The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-29
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTRY
OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED BY
SKATERS ARMY.
Information From Men Who Are Ac-
quainted With the Country-Good
Railroad to Santiago.

Washington. June 2S.-Two men, who
are recognized by the military authori-
ties as having complete information of
the ground around Baiquiri, Juragua,
! Santiago and the entire field of present
war operations, have been at the war
department. They are George w. Pfeif-
fer. engineer of the Spanish-American
Iron company, whose headquarters are
at Baiquiri, and C. II. Zeigenfuss, gen
eral manager of the Juragua Iron COM
pany They We're asked to Join Shat
ter'S staff to assist in the advance of
our army. They have been comforting
with Brigadier General Stone, on Gen
eral Miles staff, on the best means of
getting troops, light and heavy artil-
lery and stores westward from General
Skaters present base.
Mr.. Pfeiffer says there were about
LOCO Spanish troops there when he de-
parted from that place, and another
LOCO at Siboney. They were we'll
equipped, but there was no organization
or drill. as in the American army
About the only systematic action was
when the bugle sounded for rations
With war declared, the Spanish began
their depredatiOns, and considerable of
the mining property of the Spanish
American company, as we'll as of the
Juragua company, was destroyed. But
the fine ocean pier of the company, be-
ing built of steel, resisted all efforts at
destruction and proved an effective
means for landing our troops and
stores.
Mr.. Zeigenfuss says Juragua exists
only in name, as there is no town
whatever. There is a mining plant.
but the town proper is Siboney. This
lies on the coast, while the so-called
Juragua is four miles inland. 1t is
between Siboney and the Juragua
mines that Skaters troops lie Mr..
Zeigenfuss says the ground is densely
covered with underbrush, with few
patches of open ground. There are no
roads thus far. The only thing in this
line is trails wide enough for a horse
or one man. They would be of no serv-
ice for light or heavy. artillery, or for
any army, unless the engineers cleared
them out.
From Siboney west to Santiago the
prospect for the rapid advance of our
army is much better. Instead of trails,
good roads begin to run toward Santi-
ago. Mr.. ZeigenfuSS says the company
has g. good railroad running from ST.
honey direct into Santiago While the
Spaniards have destroyed the Santiago
end, a considerable part of the track
were nine locomotives
and several hundred fiat cars, gondolas,
etc, up to the time Mr.. Zeigenfuss left
Siboney. There is only one bridge along
the route. 1t crosses the San Juan
river, and is regarded as so essential
for the use of our troops that three
warships from Rear Admiral SIMPSONS
fleet are covering it with their guns.
There is practically an open field
around Santiago, well suited for the
of troops.
Mr.. Pfeiffer says the city has prac-
dcally no defenses on the land side
There are no walls, no Notifications, no
blcckhouses and no entertainments
Anything in this line must have been
put up hastily within a few weeks. HeJ
asserts that the only thing in the way
Of defense on the land side, so far as |
he knows is a double line of barbed- !
wire, about five or ten feet apart, with |
4 tangle of wire in the intervening
space. He calculates that with forced !
marches General Pando might reach |
santiago within five or six days Mr.. |
Pfeiffer doubts also whether the Gu
oans could stop the advance of Spanish |
as their main BODY is |
with General Shafter and they could |
not hope to do much against Pando |
and 10000 men.