The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-28


cry and mushrooms, for which they paid
good prices. From time TO time other pris-
Oners were added, and though the new ar
rivals were not always agreeable conpan-
ions, there Is IN numbers not only strength
but increased opportunities. Gold was DIS
covered In paying quantities, and in due
time the conVicts organized themselves
into Town, which they named Puuta
Arenas, under certain rules and regulR-
lions. Later on large quantity of
COAL WAS FOUND,
and that discovery marked new era in the
lie OF the lonesome colony. They lost no
time IN communicating the important fact
TO passing vesSels-their only way Of ad-
vertising. Some Peruvian war-ships were
the hrst to purchase the commodity, and
before long Punta Arenas became known to
all European and American vessels in
these waters as q convenient place to obtain
supplies. As the condition of the colony
grew better and better, the land east of the
town, Tor distance of several miles. was
divided into farms for the raising of cattle.
horses, poultry and such vegetables as will
grow in this latitude. Wheat will not ma
ture, but hardy grasses were introduced
from Germany, and the cattle of the section
became noted as among the finest in the
world, fat, round and sleek, with particu-
larly soft, velvety hair. A church was
built, costing three thousand, hard earned
dollars, followed by a school house commo-
dious enough TO hold all the children. BY
this time
CHILL BEGAN TO FEEL PROUD
of her distant colony, and to pay so much
unwelcome attention thai the liberty of the
exlles was more and more restricted. A
rather handsome government building was
erected by order OF the president, also new
cuatol, or jail, and the settlement was put
under military control with forty additional
soldiers In uniform, Ostensibly TO do police
duty and be ready for attacks from the
long friendly Indians. At length, in 1877,
! theiniudlciOus severity Of a federal cover
nor OF that day provoked revolt among the
convicts, whose numbers had been no MANY
times augmented by reinforcements of all
classes OF criminals from every prison in
Chilli, that the respectable pioneers, to-
whom belonged all the credit OF prosperity.
were an unconsidered minority. The des.
perate revolters overcame their keepers. set
fire to the houses and forced all the officials
and peaceable Inhabitants to fly to the for
ests. For time
PANDEMONIUM PREVAILED,
| until, by some fortunate accident, a CHILEAN
war-vessel reached Sandy Point while dis
order was atits height, when the insurgents
were speedily overpowered and the ring
| leaders executed. 1t happened that the
Il
climate, 50 that the hoCseless refugees,
among whom were many women and young
children, suffered less than might have been
expected while new homes were being con-
| structed. After this no more convicts were
! sent to Punta Arenas. Now, that the mail
steamers plying between Europe and the
west coast OF South America had adopted
| this route through the strait of Magellan,
] bringing rapid increase Of traffic, the pa
| ternal government recognized its import
ance as station Of call and supply In
1868, it made liberal grants of land to immi-
| grants, and sent out new governor with
800 settlers. Timber for building purposes
was taken along, and plenty Of supplies to
last until the immigrants could clear and
cultivate farms for themselves. During
the war with Peru, when Chill found her
self in need of all the soldiers she could
muster, the military guard was Withdrawn
from the old convict station, all the prison
ers who would consent to
FIGHT THE PERUvIANs
got an honorable discharge and ticket of,
leave and marched gaily away with their
late keepers to cut the throat Of THEN
neighbors. in 1865 the population of Punta
Arenas was hardly two hundred; in 1883 it
was 1000; and now it is little more than
half that number. In 1883 the district was
organized into a province of Chill, its nine
teenth, and now it is no disgrace, though
somewhat inconvenieut, to be Punta
Arenian.
A wslI-known Washington newspaper
man, who lately visited Sandy Point, says
of it:
"The town is interesting because it ia
J the only settlement in Patagonia, and, OF
} course, the only one in the strait. 1t is
about 1000 miles from the southernmOst
, town on the west coast OF South America
to the first port on the eastern coast-a
: voyage which ordinarily requires fifteen
l days; and as Punta Arenas il about mid.
way, of course
IT POSSESSES SOME ATTRACTIONS.
There are few decent people hero-shir
agents and traders who came for bushes!
? reasons consul or two, and among then
/ an Irish physician, DR.. Fenton, who is tbs
= host and oracle sought for by every
q stranger who arrives. Occasionally somt
+ yachting party stops here on its voyage
= around the world, or man Of war cruisinl
+ from one ocean to the other, and steamerl
S bound from Europe to the Pacific ports pas
every day or two; SO that communication
is kept up with the rest Of the universe, ant
the people who live at this antipodes
+ where the sun is seen in the north and tn
S Fourth of July comes in the depth Of win
q ter, are pretty well informed as 70 affair
y at the other end of the globe. The emotion
T that come with the contemplation that yO
are about as far from anywhere as you ca
u possibly go, are novel; but in the midst o
e them you are comforted by the other fac
g that the
"a WORLD IS NOT so LARGE As IT LOOKS TO BE
3. for here is q man who used to live wher
W you came from, and another who one
y worked in the Office where you are employ
e ed. There is q news stand in Punta Are
70 mas where you can purchase New FORK an
e London papers, often three or four month
n old but still fresh to the long voyager, an
l. shops in which Paris confectionery an
q, other luxuries of life can be had at Pata
1f gonian prices"
i How does the place look, Well, there
rt sandy beach in front of high ridge {
te hills, with some rising ground intervening
n Three or four hundred houses are set in tE
is mud and slush along this beach and on ii
m rising ground behind it. mostly one-stor,
n, built of wood, without regularity, yet diI
posed in lines so as TO for streets and MI
Ill cradle attempt at plaza. There is for
es a church, custom house, and one or tT
rs other buildings-not emitting the postofft
at which every traveller in this region drol
A. letters to far-awsy friends, simply becaui
they will bear the nearest possible pos
marks to the South Pole. The govern
lie now resides in what was once
t Ul THE CONVICT BARRACKS,
d and horses are corralled in what used to
ia the stockade. Adjoining the town are de
olate. wind-swept fields covered with q
nd wet, spongy moss peculiar to Patagoni
be the low hills back of them are blackened
Id charred timber, and the range Of mou
CHI tains beyond, though not more than %
ay feet high, are buried in perpetual sno'
nd There is a long, rickety wharf in the for
to ground over which you must pick your WI
til with care 10 avoid the sudden plunge in
-, ha io,y rvatar banaath and in the road STE