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 shore. 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 shores 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 shore 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 shore 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.

Along the southern shore 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 altitude 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 shores 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 shore 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 shore 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 shipped 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 assume 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 shipping, but with very little protection from northerly gales. On the western side of this harbor is located the city of Jibara, which forms the shipping 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 ships to pass 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 shore and furnishes, for light draft boats, transportation to the city, some six miles up the river. On the north shore 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 shipping 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.

Some seven or eight miles east of the entrance of Nipe lies another large, beautiful, land-locked bay, or rather two bays, separated by a tongue of land extending into the entrance of the harbor and known as Lavisa and Cabonico, both of which are deep, although the first mentioned, with a length of eight miles and a width of six, is the larger of the two. The shores of both these harbors are covered with magnificent hardwood forests, most of which have remained intact. The lands surrounding them are rich, and will, within a very short time, probably be converted into large sugar estates. These beautiful virgin forests, with their marvellously fertile soil, surrounding the harbors of Lavisa and Cabonico, might have been purchased ten years ago at prices varying from eight to twelve dollars an acre. In 1918 they were sold at fifty dollars per acre, and were easily worth twice that sum.

Fifteen miles further east we have another fine deep-water harbor known as Tanamo. Its entrance is comparatively easy, and although the bay is very irregular in shape, the channel furnishes good anchorage for fairly deep draft vessels. The Sagua de Tanamo River, whose tributaries drain the rich valleys south of the bay, has its source in the great nest of mountains in the eastern end of Oriente.

Baracoa, some twenty miles east, is a small, picturesque anchorage, but with almost no protection against northerly winds, and for this reason cannot rank as a first class port, although a good deal of shipping leaves it during the year, the cargoes consisting mostly of cocoanuts and bananas, for which this district has always been quite a center of production in Oriente.

It was on this harbor that Diego Velasquez made the first settlement in Cuba, in the year 1512. He called it the city of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, but the original Indian name of Baracoa has remained attached to the spot where Spanish civilization began in the Pearl of the Antilles.

It was here that General Antonio Maceo with a little band of thirty men landed from Costa Rica in March, 1895, and began the War of Independence, which ultimately led to the formation of the Republic of Cuba.

Rounding Cape Maysi at the extreme eastern end of Cuba, and following the south coast, no harbor is found until we reach Guantanamo Bay, nearly a hundred miles west. This magnificent harbor was first visited by Columbus on his second voyage when he sailed along the south coast in 1494. The celebrated navigator referred to it as “Puerto Grande,” but the original Indian name of Guantanamo again replaced that of the white invaders.

The Bay of Guantanamo is considered one of the finest harbors in the world. It was selected from all the ports of Cuba by Captain Lucien Young in 1901 as the best site for a naval station in the West Indies for the United States Navy. Arrangements were later made between Cuba and authorities in Washington, by which it was formally ceded for that purpose. Not only is Guantanamo a large bay, extending some fifteen miles up into the interior, but its mouth is sufficiently wide and deep to permit three first-class men of war to enter or leave the harbor abreast at full speed, without danger of collision or contact with the channel’s edge on either side.

The Guantanamo River, after draining the great wide valleys that lie to the north and west, enters the Bay on the western shore. The City of Guantanamo, some fifteen miles back, is connected by rail with the coast, and also with the city of Santiago de Cuba, fifty miles further west. It was founded toward the end of the eighteenth century by French refugees from Santo Domingo, and has at present a population of 28,000.

Eleven large sugar estates are located in the Guantanamo valley, which is one of the largest cane producers in Oriente.

Fifty miles further west we find the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, absolutely land-locked, and probably the most beautiful of all in the West Indies. Its entrance, between two headlands, is narrow and might easily escape observation unless the passing vessel were less than a mile from shore. Rounding the high promontory of the east, with its old-fashioned fort of the middle eighteenth century, one enters a magnificent bay, dotted with palm covered islands, gradually opening and spreading out towards the north. Its winding channels present changing views at every turn, until the main or upper bay is reached, on the northern shore of which is located the city of Santiago de Cuba, that for half a century after its founding in 1515 was the capital of Cuba.

