The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-06
RESOURCES UNKNOWN.

RESOURCES UNKNOWN.
"The people of this country" he said,
"have no idea at all of the natural re-
sources of the beautiful island. AS it
stands today it is worth $500, 900, ,000 not
counting its value as a naval station,
which in itself is almost incalculable
for it commands the Gulf of Mexico.
The nation that controls Cuba controls
the mouth of the Mississippi river.
There is no denying that fact. But
don't care to speak of that feature. 1t
is of the wealth of the island and It's
recuperatiNe powers after such wars as
have been waged there that you want
to hear. The island contains about the
same number of square miles as the
State of Virginia. There are about 2S,-
100000 acres, and not five per cent. of
the available land has ever been cult
waited. Think of it. They have been
growing and cutting sugar cane there
for 800 years. BY available land | mean
land with a richness of soil exceeded no
where in the world and equalled in but
few lands, a soil IN which almost any
| thing will grow.
"Of the IS, 200, ,0O0 acres, in round num-
bers. II, 100000 are today virgin forests
untouched by man. They are forests,
| too of great richness There are thous-
! ands upon thousands of acres of the
| finest woods that grow Mahogany
! grown there has been sold in New York
! city as high as $3.50 thousand feet.
! There are forty kinds of the very hard
! and cabinet wood. The forests alone
are worth a mint of money. But it is
not here that her great wealth is. 1t is
! in her mines and in the fertility of her
! soil. Her mines are in no higher state
of development than her soil. The chief
reason for that is the tremendous tax
that the government Of Spain has put
upon mining. OF every mineral taken
out of the earth Spain has claimed 80
| per cent. as her own. This practically
prohibited mining, for the company that
undertook it had to pa - Cor the land
and pay for all the labor besides the
| expense of marketing the ore, out of the
so per cent. that the government would
let ii take. Just recently, however,
there have been concessions made to
| American companies, and iron ore is be-
ing mined, the government taking only
| five per cent. There are mountains or
iron ore there. The supply of it is in
exhaustible and the richness of 1t is
uneoualled 1t is of the quality that is
| USED III the " IpSSSelllSl
steel The recently discovered deposits
equal or exceed those on Lake Superior,
and are OF equal quality.
THE geology and mineralogy of the
island are yet but imperfectly known
however. The government has never
paid any attention to sucn matters. Be
sides the vast iron deposits there are
known to be great deposits of copper
Before the last war there were two
great copper mines operated prChtably
even though the government took halt
of all the product as it's share and paid
nothing for it, During that war thes5
mines were flooded and they have never
been pumped out. There are gold and
silver, but in what quantities l could
not say. On many of my trips through
the island ! have been invited by Gu
bans to go with them and they woult
show me where there Was gold. They
have brought samples OF both ores tc
me, but something has always happeneG
. that has prevented my accepting the in
Vitations.