The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-03-05
AMERICAN FLEET
IN OLD CALLAO
Historic Peruvian City, Where
Admiral Evans Makes Fourth
Stop, Is Up-to-O Date. ,

Callao, where the American battle
fleet is now anchored in its fourth
stop In it's cruise around South Ameri-
ca, is one of the most important ports
on the Pacific side and Is the great
depot for the m OF Peru. 1t
is second only TO Valparaiso, Chile, L.
500 miles to the south. Approximately
one-half OF the foreign trade Of Peru
which amounted last year to more than
$50, 900, 900, passes in and out of Cal
lao, making 1t a busy, active and in
dustrious city. Fully 1000 vessels put
into the harbor every year, and 20
steamers together with 40 sailing craft
may any day be seen lying at anchor
In the bay.
Callao Is one OF the finest n safest
harbors on the Pacific, and the
Peruvian government is showing great
energy not only to make 1t modern,
convenient and secure, but also to equip
the city itself with every necessity for
comfortable hygienic living. There are
massive wharVes al the waters edge,
protected by a pier 500 feet long; this
pier is connected with the shore by a
bridge. built on iron piles, $500 feet
long. In the bay is a floating dock
which will admit vessels OF II feet
draught and 5000 o weight. Steam
ers lie alongside the wharves, and
freight is transhipped Immediately into
cars on tracks within a few hundred
feet OF The water. The resemblance to
a modern port like Havre or Hook Of
Holland, is remarkably striking. The
machinery about these docks is chiefly
electric, the power being drawn from
streams only a small distance back in
the mountains.
Calloa, as a town, Is very old, it's
foundation dating back to the year 1887.
The original site was destroyed by an
earthquake In 1746 and swallowed up
by the sea. The present city yet re-
tains some traces of it's earlier history,
in the narrow and irregular streets, but
today 1t has grown away from such
conditions, and is modern in every
sense of the word. The population num-
bers $4,000. although in the day time
it would seem much larger, because
many men come here during business
hours but return in the afternoon to
their homes in Lima. Lima, the cap
ital Of Peru. is only nine miles from
Callao. M lies 500 feet higher, close
against the foothills Of the Andes.
The government is today wide awake
and ambitious. 1t encourages rail-
roads, it invites foreign capital TO In
vest money in well secured enterprises,
and has already entered upon a career
of substantial. industrial prosperity.
Peru is a little less than Is times the
size OF New York state. Her climate
embraces every kind from the tropics
to perpetual SHOWS. There Is no known
plant or animal that will not grow
here. The most famous engineering
structure in the world, the Oroya rail-
way. built by Henry Meiggs, the Amer
lean, runs from the Pacific ocean across
the Andes. The highest navigated body
Of fresh water, Lake Titicaca, n the
Harvard astronomical observatory,
from which the most accurate observa-
lions are taken from half way up
Ell Misti near Arequipa. are institutions
Of which Peru is justly proud.
Peru has O population approXimating
5000. 600. The country is therefore not
so sparsely settled as might be imag-
ined, and the people are industrious
and home loving. The republic comes
within what may be called the canal
belt, and when this is finished, when
rail communication Is established be-
tween the upper waters Of the Amazon
and the Pacific, Peru Is sure to become
n of h powerful factors in the life
of South America.