Santiago played a very important part in the early history, or colonial days, of the Pearl of the Antilles, passing through the trials and tribulations that befell the first white settlers in this part of the Western Hemisphere. Not many years after its founding, it was sacked and burned by French corsairs.

Santiago was one of the few cities in all Cuba that retained the names given them by their Spanish founders. It was here in June, 1538, that Hernando de Soto, appointed Governor by the King of Spain, recruited men for that unfortunate expedition into the great unknown territory across the Gulf, which cost him his life, although his name became immortal as the discoverer of the Mississippi River.

Santiago became famous in American history through the destruction of Cervera’s fleet by Admirals Sampson and Schley, and the capitulation of the city to United States forces in July, 1898. It has a population of about 45,000. The city lies on the southern slope of the plateau, rising from the bay towards the interior. Its streets are well laid out and fairly wide, with several charming little parks, or plazas, such as are found in all Latin American cities.

The commercial standing of the city is based on the heavy shipments of sugar and ores, iron, copper and manganese mined in the surrounding mountains. The building of the Cuba Company’s railroad connecting it with the other end of the Island and with the Bay of Nipe on the north coast, did much towards increasing the importance of Santiago. The outlying districts of the city are reached by a splendid system of automobile drives, surveyed and begun at the instigation of General Leonard Wood, then governor of the Province, in 1900. These well-built, macadamized carreteras wind around hills and beautiful valleys, many of which have a historic interest, especially the crest of the Loma San Juan, or San Juan Hill, captured by the American forces in the summer of 1898. A unique kiosk has been built on the summit of this hill from which a view of El Caney, over toward the east, and many other points which figured in that sharp, brief engagement, are indicated on brass tablets, whose pointed arrows, together with accompanying descriptions, give quite a comprehensive idea of the battle which loosened the grip of the Spanish monarchy on the Pearl of the Antilles, and made Cuban liberty possible for all time to come. In the valley just below is a beautiful Ceiba tree, under which the peace agreement between American and Spanish commanders was concluded in July, 1898. The grounds are inclosed by an iron fence with various inscriptions instructive and interesting.

Santiago is named in honor of the Patron Saint of Spain, and the Archbishop of Cuba, in keeping with custom and early traditions, still makes his headquarters in this picturesque and historically interesting capital of the Province of Oriente.

Between Santiago and Cabo Cruz, one hundred and fifty miles west, is but one harbor worthy of mention, the Bay of Portillo, a rather shallow although well protected indentation of the south coast. On the rich level lands at the base of the mountains back of and around the harbor of Portillo, grow enormous fields of cane, feeding the mill on the western side of the bay. Several other indentations of the south coast furnish landing places from which either timber or agricultural products may be shipped, when southerly winds do not endanger the anchorage. A small harbor known as Media Luna, between Cabo Cruz and Manzanillo, forms the shipping place of the Ingenio Isabel, which produced 175,000 sacks of sugar in 1918.

The somewhat shallow harbor of Manzanillo is located at the mouth of a small stream in the Sierra Maestra. Vessels of more than fifteen feet draft, find the Manzanillo channel somewhat difficult. The city itself is comparatively modern, with wide streets regularly planned and laid out. Its population is about 18,000, although the municipal district contains some 35,000 inhabitants. Manzanillo is one of the chief shipping ports and distributing points for the rich valley of the Cauto, the largest valley by far in Cuba. This river during the rainy season is navigable for river boats for some hundred miles to the interior. Bars that have formed near its mouth on the west shore of Guacanabo Gulf prevent the navigation of deeper craft.

The City of Bayamo, located on the Bayamo River, a tributary of the Cauto, is connected by the southern branch of the Cuba Company’s Railroad with Manzanillo, twenty-five miles west, and also with Santiago de Cuba. It was one of the original seven cities founded by Diego Velasquez in 1514. In the early days of colonial occupation, Bayamo passed through the same period of trials and tribulations that afflicted nearly all of the early settlements in Cuba.

Historically it has never been prominent as the birth-place of struggles in which the natives of Cuba endeavored to throw off the yoke of Spain. It was the home of Cespedes, the first revolutionary President of the Island, who freed his slaves in 1868, and with a small force of men raised the cry known as the “Crita de Baire,” that started the Ten Years’ War.

