In order to encourage the mining of this ore, the Crown of Spain issued, on the 17th of April, 1883, a royal decree to the following effect: That for a period of twenty years from that date, the mining companies should be free from all tax on the surface area of all claims of iron or combustibles; that ores of all classes should be free from all export taxes; that coal brought in by mining companies for use in their work should be free from all import taxes; that combustibles and iron ore should be exempted from the three per cent. tax on raw materials; that mining and metallurgical companies should be free from all other impost; that for a period of five years the mining companies should be exempt from the payment of duties on all machinery or materials required for working and transporting the ore; that vessels entering in ballast and sailing with ore should pay a duty of five cents per ton navigation dues, and that vessels entering with cargo destined for the mining companies should pay $1.30 per ton navigation and port dues on all such cargo, and on the remainder of the cargo as per general tariff. Under this charter the Juragua Iron Company, Limited, opened mines in Firmeza, laid a railroad twenty miles long from that point to La Cruz in Santiago Bay, where fine docks and piers were built, and, in 1884, shipped the first cargo of iron ore from Cuba. The company has a fine fleet of iron steamers. The mines of this company were extensively and successfully worked, and, encouraged by this, the Spanish-American Company and the Sigua Company purchased mines to the east of the Juragua properties and at once began the work of developing them. The Spanish-American Iron Company, incorporated under the laws of West Virginia, and owned entirely by American citizens, built four miles of standard-gauge railroad from its mines to Daiquiri Bay, about sixteen miles east of the harbour of Santiago de Cuba. Here the company constructed a steel ore-dock of 3000 tons capacity, a landing-pier, buoys, moorings, and other harbour improvements at a cost of $500,000. The work of preparing this harbour delayed the opening of the mines for shipment, and it was not until May, 1895, that the first cargo was cleared. The Sigua Iron Company built a standard-gauge road nine miles long from its mines to Sigua Bay, and there constructed a breakwater and a wooden ore-dock. This company during the first two years of operation shipped 21,853 tons. Later, the mines were closed, and during the war between Spain and the Cubans the dock, roundhouse, locomotives, and buildings of the company at Sigua Bay were entirely destroyed in the course of an engagement between the Spanish and the Cuban forces.