a1149: non-political posting--Haiti in the 1960s, near Miragoane (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Walker <jcfwalker@attbi.com>

Hello Corbetteers,

Dr. Corbett wisely asks for some non-political postings relevant to Haiti,
and since I am not much for politics I will take advantage of his
invitation.  I am a US geologist working on a project in Haiti, and I am
trying to educate myself as much as possible about Haiti's rich history and
culture, as well of the experiences of foreigners like myself who are drawn
to your fascinating country by work.  I ran across a charming and
well-written story by a famous US mining engineer who wrote a memoir about
his experiences in many lands; I have excerpted this brief section on his
work in Haiti in the 1960s, near Miragoane.  Even if you are not especially
interested in engineering, the anecdotes about the "strange voodoo like
activities" and the "meddling" American wife are amusing!

Kind regards,
John Walker
Matraco-Colorado Holding Ltd.
www.matraco.com
_____________________________________________

Tin Peaks and Silver Streams
(from United States Bureau of Mines Alumni Association)

Few mining industry folks and ex-USBMers have had as colorful career as
Sheldon Wimpfen. After graduation from the Texas College of Mines in El Paso
in 1934, he worked in west Texas, the Philippines, Bolivia, and Peru. He ran
the Atomic Energy Commission's uranium program. He served as Editor of
Mining and Metallurgy, the AIME's journal, and the Mining Congress Journal.
And all that before joining the Bureau in 1969 as Assistant Direcctor for
Mineral Supply. He retired from the Bureau in 1980. Some years ago, he wrote
a memoir titled Tin Peaks and Silver Streams. It was part of the Bancroft
Library of the University of California at Berkeley Twentieth Century
Western Mining Series. Sheldon has graciously offered to let us "publish"
the entire manuscript on the USBMAA Web page. The full manuscript is now
on-line.

HAITI
(from Chapter 7)

The St. Croix plateau contained bauxite deposits right on the surface and we
mined them with simple equipment - shovels and trucks. There was about a 9
mile haul to our port and dock at Miragoane. It was all down hill and hard
on truck brakes.

There was a fine camp built by Reynolds of nice staff homes with aluminum
shingle-type roofs. A large swimming pool, as in British Guiana, was the
social center of the camp. Jack Ryan, a Mexican national, was the general
manager and kept the ball bouncing. When Jack and his wife Bertita went on
vacation in 1963, Jack left his number two man Ed Sheets in charge.

When the Ryans came back from vacation, Jack began to write frequently of
strange voodoo like activities going on. He said the local houngan was in
cahoots with Sheets and they had placed little dolls of Jack and Bertita
just outside their bedroom window. The dolls were full of pins and needles.
Jack denounced Sheets and fired him out of hand.

Ed Sheets came to Richmond and we heard his side of the story. An
investigation was in order and the head of security Jim Reynolds (no
relation to the owner family) an ex FBI agent went to Haiti. Jim's study
confirmed what we had suspected - Jack Ryan's nerves were out of whack.

So we let Jack Ryan go and replaced him with Al Butterfield, the number two
man in Jamaica.

Al was steady as a rock and things were going along smoothly. Our truck
fleet was worn out and required replacement. I set up a test with Dart, Cat
and Wabco trucks. When all the trials were completed, Cat showed up as the
best vehicle for our conditions and Haiti was refleeted completely with Cat
Units.

(The Citadel of San Cristophe, Haiti, photographed on a cloudy and wild day)

Walter met a fellow in Puerto Rico that sold him on the idea of growing
pineapples on both the mined out lands and the yet to be mined lands on our
concession. It was a big deal and was aimed at giving work to the indigenous
Haitians as well as make a profit for Reynolds.

Al faithfully nurtured the crop. I bought a book on pineapple growing and
marketing. Right off the book said don't try to grow pineapple at elevations
over 2500 ft. The St. Croix plateau in ore area was 3000 ft above sea level.
But the pineapples grew. When they were ripe the local people had daily
feasts on the fruit. We made a trial shipment of a few boxes to Richmond.
They were moved by company plane to Port au Prince and then via commercial
plane to Richmond .

The case I received was pretty good but most of the case rotted too soon. We
thus discovered that one of our major problems would be shipment. The crop
wouldn't fit the schedule of our ore carriers and besides we had no chilled
lockers in which to store them while in transit. The road to Port au Prince
built by the US Marine Corps was in terrible shape - the 60 mile trip
usually took three to four hours. Hence. truck shipment was out.

Movement by our small launch wasn't practical either. Soon the pineapple
venture died a natural death. That was a blessing!

Our staff was small and had to be compatible. Before hiring anyone, I had
the candidate and his wife come to Richmond for interviews. It was possible
to sort out many of the potential problems in this way. But now and then I
goofed. I hired one young man and moved him and his wife to Haiti. But
before long there was trouble afoot.

At the port, while ships were loading with bauxite, there just wasn't a
great deal for the ship's crews to do. The Haitians did their bit in
alleviating this situation and several bars were opened as well as a red
light district. This kept the sailors at the port and provided sufficient
entertainment.

But the wife of this newly hired young engineer decided to clean up the port
and embarked on a vigorous campaign to shut down the bars and chase the
girls away. This resulted in growing numbers of conflicts between the ship's
crews and the people in the nearby town of Miragoane.

We had to fire the capable engineer to stop his wife's meddling, but soon
things returned to normal.

A major hurricane swept across the southern limb of Haiti and did a lot of
damage. It destroyed many of the Haitian's home and ripped the interlocking
aluminum shingles off some of the staff houses. It tore part of the roof off
the dry storage building in Miragoane. It took the roof of the Miragoane
church completely off while many people were inside. Crops were destroyed. I
got in touch with the military in Atlanta, Georgia and made arrangement for
air delivery of food, tents, fuel and stoves plus medical supplies.

`The Haitians wouldn't eat the canned army rations even though the Americans
demonstrated that they were OK. We opened the cans and served the food hot
from big pots. The staff ate from these pots and the natives were convinced
the food was OK. Bill Cole, manager of Reynolds Jamaica Mines, wanted to
help.
His first try was to load the Virginia with supplies. The Virginia was a 24
ft. all aluminum motor boat that Richard Reynolds kept at Ocho Rios for
sport fishing. Senior staff were allowed to use it as well. Bill loaded the
Virginia with emergency supplies and had it ready for early morning
departure for Miragoane. But someone had left the wrong valve open and when
the crew arrived at the dock early in the morning they found the near
vertical Virginia dangling in deep water at the dock

Then Bill chartered a small vessel and actually unloaded whatever he had in
surplus from his stores in Jamaica. Included in this "helpful" shipment were
several gross of Here's My Heart Body Lotion, cases of face powder and lip
stick as well as several gross of eye shadow. Bill also shipped hundreds of
bags of cement that had already gotten wet and set up. I guess everyone has
his own ideas as to what is helpful. This stuff was in addition to the
spoiled rice and wheat that Bill Cole also shipped from Jamaica.

(from http://www.bureauofmines.com/TPSS_07.HTM)