Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1929-12-06
Elevators Up vaIparalso's cliffs.
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. CO

EtSVdtOTb Up Y
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington. D. CO
r IKE vast jewel-studded sickle,
the long, curved shore line of
L. Valparaiso flashes and wrinkles
before the traveller sailing into
the roadstead after nightfall.
Straight handle and curving blade
CLEAN for miles through the darkness,
and in the distance the jewels rise
higher and higher until they seem to
Join the stars of heaven, causing one
to wonder where earth ends and sky
begins.
When the morning dawns and its
mists are burnt away the explanation
of this magic night scene appears.
Out Of the distance to the left
comes the fine boulevard through
vina del Mar, Chile's summer resi-
Dental dreaml.nd; its lights formed
the sickle's handle. Along the arc
Of the shore creeps the boulevard and
the connecting downtown streets;
their lights outlined the curving blade.
At distances of from one to six blocks
from the each, high bluffs rise. their
precipitous faces. occupied by small
houses. anchored perilously to the
rocks, and their heights crowned with
the more pretentious structures Of
the older residential district; the
lights along the rock stairs and walk
ways Of cliffside land height and In
the myriad windows of abutting
houses were those that seemed to sing
with the stars of the night sky.
"yalpo," as the city is called down
Chile way, much after our North
American fashion of sometimes short
ening Philadelphia into "Philly." has
reminded many travellers Of other
cities. The late Ford Bryce, great
traveller that he was, found 1t re-
calling Spanish and Italian municipali-
ties which glitter on the cliff-bound
shores of the Mediterranean. particu-
larly resembling Messina In being
very long and extremely narrow, with
the cliffs leaving nothing but few
::baocks between their bases and the
shore. Others have likened 1t to Treb-
tzond on the Black sea, or have
seen bits Of Constantinople and Seat.
tie in 1t.
Here and there steep paths and
rock-hewn stairs lead up deep guiiies
that come down from the heights to
the littoral, but with few exceptions
they are too steep for aught but the
feet of beasts and men.
Up the Cliffs by Elevators.
In the main, communication between
the business district below and the
older residential district above is by
elevator and ascensor. Of which there
are dozen or SO.
The main business street runs close
to the foot of the rocky bluffs, and 1t
Is rather striking experience to be
walking along with fine banks and
stores on either side, and then sud-
denly come to cross street that be-
comes a rocky stair winding Its way
up the cliff, or ending at an elevator
which rises perpendicularly up the
face of the natural wall. Toward the
boundaries of the old city, there is
one bffurcated rayine through which
trolley cars reach to points on the
heights.
The houses of the well-to-do on the
bluffs are surrounded by narrow. wind.
ing streets, and one seldom sees a
vehicle here. The market folk find
their way around with panniered dom
keys and horses.
The view OF the harbor from the
balconies Of the cliff jewellers is a
striking sight. Scores of ocean vessels
ride at anchor, hundreds Of small craft
ply here and there, and me gets a
bird's-eye view Of the busy scenes
around the wharves, along the water
front streets, and In the business dis
trict.
valparaiso's great earthquake Of
1905 did little damage to the houses
on the heights, and even those hum
bier homes, which seem to adhere to
the faces Of the cliffs as precariously
as mud daubers' nests to wall, went
through 1t unscathed; but when we
come down to the alluvial ground of
the business district and the crowded
tenements, consciousness Of the great
catastrophe is forced upon us; for the
debris In some sections was so great