The evening times., 1897-01-20
C0NsUL'S REPORT ON CUBA
Interesting Facts Collected by
Our Representative There.
THE MANY PRIlIEVAL FORESTS
Almost Incredible Tobacco and
Sugar Crops Copper Was Mined
at Cobre Before Columbus Dis
covered the Island-The Capital
Invested by Americans.

In obedience to what he deems a pop
dlar demand to know more OF Cuba and
its productive powers, Consul Hyatt, at
Santiago de Cuba, has sent the State De-
partment an interesting report On that
isalnd.
with an area about equal to that of
Penns sylvania,' he writes, "a length OF
T75 miles and width varying from 80
to I60 miles, Cuba stands in gecgraph-
ical position which together with her pro-
duotive soil, mineral wealth and climatic
conditions should entitle her TO rank among
the foremost communities OF the world
distinction to which believe whenever
a stable government and cheerful obedi-
ence 10 the powers that be, present 10 the
hOmeseeker and investor conditions that
will Ike home secure and capital secure.
Although founded and settled more
than fifty years before the United States
Cuba has still B GOO 600 acres of prime
val forests. where the wCodman's axe has
never been heard. These forests are tim
bered besides other woods with mahogany.
cedar, logwood. ebony, hgnumvitae, ana
CaiEuaran, the latter being more durable
in the ground than iron or steel The soil is
a marvel Of richness. and fertilizers Of
any kind are seldom used unless in the
case oftobacco, even though the same crop
be gown in the same field for a hundred
years. as has already happened in some
OF the sugar cane fields
The mountains are Of coral formation.
while the low lands. Of Eastern Cuba, at
least. seem to be composed largely of f0s
sils OF sea matter from prehistoric times
and arc extremely rich in lime and phoS-
phate which accounts for their apparent
observation-disclosures"
After describing the almost incredible
sugar and tobacco crops, Consul Hyatt
takes up tll, mineral wealth. he says cop
Der was mined al Cobre by he natives be-
fore Columbus discovered the island, and
there is strong proof that native copper
was carried across to Florida and used by
the Indians 300 years ago, il having been
demonst rated that copper utensils found in
the mounds of that State were of the Cuban
metal, and unlike that obtained from Mex
ico and Michigan. The books OF the con-
sulate show that from 1928 TO 1S40 an
nuaI shipments Of copper ore TO the United
States averaged So 2,0O0 ,O00 10 S3,000,000.
Iron overShadows all other industries Of
eastern Cuba and constitutes ''the only
industry that has made any pretense Of
standing up against the shock of the pres
ent Instruction
These mines continue to ship from 2c,
600 to 10000 tons OF ore to the United
States every month, the largest portion OF
which is used at Bethlehem, SteeltOn and
PittSburg and at Sparrow's Point, Md.
American capital recently opened manga
nese mine about twenty miles from San
tiago aud built "A railroad to carry the ore,
but after shipping one cargo the business
was closed up by the insurgents As nearly
all the manganese used in the United States
comes from the Black Sea, with a small
amount from South America, the consul
believes that the product OF these mines
will be in great demand when the cond- |
tions are such that they can be operated |
with safety"