Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-08-24

A Woman Millionaire.

ago. Chill, and there are rev men OF
women in the world richer than she.
There is no end to her money and no limit
TO her extravaganza, and people call her
the Countess Of Monte Cristo. She traces
her ancestry back to the days of the con-
quest. and has the record of the first OF
her fathers who landed on the shores of
the New World His family was already
famous. for his sire fought under the en-
sign of the Arragons before the alliance
with CASTLE. But the Spanish branch OF
the family was lost in the worlds great
shuttle two or three centuries ago. and
none of them distinguished themselves
enough to get their portraits into the col
| lection which Sonora Cousino has made
of the lineage she claims.
Like her own, the ancestors of her late
husband came over early, and in the par
tition of the lands and spoils Of the con-
quest both got large share. which they
kept and increased by adding the portions
given to their less thrifty and less enter
terprisins associates, until the two estates
became the largest, most productive and
most valuable of all the haciendas 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 considered the rich
est man in Chill. and she the richest
woman, for their property was kept sepa-
rate, the husband managing his estate
and the wife her own, and people say she
was altogether the better "administrator"
of the two. This fact he acknowledged in
his will when he bequeathed all of his
possessions to her, and piled his Pelion
upon her Ossa, so that she has millions of
acres of land, millions of money, flocks
and herds which are numbered by the
hundreds of thousands, coal, copper. and
silver mines. acres of real estate in the
cities of Santiago and Valparaiso, fleet
of iron steamships, smelling works. a
railroad, and various other trfles in the
way of productive property which yield
her an income of several millions year
which she tries very hard to spend, and.
under the circumstances, succeeds as we'll
as could be expected.
From her coal mines alone Sonora
Cousino has an income of $50, 900 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
Great Britain. | do not believe there are
any mines in the world which pay so large
profit upon the capital invested and the
labor expended. They lie at the extreme
southern limit of the populated district of
Chilli, just above where the archipelago
that you will notice on the map begins.
Talcahuano is the nearest port of import
ance, but the towns at 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
Lota Bay, 80 that the coal is drawn on
trucks to the mouth of the mines and
dumped into launches and lighters, which
are lowed out to the anchorage of ships
1t is said that it costs her but $1.35 a ton
to mine and deliver this coal on shipboard,
and she will not sell an ounce of it at a
price less than $3.50 a ton-just a shade
less than the cost OF imported Cardiff. AS
the deposit is inexhaustible, and the widow
has monopoly, 1t can be surmised that
this portion OF her property will yield
enough revenue to keep the wolf from her
door.
She has fleet of eight iron steamships,
of capacities varying from 1000 to 5000
are used to carry coal up the coast as far
as Panama. and around the Straits of Ma
gelan to Buenos Ayres and Montevideo.
At Lota she has copper and silver smelt-
ing works, besides the coal mines. and her
coaling ships bring ore down the coast as
return cargo from Upper Chill, Peru,
and Ecuador; while those that GO to
Buenos Ayres bring back beet and flour
and 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 Coronel her pro-
pretorship is not quite so complete, but
nine tenths of the people-and there are
5000 of them-are on her payrolls. She
has brick-kilns and potteries as we'll as
smelters, ard makes all the tiles and
earthenware used on the west coast. 1t is
said that she pays out from 100000 to
1920. 900 month as wages in these two
towns. most of which comes back into her
pocket through supply stores, where she
sells food and clothing to her own people.
Although Lota is mining town, as
dirty and smoky as any of its counterparts
in PENNSYLVANIA, it is the widows tavorite
residence, and she is now building a man.
sion that will cost a million dollars. The
architect and chief builder are Frenchmen.
whom she imported from Paris, ami much
of the material is imported also. Not
long ago she shipped cargo of hides and
wool in one of her own steamers to Bor-
deaux, and it is to come back laden with
building supplies for this mansion. She
has no time to go across the sea herself
and the captain of her ship will bring
with him decorators and designers and
upholstery men, who are to take look
at things, and finish the interior for her
occupation regardless of expense.
This mansion stands in the centre of
what is undoubtedly the finest private
park in the world, including $50 acres OF
land laid out in the most elaborate man.
ner. filed with statuary. fountains, caves.
cascades. and no end OF beautiful trees and
plants. The improvement of the natural
beauty of the place is said to have cost
Senior Cousino nearly million dollars,
and she has force of thirty gardeners
constantly at work. The superintendent
is Scotchman. and he told me his orders
were to make the place paradise, with
out regard to cost. In this park there are
many wild animals and domesticated pets,
not only natives of the country, but i'm
ported from other lands; and the flowers
are something wonderful.
At present the madame is living in a
temporary structure, and remains con-
stantly on the grounds to superintend the