PROVINCE OF PINAR DEL RIO
Topographically, the Province of Pinar del Rio is perhaps the most
picturesquely beautiful in the Island. Owing also to its variety of
soils, mahogany red, jet black, mulatto or brown, and the grey sands of
the south and west, Pinar del Rio offers marvellous opportunities for
many agricultural industries. Tobacco, of which it produces over
$30,000,000 worth annually, has always been the most important product
of this section of Cuba.
This Province, with its area of 5,764 square miles, owing to the fact,
perhaps, that it lay west of Havana, the capital, and thus outside of
the line of traffic and settlement that began in the eastern end of the
Island, has played historically and politically a comparatively small
part in the story of the Pearl of the Antilles. Its capital, Pinar del
Rio, located about one hundred and twenty-five miles west of Havana, on
the Western Railroad, was founded in 1776, and claims today a population
of 12,000 people.
The delightful aroma and flavor of the tobacco grown in the section of
which this city is the center, and whose quality has been equaled in no
other place, has rendered this province, in one way at least, famous
throughout the entire civilized world.
The topography of the province is more distinctly marked than that of
any other in Cuba. The greater part of the surface, including the entire
southern half, together with the coast plains between the mountains and
the Gulf of Mexico, is quite level. Rising almost abruptly from the flat
surface, we have the western terminus of the great central chain of
mountains that forms the backbone of the Island. This begins near the
shores of Guadiana Bay and extends in a northeasterly direction
throughout almost the entire length of the Province. The main or central
ridge of the Pinar del Rio system is known as the Sierra de Los Organos,
or Organ Mountains, owing probably to the fact that the sides of these
mountains, in many places, form great perpendicular fluted columns,
whose giant organ like shafts reach upward for hundreds of feet.
From this western terminal point the mountains rapidly widen out like an
arrow head, so that between San Juan y Martinez on the south, and Malos
Aguas on the north, the foot hills approach close to both coasts. On the
south, however, they quickly recede towards the Capital, some twenty
miles north, whence they continue throughout the northern center of the
Province in a line more or less direct, leaving the southern half a
great, broad level plain.
On the north coast, from the harbor of San Gayetano east, the mountains
with their adjacent foothills follow more closely the shore line, until
at Bahia Honda, sixty miles west of the city of Havana, they come almost
down to the head of the harbor, gradually receding a little from this
point east, until the chain disappears some ten miles west of the
boundary line that separates Pinar del Rio from Havana.
Strange as it may seem, nature in her mysterious caprice has twice
repeated the form of a shoe at separate points in the outline of the
south coast of Cuba. The first, known as the Peninsula of the Zapata,
with its definitely formed heel and toe, is in the Province of Santa
Clara; and again a second perfect shoe; that resembles with its high
heel set well forward a slightly exaggerated type of the shoe so popular
with the women of Cuba and all Latin American countries, forms the
extreme western terminus of the Island and is almost separated from the
mainland by a chain of shallow lakes. It extends from Cape Francis on
the east to Cape San Antonio, some seventy-five miles west, with an
average width of only about ten miles. Just in front of the heel we have
the indentation known as the Bay of Corrientes, while on the opposite
side, or top of the foot, lies the quiet and protected Bay of Guadiana.
The lighthouse of Cape San Antonio is located on the extreme western
point. From the toe to the heel, following the arch of the foot for
forty miles, runs a low range of hills that introduce the mountain
system of Cuba, developing later into the great central chain that
continues to the other end of the Island.
Between the City of Pinar del Rio and Vinales, the range is broken up
into three parallel ridges, the central one composed of limestone, while
the other are of slates, schists and sand. The highest peak, known as
the Pan de Guajaibon, has an altitude that has been variously estimated
from 2500 to 3,000 feet. It rises abruptly from the narrow plain of the
north coast, about eight miles, southwest of the harbor of Bahia Honda,
and is difficult of ascent. The various parks, plateaus and circular
basins or sumideros, often of large extent, with subterranean exits,
form strangely picturesque spots that burst on the traveler, mounted on
his sturdy sure footed pony, unexpectedly, and if a lover of scenery he
will leave with sincere regret.
