The Transition in 1929

Part 5: The Transition in 1929

Just as I was finishing the planting of Guacimo farm in late 1929 the railroad arrived in Esperanza and that was the end of the “good life^” on a woodland Farm.

***If you missed the previous installments, click here: 1928: Part 1, 1928: Part 2, 1928: Part 3, 1928: Part 4

Work trains arrived daily loaded with construction materials and workers. Soon there was a wooden eight-room bachelor quarters building with mess hall, kitchen, running water, toilets, showers and electric lights. And a commissary with a large ice box. Ice was delivered three times a week from the ice plant in Armuelles, but it took us a couple of weeks before we could stomach cold beer – it would bloat us up terribly!

The Company now had a license to import and sell liquor and an immediate improvement was that we now got a slug of good Scotch whiskey instead of local rum if we downed the liquid quinine at the supper table.

我们的菜单从新鲜的当地鱼类和肉类慢慢变为加州的罐头和冷藏品,,en,正在建造永久木制劳改营，并为管理人员和房屋开始工作,,en,监督员,,en,埃斯佩兰萨成为地区总部并包括在内,,en,除了毗邻中心的其他农场,,en,每个边远农场都建有额外的劳改营和监督员的房屋,,en,在埃斯佩兰萨，有两个新来的人,,en,地区主管,,en,多年后在Almirante部门再次转移,,en,和博士,,en,Vining C.,,en,邓拉普,,en,文件,,en,农学博士,,en,鲍登,,en,曾在非洲和热带美洲度过了几年，为公司寻找香蕉园,,en,奇里基是他的推荐之一，这是我的看法,,en,给予公司总裁,,en. Permanent wooden labor camps were being constructed and work started on houses for the superintendent and 3 overseers. Esperanza became a district headquarters and included 5 other farms in addition to those adjoining the center. Additional labor camps and overseer’s houses were built on each outlying farm.

In Esperanza there were two new arrivals, a district superintendent, another transfer after many years in the Almirante division, and Dr. Vining C. Dunlap. “Doc”, a Ph.D in Agronomy, Bowdoin, Maine, had spent several years in Africa and in tropical America looking for banana lands for the Company. Chiriqui was one of his recommendations and it was my opinion, given to the President of the Company in 1926, that the soils in this region would produce good bananas for many years.

It is still producing, and is one of the Company’s largest divisions, in 1982 – 56 years later. Some of the older divisions died out after 10 or 15 years. Doc worked directly for the President of the Company and now was assigned to check the soils in the jungles of the Golfito area in Costa Rica, which adjoined Chiriqui province in Panama.

Day off on a banana finca.

Esperanza would be my base camp and he was provided’ with two “camp cars”, living quarters and a kitchen. Camp cars were like mobile homes but constructed on a railroad flat car. His cars were spotted on a railroad siding across from the new bachelor quarters. He immediately became a member of our afternoon beer and bacalao club, and the principal raconteur with his vast knowledge of and experiences in the tropics. He and I soon became close friends, both New Englanders, and with similar interests in natural history.

Doc had a cook and housekeeper, Margarita, a good-looking Costa Rican girl, an excellent horsewoman and a never-miss shot with her Colt 38 Special six-gun. While Doc was away on extended trips making the soil surveys, she cared for and protected his camp and a little vegetable garden which she tended. The whole area was enclosed with a high chain-link fence and locked gate and was off-limits to the Esperanza crowd – all except me!

Margarita had a record player too and had heard a couple of records echoing from my manacca shack. 一天晚上，在我们的啤酒会议期间，Doc要求我将我的记录带到他的营地并共进晚餐,,en,我们听了我的记录,,en,和他们的,,en,同时啜饮几个Dewars White Label Scotch highballs然后在tamales上吃饭,,en,白色标签,,en,成为,,en,为United Fruit员工喝下一杯,,en,我所知道的那些年,,en,也许更长,,en,起初，小卖部的费用大约是,,en,五分之一,,en,那天晚上是终身的开始,,en,几乎是一个家庭,,en,Doc和我之间的关系一直持续到他去世,,en,多年后在新奥尔良,,en,他启发了我,,en,直接或间接地教导和指导我,,en,我在公司工作的剩余时间,,en,Vining C的奉献精神,,en,邓拉普实验室,,en,研究,,en,Doc的专长是土壤，但他知道名字,,en,科学和地方,,en,几乎每棵树都在森林里,,en. We listened to my records, and theirs, while sipping several Dewars White Label Scotch highballs and then feasting on tamales. (“White Label” became the drink for United Fruit employees for the next 40 years that I know of, perhaps longer. At first the cost in the commissary was about $1.50 a fifth!). That evening was the beginning of a lifelong, almost a family, relationship between Doc and me that lasted until he passed away 40 years later in New Orleans. He inspired me, taught and guided me directly or indirectly, for the remainder of my years with the Company.

Dedication of Vining C. Dunlap Laboratory – Research. August 15, 1953

Doc’s specialty was soils but he knew the names, scientific and local, of almost every tree in the forest, as well as many of the orchids, birds and animals. He became Director of Tropical Research for the United Fruit Company and I worked for him in Honduras for many years. 他可能是热带地区最知名的员工, highly respected by everyone, and a guiding influence in several critical decisions which literally saved the Company in later years .

