Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1924-05-01
KFEUT. John A. BEmIs WHITES
LITTER FROm gUcATAN, MEX


Although leading 8 rather strenu
bua life inst at present in the tropics
1deut. John A. Bemis, u. s. d.. c..
doesn't forget the old home town and
drops a letter occasionally to relatives
hsre. He is IN command Of the land
ang force Of the u. s. s. Cleveland and
in his last letter. dated April 18th, at
Proarsao. Yucatan, Mexico, says:
Our ship was ordered up here from
Puerto COrtez, Honduras, on the LIST,
went to Key West, Florida for coal
and supplies, and arrived here on tSe
9Th, relieving the u. S. s. Tulsa which
went to Galveston for supplies. Pro
@reso is the only port in Yucatan and
the chief export here is sisal, used in
the manufacture of binder ewine. Yu-
catau is In the hands of the rebels and
theF had brought their two gunboats
here. but the boats left the day before
we arrived for Frontina, UP the coast.
There isn't any harbor here and the
water along the coast ia very shallow.
We lie out about three miles and q
half in four fasAoms Of water. II is
usually pretty rough and we can only
get to town in small boats in the
mornings. when it is normally calm.
~Progreso is town Of about seven
thousand, typicaily Mexican. ! went
over Tuesday and looked it over. To-
morrow I'm to go again to make an
intelligence report and also make q
sketch of the town. Wednesday I was
a member of an official party which
went up to Merida. This is the capi-
tai Of Yucatan and quite an important
city with population Of close to
100000. II is thoroughly Mexican,
with narrow streets, wide plazas, old
cathedraIs, and the like, just as those
you read about. 1t was the first time
j wasn't disiIIusioned in what my
ideas concerning tropical places we're.
1t is only an hours ride from Pro-
greso by narrow guage railroad.
eve were met by a small group Of
American business men who showed
as al around the city in automobiles
and gave us lunch at the Grand Hotel.
OF course they gave us their ideas of
the revolution and it seems to affect
them vitality as the rebels have been
IN power here from the first and this
section is their chief source of reve-
nue..
Merida is a very old city, about 800
years / believe. and II Is in the center
of the Yucatan ruins, which no doubt
you have read Of as a number Of ar
cheologists have been down here the
past few years trying TO solve the
puzzle Of an obvious ancient civiliza-
zion. met . Mr.. Thompson, who
owns the sites Of both ruins, one six
hours ride south Of Merida, and one {
four hours NORTH. He owns hundred
square miles Of land here. He invited
me 70 visit tie ruins II I could get [
away, but don't think It will be pos ,
aibIe. h
''The big problem here is the sisal /
industry. Eighty per cent Of all sisal '
comes from Yucatan and eighty per I
cent Of that goes into the manufacture 7
Of binder Irvine.
April Yesterday morning went
10 ProgreHo ts get the dope and make !
my sketch. Spent the morning there !,
and IN the afternoon had TO go back
again as I had charge Of the patrol,
for liberty party was to go ashore.
we came back at 5 O'Clock and by that
time the sea was pretty high and we
had nice rough trip back. We ex- o
pect mali in tomorrow. Haven't re- :
seived any down here as yet and we
missed quite a lot down at Puerto r
Cortez. There are only a few tramp +
steamers coming in here as all the d
regular lines suspended operations 8
when the revolution started"