One of these charming valleys, known as Vinales, lies between two
prominent ridges, about twenty miles north of the City of Pinar del Rio,
and is in many respects the most glorious bit of scenery in all the West
Indies. A splendid macadamized automobile drive winds from the capital
up along the foot hills to the crest of the ridge, whence it descends,
crosses the valley, cuts through the northernmost ridge, and continues
on to La Esperanza, on the north shore of the Province.
[Illustration: THE VINALES VALLEY
A scene in the heart of the wonderland of Pinar del Rio, which
innumerable tourists have declared second to no other spot in the world
in romantic beauty and fascinating charm. The combination of cliffs and
plain, with the rich coloring of tropical flora, is so bewildering as to
create the illusion of a stage-setting made for scenic effect by some
master artist.]
Rex Beach, the novelist, writer and traveler, looked down from his auto
into the valley for the first time in 1916. Stopping the machine
suddenly, he jumped to the ground and stood spellbound, looking down
into that beautiful basin, over a thousand feet below. After a
moment’s pause he exclaimed: “I have visited every spot of interest from
northern Alaska to Panama, and traveled through many countries, but
never before in my life have I met anything so picturesquely,
dramatically beautiful as this valley, this dream garden that lies at
our feet. There is nothing like it in the Western Hemisphere, probably
not in all the world.”
The length of the basin is not over twenty miles while its width varies
from three to ten. The floor is level, covered with rich waving grass,
watered by a little stream, that comes meandering through the valley,
dives beneath a mountain range, afterwards to reappear from a
grotto-like opening on the northern side, beyond the valley, whence its
waters eventually find their home in the Gulf of Mexico.
The peculiar, almost unreal, indentations of the northern ridge are
silhouetted so vividly against the sky above that from the southern
shore of the valley one is inclined at times to believe them
fantastically formed clouds. The remarkable feature, however, of Vinales
lies in the peculiar round-topped mountains that rise abruptly from the
level surface below, and project themselves perpendicularly into the
air, to a height varying from 1,200 to 2,000 feet.
Unique imposing formations, resulting from millions of years of tropical
rains and rock erosion, are covered with dense forests of strange palms
and thousands of rare plants, whose varied foliage seems to be peculiar
to this isolated spot in the western central part of Pinar del Rio.
These singular dome-like lomas of Vinales, looming up so unexpectedly
from the valley below, are usually accessible from one side, although
but very few people seem to have taken the trouble to climb to their
summits. All of these mountains and foothills, composed of limestone
formations, are honeycombed with caves, some of them of rare beauty.
Shortly after the founding of the Republic, a group of men composed
mostly of naturalists and scientists, representing the Smithsonian and
like institutions in the United States, together with several Cuban
enthusiasts in the study of nature, spent several months studying the
fauna and flora of the Vinales Valley. In fact they rambled and worked
through most of the line of foothills that traverse Pinar del Rio
between its central ridges and the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the party
were specialists in tertiary fossils, others in the myriad varieties of
submarine life. These latter spent considerable time studying the
various species of radiata, mollusca, crustacea and allied forms of life
on the inner side of the long coral barrier reef which parallels the
shore of the province of Pinar del Rio, from Bahia Honda to Cape San
Antonio. Many new varieties of the snail family, also, were discovered
and studied.
In this connection it may be stated that a very rare variety of the palm
family, the Microoyco Calocoma, commonly called the Cork Palm, found
only in Pinar del Rio, seems, owing perhaps to some unfavorable change
in climate or surrounding conditions, to be disappearing from earth. Not
more than seventy specimens are known to exist and these are all growing
in an isolated spot in the mountains back of Consolacion del Sur.
Several of them have been transplanted to the grounds of the Government
Experimental Station for study and care. One also has been removed to
the grounds of the President’s home at El Chico. The palms are not tall,
none reaching a height of more than twenty feet, with a diameter of
perhaps eight inches.
