Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-05-28

W
fort points its guns menacingly, over the
channel. Five miles inside the bay ana
lust before the city Is reached Is an
other bnttery-Blanca by nafne-which
commands the waters Immediately in
front of the city of Santiago. The bay
is surrounded by high bluffs covered
with shrubbery which makse excel
lent locations for masked batteries.
The channel in the bay of Santiago Is
narrow and would give the impression
that two vessels could not pass without
danger of collision in this channel.
which is between perpendicular rocks,
Identical in formation to that of the sea
wall The walls on either side are so
high that the light is shut out even I'M
der a tropical sun to degree that Is
like passing from daylight to dark
ness.
The run. however, is short into the
bay. which Is without doubt the most
beautiful in the world. It is theatrical
in shape and studded with tiny islets,
where the fishermen live and whence
the poor people of Santiago derive their
chief supply of food. 1t Is Incredible
that any considerable fleet of vessels
can even find Anchorage in this bay on
account of the shallow depth and the
torturous ship passage to the city or
Santiago. at tf1e head of the bay. No
merchant ship or regular liner can en-
ter this bay without a native pilot and
these ships have to proceed with great
caution even under such guidance.
There liz. of course, sea room in this
bay sufficient in area to accommodate
the fleets of the world, but no depth of
water. Such a thing as a naval fight
in this bay IL out of the question for
various reasons. Chief of these IL that
our fleet could never enter the bay If
there was any resistance. One mnn-of-
war stationed on the inside of the outer
channel could hold at bay the combined
fleets of the world. The same advant-
age to n naval resistance is offered here
as was offered the Greeks In the pass
of Thermopylae. The ships could
only enter one at time and as they
poked their noses past the granite wall
at the entrance they could be blown
out of the water by well equipped
sea fighter or battery.
OF course. the same holds good in
the way of bottling up the enemys
| fleet. One of our monitors, the
Miantanomah or the Puritan. tationed
outside could destroy the Spanish fleet
vessel by vessel, If 1t attempted to
| reach the open sea.
| The only way by which our fleet car
get at Admiral Cervera would be tc
throw their projeotiles over the cliffs
that bar the entrance to Santiago bay
| This, of course. would be hap-hazart
| fighting and absolutely ineffective ir
the destruction of warships. 1t wout
be an easy matter to lombard Santi.
ago in this way, but not to destroy
the Spanish fleet There Ia no doub
in the minds of naval experts but tina
1t is now simply a question of wait
ing game, with Admiral Sampson a:
the terror and theSpanish admiral al
the rat in the trap.
The bay of Santiago Is beautiful be
yond description. tropical forests sur
rounding II on all sides, PERENNIAL,
green. The city of Santiago is CLEAN
ing white in the sunshine, but mucl
to the contrary on closer inspection
The streets are indescribably filth.
and the same will apply to the In
habitants. There is no sewerage sys
tenn and the offal of all description
is dumped in the streets, to be con
sumed or left alone by the buzzards
who constitute the scavenger syster
of the city.
There is but one bathtub in this cit
of 10000 inhabitants. 1t Is second
hand bathtub and was imported
Santiago by a consul under Presider
Ndtavkus- -oaurHofgols Cho? VT
Cleveland. When he lett that city tw
years ago he willed his bathtub to hi
successor.
The city is compactly built. TIL
streets are narrow, the houses are {
adobe and brick, and every residenc
is strongly fortified. The walls
these houses are on an average {
three feet in thickness. The window
and doors are protected by heavy iro
gratings, and the entire city looks q
though 1t Is prepared to resist a seig
Most of these houses were built froI
one to two centuries ago. and wei
actually fortified for protection again,
bandits and robbers.
In fS 10 -,
est city on the island. There Is CON
paratively little poverty and the mi
lionRires are counted by the scores. O
the plaza are the cathedral, one
the oldest and finest on the Wester
continent, and the opera house. TT
display of diamonds in either of the.
most popular places of resort VIII equi
that of a first night at the Metropolita
opera house in New York City.
vast majority of the women of Santit
20 are decidedly dusky in hue. Thei
are probably not a dozen full bloodt
Spanish women in the city.
Back of the city of Santiago are Il
mountains, which extend almost Il
entire length of the southern coast.
was in these mountains that the IL
surrection started and had its stroni
.. hold, and where the arms and ammun
ton bequeathed to the present insu
: gents by all preceding insurreetio,
| WE'RE lHtSe SlTOIEHOluS Il
/, absolutely impregnable and none of Il
4 Spanish commanders have ever a
tempted to penetrate them.
There are two good coaling depo
; along the shores of the bay-oue
Cinco Reales, three miles from the e
), trance, and another directly aero
from the city. These are not COVER
n ment coal yards, but are owned by 4
Juraugua Iron company, which brin
}, the coal from the United States In 4
n steamers used in its iron trade. Sor
J. coal is brought from Great Britain b
e only a small percentage of the stoc
The iron company Is controlled
n American capital, which also contrc
n the short lines of railroad running fro
e the city to the mines.
Y At last account the average amou
t of coal brought into these yards yen
c ly from abroad was 1900 tons. Mo
n of this was anthracite and CHAMBERLAIN
with small percentage of Welsh, En-
It fish and Scotch. There are no know
}, facilities for docking vessels, but t
g city has several machine shops capal
l, of making ordinary repairs on visiti
o vessels.
n On the outskirts of the city Ia VIII
8 Is now slaughter house, where t
: Virginius crew was shot in 1873.
n The city of Santiago was founded
r 1914 by Diego VelasaueZ and was |
II corporated in 1922. For time 1t W
the capital of the island. In /.
F'renchmen captured the city. and t
Standards were forced to give a ra