I have mentioned that a district superintendent had been assigned to Esperanza to supervise the five farms and make preparations for harvesting and shipping bananas which were now commencing to “show” (bud). Potential banana production, barring blow-downs or floods, was around 625 bunches per acre yearly. With bunch weight averaging 80 pounds, this was 25 tons of bunch fruit per acre. As bananas are now handled, this would be about 1200 boxes of “clusters ” 1,000 per acre.

区议员也被分配到埃斯佩兰萨处理办公室工作和记录,,en,直到主管到达,,en,我们林地监督员只回答了自从他住在Progreso以来我们很少见到的农业总监,,en,他只来到我的农场一次，花了几个小时的时间来检查工作的总体质量,,en,来自会计部门的年轻人,,en,在波多黎各也出现了一次检查我的工资单的一些实地工作,,en,他没有长时间闲逛，害怕咆哮的猴子的声音，我告诉他是老虎,,en,在马鞍上骑了几个小时后，他几乎无法走路，特别为他提供了一条粗糙的骡子,,en,当时的运输,,en,埃斯佩兰萨的生活与铁路现在不同,,en. Up until the superintendent arrived, we woodland overseers answered only to the Superintendent of Agriculture whom we rarely saw since he lived in Progreso. He only came to my farm once to spend a few hours riding around checking the general quality of the work. 一位来自波多黎各会计部门的年轻人也出现过一次，检查我的工资单上的一些实地工作. He didn’t hang around long and was scared to death of the sound of howler monkeys which I told him were tigers. And he could hardly walk after a couple of hours in the saddle on a rough-gaited mule provided especially for him!.

Transport at the time.

Life in Esperanza was.different now with the railroad, the new buildings, and people coming on motorcars from Puerto almost daily to check this and that but mainly just to see what a banana farm looked like. We could still see and hear the flocks of macaws and parrots flying over at daybreak and the falcons calling at dusk, but with so much activity and so many people around, the jaguars, ocelots and pumas had retired far into the remaining forests in back of the banana farms.

The 5,000-acre district was now planted, but in the three other districts, where about 10,000 acres had been planted, there were still some 20,000 more acres of jungle to plant. Woodland overseers and their specialized labor were at a premium and I was lined up and and looking forward to starting another new farm near the Costa Rican border. 在丛林生活的愉快孤独中，我甚至都不知道10月份华尔街股市崩盘,,en,这是20世纪30年代大萧条的开始,,en,它的影响开始被联合果品公司感受到,,en,以后很多,,en,另一个师,,en,卡斯蒂利亚,,es,这一个在洪都拉斯,,en,因为关闭了,,en,巴拿马病,,en,因此，将Chiriqui部门纳入生产和运输香蕉非常重要,,en,那个周末我回到埃斯佩兰萨去接我剩下的装备并参加一个大型派对，我的不,,en,我是尼加拉瓜的承包商,,en,Tomas Mairera,,bn,我在他的大型马纳卡营地为我,,en,他的工人和其他埃斯佩兰萨的监督员,,en 1929 which was the start of the great depression of the 1930’s. However, its effects were beginning to be felt by the United Fruit Company – and very much so later on. In addition, another division, Castilla, this one in Honduras, was closing down due to “Panama Disease” so it was important to get the Chiriqui division in production and shipping bananas.

That weekend I went back to Esperanza to pick up the rest of my gear and attend a big party which my No. I Nicaraguan contractor, Tomas Mairera, had for me in his large manacca camp – with about 70 of his laborers and the other Esperanza overseers. 我一路骑着Cantinera到他的营地，没有任何困难，因为沿途的旧委员刚刚被拆除,,en,我看到了一个“Cruzeta,,en,一种狭长的弯刀，但是有一把像剑一样的直刀片，还有一个黄铜把手，两侧的护板长约两英寸,,en,形成一个十字架,,en,因此,,en,衣架,,pt,这是所有尼加拉瓜人的珍贵财产,,en,角斗士,,en,谁买得起,,en,多少吉他和声乐数字的夜晚,,en,一切都在进行，逐渐变得更加不和谐,,en,还有一些打架,,en,但没有主要的血液,,en,我吃饱喝多了感觉很糟糕,,en,他们为我和我们吊起了吊床,,en,睡了几个小时后,,en,恢复到足以让Cantinera早上回到我们的营地,,en,然后我说,,en,再见,,es! I was presented with a “Cruzeta”, a long narrow type of machete but with a straight blade like a sword and with a brass grip with the guards extending about two inches on each side, forming a cross – hence the “cruzeta”. It was a prized possession of all Nicaraguan “gladiators” who could afford one. What a night with many guitar and vocal numbers, all going on at once and gradually becoming more dissonant, and a few fights, but no major blood letting. I was feeling bad from eating and drinking so much. They strung up a hammock for me and, after sleeping a couple of hours, recovered enough to ride Cantinera back to our camp in the morning. Then I said “adios” to the rest of the gang there (although I would see most of them off and on later) and took a motorcar back to Puerto Armuelles. And that was the end of a rather short (18 months) but exciting and enjoyable chapter in my checkered career – that of a banana woodland overseer.