This rare palm is one of those miraculous survivals of the carboniferous
age that by some strange protecting influence have survived all the
great seismic upheaval and geological changes wrought on the earth’s
surface during the millions of years since the epoch, when this and
similar varieties of carboniferous plants were the kings of the
vegetable world. Their dead forms are frequently found imprinted in the
coal fields of Pennsylvania and Brazil, but only in Cuba has this
family of ancient palms persisted, mute survival of an antiquity that
probably antedates any other living thing on earth. So slow is the
growth of this remarkable plant, that only one crown of leaves appears
each year. By simply counting the circles of scars left by the fallen
leaves, it is clearly demonstrated that many of these remnants of a
remote geological past were living in the mountains of Pinar del Rio
long before Columbus dreamed of another continent. Some of them are
today over a thousand years old, and may have antedated the fall of
Rome, if not the birth of Christ on earth.
A strange variety of indigenous wild legumes, belonging probably to the
cow-pea tribe, is found growing luxuriantly in the low sandy soil of the
southwestern coast. The vine forms a splendid cover crop of which cattle
are very fond, while the peas, although small, are delicious eating.
Plants of the lily family are found in great quantities in some of the
fresh water lagoons of this Province, the ashes of which furnish 60% of
high-grade potash.
Back in the mountains of Pinar del Rio, an exploring party from the
Experimental Station came across, most unexpectedly, a little group of
five immense black walnut trees. No one knows whence came the seed from
which they sprung, since the district has never been settled, and the
black walnut is not known in any other part of the Island. It is quite
probable that many, if not all, of the forest trees of a commercial
value in the Gulf States, and perhaps further north, would thrive in
Cuba if planted there.
There is much fine, valuable hard-wood timber in the mountain ranges of
Pinar del Rio, between Vinales and Bahia Honda, but lack of facility for
the removal to the coast will probably cause it to remain unmolested for
some years to come.
The extreme length of Pinar del Rio, from southwest to northeast, in a
straight line, is nearly two hundred miles, while its average width is
fifty. The rivers and streams all have their sources in the central
divide, and flow to the north and south, emptying into the Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. None of these, of course, are available
for navigation more than a few miles up from their mouths, and while
serving as drainage streams during the rainy season, many of them,
unfortunately, cease to flow during the dry months of February and
March.
Some of them, with sources in large springs, back in the mountains,
could be used very advantageously, with small expense, for irrigation
purposes, thus rendering adjoining lands, especially in the tobacco and
vegetable district, doubly valuable. With the control of the water
supply, the profit to be made from these lands, on which three or four
crops may be gathered a year, would seem almost incredible, especially
if compared with the returns of similar lands in the United States.
As an illustration, in any of the rich sandy soils bordering streams
like the Rio Hondo or Las Cabezas of the south coast, or the Manimani or
the Mulata of the north coast, whose waters are always available for
irrigation purposes, in January, February or March corn and cow peas may
be planted on the same ground in the early spring. Crops from these may
be gathered in late May or June, and the same land planted in carita
beans, sweet potatoes or squash, that may be removed in September,
leaving the field to be again planted in October with tobacco, peanuts,
yuca, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, egg plants or okra, that when
gathered in January and February will bring splendid returns in either
the local markets of Havana, or the early spring markets of the Atlantic
and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
The short streams flowing from the mountain chains along the north coast
are the Mariel, the Manimani, the Mulata, the San Marcos, the Guacamayo,
the Caimito and Mantua, and the Rio Salado. Returning on the south coast
we have the Cabeza, the Guama, Ovas, Hondo, Herradura, San Diego, Los
Palacios, Bacuranabo, Sabanal and the Bayale.
The northern coast of Pinar del Rio is fortunate in having three of the
finest harbors of Cuba, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. First, the
beautiful Bay of Mariel, located about 30 miles west of Havana, has a
narrow, deep entrance with a lighthouse on the eastern point, and the
Government Quarantine Station for foreign ships on the western side at
the entrance. This Bay rapidly widens out into a large deep basin, three
miles in length from north to south, with an average width of perhaps a
mile, together with several prolongations towards the west, all
furnishing excellent anchorage and securely protected against any
possible weather.
