Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1914-03-24

s. Stark of Des Moines arrived in
the city last night for a short visit
with his mother, Mrs. M. J. Stark on
Bank street. He has just returned,
together with his wife, from an ex-
tended trip through the south, in
Guiding Cuba, Panama and South
America. Mr.. and Mrs. Stark left
Des Moines on January IA going to
Chicago and Detroit, from there to
Niagara Falls for two days, then on
to Buffalo, Albany, and remaining in
New York City for four days before
sailing on Jan. 31st for Havana.
Two days in Havana enabled them
to drive all over the city which i'm
pressed them as being terribly con-
gested with it's narrow streets. From
here to Santiago Of Spanish war
fame and from there to Jamaica,
Kingston. They spent two days
there viewing the city, the wonder
full botanical gardens and the exper-
mental station, all of which is kept
up by the English government.
From there to Colon on the Isthmus
of Panama, where they saw the larg-
est docks in the world. BY rail they
went over to the city of Panama and
remained two days. The American
hotel was their stopping place
while there, where four hundred
Americans sat in one dining room.
Then back to Colon where they sail
ed for Laguara, Venezuela, and Car
acas, up the mountainside, which
has an elevation of 1000 feet above
sea level. They only spent one day
here, finding the highly seasoned
Spanish dishes at the best hotel i'm
possible for them to become accus-
toned to. Their chief remembrance
of Caracas will be that they depart
ed hungry. However, they were
privileged to be taken through the
White House here, the home of the
president of Venezuela, which is
most magnificent building with it's
courts of tropical foliage and plants.
Mr.. Stark says there are very few
autos in this section for the very
good reason that gasoline is 50 cents
per gallon, and as horses cannot en-
dure the intense heat of the eli
mate, the commonest mode of trav-
ell is with donkey chaises and by OK
en- cart. A bull fight was booked
for the day but they missed seeing
it, although seeing the great ampi-
theatre where the sport" took
place. They left this place for Trim
idad, which is 33S miles away, by
boat and here they remained two
days driving over the great banana
plantations where this fruit is Gull
tivated much as our corn fields. On
one plantation 1000 negroes were
employed and worked in the banana
fields with yokes of oxen. From
here by boat to Brighton near which
is the only pitch lake in the world.
This lake is owned by an American
syndicate which employs only ne
groes; these negroes dig about three
feet of the pitch in one day and by
the morning of the next day, the
spot in which the digging was done,
is completely filled up again. This
pitch, very hard and brittle, is con-
veyed by great buckets on a cable,
which contains a wagonload of the
substance, to the ocean a mile and a
half away where it is converted in
to tar and other pitchy mixtures.
From here to the Barbados Island
was the order of travel, with trip
to the great sugar refineries and a
drive over the picturesque country
where the Dutch windmill is still
prominent in the landscape. Here
also, occurred while they were on
the island, day Of English horse
races where the wealth and fashion
of the English people of the vicinity
was evident. From here to Fl. De-
f1ance and on to the island of Mar
Unique where the terrible volcano
of 1902 killed the Inhabitants of the
island st. Thomas was the next
stop where Mr.. and Mrs. Stark Wis
tied the original Blue Boards castle
and the room in which he killed his
six wives, the tale which has run
delicious shivers down the backs of
children for over a century. This
place is famous also for its bayrum
trees, the only place in the world
where they grow, and for Panama
hats. Porto Rico was the next stop,
where there are left standing but
one OF the many gates which were