Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-03-24
U. S. HARBOR AT
GUANTANAMO BAY
Writer Describes Famous Naval
Station in Southern Cuba.
RIFLE RANGES A FEATURE


ManeNers-Ten Baseball Diamonds
Laid Out for the Use of the Men OF
the Fleet.
How many people in the United
States know what the Guantanamo
base-the southern winter cruising
harbor-looks like and is? How many
know that the United States has a
plant of extraordinary efficiency there2
How many know what it means to the
north Atlantic feet each year? writes
Herbert Corey in the Chicago News.
didn't. I'll confess it. There was
some vague idea in my mind that the
fleet came down here each winter to
a sand-bordered beach, on which the
men played among cactus and sand
fleas and that from time to time they
went outside for battle practice. No
thought that pleasure might be found
here came to me. | knew there were
a couple of tiny towns nearby-Cai-
manera and BucOrOnr-in which rum,
roulette and damnation might be
found at price. But the background
to the picture was always bare, white
sand and cruelty hard sunlight and
Scrubby bushes, with restless surf
beating at an inhospitable strand.
That is wrong. Utterly wrong.
What Guantanamo Bay 10,
Guantanamo bay lies at the south
ern tip Of Cuba-a tip that is for the
most part utterly arid and therefore
useless for farming purposes-and
consists of a body of water. almost
completely land-lOCked covering about
10000 acres All around it is a circle
of low, brown hills, covered by a mes
quite scrub, and into which long, mar
row valleys thrust like the out
stretched fingers of a hand. The wa
ters edge is bordered by the vivid
green of the mangrove-the only bush
that can grow in salt water-except
that here and there warm, sandy
beaches invite the swimmers.
Here the United States has rented
from the Republic of Cuba "for so
long a time as it DESIRES" an area of
10000 acres, in which the bay is in
cluded, and which completely incloses
it, except for the narrow entrance
way. A rental of $1,000 annually is
paid to Cuba, although this territory
is of no possible value for other pur-
poses. The two little towns previous
ly mentioned have grown up here
since the fleet began to pay its winter
visits and now have reached some lit
tie commercial Importance as sugar
and salt exporting points. At first
they were wet-nursed by the fleets
business but now they can look after
themselves.
Rifle Ranges Feature.
At the Station there are about LOO
men, under Commandant ]. J. Hanni-
gan. There are a sufficient number of
marines to preserve order and to act
as a reserve force in the event of any
nearby. trouble which might demand
hasty action, and the remainder are
labOrers of the various tropic sort. To
the rife ranges, which have a capacity
Of 264 rife targets and 60 pistol tar /
gets, up to 1,000.yard range, and which
can be expanded indefinitely. 1t is
said that this is the largest and finest A.,
range in the United States or its de-
tendencies. Each range lies up one
Of the fingerlike valleys, which stretch
out from the palmlike basin near the .
beach. In a months time 10000 men
could be drilled in rife shooting each .
morning and afternoon.
There are ten baseball diamonds for
the use of the men of the fleet, and
ground has been cleared on which 9TH
ers will be laid out as fast as they are
needed. There are tennis grounds and
handball courts and recreation build!
ings and all the architectural features
needed in an establishment which is
designed not only for the training Of
$4,000 TO 10000 seamen annually, but
also for their recreation.