Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-22


/ DIVA in barges. took a steam launch
and rode down to look at the port The
| stream is about half as wide as the Poto-
mac at Washington We first sailed by
| lumber yards. bodybuilding works, saw
/ mills and other woodworking establish
ments. little later we wound our way
/ among low hills covered with woods,
! passing through a maze of fine scenery.
! The stream is Of an emerald green and
| Il flows between dark green banks and
I low hills as precipitous as those of the
/ Rhine between Mainz and Cologne. Had
/ the hills been covered with vineyards, we
4 might have imagined ourselves on
1 launch on the Rhine for there were many
| Germans on board. The port OF Corral
has only few hundred people. It's build
! ings are small the wharves are poor,
and much of the unloading is done out in
( the harbor. There were two steamers at
anchor during our stay. and on our way TO
/ the porte we passed hargcs carrying coal
and machinery up the river. Only small
vessels call here. and since the railroad
has been completed a large part OF the
! freight Is carried that way.
chile Unusual Country.
Southern Chile is far different from the
other parts of the country. Chile, in
proportion to its width. is one of the
longest lands in the world II II could be
laid upon the United States with its
northern end at Philadelphia, 1t would
reach almost to the Pacific. and still its
average width is not greater than from
New York to Albany. The upper part OF
the land is a desert. as bleak and bare
as that OF the Sahara. The middle part,
extending from some distance above
/ Santiago TO a days ride by train north
! Of where l am, is one of the richest
farming regions on the globe. II is known
as the Great Central valley and it's vast
tracts OF irrigated land will grow every
/ thing produced in southern California.
South of this valley and extending from
Conception to the Strait If Magellan, is
long. narrow strip which is covered
with woods.
The climate and rainfall of Chile are
varied. In the northern part OF the
| country II never rains In the central
valley the water drops only at long In
tervals, but down here In the south they
have a rainfall of 100 inches and upward
per year. Valdivia has 1903 inches, and
further south there is more. In some
places the rain is said to fall thirteen
months every year. This is not true.
Still there are seasons when the water
pours down. and other months when the
sky is clear, and there is no rain at all.
The latter condition has prevailed during
my stay.
Northern Part TreeIess.
Northern Chile is treeess. Central
Chile has groves of eucalyptus and
South Carolina poplars. and its irrigat-
ing bitches and streams arc lined with
magnificent trees. All of the trees Of
that region have been planted. The cen
trsl valley has naturally no trees, al
though the land is so fertile that II you
set out an oak 1t would grow within
fifteen years TO the height of the virgin
oaks of our forests. A eucalyptus will
reach to a height of seventy-five feet in
. a decade
Southern Chile is just the reverse OF the
, north. 1t is land OF forests and almost
as well timbered as was the eastern part
of the United States when our first set
, tiers came. 1t has so much wood that
Chile, Notwithstanding the arid lands OF
the north, is said TO have in proportion
to it's area more forests than any other
, country OF the world. l rode through
, green fields with stumps scattered
, through them. all the way from Concep-
) cion to Temuco. Further south men were
( cutting farms out OF the woods. and here
and there the wheat was growing among
the burned timber. some Of which was
still standing. Here was a forest where
/ the trees had been stripped to their barb
4 close to the ground, and there was one
= made of the skeletons Of trees killed in
that way. In the latter instance the
- I no ba. 81 nd ha a nj
branches. were as white as so many bones
Lumber of Poor Kind.
At nearly every railroad station are
lumber yards containing piles OF fence
posts, ties and building materials stacked
up awaiting shipment to the north. The
lumber is not good - comparison with
ours. II is full of knots and cracks. The
boards are narrow and they are nothing
like the fine wood which comes 10 Chile
from California and Oregon and Washing
ton. The most OF the trees here are ant
arctic beech and pine. There are also
hard woods. The forests are thin and
there is much underbrush among the
trees. II is impossible to clear the land
as we do, on account OF the trouble in
getting rid of the stumps. Some OF the
farmers are now importing stump pullers
from the United States, and not few are
using dynamite. Ringing and burning
the trees leaves a great deal OF dead
timber, and the cultivation cannot be
well done until the dead trees are out
by the roots.
After the land is cleared IL looks moth
ing like similar land in the United States
The fences are Of barbed wire, but thers
are no large fields in clean cultivation
and fine barns and houses as in thu
United States. The most OF the build
ings are log cabins OF one story, ROOTED
with straw or slabs They are put al
In rude way, and but few OF them hav'
gardens or flowers. There are some good
homes owned by the Germans, but th'
native Chilenos live but little better thar
savages. They seem to be camping out
rather than settling down TO build up
country.
The most Of the new land is devote,
to wheat This Is the chief cereal o
Chile the country producing something
like 100000 bushels per year. Some cat
tie are raised. but here in the south tn
animals are ragged and lean. and thei
meat is chiefly used for making charque
or dried beef. In the central valley tn