The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-29
A Venezuelan
Railway Trip
cleveland Plain Dealer)
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I
7 UTHER ELLSWORTH, United
States consul in Venezuela. who
is visiting friends in the city,
I yesterday described in an entertaining
manner trip that he took over the
Bolivar railway in Venezuela Just Re
/ fore returning to this country.
Recently was surprised by the gen
ial manager OF the Bolivar Railway
company, calling and insisting that 1
\ accompany him 10 his home at Aroa.
/ on the line of that railway" said Mr.
/ Ellsworth. and I returned the com
pliment by Immediately accepting the
We left Puerto CabeIo the follow
/ ing day on the railway cOmpany's
/ steamer, Barquisimeto, arriving in
/ Port Tucacas about O'Clock p. m. On
the wharf Of the railway company we
met Agent Kilgore and were rendered
! the hospitality of his home for the
/ night which we accepted. Mrs Kill
/ gore received us most cordially and
soon prepared a fine dinner and the
pest tee 1 had tasted since my arrival
| in Venezuela.
The following morning after coffee,
| fruit. etc, 1 accompanied Manager
Thomas inspecting the property of the
railway company and afterward I Wis
tied the town.
The port of Tucacas is the northern
I terminal OF the Bolivar Railway COM
pany and that company has there a
! good passenger station. freight depot,
! shops, dwellings, for en1plovees
wharves, drydocks. etc. The town suf-
/ fered many attacks during the last
| revolution and was occupied by both
! parties many times. 1t was here dur
ing the last revolution that General
/ Ramon Guerva, now minister of war
! was badly wounded and his forces de-
| feated by Colonel Urbina. During
every battle in that town during that
revolution Mrs Kilgore remained in
I position and dangerous one even af-
| ter the railway company placed about
| 1t heavy iron ties 1t was pierced by
} numerous MauseT bullets. but fortu-
/ nately they did not hit its occupants.
! The Bolivar Railway company is a
] stock company, and its stock is owned
! in England by Englishmen- 1t is about
I 100 miles long and is managed by Mr..
! Arthur D. Thomas, assisted by the
following intelligent gentlemen: Major
( Thomas b. Richards. cashier and ac-
( countant; John B. Prince. traffic man
] ager; Samuel Hickins, superintendent
! of motive power and shops; Messrs.
BoultOn & Co. Puerto CabeuO. agents.
! The roadbed of this railway is the best,
| and all or its two feet six inch gauge
/ hfty-pound steel track is laid on iron
/ ties. Its switches. signals. etc. differ
/ in pattern from those used in the
} United States, but they have given ex-
! cellent satisfaction to the management.
/ It's water tanks of boiler plate iron. set
/ twenty feet above the rail, are sup
! ported by cast iron posts. Its stand
pipes and tank spouts are satisfactory,
/ but entirely different from those in use
/ by railways IN the United States. Its
I bridges are iron truss resting on solid
/ masonry ICS sHAtch shanties shops
/ offices. houses for employees, etc. are
/ frame. and finished with matched pine.
( have good masonry foundation and
] corrugated iron roofs. The rolling
! stock. passenger coaches. freight cars,
engines, etc. are well made and present
! a good appearance Then the company
/ has a concession along its line of some
100000 acres of virgin soil in one of
the most luxurious valleys of Vene-
zuela-
about a. m. the train departed
| from Tucacas station. and soon we
were rushing through a genuine trop-
! ial forest, the sight Of which beggars
| description, and my view of 1t from
the observatory of the private car of
Manager Thomas was perfect The
rapid change from scene to scene, the
grandeur Of nature, beautiful flowers,
trees, plants, bright plUmage of I'M
recognizable birds wild animals, ma
/ tives and things too numerous to men
( ton made this the most enjoyable rail-
way trip I ever experienced.
AT Quebra Vara the train stopped
I and accompanied Manager Thomas
/ in his inspection of the work he had
! uiuGT way on an immense CutNeTU- Al
/ Alambique I had time to view some
native architecture that would interest
/ the most critical.
! AT Palma Sofa, one of the most i'm
/ portant stations along the railway, I
saw huge piles of coffee. cocoa hides
! skins, fine woods, etc. that had ar
/ rived by wagons from the celebrated
| city of San Felipe and its vicinity for
] expectation via Tucacas and Puerto
! Cabello. The city of San FeliI-~E the
Z capital of the state of YaracIIV found
| ed by the Spaniards in 1851, and some
| of the structures erected at that time
/ still remain and are in a state that rem
! ders them habitable. Today it is a
] beautiful city with cultured pOpuIa-
! ton Of over $4,000 persons and pos
4 sesses specimens of architecture of
which any city might be proud. among
] which are the municipal buildings SOL
/ diers' quarters. police station, federal
/ college building, IN which are located
/ the press, telegraph and telephone of.
/ f1ces; ancient aqueduct for water sup
ply, gardens an7 marks, ana many real
/ ly beautiful residences.
At Yumara the station agent brought
! us excellent coffee, bread and butter
and at the station I found much that
/ interested me. FL Hacha is the terrni-
I nal of the Great Southwestern railway
/ also an English CORPORATE ton, and it is
| at this station that the interchanging
/ of cars, passengers and freight takes
/ place between the two railways Traf=
| fic Manager John Prince of the Bolivar
railway has his office at FL Hacha.
"ArOa station is but two hours ride
from Ell Hacha, all up grade. The
J scenery looking down on to the valley
/ is perfect and quite a change from that
! experienced in the forest passed
I through; therefore the time flies. as il
were. and we reached Aroa before 1