The Minneapolis journal. [volume], July 15, 1906, Part I, News Section, Page 8, Image 8

About The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939

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By M. Alger.
!tcia CorrsspondAc of Th Journal.
TlRONDHJEMea40,000edwitsh
Snd
Norway, June 26.
A town of some of
its streets broa a you will
find streets anywhere every house re
painted or whitewashed and decorated
with flags, bunting and greens every
native busy looking at the wondTous
things going n and at the 80,000
strangers who have come so suddenly
from afar, such is Trondh^em, the cor
onation city.
Every hotel, cafe and other public
shelter is filled to overflowing car
riages and cabs, filled with people, from
a King down to a plain citizen, are
going here and there prices of most
necessities have gone up to points that
remind one of, sav, Paris.
Coronations do not come often and
Trondhjem decided to make the most
of the opportunity. And the town did
wellvery well indeed.
The fact that The Journal had
been able to give in advance full #nd
detailed accounts of what was to take
place, was on this occasion most for
tunate, because it mav now be said that
all the important features were carried
out exactly in accordance with the pro
gram made up beforehand and described
in my previous letters.
The Coronation Day.
Altho the weather has been moat
favorable during these days of festiv
ities, the coronation day, June 22, it
looked somewhat unsettled, but the few
drops of rain that finally fell made no
depression of the high patriotic and fes
tival spirit.
At 10:45 everv available seat in the
church was filled. About 2,160 per
sons were admitted, and it is safe to
say that it was the most distinguished
audience the old edifice ever held. The
deputation of three bishops and about
eighty priests met the royal couple at
the entrance and headed the procession
up the aisle toward the thrones.
The queen looked exceedingly gra
cious when entering the church, and
her diess was too beautiful for the
average male mind to appreciate. It
was, however, nearly all covered by the
royal robe which she had already put
on at the palace. The king was dressed
in the uniform of a Norwegian general,
but also he had the royal robe on from
Stiftsgaarden. The expression on his
face when coming up the aisle was what
I should like to term reassuringly dem
ocratic, despite all the royal splendor
of his dress. It was the face that at
once inspired all Norwegians with con
fidence.
Of other royal personages present
there were Crown Prince Chrisxian of
Denmark and the Crown Princess and
Prince Harald the prince and princess
of Wales, Princeiss Victoria and the lit
tle Princess Mary, Grand Duke Michael
of Russia and Prince Henry of Ger
many.
Then camp as next in ranks all the
SEARCH FOR TREASURE
HALTED BY SUN'S RAYS
With Lake Drained Hoard
Protected by Mud Baked
Into Stone.
Is
Special Cable to The Journal.
London, July 14.In a small city
office situated in Londonwall, news is
anxiously awaited from a man who is
sitting on the edge of a mountain lake
in Colombia, Central America, waiting
for rain.
Heavy rain may mean for him, and
so experts say, at least 100,000,000,
The hero of the vigil is H. Knowles,
managing director in Bogota of Con
tractors, limited. The story of the com
pany is one of the most amazing ro
mances of treasure-seeking in history.
The Lake of Guatavita, in Colombia,
lies in the basin formed by the cone
of an extinct volcano. It stands nine
ten thousand feet above the sea level
and is but a few miles from the thriv
ing little coal city of Bogota. Many
centuries ago it was the sacred lake
of the Chibchas, a race which, at the
time of the Spanish conquest, numbered
over 1,000.000 individuals.
The Chibchas worshipped the "Gild
ed Man," and devoutly believed that
their deity smade .his home at the bot
tom of the Lake of Guatavita. Peri
odically they are declared to have made
pilgrimages to the lake, when they cast
every imaginable kind of treasure
gold, silver and jewelsinto the waters
with the object of propitiating the
"Gilded Man," who, thru his army of
riests, threatened all kinds of pains
penalties unless the treasure ware
offered in sufficient quantities.
i The story of the Chibchas has many
.times been investigated by travelers,
and all agree in believing that the lake
contains untold treasure. Humboldt,
"the famous traveler and historian, was
one ot those'who estimated its value
At 100,000,000.
An Early Failure.
