432 



HONDURAS. 



HOWE, TIMOTHY O. 



coming from the mills on the Atlantic sea- 

 board and the Southern United States, has long 

 since attracted the attention of enterprising 

 merchants of Balize, British Honduras, who 

 imagined that the pine-forests of Honduras 

 might supply this constantly growing demand. 

 The rivers Chamelicon and Ulua, with their nu- 

 merous branches, drain the very heart of this 

 prolific pine-region. Some of the most valu- 

 able of these forests border on the rivers, or 

 are but a few miles from their banks, while 

 the two rivers, after draining several depart- 

 ments, which cover one third of the area of 

 the republic, flow into the sea a short distance 

 from Puerto Oortez. The intention of the Brit- 

 ish capitalists was to utilize the advantages 

 offered by the water-courses that seam the 

 mountain-sides, and to establish saw-mills, put 

 small steamboats on the rivers to tow barges 

 filled with dressed lumber to Puerto Cortez, 

 and there load ships for dispatch to the West 

 Indian and South American ports. But the 

 project was made so public that New Orleans 

 energy and enterprise were attracted to the 

 matter, and, while the English were forming 

 their plans, quietly obtained franchises from 

 the republic that virtually shut British enter- 

 prise out of the Department of Santa Barbara. 

 These franchises consist of the exclusive right 

 to navigate the rivers Ohamelicon, Blanco, Ulua, 

 and Santa Barbara, for fifteen years, together 

 with important wood-cutting privileges, while 

 the extensive navigation of the beautiful and 

 spacious Lake Tojia has also been granted to 

 a New Orleans company for forty years. 



Mines. The mineral resources of Honduras 

 are considered by the Spaniards its chief 

 wealth, and for two hundred years the mining 

 of gold and silver has been its most active 

 industry. During the past two years New 

 York capital has been attracted to these min- 

 erals, and the veins are now bein;5 developed 

 by modern machinery, where the systems of 

 mining and reducing of ores have remained 

 the same for a hundred and fifty years. In 

 the district of Yuscaran, two New York com- 

 panies are at work. The Yuscaran Mining 

 Company has reopened the historical Que- 

 marones by sinking and drifting below the 

 old workings of the Spaniards, and proved 

 that the old tales of fabulous wealth in these 

 mines are true, A reduction company is 

 erecting works here, with a capacity to treat 

 100 tons of ore a day, and the quiet Pueblo de 

 Yuscaran is taking on the dress of a modern 

 mining-camp. There are more than 100 mines 

 in this district, all of which have been worked 

 to some extent by the primitive methods. The 

 expense of reducing ore by the u barrel sys- 

 tem " is $26 a ton, and ore running less than 

 $50 a ton has been left on the dumps as worth- 

 less. In the department of San Pedro, a New 

 York company and a Chicago company are 

 each erecting mills; and a French company 

 is in operation. This district contains gold- 

 mines exclusively; that of Yuscaran, silver 



and gold. Opal-mines are also being worked 

 in Honduras, and some of the finest opals in 

 the Paris market are brought from there. 



HOWE, Timothy Otis. An American states- 

 man and jurist, born in Livermore, Maine, 

 Feb. 24, 1816 ; died in Kenosha, Wis., March 

 25, 1883. He received a common-school edu- 

 cation, and was occupied, out of school-hours, 

 in farm-work. He was admitted to the bar 

 in 1839, and began practice in Readfield. 



Mr. Howe was an ardent Whig, and an ad- 

 mirer of Henry Clay. In 1845 he was elected 

 to the Legislature of Maine, where he became 

 active in the debates and the work of the 

 House, and gained much reputation. His health 

 having become impaired, in 1845 he removed 

 to Wisconsin Territory, and found the change 

 of great service. He opened an office in Green 

 Bay, then a small village, separated from the 

 rest of the Territory by belts of forest forty 

 miles in extent, and this place continued to be 

 his home for life. When the Territory became 

 a State, in 1848, he was an unsuccessful can- 

 didate for Congress. Two years later he was 

 chosen to be one of the circuit judges. These 

 judges were also judges of the Supreme Court, 

 and during part of his term he served as Chief- 

 Justice of the State. 



In 1854, after the passage of the Nebraska 

 Bill, the Whigs, and others more or less in ac- 

 cord with them, met in mass convention, and 

 organized the Republican party of Wisconsin. 

 Judge Howe, being on the bench, took no very 

 active part in politics, but was understood to 

 be in hearty sympathy with the movement. 

 He resigned his office of judge in 1855, and re- 

 sumed the practice of law. He was much oc- 

 cupied in debates and discussions of the day, 

 and proved himself to be an efficient speaker 

 on the Republican side. He took part in a re- 

 markable trial, in 1856, to ascertain who was 

 the lawful Governor of the State whether 

 William A. Boynton, who received the certifi- 

 cate, signed by the Secretary of State, and 

 took possession of the office, or Coles Bashford, 

 who claimed that a majority of the votes were 

 cast for him. The matter was submitted to 

 judicial investigation and decision ; Mr. Howe, 

 as counsel, was very diligent and energetic in 

 the conduct of the trial, and the result was 

 that Bashford gained his case and entered 

 upon his duties without further dispute. Judge 

 Howe's reputation was largely increased by his 

 management of this case, and his success in 

 gaining it. In 1861 Mr. Howe was elected 

 United States Senator, and he was re-elected 

 twice. During his long career he served on the 

 most important committees of the Senate as 

 Finance, Commerce, Pensions, Claims, etc. He 

 was among the earliest advocates of universal 

 emancipation, and also urged the right to estab- 

 lish territorial governments over the seceded 

 States. He took issue with Andrew Johnson's 

 policy, and made able speeches, in 1865-'66, 

 against that policy. His course in this respect 

 was unanimously approved by the Republicans 



