Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-03-04
COUNTRY HAS
ONLY AUTO
It's Chrysler and Has
Filling Station All
It's Own

Mark Twain. In his Random
Notes OF an Idle Excursion, recorded
the fact that when he first visited
Bermuda there was only one ma
hogany tree on the islands He knew
there was only one. he said. because
he was informed by a trustworthy
native who passed it often and had
counted il many times
The genial humorist's informant
would find another opportunity TO
exercise his mathematical talent IL
he could 90 to the strange island
Of Anticosti in the mouth OF the Sc.
Lawrence river and count the auto
mobile there. He could count ID as
often as he wished and his total
large country, 140 miles long and
automobile : a Chrysler sedan.
The Anticosti Chrysler has sever
nj distinctions that make it unique
among all the products OF the auto
mobile industry. II Is probably the
only car in the world that has its
own private filling station. II bears
no number plates. IL has no drivers
license. Ii Us not registered by any
government. Operating a car in Anti
cost is Just like operating it in your
own back yard. without even going
out on the public highways.
Anticosti. says a magazine writer
who visited ii recently, Is the largest
and most curiously administered
private domain known in modern
history. The whole island, with 800
square miles Of area. a town, church
es, a chateau which cost a million
dollars or more, forests, minerals
and other natural Of un-
counted value, was for 80 years the
property OF Henri Menier, the
French chocolate king.
Until his death in 1914 il was his
private hunting ard fishing ground,
an experimental station where he
worked out social and economic theo-
ries of life. a feudal seignory in
which his word was law for all the
inhabitants. He owned ID IS another
mar owns a watch or his golf clubs.
Local tradition says IL cost him $120,
600 a year. As he spent only two
months Of the year there his hunt
ing ard fishing stood him in about
$1,000 a day.
The island has passed into the
possession of the Anticosti Corpora
ton; which now operates il as a
numbering property, the largest In
the world, with enormous reserves
Of timber including 15.0 900 cords
Of p~ulpwood ready to be cut. At
present the corporation has an an
nual output Of 10000 cords that
yield SIS a cord. The numbering ma
chirery and equipment on the island
are said TO be the most up-to-date
and efficient to be found anywhere.
Az Anticosti Is cut off from. the
mainland by ice in the st. Lawrence
for months in the year, manager j.
Henri Valquette, of the Anticosti
Corporation, who drives the chrys-
Ter, realizes that he must have m
absolutely reliable car that Is always
ready for use. The nearest garage
Is nc Rimouski, 200 miles across the
water and beyond reach during much
of the year because OF ice. The
managers car must be able to 60
over rough corduroy roads to any
point on the island when wanted and
com back without a chance OF fall
ure. II must deliver the goods every
time Conditions of this kind de-
handed Manager Valquette's choice
or a q for Anticosti and he tells
visitors that he made no mistake IN
selecting his ChfysIer, as it's un-
failing reliability has abundantIy
justified its purchase.