Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-02

him, Mark Twain has used him for text,
and for years he was part of the history of
this country. Less than 30 years ago he
was u partner OF Ralston, the California
banker, and close friend of Senator Sharon,
Flood, Mackev, O'Brien and the rest of the
golden princes whose honors dated from the
davs of '49.
Under some stress Of temptation he COM
mitted forgeries in San Francisco, and when
the crime was discovered one day he calmly
rowed out into the bay, climbed upon the
deck of a schooner. purchased her, and
sailed away in search of pastures new. He
came to Peru, bringing with him much OF
his wealth and all his irresistible energy.
These he applied to difficulties under which
the country was struggling, and overcame
them. He sent back money to California
to reimburse with good interest those who
had suffered by his forgeries but he never
returned himself and finally died here, one
of the richest and most influential men on
the Western coast.
THE WORK HE DID.
Saws a recent writer on this subject: "Lit-
tie more than quarter of century ago an
unknown man, q fugitive from justice, ar
rived at the port of Callao, and appeared
among the Spaniards, much as Nance
Oapac, at once the Adam and the Christ of
the Incas, appeared to the Indians 1000
years before. As the mysterious Capac
taught those early people a knowledge of
the agricultural and mechanical arts, this
unknown man taught their successors to
Duild railroads, and to-day he stands as their
ideal of Yankee enterprise and engineering
genius. He plunged the Government of
Peru into debt that will never be paid, but
laid the foundation for a system of develop
ment that will one day bring wealth to the
great Republic.
From Ecuador to Patagonia. through
Peru, BolIvis and Chill, Meiggs' enter
prises extended; and the result is a series of
railroads at right angles with the coast, con-
Meeting the interior of the country with the
sea ports, and giving to the mines in the
mountains, the nitrate beds, estates and
sugar haciendas, easy outlets to the ocean.
Nearly every port on the western side of the
continent has its little railway from 20 to
250 miles long. Some of them reach into
the heart OF the Andes, and all are arteries
OF commerce, making profitable possessions
that would otherwise be worthless"
WATER DEAR AS MILK.
From Mollendo to Valparaiso the coast,
for more than ], 900 miles, is a panorama of
desolation succession of bleak and barren
cliffs, unrelieved by patch of green. On
one hand is the mighty Pacific, on the other
the impenetrable Andes, and between drift
ing sands. ALL the water used by the people
is taken from the ocean: that for mechanical
purposes being used in its natural state, to
the great detriment of the machinery, and
that for food being condensed into steam
and thus purged OF its salt. There is not a
we'll nor spring in all that distance, and
drinking water is an article of merchandise,
like milk or meat, costing consumers about
cents per gallon.
Northward from Molendo at Pisco, o
stream Of the same name comes rushing
down to the sea through valley literally
purple with grapes. of this valley lie the
high and rocky islands of Chinchs, famous
for their guano deposits, which, for many
years, were q source of great wealth to Peru.
FANNIE b. WARD.