The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-10-05
A Venezuelan
Railway Trip

AT Palma Sola, one of the most i'm
! portant stations along the railway.
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 it's vicinity for
! expectation via Tucacas and Puerto
! Cabello. The city of San FelfC~~! rs the
capital of the state of Yaracuy, found
ed by the Spaniards in 1851 and some
| or the structures erected at that time
sun remain and are in a state that rem
/ ders them habitable. Today it is a
| beautiful city with a cultured popula-
! ton of over $4,000 persons and pos
/ sesses specimens of architecture of
| which any city might be proud. among
| which are the municipal buildings, SOL
| dlerS' quarters. police station, federal
college building, in which are located
the press, telegraph and telephone Of
noes; ancient aqueduct for water sup
ply, gardens AMI PARKS. ana many real
ly beautiful residences.
At Yumara the station agent brought
us excellent coffee, bread and butter
and at the station l found much that
interested me. Ell Hacha is the termi-
nal of the Great Southwestern railway,
also an English corporation, and it is
at this station that the interchanging
of cars, passengers and freight takes
place between the two railways Trafz
fic Manager John Prince of the Bolivar
railway has his Office at Ell Hacha.
9 @ g.
"Aroa station is but two hours ride
from Ell Hacha, all up grade. The
scenery looking down on to the valley
is perfect and quite q, change from that
experienced in the forest passed
through; therefore the time flies, as it
were, and we reached Aroa before
pXnanfa1 ID, CT or
senger and freight station, shops for
the repair and renewal of locomotives,
cars, ETC., and several hundred feet al
most straight up high mountain are
the residence of Manager Thomas, cot
tages of the railway employees and Of
fees Of the company. A prettier loca-
ton for a residence cannot be mag
ined, and the house is a grand, south
ern style, two-story building, with up
per and lower verandas, that extend
around the same, and is finished with
narrow matched fine woods. Its rooms
are large and elegant. Its size is about
60X30 feet. The lower bath is so large
that one can enjoy a swim in it and
the upper one is supplied with a beau
tiful tub. The whole house is lighted
by electricity from the plant of the
railway company; therefore it presents
an attractive appearance at night, and
from it's veranda beautiful view of the
town, valley and mountains can be OBJ
tanned
''The town of Aroa is Spanish built.
having the traditional narrow streets
and peculiar buildings, and stores with
tile roofs, and it had to be fought for
several times during the revolution.
When the rebels first entered the town
the houses of the railway company on
the mountain presented too nice an
appearance to be left alone, and very
soon afterward Mrs. Thomas discov-
cred number of them trying to get
at her pet horses. COWS. sheep and deer.
The English in her constitution arose
in a minute and she deliberately
walked to where they were and ordered
them off the premises. She quietly and
yet firmly gave them to understand
that the animals they were molesting
were her property and that she was a
subject of Great Britain. Their argu-
ments awaited them nothing with this
determined lady and they finally gave
it up as bad job. Her move was q
serious and dangerous one and she de-
serves great credit for her bravery and
diplomatic ability, for those rebels
we're not of the 4best families of the
country and were fully armed with ri
fss, machetes and revolvers.
"A branch of the Bolivar railway
extends from Aroa station to
he copper mines of the Quebrado Cop
Der Mining company, which are sew
,ral miles up the mountain, but that
company, an English corporation, for
financial reasons is not operating the
mines at the present time, and con-
siderable work must now be done on
them before they can be worked again,
IS. a part of the tunnels have fallen
n.
THE electric light plant of the rail-
Eay, located at Aroa, is excellently
quipped and the light it furnishes is
the best. The shops of the company,