Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-03-15
A TRIP THROUGH CUBA.
Our Correspondent Visits Places Of
Interest In Land Of Summer.

Preston, little town across from Eel
ton, about nine miles. Preston is q
pretty little town. The most import-
ant enterprise is large sugar mill.
Both town and mill are owned by the
United Fruit Company of America.
They own 5000 acres OF land here,
5000 Of which Is in sugar cane. Mr.,
Lowell and l were shown all through
the mill. The cane comes in on their
own railroad trains and goes direct
to the crushing rollers, OF which there
are eleven sets. Each set consists of
elght rollers or crushers, and when
the cane gets through it is dry enough
to burn. The juice goes to a large
set Of condensers and passes from
one to another, each time getting
thicker until the last, when it Is gran
ulated sugar. 1t passes then over
dryers drawn to the lower plane,
when the sugar goes into bags Of
325 pounds each. We took the boat
back to FELTON,, and on the 18th start
ed for Santiago. We went by boat
to Antilla, where we took the train.
We arrived in Santiago that night,
stopping at Case Granda Hotel,
where we received fine treatment.
We went first to the battlefield of San
Juan Hill. There we saw the peace
tree or surrender tree. Around the
peace tree is large enclosure of
Spanish guns, with the bayonets in
side the enclosure. There are tablets
in bronze with the names of all who
fell In battle near Santiago. The tree
is called the silk cotton tree, and was
full OF blossoms at this time. There
were thousands Of honey bees in the
tree, and they made sound that re-
minds one Of the sound Of bullets dur
ing the battle. The tree has large
projecting roots like braces and Is AZ
feet around. The tree shows the
marks of many balls from both mus
kets and rapid-lre guns.
On our way up San Juan Hill we
saw many trees which the balls had
struck. One cocoanut tree had a hole
entirely through it, but was still alive
and full Of fruit. The block house on
top Of San Juan Hill that was de-
stroyed by the Americans has been
rebuilt of brick. Up in its tower are
tablets on which arrows point to all
the important places on the battle
field, with distance to each in yards.
Most of the timber and brush have
been cleared away in front of the hill.
, We were very much interested in this
place. U
We also went to the beautiful
school building that was built by
Governor Wood He built it with
money sent to him by Mrs Higgin-
son, of Boston. We also visited the
wall where the Spaniards used to line
, up their political prisoners and sus-
poets and shoot them. There IS
large memorial tablet on this wall.
We secured carriage and went to
Bonito Summit, which is on top Of
Sierra Maestia mountain. There Is a
beautiful roadway around the noun
tain, this having been built by Mr..
Wood while Governor of Cuba. The
view from this point, which is 1926
feet high, is truly grand, as the en-
tire city Of Santiago, the bay with
MORO Castle. and the entire battle
field, are In full view.
We left Santiago at 8 o'clock y. m.
on boat for Batahana. We travelled
day and night, stopping flve times on
the way to Manzanillo. There we
went up in the city park and heard
the band play. They made beautiful
music. There were about forty in
the band. and among them about six
negroes They were all one-just the
same. There is no difference in color
In Cuba. If | were a negro would
go to Cuba.
The next important stop was Glen
fuegos, which is pretty town.
We we're five days and nights on
water One night it was very rough
and the rocking was very unpleasant.
FINALLY we landed at Batahana,
where we took the train for Havana.
we spent over week there taking in
the exposition, which was fine, and
the exposition grounds were beauti-
ful. There were 10000 electric
lights on the grounds
on Sunday morning we went to
the Methodist church, arriving in
time for Sunday school. We were
invited into the Bible class and we
enjoyed 1t very much, as we were get
ting hungry to hear something good.
The sermon was good both morning