Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-13

on the southern coast, to discuss the unfor tunate state of the company's business, and cast aDout for some means, if possible, of making the receipts exceed the expenditures. Nevertheless, perhaps MT. Gould has it in his power to develop the entire island and re- new 1t, and breathe into it the breath of life which once animated it, so that such a rail road might be proftably operated It would take an industrial Java earthquake to accom- pllsh this, however, so long as the present government remains enthroned at Havana. But, doubtless, MT. Gould would expect to buy up the island in entirety, and maintain lE as private sugar estate for purposes of speculation. Indeed, a man told me that MT. Gould made this remark to him in Ha- vana: "I would be willing to pay $15O, ,OOO,- 900 down for Cuba, and I guarantee that l could make a mine of wealth out of the is land by opening up these rich tracts in the interior which yet terra incognita. There is no land more fertile in the world, and yet none that is realizing less of it's pos abilities"
 English is not much spoken here, but there appears to be quite considerable French population. The few Americans are mainly engaged in mining. And this leads me to speak of the mineral wealth of these mountains about Santiago, which is being developed now by American capital. The southern slope of the Sierra Maestro east of the bay of Santiago constitutes the coast range of southern Cuba. The Juragua hills at the base of La Gran Piedra, and indeed many of the hills that "are round about" Santiago have been found to contain a markedly rich iron ore, and in apparently exhaustless quantities. In 1882 three of the leading iron companies in the United States consolidated into an association for the pur- chase of the Juragua hills. I have been told that the purchase price was about $500, 900, The officers of this Juragua Mining company are principally Pennsylvania men, especially
 tnl yryifh the Bethlehem Iron Co., This company has been quietly but energetically at work ever since the purchase getting these mines into shape It is curious how ignorant the public in general is touching these iron mines here. Indeed, there is vagueness about the infor- nation which have been enabled to secure which is exceedingly tantalizing. In future letters I hope to get hold of some more def nite and tangible facts. Iquestioned good many of the English speaking residents of Havana, but nobody knew more than the bare fact that iron has been discovered in eastern Cuba. Even shipping agents doing an extensive business throughout the island confessed themselves absolutely ignorant re earding the mines. MT. Raymond Williams our consuI-general, said there were mines being operated by an American corporation in this vicinity, but he guessed they weren't very extensive. Our consul at Matanzas said, ssves-he wanted to learn something about those mines himself" Finally I called upon Senor Don Pedro Salterain Legarra, the inspector-general of the mines in the island for the Spanish government. (By way of d1- gression it may be of interest for me to call attention here to the curious Spanish GUS tom of perpetuating the mothers name. It is as if an American should sign himself tJohn Smith and Jackson" because the maid en name of his mother was Jackson). went with an interpreter, and was received with all the courtesy characteristic of these ceremo- niously polite islanders. But Senor Don Ped TO Salterain etc., could not give any reliable figures pertaining to these Juragua mines He showed me specimens of the ore, and salo that it was almost pure iron. Nor is 1t 8 thin crust of this ore,' said he, 'sthat covers these hills Excavations have been made to the depth of sixty feet, and there appeared no limit to the deposit. But the Juragua country for miles around is rich in iron de- posits During the last six months fifteen mines have been opened by Cubans and Spaniards. Another American company IS now negotiating for some mines at present held by Jose Ruiz Leon and Ferrer Brothers, with the prospect amounting almost to certainty that they will secure the mines and open them as the Juragua folks have done theirs"
 sWhere are these minesF' "About six miles from the Juragua mines"
 ''Are they also rich?'
 "tlu1te as rich as the JuraSua mlHeS,-lH my own opinion even richer"
 Are not the holders of Juragua mines principally interested in these mlnes? '.1 think not Otherwise they would make use of the Jurgaua company's railway, merely building the short link necessary in order to make connections. But as I understand it, the new company expect to build an lndepen- dent parallel railway"
 s'How is it that even you seem to know only the generalities touching these mines?" ''The Jaraoua company deals largely in mystlt1ca- tion even with officials like myself. It ob- tained it's original franchises from the home government at Madrid, and made represen- tations whereby it secured unusual rights and immunities Yet it went ahead of it's grants The railway has been completed good while, and yet the papers authorizing the company to build only came last month. The Cubangovernmenth has recently issued an order in view of these facts, calling upon the com pany to give more detailed and reliable infor- nation regarding their movements"
 The externals which appeal to the eye cer- tainly indicate that the Juragua company operates large scale. It has spacious new wharf on the bay of Santiago close by the city, and a railway leading from there to the mines, distance of twenty-one or twen- ty-two miles,-seven leagues as they say here The route followed is exceedingly cir cuitous, and involves good many deep cuts. In it's construction large force of men were employed, estimated at 800 or 1000. It IS said that the wages paid these laborers alone amounted to nearly $900,000; while the total investment including the cost of the rolling stock footed up some S1, BOG, 900 or $1, 4O0,- 000 The railroad was opened with 1naugu- ral ceremonies on the first of last July. Since then the mines have been steadily worked, but it is hard to get to an accurate estimate of the daily output. Owing to present mar ket conditions and other temporal considera- t;ono bo oI1trut has certainly not been what it can be made at any moments noiice. Figures returned by the company to the gov ernment place the output for the months ot 1884 subsequent to the completion of the road at 16, 945 tons; but the very official who showed me these figures said he presumed 30 900 tons was nearer the truth. Others have placed the estimate at from 700 to 800 tons day.
 But even this figure is not at all suggestive of the capacity of the mines, should treaty be consummated with Cuba whereby the ore could be received into the States free of duty. High authorities have expressed to me their conviction that there are no richer mines anywhere in the world ,and that there is prac- tically no limit to their working capacity. The conditions are all favorable to the pro- duction of the ore at minimum of cost. Labor is cheap, and the ore lies where it can be got at easily. The miners have only to blast the surface of the mountain side, and let 
 the point of mining is above the railway terminus So favorable are the con ditions for securing the ore that I should judge there are only about three hundred hands employed at present. The ore is shipped to Perth Amboy and taken from there to Philadelphia. There has been talk of the company's building yes sels of it's own in which to transport the ore. The iron is magnetic, of quality that makes very superior steel, and believe most of it is converted into steel.
 A meeting was held in Havana last Sun day at the Casino Espanol in the interest of the much talked of treaty between Spain and the United States on the subject of Cuba. Not understanding Spanish I could not fol- low all that was said, but it was evident, as was to be expected, that the feeling was unanimously in favor of the treaty. It ap peared to be a rally of the tobacconists. Per haps the sugar interest was represented, but all the noise was made by those in terested in eheapening Havana cigars for American smokers. number of speeches were made urging the claims of the treaty and setting forth how much it would do for Cuba. Of course the subject was, in some aspects, delicate one, for the Cuban treaty is looked upon as medicine calculated to remedy some of the evil effects of Spanish misrule. I was not surprised, therefore, when an enthusiastic young Cuban made speech, in which he IL, 4l Hn an