The History of Cuba Volume V Part 7

The Najasa has its origin a little south of the City of Camaguey, and pa.s.ses through a heavily timbered country, carrying many logs to the landing of Santa Cruz del Sur. A railroad was surveyed from the latter city to the capital some years ago, but has never been completed.

On the north coast, between the Jatibonico del Norte, which forms the northwestern boundary, and the Puentes Grandes, forming the northeastern, we have some ten or a dozen short streams, among the most important of which are the Rio de los Perros, emptying into the Lagoon of Turaguanao; the Rio Caonao emptying into the lagoon of Romano; the Jiguey, cutting through the western extremity of the Sierra de Cubitas and emptying into the eastern end of the above mentioned lake; the Rio Maximo, rising on the south side of the chain, sweeping around its eastern end and emptying into the Bay of Sabinal; and the Saramaguacan, one of the longest in the province, rising in the mountains of the Najasa, whence it flows in a northeasterly direction and empties into the harbor of Nuevitas. Both the Chambas and the Rio Caonao, when not obstructed by mud bars at their mouths, are navigable for light draft schooners and sloops, for some twelve or fifteen miles into the interior.

At no point on the south Coast of Camaguey can be found any harbor worthy of the name, although at Jucaro, Santa Cruz del Sur and Romero, considerable timber and sugar are s.h.i.+pped from piers that extend out into the shallow waters of the Jucaro and Guacanabo gulfs.

The long system of salt water bays or lagoons, beginning at Punta Hicaco in Matanzas, continues along the entire north coast of Camaguey and terminates in the beautiful harbor of Nuevitas. The lagoons of Camaguey are formed by a series of keys or islands, of which Cayo Romano, seventy-five miles in length, with an average width of ten miles, is the most important.

Although most of the area of this island is covered with a dense jungle of low trees, the eastern end rises to quite a high promontory, with more or less arable land, planted at the present time in henequen, and yielding a very good revenue to the owner. An unknown number of wild ponies, variously estimated at from six hundred to two thousand, inhabit the jungles of Cayo Romano, living largely on the leaves of the forest, and consequently degenerating in size and form to such an extent that they have a very little commercial value.

Cayo Coco, really an extension of Romano, reaches out to the westward some fifteen miles further, while the Island of Guajaba, separated by a narrow pa.s.s with only three feet of water, incloses the beautiful harbor of Guanaja. Sabinal, some 25 miles in length by ten or twelve in width, forms the northern sh.o.r.e of the harbor of Nuevitas. On the latter key there is fairly good grazing ground and much territory that eventually will probably be planted in henequen, as is the promontory of Nuevitas, just north of the city of that name.

These salt water lakes or bays are often twenty-five miles or more in length by ten wide and with an average depth of fifteen feet.

Unfortunately, not only are they separated by narrow pa.s.ses seldom carrying over three feet, but exit to the ocean for any craft drawing over five or six feet is very difficult to find.

The harbor of Nuevitas, in the northwestern corner of the Province, is one of the finest in the Island. Its width varies from three to ten miles, while its length is approximately twenty, carrying excellent deep water anchorage throughout almost its entire extent. A peculiar river-like opening, six miles in length, deep and narrow, connects it with the Atlantic Ocean.

In proportion to its size, the province of Camaguey has less railroad mileage than any other in the Island. Until 1902, when Sir William Van Horn, late President of the Cuba Company, connected the City of Santa Clara by rail with Santiago de Cuba, there were but two railroads in that section of the country. One, the Camaguey & Nuevitas Road, connected the capital with practically the only s.h.i.+pping point on the north coast. Another, built many years before, for military purposes, connected the town of San Ferrando, on the north coast, with Jucaro on the south coast, and ran parallel with what was known as the Trocha, a military ditch about eighty kilometers in length, with two story concrete forts at each kilometer, and low dug-outs, or shooting boxes, located midway between the princ.i.p.al forts. The ground was cleared on either side of the railroad for a kilometer, while on both sides a perfect network of barbed wire, fastened by staples to the top of wood stakes, rendered it difficult for either infantry or cavalry to cross from one side to the other. This modern military device was established by the Spanish forces in 1895, so as to prevent the Cubans from carrying the revolution into Santa Clara and the western provinces.

As in the other provinces of Cuba, cane growing and the making of sugar forms the chief industry, although, owing to the wonderfully rich potreros, or grazing lands of Camaguey, the raising of live stock in the near future will doubtless rival all other sources of wealth in that section.

