17789: Walker: little memoir from Haiti's "Pearl of the Antilles" period (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "John Walker [Matraco]" <jcfwalker@matraco.com>

Bob Corbett wrote:

> I do wish 2004 could be a year when more and more would
> come to the mailing list that is about OTHER aspects of Haitian life than
> politics.  There is so much more.  Economics, culture, art, music,

Bravo Dr. Corbett!  I contribute the following little memoir by Sheldon
Wimpfen, a legendary US geologist and mining engineer who worked in Haiti
in the 1960s. I think he captures a small and very human feeling of Haiti's
"Pearl of the Antilles" period.

Kind regards,
John Walker
____________________________________________

Tin Peaks and Silver Streams, Ch. 7: HAITI

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.

(photo) The Citadel of San Cristophe, Haiti

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 our 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 United States Bureau of Mines Alumni Association,
http://www.bureauofmines.com)