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Show 00CXXXX 0000000000X00 o A Venezuelan t - Railway Trip ooooooooooooooooo ooxxxxxxxooooooo x (Cleveland Plain Dea'er.) LUTHER ELLSWORTH, United States consul in Venezuela, who is visiting friends in the city, yesterday described in an entertaining manner a. trip that he took over the Bolivar railway in Venezuela just re-fore re-fore returning to this country. "Recently I was Surprised by the genial gen-ial manager of the Bolivar Railway company, calling and insisting that I accompany him to his 'home at Aroa, on the line of that railway." said Mr. Ellsworth, "and I returned the -compliment by immediately accepting the invitation. "Wre left Puerto Cabello the following follow-ing day on the railway company's steamer, Barquisimeto, arriving in Port Tucacas about 7 o'clock p. m. On the wharf of the railway company we met Agent Kilgore and were tendered the hospitality of his home for the nig'ht, which we accepted. Mrs. Kilgore Kil-gore received- us most cordially and soon prepared a fine dinner and the best tea I had tasted since my arrival in Venezuela. "The following morning after coffee, fruit atn I omriQrilorl Mana?pr Thomas inspecting the property of the railway company and afterward I visited vis-ited the town. "The port of Tucacas is the northern terminal of the Bolivar Railway company com-pany and that company has there a good passenger station, freight depot, shops. dwellings for employees, wharves, drydocks, etc. The town suffered suf-fered many attacks during the last revolution and was occupied by both parties many times. It was here during dur-ing the last revolution that General Ramon Guerva. now minister of war, was badly wounded and his -forces defeated de-feated by Colonel. Urbina. During every battle in that town during that revolution Mrs. Kilgore remained in her house, and it was .in an exposed position and a dangerous one even after af-ter the -railway company placed about j it heavy iron ties. It was pierced by numerous Mauser bullets, but fortunately fortu-nately they did not hit its occupants., "The Bolivar Railway company is a stock company, and its stock is owned in England by Englishmen. It is about 100 miles long and is managed by Mr. Arthur D. Thomas, assisted by the following intelligent gentlemen: Major Thomas B. Richards, cashier and accountant: ac-countant: John B. Prince, traffic manager; man-ager; Samuel Hickins, superintendent of motive power and shops; Messrs. Boulton & Co.. Puerto Cabello, agents. The roadbed of this railway is the best, and all of its two feet six inch gauge fifty-pound steel track is laid on iron ties. Its switches, signals, etc., differ in pattern from those used in the United States, but they have given excellent ex-cellent satisfaction to the management. Its water tanks of boiler plate iron, set twenty feet above the rail, are supported sup-ported by cast iron posts. Its stand-pipes stand-pipes and tank spouts 'are satisfactory, but entirely different from those in use by railways in the United States. Its bridges are iron, truss-jesting on solid masonry Irs switch shanties, shops, offices, houses for employees, etc.. are frame, and finished with matched pine, have good masonry foundations and corrugated iron roofs. The rolling stock, passenger coaches, freight cars, engines, etc., are well made and present ! a good appearance. Then the company has a concession alone its line of some 100,000 acres of virgin soil in one of the most luxurious- valleys of Venezuela. Vene-zuela. . -5.:S - " -"About 8 a. m. the train departed from Tucacas station, and soon we were rushing through a genuine trop-ial trop-ial forest, the sight of xwhich heggars description, and myeview of it from the observatory of . the private car of Manager Thomas was perfect. The rapid change from scene to scene, the grandeur of nature,, beautiful flowers, trees, plants, 'bright .plumage of unrecognizable un-recognizable birds, wild animals,' na tives and things too numerous to mention men-tion made this the most .enjoyable railway rail-way trip I ever experienced. . - "At Quebra Vara the. train stopped ; and I accompanied Manager Thomas in his inspection of .the. work -.he had under way on an immense culvert. At Alambique I had time to view some native architecture that would interest the most critical. . "At Palma Sola, one of the most im-j im-j portant stations along the railway, I ! saw huge piles of coffee, cocoa, hides, skins, fine woods, etc., that had arrived ar-rived by wagons from the celebrated city of San Felipe and its vicinity for exportation via Tucacas and Puerto Cabello. The city of San FelfrN?s the capital of the state of Yaracuy, founded found-ed by the Spaniards in 1551. and some of the structures erected at that time still remain and are in a state that renders ren-ders them habitable. Today it is a beautiful city with a cultured population popula-tion of over 15,000 persons and possesses pos-sesses specimens, of architecture of j which any city might be proud, among which are the municipal buildings, sol- j diers' quarters, police station, federal college building, in which are located j th.3 press, telegraph and telephone of- ' flees; ancient aqueduct for water sup- j ply, gardens anl parks, ana many really real-ly beautiful residences. At Yumara the station agent brought us excellent coffee, bread and butter and at the station I found much that interested me. El Hacha is the terminal termi-nal of the Great Southwestern railway, also an English corporation, and it is t thia Ktatinn that tho Intoi-r.hano-i'no- of cars, passengers and freight takes place between the two railways. Traf. fie Manager John Prince of the Bolivar railway has his office at El Hacha. S 3- "Aroa station is but two hours' ride from El Hacha, all up grade. The scenery looking down on to the valley is perfect and quite a change from that experienced in the forest passed through: therefore the time flies, as it were, and we reached Aroa before I expected. At this