There are twenty sugar mills in the province with a production of approximately 3,000,000 bags. The two mills at Las Minas and Redencion, between Camaguey and Nuevitas, have been in operation for many years, but with the opening up of the Van Horn railroad a new impetus was given to sugar production, and during the past ten years, some eighteen new mills have been established at various points along the railroad where lands were fertile and comparatively cheap.

A line known as the North Sh.o.r.e Railroad of Cuba, connecting the city of Nuevitas with Caibarien, in Santa Clara Province, some 200 miles west, was surveyed and capital for it was promised, in 1914. The breaking out of the European war delayed work on the road, but its completion can be a.s.sured in the near future.

Several large sugar estates have been located along the line that will open up a territory rich in soil and natural resources. Important iron mines, too, in the foothills of the Sierra de Cubitas, are waiting only this transportation to add an important revenue to the Province. A great deal of valuable timber will be available when the line is in operation.

Owing to the large beds of valuable ore belonging to the mineral zone of the Cubitas, it is quite probable that the mining industry will some day rank next to that of general farming in Camaguey, although as far as natural advantages are concerned, there is no industry which in the end can rival that of stock raising.

During 1895, the first year of the War of Independence, over a million head of sleek, fat cattle were registered in the Province of Camaguey, where the gra.s.ses are so rich that an average of seventy head can be kept in condition throughout the year on a hundred acres of land. The two gra.s.ses commonly found in Camaguey were both brought from abroad. Of these, the Guinea, imported from western Africa, grows luxuriantly on all the plateaus and higher lands of the province, while the Parana, a long running gra.s.s from the Argentine, does best in the lower lands and savannas. One stock man of Camaguey at least, has succeeded in producing splendid fields of alfalfa, from which seven or eight cuttings are taken each year.

Fruits of all kinds, especially oranges and pineapples, grow luxuriantly in this Province, but owing to the lack of transportation, the railroad haul to Havana being practically prohibitory, s.h.i.+pments of fruit and vegetables to the northern markets are confined almost entirely to a steamer which leaves the harbor of Nuevitas once every two weeks.

Owing perhaps to the rich and comparatively cheap lands offered by the Province of Camaguey, more Americans are said to have settled in this section than in any other part of Cuba. The first colony, called La Gloria, was located in 1900 on the beautiful bay of Guanaja or Turkey Bay, some five or six miles back from the sh.o.r.e. The location, although healthful and in a productive country, was most unfortunate as far as transportation facilities were concerned. Two hundred or more families made clearings in the forests of the Cubitas, and there made for themselves homes under adverse circ.u.mstances. The worst of these was the isolation of the spot, and lack of communication with any city or town nearer than Camaguey, some forty-five miles southwest, or Nuevitas, forty miles east; without railroads, wagon roads, or even water communication by vessels drawing over seven feet.

The Zanja, or ditch, some three miles in length, connecting the harbor of Nuevitas with Guanaja Bay, was recently dredged to a depth of three or four feet, so that launches can now pa.s.s from La Gloria to Nuevitas, but aside from the fertility of the soil, there was but little to commend La Gloria as a place of permanent residence. Only grit and perseverance on the part of st.u.r.dy Americans has sustained them during the past sixteen years. But they concluded to make the best of the situation in which they found themselves, and are producing nearly everything needed for their subsistence. A considerable amount also of farm produce and fruit will soon be s.h.i.+pped to northern markets from the harbor of Nuevitas. A very creditable agricultural fair is held in La Gloria each winter, and the contents of the weekly paper seems to bear every evidence of progress and content. In spite of adverse conditions, the people of La Gloria have prospered and enjoy there many comforts not found in colder climates, and with the opening up of the North Sh.o.r.e Road, this really attractive section of country, which includes several smaller colonies scattered along the water front, will be brought in close touch once more with the civilization of the outside world.

Another colony, also unfortunate in its location, was established at Ceballos on the Jucaro and Moron railroad, about eight miles north of its junction with the Cuba Company road at Ciego de Avila. The soil was well adapted to the growth of citrus fruit, and large groves were laid out by Americans, some ten or twelve years ago, along the line of the old clearing that bordered the Trocha. The groves, as far as nature could provide, were successful, but the excessive freight rates between Ceballos and either the city of Havana or the Bay of Nipe, have proved discouraging to the original settlers.