Again, in February, 1895, General Bartolome Maso with his son and a few loyal companions left his home in the city of Bayamo, and at his farm called “Yara” declared war against the armies of the Spanish Monarchy, never surrendering until Independence was eventually secured through the defeat of Spain by American forces in 1898. The city, although boasting only of some 5,000 inhabitants, is located in the fertile plains of the Cauto Valley, known throughout the world as the largest sugar cane basin ever placed under cultivation. The Cuban National Hymn had its origin in this little city and is known as the “Himno de Bayamo.”

Holguin, located in the northern center of the Island, among picturesque hills and fertile valleys, is the most important city in northern Oriente. It was founded in 1720, receiving its charter in 1751, and boasts of a population of about 10,000. The harbor of Gibaro, twenty-five miles north, with which it is connected by rail, is the shipping port of the Holguin district. The country is very healthful and long noted as a section in which Cuban fruits acquire perhaps their greatest perfection. Americans living in this city, within the last ten years, have established splendid nurseries, known throughout the Island.

Victoria de las Tunas, a small city located on the Cuba Company’s Railroad, some 20 miles from the western boundary of the Province, acquired celebrity in the War of Independence owing to its capture after a siege of several days by the Cuban forces under General Calixto Garcia, in the fall of 1897.

It was in this engagement that Mario Menocal, then Chief of Staff with the rank of Colonel in the insurgent forces, distinguished himself through a brilliant charge made at a critical moment, in which he led his Cuban cavalry against the well equipped forces of Spain. Colonel Menocal was wounded in this engagement, but as a reward for intelligent and courageous action he was shortly afterward made Brigadier General, and given command of the insurgent forces in the Province of Havana, which he held up to the time of the Spanish surrender in 1898.

An incident indicative of the character and discipline of the Cuban forces took place at the capture of Victoria de las Tunas, when General Calixto Garcia, after caring for the Spanish wounded, furnished an escort to protect his prisoners and non-combatants who wished to leave the city, in a march overland to the town of Manati, where they were delivered into the safe keeping of the Spanish authorities, as the Cubans were unable to keep prisoners owing to shortage of food. General Calixto Garcia was a native of Holguin, owing to which fact, perhaps, much consideration was shown to both persons and property in the surrounding district, where he had both friends and relatives.

The sugar industry, of course, as in all provinces but Pinar del Rio, is the chief source of wealth in Oriente. The entire northeastern half, including the great valley of the Cauto River, as well as the rich lands in the valley of Guantanamo, and the basin surrounding the Bay of Nipe, are devoted almost entirely to the production of sugar. The European War of 1914 gave a great impetus to this industry, owing to the demands made by the allies for this staple food product. An illustration of this may be found in the increased acreage of cane in Oriente between the years of 1913 and 1918. In 1913 Oriente was producing 3,698,000 bags, while in 1918 the sugar crop reach 6,463,000 bags. Forty-two large sugar centrals are in operation in Oriente at the present time, with a marked increase each year.

Next in importance to the production of sugar ranks stock raising. Thousands of acres that cover the plateaus, foothills, mountains, parks and valleys, supplied as they are with an abundance of fresh water and splendid grass, furnish strong inducements to the stock grower of Oriente, who has nothing to fear from cold, snow, drought or storm. The profits of stock raising where the business is conducted under intelligent management, are certainties, which is true of all sections of the Island adapted to this industry.

Coffee, as in the provinces of Santa Clara and Pinar del Rio, owes its introduction into Cuba to the French refugees who, driven by revolution out of Santo Domingo, fled to Cuba and settled there in the first years of the nineteenth century. The large profits that have resulted from the cultivation of sugar cane have undoubtedly drawn capital from the coffee industry, and unless a sufficient amount of cheap labor can be secured, the gathering of this crop is not always profitable. In spite of the rather heavy tariff, and the excellent quality of the bean, it is compelled to compete with the imported article from Porto Rico and other countries. It is quite probable, too, that through years of neglect in cultivation, the habit of prolific bearing has deteriorated.

