The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-15


ire secHon-The Iron Industry
Important,
correspondence of the Associated Press
oANIlAGO DE CUBA, July 31.-Tba
province of Santiago de Cuba esra
daily that part Of 1t east of IL,
Drawn between Sague de Tananno San
LUIS and Santiago is today of vital
interest TO thousands in the JJnitef
states. This rich and fertile SOIL witt,
ITS wealth. of agricultural and mineral
resources, where droughts. floods and
irosts are unknown, is practically un-
oeVeioped. owing to the total absence
OF transportation facilities, either NV
rail or by road
In the whole province of SANTIAGO H.,
Cuba are only eighty miles of raiiroad
and not mile Of road deserving the
name between any two towns or viii
lageS, excepting narrow paths scarce
allowing horse or mule to pass
through the woods across streams and
over the mountains.
Telegraph communication exists be-
tween the different interior towns and
principal villages. over Spanish govern
nlent lines put up in the rudest fashion.
the vestige of insulators.
1ndustrlally, Santiago Is wofully be-
hind the times. Manufacturing plants
are limited to four or five cigar and
cigarette factories, rum distiIlery and
an Ice factory, which turns out be-
tween two and three tons day. which
sedl at the modest price of $45 a ton.
Little Ice rs, therefore, consumed by
the general public who otherwise
offer rlr1 Goo,
less expensive product
Experiments have been made at in
terVals to establish soap, candle and
match factories, but on such a small
scale that they were never able to paw
expenses, and closed out.
IRON INDUSTRY.
Sugar and coffee are the greatest
agricultural products, while in the way
of mineral wealth Santiago de Cuba's
iron and manganese mines demand
universal attention. The great iron
mountains and mines of Santiago are
owned and opefSted by three COM
panies-the Juaragua Iron company.
the Spanish-American company, and
the Sigua Iron company.
Inc Juragua is the largest company
operating here. This company, of
which Maj. Bent, Of the Pennsylvania
Steel company, is president, was form
ed and the property acquired in 1881
Its Shipments Of Bessemer ore so far
exceed 100000 tons. The total output
OF the Juragua mines is controlled by
the Bethlehem Iron works, the Penn
sylvania Steel company and the Mary
land Steel company. Its maximum
monthly output is 10000 tons. Siboney
is the shipping port of the Juragua
Iron company's mines.
The Spanish-American Iron COM
pany, of which Charles F. Rand, OF
New York, is president, acquired it's
property in 1889. It's shipments so far
have been 400 900 tons-to Philadelphia,
Baltimore, England. Scotland, Wales,
Belgium and Germany-where 1T has
been sold in the open market. Its
maximum monthly output is $4,000
tons. Daiquiri is the shipping port of
the Spanish-American Iron company.
Both these mining companies shut
down owing to the war on April q,
1898. They Will resume work at once.
The Sigua Iron company, which start
ed with a big boom in 1890, built a
broad guage railroad nine miles long
and extensive buildings and Sheds
shipped four cargoes In 1894, agregat-
ing $4,000 tons, and have not been
heard from since, abandoning it's prop
erty and closing down their mines
quiri, was their port Of shipment. All
their buildings, sheds and wharves
valued at $2,000,000, were burned down
by the insurgents, and their railroad
beds and trestles, evidently very badly
built, have all been washed away in
the last three years by the heavy rains
Their machine shops have all bee de-
stroyed, and were at one time used as
salt works by the Cubans.
LAWS LIBERAL.
One thing must be said in favor of
the Spanish government In this re-
spect Their mining laws have been
exceedingly liberal, encouraging ana
offering every facility to the opening
up of this new field. All the machinery
received by the mining companies was
exempt from duty, and all the coal
imported and used by them was ell
tered free.
Daiquiri deserves special mention as
being the greatest slave emporium cf
Cuba during the slave days. AS IS
well known the Santiago ore, with it's
low percentage of phosphorus, ranks,
together with the best of the world.
The Pompo Mining company, .of Man
ganese ore, is a relatively new concern,
and only shipped before the war about
400 tons of ore.
The entire iron district is parcelled
off clear UP to the Gran Piedra, the
highest peak of the Sierra Maestro,
and owned by private individuals. Most
some parcels by Frenchmen.
A curious feature is that the land
fee is separate from the mining rights,
both titles rarely being held by the
same individual.
AS It's name indicates, Ell Cobro,
about fifteen miles from Santiago Is
the heart of the copper fields of Cuba.
Those copper mines are extremely
valuable and have been worked since
early in the century.
They are owned by two companies,
one English, the other American, but
have been abandoned now for almost
thirty years. They were forced to
shut down by the Cobro Railroad COM
pany, which held the charter rights,
and with which they got into a litiga-
ton. The mines are exceedingly deep
and very damp. One of the features OF
these mines is a gigantic Cornish pump
put up at a tremendous expense. but
which never quite succeeded in pump
ing the mines dry or in living up TO
expectations. The mines are in no.
wise exhausted, and still possess a
rich treasure of buried wealth.
The siberian Railway.