Evening journal., 1911-01-11
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Road That Led To
EIdOradO
BY holland"

A Vanderbilt road that nobody hears
OF today is that one which the found
er of the Vanderbilt fortunes and
tame built in Nicaragua i'm '49 for the
transportation of California gold seek
ers across that country in opposition
both TO the Cape Horn route 10 t~e
gold fields, and Commodore William
r. Aspinwall's route across the 18th
mus Of Panama, which finally resulted
In the Panama Railroad, though. AT
first, Aspinwall carried his passengers
from Aspinwall (now Colon) I'D the
Chagres river by native boats to Cor
dona, and thence by mule across the
mountains TO the port Of Panama.
The Vanderbilt cutoff" to Edo
rado began al the Nicaraguan Atlantic
port of Greytown. Shallow sidewheel
boats took the passengers up the San
Juan river TO steamer which carried
them across Lake Managua to Virgin
Bay, and, between that point and the
Pacific port Of San Juan del Sur,
across the twelve mile wide strip Of
land separating ocean and lake, ran
the Vanderbilt road proper Trans
portation across this road was ~
horses IN charge of vaqueros. the ami
mails for the first six miles from the
lake struggling through the deep
black mud of wide graded and ditch
ed road, and for the next six miles fol-
lowing trails along creek beds,
through mountainous country
Those six miles were never worked
by Vanderbilt
One Of the surviving argonauts who
Travelled more than once over this
now long deserted and all but for
gotten Vanderbilt road is q prominent
manufacturer in Little Rock. Ark
Mr.. Dudley Jones.
In the autumn Of 1859, Mr.. Jones
left the American river, near the point
where gold was first discovered. and.
reaching San Francisco, was one or
seventy-fve persons to embark for
the port of San Juan del Sur on
tramp sailing ship. After forty-hve
day sail down the coast. during which
they experienced terrific storm and
ran short of food, the ship dropped
anchor OFF San Juan del Sur just be-
fore daylight
"As>>soon as possible we all went
ashofe," said Mr.. Jones recently,
only to find that the passengers by
the regular Vanderbilt steamer from
San Francisco had landed the day be-
fore and taken with them eastward to
the lake every animal in San Juan del
Sur and Whereabouts. AS we had sail
ed on a tramp ship, and so were.
tramps. we had no claim on the Van
derbilt company, so, with our blankets
on our backs. and our little posses
sions I'm carpet bags, and with more
or less gold dust apiece, we started of
TO tramp over the mountains In a tro-
pical rain that fell all day
As we struggled over the trails
along the creek beds we became very
much scattered. Finally. two or three
of us came to a little house near the
top of the mountains where native
family was eating dinner under a
thatched shed We asked for and
we're served with food, and we ate
heartily. and after paying our bill
asked what kind of meat we had eat
en-. For reply our host pointed to
some .ohatetring monkeys In the trees.
That was the only food we had for
twenty-four hours,
THAT first day we made six miles,
at night reaching what was known as
'Vanderbilt's Halfway House. a large
adobe warehouse. where the gradec
road began.
Around the Halfway House ran
three sheds; the building Itself was
locked up tight We took possession
of the sheds, driving out a drove or
razorbeck hogs, and ranged ourselves
as best We could for a pight's sleep,
with our backs to the wall and our
feet in the warm beds of the late oc-
oupants. But tired and soaked though
We we're, we did not get much rest.
Many times during the hight the hogs,
resenting our invasion, charged on us
doing trespassers. and at midnight
passengers from the lake. going west,
began TO arrive. and the commotion
they made breaking and crowding inb
the house itself and settling down
upon it's black dirt floor added TO our
wakefulness
How many Of the west-bound pas.
sengers reached the Halfway House
during the night in the downpour I do
not know; there we're several hun
dred, at least Yet next morning, as,
with frightened belts, we trudged on
our way to the lake over the graded
portion Of the road we met many
west bound passengers struggling
through the mud and water We saw
many pitiful sights on that six-mils
stretch, enough to make US think
lightly Of our own troubles There