El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-31

I standing with all of the other South
J American countries
Is a Near NeIghbOr.
/ Colombia is just across the Carib-
bean sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The
: shortest distance between 1t and our
/ country is not as lar as from Phlla-
| delphia to Chicago. Tampa, Fla. is
! as near to Cartagena as New York is
/ to St Louis. and from that Colombian
/ port to New Orleans is only four days
easy steaming. From Barrenquilla to
Rev York is less than 1900 miles and
the trip can be easily made in five
| days Bv way of the canal Boston
can reach the west coast OF Colombia
Dy steaming a little over 1000 miles,
( and the whole of this coast is nearer
cur Atlantic seaboard than any part
of Pacific North America
And then look at the size of the
country. Colombia has a coast line of
about zoo miles on each ocean. From
south to north it is longer. than from
New Orleans to St. Paul, and from
east to west in places 1t is wider than
from Baltimore to Chicago It is larger
than all the Atlantic coast states. with
Ohio and West Virginia added 1t is
nine times the size of New York and
ten times as big as Kentucky. It is
DlSger than Germany France, HOl-
land and Belgium combined. and not
W3thstanding it Is Almost on the
equator the most of the land is so
nigh above the sea that white men
can live in it and the soil win produce
crops that have Il steady market in
Europe and in North America.
Has Fine Pasture Lands.
Colombia has pasture lands which
may make it one OF our future
sources of meat. One-halt of the
whole repu bic consists of plains that
slope down to the Amazon and Grin
oco rivers, and these are now raising
something like 1000, 600 cattle. The
Cauca valley alone could supply
rcrf, 10 Ira,er~
Of the world, and there are extensive
coffee.
On the Iowlands of this. coast the
United Fruit company now has vast
plantations of bananas the Product OF
which it is shipping to- England and
the United States. The exports run
INTO the millions of punches q year,
and they are carried away to New
ork in steamers of 5000 tons, each
having accommodations for 100 first
class passengers. They have steam
ers to Europe which make the run in
Rich in Minerals.
The mineral possibilities of Colon
Dla correspond with, those OF. Alaska. 1t
was there that Balboa found his first
gold, when the Indians told him Of tho
treasures over the mountains that were
afterward opened up by PizarrO. Since
that day more than 700 100000 dollars
worth Of gold has been taken out of CO.
dozen different states which are now
paving well.
The great gold bearing regions are
in the mountains of the ChOcO ana
AntiOquis provinces, and in the ranges
betueen the C2Uca and Magdalena rIv-
ers This area covers thousands OF
square miles and gold is said to be
found wherever there is gravel BACK
in the mountains where the rock has
been laid bare, there are gold veins ev-
erywhere that require only modern ma.
chinery and methods for the extraction
of the metal. Much of this territory
has never been explored except by the
indians.
There is also gold in the de-
partment of Narino. bordering on
Ecuador, and gold nuggets are found
in the gravel beds of all the rivers of
that section which flow into the Pa
cific ocean.
Gold in Sacred Lake.
One of the odd gold finds of Colombia
is connected with the sacred lake of
Guatavita. which lies high I'D in the
mountains. two miles above sea lever.