QneBada, the.Spanish conqueror of
the Chibchas, was told the story of the
treasure, and succeeded in reducing the
water of the lake, then "214 feet, to
16 feet. Then the sides fell in and all
foreign ambasasdors and diplomats.
Their number was great. They were
there from every European country,
and from the United States of America,
Japan and Siam. It does not often
fall to the lot of the average person to
see so many distinguished people in a
bunch or so many yards of glittering
gold braid and so many official decora
tions.
On the ladies' side It was equally
THE KING GREETING THE DIPLOMATS.
KING HAAKON, QUEEN MAUD AND CROWN PRINCE OL.AF ARRIVING AT
TRONDHJEM.
grand anc|, gorgeous as to dress. Dia
monds sparkled like stars from the hair,
necks and gowns of nearly all of them.
Tho king and queen were sitting on'
throne chairs, placed on elevations, at
either side of the aisle in the tower
quadrant, and right under the dome. In
their' immediate neighborhood all the
royal persona had their seats further
up between the thrpnes and the altar
were all the diplomats^ Norwegian cabi
net members and some few other digni
taries. Your correspondent had his
place within a comparatively short dis
tance from the thrones. All press peo
ple admitted had good seats, however.
The coronation march comuosed by
Ole Olsen, and played when the royal
couple entered the church, and-the can
tata, sung in five divisions during the
ceremony, were both works worthy of
praise. The composer of the cantata
music was Mr. Halvorsen, director of
the orchestra of the national theater at
Christian] a.
The sermon, delivered by Bishop
Bang, lasted about half an hour, and
was very appropriate. The text was:
"Land, fear not, God has done great
things for you."
The king and queen entered, the
church a few minutes after 11 o\ lock
his labor was wasted. Further attempts
were abandoned and the lake regained
to a very large extent its former depth.
Where the great Spanish adminis
trator failed, however. Contractors, lim
ited, a prosaic British syndicate, formed
just over six years ago, has determined
\c\ succeed
The syndicate was formed for the
purpose of exploiting a concession ob
tained from the Colombian government
to drain the lake kind recover for their
own uses the treasure believed to be
hidden by its waters. A.mong its
directors are B. J. Price, M.P. for the
Eastern division of Norfolk, chairman,
and C. J. de Murietta. Its capital
was originally 30,000, and -was in
creased to 35,000 in 1903.
After six years of hard work, how
ever, some of those connected with the
company are beginning to believe that
the "Gilded Man" is still at the bot
tom of the lake guarding his treasure.
Encouraging finds of isolated gold and
dreams'of untold wealth have not ma
terialized.
First the lake was drained. Tt was
not an easy task, for it is some nine
miles in length, and unforseen diffi
culties were continually confronting the
workers. The most harrassing of these
was the constant rain, which, winter
and summer, hardlv ever ceased.
La-ke Drained.
At last however, towards the end of
1903, the welcome news reached London
that Mr. Knowles and his staff of engi
neers and workmen had succeeded in
cutting thru the basin of the lake, and
tHe water had been drained off suc
cessfully. There was great jubilation,
and preparations were made for the
large consignments of gold, silver and
jewels which might be expected to ar
rive by the next boats.
Unfortunately, however, the water is
not* the only barrier on which the
Gilded Man'' has to rely for the safe
keeping of his treasure. Thejubilation
in London-wall was summarily ended
by a cablegram stating that twenty
five feet of solid mud, or some 30,000,-
000 cubic feet in all, still lay between
the treasure-seekers and their quest.
But what is 30,000,000 cubic feet of.
mud when J0O,QOO,OOD is at stake* A
new engineering:
feat-fwas decided^,,on,,
the construction
across the hole made in the side of the'
basin terminating in a shaft' thru which
the
mu.d
should be cipashfcel And careful^,
and silver rtrensurres'-as^theye -were dis
turbed fromx_..^____ their hiding-flace of cen
turies. 4 V
tunes
A
and at 1 o'clock the ceremony was over.
When the coronation of the king had
taken place cannon boomed and firing
was repeated when the queen had been
crowned. The ceremony ended with a
"G od save the king," and "God save
the queen," the whole audience joining
in with enthusiasm.
