In June, 1892, when sitting in a native house on a hill overlooking Naujan Lake in Mindoro, and anxiously awaiting the boats which were to make it possible for my party to return to the coast, I saw a small flotilla approaching.
To my surprise and regret I found that it was not coming for us, but brought a number of Spanish officers who had heard that we had some mysterious procedure for killing the tamarau, an extraordinarily wild and vicious little buffalo peculiar to this island. They had come to get us to tell them how we did it, if possible, and if not to watch us and find out for themselves.
We described to them our method, which was easily understood. It consisted in picking up a likely trail along some water course, following it until the tamarau was overtaken, and then shooting him. This looked suspiciously simple to our Spanish friends before they had tried it, and they shook their heads. After trying it they became convinced that more than a few days of experience would be necessary before satisfactory results could be obtained. They profited little by the best information we could give them, and by the services of the expert tracker whom we loaned to them. Meanwhile I obtained from one of them, Señor Domingo Sanchez, information destined to become of great importance in the development of the Philippines.
Señor Sanchez, who was an employee of the Spanish forestry bureau, told me that in the highlands of Northern Luzón at an elevation of about five thousand feet, there was a region of pines and oaks blessed with a perpetually temperate climate and even with occasional frosts. I confess that I did not believe all of his statements. I was then experienced in climbing Philippine mountains, and at five thousand feet had invariably found a hopeless tangle of the rankest tropical vegetation, with humidity so high that trees were draped with ferns, orchids, and thick moss, and dripping with moisture. However, I knew that the mere presence of pine and oak trees would mean the occurrence of special bird species feeding upon their seeds, and so determined to investigate.
A severe attack of typhoid fever necessitated my leaving the islands before I could carry out this plan, but upon my return with the first Philippine Commission in 1899 I remembered Señor Sanchez’s story. In view of the probability that American occupation would continue for a long period, the existence or non-existence near Manila of an extensive highland region with a temperate climate became a question of great practical importance. I therefore caused search to be made in the Spanish archives to see what, if any, reliable information was available, and to my great satisfaction unearthed a detailed report made by a committee of three distinguished and competent Spanish officers who had spent some weeks at Baguio in the comandancia of Benguet, during which period they had made six temperature observations daily, had tramped over the neighbouring country very thoroughly, had located a number of springs of potable water and determined their approximate flow, and in short had gathered a large series of very valuable data which more than bore out the statements of Señor Sanchez.
I found, furthermore, that Spanish engineers had made a survey for a carriage road into this country, and had prepared a profile of it with estimates of the amount and cost of the necessary excavation and other work.
While in Washington during the winter of 1899–1900, I brought this matter to the attention of Secretary Root. Just as the second Philippine Commission was filing out of his office, after receiving its instructions, he called out to us directing that we look into that Benguet matter, and if the facts proved to be as stated open up the country.
Mindful of these instructions the commission delegated General Luke E. Wright and myself to visit Benguet and familiarize ourselves with conditions by investigation on the ground. General MacArthur was dubious when we expressed a desire to carry out the instructions of the secretary of war. He told us that the country was very dangerous, doubtless confusing it with Bangued, the capital of Abra, near which there was at that time a strong and active Insurgent force.
We insisted on going, so he said that he would send a troop of cavalry with us, and he kept his word. During the last week of July we finally sailed from Manila on a naval vessel for San Fernando in the province of Union. From this place we expected to go by road as far as Naguilian, in the same province, and thence on horseback to Trinidad and Baguio, in Benguet.
In order to expedite investigations as much as possible we took with us Mr. Horace L. Higgins, president of the Manila and Dagupan Railway Company, who was an engineer of experience, to report on the practicability of constructing a railway to Baguio. We also took Major L. M. Maus, of the army medical corps, and Dr. Frank S. Bourns, who then held the volunteer rank of major in the same corps, to report on the possibilities of the place as a health resort. Two young naval officers went along just for the trip.