Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-02-28
AROUND CAPE HORN.
Chase S. Osborn Tells of Conditions and
Experiences in South America.

Chase S. Osborn Tells of Conditions and
Experiences in South America.
Interest III the west coast of South
/ America, stimulated by the journey of
| the American battleship fleet makes par
ticularly timely observations on that sec
ton by Chase S. Osborn of Sault Ste.
Marie, Mich, in the Chicago Evening
Post. Mr.. Osborn, who was one of the
! speakers at the Marquette clubs Lincoln
anniversary dinner in Chicago, says
much OF the information on South Amer
Leland particularly regarding the west
coast-Whlch IS available through the Ii
pfafles and magazines, is several years
! Old and that many recent and most in
! teresting developments are entirely un.
known on the northern half Of the west
ern hemisphere.
For one thing, American investors
Who went to South America several
years ago to develop mineral resources
nave discovered that there is one chance
the United States, Canada and Mexico"
ne sad. For instance, the Prick, Hag
gin and other large interests spent 500
OOO,OOO putting in great copper plants
at Cerro de Pasco, Peru, and now are
reaplng a harvest of trouble, and have
hardly taken out a cent of ore.
The mines are old and were worked
500 years ago by the Spaniards. There
were mountain railroads to be built and
great mountain smelterS to be installed.
| Now that the smelters have been com
pleted it has been found that they will
not work in the rarifed atmosphere
which is found at the altitude of 1000
feet above sea level. Arizona plants
J which cost one-foQrth as much practical
ly have pf:d For themselves in the same
period of time, and made profits equal
to all the investment.
THE Americans in that section will
hot invest money again without knowing
the exact conditions of climate and la
Dor and transportation. In this country
we do not have to go above the clouds
or down in malarial swamps to find 4
place to invest our money.
THE passage of a fleet through the
Straits of Magellan is not now regarded
as particularly dangerous. The approach
| is guarded by the Evangelistas, three of
the most freaky rocks known to geolo-
gists. They look like huge obelisks plant
ed in the sea by some Titanic force.
| They are several hundred feet high and
the sea. which is always rough, breaks
against them in a fearfully impressive
| manner.
''Punta Arenas is the Spanish II San
dy Point 1t is the old Botany bay of
Chile. Finally so many criminals were
dumped down in the community that
they killed their guards and terrOrized the
inhabitants.
1T was so far away from the rest of
! Chile, however, that all the nation did
was to discontinue sending more con-
victS, leaving the survivors at Punta
Arenas to fight themselves tired. Later
it was made the cOaling port for the
straits, and now Americans have dIScOy-
cred rich placer beds there.
THE wind blows at a fearful rate
most of the time, and the only roofs
l., ;laI, c,1n nv
are of the American or German CORFU
gated iron variety. Each strip Of iron is
| stamped with the name of the owner, so
| that after a particularly hard blow the
residents go out into the streets and fields
and round up their roofs.
Il have seen the air full of these Tying
strips of metal, and people have been
| killed in the streets by them.
"A miSconceptiOn exists here as to
| Cape Horn. 1t is not the end OF the
| South American mainland. but is on an
| island, and doesn't Iook at all like a
| horn. In fact, it should be called Cape
| HOOrn. for it was named after its dis
coverer, Admiral Hoorn of the Dutch
navy.
''Valdivia. Chile, up the coast from
| Puntas Arenas is i'll the timber belt and
hopes to become the manufacturing me
! tropOlis Of the country. Talcahauhno is
the seaport for Conception, the latter
eight miles inland. Conception is the big
town of agricultural Chile. Between the
| two towns Americans are building the
! first northern electric line i'll Chile.
| ''Americans also are the fiscal agents
in the greatest railroad undertaking OF
the present time-the building at Cumbre
of a thirty mile tunnel on the transconti-
mental road which is to cross the Andes.
This tunnel will be ten miles longer than
! the Simplon tunnel in Europe. Nine air
shafts are being forced through the gran
It's walls of the mountain to ventilate the
| bore.
''Valparaiso. just as it was decently
over the earthquake, was assailed by
plague which now is in every town,
large and small, from Valparaiso to
GuayaQuil Valparaiso is the big sea-
| port Of that section"