The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-06-17
HIS HOUSE IN A TREE TOP.
The Aerial Home OF an American Settler
In Nicaragua and It's Advantages.

81 had heard of old man Wildeson's
house in a tree almost from the day I set
foot in Nicaragua" said Il. Il. Drew.
Later, when business took me TO Rama,
on the Rama river, l not only saw il, but
was guest in IL for a day and a night,
besides taking several pleasant informal
dinners and breakfasts there during my
stay at Rama. That H. Wildeson il good
deal of mechanical genius is shown i'm
the construction of his strange aerial
home. IL is a three story house, built in
an obo tree 60 feet from the ground. The
wood ot the ebu tree is like iron for
strength and s0lidity. so the branches
make n safe and sufficient support for the
structure. Tho house is built about the
trunk, which stands i'm the center as the
mizzenmast of ship rises through the
cabin. | recall n dinner there TO which L
was invited and unexpected guests ar
rived so that the table ordinarily used was
not largo enough TO accommodate us all,
and a specially constructed table was set
completely round the tree trunk. 1t an
swered tho purpose very well, except that
no guest could see the one opposite TO him,
but we had very enjoyable dinner all
the same
"The house, while not precisely spa
cious, contains kitchen, dining room,
sleeping rooms and bathroom, supplied
with water from the rain caught in the
treetop and stored there in tank. The
furniture is good, though simple, ham
Knocks, after the fashion Of the country,
taking the place of beds. TO get up and
down between the ground and the house
an elevator is used, so constructed with
hlnnl-c nd IL Ia haf 4 hn 4
raises himself or controls his descent by
means of IA rope. The house is built of
jointed boards, firmly bound by wire ca
BILE and further secured by wire strands
passing about the structure.
"Mr. Wildeson's idea in building this
lofty and novel house was TO get above the
malaria. 1t seems to answer this purpose
and has other advantages. Mosquitoes and
flies will seldom rise to such height, and
the house is practically free from those
forms of insect and reptile life that in this
country infest houses built upon the
ground. 1t is cool in summer, and the
view which it commands is superb. The
owner, an old Louisiana planter, came TO
Rama many years ago, took up an estate
and began the raising of bananas. To
this he has since added the planting and
culture of the rubber tree, and from this
industry he bids fair to realize u fortune.
He has prospered from the first and al
ready is well to do. One of his enterprises
is an ice plant from which he supplies
buyers with ice all up and down the river.
Below his house, suspended from u
limb is his chicken house. The chickens
run about on the ground through the day,
picking up their living. At the end of the
day they come to the elevator to be hoisted
to the roost in this dangling house. A
thing that struck me curiously was the
sight of "a IL foot boa constructor gliding
about on the ground at the foot of the tree,
climbing over the roofs of the laborers'
cabins, even entering them, and in gen
eral making himself perfectly at home on
the plantation.
'Nobody'd think of harming him,
said the old man when spoke to him about
the big snake. He's perfectly harmless
to any one, and he keeps the place clear of
mice and moles that eat the roots of my
young banana and chocolate trees. Eat
chickens! Never knew him to do such "a
thing. Still, while they're little, don't
put temptation in his way, but keep them
in snake tight coop of wire netting. -
New York Sun.