Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and LabourPorter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
History
Industrial Cuba: Being a Study of Present Commercial and Industrial Conditions, with Suggestions as to the Opportunities Presented in the Island for American Capital, Enterprise, and Labour
Porter, Robert P. (Robert Percival)
Cuba -- Description and travel; Cuba -- Economic conditions
Of great commercial significance is Cienfuegos, one of the south-coast
cities, and in some respects one of the best towns on the Island. It is
situated on the landlocked bay of Jagua, with one of the safest harbours
in the world, and though built only since 1819, and restored after a
hurricane in 1825, it has developed a spirit of energy and progress rare
in Cuban cities. It has an extensive and growing commerce, with numerous
wharves and piers for its shipping; a railroad 190 miles to Havana and
one to Sagua la Grande on the north coast; electric lights and
gas-works; 25,790 people; 3000 stone and wooden houses; the famous Terry
theatre and one of the finest plazas in Cuba; a good location for
drainage, but with stagnant water in the streets, and no sewers; much
bad health, and one of the finest opportunities on earth to take
advantage of the new order of things and convert its energy and youth
into a power that will make Cienfuegos the Chicago of Cuba. There is one
good hotel. The only serious strike that ever occurred in Cuba took
place in Cienfuegos among the longshoremen, and resulted in the sending
of all the recalcitrants by the authorities to the Isle of Pines as
criminals. The bay of Jagua is noted for its beautiful clear blue water
with a bottom of the whitest sand. The climate is more variable than
that of Cuban coast cities as a rule, the mercury marking as high as
ninety-three degrees in summer and going down into the fifties during
the night in the rainy season.
The Cuban city held to be the most healthful, though sanitary
regulations are practically unknown, is Trinidad, in the province of
Santa Clara. It is also one of the oldest, having been founded by Diego
Velasquez in 1514. It is three miles in the interior from its seaport,
Casilda, though coastwise vessels of light draft can approach it by the
river Guaurabo. The town has a picturesque location, on the slope of La
Vija ("Lookout"), a hill rising nine hundred feet above the sea. The
harbour of Casilda is three miles long by one and a half miles wide, and
has only about eleven feet of water. From this bay Cortez sailed for
Mexico. There are several fine public parks and drives, and socially
Trinidad in the winter season is one of the gayest cities on the Island.
It is lighted by gas, and though it has no sewers, its location is such
that the rains keep it washed clean. The population is eighteen
thousand. In good times Trinidad has shipped to the United States
$903,700 worth of sugar, mahogany, coffee, and honey in one year, but
times have been poor in recent years, and Trinidad is one of the towns
which will feel the reviving effects of the new era of prosperity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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