Several smaller colonies have been located along the Cuba Company's railway and the line connecting the city of Camaguey with Nuevitas, but again the long distance between these points and large markets, either local or foreign, have worked to the disadvantage of the growers. If stock raising instead of fruit growing had occupied the time and attention of these American pioneers, more satisfactory results would have been obtained.

Nuevitas, located on the southern sh.o.r.e of the harbor of that name, is a modern city with wide streets and a population of approximately 7,000 people. Its location, at the terminus of the Camaguey Railroad, and on the only harbor of the north coast, renders it a place of considerable commercial importance, since large quant.i.ties of sugar, lumber and livestock leave the port during the year, while coasting steamers of local lines touch every few days.

Camaguey, the capital of the Province, so long known as Puerto Principe, has a population of about 45,000 people. The natives of this city have long enjoyed and merited an enviable reputation for integrity, intelligence and social standing, traits that were inherited from a number of excellent families who came to Cuba from Southern Spain in the early colonial days. The rich grazing lands of Camaguey and the salubrious climate, not only of the north coast, but of the great plateaus of the interior, were very attractive to the better cla.s.s of pioneers who came over in the sixteenth century in search of peace, permanent homes and wealth based on legitimate industry.

There is no section of the Island more highly esteemed for the integrity of its people than that of the isolated, aristocratic city of Camaguey, such as the families of Agramonte, Betancourt, Cisneros, Luaces, Sanchez, Quesada and Varona. Nearly all these families through the long painful Ten Years' War suffered privations, followed by exile and loss of everything but pride, dignity and good names.

Most of them made permanent homes in the United States, but many of their children, educated in the land that gave their parents shelter, have returned to their native country and occupied positions of trust and responsibility in the new Republic.

CHAPTER IX

PROVINCE OF ORIENTE

The Province of Oriente, called by Spain Santiago de Cuba, forms the eastern extremity of the Island, and is not only the largest in area, but, owing to the exceptional fertility of its soil, the great number of magnificent harbors, the size and extent of its plains and valleys, together with the untold wealth of its mines of iron, copper, manganese, chrome and other minerals, it must be considered industrially as one of the most important provinces of Cuba.

Its area consists of 14,213 square miles, its form is triangular, Cape Maysi, the eastern terminus of the island, forming the apex of the triangle, while the base, with a length of about one hundred miles, extends from Cabo Cruz along the Manzanillo coast to the north sh.o.r.e.

One side of the triangle, formed by the south coast, has a length of nearly 250 miles, while another, without counting the convolutions of the sea coast, borders for two hundred miles on the Atlantic.

Mountain chains follow both the north and south sh.o.r.es of Oriente, while about one-third of its area, which composes the eastern section, is a great tangle or nest of irregular mountains, flat top domes, plateaus, and foothills, with their intervening basins, parks and valleys.

While the main chain, or mountainous vertebrae, seems to disappear in the Sierra de Cubitas of Camaguey, it reappears again, just west of the Bay of Manati, in the extreme northern part of the province, and extends along the north sh.o.r.e at broken intervals, until it finally melts into that great eastern nest of volcanic upheavals that forms the eastern end of the Island. From this north sh.o.r.e chain, innumerable spurs are thrown off to the southward between Manati and Nipe Bay, reaching sometimes twenty-five or thirty miles back into the interior.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A MOUNTAIN ROAD, ORIENTE]

Along the southern sh.o.r.e of Oriente from Cabo Cruz to Cabo Maysi, ascending at times abruptly from the beach, and at others dropping back a little, we have the longest and tallest mountain range of Cuba. One peak, known as Turquino, located midway between the city of Santiago de Cuba and Cape Cruz, reaches an alt.i.tude of 8,642 feet.

From the crest of this range, known as the Sierra Maestra, the great network of spurs are thrown off to the north toward the valley of the Cauto, while between these mountain offshoots several of the Cauto's most important tributaries, including the Cautill, Contraemaestre and Brazos del Cauto, have their sources.

Most of the mountainous districts are still covered with dense tropical forests that contain over three hundred varieties of hard woods, the cost of transportation alone preventing their being cut and marketed.

The interior of the Province, from the Mayari River west, is the largest valley in Cuba, with a virgin soil marvellously rich through which runs the Cauto River, emptying into the Caribbean Sea, a little north of the City of Manzanillo. This stream, with its tributaries, forms the most extensive waterway in the Island.