The whole affair from start to finish
went thru without a hitch. I do not
believe that anyone who had the priv-
ilege of being present will forget the
day.
The official representatives of the
American government were:
Charles Graves, as special ambassa
dor Major Gibson as military attache,
and Lieutenant Commander Gibbons
as naval attache. Mrs. Graves and
Mrs. Gibbons accompanied their ills
bands. That Mr. Graves had the title
of ambassador on this occasion gaye
him a place at the head of the diplo
matic corps on all public occasions.
These were the Americans who were
there officially, but there were many
others who were there simply as spec
tators. The most noted was, I be
lieve, William Jennings Bryan. Mrs.
Bryan accompanied her husband.
It was my good luck to leave Chris
tiania on the same train with Mr. and
Mrs, Bryan. I did not notice them in
the rush at the station, but when an
other American correspondent and my
self made for the refreshment-room
P*c*ltated, so as to secur the gold 9:20 a.m., 9:45 a.m 11 a.m. and 1:45
__ i
xat
Eldsvold station we discovered the dis
tinguished Nebraskan. As soon as the
tram, pulled out from Eidsvold we ap
proached him and were w^ell received.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan had been at Chris
tiania only a couple of hours, between
trains, having come there from Stock
holm. Mr. Bryan told us a great many
interesting stories of his travels in the
far east and in India. By the time we
reached Hamar he joined us in the rush
for a 1.50 kroner meal.
He. said little regarding American
politics, but mv newspaper friend made
a long "cable" out of it.
When he heard that Mr. Berner, pres
ident of the Norwegian storthing wfts
on the train, Mr. Bryan expressed a
strong desire to be introduced to him.
I was able to serve him as I have
known Mr. Berner personally for alon
time, and at some small station up in
Osterdalen I had the honor to bring the
two men together. Mr. Bryan at once
asked for a chance to meet Mr. Berner
at Trondhjem for the purpose of get
ting first-hand information from him in
regard to Norwegian politics and kin
dred subjects. This was agreed to by
Mr. Berner at once, and the following
day I again had the privilege of act
ing as middle man between the two.
ing to the fact that Mr. Berner has
not had much experience in using the
English language.
I soon became generallv known that
Mr. Bryan was in Trondhiem and he
became the object of much attention.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan were the guests of
Minister Graves during their stay in
The dam was constructed, and with
it the cleansing shaft, but while the
work was in progress a strange thing
happened. The "Gilded Man" was evi
dently at work again.
For over three years the engineers
had in th rain, in such a down-
eour,workeAmericae.
indeed, as was unprecedented in
entral As the water ran
from the lake, however, the rain
stopped, and a drought equally without
a parallel in the history of the country
set in. For more than two and a half
years not a drop of rain has fallen at
the scene of the operations, and when
the engineers had completed the con
struction of the dam it was only to
find that the sun had baked 30,000,000
cubic feet of mud into the consistency
of hard rock.
Then, metaphorically speaking the en
gineers sat down and wept. 'The rock
like substance still lies as an impene
trable bomb-proof lid over the golden
gods and the silver dishes and orna
ments, to say nothing of the jewelled
goddesses and their glittering hand
maiden.
The few natives in the region, rem
nants of the great race of Chibchas,
occasionally visit the scene and smile
cheerfully at the downcast Englishmen.
"It is all the work of the 'Gilded
Man,' who is watching over his treas
ure mountain," they say, and they
plainly hint that when the rain comes
if it ever does cometo soften the
mud, some other obstacle will defeat
the desire of the treasure-seekers.
Letter after letter from Mr. Knowles
to the little office in the city dejectedly
refers to the determined opposition na
ture has placed in his way.
I regret to say rain absolutely re
fuses to fall here," he wrote in one of
his letters. "This is all the more
heartrending as it falls all around. I
have been here hoping against hope,
hearing the thunder and seeing the
storm pass us by, which is an awful
trial, as you can imagine."
"We really ought to.get all the wa
ter we want in May," he wrote again,
"but nobody can guarantee this."
So far his pessimism has been justi
fied. The Gilded Man is taking eare
of his own.
