Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-17
AT COATzAC 0ALC0S
Northern Terminus of the Te-
hauntepec Railway.
FORMERLY OBSCURE PLACE
Now Has a Mongrel Population OF
Over $500.
DIVERSIONS FOR THE PEOPLE
Railway officials Try to Enliven the
Monotony Of Life-A Hint
to Congress.
DIVERSIONS FOR THE PE0PL1
BY WILLIAM q. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM d. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.
COATZACOALCOS, April ii. 1906.
The Coatzacoalcos river, one of the iars-
est in Mexico flows into the Gulf OF Mex
leo at the narrowest part Of the isthmus Oh
Tehuantepec and furnishes a harbor ior
the northern terminus of the new railway
that spans the American continent II Is
destined to be a place of great activity.
Its geographical situation and natural al
yantages together with the improvements
that are now being carried on, give II d
commanding position in the commerce OF
the gulf and the Pacific, and, under the
comprehensive policy of President Ddaz no
money or labor is. being spared to promote
the shipping interests here.
The river has exceedingly deep water LOT
twenty or thirty miles above It's mouth. II
is from 100 to 200 feet deep in midstream
and from twenty to thirty-fve feet at the
banks, which are mud and very precipitous'
It is possible for ship of ordinary tonnage
to tie up anywhere along It's banks mere
Is considerable current, especially In time
of high water, when 1t runs six OF seven
miles an hour. The river is navigable 10
Santa Lucretia, where the Vera Cruz ana
Pacific railroad connects with the Iehuan-
tepec line. During the gold excitement In
California Commodore Vanderbilt and his
associates used to run side-Wheei steam
ers very near to that point and transfer
their passengers to stages which carried
them across the divide to the Pacific coast.
There is succession of plantations along
both banks, several owned by Americans,
planted to sugar, rubber, corn and otheF
staples, bananas and other tropical fruits
while back from the banks are tine pastures
that support hundreds of thousands of cat
tie. Many OF the planters have naphtha
launches, in which they run up and down
the river, and in harvest time use them
to tow barges loaded with produce to Coat
zacoalcos.
Navigation of the River.
The stern-wheel steamers like those on
the Ohio make weekly trips, touching at
the river ports and plantations and carry
Ing passengers and freight. The largest
portion of the river commerce, however,
Is done by native sail boats of thirty or
forty tons, which carry up merchandise
and bring down farm produce. hides dye
woods and other freight, and they are as
sisted by large fleets of canoes chiseled out
of mahogany and other logs, which carry
surprising cargoes and are handled with
great skill by the natives
Minatitlan, twenty-four miles from the
mouth of the river, has been the principal
port until recently. and years ago as many
as twenty-five or thirty ships could be
found there at one time loading for Euro
Dean ports with mahogany lOSS anu cAliSl
timber, dye-woOds and hides. They could
tie up at the bank of any plantation and
take on cargo. The same was true on the
Coachapa, Uspagrapa and other rivers
which appear the maps by different
names Hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of ebony rosewood, mahogany and
other cabinet woods were shipped to Eu-
rope annually. At that time and unit! the
railway was undertaken, Coatzacoalcos
was of no Importance, and the town con-
sisted only of lighthouse, surrounded -
O. few palm-thatched shacks occupied by
pilots. beachcombers and wreckers. The
latter made quite a profitable business, for
ships frequently went ashore on this dam
gerous coast and were pounded to death by
the surf. There are two hulks lying at the
mouth of the river now, the keel and ribs
of Norwegian bark lie inside the break
water, and the masts OF a German barken-
tine, loaded with coal, rise bravely out of
the water Just outside the jettieS One OF
her masts has been very nearly sawed off
at the waters edge by the action of the
sea or the teredos an insect that does great
damage all along the tropical coast.
The Rise Of Coatzacoalcos.
The commencement of the Tehuantepec
| railway in 1882 brought to Coatzacoalcas
great many Iaborers and other classes of
people usually found along the line of rail-
way construction. The rebuilding of the
| railway In 1901 brought many more. ana
Coatzacoalcos is now a rambling town of
wooded houses, with mongrel population of
. 500 or 1900 mostly human dT1ftwood of
all colors and races The railway and the
port works employ about 700 men; there is
station of the Central and South Amer
team Cable Company, and a United States
consular agency, which Is hlied by DR.. a.
r. Stubs of New York, the physician of
the railway and the harbor companies. The
houses are scattered over pile of sand on
the left bank of the river, most of them
two stories high, with wide verandas to
shut out the sun, very much like those of
Colon The consul and the railway and
port officials and engineers live on a hill
overlooking the ocean, where they can
get the coolest breezes and live In toler-
able comfort. The company does consid
cradle to enliven the monotony and fur
nish diversions for its employees They
have club, an amusement hail reading
room bachelors mess and other attrac-
tons which very important. Coatza-
coalcos is not an agreeable place to live at
best ard the railway company realizes
that If 1t would keep good men ii must do
something for their physical, social and
moral welfare That fact is not properly
appreciated by the Congress of the United
States In connection with the work at Pan
anna. The officials down there have been
unjustly criticised for contributing to the
amusement of the employees but they have
not done half enough In that direction A
| young man will go to the devil quicker In
the tropics than anywhere else, and every
healthy diversion will do something to re-
strain him.
More Dangerous Than Disease.
| In all these hot countries great deal Of
malaria. fever and other diseases are I'M
| ported in bottles, and is much more danger
Gus than the miasma of the jungles. The
/ mortality OF conta gious diseases is largely
due to the enervated condition produced by
| the use of liquor Whisky, brandy and all
| alcoholic liquors are poison In hot coun-
| tries. and the hotter the country tho more
| important II is that they should be avoided.
| Coatzacoalcos Is unhealthy place but
not more than many other of the gulf
| ports The climate is trying. and the most