The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-22

-NlnIlttlC~I lC ciSSt' dGHlS VI
punta Arenas. and the Guggen-
,am.-Thc Great Central Valley
..J the Vast Forests Now Being
T,,,ed Into Farnis-NaiparaisO
and IT. New Harbor Improvements
a. Prepare the Port for the Pam
anna Trarfic-Thcy Will Cost ST.
500 OO-Some Queer Features OF
,bc Earthquake City.
,Copyriehted, 1914, by Frank G..
Carpenter.)
VALPARAISO, Chile, Carpenter.)
valparaiso has plans cut for i'm
,,rying It's harbor; and now that the
banana canal is completed it will
no able To take care of all the in
creased traffic that comes here from
m, opening of hat great waterway.
As II is now, it is one of the chief
,orts If the world. Ii is the New
YORK of the west coast of South
America. and it does more business on
the western Pacific than any other
tnvp except San Francisco. 1t is
nearer the Isthmus of Panama than
our great port of California, and in
m, new direction of trade through
the war in Europe, it will be almost
AS full Of American vessels.
You all know of Valparaiso, out ]
doubt if many of you realize just
where IT is. 1t is about as far south
aft our great canal as Boston is dis
tant from Salt Lake City, and to equal
its length you would have to add 700
miles to the distance between Boston
and Panama. 1t is right in the cen
tral part Of the coast of this long re-
public Of Chile. n / should say at
a guess about thirteen or fourteen
hundred miles from the Straits of Ma
relIan. Valparaiso is the port near
est the capital of the republic, and
also the chief commercial gateway
t. the great central valley which
forms the chief agricultural region of
the country Chile has a foreign
commerce of more than $250,00O 600
per year. of which more than one
half * made up of imports, which
until now have come largely from
England. France and Germany. The
bulk of this goes through Valparaiso.
The town has 200, 0C0 inhabitants,
and it is growing fast. 1t has gain
ed enormously since the earthquake
IN 1906. and, Notwithstanding its
losses Of a similar kind in the past,
its people go on building as though
there would be 10 earthquakes in the
future.
Valparaiso has had many expert
enC"s in the field of bad luck. 1t
was founded only ~fifty-one years after
Columbus discovered America, and it
had many adventures with pirates
before the earthquake of 1890 de-
stroycd the place and its fortified
tons. Ii was o o rebuilt and an
other earthquake came in 1922. Tive
ot It's property and a little later it haC
burned up a million dollars worth
decades after that it a a fire thai
another fire at Il cost Of $1,000 600
Then IT was bombarded by the Span.
lardS, who destroyed it's property tt
the value of 0,OO0, 900, and on toI
"t the whole came the earthquake o
.lGht years ago, which is said to hav'
cost 100000 900. At that time it i
estimated that 5000 persons wer'
Killed, and that at least loo, 600 wer'
rendered homeless. The whole Of tn,
CIV along the edge of The sea wa
iad low. and nevertheless it is tina
part - the town that is now covere'
WIN the best business blocks. Wild
avenues have been laid cut througl
IT. and the city is larger and NOR
handsome than ever. AS it is, "a grea
part Of Valparaiso has eeer. reclaim
wi lr"m the sea by filling in earth an
rock from the highlands This Wa
oeiore the earthquake occurred, an
II Is made more so by the recent i'm
'''tiltntS. Many or ne new stree
are now SO high that one has to &
po~n steps to get into the older built
mSS still standing.
me harbor of Valparaiso, as it
now ~ not safe in certain weathe
II needs breakwaters and other in
f'oFenhtnts. The large ships ancht
sohc - lance out from the Shor
anu goods and passengers are landt
;" p"ats. The scene coming into II
"''bor is beautiful. The city is bui
noou' a bay. of the shape of a ha
Hnooh. The big warehouses and mo
nnP"ftant business blocks are on II
Suse OF this bay. and back of it, ri
~ almost straight up from Il
""ueI' ~ an amphitheater of hill
uNefed with houses. These hi
So steep that the houses are blu
verraces and the people go fro
r, TO level on cog railroads. The
,bpaos are much like elevators, sa
az 'hey go up on the siant, instei
~ p'rpendicularly. There is
'"'Hl at eyerv fou, hlDnl-c aoI ~