The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-29

parently wasted on an ungratefuI region
Its 5,000-foot long bridge and causeway
built over the waters of broad and deeI
lagoon four miles out of Guaymas, is
marvel of architecture, well supplemented
by tie andsome station, which occupie!
the neck Of an isthmus, terminating in
rocky promontory, half mile from the
town.
AS TO CLIMATE
and environments. this section is much like
st. Thomas, one of the Virgin islands Of
the West Indies, whose crater-like por
Charles Kingsley once called "a Dutch over
of place. Both are surrounded by bills
tering hills and filled up ankle deep with
burning, heainfested sand-but st. Thomas
has the advantage OF a somewhat freer cir
culation of air. Ninety-five degrees in the
shade is considered remarkably cool here:
and though all the windows and doors of the
houses and hotels are kept wide open
from sunset to sunrise, there is nc
use trying to sleep-unless one initiates
the natives, who stretch their cots OF
spread their blankets in the streets, on the
Sidewalks, on the house-tops, anywhere out
of doors. Even the women and girls
nightly take up their beds and walk out
side, for the inner temperature is as abso-
lutely uncomfortable as that of q service
blast
THE MEXICAN FASHION
of narrow streets prevails in Guaymas,
and for once they are adapted to the ext
gencies of the occasion, for here there is nc
room to spare, the city, which is only about
a mile long, having nowhere more than a
quarter of a mile between the mountains
and the sea, and in most places scarcely
half that distance. The sidewalks are
eXecrable ard everybody wades about in
the sand, unless his way leads along the
| the principal street, from the railroad sta
ton at one end of the town to the wells at
the other.
The Guaymas water works. by the
way, deserve more than pas sing mention,
being as quaint and primitive as those of
ancient Palestine. Printers ink cannot
do justice to them, they must be seen to be
appreciated in their native picturesque
ness Just outside the city limits are
several wells-one belonging to the city.
the others owned by private individuals
close together in field near the roadside,
each well surrounded by a high adobe
frame and furnished with big wheel and
two little ones. Imagine the closely en-.
circling mountains,
CLAD IN RCssET BROWN,
and the arid surroundings. enlivened only
! by cactus growth and an occasional palm
the constant procession of dOnkeys, coming
and going, each little beast with a big
water bag of OK hide slung on each side OF
| him and reaching nearly to the ground,
while behind the bags, almost on the ami
mails tail, sits the boy who peddles the
water. Here there are no Rebeccas' at the
wells, as in most parts of Mexico, and the
sterner sex completely monopolize the bust
ness. Besides the boys, noticed few
Gayni Indians, with long, black locks fly
ing uncovered in the wind, anC several
| ull-grown Gre lsers' hiding their heads
under big somt reros-but not fen ale
among them. The great paumis like wat sr-
skins, most of them with the hair of the
animal still clinging to the outside, look
green and Shiny from long use; and In to
the bottom OF each bag cows horn is
stuck, through which the fluid flows when
retailed to Customers. Small boys, mounted
upon the adobe frames, make the mill
wheels spin round by hand right merrily,
from dawn till dark, while the procession
of Corners and goers never ceases.
THIS Aqua DULCIE, SWEET wATER),
being all that is drinkable in Guaymas, is
carried around to the houses and peddled
in quantities to suit purchasers, as we
sell milk-and it brings almost as high a
price. All day long and far into the night
| the donkey-boys come and go. the bare
headed, bar e-fo d little rasca guiding
their patient beasts without Dridle or
stick. The life-giving fluid may not be
very clean, and is certainly not cool; but
| then it is wet, and your choice lies between
it and the briny ocean. And even this, like
the water from all the wells in western
Next o, has brackish, unpleasant taste,
and produces temporary diseases with
those unaccustomed to its use. In this eli
mate, the wise Way is to drink as little as
possible, restricting oneself mostly to cof-
fee and wine. The dust, the intense heat
and thelrapid ev; poration cause burning
and gnawing thirst; but tiny pebble held
in the mouth, a grain of corn or bit of
alum, will
RELIEVE THE wRETCHED FEELING
better than a drink of the warm, brac5ish
water, which instantly creates a craving
desire for more.
In view of the picturesqueness of the
thing, and the fact that the present rates
system is not only one of the sights of
Guaymas, but has furnished life long occu-
patton for generations of poor people who
would otherwise have nothing to do by
which to ward off the wolf of hunger, 1
am sorry to say that the city promises to
have more modern waterworks in operation
during the year, the supply being brought
| from mountain stream several miles dis
tant Thus does the march of improve
1enI anu Inc luGrOQuCGlOu Oh lADOf- saving
machinery leave victims in the path who
also must advance, however painful the
process, or be left to perish. It seems al
most cruel to force new wants upon so con-
| tented a people, who have no desire to be
awakened from the dolce far niente of their
father s; but the memorable law of progress
is upon them-as on all mankind
There is already
AN ICE MANDATORY IN GUAYMAs
which makes the water more palatable for
those who can afford it; besides a shoe fac
tory, an oyster canning establishment, a
soap factory-not much patronized, Tregret
to add, by those who need it most; and var
ious other infant industries Electric
lights are talked of, the telephone and tele
graph are in full blast and the Wells Fargo
xpress system. There is court of the first
aud second appeal, coed hospital and
commodious theatre, and a number of
wholesale importing houses besides the
retail shops.
Situated as it is, on the most commanding
and beautiful point of the California gulf,
not to mention its unequaled connections
with the United States, Guaymas ought to
control all the trade of the upper gulf and
western Mexico. Though by no means com
ng up to the possibilities, it is a CONNER
cial centre of considerable Importance, and