Sharp County record., 1891-07-16
ABOUT MONTEViDEO.
An Important Commercial City But Lit
Known to Americans.

Known to Americans.
No city in South America has greater
advantages in geographical position
than Montevideo the capital of the re-
public, and if it possessed only good
port, its prosperity would be multiplied
tenfold. In the bay, it appears the
depth of water has diminished five feet
within the past seventy years, a,ld now
does not exceed fifteen feet at the deep
est, while the roadstead outside the
Cerro is so exposed as to be one of the
most dangerous in the world. The Rio
de la Plata is by no means the ideal
river that many believe it to be; indeed,
after every strong pampero you may
count wrecks and ships aground be-
veen the estuary and the island of
rrtin Garcia literally by the score.
want of port or protection of any
all business is interrupted while
The 'pampero is blowing, communication
between the shore and the ships an
chored in the roads being impossible.
The necessity of loading and unloading
by means of lighters and tugs renders
the operation exceedingly expensive,
and in many cases the costs of landing
goods at MOntevideo are equivalent to
the freight of the goods from Havre,
Hamburg, or Liverpool Ever since
1862 there have been various schemes
proposed for making a port, but all
have fallen through. During my visit
in 1890 no less than twenty -one costly
projects were submitted to department
of public works, but the we'll informed
consider that none of these projects will
likely be accepted. To all of them two
grave objections were to be made:
First of all the enormous cost; and Sec
ondly, the fact that all the projects
were based on the gaining of land as a
principal object, of course with view
to lucrative speculations, after the ex-
ample of the harbor and dock works of
Buenos Ayres.
Landing at Montevdeo is often ter
rible and even dangerous operation.
The ocean steamers anchor two miles
or more from the shore, and after the
formalities of the medical inspection
have been accomplished and the quar-
antine flag hauled down, small steam
ers are moored alongside, the baggage
is lowered, and then the passengers
have to make perilous leaps from the
foot of the gangway to the decks of the
tugs Finally, when all is ready, the
tugs start, painting and putting, thread
ing their way through ships of all sizes
and descriptions anchored in the roads.
The panorama of the city is grand. TO
the left, forming the western point of
the bay, is the Cerro, that gives it's
name, Montevideo, to the town; on the
summit, 1877 metres above the level OF
the sea, isa fortress built by the gov
ernor, Eiid after after she -caipitGlation OF the
English in 1908, and now used as a light.
house and observatory; at the foot
the Cerro, the broad bay sweeps roun
crowded with small craft, and joins thu
turtle-back promontory on which the
old town is built
Seen from the river, the points that
strike the eye are the hill on the left,
and on the right the vast custom-house
depots, the fine new hotel, and the tow
ers of the cathedral and the churches
rising above the white and Oriental
looking silhouette of the town, that
slopes up from the water and attains in
parts height of one hunered metres
above the level of the sea. The land
ing-stage is at the end of the custom
house, wooden wharf or jutty provid-
ed with narrow wooden staircase, at
the head of which the changadores, or
porters, wait in a line to carry baggage
The want of good police regulations
and fixed tariffs makes itself felt here
in all the ports Of South America, The
newcomers, and the natives too, have
to submit to such eXtortion, although
The porters of Nlontevideo and the whole
service of the ianding-stage are better
managed than at Beunos Ayres. Th
hotels of Montivedeo are all poor, the
food they provide is inferior, and often
execrably prepared, and as there are no
other restaurants except those of the
hotels, there is no alternative but to
suffer, Theodore Child, in Harpers
Magazine,