they harshly resisted the innovations that were to be

implemented. Serious conflicts arose with the Church when trying to bring it under state control.

Laws were issued to control the clerical economic power. After negotiating with the Vatican the

Reform of the Concordat, the Law of Councils was enacted, and in 1908 the law of mortmain, by

which hospitals, charity houses and church property, became organized and administered by secular

institutions created for this purpose.

With the creation of the Civil Records, the Church lost the possibility of registering births and deaths,

as well as the celebration of marriages, with which the sector lost a great source of information and

thus influence, never again, these religious acts shall have civil effects4.

Since the liberal revolution secularism enshrined in Ecuador and one of the most significant areas

was the secularization of education, within which teacher’s schools played an essential role and

3 Ibíd.

4 Ibíd.

became the training center for liberal ideals. In just one decade, the secular educational system was

consolidated.

One of the major social steps of this period was that of women. We are witnessing an unusual event

in the history of Ecuador, where women participate in various spheres of public life. Great

importance was given to their education, women-teachers trained in the "Teacher’s school" not only

were propagators of liberal thoughts, but had a big task in education and culture. 5.

While the revolution did not include all the sections of the Ecuadorian society, certain hitherto

marginal sectors such as local peasants, small landowners, teachers, craftsmen and students had

role in shaping the new structures. Among these middle and popular sectors a sense of belonging to

a nation was created, and they joined what was called the mestizo (mixed race) national project 6.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the public works undertaken in the liberal period were

extremely important and were carried out thanks to the economic surplus received by the State with

the cocoa boom. In this regard, the network of telegraphs and roads increased, various public

buildings emerged, and important urban reforms were made. One of the greatest achievements in

this area was, with no doubt, the construction of the railway. 7

The presence of the railway marked, one way or the other, the history of Ecuador until the mid-

twentieth century. The various governments that succeeded President Eloy Alfaro, from 1912,

integrated into their programs, activities designed to establish improvements, to expand the railway

network and for its modernization. Until the decade of the 60´s, the steam engine, with its

shortcomings and difficulties, was the motor that drove trade into the country, and the human

groups that moved between regions.

Place Criteria:

The Andes Mountains divide Ecuador into three continental regions: Coast, Highlands and the

Amazon. The railway connected the main urban centers, Guayaquil and Quito. With a length of 464

kilometers, the line began in Duran, heading Bucay, a flat and low land. Following is the mountain

section of Huigra and Sibambe, where the path known as the Devil's Nose lies, reaching its maximum

height of 3,609 meters above sea level. From there it spreads to the populations of Alausí, Palmyra,

and Riobamba continuing towards Ambato, Latacunga, concluding the trip in the city of Quito. A

total of 41 stations make up the railway area.

In this sense, the railway was divided into three topographic sections and five operational sections.

The first sections were the Coast, the Mountain area and the Sierra. The operating sections were:

Duran-Bucay, Bucay-Palmira, Palmyra-Riobamba, Riobamba-Ambato and Ambato-Quito.

5 Carlos Paladines, “Laicismo y Género en la Revolución Liberal”, en: Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar- Taller de Estudios

Históricos. Revolución Liberal. Perspectiva general de la Revolución Liberal, Quito, Diario La Hora, 1995.

6 Milton Luna Tamayo, “Educación e identidad: el proyecto”, en: Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar- Taller de Estudios

Históricos. Revolución Liberal. Perspectiva general de la Revolución Liberal, Quito, Diario La Hora, 1995.

7 Op. Cit. Enrique Ayala Mora

By 1928, the territory that benefited from the railway included half of the population, which by then

was approximately two million inhabitants. From Guayaquil, the largest city at the time and main

port, to Quito, second in population, and capital of the Republic, the railway went through major

urban areas and crossed the main centers of production.

DISTRIBUTION OF RAILWAY POPULATION 1928

Guayaquil 110.000 Guamote 5.000

Durán 2.000 Riobamba 30.000

Milagro 10.000 Ambato 14.000

Yaguachi 3.000 Latacunga 15.000

Bucay 1.000 Machachi 4.000

Alausí 4.000 Quito 100.000

SOURCE: AHMRECI report on “Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company” presented by Coverdeale &

Colìts, Engineers & Consultants 1928.

