Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1888-11-14
COMMODORE vAHpERRTLr.


COMMODORE vAmRRRILf.
\ CAarasssrssaAs Asssssss IL shs Csrssr II :
1gsnssabls lasa.
One day, soma forty-five years ago,
Cornelius Vanderbilt 3mysteriously dis
appeared He was . rich man even
then in New York. well-known even
then, and people wandered what had
become Of him.
He had kissed his wife goodbye in
the morning ~ usual, gone Of to bust
ness - usual, but had not come back
early in the afternoon as usual. Nor
did he come back later in the afternoon.
Nor did he come back ct night, nor the
next day, nor the next week, nor the
next month. Nor had he left any word
for her. No letter mo message.
Some wives would, under these cir
cumstances, have suspected foul play
other wives would have suspected other
women. But good Mrs. Commodore
Vanderbilt didn't suspect either. She
had firm faith in her husbands
strength, sense, and good habits.
After several days thinking and
worrying all to herself she hit upon the
solution. A steamer had left New York
in the night, bound nobody knew
whittier; left in hurry, without any
body on shore knowing exactly who was
on board. As soon as she heard this
Mrs. Vanderbilt made up her mind that
Mr.. Y. had started off on that steamer.
The next thing was to find out where the
vessel had gone. But this question was
never answered. Still the old lady in
little while settled that point to her
own satisfaction, too, for she remem-
bered having lately seen her husband
intently studying big map.
She hunted up that big map and
studied it herself. 1t turned out to be
bran-new may of Central America,
then much less known than now.
Putting the map and the steamer to-
gether Mrs. v. made up her mind that
the Commodore had gone on the
steamer to Central America.
No Misrepresentation wife ever took
the disappearance Of her husband more
quietly and more sensibly, and it turned
out that Mrs. VS. ideas on the matter
were true in every particular.
Vanderbilt himself hadn't exactly
caught the gold fever" which was Just
then breaking out in California (he had
had the gold fever all his life)-but he
was anxious to take advantage OF the
immense travel that was bound to take
place. 1t was not SO much the gold as
the gold-seekers he was after.
The Pacific Mail steamers did then
pretty nearly all the transportation from
the North to California, running in con-
nection With both shores at Panama.
The steamers were not well managed,
and the round trip was expensive, 5000.
Vanderbilt, then the leading steamboat
man in the country. had thought the
matter over aud had come to the con-
clusion that he could do two things
two things he all his life tried to do
carry people cheaper than anybody else,
but make all the money there was in it
for himself.
He had studied up that big map OF
Central America to some purpose. He
calculated that il he could get his pas
sengers over the isthmus by Lake Mica
ragua, which was a route several hun
dred miles shorter, he could do the trip
for about half the money, say $40O, in
stead OF 5000. Now $500 in Wander
bits pocket was great deal better for
Vanderbilt land good deal better for
the public than 5000 in the pockets OF
the members of the Pacific Mail Steam
ship Company. So Vanderbilt at once
resolved to try to get that 800 and
started off, in his Enthusiastically
prompt way, to Central America per
steamer at once, without even bidding
his family goodbye.
The steamer he started from New
York was called :" The Prometheus," and
with it Vanderbilt took small side
wheel steamboat called THE Dictator. I"
His idea from the moment he left New
York was to use the large vessel for TAX
ing the passengers to the isthmus, and
then use the little vessel to take them
across Lake Nicaragua. He followed
out this ideal -carried it out thoroughly
spite Of all obstacles, though the OBJ
stacles would have crushed any man but
Vanderbilt
Lake Nicaragua is located among the
Andes Mountains, and the first and
great thing to do was to get the little
steamboat through and up the noun.
tains into the lake. Vanderbilt sent q
lot of engineers to explore the lake.
| They were gone week and came back
with most unfavorable report. The
stream leading to the lake was not navi-
gable, there were all sorts of bars and
distractions, rocks, falls, fallen trees,
and 30 on. There was only one way,
according to the engineers, to get the
little Dictator into Lake Nicaragua
| /. e., drag her along, by stages, few
miles day, and then dig canals wher.
ever they couldn't drag. This would
take months.
Meanwhile am to lose ~, 900 day, y
growled Vanderbilt. II don't do any.
thing OF the sort. Here, you," turning
TO his strokers, fire up the boat; Gel
thirty men and start her right off.
am just going up this here stream td
that there lake without any more fool.
ing" And he didn't fool any more, but
went.
Such voyage was probably never
undertaken before, or since. 1t was
| really one of the most wonderful cpl
sodes in the wonderful career OF that
most wonderful man. He came neal
bursting the boiler of that little boat
half o dozen times, putting on extrs
steam to force her through the rapids
Sometimes he and all his men got out
and pushed or pulled or dragged thu
boat along. Once he made an enormou.
pulley for the boat with cables and
trees. But any way he got through. HI
| reached with his little steamboat thu
lake, and established his line.
| After o while he returned to New
York, went home and kissed his wife a.
coolly rs if nothing special had hap
pened and he was just coming back t.
dinner, and bright and early the mex
morning he was stirring about making
his preparations to beat the Pacific Mai
and get the passenger traffic from New
York to California.
He got the bulk Of it, and, as this ittl,
"reminiscences shows, deserved to get it
And il every mysterious disappear