Gold mining and the development of Baguio (Part 4)

THE construction of the Benguet Road, later named after Colonel Lyman W. V. Kennon, was initially conceived to provide access to the temperate climate of Baguio. Described as a fine, rolling grassy country at an elevation of 5,000 feet above sea level, Baguio answered the need for a summer capital and a place where bone-weary and wounded American Soldiers could recuperate. Before the coming of the Americans, it took a 24-hour boat ride from Manila to San Fernando, La Union and a 3-day ride on horseback over steep mountain trails to reach the area.

As mine prospecting lured more American ex-soldiers, civilians, and businessmen to Baguio, it became imperative that a more expeditious and convenient means of access be provided. The marvel that was the Benguet Road was conceived and planned by competent engineers and built by thousands of laborers. Governor William Howard Taft, Commissioners W. Cameron Forbes, Dean C. Worcester, Luke E. Wright, and Daniel Burnham participated in the conceptualization and execution of the plan for the development of Baguio.

The Philippine Commission, determined to see the project through to completion, approved a resolution designating Baguio as "the summer capital of the archipelago," and put Colonel Lyman W. V. Kennon in charge of the project to build the 40-kilometer winding road which bears his name.

Earlier efforts to establish good transport connections with Baguio had failed. For instance, the project of Captain C. E. Mead of the 36th US Volunteer Infantry to construct a wagon road from Pozorrubio, Pangasinan to Baguio through the Bued River, remained a pipe dream despite a $75,000 appropriation from the Philippine Commission; the road did not even reach the foothills to the north. Another appropriation of $300,000 given to another project director, N. M. Holmes, also ended in frustration as the 175 men assigned to work felt that the job would take a lifetime, typhoons and cholera being their chief adversaries.

A native of Rhode Island, Colonel Kennon had extensive experience directing engineering projects in Cuba. But the enormity of his task in the Philippines was without precedent. It involved transporting supplies by slow stages from camp to camp, along perilous trails which ascended and descended precipitous canyon walls and cliffs, using whichever ropes and ladders were necessary. The river at low tide was forded; at high water, rude bridges or logs were used. A man’s life depended on sureness of foot and coolness of head.

After the completion of the Benguet Road in 1905, Daniel Burnham supervised the development of Baguio - its metamorphosis from a cluster of grassy, old settlements to a budding metropolis, a "little America" in the wilderness. Burnham had been one of the consulting engineers of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1980 and the architect of some of America’s important buildings, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. His friend, Commissioner W. Cameron Forbes, fired him up with the idea of building a city in Benguet, and under his expert direction, Baguio became a model city amid the sprawling mountain ranges.