_c
Postofflce Clerks' Picnic.
Sunday, July 16, the St. Paul -post:
office clerks, will hold their annual
a great in picnic at Lake Minnetonka. Special
trains will leave Minneapolis via the
Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad
(Washington and Fourth avenue N) at
*_ :p,_m_ Returning, leave Tonka Bay.
4:50 p.flf, 7 p.m., 8 p.m., 8 30 p.m. ana
J11 pjn,
^MMt4hl%Jh%0^i^^i
The day before I left Christiania Dr.
jelde of North Dakota came there
with a large number of Norwegian
Americans in hiB company. They started
in by decorating the Werjreland statue
at Christiania where a speech was made
by. Professor Stub of St. Paul. The
Chicago delegates of "Det Norske Na
tional Forbund," headed by Dr. Daae
of Chicago, and including Mr. Amund
sen of the Decorah Posten and Mr.
Gulbrandsen of the Minneapolis Tid
ende, Olav Ray and Consul Gade of
Chicago and Consul Stensland'of Madi
son. Wis., went to Trondhiem early.
The Fjelde people called a meeting of
all Norwegian Americans in the garden
behind the cathedral Saturday after
noon for the purpose of bringing a
geeting to the Norwegian people from
Norwegians in America. They secured
the presence 'of Minister Graves, Mr.
Bryan and Storthing President Berner.
Per Stioemme, the journalist introduced
Mr. Bryan as one of America's great
est sons. Mr. Bryan was greeted by en
thusiastic cheers from the several thou
sand assembled. He delivered a very
eloquent and witty speech, in which he
expressed his admiration for the Nor
wegian people and their standing among
the nations as a liberty-loving people
of high culture. Especially did be un
derline his admiration for the manner
in' which they H$$' dene things last
I year. H"
Regarding/^the"' coron1ttionw i said
that it*wae the first function of that
kind he had attended, and he waf glad
it was a coronation of a king chosen
by "the people themselves, because if
there was one thing that he believed in
more, even, than in the republican form
of government, it was the right of any
people to have the sort of a govern
ment they themselves wanted. He also
lauded Norway fof. keeping the public
school door open to all children.
For the Norwegians in America he
had nothing but goed to- say. 5ome of
them were his close friends, he said.
Among them he mentioned ex-Governor
Lee of South Dakota. He concluded
by wishing th&t Norway's future might
be as bright as the days here were now
which means no night at all. Min
ister Graves spoke next, and Mr. Ber
ner, Per Stroemme and Rev. Madsen of
Duluth followed,
The Chicago delegates, as a body, had
'4.W
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sbfr&'S'*1**.
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r* -vnijii &
Pag*
Another affair of coronation day was
the royal state dinner in the evening,
the most exclusive affair on the pro-*
gram. Only 318 persons were present.
They included all royal visitors, all
members of the diplomatic corps and
the highest dignitaries in Norway. The
Grand Duke Michael of Russia sat with
Mrs. Graves at table on this occasion,
which, I suppose, was a mark of dis
tinction both to Mrs. Graves and to
America. The king made a short
speech saying th,at he hoped that the
coronation act might be for the good of
Norway.
Saturday at 11:30 the royal levee,
or morning reception, took place at
Stiftsgaarden. Several hundred ladies
and gentlemen were introduced to the
king and queen on this occasion.
The next big event that day was the
citizen's parade to Ilevoldene in the
afternoon. Under twenty-five banners
some 7,000 people marched. There was
a special pavilion built for the accom
modation of the royal couple, and when
the standard bearers, side by side
marched forward to greet the king and
queen by lowering the flags, it was a
most impressive act, one of the most
TAJUW^HAL ARCH AT LANDING, TRONDHJEM.
touching of the# whole affair. -It was
the^closest relation between the people
and its king that I have witnessed so
far, and it was plain to see that both
the king and queen were deeply moved.
The national hymn was sung, and the
public festivities, such ,as national
dances, gymnastics, etc., amused the
royal and 4the visitors for a couple of
hours.
Sunday's principal event was the
dinner knd ball given, bv the munici
pality of Trondhjem. To this affair
tickets were sold at 25 kroner apiece.