The shores of Mariel are beautiful. Palm covered bluffs several hundred
feet in height rise almost abruptly from the eastern side of the Bay. On
top of this promontory or plateau is located a fine two-story building,
erected in 1905 as a club house, but occupied at the present time by
Cuba’s Naval Academy. The view from the crest over the surrounding
country, with its tall mountains in the distance, its forest covered
foothills and great valleys planted in sugar cane to the south and west,
with the Gulf of Mexico lying off to the north, presents a picture of
rare tropical beauty.
Between this promontory and the lighthouse a modern cement factory was
built in 1917, turning out at the present time 1,000 barrels of Portland
Cement per day, while near the head of the Bay, a narrow gauge railroad,
bringing asphalt from back in the foothills, terminates alongside the
shipping wharf.
The quaint little fishing village of Mariel is located on the shore at
the southern end of the Bay. Its inhabitants, although leading rather an
uneventful life, seem quite content to remain, although Havana is less
than thirty miles distant over a splendid automobile drive; one of the
most beautiful in Cuba. The Quarantine Station is splendidly equipped
and always in readiness to take care of any ship’s crew or passengers
that may be detained by orders of the authorities in Havana. Mariel,
owing to its natural beauty and its proximity to Havana, is frequently
visited by President Menocal in his yacht, and furnishes a delightful,
cool resting place for anyone during the summer season.
Ten or twelve miles further west, we have the Bay of Cabanas, another
perfectly land-locked harbor, whose deep entrance is divided by an
island into two channels. These open out into a wide picturesque expanse
of water, extending east and west for some ten miles or more, with an
average width of two or three.
On the small island that almost obscures the mouth of the harbor from
the sea, a little old Spanish fort, with its obsolete guns, up to the
present unmolested, bears mute evidence to those times when visits of
pirates, with the equally troublesome corsairs of France and England,
were common, and provision for defense was absolutely necessary. The
village of Cabanas, in order to secure better protection from the danger
mentioned, is located two or three miles back from the eastern end of
the harbor.
Great fields of sugar cane surround the Bay on all sides. These, of
course, have been greatly extended since the European War and the
increased demand for sugar. A beautiful automobile drive that branches
from the main line or Pinar del Rio road, at Guanajay, passes along the
crest of the ridge of hills back of the Bay of Cabanas, for over ten
miles, giving at almost every turn a new view to this beautiful sheet of
water. Once known to the outside world, this magnificent Bay of Cabanas
would soon become a popular resort for private yachts that spend the
winter season in tropical waters.
Fifteen miles further west, this same winding, hill-climbing,
macadamized Government driveway, reaches another splendid harbor known
as Bahia Honda, or Deep Bay. Like most of the bays of Cuba, the entrance
to this, although comparatively narrow, is deep, and with two range
lights maintained for the purposes of easy access day and night. This
harbor extends back from the Gulf of Mexico some seven or eight miles,
with an average width of three or four, furnishing good anchorage for
ships of any draught.
Bahia Honda was selected by the United States Government in 1902, as a
coaling station, a large body of land on the western shore being
reserved for that purpose. Owing, however, to the completion of the
Panama Canal later, and to the consequent advantages of having a naval
station closer to the line of maritime travel, between Panama and the
Atlantic Coast, Bahia Honda was surrendered to the Government of Cuba
and Guantanamo became the principal United States Naval Station for the
West Indies.
The harbor of Bahia Honda, dotted with islands, and with comparatively
high lands extending all along its western and southern shores, offers
the same advantages, not alone for an extensive commerce, but as a
rendezvous for foreign yachts and pleasure craft, during the closed
season or winter months of the north. The little village bearing the
same name, two miles back from the Bay, is reached by a branch from the
main driveway connecting Bahia Honda with Havana and intermediate
cities.
The Bay of La Esperanza, one hundred miles west of Havana, is inclosed
by the long chain of islands and coral reefs known as the “Colorados,”
that lie some eight or ten miles off the mainland, and protect
three-fourths of the shore of Pinar del Rio from the heavy waves of the
Gulf of Mexico. The entrance to this and adjacent bays is through narrow
breaks in the barrier reef. Its waters have an average depth of only two
or three fathoms; nevertheless considerable amounts of copper ore are
shipped from the mines some fifteen miles back in the mountains during
all seasons of the year.
