On the Way to South America

On the Way to South America By Andrew Jenson, Assistant Church Historian I left Salt Lake City, Jan. 22, 1923, on an educational trip to Central and South America, but stopped several days in Cali- fornia, engaged in historical labors in the interest of the Church. After attending a celebration in Sacramento, Jan. 24, in commemoration of the discovery of gold on the American River seventy-five years ago, I proceeded to Coloma (together with Elder Thos P. Page, my traveling companion), where we visited the site of Sutter's old saw mill and a monument erected in honor of James W. Marshall, who was foreman for Mr. Sutter and had charge of the men who were building the mill in 1848. It will be remembered that some of these men had served in the Mormon Battalion and had only sought temporary employment in California prior to their going to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. We also visited Mormon Island (on the American river) which place has an interesting history amd was for several years the headquar- ters for the 'brethren'' who worked in the mines. It was at this place also that the first missionarieswere called to the Sand- wich Islands in the latter part of 1850. Mormon Island is about 25 miles from Sacramento, while Coloma is about 50 miles above that city. The real Mormon Is- land was simply a sand bar in the river where the "Mormon" boys first found gold in the river bed, but the town or mining Andrew Jenson

ON THE WAY TO SOUTH AMERICA 719 camp, which ever since has been called Mormon Island, and at one time had 3,000 inhabitants, was built on both banks of the south fork of the American river, immediately above the point where the north and south forks of said river unite, and 25 miles below (at Sacramento) becomes a tributary of the great Sacra- mento river. There is only a small store and a few farm houses around there now. While in California I also obtained information concerning the exact location of the original Yerba Bueno, which the Brook- lyn company of Saints, soon after their arrival in the bay of San Francisco, in 1847, turned into the present Anglo-Saxon town of San Francisco. I also found where the pioneer settlement of New Hope was founded by a part of the Brooklyn Saints, in the latter part of 1846, in what is now San Joaquin county. The place, which is about 20 miles from Stockton, is no longer in existence as a town, or even a village, the site being included in a country farm, but that does not prevent us from saying truthfully that New Hope was the first Anglo-Saxon settlement founded in the beautiful San Joaquin Valley, which now contains seven of the most flourishing counties of California. The site of New Hope is on the right bank, or north side, of the Stanislaus river, about one and one half miles above the junction of the Stanislaus with the San Joaquin river. The noted Samuel Brannan, the leader of the Brooklyn company, caused the settlement to be founded with the expectation that the Church would locate its head- quarters there, but after his vain effort to induce President Brig- ham Young to give up his idea of settling the Nauvoo exiles in Great Salt Lake Valley, and go to the San Joaquin Valley in- stead, New Hope was broken up, and later most of the brethren, who no doubt otherwise would have founded a permanent set- tlement there, found their way to Utah. We sailed from San Francisco Jan. 31, and after a very pleas- ant voyage lasting 18 days, we arrived at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal, Feb. 18. On our way down the coast our ship called at different ports in Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador and Nicaragua. From La Libertad, we went inland by automobile about 25 miles and visited San Salvador, the beutiful capital of the republic of Salvador, suituated near the base of the volcano Quezaltepec. Only a few years ago an earthquake destroyed the city of San Salvador, bi^t it has since been built up as a mod- ern city with regular streets, fine plazas, and beautiful parks. The city can boast of the finest government building in Central America. San Salvador, situated in a large basin 2,115 feet above sea level, has about 80,000 inhabitants. Central America consists of six small republics (Guatemala,

