The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-03-14


lombians Ape Clothes and Actions of
Newcomers - Odd Labor Troubles
Arise-Many AlIigators Found.
Broadway, New York, looks good to
four engineers who recently returned
from the Colombian jungle, where
they spent two years among a thou
sand laborers of all nations building a
big concrete dam and power house in
connection with a project to develop
the mining wealth of the region. S.
II. Clifford told the story of their ex-
periences:
Labor troubles? You don't know
what they are until you tackle a Job,
as we did, Of building a dam across
San Juan creek, 375 miles from the
Atlantic coast.
There were fifty Americans on the
job, and we put up a dam S5 feet high,
290 feet across the crest and contain
ing $4,000 cubic feet Of concrete. A
similar job would have taken one year
in the States, but it took two down
there.
ITO begin with, we had about 300
natives, but it was impossible to do
anything with them. They never had
seen a piece of machinery before, and
every time we swung a derrick around
they'd take fright and run half a mile
and it would take 'em half an hour to
recover sufficiently to return to work
1--WE finally educated them by bring
Ing down laborers from the canal zone,
who had been trained in American
methods. These men we put in re.
sponsible positions, and as the natives
were good imitators they soon 'caught
on to the American way, and things
began to hum.
Natives Great Imitators.
"The natives carried their passion
for imitation further, often with hui
morous results. For example, at first
they wore very few clothes. After we
had imported the men from the canal,
all of them reasonably well clad and
wearing shoes, every native on the job
took to watching them closely. They
soon found out that the invaders were
| getting more money, and they figured
ont a connection between wages and
clothes.
"At once it became the ambition of
every native to own pair of shoes,
and all of them promptly bought, trad
ed for or stole q pair. Ostentatiously
they would wear the shoes out to work
so that their American bosses could
see them, but when they arrived on the
Job they would take them off. They
couldn't stand the pinch Of civiliza-
ton.
"Those natives were finished perform
ers in the drinking line. They would
drink anything they could get their
hands on and would spend almost ev-
cry cent of their pay envelope to get
the stuff. Their favorite beverage was
'aguadiente,' which is mostly alcohol
favored with anise
"And this particular brand of booze
had a very interesting effect on them,
though an inconvenient one for la
borers' camp. AS soon as they had
had three drinks they would start out
at once in search of those whom they
disliked. They all carried machetes or
revolvers, and l never knew pay day
to pass but what three or four of them
were killed.
Big Alligators.
"One of the sights shat impresses an
American in penetrating into the in
terror of Colombia is the populous col
ony of alligators on the banks of the
Magdalena river. They literally cover
the sandbars. 1 counted 200 on one
bar alone. Here and there along the
river the natives have built little half
moon shaped stockades into the water,
made by driving stakes into the sand,
where their women can come down to
fetch water and bathe safely.
Its so commonplace for people to be
eaten up by alligators that no one
thinks anything about it.
There in the heart of Colombia. 375
miles from the Atlantic, is an immense
area that is a wonderfully rich mining
proposition. But it is not poor mans
country; it will take a lot of capital.
Development must be on an immense
scale. 1t is low grade placer mining,
but the vast area of gold bearing dirt
will make it paying proposition. For
300 years the district has been mined
by the Spaniards by hand.
"The dam and power house which we
built was in connection with the first
large modern dredge in Colombia for
gold dredging purposes.
COLOMBIA needs to reform some of
her laws. She wants to open her coun-
try to foreigners more. The freight
rates on the steamers up the Magda-
lena river are exorbitant, and, in addi-
tion, the Colombians levy a tax of 81 a
ton for dredging the river-which is
hever dredged. Every piece of our
stuff-derricks. cable ways, donkey en-
gines and electrical equipment-wa
brought from the United States"