Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-10

advances would be lost. II they sent him suct
telegram: For the sake of what we haVt
advanced, for the sake of all that we are @ Doll
to realize, to prevent our finances ana YOU
moral damnation, come back is 1t to be won
dered at that he did go back?
Ned said Major Burke to me, am
ruined man if don't 60 back He vent anc AM
in ten days the present companies had peer
successfully formed"
Managing Director Browne, with whom hac
an authorized interview is brown-halreo
brown complexion OF tropical traveller, ano
mustache OF Spanish cavalier. ne wen
out to Honduras last winter, and traVeleG
muleback for miles and miles and days ano
days from the coast to the mines. Inc mule
kit he then had made in London has probably
no parallel anywhere, with its portabie tents
mining tools, steam engines, saWmllls-tne
latter jointed and numbered, so as TO easily
take apart and reconstruct-dresslng cases
wardrobes. kitchens, pantrIes and what NOT
saw some of
THIS MARVELLOUS KIT
in Mr.. Browns apartments at the Hoffman yes
terday morning. Silver and sole leather
strewed the rooms in bewildering confusion
Here was portable kitchen of heavy leather
stove, boilers, pots, pans, kettles, olsneS
knives and forks, plates, glasses, silver 1lshes
and goblets, all complete. Each piece htleo
into its own socket, and each gem IN lts
way.
First of all asked him, "what of Major
II should prefer to not talk of him." he re-
plIed, feelingly. Il can only say that believe
he is a square and honorable man, anu that in
time he will make that apparent: l and my
expedition are bound to San Francisco, whence,
on the morning of my arrival, we will sail south
TO Amapala on the Pacific coast of Honduras.
That is an average of five or SIX days. From
Amapala we pack inland on mulebaek ~
leagues, or 2l0 miles, to Jutilcapa, the nearest
town and postoffice to our mines eight leagues
distant. On the way we pass the capital OF
Honduras, Tegueigalpa, three days journey
from Amapala.
THE last time made the Journey I landed
on the Atlantic coast at TruiXlllo from which
the launt to the mines occupied Just five days,
although the distance is fully 800 miles. l &C
complshed this feat of 60 miles day on mule
back, over rough mountains and through al
most virgin forests by using five animals, rid
ing one, packing one, sending the native guide
ahead on one, and reserving two extra saddle
mules. Puerto Cortes is another of the steam
ers which ply regularly to New Orleans, laden
with bananas in the main. This fruit traffic
was organized by Major Burke, and all its
freight is carried by contract out of New Or
the road of which the Hon. Patrick Donan, of
Devils Lake, Oak, and of Wall street. New
York, is a leading feature, and to which he
gave great prominence year or two ago by
the discovery of
TWO BANANA BELTS
in the territory it tapped-one in Dakota and
one in Honduras. The mules which packed our
mining machinery required six weeks to make
the journey from the coast to the mines, and
back. The plant taken on mule back, weighed
at least 200 pounds
mo, we don't carry any timber houses, all
ready to set up. We live in mud houses out
there. But we have just packed a 1O0stamp
mill, to be run by electricity. What do you
iplr M hn oil onl oil
those weighty stamps trayersing forests and
mountains on the shoulders of mulesi The
whole route is over mountains pretty much,
with here and there an occasional high plateau.
pastures for cattle that know are the best in
the world. Beef cattle are worth or s soils "a
sol is about 72 cents in Hondurasl say IS or S6 q
head. These same cattle, shipped to Guate-
mala, which Honduras supplies with beef,
bring nearly $50 head. See the profit there.
These mountain forests abound with trop-
ical verdure, and the plateaus especially afford
a great deal Of game, such as wild turkeys,
deer, panthers and monkeys. At the gold
mines themselves we are entirely surrounded
with mountains There is no alluvial valley
on each side of the river, as in California. In
Honduras the mountains slope precipitately
toward the river bed, and there is nothing
there to work except the bed of the river itself.
OF course to reach that new channel must be
cut. All the gold and gravel of ages has been
swept down the mountain slopes, straight over
the banks of the Jayape river. A great deal of
gold was taken from that stream in the time Of
the Spaniards, 100 or 2O0 years ago. Even now
the native women, when they want mony or
have leisure, pan out some gold. At our works
the Jayape is about $50 feet wide and has fall
of about ten feet to the mile. That, of course,
makes the current swift.
MUCH MONEY IN IT.
"Three London companies, with much capital,
are now working, or rather will be working,
these mines when I get there. They are the
Retro Placer and Quartz Mining Company. the
opoteca Silver Mining Company and the Hon.
duras Gold Placer Mining Company, limited.
These companies were sold in London BY ]. H.
Morris, OF Throg's Neck, the racing and lottery
natives, Of course, as there is nobody else much
to be had. Our mines are working on the old
California principle of a large fume with
Chinese pumps and sluices
Honduras is Just beginning to attract the
attention of Great Britain, and is now drawing
better as mining attraction than South Africa.
General Louis Bogran, the president is a pro-
gressive man. Life and property are secure
there, absolutely, highway robbery and mulder
being crimes almost unknown. Coffee and all
the tropical fruits grow we'll Corn grows with.
out planting, and sugar cane almost without
cultivation at all. The people are hospitable
to degree. You can't pass natives hut
without being invited in, and If you ask:
'Pueda pousser 70 por la noeheP( lean pass the
night here? the universal answer is: Com.
mon non?' (why not?).
"The Opoteca Silver Mines were hoated in
London on the strength of the statement that
there are 10000, 900 tons of ore in sight, worth
at least SIS to the ton. These mines are so
miles north Of the railroad line from Amapala
to Puerto Cortes, of which 80 miles are com.
pleted. This road is thought by some to be
the future great Isthmian route, in spite of the
Panama Railroad"
1t was not polite to remind Don Browne that
this same Honduras Railroad is the one which
has been just fully described as having tri-
weekly" trains-the train on the theory that
there is but one goes out one week and tries
to return the next"