Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1885-12-17
TIE RICHEST OF ALL WOMEN,
The Wondreus History Of Nine.
C0usinG, OF Santiago, Chilli.

VV0SAuVS Va CousA06Vy Guthls
The Oresus Of Sonth America is q
woman, Donna Isadora Cousino, of
Santiago, Chill, and there are few
men or women in the world richer
than abe. There 10 no eud to her
money and no limit to her extrava.
gance, and people call her the Count.
ess of Monte Cristn. sha traces. her
ancestry back to the days Of the con.
quest, and has the record of the fret
of her fathers who landed in the New
World. His family was already fa.
moua, for bis uncles, and are fought
under the ensign Of the Arsagons Be.
fore the alliance with CASTLE. But
the Spanish branch of the family was
lost in the worlds great shuttle two
or th-se centuries ago. and nsas-ess
them distinguished themselves enough
to get their portraits into the collec.
tion which Sonora Cousino has made
of the lineage abe claims. , ...-,.-..
Like hers, the ancestors qt haf, ,lata.
husband came over early, snd sip The
partition of the lands and apoils 81.
the conquest, both goEa large ahare,
which they kept and ipcreasad by add,
ing the portions given to their less
thrifty and ndlessenterpriaing associates,
until the two eststes became he larg-
est. most productive, and moat;valua.
bic Of all the hseisndas Of Chill, and
were finally united into one BY the
marriage twenty.four years ago Of the
late Don and his surviving widow.
While he lived he was considsred the
richest man in Chill and she the rich.
ss. woman. for their property was
kept separate, the. husband managing
his estates and the wifs, ,hsr own. and |
people say abe was altogether the bet.
ter administrator Of the two.
This fact he acknowledged in his
will, when he bequesthed all of his
possessions to her. and piled his Peli.
on upon her Ossa, 80 that shs has mil |
lions Of acres Of land, millions Of dol.
lars in money, Aocks and herds. that
are numbered By the hundreds of
thousands, coal. copper and, ailvsr
mines, acres of real estate in the eitiea
of Santiago and Valparaiso, feet of
iron st;amships, smelling works, q
railroad, and various other triaes in |
The way Of productive property. which
yield her an income of several mil.
lions year, that she triessyery hard
to spend, and under the circumstan. |
ces succeeds as we'll as could be ex.
pect.d.
From the coal mines alone Sonora |
Coueino has an income Of $4,000 o
month, and there is no reason why
this should not be perpetual, ;as they |
are the only source from which fuel
can be obtained in all South America.
and those who do not buy Of her have
to import their coal from Great Brit.
ain. 1 do not believe there are any
minss in the world which pay 90 large
a profit upon the capital invested and
the labor expended. They lie at the
extreme southern limit of the popu.
lated district OF Chill, just above
where the archipelago that you will
notice on the map begins. Tslcahua.
no is the nearest port Of Importance,
but the towns st the mines are Lota
and Coronel. The coast is quite abrupt
here, and the mines are entered by
shafts that are Immediately. over the
water of Lots Bay, so that the coal
is drawn on trucks to the mouth of
the mines and dumped into launches
and lighters which are towed ont to
the anchorage Of ships. It is said that
it costs only $l.s5 q ton to mine and
deliver this coal on ahipboard, and
she will not sell an ounce of it at q
price 10 8 than $3.50 q ton, just q
shade lower than the cost of imported |
Cardiff. As the deposit is inexhausti-
bic, and the widow has monopoly.
it will be surmised that this portion
of her property will yield enough
revenue to keep the wolf from her
door. =, :...
She hes feet Of eight iron steam:
Sd Ships, iPs Of Of capacities varying from 1000
to 5000 tons, built in England. and
aasd to carry the coal up the coast as
lar as Panama, and around the Straits /
of Magellan to Buenos Ayres and
Montevideo. At Lota she hss copper
and silver smelting works, besides the
coal mines, and her cqsling ahips.
bring ore down the coast as return |
cargo from upper Chill, Peru, and
Ecuador, while those that 90 TO Bus-
nos Ayres bring back beef and -four
aud merchandise for the consumption
Of her people. Nine. Cousino owns
every house in the town Of Lota, and |
every one Of its six or seven thousand
inhabitants is dependent upon her for
support. In Coronsl her proprietor.
ship is notquite 30 complete, butnine.
tanths Of tia people, and there are
5000 there, are on her pay rolls. She
has s-brick kilns and potteries. as well
aaspeltere, and makes all the tiles and
earthenware used on the west coast.