A national space reduced and fragmented due to the lack of roads offered few opportunities to its

residents for exchanges in various fields. With the presence of the railway it was better integrated

and expanded significantly by shortening distances. The presence of the steam engine spanned more

than ten populations revitalizing their economy, social and cultural life. The ability to cross the

mountains quickly changed the image of the country even internationally. In this sense, the work

was considered very important, because through it, the immigration of Europeans increased, which

in the opinion of contemporaries, represented a force necessary to achieve progress in the industry

and increased agricultural production. So much so that in the International Exhibition in Milan in

1906, without the work being completed, in the Ecuador section, the exhibition of drawings, views,

charts, and relationships of the railway by "The Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company” had a

prominent place. 8

Subject and Topic Criteria:

"The hardest Railway in the World ',' The Redemptive Work ',' The iron Embrace', 'The Integration

Dream', are some of the phrases through which the collective memory relates this event with a

monumental work, that not only expressed the great economic and technical efforts, but gave way

to fundamental changes in the country structures.

Alfaro's project required large investments. Not having its own resources, Ecuador turned to foreign

capital. Alfaro sought U.S. investors interested in doing this work. As a result of these efforts, on

June 17, 1897, the contract with Engineer Archer Harman was signed; he arrived in Quito on March

13 of that year, together with Edward Morley. After signing the contract, Harman went to New York,

where he organized the "Guayaquil and Quito Railway Company" with the resources needed to build

the railway9, after which he moved to London to renegotiate with the Foreign Bondholders the

8 AHMRECI F.5.62 Communications received from several authorities 1906.

9 El valor total ascendía a 17.523.000 dólares y representaba para la época 5 veces los recursos fiscales totales

del Estado. Jean Paul Deler, “Transformaciones regionales en el espacio regional ecuatoriano entre 1830-1930”,

purchase of the debt of Independence. But the Ecuadorian state had to cover a significant portion of

its funding; expenditures not covered were obtained from the treasury10.

Foreign businessmen were not interested in acquiring or managing the railway, their goal was to

achieve all the profits possible in the construction phase and lower the cost of the work to achieve

higher profits, which meant a lower quality of materials and work in general. This situation caused

serious problems for the normal operation and required additional investments to improve services.

Moreover, the difficulties they faced were manifold: weather (rain and landslides covered roads),

the plague of smallpox invaded the camps, killing many. Building a railway across the Andes was a

big challenge, the work involved complex engineering work, especially in the section known as the

"Devil's Nose," where contractors found a huge mountain rock that prevented following the course

of the river. The work in this area represented a great challenge for that time, to the point that it

was considered one of the most difficult railways in the world.

The path from Duran to Chimbo, was a narrow-gauge and was widened to 42 inches and continued

from Bucay to Quito. In 1900, the train reached Huigra. On September 8, 1902, after overcoming

various difficulties and the death of hundreds of workers, the first locomotive arrived in Alausí. On

June 25, 1903 it arrived in Guamote. On July 24, 1905 in Riobamba, where the first passenger train

between Duran and Riobamba was inaugurated. In 1906, Mocha. In January 1907 Ambato.

Latacunga in 1907, and on June 17, 1908 Quito. Eleven years after signing the contract it arrived in

Quito, even when the work was not completed until December 3, 1910.

In his message to the Congress in 1910, Eloy Alfaro expressed what the conclusion of this work

meant:

“You have witnessed the titanic efforts in building the Trans-Andean Railway, against which all the

elements of political opposition were combined, besides the resistance of nature (...) the tax hardship

imposed on us immense financial sacrifices, the political passion fought against us relentlessly (...)

everything seemed to rise up against this work that, justly and without exaggeration, is called a

redemption work. Persistence conquered everything else, and the locomotive has reached Quito,

pouring along its way the benefits of such a great step forward".

But beyond achieving the desired national integration, incorporating physically and economically

different areas and populations, the construction of the railway was the focal point of a major

modernization project and became the mainstay of deep changes implemented by Liberalism.

Unlike the Coast, especially Guayaquil, which showed clear signs of modernity and development,

with cocoa production linked to the international market, the mountain region was in a state of

isolation and intolerable depression. Eloy Alfaro reflected the situation in these words: "The isolation

of the Andean peoples, in the century of steam and electricity, was a blasphemy against civilization,

something outrageous." There was at the same time a process of integration and isolation. Major

cities such as Guaranda were abandoned, and other cities of lower category became important

commercial centers, such as Huigra, Alausí and Bucay.

With the construction of the railway, the image of many mountain cities was modified: Quito,

Riobamba, Ambato had an important development. On the other hand, there were changes in the

en: Juan Maiguashca, editor Historia y Región el Ecuador 1830-1930, Quito, Corporación editora Nacional,

1994, p. 329. 10

Op. Cit. Enrique Ayala Mora

value and commodification of the land the railway crossed, farms productivity intensified and new

areas were incorporated into the production system.