A tributary on the north known as the Rio Salado, rising south of the city of Holguin, flows in a westerly direction and empties into the Cauto just above the landing of Guamo, some fifteen miles from the Caribbean. Small streams empty into all of the numerous deep water gulfs and bays that indent the north coast of Oriente. Each serves its purpose in draining adjacent lands, but none, with the exception of the Mayari, is navigable. This stream, the most important perhaps of the north coast, rises in the eastern center of the Province, cutting its way west along the base of the Crystal Mountains, until it reaches their western end, whence it makes a sharp turn to the north, and after tumbling over the falls, gradually descends and empties into Nipe Bay.

The Sagua de Tanamo and its tributaries drain quite a large basin east of the Mayari, and empty into the Gulf of Tanamo. The Moa, a short stream, rises not far from the Tanamo but flows north to the ocean. The Toa, flowing east, cuts through valleys for fifty miles, and finally empties into the Atlantic thirty miles west of Cape Maysi.

But little is known of this river; and like many of the streams which for countless centuries have been cutting their tortuous ways through the table lands and gorges of the eastern part of Oriente, its sh.o.r.es have seldom been visited by human beings since the Siboney Indians, who once made that section their home, gave up trying to be Christians and took their chances of happiness on the other side of the "Great Divide."

The Harbor of Puentes Grandes, that separates Oriente from Camaguey on the north coast, is sufficiently deep for ordinary draft vessels, but owing to sand spits and coral reefs that extend for some distance out into the Atlantic, and to the fact that good harbors lie within a few miles on either side, commerce up to the present has never sought this place as a port of entry.

About twelve miles east, however, we have the Bay of Manati with a fairly easy entrance and an elbow-like channel that will give anchorage to vessels drawing fathoms. On the sh.o.r.e of Manati Bay has been established a very fine sugar mill surrounded by thousands of acres of cane grown in the Yarigua Valley. Sugar is exported from this port directly to the United States.

Within the next twenty-five miles, east, are found two well protected harbors, Malagueta and Puerto Padre. The latter is the deeper and more important, owing to the large basin of fertile lands immediately surrounding it. Puerto Padre has excellent anchorage and belongs to the type of narrow mouthed bays so common to the north coast of Cuba.

On the eastern sh.o.r.e of Puerto Padre are located two of the Cuban American Sugar Company's largest mills, "El Chaparra" and "Las Delicias," each with a capacity of 600,000 bags of sugar per year. These two mills are considered, both in location and equipment, among the finest in the world. The sugar, of course, is s.h.i.+pped directly from Puerto Padre to New York, rendering them independent of railroad transportation, and consequently large revenue producing properties.

General Mario Menocal, General Manager of the Cuban American Company's mills, began his great industrial career at Chaparra, which he left to a.s.sume the Presidency of the Republic in 1913. It is a very neat little city, with wide avenues, comfortable homes, good schools and many of the conveniences of much larger places. President Menocal visits Chaparra several times during the grinding season each year.

Some thirty-five miles east we have the large open roadstead of Jibara, with sufficient depth of water to provide for s.h.i.+pping, but with very little protection from northerly gales. On the western side of this harbor is located the city of Jibara, which forms the s.h.i.+pping place for the rich Holguin district, some thirty miles south.

Some forty miles further east, around the bold Punta de Lucrecia, we have another fine, deep-water, perfectly protected harbor, known as the Bay of Banes, whose rich valleys lying to the south and west contribute cane to the Ingenio Boston, belonging to the United Fruit Company, whose output is approximately half a million bags of sugar per year.

Southeast of Banes, about fifteen miles, we reach the entrance of the Bay of Nipe, considered one of the finest and best protected harbors in the world. Its entrance is sufficiently wide for s.h.i.+ps to pa.s.s in or out at ease, while the bay itself furnishes forty-seven miles of deep water anchorage.

Nipe Bay is a little round inland sea, measuring ten miles from north to south by fifteen from east to west. The Mayari River flows into the bay from the southern sh.o.r.e and furnishes, for light draft boats, transportation to the city, some six miles up the river. On the north sh.o.r.e of the bay is located the town of Antilla, terminus of the northern extension of the Cuba Company's lines, and one of the most important s.h.i.+pping places on the north coast. On the Bay of Nipe is located the Ingenio Preston, one of the finest sugar mills in Cuba, contributing 371,000 bags in the year 1918 to the sugar stock of the world.