The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-07-27


pearance of Dutch city; it has one
natural extravaganza of which it is
proud, its streets lined with mahogany
shade trees. For the trees ON one
block, spreading over neat weather
board houses, a lumber firm once Of
fered $4,000, and the residents de-
clined to sell.
British Guiana has great potential
riches, but has always lacked the la
Dor to bring its hidden wealth into
disable form. 1t is tropical land
with much rich soil and an abundant
growth of tropical plants. The first
step in developing such a region is to
push back the jungle; then a constant
battle must be waged to keep it back.
Where this has been done by the teen-
ing populations of certain tropical
countries, such as Java and parts of
the Straits Settlements, the region has
become one of the worlds garden
spots; but in British Guiana the puny
attacks that man has so far made in
his war ON an implacable vegetation,
have in most cases led to defeat.
Great rivers flow through the land,
forming wide estuaries where they
meet the sea. The earliest settlers,
the Dutch, sailed up the wide streams
and attempted to carve plantations
from the forests on their banks. But
this was the most difficult method of
attack, and in addition the soil in
the areas selected was none too rich.
Near the coast were wide mud flats
Of rich alluvial matter without for
est growth. Retaining overflowed
lands was problem better under
stood by Dutchmen, so they retreated
before the forests and made new
start on the coastal lowlands. bikes
and drainage bitches were constructed.
with system of sluice gates to let
the water out at low tide. In this way
much rich land was brought under
cultivation. Some of it is as much as
four feet below the level of the high
est spring tides.
When the British captured the coun-
try from the Dutch In 1896 they con-
tinued to develop the coastal mud
flats and the slightly higher land i'm
mediately inland, leaving the forests
practically untouched. That policy
has been followed pretty closely since,
so that even now the inhabitants and
development of British Guiana are in
large part confined to a strip of ter
ritory from ten to fifty miles wide
along the coast.
Has Many Rivers.
British Guiana is a land Of many
rivers. Three very large ones flow
northward to the coast roughly paral-
lei: the Essequebo, Demerara, and
Berbice. These are the main roads
into the interior, especially the Dem
erara and Essequebo. The total mile
age of railway in the country is about
100, all but 20 of it parallel to the
coast and within five miles of the sea.
The coast country is given over to
agriculture chiefly the production of
sugar and rice. Inland the relatively
slight activity is concentrated on the
extractive industries, the collection of
balata gum, the bringing out of small
quantities of timber, and the placer
mining of gold. The colony's diamond
fields have produced millions of dol
lars worth of gems in recent years.
The timber industry has never been
highly developed. It's most important
contribution is the wood known as
"green-heart" which is impervious to
the marine borer, the teredo. 1t Is
used in dock and wharf construction
throughout the world.
If growth in population and solution
of the labor problem ever permit Brit
ish Guiana to become intensively de-
veloped, it will not lack water power
for its industries. Rapids and catar-
acts are found in all the rivers; and
about 200 miles from the coast, on the
Potaro river, a tributary of the Els
sequego, is Kaieteur falls, one of the
great waterfalls of the world. The
river has sheer drop of TAI feet, and
cataracts increase the total fall to
more than 800 feet, approximately
five times the height of Niagara.
Georgetown, the capital of British
Guiana, is situated near the mouth
of the Demerara and affords a good
harbor for ocean-going ships of fair
size. 1t is clean and attractive trop-
fcal town, with its shady streets and
its wooden houses set on legs.