The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-08-06
TABLE OF DISTANCES.

4.-E~s = = -----s .s - ....&
TABLE OF DISTANCES.
santgiao de Cuba to San Juan, Puerto u q
Key West. Fla, to San Juan Puerto
Tampa. Fla. to San Juan. Puerto Rico 1880
Charleston, S. c., to San Juan, Puerto
RICO. ....... ....................1.19 )
Newport News. Va. to San Juan, Puerto
New York to San JUAN Puerto Rico. i, 40
About $40 miles from Santiago, a little
20 the southwark of east, lies the town
OF San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico,
a Spanish West India island, which our
army and navy are rapidly preparing to
attack. Puerto Rico lies seventy miles
east of Haiti, from which it. is separated
by the Mona passage. The island. saws
the New, York Herald is in the shape of
an irregular parallelogram, about 100
miles long and thirty-seven broad and
has an area Of $3.50 square: miles, which
Is about half the size of the State of New
Jersey. 1t has coast line of about 300
miles.
"A range of lofty mountains called Lu-
quillo, covered with woods and intersected
by numerous deep ravines, runs through
the center of the island, beginning near
the northeast point and terminating south
of Arecibo in a hill called the Silla de
Cabillo. ~------s- -.
The highest peak of this chain, which
Is 3,714 feet high, is visible in clear
weather from distance of sixty-eight
miles, and forms am excellent landmark.
1t is called Ell ,Yunque or Anvil peak like
the peak; back of our newly acquired Gu
ban harbor of Baracao, and for the same
reason that the mountain top at dis,
tonce looks something like an anvil.
Puerto Rico was discovered in 1893, by
NovY o1Snyey r.
ed the town of San Juan Bautista ia
milarly known as San Juan. In 1888
Drake sacked the city, and three years
later the duke of Cumberland also looted
1t. These acts were in a measure re-
venged,d when in 1915 the Dutch were re-
pulsed, when in 1878 the English were
unsuccessful, and when again in 1907,
Abercrombie retired after a three days
siege. In 1920 the Puerto Ricans rose in
revolt, but We're put. down. Since then
there have been incipient revolutions.
j, Again is San. Juan to be attacked, but
this time not for plumber or revenge, but
for possession, to hold it and govern it
and make of it a well conducted part of
the United States of America.
Puerto Rica can be made valuable
possession. It is exceptionally we'll
watered, and it's general appearance is
beautiful. Forests cover all the higher
parts of the hills, and there are extensive
savannas ON which large herds of cattle
are pastured. Along the coasts the land
is generally level and fertile, although
as little rain falls here at times, and long
to resort to- artificial irrigation to secure
the best results.
Sugar, molasses and coffee are the sta
ples besides cotton, maize and rice, the
last of a variety that needs no flooding
during the growing. Nearly every tropi-
cal fruit is cultivated and exported and
cattle are raised and shipped in large
numbers to the neighboring islands. The
Encyclopedia Britannica declares the ex-
in value those Of Jamaica.
The great want of the island is roads
and bridges. The journey across the hills
can only be performed on horseback, and
even aloEg the coast route wheeled traffic
Is at times interrupted. 1t looks as though
our army, when it lands preparatory to
investing San Juan, would have another
tough time Of road making, though the
climatic conditions of Puerto Rico are
vastly superior to those about Santiago.
The coasts of the island are by no
means well known, and the charts and
sailing directions are in consequence in
complete. On the eastern coast there are
nine small rivers emptying into the sea
and several small ports frequented by
lasses. The instructions which can be
given for this coast are so deficient that
1t would be by no means safe for a
stranger to cruise here without pilot.
Port Fajardo, Bahia Honda, Humacao
and Naguabo are the principal ports on
the east coast. on the entrance to the
first named there is battery. The place
is shipping port for cattle, as are all
the others, especially Humacao ard Ma
guabo. The sea on the east coast Is gen.
orally smooth, SO that vessels may lie
safely at the anchorage.
The north coast of Puerto Rico is rug
ged and uneven. It runs in a nearly
straight line east and west, and between
San Juan Head and Port San Juan pre-
sents no shelter whatever. The shore on
the eastern portion of this stretch of
coast appears to be skirted by a reef, in
closing small islets, over which the sea
breaks violently and it should not be ap-
preached within distance of four miles.
About thirty miles from the eastern end
of the island Is the harbor and city of
San Juan. The city is we'll laid out, and
is one Of the healthiest in the West In
dies It is situated on Moro island, which
forms the north side of the harbor and is
separated from the mainland by a mar
row creek called the Channel of San An
tonic.
The city is almost hidden from seward
by the high land on the northern shore.
The population in peace times is about
twenty thousand, comfortably housed.
The sanitary conditions of the city is
good; the streets are clean, and the peo-
pie are orderly. There are reported to be
from eight to ten thousand troops in the
vicinity. There is cable communication
with ST. Thomas, also a telegraph line
connecting the principal places on the
island
There is a lighthouse on MORO point,
elevated III feet above the sea- which
shows fixed light, having flash Of five
seconds duration every minute, and
should be visible eighteen miles. There
is semaphore erected in the MORO fort,
and there are lifeboat and other life
saving apparatus established at San Juan.
Toward the east and south the harbor
is sheltered by the low, swanpy land of
Puerto Rico, and on the west by the Ca
bras islands and the shallow banks which
connect them to the shore. On the Ca
bras islands are two large hospital build
ings and on the southernmost islet,
called Canuelo, there is fort which
commands the entrance. Between the
MORO and Cabras the channel is barred,
and with strong nOrtherly winds it breaks
a depth of about five fathoms. The inner
port has about three fathoms Of water
The Notifications on the MORO and along
the sea front are ancient, but some mod
efn guns are mounted of six-inch caliber.
The north coast of Puerto Rico from
San Juan westward to ArecibO, a distance
Of thirty-three miles, affords only indif-
ferent anchorages, of which Manati is
the best Somewhere along this stretch
it is thought. the army Of invasion VI.
! $500