Pioneering in Cuba

It was on the day after the Grand Ball, Tuesday, April 10, that a party of us started on a walking trip to the city of Puerto Principe, forty-five miles away. My companions, who...

I am often asked, "How did you get along with the Cubans?" very much as inquiry might be made as to how we got along with the Apaches, or with the Modocs; and one man said, deci...

The opening of the month of February found the colonists in excellent health and good spirits, and hard at work on their land or for the company. The La Gloria post-office had b...

As the fleet of schooners drew near La Gloria port, a row of small tents was discerned close to the shore. Elsewhere there was a heavy growth of bushes to the water's edge--the...

The first few days after our arrival we led a strange and what seemed to many of us an unreal life. Shut into a small open space by a great forest, with no elevation high enough...

Just after noon on January 4, 1900, the ancient city of Nuevitas, Cuba, lazily basking in the midday sunshine, witnessed a sight which had not been paralleled in the four hundre...

The chief of the immediate problems which confronted the colonists and the officers of the company was the allotment of the land. The company had purchased it, or secured option...

The newly arrived colonists found the Spanish word "mañana" still in high favor at Nuevitas, though it was difficult to fix the responsibility for the irritating delays. The Cub...

I was deeply impressed by the courage and self-reliance of the colonists. From the start they showed a splendid ability to take care of themselves. One day early in February a w...

The first holiday in La Gloria was marked by incidents that will be long remembered by the colonists. The credit for the inauguration of the movement for such a day belongs to J...

Among the dozen women in the camp, the most striking figure was Mrs. Moller, a Danish widow, who came from one of the states, Pennsylvania, I believe. I cannot say exactly when...

The opening of spring did not bring any material change in weather that the colonists could detect, save that the occasional rainfall had ceased. The temperature for March was a...

My pen must glide rapidly over the events of the summer and early fall. The sawmill, which had been so long delayed and so often promised as to become a standing joke in the col...

On the last day of January I became private secretary to President Van der Voort, serving in that capacity until my return to the States nearly four months later. This position...

A very good Book that I wot of contains an Apocrypha. This will have no Apocrypha, but I will here relate an incident which did not come under my personal observation, but which...

Meanwhile, the sale and allotment of plantations and town lots steadily continued, until on April 9, six months from the day the surveyors began their operations, about twelve t...

After the middle of January and the beginning of the allotment of the land, the population of La Gloria began to "pick up" somewhat. Colonists who had been lingering at Nuevitas...

The Saw Mill--The Pole Tramway to the Bay--A Tragedy in the Colony--Death of Mr. Bosworth--The Summer Season--The Country Around La Gloria--The Cuban Colonization Company--Guana...

Arrival at the Port--A Discouraging Scene--Mud, Water, and Sand Flies--The Memorable Walk to La Gloria "City"--An Awful Road--Battle With Water, Mud, Stumps, Roots, Logs, Briers...

PAGE A New Sight for Old Nuevitas--The _Yarmouth_ drops Anchor in the Harbor--The Vanguard of the First American Colony Planted in Cuba--The Beautiful Cuban Coast--Picturesque A...

The Character of the Contracts--The Question of Subdivision--Some of the Difficulties--Matter Placed in the Hands of a Committee of the Colonists--Fair and Feasible Plan Adopted...

An Irritating Delay--Ashore at Nuevitas--Midnight Row at the Pier--Convivial Colonists Clash With Cubans--Ex-Soldier Takes an Involuntary Bath--The Cuban Police--Hon. Peter E. P...

Five Good Walkers--A Halt at Mercedes--Sparsely Settled Country--Cuban Trails--A Night in the Woods--A Cripple From Sore Feet--A Pretty Country Place--The Cubitas Mountains--Hun...

Good People to "Get Along With"--Their Kindness and Courtesy--Harmony and Good Feeling Between the Colonists and Cubans--Their Primitive Style of Living--The Red Soil and Its St...

The Women in the Camp--Mrs. Moller--Her Costume and Extraordinary Adventures--How She Entered La Gloria--Roosts in a Tree all Night--Builds the First House in La Gloria--Her Fam...

Pink Orchids on the Trees--Vegetables Raised and Fruit Trees Set Out--The Various Employments--Working on the Survey Corps--Chief Kelly's Facetious Formula--An Official Kicker--...

Isolation of La Gloria--The Camp at Night--Strange Sounds in the Forest--The Colonists Happy--Their Excellent Health--Remarkable Cures Effected by the Climate--The Agreeable Tem...

The Man With the Hoe--"Grandpa" Withee Able to Take Care of Himself--Not Dead, but Very Much Alive--A Pugnacious Old Man--Mr. Withee Shoots Chickens and Defies the Authorities--...

A Semi-Anniversary--Town Lots and Plantations Allotted in First Six Months--A Grand Ball--French Dancing Master in Charge--Dan Goodman's Pennsylvania Modesty--Organizing an Orch...

Clearing and Planting--The Post-office--Col. John F. Early--The "Old Señor"--La Gloria Police Force--Chief Matthews' Nightly Trip "Down the Line"--No Liquor Sold, and Practicall...

Craving for Athletic Sports--Half Holiday Formally Proclaimed--A Beautiful Day--The Colonists Photographed--Lieut. Evans and His Soldiers of the Eighth U. S. Cavalry--Successful...

Worth of the Colonists--Gen. Van der Voort's New Cuban House--The "Lookout Tree"--Its Part in the Cuban Wars--The General's Garden--Marvelously Rapid Growth of Plants--First Bir...

Population of Colony Slowly Increases--Arrival of Second _Yarmouth_--Sensational and Ridiculous Reports--Consternation in Asbury Park--Laughing Over Newspaper Stories--Excitemen...

Horses That May Have Committed Suicide--Colonel Maginniss "A Master Hand in Sickness"--Sudden and Surprising Rise of Water--A Deluge of Frogs--A Greedy Snake--Catching Fish in C...