The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-21


sources-The Forests Are Almost Unex
plored-Its Area Is Over 10000 squar
Miles, with About $4,000 Inhabitants
Harbor OF Santiago Is the Key to tn
District at All Times-ciimate OF East
ern Cuba
The territory in eastern Cuba, recent
ly surrendered by General Toral, EN-
braces about one-third Of that province
certainly its most valuable part, if one
considers its marvellous fertility as a sug.
ar and coffee district and its inexhaust.
ible deposits of iron ore and manganese
iron.
The harbor Of Santiago de Cuba is
one of the largest in the West Indies
It's extent and beauty are too well
known to require any new description.
ITS importance from a naval and mill.
tary standpoint is Of the highest order.
Whoever holds that harbor commands
eastern Cuba. The harbor is 10 eastern
Cuba what the harbor of Havana is to
western Cuba. IL 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 a coaling station,
as refuge in the hurricane season, it's
perfectly landlocked harbor holds first
rank. That old time city, properly for
titled, could bid defiance TO many a
modern power. It's value and future
will depend on who possesses it. If left
in the hands of the laissez faire Gu
bans, it 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
for six 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,
dye 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 20 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 1900, Of whom |
more than three fourths were Spanish !
negroes and their descendants, the |
whole being the descendants Of the At |
rican slaves sold i'll Cuba, the last of /
whom were freed about IL years ago.
The black element in eastern Cuba is in
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 oasterly di-
rection by water, some 30 miles away,
the bay Of Guantanamo is reached. The
mere hamlet facing the bay is named
Caimanera, the port and terminus Of
the railway leading 20 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.
1t in turn receives their crops and ships |
them by rail 10 the port already de-
scribed.
Many Of the vast estates belong 60
foreigners. The Messrs. B-ookes Of San
tiago own several Of the largest sugar
Mr Mckinley, a Scotch
man, owns one; DR.. Wilson, an Amer
lean, another; Mr. Eamsden coffee es-
tate. His father, f. W. Ramsden, a
partner Of Brookes 81 Co., is the British
consul at Santiago Mr.. Robert Mason |
of the same firm was vice consul for the |
United States before the war. Many of |
the estates are owned by Spaniards, Gu
bans and Frenchmen
The rich alluvial soil Of eastern Cuba
has made it its chief sugar producing
center in Cuba The black soil has a
varying depth Of from IL to 10 feet.
Sugar cane has been growing there
without replanting from 10 to 90 years,
and two yearly crops Of fine cane are
raised with minimum of labor and
expense. Coffee does very we'll A plan
tation natures in six years. Once pro-
lucing, it is small gold mine to its
owner Cattle do well and have proved
very profitable. The many possibilities
with such soil and climate done need
The province needs intelli-
yent enterprise and push, and it will
blossom with crops and prove one of the
'ichest and most productive spots on
arth-a new Klondike.
The forests of eastern Cuba are almost
They cover its mountain |