The times., 1898-06-27
cUBA,s UNDEyELopED WEALTH
Miles of Lumber Forests and Min
,eraI Veins.

Miles of Lumber Forests and Min
seraI Veins.
The productive soil, mineral wealth and
climatic conditions of the Is and of Cuba
entitIe it to rank among the foremost
communities of the world The soil is
marvel of richness, and fertilizers ex-
cept in the case, of tobacco. are seldom
used, even though the same crops be
grown on the same land for a hundred
years, as has happened in some of the
old sugar cane fields. The mountains are
of coral formation, While the lowlands,
of Eastern Cuba at least, seem to be
composed largely of fossils of sea matter
from prehistoric times. and are extreme
ly rich in lime and phosphate, which ac-
counts for the apparent inexhaustible-
ness of the soil
Although founded and settled more than
fifty years before the United States, Cuba
has still 1870 ,000 acres of primeval for
ests, consisting OF mahogany, cedar log
wood, redwood. ebony, lignumvitae and
caiguran. The latter is more durable in
the ground than iron or steel.
IL all the land suitable to the growth
dustry it is estimated that Cuba might
supply the entire Western Hemisphere
The island has already produced In a
single year for export i,C000 tons. and
its capabilities have only been in the
experimental stage. The adaptability of
the soil for tobacco culture has long been
known. Cuba takes great pride i'm the
quality of her coffee, and until the war
the plantations were fourishing
The land is not suited to the cultiva-
tion of cereals. and no -four mill exists on
the island anywhere.
In mineral wealth Cuba Is capable of
taking high rank. Gold and silver have
not been found in paying quantities. Cop
per was mined at Cobre by the natives
before Columbus discovered the island.
and there is strong proof that native cop
| per was carried aci IS to Florida and
| used by the Florida Indians hundreds of
! years ago. The mound builders of that
| State buried with their dead copper orna-
! ments and utensils hammered from
| tive copper, which always has admiX-
! ture of more or less foreign matter. AS
no copper ore is found in Florida, or in
! that portion of the United States, and,
! as that found in the United States or in
Mexico does not correspond chemically
/ with that buried in the mounds it oc-
CURED TO Prof r. II. Sanders of the
| Academy of Natural Sciences. in Phila-
/ delphia. that it was possible that these
mound d-builders had water communfca-
! ton with Cuba In the early part of the
! present century some English capitalists
! purchased these mines in Cuba. which
/ are nine miles from Santiago. From 1928
to 1910 an average of from $2OO00)O to
/ 50. 0O0 coo worth of copper ore was shipped
annually TO the United States from these
mines How much was shipped else
where is not known. Large quantities of
copper still remain unmined in this To-
cality.
The iron mines sof Cuba. all of which
are located near Santiago. overshadow
in Importance all other industries on the
eastern end OF the island, the
only industry that has made any pre-
tense of withstanhing the shock of the
present insurrectlon Two American
companies with combined capital of
over 5,0O0,000, operate mines in the vi
cnity of Santiago and employ from 800 to
1.fO0 men. shipping 10 the United States
from 10000 to $4,000 tons of ore per month,
the largest portion OF which is used at
Bethlehem, Steelton. Sparrow Point and
I Pittsburg The ore of these mines IS
among the richest in the world, yielding
from 60 to 81 per cent of pure iron. and is
very free from sulphur and phosphorus.
There are numerous undeveloped mines
of equal value in the same region.
In the Sierra Maestro range, on the
southern coast OF Cuba, from Santiago
west to Manzanillo, within a distance of
about loo miles, are found numerous de-
posits of manganese, an ore indispensa-
bic to the manufacture of steel Ameri-
can capital opened a mine about twenty
miles distant from Santiago. at place
called Ponupo, and built a railroad to 1t.
After shipping one cargo the miners were
stopped by the insurgents. As nearly all
the manganese used in the United States
comes from the Black Sea regions of Eu-
rope and a smaller quantity from the
northern part of South America, il is but
reasonable to suppose that the products
OF these nearby mines will be I'm great de-
mand when the conditions are such that
they can be operated in safety
Railroads and other highways, i'm
proved machinery and more modern
methods of doing business are among
the wants of Cuba, and with the onward
march of civilization these will doubtless
be hers in the near future. Cuba. like
other tropical and semi-tropicaf coun-
tries, is not given to manufacturing; her
people would rather sell the products of
the soil and mines and buy manufactured
goods.