Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-04-29
ATLANTIC CROSSROADS
Virgin Islands Of Very Great Strate'
glC Value.
UNCLE SAM PAID A LONG PRICE
But There Was Reason to Believe that
if Some Other Nation Should Get
Hold Of These Islands Such Posses

.
sion Might Prove Costly to America.
Just what did Uncle Sam get for
the s25,oOO,00 he paid to Denmark for
the Virgin Islands?
a recent spectacular airplane flight
by United States Marines from Wash
ington over. the largest. islands OF the
West Indies to map out an air line to
these latest lands to come under the
American Flag has raised the question
anew. An answer is given by the fol-
lowing bulletin issued from Washing
ton, D. c.. headquarters OF the Nat
ional Geographic Society:
"The Virgin Islands are not remote
from other United States soil. They
are hardly more than stones throw
from Porto Rico. st. Thomas, the
westernmost Of the three larger Vir-
gins, is only 40 miles from that island.
and the presence of Culebra Island,
belonging to Porto Rico, midway be-
tween the two, ties the new posses
sions still more closely to this elder
American brother; by adoption. The
truly beautiful view that MAY be had
from the 1.5O0-foot peak of hilly St.
Thomas includes to the west the dim
outline oG;the Porto Rican coast.
Close to British Territory.
"St.' John. the smallest Of the three
principal islands acquired by the
United States, lies only two miles to
the east of st. Thomas. 4 climb to
the rugged hills of st. John will DEM
onstrate that the American Virgins
are also not remote from foreign ter
ritory 4 mile to the north lies
Thatch Island, a small bit Of land be-
longing to Great Britain. and less than
three miles in the same direction is
Tortola Island of the British Virgins,
almost as large as st. John. =:
."St. CroiX. the largest Of the newly
purchased islands, lies 40 miles to the
south. It. i. not part geographically
of the Virgin group, but was included
with St. Thomas and st. John for ad-
!uinistrative purposes by the Danes
and is classed by the United States as
one of It's Virgin Islands. st. Croix is
I little over three times the size Of
Manhatton Island, containing approx
imately 81 square miles. st. Thomas,
with an area of % square miles, is
about II miles long and has an aver
age width not much over miles. 1t
is therefore almost exactly the size OF
Manhattan Island, containing approx
extreme length of s miles and width
somewhat over % miles. Its area is
approximately 20 square miles. The
entire group, including the numerous
tiny islands of small value, has little
more than twice the area Of the Dis
trict of Columbia. the smallest Of the
main divisions of the United States
proper. go,
Our Higheet Priced Territorial Pur.
III chase.
"For these islands the United
States paid higher price per acre
than for any other of its famous pur-
chases. Only cents an acre was paid
for Alaska, IA for Florida, and p for
the Philippines. The Canal Zone cost
1858 per acre. The price per acre
paid for the Virgin Islands was ap-
proximately s295.
The features that give the chief
value to the islands from the point Of
view Of the United States government;
ire st. Thomas tTarhor en- which is
situated the principal town Of the
group Charlotte Amalie: and Coral
Bay on the island of st. John. St.
Thomas Harbor is probably the best
developed harbor in the West Indies,
and is naturally protected except from
exceptionally strong hurricanes. Cor
nj Bay though entirely undevelopcd,
constitute an even more commodious
and better protected harbor Of refuge.
These harbors were valuable to the
United States in themselves. but it
was even more important that the
United States prevent their falling in
to the hands Of possible enemies.
An Atlantic Crossroads.
"Thc Greater Antilles. made up Of
The larger OF the West Indies, and the
Lesser Antilles, composed Of the
smaller islands, together form a 81
gantic crooked arm enclosing the Car
ibbean Sea. The Virgin Islands are
at the elbow. the closest point TO
Europe. Past this point streams the
traffic between Europe and the Pana-
ma Canal. between New York and both
the east and west coasts OF South and
Central America, and between the
Greater and Lesser Antilles. 1t has
been said OF st. Thomas Harbor and
the town Of Charlotte Amalie that
they are on the road to everywhere.
TO this fact has been due the inlpor-
tance Of the town; and the town in
turn has given 10 the Islands of st.
Thomas and st. John what lmpor-
lance they had in recent years. Its
accessibility. it's good harbor, its fac
ilities for coaling and storage, and fo:'
dry dockagc and repairs to steamers,
gave Charlotte Amalie a place of
nreeE1inence among all the harhors Of
No Ha