As already stated, by connecting the regions of the Sierra and the coast there was an unusual

movement of people, products and ideas. The possibility of sending heavy products, at low cost and

quickly, significantly stimulated the domestic market and modified it. Being better articulated, the

exchange of agricultural and livestock production to the coast increased, as well as imports arriving

in the port of Guayaquil to the highland markets.

Rather than unifying markets, the aim was also to coordinate efforts and capabilities to build a

national community. As stated by Pablo Ospina, for the liberal movement that came to power in

1895, it was important to reaffirm the fragile and questioned national existence11. The railway was

part of the agreements between elites in the Costa and Highlands, they reached consensus on its

importance as a fundamental element of development and modernity. Within this model, each

faction would defend their interests.

When the railway work began, with just a thousand workers, the contractors challenged the same

obstacles of the agricultural exporters on the coast: mainly the lack of manpower. Working in the

lowlands caused fear in the indigenous population, the climate, tropical diseases and other risks,

were the cause of death for many12. For tasks in the mountain section, foreign labor was used: 4,000

workers from Jamaica and an undetermined number of Puerto Ricans participated in the

"redemptive work"13. Once the more complicated stretch was completed, with the arrival of the

locomotive in Alausi (1902), Jamaican workers were fired, most returned home and others stayed

and worked on the plantations in the coast14. From Alausí to Quito the railway works were executed

by local workforce.

The labor market also suffered variations; the wages offered to workers in the railway were much

higher than those the indigenous agricultural workers received. These and other efforts to

undermine the landowners´ power landed on the labor force, encouraging the migration of

indigenous labor to the coast15. By 1928, wages paid by the Company were high in relation to those

fixed in other activities in the country.

Additionally, it encouraged deep local cultural development. It is a process of assimilation of new

points of reference and cultural identities and reinvention of traditions16. Human mobility became

more feasible than ever and determined novel relations, regional and personal. From this fact, the

social space is substantially changed, travelers, officials, businessmen, representatives of the elites

11 Pablo Ospina “Los espacios del cacao”, en: Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar- Taller de Estudios Históricos. Revolución

Liberal. Perspectiva general de la Revolución Liberal, Quito, Diario La Hora, 1995.

12 Op. Cit, Kim Clark

13 Galo García Idrovo, “El Ferrocarril más difícil del mundo: la ruta en la cuenca del río Chanchán”, en: Sonia

Fernández Rueda, compiladora, El Ferrocarril de Alfaro. El sueño de integración, Quito, Tehis-Corporación

Editora Nacional, 2008, p. 142. 14

Kim Clark, La Obra Redentora. El ferrocarril y la nación en Ecuador 1895-1930, Quito, Universidad

Andina Simón Bolívar, Corporación Editora Nacional, 2004. 15

Ibíd. 16 Eduardo Kigman, “El ferrocarril del Sur”, en: Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar- Taller de Estudios Históricos. Revolución

Liberal. Perspectiva general de la Revolución Liberal, Quito, Diario La Hora, 1995.

shared spaces beyond their regional differences, which allowed the formation of an open territory, a

national space.

Of course the effects were not immediate and can only be appreciated in the long term, in the

status of the investments related to this issue, which are mostly centered in the construction stage,

it is not easy to determine.

With these limitations, between 1910 and 1920 some improvements were implemented. There are

eight passenger trains and load trains increased according to the demand for transporting goods17.

On the other hand, there were also political moments that affected the future of the railway

company, conflicts between the State and the Company were frequent and many of them had to be

resolved through arbitration proceedings.

In the early 1925, a strong winter destroyed a section of the railway to Guayaquil, which caused the

State to sell a majority stake of the Railway Company. After a strong debate, 75% of the stocks went

to the treasury18.

A year later, in August 1926, during the interim government of Isidro Ayora, the Kemmerer Mission

came to Ecuador in order to achieve state reorganization. This mission was composed of a specialist

in road and rail issues, BB Miller, who in his report said that the greatest need of Ecuador is

increased transportation. He also stated that there was only one railway linking the Coastal region

with the Highlands19, there were few roads. Indeed, by 1922 the roads for cars in Ecuador amounted

only 440 kilometers and many people still travelled on the backs of mules. According to the U.S., the

most economical solution was to build a national network of roads.

