The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-02-15

TAR upon the horizon lowered
- the twin volcanoes of Atitlan,
their dark tanks wreathed In
white masses of cloudlike spark
ling fields of snow. The cones, thou
sands Of feet kbove, stood out sharply
against the deep blue vault of the
tropic skies. For FIVE days we had
been riding to them through the en-
chanted highlands of Guatemala, q
marvellous land Of fragrant pine for
ests, flowers, singing birds, broad
| winding roads, and fertile fields Of
wheat and corn cultivated by hundreds
of thousands of industrious Indians,
writes Hamilton M. Wright in the
Bulletin of the Pan-American Union.
| And many pueblos we had passed, ly-
| ing on the rolling bosom of the cool
table-lands with their schools and tenn
pies to Minerva, goddess of wisdom,
and their white mission buildings and
churches from whose thick-walled tow
ers the pealing bells summoned the de-
vout Indians to prayer. Almost with
out sensing a change of scene we had
| plunged into the quiet depths Of
| giant forest, dark after the brilliance
of the tropical sun, where mighty trees
rose as the stately pillars of Il cathed-
raj, to find upon emerging that turn
of the road brought In view a pano-
rama of 200 miles Of magnificent noun
tain country, forests, plains, the silver
| CLINT of lakes and streams and vol
canic cones two miles high enshrouded
In turbans of fog.
| Such Is Guatemala, land of ma jestic
contrasts, of unwonted, almost appall-
ing surprises. Here is one of the splen-
did show places of the world. Far
from the beaten path of most tourists
its wonders are becoming better
known.
Below lay cities with their public
squares and white churches, fields of
4 yellow grain like golden patches of
light in the crystal-clear atmosphere
of the highlands, huge dark masses of
forest, and beyond, extending their
thousands Of spurs and TANKS, rose
the prodigious Cordllleras. To the left
the peaks of Atitlan lowered to the
heavens, majestic, symmetrical, recall
ing in their perfect contour the famed
Fujiyama of Japan.
Lake AtitIan and Volcanoes.
1t was more than a half days ride
from this point before we came to
Goodness crest and beheld, 5000 feet be-
low us, the deep blue waters of Lake
Atitlan, and on it's opposite shores, ris-
lag sheer mile to a mile and one
talf above the surface of the lake
seven great volcanoes, of which the
two known as Atitlan are the most
wonderful.
Lake Atitlan, itself a vast crater
lake 81 miles in greatest length and l.
miles wide, is a remarkable body OF
water. Rev. Father Garcia of NagHala
a graduate of the University of Rome
and one who has given enthusiastic
study to the meteorology of the region
informed me that official soundings o
this lake give an extreme depth o
mere than 1000 feet. It's surface i
! 5000 feet above the level of the sea
Its waters teen with trout with whicl
1t has been stocked and, While walkin
upon its sandy beach near Panajache
we saw great schools of smaller fis
and not a few of the larger. Into 1t
; shores plunge the volcanic hills, ofte
, in precipitous, forested hogback'
: often in steeply sloping wheat fields
:, or again ending in mile-high cliffs c
: bright red sandstone or perpendicula
walls marked by the slate grays an
purpllsh hues of volcanic ash. Sue
nre the walls of Lake Atitlan, ofte
called Lake Panajachel, painted b
nature in her most glorious, riotor
q colors, and rivaling even the fame
hues of the Grand Canyon of Arizon
Fine Mountain Highways
Some splendid roads have been but
& In the neighborhood of the lake. Or
l. Of them, broad and sweeping, Leaf
y from Panajachel on the southea
,r shores of Atitlan to the picturesqt
st raeDlo of Solala, which is perched {
1t uiountain bluffs thousands of fe
e. above. The road Is blasted from rocl
ii cliffs and its sides and walls are, II
orally of granite. 1t Is a remarkab
piece of construction accomplished
v one of the generals of President {
~ brera's army. SO steep is the TO;
hat cascades fall at its very edge al
" their waters are borne beneath it
culyerts. AS it skirts the gigant
bluffs, the traveller obtains entrancil
visions of the lake and of the maj
:. villages upon its shores.
.. All the highland country is dense
~ populated; at least all that PORTE
'o which lies between Guatemala CT
% snd Quetzaltenango, the second CT
=, of the republic. The mountains a
" lntensiyely cultivated up to a heig
~ of almst 10000 feet. Fine schools ha
Seen built in the pueblos and citi