The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-09-27


venture and danger in the search
for treasure that Mr.. George T.
Kenly of Baltimore can tell his
friends when they, induce him to
talk.
Mr.. Kenly, who is civil and mining
engineer, recently returned from. an
arduous trip in the United States OF
Colombia, in South America, whittier
he went prospecting for the Interna-
tional Land Improvement company,
which has Offices in this city. He ex-
poets to leave again within two weeks
to prosecute his work further in the
tropical country.
The Baltimorean, with Mr.. Louis F.
de Montmorency, also an engineer, and
with Luis, a native guide, and an in
dian boy, Patronina, travelled more
than 1000 miles on a round trip into
the wilds of Colombia and out of them
The party found what it went after
gold, as we'll as other minerals, tnclud-
ing coal, but Mr.. Kenly says there
is as much wealth above ground as
under it's surface.
He brought a bottle Of gold with
him; the other things he could not
bring, because when wealth is in the
shape of giant mahogany trees six
feet in diameter they are a bit un-
handy to carry.
81 left Baltimore last July" said Mr..
Kenly, "and joined Mr.. Montgomery In
Panama. We started our real explo-
ration from Barranquilla, the heavy
work beginning 300 miles from that
town. Part Of our journey lay on a
route that took us up the Magdalena
and other rivers, and part of 1t was
over the toughest mountain trails man
ever encountered, where the jungle
lay on each side of us as an impene-
trable wall.
"Boatmen we hired to take us in
their native canoes as we needed them,
and one such journey was 200 miles
long. For land service We hired pack
men or porters, and upon one trip of
forty miles we had, besides our orig
inal party of four, ten packmen and
two oxen. To add to our difficulties
we travelled in the rainy season when
the water at times poured down in
sheets for hours at time. .
This forty miles consisted of only
a cattle trail, and 200 cattle had gone
over it only few hours before They
go in single file, each planting his feet
in the footsteps of the one in front
and into these deep slippery holes we
had to walk, for there is not 80 much
as six inches of foot-way beside the
narrow trail.
The canoes down there are dug
outs, made by the natives from the
massive trees that fill the wilderness
They run anywhere from ten feet long
up to a great boat such as we used
on 200 miles of our journey. This ca
noe was sixty feet long and four feet
wide and had been worked out of a
monster mahogany log that was with
out blemisb. About twenty-five feet
of the forward part of this boat was
occupied by the four naked natives.
who propelled it. They know nothing
of rowing or padding. The boats are
poled along, and the skill and strength
displayed in ascending a river against
q current of FIVE miles an hour is won
derful.
How Craft Are PoIed.
"One boatman goes to the bow and
sticks his twenty-five-foot pole into
the mud at the river bottom. Then,
placing his shoulder to it, he walks
back along the footway to its end,
pushing the boat along Each in turn
goes forward for this polling, and at
the end of the footway he pulls his
pole from the mud, holds it aloft and
marches to the bow again, letting his
companions pass under his arms and
pole.
But to pole boat the canoeist
must keep near shore where it is not
too deep and where, unfortunately,
the jungle foliage overhangs. This is
where the pole often strikes the
leaves and dislodges millions of mos
quitoes, brings down a shower of VIC
ious ants, frequently snake and,
worst Of all, species of black wasp
which is the most dreaded of ALL Its
sting is so strange and powerful that
1t seems to strike a man as IL with
q blow from a Jim Jeffries. and the
Confidential Correspondence.