82 CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



ores, asphaltum, manganese, copper, and salt. A little gold 

 and silver were mined in past centuries, but never in large 

 quantities. In 1827 the silver-mines of Santa Clara yielded 

 one hundred and forty ounces to the ton, but they were 

 soon worked out. There is reason for believing that 

 neither silver nor gold will be found in paying quantities. 



Iron ore has thus far proved the chief metallic resource 

 of Cuba. The iron-mines are located in the Sierra Maestra, 

 a few miles east of Santiago de Cuba, and are of great 

 importance. These are owned by American companies, 

 which have invested extensive capital in opening them, and 

 providing railways and piers for the shipment of the ore. 

 The ores are mixed brown and red hematite, containing 

 from sixty-five to sixty- eight per cent, of pure iron, which 

 is considered very rich. They occur in the white lime- 

 stone that incrusts the seaward face of the porphyritic and 

 granitoid core of the Sierra Maestra up to a height of twenty- 

 five hundred feet. The principal producers are the Juragua 

 and the Spanish- American companies. The ore is brought 

 down from the mines, some fifteen miles away, on railroad- 

 tracks to piers at the seaside, where it is loaded upon steam- 

 ers and shipped to the Bethlehem, Steelton, and Sparrow 

 Point companies of this country, much of it being used for 

 the manufacture of armor-plate. Just before the war broke 

 out trial shipments of ore had been sent over to England, 

 and strong hopes were entertained of establishing an 

 extensive trade with that country. It may interest the 

 reader to know that Santiago and the iron-mines of Jura- 

 gua are the scene of the popular novel, " Soldiers of For- 

 tune." 



The pier of the Juragua Company at Baraqui cost two 

 hundred thousand dollars, and has facilities for loading 

 two- to three-thousand-ton steamers with ore in less than 

 ten hours. The production of this company in 1890 was 

 362,068 tons, amounting to one fourth of the total importa- 

 tion of iron ores into the United States for the same period. 



Very rich deposits of manganese occur west of Santiago, 



