El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-05

NTOFAGAsrA, Chile. Sept s.
a Have just had a mighty slide
L \ from the roof Of the world to the
level of the sea I have come from the
ton of the Andes, in Bolivia, TO the
Pacific ocean in Chile, and am now
writing in Antofasasua. the chief port
Of one Of the most desert parts OF l-e
I'D This town lies half way down
the great South American desert II
is 24OO miles from Panama anu ~
DAYS and more from Ntl4paL 90 ~ -
New YORK Of Chile It belongs 70 O5 45LS'
Nd II forms its chief gateway 10 d.
fvia and the mighty lIe--5'-i - ~
of the Andes. II IS also inc -
to the nitrate fields ana 10 osneI -- y ~
ders of this arid part OF ne -
1rS,,,,-t n flows most Of the boraN
57sed IN mankind, and out OF II Guile
Vsst quantities Of copper and TN
Great Copper Deposits
yvf+l,fr a few miles OF Antofagasta IS
Chuuuicamaua, where me Gu55S-.-- -
S--r5icare has some Of the largest uS-
500 81 low grade copper on earth;
FThev can be worked At a proIIt alL1 " -
soon be supplying the SIesteL pa %
the conner from the SCUM -ALI4S. -
,.oDftDenr Further NORM al l. y UNI a
- lines and down the same roau
comes the tin Of POtosl ana CEuIO- - u
Jo-5 a liver of minerals IS already
Flowing through the port ana the O ut-
1oo1- Is that the stream VIII lncL ease
-TfrL the davelopmenT OF the enormous
denOsits OF the interior AneoLaSe-s
is also the beginning OF the new -Lal43
andine road that IS TO cross me - -
Denr by way Of Uyunls Luplla et4u -. -
s--aD+iue system. Only about 1VO lll4ss
of this railroad remains 70 " -
and when il is completed lreEels : :, -
"a from here to Buenos ARES N llIe
u NJ. ,,ffa e-asta. of the present shows
the hope of the future II grows IlAS
the thisLles on the mountain Ia rs u
Virginia, and today looks more Tx al
American town OF our aria souLl" SsI
than ANYTHING I have yet seen IN Soul1
america The houses are mosuy o.
wood. rooted with galvanized IRON me
streets are wide and many OF men - =
r,aved The population REMINDS one "
or frontier The characteristic slSHlS
of the Andes have disappeared ,, 1leIe
are no blanketed indians ana no 444Iilas-
Wagons, carts and CAPS ny So
their places. The town IS cosrnopoI4tal-
You hear every language spoken As yOu
move through the streets, ana are
jostled by British and Germans aus
TRANS and French Ihere Is G'so
large proportion Of Chileans- Ihe people
are whites, and the red and mixed races
seem to be confined 10 the Andes
Has Cold Journey.
came TO AntOfag aSta from La RaL
Ny route was the one that took 10
across the plateau on the top OF the
wagon that carried the Bolivian malls-
This was from La Paz to Oruro, a rail-
way station about 600 miles from
where now am. We pelted the mules
ears with stones and kept them on the
gaIlop from daylight TO dark II was
cold and we almost froZe at the rude
inns OF the highlands From Oruro 10
the sea I came on the train
Nv Journey this year was al the way
in a comfortable car, and the trip TO
Antofagasta took only two days. our
train had Bolivian milllOnalreS, Eng
I5sh Austrian and American commercial
travellers. miners OF a half dozen diff
ferent nationaliuies, and a number OF
tourists We stopped for six hours al
OrurO and there got sleeping cOmparl-
meuts for the rest OF the journey We
had dining cars on the trains and We
Travelled in comparative ease
The first part Of this trip was over
the high plateau Of Bolivia This is
semi desert country about 500 miles
long and Of varying width Its only
vegetation is half starved grass and
dry bushes, but IL feeds thousands Of
sheep. alpacas and llamas, and we had
animal life in sight almost all Of tho
way down TO OrurO- Now and then we
passed a village OF indians and always
there were the scattered nuts Of the
Aymaras spotting the plain The latter
were round in shape and many of them
mad roofs made Of mud bricks sym
metrically Joined A single family often
mad several Of these round huts and in
addition corrals for its stock.
Great DrOvss OF LIamas
At one of the stations where we
stopped to get our dining car we saw
a great drove of uamas They had
brought fuel TO the railway for ship /
ment to La PaZ and were about to 4
start back with merchandise for their I
return trip to a town in the hills. The /
fuel was what I might call Bolivian /
cord wood II consisted Of the limbs
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