The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-11-17

u u "A dnu n
~ the sea, and the bridge across II
'he longest and largest in Chile.
Conception itself lay just below Us.
d great eXpanSe of terra Gotta roofad
houses with a plaza of green in Tia
center. We could see the cathedral
on one side OF the plaza. It is a
large building with an audience room
covering half an acre. The streets
go OUT from the plaza. They are wide
ana cross each other at right angles
1ney are paved with asphalt and are
cream n well kept. The houses of
lhe CITY are low. Looking over them
we see here and there a cluster of
trees surrounded by walls. The trees
seem to be sprouting from the roofs
OF the houses. They are in the courts
or patlos around which the houses
are built.
Now turn around and look towards
the north. There is nothing but wood
ed Mills on tina side. You might i'm
aglne yourself in the midst of a will
erneSS did you not know that the
city OF Conception lay at your back.
The town shows signs of its sportlov-
ing character here from the noun
tain. 1Ou can see the golf links.
n polo grounds and a ace course.
with a track more than a mile long.
Inc bands play in the plaza everv
evening and the people come out in
their best clothes and walk about
and look at each other. The CITY is
is a commercial center. 1t has large
bushes houses and a great deal of
agricultural machinery from the Uni
ter States is here distributed through
out southern Chile and through the
farms of the great central valley.
During my stay at Conception
have investigated the opportunities for
American coal by way Of the canal.
The best coal mines of Chile are sit
uated not far from here on Coronel
bay. The coal lies about the bay and
extends far out under the ocean. The
seam is about five feet thick and the
rock above Is SO compact that the
water does not Seep through. In
deed, the submarine tunnels are sc
clean that n could walk through
them in evening clothes without dan
ger. The mines are equipped with
modern machinery. They are light
ed with electricity and the coal is
carried out on electric cars. The
amount now being mined is about
1000 tons per day, and the total out
put runs into the hundreds Of thou
sands of tons per year.
The supply of coal furnished by
the Lota mines does not begin to fill
Chile's demands. The country is now
using more than twice as much coal
as it produces and it has been import
ing one-half of it's supply from Aus
tralia and England. The state rail.
ways now use 100000 tons per an
mum and practically all Of the smelt-
ing coal comes from Australia.
understand there are other extensive
deposits in the province of AraucO
south Of Conception, and they have
recently discovered coal near Punta
Arenas, at the Strait Of Magellan
Petroleum and natural gas are known
to exist 500 miles south of Valparaiso
and tina in a region not far from the
steel works at Corral. By means
of the canal our coal from the gull
and South Atlantic States ought tC
have q great market here and Goa
might form the return freight fol
the nitrateS and other minerals that
from now on will be shipped north
through the canal to our country.
1t was these LOta Goa mines that
formed the foundation of the great
Cousino fortune, still one Of the larg-
| est Of chile. For several generations
it had been known that coal existed
not far from Conception, n it was
at the time that Madison was Presi-
dent hat an American named Wheel
wright, who put the first steamers
on the southern Pacific. tried to util-
ize these deposits for his ships. II