HO IMPROVEMENT EftA Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) and one Crown Colony (British Honduras). The total area of these seven governments is about 211,000 square miles and the number of inhabitants is approximately 6,000,000. The majority of the inhabitants are of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, but there are many full-blooded Indians, and in some parts quite a number of negroes, mostly importations from the West Indies. Central America is a mountainous country, abounding with volcanoes, some of which are still active; earthquakes are of frequent oc- currence and many cities and towns have been destroyed in years gone by through the eruption or sudden outbursts of fire and ashes from the angry volcanoes or the opening of the earth's crust whereby thousands of human beings have been swallowed up in the bowels of the earth or otherwise destroyed during" the quakes. The coast climate of the Central American republics is hot and generally unhealthy, but in the elevated interior mountain valleys, cool and pleasant. All the capitals and principal cities are built inland and some of them at considerable elevation; only a few of the people make their permanent homes in the lowlands, and there are only a few seaport towns where steamers land goods from distant manufacturing centers, and take on board cargoes of coffee, bananas, cocoanuts, sugar, hard woods, dye woods, rubber, indigo, gold, silver, copper, rice, tobacco, hides, etc. There are next to no natural harbors on the Pacific* coast; hence, the shipping is done from the open roadsteads by lighters, and ordinary boats. Many of the natives are engaged in farming and cattle-raising. The metric system for weights and measures has been adopted generally by the Central American countries, but each country has a money system of its own. Thus Guatemala uses the peso (divided into 100 centavos) worth at present 2 cents in U. S. money. In British Honduras there is a gold standard based upon that of the United States, and American money circulates interchangably with that of the colony. In Honduras the silver peso (of 100 centavos) is the unit, worth 43 cents in American money. Sah ador's money system is on a gold basis, the unit is the colon (divided in 100 centavos) fixed by law at two for the American dollar. In Nicaragua the unit is the cordoba (divided into 100 centavos) equal to $1 in U. S. money. In Costa Rica there is a gold standard, the unit being the colon (divided into 100 centavos) worth about 46 cents in U. S. money. In Panama the gold balboa (divided into 100 centavos) is the unit, and is worth 50 cents in U. S. money. The Spanish language is the official language of all Central American countries, but many of the educated people speak

ON THE WAY TO SOUTH AMERICA 721 English, hence anyone speaking English in traveling will gen- erally get along without much difficulty in the larger towns; among the farmers and country people generally some knowl- edge of Spanish is almost indispensable. The U. S. S. "Utcvfi" in the Pedro Miguel Locks, Panama Canal We have waited here ten days for an opportunity to sail for South America. At last we have secured passage and sail tomor- row on the Grace steamer Santa Luisa for Callao, Peru. While sojourning at Panama we have had a splendid- opportunity to study the magnificence of the great Panama Canal, the cities of Panama and Colon, old Panama, etc., but as most of the readers of the Era, no doubt, have read articles on the Panama Canal aga'n and again, I will here simply state that I consider this canal the greatest engineering achievement of the age, and yet the whole system is so natural and so simple that one is led to wonder why that water way was not opened centuries ago. It is not the possibilities of the undertaking that call forth admira- tion, now that the canal is finished, but it is the grandeur of the whole, the gigantic proportions of the locks, the artificial lakes, the dams, the spilways, the enormous Culebra Cut, etc., which causes the visitor to stop and consider, and, if he is an American, feel proud that Americans did the work when others had failed. The following items about the "big ditch" are culled from

722 IMPROVEMENT ERA a recently published government pamphlet on the Panama Canal: The canal channel is 42 miles in length between shore lines, or eight miles more than the air line distance. It is five miles long from deep water in one ocean to deep water in the other. The highest point on the center line of the canal was 312 feet above the level of the sea. Each of the twin chambers in every flight of locks has a usable length of 1000 feet, and width of 110 feet, and is about 70 feet deep. The flights are duplicate so that ships may be passed in opposite directions simultaneously. The Gatun dam and spillway have an aggregate length of 8,400 feet, is a half mile wide at the base, sloping gently to a width of 100 feet at the top which is 105 feet above sea level. The surface is planted with grass and shrubbery, and the east wing is the site of a 9-hole golf links. The width of the canal channel is 500 feet in the sea-level sections, from 500 to 1000 feet in Gatun Lake and 300 feet in the cut. It can handle the largest ships in existence, 48 in a day or about 17,000 in a year. On Sept. 26, 1913, the first test operation of Gatun locks took place, and the actual work on the canal was begun by the French Jan. 28, 1882, and the rights and property were purchased by the United States June 28, 1902 ; the American occupa- tion of the zone began May 4, 1904, and on Aug,. 15, 1914, the canal was opened to commerce, the official opening was proclaimed by the President, July 12, 1920. Panama, Feb. 28, 1923. Tomorrow Tomorrow gives many a promise, To all in the glad glow of health, For life with its gay merry-making, Hints only of joy and of wealth. Tomorrow I'll seek out my neighbor, Who, bowed down with trials and sore, Shall smile as I greet him in gladness, Before 1 have turned from his door. Today I have duties — too many, With joy-time and pleasures in store, No time can I spare till tomorrow — 'So oft I had thought it before!) lint oft it's too late on the morrow, My neighbor — they've laid him away! The good I would do in the morning Must wait yet another long day. The house all about is in mourning, The words I was going to say, To gladden the heart of my neighbor, Fall cold on my own heart today. Today — Let us make it a watchword, To blend in our hearts' sweetest song, Our good deeds leave not till tomorrow, Do them now, e're today shall be gone, Mesa, Arizona. Mrs. E. G. Phelps.