Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23
American Spectators Casting Long
ing Eyes on 1t.
LAND NOT OF MUCH VALUE
Some Resources Which Might Be
Developed.
ITS z A r L Y II S T 0 r Y

4
chance. Since the money must come out
| of the pockets of their fellow countrymen
| who are looking for real estate invest
| ments, some facts about the isle and its
status may be interesting to the people
! of the United States.
/ The present activity the part of the
| real estate agents in Havana is based on
| the belief that the Isle of Pines will be an
! American possession. The ground for this
| belief is the reported Willingness of the
| Cubans to concede It rather than to grant
| naval stations the mainland, and the
knowledge that the American authorities
| hold that the title was ceded to the United
| States by spain In the treaty of Paris. On
| this point it would be we'll for the Amer
| lean public to await the determination of
the question before making land invest
| mentS. The Platt amendment simply re-
| quires that the constitutional convention
| in the supplementary ordinance shall pro-
| ri6e for determining the status of the Isle
! OF Pines.
! Under the Paris Treaty.
| The United States can enforce its claim
| under the IL eaty of Paris If 1t desires,
but there may be something like cross-pur-
| poses and it is hardly probable that this
country would give up all claims to naval
| or coaling stations, especially on the north
| coast. in order to possess itself of the
/ doubtful equivalent of the island. More
| over there is a good deal of sentiment
among the Cubans with regard to main
| tanning what they claim is Cuban terri
| tory. and while, in contrast with the In
! dignation which was aroused n few months
| ago at the suggestion of the Isle of Pines
! being American possession the present
! disposition is to yield that claim a wave
! of popular sentiment may come up at any
! time and upset the plans for reiinquish-
nnent.
/ state these facts because the pros
| of the Havana real estate SDecu
| Iators are becoming pretty numerous and
| are based mostly on the claim that the
] Isle of Pines is an American possession be
| yond dispute. If that We're true it would
| still be desirable to know something of
! the lands which are offered for sale and
| to make sure that a ten-acre town lot in
| the island was any more valuable than
| the ten acres of sand beach In California
| which used to be sold for s.. In the Isle
| of Pines it would be swamp instead of
I sand that might be bought If the island
| does become an American possession it is
| possible that the sponge fishing interests
which have their headquarters at Batabano
| on the mainland will be transferred to it
| in order 10 come within the United States
! tariff and for other reasons. That is one
! of the projects which is now under con-
| sideration. These fisheries amount to some
| thing like $685. 200 year, and are the chief
! industry of that part of the Cuban coast.
| They are greater than the sponge fisheries
| on the north coast in the neighborhOod of
! Nuevitas.
Not Agreed to Naval Station.
| Naval experts do not seem to be fully
| agreed regarding the availability of the
| Isle of Pines for naval station. There is
/ good anchorage on the southwest end of
/ the island known as the Gulf of Siguanca,
| and it is claimed that from this anchorage
/ vessels drawing twenty feet can pass
| around northward to New Corona, which
! is the chief harbor and to which the YES
| sells from BatabanO come. This passage is
! inside the small keys or sWampy islands
| covered with mangrove bushes. 1t is worth
recalling that when the Panama canal was
| first projected European governments gave
some attention to the possibility of Spain
establishing naval station the Isle of
| Pines, and the Spanish authorities made
! some sort of an examination, but after
! their usual way they did not pursue it, and
| there no official report of special value
| during that period.
! Should the island be declared an Ameri
can possession and naval or coaling sta
| ton be established the people who own
| the land will probably be able to get good
| terms for it from the United States. There
| Is practically no government land except
| q few hundred acres on the north coast
| which has little value. 1t Is occupied by
! tenants who might claim 1t under squatter
sovereignty They We're supposed to pay
nominal rental to the treasury at Havana,
! but few of them complied.
| The Isle of Pines has area Of about
| $50 square miles. but it is impossible to
/ determine no" Ht{t!i ti tiiS Is real rama
| and how much is swamp. The southern
| half of the island is one vast swamp,
| greater in extent than the Dismal Swamp
Of Virginia. Because nobody knows much
| about this cienaga swamp fabulous
| stories are told of it's wealth of mahogany
and various kinds of timber. What is
known to be a fact is that 1t is densely
populated with caimanes, alligators, and
| g few fishermen live on the fringes.
| Land of Not Much Value.
no bcru hal hac "A
but most of this consists of savannas
which are hardly capable of cultivation
! Captain Fred S. Foltz of the I'd Cavalry,
| who made the most thorough survey of
| the Isle of Pines, gave it his opinion
| that the agricultural lands did not exceed
| 20 per cent of the total area, and half Of
| this was of doubtful value. A large pro-
| portion is covered with mangroves The
! mangrove is ID bush which takes It's root
| in salt water. All of the keys around
! Cuba are covered with these bushes, some
| OF which are as large the American
! willow. which they resemble.
1t is the custom of the Cubans and Span
| iards who have lands lying along the coast
and who are selling to American buyers
to make a point of the mangroves. They
always count those in as worth something
| An American buying 10000 acres of land
! along the coast usually finds that two or
three thousand acres are covered with
mangroves, which the liberal Cuban or
J Spaniard puts in as an extra inducement
/ at reduced price. He might just as well
! put In few thousand acres Of the sur
| face of the sea
| Because of its swampy nature. the island
| has a vast number of coves and creeks
| which are sometimes described as nayi-
| gable streams. If the Isle of Pines be-
| comes an American possession probably
the Engineer Corps of the army could
easily find reasons for including some of
! them in a s50.O00,OO0 river and harbor bill.
| Yet these creeks are hardly an inducemcnt
| to commerce. Captain Juan Tirry, the
| Spanish shipping master, who made the
| first real survey OF the island, a hundred
and four years ago. waded through them.
Resources Which Might He Developed
| In spite of its swampy nature the island
| has some resources which might be de-
| veloped The mahogany, like mahogany
! everywhere In Cuba, Is an exaggerated
wealth, but there may be enough of it to
| justify commercial enterprise. The pine
trees are too small for lumber and about
their only use is for poles, though two or
three small saw mills have been in opera
ton. The chief value OF the pine forests
| he in hal