Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-14
EXPLORATIONS on THE rsrnmUs.
Fi,e z,ive6f1res 81 a traveller in Search

the Recent Reported Coal Discoveries.
500 YOU know anything about the nat
uraI resources of Central American" in
quired Mr.. ). 3. Chichester OF a News
reporter yesterday, as he was 81 tting
in the Mutual Gas Light Company's office &.
The NEWS man confessed his entire ig-
norance of the country as to its resources,
its wealth or its people. Il was reading
the other day. continued Mr.. Chichester,
'san account of recent valuable diseov-
cries Of coal along the eastern. coast, and
if YOU have time I might tell you some
thing of my own explorations there in
search of the glittering fuel"
.sIn 1863" began the gentleman. 'Mr.
John T. DAILY. who afterwards built the
Windsor Hotel in New York, and who
was on his way from California, in cross
ing the isthmus at Aspinwall met some
parties who told him that there were
immense bodies of coal throughout Cen
trail America, particularly in Costa Rica
and New Granada. Mr.. Daily was an old
friend of NINE, and after he arrived in
New York specimens of the reported dis
cOveries were sent on. They were refer
red to me for examination, and
found them to be a good specimen Of
| bituminous fuel. 1t had the appearance
/ of rusty coal, such as Is always seen IN
| the OutcrOpping Of veins, or veins that
| come to the surface. The gentlemen
! whom Mr.. Daily met at Aspin vail held a
| concession from the government of Costa
| Rica for all coal found three miles back
and seven miles along the coast Of that
country. The samples looked so prOmis-
| ing that was sent out there by Mr.. DAILY
| and otheRcapitalists with the intention of
opening mines, building railroads, docks,
/ ETC., for shipping"
AT that time, during the heat of the civil
war, it was very desirable to get coal
/ nearer the isthmus. 1t was then selling
| in Aspinwall for S12 per ton and in Pana-
ma for SIS, and had to be taken across the
I isthmus on cars. So, as | said, j was Sc
| lectcd to go out there and explore the
| country
LAS soon as | landed there l made
up my mind that there was no coal.
| There was no Indication of it. But
| | was sent out for the purpose of eXamin-
/ ing the country, and did so. Afterl got
! to Aspinwall 1 hired a vessel and organ
lied part of my company, which l after
| wards increased when reached the lower
coast. The first place | went to was
/ BOeadeltora, where / made my headquar-
! tiers. it being the only place where | was
/ able to find an American house that |
could stop at. l then secured a
| guide and organized a party of fourteen
| natives and two whites and started out
on my exploring expedition. L found
! along the coast some more Of this same
coal, but it had evidently been washed
| there from wrecks or had been left by
vessels which had been there gathering
guano off some of the small islands.
kept hearing of deposits and followed
them up, but only in places where 1t was
said to be for certainty. l had sunk a
A. ID
! but black mud. After | had got the shaft
sunk my old guide remarked that the
same thing had been done eighteen OF
| twenty years ago by an English officer,
| and he had made the same remark, that
! there was nothing there but mud"
Il keptOn working, but had great deal
/ of trouble with the natives. They would 60
| when they pleased, and when it did not
| please them to 20 | would have to wait.
/ They would never leave the
| town for the camp unless we had plenty
! Of brandy aboard, SO L had to give
them brandy by the wholesale.
| On my second expedition, after
! finding this coal, | started for place
! called Old HarbOr, travelling at night to
! avoid the intense heat. When l reached
| Old HabOr | found a hut occupied by Il
| trader, who had carried on trade with
/ the Indians. | think he was Jamaica
| negro with an Indian wife. 1 asked
! him how far it was to where the coal
/ supply was said to be, and he replied that
/ 1t was about three miles in direct line,
! but probably seven by travel. l had
| been travelling all night, from y O'Clock
! the day before; but still being anxious to
see what l could, l told him l would have
| a little breakfast and go on and see what
| were represented to be coal mines.
! selected a guide and four of my crew to
/ go with me. After travelling all day
/ through the dense jungles, and walking
/ part of the time in a creek up to our
middle in water, we came to one
OF the most romantic and beautiful spots
| that l ever saw. There was fall of
water, probably forty or fifty feet and at
the base of it a beautiful basin, and there
! | found what was supposed to be coal .
! 1t was nothing more than clay on
each side of the fall, becoming black by
! being exposed to the air. | took pick
and gave one cut and struck through to
! ordinary clay. That was the end of this
/ exploration. The clay was what they
called coal. l concluded l would stay at
the falls that day and rest. The next
morning my men told me that we were
out of provisions and that they had eaten
up everything we had. We were now
something like twenty or thirty miles
| from our starting point, so | sent two men
| back for provisions. | had taken a man
along whom l had selected as a good shot
/ for the purpose of supplying us with
/ game, which was said to he abundant in
| that region, but we were unable to find
any. The party l sent back were gone
/ from Thursday until Sunday morning.
In the meantime we had nothing to eat.
| We tried to shoot monkey, but the
crafty animals would get so high that we
were unable to reach them.
do YOU think a monkey would make
good eating?" inquired the reporter.
THAT l cannot say, but they do eat
them sometimes. When the pro-
| vision party got back on
Sunday evening | started back to the har-
Dor. a young Spaniard, whom | after
wards met, said that further down the
| coast, near Nicaragua, there was coal.
| He was certain of it, for he was accus-
toned to seeing coal and had handled it.
After resting few days we went up into
/ Nicaragua, and there found precisely the
same thing as l had found at HarbOr
creek, nothing but clay. We then re-
/ turned to Old HarbOr, and after resting
for a couple of weeks / found that down
/ near Cherrique was known to exist kind
/ of shale that would burn. So | started
for that, thinking there must be some
| thing in it. We landed first at Fish creek.
a settlement probably of 30 or 40 huts. An
old Spaniard living there ruled the inhab-
| itants as kind of king.
81 told the old fellow that my guide
wanted $50, and he said L should have
/ him for much less. He told the guide
| if he didn't take me through for SO he
| would take his boat from him. So the
/ fellow came down at once and we ar
ranged to leave at midnight. We had
to cross lake, and in crossing
it my guide said: 800 you
see that island?" I said eyes
| ''Well," he added, "there is an
American living there alone. So / went
! there and found the most dilapidated
/ looking being that l ever saw. His name
was Smith for fact, and knew then he
was an American. All he had in the
world was a pair of overalls, hickory
shirt and an old straw hat. l found him
| lying on a sort of litter, and asked what
he was doing there. He replied,
81 came here to make my fortune"
| but he didn't look as though he
had made it. He then told me that he
was a native of Missouri, and at the
breaking out of the war he did not feel as
though he wanted to join either party.
He had read a great deal of the beauties
of South and Central America, and as he
had a few hundred dollars, he took his
money and started, and this was the end
of his travels. Near his hut l found the
substance called shale. l tried to burn
it. but could get only the slightest trace
Of bitumen, showing that there was only
a slight trace in il. l have since got
similar kind that comes from the Rocky
mountains. With these discoveries l be-
came satisfied that there was no coal in
the country. However, l continued my
explorations, but met with the same sue
cess, finding nothing that would make a
/ marketable flpl When | read the report