St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-02
IT IS AN EMPIRE.
DONALD GRANT TALKS REGARD
ING CONCESSIONS IN VENE-
ZUELA.
RICH BEYOND COMPARE.
GREAT CHANCES FOR AMERI-
CANS WITH PLUCK AND
LITTLE CAPITAL.
BANK SCHEME ABANDONED,
But Development OF Other Conces-
sions Will BE Pusbed-Im-
portant Project.

t
Donald Grant and other Minne>o-
tans who have been in Venezuela
for some time in connection with
the grant made by the Venezuela
government to the Americans syn
dictate returned home yesterday.
There are said Mr. Grant this
morning, the grandest opportuni-
ties for Americans in that country.
From all 1 can see, there isn't the
slightest prejudice against Yankees
in Venezuela There isn't even the
slight feeling that exists in some
parts of this country against those
of foreign birth. The government
will do all in its power from this
time on to
AID AMERICANS
who have brains and a little capital.
They want US there badly. Beyond
question, the grasping of opportuni-
ties in Venezuela by people from
this country will be a wonderful
thing for an export trade with all
South America Men who have a
knowledge of the cattle business:
men who can adapt themselves to
tropical farming and men who can
make a success in professional life,
dealing with new conditions and for
eignerS, can all find future in We
neZuela. Our Orinoco river conces-
sion embraces, besides the shores of
the river, all the islands, Some of
them are very large. There is one
IL Of Sc,
eight to ten miles wide and forty
to fifty miles long. It is fringed with
valuable timber, and inside lies a
table land magnificently adapted for
stock raising. There is money in
that island. The farming lands will
grow anything, but especially cocoa,
coffee, indigo, cotton and cane. The
cocoa and coffee will be especially
profitable. Two or three ordinary
crops are raised every year. The
cane grows from the root without re-
planting, and so does ordinary corn
for fodder, but no ears will spring
from the second crop.
1--WE met along the river great
many of the native Indians, descend
ants of those who were inhabitants
before the Spaniards came
THEY ARE LITTLE PEOPLE,
about four feet tall, intelligent,
clearly, peaceable and apparently
good workers. They live in huts of
bamboo and thatch, and are more
cleanly in their habits than those
they call native VeneZuelans. The
climate is hot, of course, in the low
lands, but grows cooler as one gets
up, and at Caracas, the capital, the
mean is about rs degrees, with only
or degrees of change in the en-
tire year. The wet season CORE
spends to our summer and the dry
to our winter, reversing the Cali
fornia process. Irrigation is not
necessary. So far as 1 can tell. the
country is healthful; yellow fever is
rare.
Travelling is costly. 1t cost US
between $1,000 and $4,000 for travel
ing expenses alone in the six or
seven weeks we were there, besides
supplies, and some of the travel was
done at government expense at
that
The Orinoco concessions have been
renewed, substantiated, enlarged and
confirmed by the government, and the
title TO the commercial interests of a
vast stretch of landi rivaling the North
American grant made by the kings Of
England, Spain and France in the
early sixteenth century, rich in all the
varied resources of the tropics, now
lies in the hands of the Minnesota
syndicate, in connection with some 9TH
er parties, for Improvement and de-
velopment. 1t is a royal grant and
one of the largest possibilities. In it
lie what are probably the largest for
ests of mahogany, rosewood, cedar,
dye woods and other rare and costly
woods now to be found in all South
America. It contains rich mines of
hematite iron ore, which are now being
worked by subconcessionaries, and
which the reorganized company will
take up and operate as largely as trade
conditions will permit. There are in
cluded in the limits many islands, some
of them with rich asphaltum deposits,
and on some of the rivers are gold
placers that are so rich that England
has laid claim to them. There are
also many thousands of square miles
OF rich and tlllable land suitable for
the growth of all tropical vegetation,
and adapted for settlement and stock
raising.
UNDER THE TERMS
OF the concession, the Minnesota COM
pany is compelled to develop these re-
sources as soon and as extensively as
it can well do so, and it proposes to
get to work at once. Several hundred
men will be set at work this fall on
the various enterprises, the number
to be increased later as developments
warrant. Most of these men will be
NeneZuelans, the directors OF the work
being largely Americans, and present
associates of the leaders in the enter
prise. While in Venezuela a thorough
reconnaissance of the river and conces-
sionS was made. Mr.. Grant chartered
steamboat, and fifteen days were
spent by the whole party in a careful
survey of the Orinoco for 200 miles,
both up and down. while the chief
tributaries, notably one Of the north
east We're also traVerse6 to the limits