Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-10-06

NAS Oi@ti @hN ~ 10 piOpublN wa" 'u'N
Spaniards regret the loss Of Puerto
Rico more than that Of Cuba and the
philippine islands taken together.
or all her colonies, writes L. L. Os-
waId in the Cincinnati Enquirer Puer-
Ca Rico alone continued to repay the
expenses of administration with n
steadily increasing surplus, which in
1895 amounted to nearly 100000,
though neither the mineral nor agri-
cultural resources were ever more
than half developed. In the course Of
the last 80 years the exports of coffee
slowly rose from 120,0OO,0OO to 100000
900 pounds, those Of sugar from 49,
GOg,0OO TO 20s,000C0O and only the
trade il dye stuffs decreased, owing
to the exhaustion Of the best logwood
forests and the neglect Of cochineal
pIaatadions that could no longer com
PETE with the improvement Of aniline
dyes. The area Of the orange gardens
could be increased 1000 per cent, and
American mining methods applied to
the suriferous lodges of the Sierras
might again justify the islands name
IN It's original significance,
During the first quarter Of the six
teeDth century the valley of the Sierra
Grande was studded with gold wash
crs' camps and the harbor of San Juan
wns par excellence, el puerto rico, the
rich port, of the Spanish American
colonies.
But for emigrants from the United
States the chief attraction of the pref
ty island is, after all, the Incompatible
climate of its neutrality-suspicious.. The
backbone range of the island, the Sier-
ira Orande, runs from Penas Negras on
the east coast to Cape San Francisco
in thE extreme northwest, distance
of just about so miles; but parallel to
that ridge and some IS miles nearer to
the north shore extends rampant of
foothills variously known as El Cerro,
or Las Alturas (the heights, and so
easily accessible from the harbor
towns that the little saddle mules ac-
cOmplish the ascent with only two or
three midway rests.
And while the midland Sierra Gull
inmates in a jagged crest, the Cerro is
table-land range, nearly ten miles
broad at some points and with an aver
age of at least six miles.
1n geological ages preceding the
-catnstophe that burst out the gates
of the gulf stream, the Antilles prob
all 10 CT of al pr
ttnent, and the arrangement of the
West Indian Sierras curiously re-
peats itself in the parallel ranges
of our southern Alleghanics. The
main chain Of the Appalachians,
too, terminates in narrow cliffs,
while the Chillhowees and Waldens
Ridge (the foothill range of the
Cumherlands), are so broad that the
level OF the plateau could accommo-
date cities as large aud fiat as Chicago
and Berlin.
The elevation, both of the Dixie and
West Indian tableland hills, averages
500 feet above tidewater, and the
charms of their prospect points are
about evenly matched, oceans views
frOm the Cerro and grander high
land panoramas from the cliffs
of the Chllhowees. The Puerto
Rico Sierras (south of the Cerro)
rarely rise above an altitude of
5000 feet, and their eliminating point,
El Cumbre de San Miguel, is 1000 feet
lower than Mitchell's peak,
But 1t remains true that fine land
scapc without water is a fine room
without mirror, and the remarkable
absence OF lakes modifes the scenic
attractions of our Alleghenies from
Pennsylvania to northern Alabama.
Their largest highland tarns are mere
Eishponds, a few hundred yards across,
and hidden in the ferns and alder
brakes of the foothill valleys, while
Che guides of San Juan will point out
cliffs where ramblers on the plateau
of the Cerro can get glimpses of the
two great seas--the Atlantic on the
north, and the Caribbean glittering
through gaps of the midland noun
4ains. On the north slope of the Cerro
there are villas that enjoy seward
prospect not easy to rival. Ocean
steamers to Vera Cruz and Havana
draw their smoke trail along The dis
stant horizon, the coast waters are
specified with the sails of fishing
smacsls, and the rush of the Atlantic
breakers sends up its spray high above
the cliffs of the rocky promontories.
Northwest storms, sweeping down
from Iceland and Spitzbergen, en-
counter no obstacle until their free
,sWrep OF 5000 miles is broken by the
buIward of the Antilles, of which
Puerto Rico forms the eastern out
post.
On the Cumberland plateau the In
dian summer of the south ends about
The middle of November and two
weeks later snowstorms force swarms
Df winged refugees to continue their
southwark fight; but on the Alburas
of Puerto Rico the end of the sum
meT rains heralds the beginning of a
six months season of the most pleas
ana weather enjoyed by any country
of our latter-day world. From noon
TO three p. m. the neighborhood of the
,eqUato- now and then asserts itself
plainly enough to make the breeze