The Republican journal., 1898-06-30
East Baton Rogue Parish, La. went To

East Baton Rogue Parish, La. went to
| Cuba in search of a plantation which linn
tied means could buy. He found it. near
Matanzas-2OOO acres, of the light colored
soil which in Cuba is called stMnlatto
land,' and which had been worked 90
| long solely in sugar cane that it wonld
yield less than half crop. At the upner
end of the estate Mr.. Mediation found
| series OF deep caves, which if ever dis
covered before, had been entirely FORGOT.
ten; and these made his fortune. For
| ages, millions Of bats had made this their
haunt; and time and natures chemistry
had converted their droppings into the
best fertilizer for Worn out sugar and to-
bacco lands yet known. Within three
years the Mediation place was turning ont
eight thousand pounds of sugar to the
acre, and the shrewd Lousianian found
another great fortune in his bat guano.
The Bishop family of New Haven, Ct.
were-and probably are to-day, the own
ers of some extremely valuable sugar es-
tates, near Remedies, about POO miles from
Havana, which has enriched three gener-
ations of heirs and owners.
| As nearly as | can ascertain, about 200
Americans of Anglo Saxon blood, that is
not counting the naturalized Cuban Amer
| leans, own property in Cuba. Among
them is Mr. Ramon Williams, formerly of
| Baltimore, who was once our Consul Gen
eral at Havana.
| The Spanish American Iron Company
which has its main office in New York
and is made up largely of capitalists who
| have been active in the iron ore business
in the Lake Superior region, have also
done an extensive business in Cuba. The
Colbys, the Elys and the Rockefelers are
the chief stock owners. \ few years ago
the company acquired control of several
thousand acres of valuable iron ore depos,
its between Santiago and Guantanamo, on
the south side of Cuba. A very large
amount of money was expended in explor-
ing the property, opening mines and es-
tablishing facilities for handling the out
put. There is no harbor nearer than San
tiago and in order TO ship ore economi-
cally,, it was necessary to construct an ar
titicial harbor by building great break
water on the open coast. Extensive load
ing piers were built, large enough to load
four steamers at time. All these prep
arations We're practically completed sew
eral years before they were put to any use
No shipments were made, because the
company adopted the policy of waiting
for advantageous market conditions. The
reduction of the duty on iron ore from Is
cents to 40 cents per ton, and the in
creased demand for Bessemer iron ore in
eastern Pennsylvania, finally started the
Co. made a contract with the johnson
). 5. Co. to transport 80, 600 tons OF ore to
ports north of Cape Uatteras. A good
deal OF it was discharged at Port Rich
'nond, and carried to furnaces along the
line of the Philadelphia and Reading h. L.
This is the third large company which
has opened iron mines in Cuba. The old
est and largest is Juragua Iron Co. which
is jointly owned by the Pennsylvania Steel
Co. and the Bethlehem Iron Co. The
oagua Iron Co. was also organized in Phil
adelphia 1t is estimated that these three
companies have invested not less than ten
million dollars in Cuban mining property.
FANNIE BRIGHAM WARD.