Before coming to the United States, Francisco Pacheco, inventor of the hydrogen Pacheco Generator, was a soldier in the Chaco Boreal land ownership war between Paraguay and his native Bolivia from 1932 to 1938. (
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Readers interested in last week’s West Milford Messenger column “Hydrogen Energy Power” asked for more information about Francisco Pacheco, the Bolivian inventor and scientist who invented the hydrogen-powered Pacheco Generator, and lived at Princeton Road, Upper Greenwood Lake.
Karin Westdyk , who published an environmental/health journal in 1992 named “The Messenger” shared her Pacheco recollections in her publication nearly 35 years ago. She wrote that Francisco, a very special man to the many people, had a unique ability to reach out and provide support and hope to others. He also had an innate talent for attracting the trust of animals.
“His love, respect, and curiosity for them was as pure and innocent as a child’s and they were drawn to him,” she said.
Francisco told animal stories – about cats, birds, deer or a bear. Karen recalled the gathering at his Princeton Road, Upper Greenwood Lake home in 1992, after he died.
People recalled special moments they had with him. No one wanted to believe Francisco was gone as they shared a meal and wondered with great sadness how things would be without him.
“Several people getting a breath of fresh air on the front porch alerted the others and nearly 40 people stood watch as a mother bear with her two cubs in tow, marched with no hesitation, toward treasures below the porch. She reached into the trash can, looked at it as if to say, ‘The master in this house, has approved of my being here’ and she walked off to the woodland to enjoy the morsels from her stolen loot.”
Francisco and his wife, Yolanda, his daughter, Irene, and his grandson, Edwardo, were his biological family but there were so many more who that he also considered family, including children, who called him grandpa. One of them, Ivet, wrote and sang a song honoring him during his funeral. There was not a dry eye in the church as she sang word of comfort.
His work of half a century remains but is not being used. The generator supplied all the energy needed to fuel a home in his Upper Greenwood Lake neighborhood, without oil tanks, gas lines or electrical wires. It powered a car that ran through the town of West Milford, and it powered a boat at Point Pleasant for nine hours.
Irene shared excerpts of her stories about her father. One was about his experiences as a soldier in the Chaco War, the result of a long dispute over ownership of the Chaco Boreal, a 90,000-square-mile area between Paraguay and Bolivia. The Chaco held a river which was Bolivia’s only outlet to the ocean. The Bolivian Army had few resources and the soldiers’ families had to provide their uniforms and essential clothing. Food was scarce and when supplies did reach camps, it was often inedible, due to spoilage and insect infestation. Between 1932 and 1938 when a treaty was finally signed, 100,000 soldiers died in the Chaco jungle.
Francisco’s military experiences included one that remains a mystery. Hungry, he found an old house in the forest, knocked on the door and a bent over, old woman signaled him to sit at a very old table. She brought him fresh bread and coffee. He ate the bread and drank the coffee. Francisco could not see the woman’s face in the dim light. Wearing a scarf, she never spoke. She gave him additional bread to take to the other soldiers. He thanked her, met up with his comrades and they shared the bread when they were back in camp. The next morning when the men returned to the cottage to thank the woman, they found it empty and it appeared to have been abandoned long ago, with cobwebs on the ceiling and everything covered with layers of dust, including the table. The oven was cold and dust covered. There were no other cottages in the area. There was never an explanation to the mystery, but Francisco knew he had received warm and real bread from the woman’s hands. He liked to think it was the spirit of his grandmother, who had cared for him as a child. The bread, only food source available for the soldiers, probably saved their lives.
Francisco always remembered the beauty of the Chaco and though he was glad to see the war ended, he felt a deep sadness for Bolivia’s loss of the beautiful region.
