The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-30
SOUTH AMERICAN RAILWAYS.
They are Of Modern Construction ~,
Equipment

They arc Of Modern Constructors and
Equipment
It was an agreeable surprise with which ]
beheld the railway train that was waiting for
us at Llaillai when we steamed in from Ina
Andes in comparatively antiquated cars. II
Was a regular American train. with locomo-
tive and rolling stock of the most approved
model, including fine saloon chair car.
called here Spooner car, from the name
of the American gentleman, Mr.. John A.
Spooner. who has introduced these bless
ings into Chill, writes Theodore Child ia
the October Harper's. entered this
| Spooner car with astonishment, What n
civilized country this is! Thought to myself.
SAIGON cars in Europe are still rare. In
country towns in Europe you do not find
hotels with statuary in the front 'spatio''
and swimming baths in the back ward.
Even in big towns in the United States
you will look in vain for pretty
plaza or promenade, such as thew
have at Los Andes, and. as far az nv ex
perlence goes, in every CHILEAN village.
And yet here have ! been living in the vague
belief that Chilli is a semi barbarous coun-
try, inhabited by rastacoueres with blue
black boards, who wear gigantic diamonds
and oppress the poor Indian. In fact,
knew nothing about Chill beyond its geo
graphical position, and that, too, only APP
Chill. in saloon car running between Sam
tiaRo: ana Valparaiso. At the door are
brOwn-faced neWsbo vs., with q good deal of
Indian blood in their veins, but just as
noisy and enterprising rs young men in the
same profession IN more northern ATTITUDES.
teneoM they cry. 81 Meaenrio, Il Fl A &ss.
aldo"' Diaries, senior; newspapers! Buy
some papers to read on the road, sirr'
There is ringing of bells and blowing
of whistles, and we are off. Half the pas
sengers are talking English, and the others
and manners that am inclined to wish for
little local color and a little more charac-
ter. One blond EnRlishman is reading
railway novel; another has bundle of il
Illustrated papers from the old country;
third is reading to his friend Spanish
journal. Ell Heraldo, which prints its teie-
graphic news in English. The ladies in the
car are English or American as we'll as Chill
ian, and their costume would not attract
attention in Broadway or Regent street,
except for its good taste. The conductors,
with their white kepis and silk dust coats,
passengers: AL! this, especially the
rather surprising to the newcomer,
who has yet to learn that Valparaiso is an
English COWu, anu VINO OOeB not remember
that, commercially speaking, Chill has for
years been more or less an English province.
At Limache we are to get out, our object
being to visit the vineyards known as "Lo
Urmeneta." situated in a charming valley
hemmed in with brown hills. about twenty
miles from Valparaiso: As the Westing-
house brake grips the wheels, and the train
slows into the station, we see bevies of
ladies promenading on the platforms,
dressed in the grayest of summer costumes
and the most coquettish hats that Paris
invented-a year ago. Outside the station
score of boys and girls on horseback in
spect the new arrivals; for in Limache, as
in all Gillian towns whether they be sum-
mer resorts or not, one of the great
distractions is to ride or walk down
to the station to see the trains
come in. The variety of types is great. The
olive-skinned creole; the faxen-haired
Anglo Saxon; the black-eyed CHILEAN maid
ems, with oval faces and full puffy cheeks;
the blue-eyed English girls, who chatter at
one momel.t in the familiar tongue and
the next moment in stately Spanish: the
swarms of little boys and girls, happy FAM
lilies of ten or fifteen young people, all cor
rectly dressed well-behaved, and radiant
with health and felicity-present picture
of singular animation. and an aspect of
complete civilization, which the European
traveller contemplates at first sight with un-
pardonable, but none the less real astonish-
ment.