Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-21
sLoWEsT RAILROAD oN' EARTH.
Thirty.sev Mile Journey in Hondu-
ras Which Took Eighteen Hours.

=
The vicissitudes OF a trip over the
Inter- Oceanic railway are numerous
and narrowing, says writer In the
New Orleans Times-D Democrat, dating
his letter from San Pedro Sulu, Hon
duras, which he reached after a jour-
ney Of thirty-seven miles in eighteen
hours.
Our leaving time was o'clock, says
the writer, but we didn't pull out Of
Puerto Cortes until 10 In the morning.
The nondescript AFFAIR which they call
a train down here consisted Of a wood
burning engine, four fiat cars and a
passenger coach. Our crew was COM
posed of an engineer, a half dozen
firemen. one brakeman and the con-
ductor.
There was an extra man, but In the
whole vocabulary of railroads find
no name for him. His position. how
ever, was a commanding one, and, as
subsequent events proved, most i'm
portant one. He perched himself on
the front of the engine, above where
the cowcatcher should be, and upon
occasion industriously ladled sand from
a box beside him to the rails In front.
Our numerous firemen passed the
wood from the cars to the engine, and
at various points along the road turn
ed into a bucket brigade and supplied
water from nearby streams to the en-
gine. The engineer was jamaican
inlbued with an extraordinary pride
for the land Of his nativity and given
upon occasion to declaring that he was
not a native of Honduras--he was a
British object" Jerry. I fear, is
something Of a gay LOthario, and on
his frequent tr.rs over the road has
worked sad havoc In the hearts Of
dusky maidens ali along the line. he
invariably announced our approach to
a village by putting the hard pedal on
the whistle. and the entire population
turned out to greet US.
Jerry's' strenuous musical efforts
came near causing catastrophe at one
point where we encountered a very
heavy grade. Just before we reached
the top of the hin Jerry thoughtlessly
pulled the whistle cord, and In the
screaming blast that followed the
steam gave out and the train began
to slip back. Although the cars were
without brakes Of any kind, the COM
pany had prepared for such emergen-
cies by providing mahogany log On
the rear platform. to be dropped under
the rear wheels. Unfortunately the
rear brakeman was asleep on q fat
car In front, and before he awakened
the momentum of the train was so
great as TO render our remedy una
vailing. We ran so fast and so far In
the next fifteen minutes that 1t took US
four hours to get back.
At Laguna a stop OF forty minutes
to replenish sand and water afforded
opportunity to take note Of our sur
roundings and our fellow passengers.
The latter were mostly natives and
not over clean. They were nice and
sociable and fraternized with me with
out being coaxed. Ny neighbor on the
right was a sonora OF unguessable
age, with a complexion Of antique oak.
She took pity on my tender years and
and lavished a bunch Of
lingo on me that drove out Of my head
in the first round all my carefully pre-
pared Belitz vocabulary. She was
regular Waterbury linguist.
Spanish falling me in a pinch
resorted to the sign manual and we got
along fairly well. Somewhere mid
stream In the torrent OF language which
she directed at me detected famil-
Tar phrase and gallantly offered her a
cigar. The expansive smile which
greeted my donation proved my inter-
probation to have been correct.
Wandering around the village was
struck by a neat and attractive little
cottage which invited closer inspection
1t was inclosed by board fence, an
unusual feature here. AS drew near
I discovered that the fence was made
of mahogany boards. With the extreme
good taste which is so Characteristic OF
these natives the owner had carefully
whitewashed It.
Leaving Laguna the train plunged
into tropical swamp and forest. The
foliage was indescribably luxuriant and
beautiful. Mile after mile we passed
through archways Of bending palms.
gigantic in size, and through groves Of
corozo trees. To my mind the latter
Is the most perfect representation OF
the picturesque In tropical vegetation.
Its trunk is clad in the richest attire of
parasitic life; its wonderful feathery
leaves, often thirty or forty feet In
length, bend in elegant and graceful
curves under the weight Of their own
Iuxuriance or the burden Of ornamental
vines, while beneath all this mass OF
tropical richness may be seen clusters
of those delicious cahorn nuts hanging
like immense cornucopias and. contain
ing two or more bushels.
For distance we passed beside a
deep, swift stream, which flows for
miles through a wild jungle. in the
eternal shadow Of the gigantic celba,
cedar and rubber trees, between whose
moss and vineclad trunks grow palm
trees of every description. Nature. all
giving and bountiful, is here revealed.
Precious woods are so common that
rosewood is often used for telegraph
poles, and the ties are Of mahogany.
Emerging from the jungle, we came
to the banana plantations, and here
learned that this remarkable railroad
transports to the steamers 50 per cent
Of the bananas which enter New Or
leans. Practically all of the bananas
consumed west of the Ohio river are
carried on the railroad to the sea-
coast.
RUssIA's GUARDED SEcRETs.-One
of the secret processes which has for
ages openly defied the world Of science
"a