The rich, narrow, deep soiled vales among the tangled mountains that cover the eastern extremity of the province are especially adapted to the growth of cacao, but in spite of most satisfactory returns most of the farmers of Cuba seem to prefer life in the open potreros, with its cultivation of sugar cane and care of live stock, to that of comparative retirement, imposed upon those who devote themselves to coffee and cacao in the mountainous districts. Cacao, nevertheless, owing to the more extensive manufacture of chocolate in all parts of the world, is in increasing demand, and it is practically certain that the near future will bring immigrants from mountainous countries, who will find the cultivation of both coffee and cacao to their liking, as well as to their permanent profit.

But very little tobacco is grown in Oriente, aside from that which has long been cultivated on the banks of the Mayari River. In the neighborhood of the little village bearing that name, considerable tobacco of an inferior grade has been grown for many years, The German Government up to the blockading of her ports in 1914, consumed almost the entire Mayari crop, the soldiers of that country seeming to prefer it to any other tobacco.

More valuable timber grows in the interior of Oriente than in any other part of Cuba, and much of it will probably remain standing until more economical methods are introduced by which logs can be conveyed to the coast for shipment. Large amounts of cedar and mahogany are exported every year from Oriente, especially from the valley of Sagua de Tanamo, which empties into Tanamo Bay on the north coast.

Several American colonies have been located in the different parts of this province, most of them devoting their energies to the growing of fruits and vegetables that are shipped to northern markets from the terminus of the railroad at Antilla, on Nipe Bay. Some of them, too, have built up stock farms that are giving splendid results.

Owing to the size of the province, and its comparatively few inhabitants, greater opportunities for colonization are found here than in the western end of the Island. Thousands of acres of magnificent lands, at present owned in huge tracts, are still available for purchase and division into small farms. These would furnish homes for families that might be brought from Italy and the Canary Islands greatly to the profit of the Republic itself as well as to the immigrants. People of this class are especially desired in Oriente, and every effort is being made by the Government to encourage their immigration, since energy, combined with a fair degree of intelligence, on the rich lands of this section of Cuba, can result only in success.

The mineral wealth of Oriente is undoubtedly greater than that of any of the other provinces. Although both iron and copper have been mined here for many years, the mineral zones of the Island have never been fully exploited, or even intelligently prospected, by men familiar with the mining industry. Copper was discovered by the early Spanish conquerors and mined at El Cobre, in the early years of the 16th century. The ore deposits of this mine have never been exhausted, and are still worked with profit. The same mineral has been discovered in other sections of the province, but owing to lack of transportation facilities, but little effort has been made towards mining it. The Spanish Iron Company, for more than a half century, has been taking iron ore from the sides of the mountains on the coast, just east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, and shipping it from the port of Daquiri.

These mines are in the form of terraces, that are cut into the sides of the mountains, so that the ore can be easily withdrawn and shipped to the United States for smelting purposes. These properties have recently changed hands, and with the investment of greater capital will soon be put into a still higher state of production.

Perhaps the most profitable iron mines in the Republic are those owned by the Bethlehem Steel Company, in the Valley of the Mayari, some eighteen or twenty miles back from the coast. The mineral here is easily removed from the surface, and sent by gravity down to the large reducing mills on the shore of the Bay, where most of the waste material is washed out with water. The iron ore of Oriente is of a very high grade and is impregnated with a sufficient amount of nickel to add greatly to its value.

The recent demand for chrome, brought about by the enormous increase in the consumption of steel in the United States, brought the chrome districts of the world, including those of Cuba, into considerable prominence. The great shortage of tonnage, too, made it inconvenient to bring chrome from Brazil. Recent investigations made in Cuba, however, demonstrated the fact that this Province alone, with the investment of a few hundred thousand dollars in road building, can supply the mills of the United States with all the chrome and manganese needed for the development of the steel industries. Several manganese mines are being worked at the present time, most of them on the northern slope of the Sierra Maestra, whence the ore is conveyed by rail to Santiago de Cuba and shipped to Atlantic ports, where the demand is greatest.

The development of the mining industry in Oriente has hardly begun, but with the enormous amount of iron and copper that will be needed for building purposes throughout the world in the near future, there is every reason to believe that this province will have an opportunity to open up and to work many of her mines, with very satisfactory returns on the capital invested.