The king and queen and all other royal
personages and the whole diplomatic
corps were there. About 800 persons
sat down to the dinner. The only
speeches were By Mr. Thoulow, the
"ordforerer" in Trondhjem, and by
the kins who thanked the citizens of
Trondhjem, for what they had done for
them, especially in regard to fixing up
Stiftsgaarden so as to provide them
with a home when there. He wanted to
thank everybody who had been con-
'^'MA"1'
nected therewith, and be especially
mentioned the tradespeople. He con
cluded by a tost to the progress of the
city of Trondhjem. soon -as the
large dining hall had been cleared the
dance began. The royal personages did
not take part in the dance, but the
king went around and spoke to several
guests in his straightforward, demo
cratic manner. At 12 o'clock the roval
couple left, but the ball continued- till
2 o'clock.
v:J
~*f
*,?'&::
THE QUEEN AT THE ALTAR, JUST CROWNED.
The School Children's Parade.
Sunday at 1 o'clock Some 5,000 school
children formed into line and marched
to Stiftsgaarden. Every child carried
a small Norwegian flag, and the girls
were all dressed in white. At the open
second-story main window the roval
family had placed themselves. The lit
tle Crown Prince Olav, whom the chil
dren on this occasion especially had
come to pay homage to, stood by his
father's side, holding a small Norwe
gian flag in his right hand and which
he waived vigorously when the chil
dren's cheers were given. The king*
addressed the children, thanking them
for their courtesy, especially toward his
son, whom he hoped they all would
learn to love and to stand by when he
grew up. In conclusion the king re
quested three cheers for the fatherland,
and they were given with such warmth
as only children can show. Then the
king asked them to sing "Ja vi El-
sker." They also gave several other
songs, among them a new children's
song for the crown prince, which has
become quite popular.
Both the king and queen were deeply
moved by this children's parade.
A regatta, with competitors from
many places in Norway, began Satur
day and was to continue Sunday, but
the wind failed, so today will see the
T- ijt'
Get Out of the Constipation Car
It travels fast to sickness by the direct route.
Nature gives us the means of keeping the human sys-
tem free from disease germs and impurities of every
kind, but sometimes nature is blocked, and unless we
promptly assist her in breaking this blockade
she exacts a terrible penaltysickness. Red
Raven acts as a mild but effective purgative.
It is one of nature's chief aids in
the campaign of system cleaning.
Stop right now don't wait
until the evil has been done,
but get a bottle of RedRaven
from your druggist and be on
the safe side.
15c the Bottle
*K -J
finish of it The Trondhjem harbor If
beautiful, with the old historic Fort
Munkholmen near by. -and the still
snow-covered mountains in the back
ground.
The Gentlemen of the Press.
Every leading newspaper in Europe
and many American papers have cor
respondents here. From America I ob
serve Mr. and Mrs. Egan of the Lon
don office of the Associated Press Mr.
Mason, European manager of Publish
ers' Press Mr. Chamberlain of tho
New York Sun Mr. Kellogg Durland
for the Independent, and Mrs. Dorr for
the New York Evening Poet.
A. press bureau h?d been established
for the accommodation of the newspa-
{em,menfree
of chargeand Mr. Wal
its manager, proved himself the
right man in the right place. He
speaks fluentlv most of the European
languages and he had use for all of
them on this occasion.
The Finish.
The royal music soiree tonight In
Stiftsgaarden, where about 800 persons
were present, was the last of official
functions connected with coronation
and like everything else, it passed oft
happily. It is midnight and the most
of the strangers ar preparing to leave
by the first out-going train or steamer.
Tomorrow the royal couple leave*
Trondhjem for a trip to Stenkjaer.
They will, however, return and remain
until after the meeting with the Ger
man emperor.
A great number of decorations and
crowning medals were given out. The
king gave 5,000 kroner to the poor of
Trondhjem and Grand Duke Michael of
Russia 2,000 kroner for the same pur
pose.
Now I am off for Christiania, to meet
the St. Olaf college boys.
0
THE RECEPTION PAVILION OUTSIDE THE CATHEDRAL.
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