station are the passenger pas-senger and freight station, shops for the repair and renewal of locomotives, cars, etc., and several hundred feet almost al-most straight up a high mountain are the residence of Manager Thomas, cottages cot-tages of the railway employees and offices of-fices of the company. A prettier location loca-tion for a residence cannot be imagined, imag-ined, and the house is a grand, southern south-ern style, two-story building, with upper up-per and lower verandas, that extend around the same, and is finished with narrow matched fine woods. Its rooms are large and elegant, tts size is about 60x30 feet. The lower bath is so large that one can enjoy a swim in it and the upper one is supplied with a beautiful beau-tiful tub. The whole house is lighted by electricity from the plant of the railway company; therefore it presents an attractive appearance at night, and from its veranda a beautiful view of the town, valley and mountains can be obtained. ob-tained. "The town of Aroa is Spanish built, having the traditional narrow streets and peculiar buildings, and stores with tile roofs, and it had to be fought for several times during1 the revolution. When the rebels first entered the town the houses of the railway company on the mountain presented too nice an appearance to be left alone, and very soon afterward Mrs. Thomas discovered discov-ered a number of them trying to get at her pet horses, cows, sheep and deer. The English in her constitution arose in a minute and she deliberately walked to where they were and ordered them off the premises. She quietly and yet firmly gave them to understand that the animals they were molesting were her property and that she was a subject of Great Britain. Their arguments argu-ments availed them nothing with this determined lady and they finally gave it up as a bad job. Her move was a seriousand dangerous one and she deserves de-serves great credit for her bravery and diplomatic ability, for those ; rebels were not of the; best families of the country and were fully armed with rifles, ri-fles, machetes and revolvers. ? "A branch of the Bolivar,, railway extends . from Aroa station to the copper mines of the Quebrado Copper Cop-per Mining company, which are sev-I sev-I eral miles up the mountain, but that I company, an English corporation, for financial reasons, is not operating the mines at the present time, and considerable con-siderable work must now be done on them before they can be worked atain, as.a part of the tunnels have fallen in.' "The electric light plant of the railway, rail-way, located at Aroa, is excellently j equipped and the light it furnishes is the best. The shops of the company. at the same station, are supplied with modern machinery, have competent ! men and cover a large territory, and their store houses, near the shops, have a complete supply of the materials, tools, etc., so necessary for the repairs ; "It was my pleasure to attract, the in- terest of the brilliant, pleasant bach-elor. bach-elor. Major Thomas Bennetts Richards. ! V. D.. cashier and accountant of the Bolivar Railway company, who resides in a pretty cottage on the mountain at Aroa, which he has decorated in a very tasteful manner with oil paintings, cabinets cab-inets and photos of kings, queens, princes prin-ces and princesses, presidents, admirals, admir-als, notable generals and celebrated men and women of the past and present, pres-ent, all elegantly framed in fine woods. and who keeps in stock the flag of j every great nation, which he unfurls on their national holidays. The people of Aroa were advised of my arrival by 1 the American flag on one of the poles ' at the major's, and that Mag remained J ; in position during my stay. His title I was given him while in the service of her majesty the queen of Great Brit-j Brit-j ain, and he is rightfully proud of it. i He has served this railway company I for about fourteen years, ami the past and present management recommend him highly. And I can add to his laurels lau-rels by giving him an enviable reputa- j tion as a mixer of delicious beverages, one of which he vulgarly calls cocktail,'.' cock-tail,'.' after the drink indulged in by a few of the people in the United States. "The everyday home life of my host and hostess is an innovation for this conntrv for thev reallv take rileasure in carrying out in their daily experience the custom of excellent society in good old England, and their hospitality could not Jve4een excelled, as everything was done tor my enjoyment that could be thought of to make my stay pleasant. pleas-ant. Every afternoon we rode about the country, visiting many places of great interest to me', had picnics way up the river, got caught in rainstorms, had awful times trying to start fires with wet leaves and twigs, and once, on the way home, we were obliged to ride for our lives to escape a wild bull that discovered dis-covered our encroachment upon his territory. ter-ritory. During that wild ride Mrs. Thomas led the pace, allowing her horse to leap over logs and rocks and other . obstacles encountered. and taking r chances that gave proof evident of her ability as an equestrienne. "Then there were the many visits to the town; calls of the people, most enjoyable en-joyable evenings at home; cool mountain moun-tain air circulating through my room at night, all having . a tendency to cause me to realize that this was one of the most perfect outings I ever experienced, ex-perienced, and when the time came to leave it was with real regret that I said good-bye to these excellent people. "My return to Puerto Cabelle was uneventful, un-eventful, but full of enjoyment, for I encountered at El Hacha station the ; secretary of the state of Lara and a number of the officers of the Venezuelan Vene-zuelan army, all of whom were old vV J friends of mine, and the waves of th VV Gulf of Triste were so quiet that w J-, were enabled to have a jolly time a:i 1 the way over. I arrived at the con- I sulate at 10 p. m. of the day I hrt Aroa." ' |