The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-12-09
Chile's Earthquake Victims.

copiapo, coauimbo and Vailenar
Chile, shaken by earthquake, are
described in bulletin from the
washington, D. G, headquarters of
the National Geographic Society as
follows:
.tcopiapo is Ch;le's most historic
town, says the bulletin. which is
based on communication to The
Society by Harriet Chalmers
Adams.
.tWiIliam Wheelwright, an Amer
Iican, in 1851 built the first rail-
road: in Soutl, America from the
port of Caldera, so miles inland to
copiapo. The little stream which
borders it., now. nearly dry, now in
full flood. vas our first oasis after
crossing. the parched desert of Alta
CANA. To travellers OF old, as to Us,
this strip OF meadow land was q
sGod given sight.
ITO Copiapo, inthe fifteenth CEN
tury, marched the Incan ruler,
Tt,pae upanaui, with his victorious
army, to subjugate the tribes OF
northern Chile.
.sThe Inca's., trail from Peru led led
down the. backbone Of the snow
clad Andes and across the burning
desert. {. In So Diego de. Almagro,
a colleague of Plzarro. Travelled the
same road with a great army OF
Espaniards and Peruvians, horses
and Ilamas, two Incan princes
acting as guides.
I'D Spanish chron onIcles tell OF
the terrible sufferipg from cold and
thirst endured by ,Almagro's men men
on the six months march The &c
desert vas streWn with their bones.
1Allnrings were .Copiapo.s meadows
20 those who survived
"a lnaagro failed to sabdne the
southern natives, and FIVE years la
Il ter a Spanish army was. again en-
sEcanped ins Copiapo.. led this time
by Pedro de Yaldiyia, WHO kept on OF:
south to found Santiago. &.
81 In the halcyon days OF . >, When
CaIifornia,s gold lured naen round
| the Horn, Valparaiso became the
great mart of the Pacific coast, slip--
plying flour and other eommodi-
ties to the California miners. Ny
pioneer grandfather used, to tell
me Of those eyentfuI days. When
he was in Chile in the early
fifiies, Copiapo was an important
town. sharing the European opera
season, with Santiago and Valpa-
rasse. -3:4S5e Il
WheelWright's dream was of a
transcontinentaI railway across the
Andes to Tinogasta, in Argentina,
and on to the Atlantic, but the
road never got far beyond copiapo:
This great American also gave
Chile its telegraphie system and. !.
after failing to interest American
capital in a steamship line between
Valparaiso and New York turned
Ito England and inaugurated in the
early sixties the first steamer ser
vice between the west coast and
Europe.
SIN 1882 a donkey driver. Juan
|Godoy, discovered a silver deposit
near Copiapo and put the long
neglected town on the map.
Godoy's story reads like ro-
nance. Tired of loading his train
|of donkeys with scanty brushwood
for town Gu toners, he started
across the pampa to hunt the rov-
ing guanaeo. Sitting on a rock
10 rest. he discovered that his seat
was of silver. Returning home
With specimens, he shared the
Knowledge of his discovery with an
educated acquaintance who aided
the ignorant man, to make the
mos- OF his find Godoy became
the Silver King Of that period.
e.It was hard for US to visualize
Copiapo,s past splendor in the for
lorn little town that we found
Half the buildings we're still in
ruins, after. the disastrous earth
Quake of the previous year. The
hotel, kept BY a sad-faced Eng
iishnan; had decided tilt. Doors
and windows We're jammed and
w;ndow-panes missing: Our host
apoiogized for candle light, saying
that the gas-pipes were still out
of commission. The stone bathtub,
reached by a rickety fight of steps.
had somewhat tipsy appearance
"But the Copiapinos have not
lost courage. More thar once
earthquakes have completely de-
n1olished the town. In this land
where the extreme infrequence of
showers is hardship, they have
como to believe that earthquakes
are forerunners of much-needed
rain. Between euakes they look
Sta the east. watching for q. heay-v
fall of snow in the Andes. Then
the river runs full and the fields
smile.
From Copiapo. a trail across the
desert leads 20 the mountains. SO
sterile. gaunt, and forbidding; yet
there is a majesty in the Andean
contour From our bleak, upland
camp at the sunset hour. the .colos-
ing of slopes and crags was gor-
geous beyond adjectives to describe.
Pink deepened to rose; rose to ter
ra-cotta: terra-cotta to purple.