Along the western shore of the main body of this Province, we have the
harbors of Dimas and Mantua. Like the Esperanza, they are comparatively
shallow bays, entered through breaks in the Colorado Reefs, but still
available for moderate draft vessels in all seasons of the year.
In the angle of the ankle, formed by the shoe-like extension of the
Province of Pinar del Rio, we have a beautiful wide indentation of the
coast known as Guardiana Bay. On the shores, some ten years ago, was
located a Canadian colony, but, owing to its isolation, and lack of
transportation of all kinds, it has since been practically abandoned.
This settlement, like the Isle of Pines, had little to recommend it
except its beautiful climate and its perfect immunity from the cares and
troubles of the outside world.
Aside from wide, deep indentations from the sea, and shallow landing
places at the mouths of rivers, the south coast of Pinar del Rio has
nothing to offer in the shape of harbors. Nevertheless, owing to the
presence of long lines of outlying keys, and to the fact that northerly
winds produce only smooth water off these shores, there is considerable
local traffic carried on between various places on the south coast and
Batabano, whence connection with Havana is secured by rail. A large part
of the charcoal used in the capital is cut from the low lying forests
that cover almost the entire length of Pinar del Rio’s south coast.
Across the ankle-like connection between the mainland and the peninsula
forming the western extremity of the Island a depression runs from
Guardiana Bay on the west to the Bay of Cortez on the east. Numerous
fresh water lagoons or inland lakes lie so close that a small amount of
dredging would cut a canal from one shore to the other, and save thus
over a hundred miles of travel for local coasting vessels. At the
present time these lakes, with their rich growth of aquatic plants,
furnish a retreat during the winter season for many varieties of wild
ducks, which the game laws of Cuba are endeavoring to protect. Wild deer
are also very plentiful throughout the greater part of the Province,
especially in the mountainous districts and in the jungles of the south
coast.
The capital, Pinar del Rio, is a modern and rather attractive little
city of some 12,000 inhabitants, located on a gentle rise of ground in
the western center of the Province. Immediately surrounding it is the
celebrated tobacco district known as the Vuelta Abajo, or Lower Turn, so
called, perhaps, owing to the fact that the coast line of this section
recedes rapidly towards the south and west.
The choice lands of this locality cover a relatively small area, not
over thirty miles from east to west and less than half that distance
from north to south. And even within this circumscribed area, the best
tobacco is grown only in little vegas, or oases, whose soil seems to
contain mineral elements the character of which has never been
discovered, but that nevertheless give to the plant a peculiarly
delightful aroma and flavor, not known to the tobacco of any other part
of the world. As a result, the price of these little vegas, so favored
by Nature, is very high, often running into thousands of dollars per
acre.
Pinar del Rio is connected with Havana by the Western Railway, that
traverses almost the entire length of the Province, terminating at the
present time at the town of Guane within thirty miles of Guardiana Bay.
This railroad furnishes transportation for the great level plains,
together with the fertile foot hills that occupy the southern half of
the Province.
An extension of the line has been granted and contracts signed carrying
it around the western terminus of the Organ Mountains, whence it will
follow the line of the north shore, returning east to Havana. This line
when completed will furnish transportation to the entire length of the
coast lands bordering on the Gulf of Mexico.
Along the Western Road are a number of prosperous little cities or
villages, with populations varying from two to eight thousand, including
Artemisa, Candelaria, San Cristobal, Taco-Taco, Los Palacios,
Herradura, Consolacion del Sur, Ovas, etc., all of which are located
along the foothills, and in the tobacco district is known as the Partido
or Semi Vuelta. Beyond Pinar del Rio, we have San Luis, Martinez and
Guane, which claim to be within the charmed zone of Vuelta Abajo.
Tobacco is also grown around the little town of Vinales, nestling in the
center of that valley, and in nearly all of the foothills that border
the north coast; hence the tobacco industry in this end of the Island,
greatly exceeds in value, that of sugar cane, which up to the beginning
of the great war, was grown only in the basins of rich heavy soil
surrounding the harbors of Mariel, Cabanas and Bahia Honda. There are
seven ingenios or sugar mills within the limits of this province that
produced together 645,000 bags of sugar in 1918.
