Smyrna times., 1936-02-13
HUGE
POWER PLANT
Proposed to Erect One Some
1880 Feet Above
Sea Level
HIGHEST LAKE THERE

washington. - Proposals to con-
struct one Of the largest hydro
electric plants in Latin America
near Lake Titicaca, ON the border
between Peru and Bolivia, direct
attention to this large body of
water, remarkable for being the
highest steam-navigated lake in the
world.
Situated some 1880 feet above
sea level, on a mountain plateau
between two towering ranges of
the Andes, Lake Titicaca spreads
its blue mirror in region where
the air is so intensely keen and
cold that horses cannot work, and
even some of the sure-footed burros
must have their nostrils slit in or
der to breathe" says the Nation
al Geographic society. Tourists
frequently suffer from the thump-
ing heart and nausea of mountain
sickness, but Aymara Indians. ma
tive to the place, have developed
massive chests and large torsos
which enable them to carry heavy
burdens on their backs up steep
paths without distress.
Water Never Reaches Sea.
Thought to have once been
much larger, and to have receded,
Lake Titicaca covers over $500
square miles Gan area almost equal
to that of Connecticut). Into IT.
flow several streams fed by glacial
ice and melting snow on the Andes,
but it has only one outlet, the Des-
aguaderO river which runs 185
miles southeast into Lake Poopo.
Water from the latter never
reaches the sea. for it overfiows
into a salt marsh, where it Is abb
sorbed, or evapOrates.
plans for the new power plant
would include digging a canal
which would send water from Lake
Titicaca plunging over steep preci-
pices to furnish electric power for |
the entire Bolivian plateau, as well |
as for the country's railroad lines.
what cheap electric power |
means to Bolivia, which produces |
no coal and must import it at ter
rife cost, is realized in La Paz.
only 40 miles southeast of the /
lake. Electricity provides the city
with light and heat, as well as
runs the street cars and busses.
and the railroad to the heights
above the city.
ITO fully comprehend what cleo
tricity would mean to dwellers on
the bleak, wind assailed plateau
Lake Titicaca, one must
remember that it Is practically
treeless. Wood is so scarce that
fishermen make boat masts by
splicing together small sticks. In
dian huts on the lake shore are
built Of stone or adobe, and thatch.
Walls enclosing corrals for herds
Of llamas and alpacas are built
Of adobe, as are ovens In which
the cooking is done.
Lake Titicaca presents a scene
Of cold. grim majesty. In the dis
tance, towering above the dreary
CLEAN the snow clad
SUBMITS of the Andes over which
Andean condors soar. Along the
lake shores sway tall bulrushes,
which natives bind together In
huge canoe-shaped bundles to make
their balsas, or boats. Propelled
BY sails woven from reeds, they
glide over the cold, gray-blue wat
ers from place to place carrying
fish, alpaca wool and other prod
lcts, or ferrying passengers and
mules.
Steamers Carried on Mule Back.
Steamers ply back and forth
between the Peruvian port of Puno.
)n the northwest shore of the lake,
10 the Bolivian port of Guaquil, on
The southwest shore. These steam
ers were sent over in sections from
Great Britain and assembled at
Puno. Before the railroad was
Duilt from the Pacific ocean to
Puno, parts Of steamers were car
,ied on muleback up the noun
ain trails to the lake.
ION account of the high altitude,
,nly potatoes, (whOse habitat was !,
he Andes), barley, Quinoa, and a
few other crops can be cultivated
With success by the Indians. Herds
If alpacas, cousins of the llama,
craze over large areas near Lake
riticaca.
Lake Titicaca holds considera-
lie historical interest. The an
,ient Incas are said to have lived
IN some of its more than 30 is
ands. On a few of them, and on
he mainland, tombs of Inca chiefs
lave been found. Tradition says
t Is into this deep lake that the
meas threw much of the gold and
liver they stripped from their
emples to prevent Pizarro from