The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-06-08

timber has been cut now and trans
portatiOn is more Of i problem. Some
tremendous logs are handled weighing
20 to so tons each. A unique scene
is the shaking out" of these logs from
the forests by oX-teams in the cool Of
the night by the light of torches. After
the logs reach the coast they are
squared and dashed together into huge
RATS. There is a great coral barrier
reef about ten miles off the coast OF
British Honduras outside which the
largest ships must anchor. The great
RATS are towed out to the ships by
steel cables and winches. They are
then broken up and the separate tim
bers hoisted aboard by crane
Spain Tried to Take It.
British Honduras came under the
British flag largely through the we'll
known "squatters' rights grown to
international stature. Spain claimed
the entire Main" or mainland, from
the time of the earliest explorers. But
she was interested chiefly In gold and
silver; mere trees seemed beneath no
tice. SO British and other adyentur-
erS who cut timber on the eastern
coast Of Yucatan, the present British
Honduras, and the Mosquito country,
farther south, were not mOlested at
first.
When the settlers were seen to be
making a good thing of their mahog-
any trade, the Spanish changed their
| policy and began harasSing them. A
series Of wars and treaties between
Spain and Great Britain followed. In
1898 the Spanish made a supreme eff
fort 20 drive what they considered the
"squatters' out of Belize. But the
settlers, with cannon mounted on RATS
and ~lat-boats, had the best Of the stra-
tegic situation and won a signal VIC
tory. From that time the British claim
to the territory rested on conquest as
well as settlement. In 1862 the "set-
tlement' was declared a colony and
was given a lieutenant governor act
ing under the governor Of Jamaica. In
1884 it was made a separate crown
colony.
Belize, like the other countries
along the east side of Central Amer
lea. has a l~ow-lying region along the
coast with highlands farther inland.
It's dense tropical forests have dis
couraged agriculture. Growth is so
rapid that it is q task of the utmost
difficulty to keep trails open. Most
travel is along rivers, and little is
known of the interior away from the
streams. There are rumOrs, however,
of the existence neal h western
boundary Of extensive Maya ruins like
those of Yucatan and Guatemala. The
one important exception in the matter
Of inland development is the southern
region tapped by the only railroad,
along which thousands of acres or
banana plantations have been estab-
lished to supply a part of the market
in the United States.
There is much tropical scenic
beauty in Belize. Its coast region is
a maze of intensely blue lagoons and
| channels of calm water-a paradise
lOT tle yu'itoiiAh wv P'N"'"i> ~
man. Everywhere are gem-like coral
islands covered with coconut trees
which in many cases grow to their
very edges and. hang mirrored In the
surrounding waters.
Down the rivers of British Honduras
millions of dollars worth of mahogany
and log-wood have been floated during
the life Of the colony. In late years
tens Of thousands Of bales Of chicle,
the raw material of c~hewing-gum,
have joined the stream, to be shipped
north to keep busy the restless jaws
Of America.
For this outflow to America there Is
an inflow not wholly confined to money
and goods. Some British leaders COM
plain that the colony is becoming
"Am~ericanized." Newspapers and mag.
azines from the United States far out.
number those from England. American
| agents gain much business in COMPETE
ton with the more l~eisurely methods
of the British and a number OF repre-.
sentatives of the younger generation,
going to America for their higher
| education, tend on their return to look
| to America for their intellectual lead
ership. The official money unit OF the
colony is the American gold dollar.