Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-03-15
Money from the United
States Invested In Mex
leo Lands and Mines.

Observation-Disclosures
professional life and have accom-
plished things Mr.. Mathewson has not
only succeeded in what he has under
taken but he has won for himself an
honorable name that is known and re-
spected in railroad and business circles
throughout the southwestern United
States and Mexico. Such name is bet
ter than riches.
The Hacienda of Santa Fe.
This week l spent day on the
Hacienda of Santa Fe, some 1875 miles
southwest of Mexico City in the state
of Guerrero and on the line of the
Cuernavaca division of the Mexican
Central railroad. This hacienda con-
sists of $4,000 acres and is owned and
operated by Mr.. Mathewson. He says
it is a small place." and SO it is as
haciendas are measured in Mexico, but
1T is owned by an Individual and so
well is it being conducted that there
is reason to believe that the property
has trebled in value during the two
years that it has been in Mr. Mathew
sons hands. While a majority of the
land is mountainous, these mountains
are filled with three or more varieties
of fine marble and will produce wood
for railroad ties and charcoal. The
tillable portions of the land are de-
voted to raising sugar cane and there
is mill for the manufacture of sugar
and by products. Some 800 men and
boys are employed all the time and
altogether about 1900 people reside on
the hacienda and are dependent upon
it for support The cultivation Is all
done by irrigation and there is an
abundant supply of water, the sources
of which are on the property itself, a
matter of very great Importance with
reference to permanent water supply.
This hacienda is located in the tropics
and I got up the other morning, upon
Mr.. Mathewson's suggestion, at /
o'clock to view the beautiful southern
cross, which was visible just above the
mountain tops. asked Mr.. Mathew
son what he could grow on the place
and he said, Everything from apples
to cocoanuts and corn to sugar cane"
He has perpetual garden the year
round in which the most desirable
vegetables are kept constantly grow
ing and in state for use on the table
every day in the year. AS we walked
through the garden and was exclaim-
ing upon the pleasures of having fresh
vegetables for daily use throughout the
year, Mr.. Mathewson rem arked with
sly twinkle in his eye:
eyes, it is nice, and we enjoy 1t; but
do you know, sometimes I'd give most
anything to see good old Iowa snow
storm once more and breathe for a
few minutes the exhilaration Of good
Iowa winter day."
Mr.. Mathewson proposes to line the
railway track, which runs for miles
through his place, with ,cocoanut
palms. Along the irritating bitches
he is planting bananas, and he is put
ting up a great deal of barbed wire
fence on posts that will take root and
grow and are good for twenty years
of life without renewal. Mr. Mathew
son speaks Spanish we'll and practical
ly all of his business, including cor
respondence and bookkeeping, is done
in the Spanish language. His chill
dren, a beautiful little daughter of
eight and boy of nearly five
years, speak English to their
parents but Spanish to every one else,
and 1t Is interesting to note that
Spanish is their native language, as
they speak it to each other.
Agricultural laborers on this place
are paid fifty cents silver (twenty-hve
cents Of our money! per day. Boys
are paid half as much. Head mechan-
les receive one dollar silver per day, but
their number is comparatively few.
This is the prevailing rate Of wages in
the agricultural district Of this portion
of Mexico.
1t is interesting to note the deeds
to the Santa Fe hacienda in Mr.. Math-
ewson's possession. This property re-
manned crown land for several cen
turtles, but in 1776 it was decided by
King Of CASTLE (and a dozen other
places, all of which are named at
lengthy, the West Indies, the East
Indies and the Islands Of the Sea-"
Also arch duke of many other places.
The Santa Fe hacienda has it's own
Jail, also carpenter shop, where the
coffins are made for those who die on
the place.
T, K Mathewson, also son of the
late John Mathewson Of Muscatine,
and whose mother is now living in
that city, is in this country and Is en-:
gagged in the engineering work of in
stalling water power and electric
transmission plants. He is gradu-
ate of the Muscatine high school. He
owns place of two thousand acres
just over the mountain from the Santa
Fe hacienda, that produces rice and
fruit and possesses an as yet undevel-
oped water power of great value.
The original deed to this place, which
was shown to me, was dated 1917, and
was written in old Spanish