Since the mid-forties, there was a considerable rise in export products, especially bananas; this made

Ecuador the first exporter of this product in the world. The government during this period of

prosperity, in the fifties, invested heavily in public works. The construction of the Guayaquil-Quito

road marked the end of the transcendental role played by the railroad for half a century.

If the construction of the railway was complicated and expensive, its maintenance and additional

works aimed at improving the service were expensive too. The permanence of the railway required

large investments; the government of that time gave priority to the construction of roads. Without

the state’s support, the presence of the locomotive in the Andean landscapes became increasingly

less frequent. Although the system was obsolete for transporting passengers and goods, the stretch

of the Devil's Nose stayed enabled as a tourist attraction, it is evidence of the construction of the

most complicated railway in the world.

On April 1, 2008, the Government declared the National Railway in Ecuador a State Cultural

Heritage, initiating actions aimed at its rehabilitation, as a sustainable development project that will

17

Byron Castro, El Ferrocarril Ecuatoriano. Historia de la Unidad de un Pueblo, Quito, Banco Central del

Ecuador, 2006. 18

Enrique Ayala Mora, II Manual de Historia del Ecuador. Época Republicana, Quito, Universidad Andina-

Corporación Editora Nacional, 2008. 19

Byron Castro, El Ferrocarril Ecuatoriano. Historia de la Unidad de un Pueblo, Quito, Banco Central del

Ecuador, 2006.

benefit more than six million people in 15 provinces and 39 municipalities. The promotion of tourism

will be a driving factor in local economies. Several strategies have been devised to make the stations

a space for cultural events, thus strengthening national identity.

Persons Criteria:

This heritage is associated with a group of people who joined efforts to make available to travelers

and traders, a means of transportation which shortened distances and united wills, making a

substantial difference in Ecuador before and after the steam engine.

The dominant figure in this fact is the liberal revolution of Eloy Alfaro Delgado, who fixed his gaze on

the railway, without which every change was ineffective and every attempt at progress, laughable.

The great architect of the Secular State wanted to integrate the country, separating church and

state, establishing free and compulsory primary education, and a professionalized Ecuadorian army.

He wanted Ecuador's industrial development through the promotion of factories and fair wages for

their workers, and with this purpose he pushed the legislation to protect industry and agriculture.

In regard to international policy, he decreed the suspension of the foreign debt, initiating

negotiations favorable to Ecuador. He interceded with the government of Spain for the

independence of Cuba; he invited American countries to meet in a Congress with a view to agreeing

mechanisms to strengthen trade relations, and promoted the reconstruction of the Great Colombia.

Another character featured in this documentary heritage was Archer Harman, who signed a contract

with the Government on June 14, 1897 and organized, in the State of New Jersey, the Guayaquil and

Quito Railway Company with an initial capital of one thousand dollars. He also conducted

negotiations for the purchase of the English debt with the Foreign Bondholders, undertook to seek

investors in London, negotiated the railway bonds and shares. When he died he owned 57,069

railway shares of $ 100 each. As there were no profits, he never collected profits from these

actions20.

During the 14 years he worked in Ecuador he was accused of funds embezzlement, speculating with

bonds and trying to take over the Galápagos Islands. For Eloy Alfaro, Harman’s participation in the

construction was decisive “… without his personal help, this could have never been achieved…”

It should also be mentioned the presence of an anonymous group of indigenous and African descent

workers from Jamaica and other Central America countries, human contingent without which the

company would not have been a reality. These and others who dealt with the construction of the

Guayaquil-Quito railway, deserve recognition because they were able to imagine and connect spaces

across the railway, the construction, even today, with the progress of science and techniques, is

worthy of admiration.

The human contingent, who worked for the Railway Company after its inauguration and until the

early 60s, when it stopped fulfilling its primary function as the only way to transport people and

goods from the coast to the Highlands, was of great importance. The workers who participated in

the construction went through hardship and even died, those who were part of the company had a

20

John F. Uggen, “Archer Harman: de promotor a propietario”, en: Sonia Fernández Rueda, compiladora, El

Ferrocarril de Alfaro. El sueño de la integración, Quito, Taller de Estudios Históricos, Corporación Editora

Nacional, 2008.

similar fate. Although wages were high regarding those of other unions, working conditions were

poor.

We hope that this nomination can recover certain characters and the community that was part of

this service company, among other issues, their participation and integration in the labor movement

aimed at vindicating the rights of workers, initiated in the repression, with the death of hundreds of

workers in Guayaquil in 1922.