The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-31

/ ship chandler, and owns every drop of
water on the island of st. Vincent.
| While the other Portuguese acknowl-
edge, to an extent, the superiority of
the English, Mr.. Madeira's position en-
ables him to act with extreme indie
pendence, and when the English coal
princes desire his cooperation they
must transport the mountain to Ma
homet.
y BUM-BOAT MAN.
Madeira got possession of the entire
water supply by his own enterprise. st.
Vincent, which achieved publicity when
! Ceryera's fleet harbored there en- route
/ to America, is a barren, dismal looking
island, about So miles in circumference.
1t lies $500 miles southeast from New
York as the crow flies, and 200 miles OF
the African coast. The town of Men
dalo, with a population OF 6,OUO blacks,
Portuguese and English, is the only
town on the island. Its entrance is a
beautiful bay, about five fathoms deep,
but so clear is the water that one can
see a siXpence on the bottom.
Nearly all vessels plying 'twixt Eu-
rope and South America, and those
/ which trade between the United
States and South Africa, put in at Men
dalo for coal. water and fruit, so that
7 a
This old red thing is always thick
as vermin in this blooming bay OBJ
served a thick-tongued English skipper
one day, pointing to a. fleet of 20 mer-
chantmen. all of which flew the union
jack from the stern.
But the English do not any longer
moncpolize foreign trade in that part Of
the world, and every maritime nation
is represented at times in the harbor Of
Mendalo.
When Madeira came there 80 years
ago end set up business as a bum-bo
man, fitting about among the slavers
in a red sailed felucca, the town was
very small, but the shipping brisk.
Water at that time had to be brought
from the island of st. Antonio, nine
miles to westward. 1t does not seem
to have occurred to anyone that water
might be piped down from the noun
tafns. where are situated two beautiful
springs. and it was not until Captain
Semmes in the Alabama visited Men
dalo that the inspiration seized the
hustling Madeira.
MR.. MADEIRA'S ACCOUNT OF IT.
"a British clipper put in the harbor
one evening"" related MIR. Madeira in
telling this incident to the writer re-
Gently. land PASSED word that the Ala
1
to leeWard You cannot imagine how
terror-striclzen the thousand people on
the island were. Everybody wanted to
move into the mountains Immediately
and leave the town to be sacked. Ru-
nlors Of this terrible vessel had lonS
kept the population anxious, ana It
needed only a word to set them in hys-
terics 1 had been 20 years in the
American navy, and did not feel scared
about the ship, but decided to make
some capital out of the scare.
u procured a large supply OF water
and then one night with two other
Young fellows, l raised the alarm by
blowing horns and screaming to every
body to run to the mountains, that the
Alabama was coming round Bird rock
1.-THE next morning. there was not one
inhabitant left in Mendalo. Even my
councillors in business had fled. From
the mountain tops they saw beautiful
shin slide into the bay about noon and
lower a boat. Captain SemmS him
self came ashore and offered to buy all
the water and fruit I could get. He
paid me $3.50 in gold for the supply and
as ne was leaving said. Isn't there any
water on this island? l told him about
the saving. You id idiot, he said
nine II down. When I drown all the
Yankees III come and help you.
1t was not until 10 years later that
Madeira had sufficient capital to think
of operating q pipe line from the spring
six miles UP in the mountain. When
he investigated he found two springs
instead of one, situated about one mile
apart.
LAYING HIS WATERWORKS.
Fearing 10 take the step alone. he
asked the cooperation of rich Eng
lish coal dealer, who sneeringly refused
the offer. Madeira then took his cap
ital of S35. 600 hired an English engineer
from London and began to build his
waterworks unaided. he had lavishly
entertained the Englishman, whom he
treated as an honored guest but he