The growing of fruits and vegetables, especially since the birth of the
Republic, was introduced into Pinar del Rio as an industry by Americans,
many of whom settled along the line of the Western Road, many of these,
taking advantage of the rich sandy loams between the railroad line and
the Organ Mountains, have built up a really important industry not
before known to Cuba.
An American colony was started at Herradura, one hundred miles west of
Havana in 1902. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the little settlement
gave nearly all of their capital and energy to the planting of citrus
fruit groves, which as a whole, have rather disappointed their owners.
This was not because the growing of citrus fruit cannot be successfully
carried on in Pinar del Rio, but was in most instances owing to the fact
that the areas planted were very much larger than the available help
could possibly handle and care for intelligently; hence many groves,
lacking this care, have lapsed into grazing lands, whence they came.
The growing of vegetables, green peppers, tomatoes, egg plants and
beans, especially where farms were located near enough to streams to
provide irrigation during the months of January, February and March,
has proven very profitable, and within the near future will undoubtedly
be still further extended.
In the early part of the 19th century, and for that matter, up to the
abolition of slavery in 1878, the production of coffee in the
mountainous districts of Pinar del Rio was the chief industry in the
Province. Beautiful estates, the ruins of which are frequently scattered
along the line of the Organ Mountains, especially in that section of the
range included between San Cristobal and Bahia Honda, and splendid
country homes with approaches cut from the main highways of travel up
into these delightful picturesque retreats, were occupied during the
summer months by prominent citizens of Havana, who found the growing of
coffee both profitable and agreeable. The coffee trees still grow,
although uncared for, and many thousand of pounds are still brought out
of this almost forgotten district, on mule back, to be sold to the
country groceries of Bahia Honda and San Cristobal, where the green
beans bring twenty dollars per hundred weight.
With the introduction of colonists from the Canary Islands, Italy, and
other countries who love the fresh air of the mountains, and who do not
object to the isolation which naturally follows a residence in remote
sections, there is every reason to believe that the coffee industry will
again be resumed. The settlement of these hills and vales with families
whose children can assist in the picking of berries, will make the
growing of coffee a great success.
Until 1913 the mining interests of Pinar del Rio were practically
ignored, in spite of the fact that several excavations or shafts, that
had been worked many years before, gave evidence of the existence of
copper. It was in this year that Luciano Diaz, formerly Secretary of
Public Works, became interested in the district known as Matahambre.
Competent mining engineers, brought from the United States, assured Mr.
Diaz that his claim was valuable, and merited the investment of
capital. This proved to be true, since the mine has produced high-grade
copper at the rate of about five million dollars per year since the date
of its opening.
Valuable deposits of manganese, too, have been recently discovered in
the western end of the province, and will undoubtedly be developed in
the near future. Excellent iron ore is found in the same chain, west of
the capital, but owing to the difficulties of transportation, the mines
have never been operated. Asphalt, asbestos and other substances used in
the commercial world, are found at various points along the range, and
await only intelligent direction and capital for their development.
Although Narciso Lopez, with his unfortunate followers, endeavored to
arouse the people of this Province against the iniquities of Spanish
rule in the year 1852, the revolution had never reached the west until
the winter of 1896, when General Antonio Maceo, with his army of Cuban
veterans, carried the “invasion of the Occident” to its ultimate
objective. After one of the most skilfully conducted campaigns known to
history, he rested for a few weeks in the little town of Mantua, within
a few miles of the extreme western shore of Cuba.
The crossing of the Trocha, that had been built between the harbor of
Mariel and the south coast, by this invading army, was very distasteful
to General Weyler, who soon filled Pinar del Rio with well armed
regiments and gave Maceo battle for more than a year. Short of
ammunition, and in a section of the country where it was almost
impossible for the expedition to aid him, General Maceo was compelled to
keep up a running fight for many months, and in the Organ Mountains and
in their various spurs toward the north coast were fought some of the
most stubbornly contested engagements of the War of Independence.