Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-10-16

The settlement of Ponce de Leon at
Caparra, near the site of Pueblo Viejo,
across San Juan bay from San Juan,
is now, by more than fifty years, the
first town established within the pres
ent borders of the United States. His
torians, therefore, must give the pres
tige of antiquity, not to the Spanish
town of st. Augustine, Fla, of 1865,
as formerly, but to Caparra, founded
in the year 1909
DR.. M. w. Harrington, Of the San
Juan weather Office, discovered the ex-
act location Of the historical Caparra
Unexpectedly. On pleasure walk
into the country two weeks ago he
happened to select the road to Pueblo
Viejo, and when talking with the ma
tive residents learned their traditions
OF the first Spanish town in Porto Rico.
He accordingly procured a guide and
made an examination OF the nearly ex-
tinct ruins. OF his interesting dis
covery, DR.. Harrington says:
without doubt the ruins I found
are those of the first settlement es-
tablished by the explorer and colonizer,
Ponce de Leon. Both local tradition
and history name Caparra as the earli-
est town on the island, and agree,
moreover, on this same site near Old
Village, or Pueblo Viejo Even the
native negroes, some Of whom could
neither read nor write, knew the story
of Caparra. My personal investigation
further satisfied me Of the correctness
Of their tradition
The only remains of the original
town visible now are the ruins of a
church, hospital and a repaired lime
stone furnace. Most of the stone from
the church, hospital, and houses has
been used, according to the natives, in
1.-THE construction of highways. On a lit
tie elevation from the shore sWamps,
the site of Caparra is hidden from San
Juan bay, three miles distant, by d
row Of hills. Another historical land
mark near by is the reputed gold mine
worked by the first Spanish settlers.
Ponce de Leon greatly enriched him
self, says tradition, and also history,
by the compulsory labor of the native
Indians in mines. Although attacked
by hordes of mosquitoes, the gray
haired old warrior and explorer re-
manned in Caparra until 1912, and then
set sail for the miraculous fountain Of
youth. His voyage ended on Sunday,
March 27, 1912, in the discovery of the
present peninsula of Florida. But the
greater part of the original colony
i stayed in Caparra until compelled few
years later to abandon the town in
order to escape the hot fever weather
and an army Of mosquitoes. The final
evacuation is said to have been in 1852.
The story of the foundation of
Caparra is told at length in The His
Fray lingo Abbaday Lasierra and re-
vised by Jose Julian de Costa Cubic.
Under the title of the First Colonizer,
the authors say: when Ponce de Leon
was in possession of the government of
the island he decided to establish a
town separate from the Indians He
chose a place near the mines they were
working and started to build town
which he called Caparra. 1t was sit
uated on the north coast opposite the
sea of st. John, near Pueblo Vieio. The
ruins are seen in the vicinitys of the
plantation of Don Manuel DiaZ, near
the brook named Margarita, place
surrounded by swamps. So difficult
was the work of bringing supplies
there from the ships in the bay, dis
lance of only a league, that their cost
| vro Of
from Spain to Porto Rico But the OPP
portunity this place gave the Spaniards
to satisfy their desire for gold made
light for them the hardships which
they endured in this town for ten
years. The historians Herrera and
Oviedo disagree about the year of the
establishment of Caparra, the former
saying in 1910 and the latter in 1902"
In The Elementary Geography of
Porto Rico, the author makes the fol-
lowing remarks concerning Caparra:
Ponce de Leon was the first coloni-
yer in 1909. The first settlement was
the city of Caparra, in the place named
Quebrada Margarita near Pueblo Vie
jO and Of which town no more re-
mains than the ruins, worthy of
worship as the cradle of the Spanish
race on the island. This city was
abandoned in 1852"
DR.. Harrington has already called
the attention of educators in the United
States to Caparra in the hopes of saw
ing the ruins from further destruction.
Such historical settlement, he thinks,
at least ought to be marked by mon
ument. Even thus early the American
relic hunters have begun to chip off
lpieces of the church foundation stones
for souvenirs.