The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-07-20
MANY VERY GOOD HARBORs
Area Is 10000 Square Miles With
$4,000 Inhabitants.
HARBoR OF SANTIAGO THE KEY

considers its marvellous fertility as sug-
ar and coffee district and its inexhaust-
ible deposits of'iron ore and manganese
iron. &t1t
The harbor Of Santiago de Cuba is
one Of tho largest in the West Indies
It's extent and beauty are too we'll
known to require any new description
Its Importance from . naval and mill
tary standpoint is Of the highest order.
Whoever holds that harbor commands
eastern Cuba. The hsrbor is to eastern
Cuba what the harbor of Havana is to
western Cuba. It Is the key to the dis
trict at all times. The MORO and La
Socapa forts. if modernized, can make
for any feet the entrance to its harbor
an impossibility. As coaling station,
as refuge in tho hurricane season, it's
perfectly landlocked harborr holds first
rank. That old time city, properly for
titled, could bid defiance to many
modern power. It's value and future
will depend on who possesses it. If left
in the hands of the laissez faire Gu
bans. 1t will be, as it was up to today,
the land Of manana, or of tomorrow.
It's geographical position makes the har-
Dor an absolute essential to the province
forsix or seven months of the year,
when the soft and imperfect roads of
the interior and coast sections are
wholly or nearly impossible, owing to
the copious tropical downpours.
The city of Santiago during the rains
is almost cut off from the interior, save
by short and unimportant section Of
railway. 1t communicates by sea with
neighboring ports ON the island and
ships to the outer world sugar, coffee,
dyo and other woods, iron ore. man
ganese and fruits. To that outer world
she looks for her daily bread, her food
stuffs, canned goods and the articles of
everyday life and commerce. They
come to her by water and have SO come
for nearly four centuries. Until rail.
ways develop the interior and communi-
cate with other ports the highway to
Santiago will still be by the open sea.
Santiago before the war had an esti.
mated population Of II, 900. of whom
moro than three-fourths were Spanish
negroes and their descendants, the
whole being the descendants of lie Af-
rican slaves sold in Cuba, the last of
whom were freed about 12 years ago.
The black element In eastern Cuba is in
a vast majority. Some thousands of
the whites hitherto have been Spanish
officers and soldiers, naval officers and
sailors, and the rest merchants and
planters. While the majority are of
Spanish or Cuban descent many are
English, French, Germans and Ameri-
cans. Many Spanish officers married
Cuban wives, and many upon retiring
on their pensions settled in Cuba and
became landowners and planters.
To pass briefly to its other ports or
harbors, proceeding in an easterly di-
rection by water, some 80 miles away,
the bay of Guantanamo is reached. The
mere hamlet facing the bay is named
Caimanera, the port and terminus Of
tho railway leading to the interior city
of Guantanamo The city is on an in
land plateau, situated in the center of
the richest sugar district in the world.
The old time city is quaint and essen
tally Spanish. 1t is the supply center
for the many sugar and coffee estates.
Tin turn receives their crops and ships
them by rail to the port already de-
scribed. 49, ee9
Many of the vast estates belong to
The Messrs. BroolSes of San
tiago own several of the largest sugar
Mr.. Mckinley. Scotch
man, owns one; DR.. Wilson, an Amer
lean, another; Mr.. Ramsden coffee es-
tate. His father, f. w. Ramsden, a
partner Of Brookes & Co., is the British
consul ut Santiago. Mr.. Robert Mason
Of the same firm was vice consul for the
United States before tho war. Many of
the estates arc owned by Spaniards, Gu
bans and Frenchmen.
The rich alluvial soil OF eastern Cuba |
has made it its chief sugar producing
center i'm Cuba. The black soil has q |
varying depth of from l2 to 16 feet |
Sugar cane has been growing there |
without replanting from 10 to 20 years,
md two yearly crops Of fine cane are
raised with minimum Of labor and |
expense. Coffee does very well. A plan
tation natures in six years. Once pro-
lucing, it is a small gold mine to it's |
owner. Cattle do well and have proved |
vory profitable. The many possibilities
with such soil and climate do not need
The province needs intelli-
gent enterprise and push, and IL will
blossom with crops and prove one Of the
-ichest and most productive spots on
,arth--a new Klondilse.
The forests. of eastern CubN are almost
They cover its mountain
'ides and abound in the choicest Of trop-
cal mahogany. hard cedar, lignum Vita
Ind dycwooda The minerals Of eastern
Cuba deserve special mention. In the
,lden days much copper was got not far
rom the city Of Santiago That indus
ry seems to have been abandoned for
he more profitable one Of iron ore and |