Evening journal., 1910-11-25
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
An ArgOnaut'S Adventure
in Nicaragua
BY "HoIland."
BY "Holland."

Yesterday, through the kindness Of
/ Mr.. Dudley Jones. Of Little Rock, Ar
kansas, a surviving argonaut, / was
able to give his vivid description of
the shortcut road which Commodore
Vanderbilt built in Nicaragua for the
! transportation OF the early California
| gold seekers across that country, and
OF the conditions of travel on that
twelve-mile stretch Of country lying
between Virgin Bay on Lake Mica
ragua, and the port of San Juan del
Sur, on the Pacific Ocean.
That road TO Eldorado Mr.. Jones
became intimately acquainted with
when, I'm company with seventy-five
homeward bound gold seekers, he
tramped it from San Juan del Sur to
Virgin Bay, because, as told yesterday,
he and his companions had sailed
from San Francisco, not on a Wander
bilt steamer, but on a tramp sailing
vessel. and, hence. they had no claim
ON the Vanderbilt company.
As We came In sight OF tho lake" Z"
said Mr.. Jones, eve saw the Wander
bilt lake steamer, which we had hoped
to catch, out in the lake-just start
ing, with its decks black with people,
on the trip across the lake and down
the first half of the San Juan river
to Castillo. where it connected with
the light-draught river boats that
piled Graytown, where Vanderbilts
Atlantic steamers touched. We were
left at Virgin Bay. which consisted of
three or four bamboo huts and the
Vanderbilt company house so-called
That was a large warehouse made by
a.. Il
poles for rafters, and over and around
these poles blue muslin cloth was
stretched. II was cheap thing, but
It answered the purpose of a dry place
/ for travellers to spread their blankets
when they were forced to stop I'm Vir-
! gin Bay overnight. Black native dirt
made the floor, and the spreading of
ones blanket upon it constituted SOW
| ereignty, and was SO recognized.
Having secured lodging in the
company house, we started out 10
find something 10 eat, and shortly
made the discovery that Virgin Bay
was almost deserted by natives, and
bereft of food, except when the Van
derbilt lake boats touched there.
which was twice a month. There was
not enough food in the whole place 10
| furnish us seventy-five 'tramps' with
a square meal The next day, finding
! that nothing was being brought in.
some of us. in such skiffs as we could
/ md, started up the lake foraging. The
| best We could do was TO collect a
scant supply Of beans. plantains and
bananas-the staples of the country.
For four days we tasted and pray
ed for the return Of the lake boat
the trip TO Castillo and return could
easily be made in twenty-four hours
and not even the Vanderbilt agent
could imagine what was OBTAINING the
steamer. On the fourth day the agent
secured schooner from some old
don up the lake, and just as the sun
! went down the last of us crawled into
its hold, and with a good breeze we
went racing down the lake The boat
was about fifty feet long and eight or
nine feet wide-just wide enough for
as TO back against the sides and for
our feet to touch on the gunwale.
/ The stone ballast was under the board
seats on which We sat. and a person
six feet high could not sit straight on
account OF the deck overhead.
We made a good nights run to
Castillo. and to our surprise next day
saw the missing lake steamer living
not at the wharf above the dam. where
she usually ended her journey. but AT
the wharf that Vanderbilt had built
below the dam. and from which
point he carried his passengers to
Graytown in the small river boats
! The passengers the lake steamer had
brought down were also at the lower
wha~f-that is, most Of them were
The other never knew how many
had been drowned three or four davs
before when. as the steamer was about
to make fast to her wharf. a strone
-eurrent seized her and carried hey
stern foremost over the dam. She
negotiated the drop without serious
accident, and all who remained on
board while she was doing so were