208 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Al'RIL I, 1907. 



native huts. Occasionally we came near to cart roads along 

 which passed creaking carts, flocks of poats. or sombrero clad 

 horsemen. 



PARKAS AND THE MADEROS. 



At 2 o'clock we steamed into the station at Parras. Here, to 

 my surprise and joy, we n:et Mr. Elliott \V. Knight, a Massachu- 

 setts "Tech" man, formerly employed in a well-known rubber 

 laboratory in the States. He informed me that he was the super- 

 intendent at the Madero factory, or more exactly, at the factory 

 of the Compania Explotadora Coahuilcnse S. A. (fabricantes ile 

 hide en grande escala). Mr. Salvado Madero also welcomed me, 

 and in spite of my protests — weak ones — that I intended to go to 



Glavlle 1-actorv of Charles J. McGregor, at I'orreon. 



the Hotel Walter, secured a coach and installed me in the Casa dc 

 Knight, which, being translated, means tiie exceedingly comfort- 

 able home of the Knights. After being welcomed by Mrs. Knight 

 (a Boston girl), and a brief introduction to the family pets, con- 

 sisting of a dog, a tiny pig, and a deer, we drove to the factory. 

 talking guayule all of the way. 



We spent several hours going over the factory and discussing 

 rubber in general and guayule in particular, and then returned 

 to the Knight homestead. There I enjoyed the best dinner that 

 I ever had in Mexico and it ended with real old fashioned straw- 

 berry shortcake, crisp, sweet, delicious. 



The next morning we drove to the outskirts to the foot of a 

 steep hill that rose out of the plain, where on top of the hill was 

 a huge rock, and in turn on the top of that the tiny chapel of 

 Santo Madero. .'\ very steep pathway led up tin- liill and up 



Parras Factory of the Cia. Explotadora Coahuilense, S. A. 



stairs cut through the rock to a little courtyard that fronts the 

 chapel. When a native has sickness in his family lie lights a 

 candle and starts up the hill on his knees. If the candle burns all 

 the way up the sick one will recover. It is then up to him to 

 paint a picture with his own hands and hang it in the chapel. In 

 the past many have won the ascent successfully, painted and hung 

 their pictures, and the result is the most unique art gallery in the 



world. 'Hiey are indescribably funny, marvclously pathetic, and 

 in some instances show real talent. But no money could buy the 

 least of them. 



Leaving the chapel we went again to the factory, where I met 

 the founder of the Madero family, Don Evaristo. He is nearly 80 

 years old, a fine large hawk-eyed Spanish gentleman. Starting 

 with nothing he became one of the largest landowners in Mexico, 

 and his three sons, and one nephew, who attend to the active 

 business now that the senior has retired, are interested in banks, 

 mining, railroads, and largely in guayule. As showing the troub- 

 lous times through which Don Evaristo came, it is well to cite 

 the fact that for years he kept 800 men under arms and to-day 

 the guns are stacked in a warehouse of his in Parras. His home 

 is here and he not only owns about half of the city, but nearly 

 all the land for leagues around. 



The journey to Torreon was through much the same sort of 

 country that I have only just described, but a bit wilder in parts. 

 Game seemed very plentiful. From the rear of the train I saw 

 blue quail, rabbits, and deer, and in the irrigation canals and 

 ponds thousands of ducks. 



Our stop at Viesca was very brief. Here are two of the fac- 

 Inries of the Mexican Crude Rubber Co. Thcv lie on the out- 



Factorv cf La Ikielnacr.nal Mexicana Compacnie Guayu- 



LERA, S. A., AT ToRREOX. 



skirts of the pretty little town and one of them is, or was, a 

 smelter owned by the Coahuila Mining and Smelting Co. Both 

 plants are exceedingly well situated as far as abundant water and 

 railroad facilities go. Tlie plants are running night and day and 

 turning out a good qu.ility of rubber under processes said to be 

 original with the company. The same company operates a third 

 phmt at Cedral. 



THE INDUSTRY AT TORREON. 



ToRRFON, the newest of all the Mexican cities, has a history 

 dating back only about 20 years. It is built wholly on the mineral 

 development of that part of the country. It contains perhaps 

 18,000 people, is 2,000 feet lower than Saltillo or Parras, and is 

 hot and indescribably dusty. I stopped at the Salvador and as it 

 was evening when I arrived put in three hours hunting for a 

 good place to eat. incidentally sizing up the Mexican and Ameri- 

 can inhabitants. With its saloons, noise, dust, blaring music, 

 gambling joints, and buildings in the course of construction, it is 

 not unlike the typical .'\merican mining town during a "boom." 

 It surely is a busy place, and fascinating with all its crudeness. 



They told me in New York that the Continental factory was 

 close to the end of the street car line, so I did not take a carriage. 

 The car stopped at a smelter and far in the distance beyond was 

 the plant I sought. So I waded through dust often ankle deep 

 until finally I stood on the portico that belongs to the elegant 



