Panama to Patagonia

by Charles M. Pepper

In July, 1904, another destructive storm swept along the coast. The lower part of the city was completely covered with mud and water, the sea-wall was destroyed, and the railroad badly damaged. The loss of life was not great, but the destruction of property was serious.

In the period from 1823 to 1893 the shipping statistics show the loss of 378 water-craft in the Bay of Valparaiso, of which 100 were rowing and sailing boats. The money value was incalculable.

The Chilean government after many discouragements accepted the plans of Mr. Jacob Kraus, the Holland engineer, for conquering the difficulties which Nature had placed in the way of making Valparaiso Bay hospitable instead of hostile to the ships that bear the commerce of many seas. The estimated cost of the harbor improvement is $15,000,000 gold, though the initial provision was for $11,000,000. The scheme contemplates the construction of a series of sea-walls in the bay. The water is so deep that it is considered impracticable to build a single breakwater across the mouth of the harbor. It is believed that the several sea-walls constructed in the manner proposed will protect the vessels and the merchandise from the terrific seas which drive in during the storms of the Winter months. A dry dock is included in the proposition. The calculation is that the shipping of the port will be benefited annually to the extent of $1,250,000 and upward by the projected improvements. The Chilean Congress approved the Kraus plans at the Autumn session of 1904.

These harbor improvements will lay some additional charges on maritime commerce, but they can be borne in view of the increased security and the better facilities. If the Panama Canal were likely to impair the commercial prestige of Valparaiso, they would serve as a means of retaining it. Not improbably the Congress had this contingency in mind when sanction was given the government projects for making the dangerous bay a safe shelter. The only loss from vessels which will pass through the Canal instead of making the voyage through the Straits or around Cape Horn, touching at Chilean ports, will be in coaling them and providing other supplies. This is not an important factor in Valparaiso’s trade. The imports and exports of the port are based on the products and the wants of the country. Its maritime movement, which is estimated at 3,000,000 tons annually, is measured by the facilities provided for this foreign commerce.

Trade with the United States grows regularly, and agricultural implements and mineral oils, which are among the chief imports, will pay the Canal tolls and still have cheaper ocean transport from New York or New Orleans than down the Atlantic and up the Pacific. It is not an unreasonable assumption that for a proportionate share of the merchandise imported from Great Britain 9,500 miles’ water carriage from Liverpool through the Straits of Magellan may be offset by 7,800 miles via Panama plus the Canal tolls and other commercial considerations. The same holds true of Hamburg and the trade with Germany.

On two visits to Valparaiso I found that the shipping interests were not worrying over a dimly prospective loss of commerce through the construction of an isthmian waterway. Instead they were looking forward to it as an incentive to making the bay a genuine harbor, and as a stimulus to closer trade relations with the United States. That appears to be a sound interpretation of the economic relation of the Panama Canal to the port of Valparaiso.

After leaving Valparaiso one feels the pertinence of the suggestion that far enough south the Pacific is not always pacific. The sea is not excessively rough, yet it heaves and rolls uncomfortably. The tops of the Cordilleras, covered with snow, are very clear in the bright sunlight. At Lota there are trees and Winter vegetation on the high hills. Lota and Coronel are really twin ports. They both lie alongside the great vein of coal and copper, and are coaling-stations for the vessels. Most of the steamers come down to Lota for the fuel which will be needed in returning to Panama, while those passing through the Straits of Magellan or around Cape Horn take on enough to serve them to Montevideo. It crops out of the hillside and is mined in primitive and inexpensive manner. The copper mining is also primitive.

Lota has a good bay, but hardly a harbor. The town is not a bad one. Its main street is well paved. It has an attractive plaza, a club, a shabby church, a fundicion, or copper-smelting works in which old processes are used, and pottery and brick factories. It is also noted for the coal tunnel under the sea. Until they were turned into a stock company, Lota and Coronel were the property of the Cousiño family, and the company is still controlled by that family. The widow Cousiño at one time was the richest woman in the world. Cousiño Park at Lota is the pride of Chile. It is bizarre, and blends English and French landscape gardening with some original ideas of Nature improved and unimproved. There is a French chateau on the hill, and there are ravines, grottoes, fountains, statuary, artificial lakes, arbors, terraces, flower gardens, and a small zoo. A lighthouse in the corner commanding the sea has a history. It was brought from Paita in Peru as the spoil of war.

Indian faces are numerous in Lota. They are the strongest type I have seen, and are of the unconquerable Araucanian stock. These Indians and half-Indians, besides being engaged in fishing and water traffic, are mingled with Europeans as mine-workers. It is a half-savage mining population, among which strikes, bloodshed, and murder are not unknown.

For those who wish to visit the Chilean Annapolis, the train may be taken from Coronel to Concepcion, and then to Talcahuano, which is the naval port. The journey does not occupy more than an hour. The Chileans have a patriotic pride in this naval school. Talcahuano is a principal port and has much shipping. It is about the only good harbor on the Chilean coast.