The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-02
GREAT NATURAL WEALTH
Porto Rico Has Been Royalty En-.
dowed by Nature.
. LETTER FROM DOC HERSEY
It Will Blossom Al a Garden When
the Yankee Gets Hold OF It-wm
Be Rapidly Americanizsd-The
Miners Possibilities.

ofcdt rdls, oct. l.-Dr. Ernest
Crutcher Of this city has his morning
received a letter from A. II. Hersey,
now In the quartermaster's department
at Ponce. Porto Rico. Mr.. Hersey is
an old newspaper man. having been en-
gagged on the Standard for several years,
AND his letter is no doubt as accurate
as 1t Is interesting. Doc writes in
part as follows:
Il am delighted with Porto Rico. 1t
is a beautiful and royalty fertile land,
endowed by nature with every sort of
natural wealth. Ii will blossom still
more grandly when the Yankee comes
In numbers sufficient to grapple with
the task of transformation which is the
destiny of the ISLAND There Is not a
produc OF the temperate or the torrid
zone that cannot be made under scien-
tiic culture to flourish here. The whole
gamut almost of the whole worlds
products will yet go forth to the uni
versal markets from the ports of Porto
Rico. At present coffee. tobacco and
corn may be said to he the main yield
In staples. besides fruits. and in these
latter the possibilities lying before the
horticulturist are beyond the power of
exaggeration. Cocoanuts, bananas,
plantains. pineapples. oranges. lemons,
lligat pears. dates, piums,
guavas and a host of other delicious
things grow and numerous other fruits
could be made to grow and yield enor-
mously. The Spaniard. who has so long
held this fair land in bondage, has
sought to do nothing but bleed the re-
sources of the country with the machete
or the tax collector as well as the people
literally. with all the real, naked cruelty
OF that barbarous instrument.
The aspect of the country is pictur-
esque In the extreme, whether viewed
from the waters of the harbor or from
n point inland The soil. being so
rich, is clothed either with wild vegeta-
ton or with crops and the whole pros
pect Is one of verdant mountain, hill
and plain. Back from the shore the land
rises until an elevation of
$500 feet Is attained I'm the summit of
a rugged steep called The Anvil Tim
Der grows to the topmost heights and
consists of very valuable woods. There
are 400 rivers of all degrees of volume,
and the water In the mountains is de-
licious. i have not been through the
country. but I am old by Americans
who have that the cultivated districts
are surprisingly beautiful.
In minerals, IL is my opinion thai
fortunes await Americans who will
come here and use one-half the energy
they have displayed in opening the
mines of their own country. / have seen
hne galena ores, which / believe bear
silver. and also rock showing every evil
dence of copper. The Spaniards would
not allow these mines to be opened. you
know. and so, like some vast treasure in
closed vaults, this virgin wealth has
slept in the heart of the rocks. waiting
the coming of the buenos Americanos"
with the key.
o the people I will say, doctor, that
| am agreeably surprised. There are
fine types, and on Sunday evening
the Plaza you may see as handsome
women as you ever looked upon in your
life. They are FIN and graceful i'm
and as fair as our own blonde
types. Seriously, / believe this is the
place for an American to come. The
Island has boundless wealth and must
be rapidly Americanized. There is ma
terial here for a boom and i'm two or
three years the cities of Porto Rico will
completely changed. Where now
The slow carryalls. drawn by native
not much bigger than pointer
logs, ply between the business centers
Ind the ports. trolleys will run. N
here Is sure to be a belt line around
he whole island. Plantations may now
bought at figures within the bounds
II possibility. but they are going to run
ip In price before long. An American
house has just been established
lere by a s~on-in-law of Abner McKin-
and the near uture will see great
'hanges In the sland."