Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1913-05-14

al b and into the domain Of the de-
scendants of Montezuma rode
"a a party of American civil and
mining engineers one day in
December.
From the Texas border the party
went by rail to Mexico City where
week waa spent in seeing the sights OF
the Mexican capital.
When the outfit of the party had
been assembled, and servants hired,
preparations were made to leave the
capital over a narrow gauge railroad
to Puebla, in the state of the same
name.
Like many of the prosperous Next
can mining towns tucked away in the
mountains, the general public has
heard very little of Puebla except
through the dispatches Of the war
correspondents" 1t is city of $4,000
inhabitants. The shops cater to the
love of finery which has descended to
the natives from the Spanish DON Ev-
erywhere can be seen Americans,
most of whom are interested in some
tainS.
On the way to Puebla the famous
Tehuacan Springs are passed and the
drinking water furnished tourists for
hundred miles along the railroad is
from the springs. No one seems to
know just why the water is healthful
but popular opinion says it is.
After leaving Puebla the party con-
tinued along the railroad to Ella
Once the center of onyx mining, this
little village has lost much Of the snap
and enterprise that foreign adven-
turers gave it in the past 1t is
sleepy town now.
Oaxaca, home of the Diaz family
and center of innumerable revolutions,
was reached early one morning When
within 10 miles or so of the city, run
ners from all of the hotels in Oaxaca
came on board and tried to book the
party for their respective houses
At the train muscular poems took
charge Of luggage which was heavy.
and numerous. These short, sturdy
natives had no difficulty in singing
trunk weighing IT'S pounds onto a
strap which they supported by a band
around their foreheads They carried
the trunks up the rough mountain trail
to the hotel which was perched on a
small peak overlooking the lowIand.
They didn't stop when they had reach
ed the crest, but continued to the sec
ond floor Of the hotel before taking the
trunks from their straps.
oaxaca and Vicinity.
Oaxaca is the chief town of the state
OF Oaxaca. 1t is now a city of 80, 900
persons. JuareZ, revolutionist or saw
ior-it depends upon your politics in
Mexico-lived there. 1t is about T.
600 feet above sea level. Americans
are numerous, as there are many silver
and gold mines in the vicinity. Just
south of Oaxaca are many plantations
that raise cotton, sugar cane and cof-
fee
At Oaxaca the travellers left the rail-
road and climbed the mountain trail
to Miahuatlan. This town. situated
about 20 miles from Oaxaca, has an
electric lighting system
The road kept getting rougher Fl
nally it was necessary to forsake the
horses and hire OK carts. This plan
worked fine until, thoughtlessly, the
drivers were given some, advance
wages. Too much puIque left the
party without drivers, SO an engineer
was drafted as OK driver. The next
day all of the drivers returned for
their jobs, and were hired of course.
The engineer crawled 40 miles I'D
the mountains to the crest where a
fine piece of timber land, $4,000 acres.
was situated. Part of this timber,
which was all white pine, had been
operated for turpentine. The forsak-
en- still of the operators was found
and later 1t was learned that the ven
tire had been a failure There was
no way to get the turpentine to mar
ket.
Several days were spent In this
place of timber and during the time
villagers made life unpleasant for the
men who were surveying the tract.
They insisted, begged and threatened
the engineers to give them the better
of the deal. Disputes became frequent
till finally magistrate was found to
settle them. Ambrosio Cortez, over