THE CUBA REVIEW 



25 



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"Soledad" Mill and Plant. 



EL SOLEDAD PLANTATION AND MILL 



This plantation and central is owned and operated by INIr. E. F. Atkins of Boston, who was 

 the founder of the estate nearly half a century ago, and it is today one of the best known sugar 

 estates on the island of Cuba. The estate has been in operation for thirty-two years without 

 interruption, and during most of that time Mr. Atkins has given the same his personal attention, 

 making his residence on the plantation for several months each year. 



The sugar central, or mill, is located on the site of several old mills of the sm^aller type, of 

 which there were originally eight on the present plantation of more than seven thousand 

 acres of excellent cane land. The property is one of the show places of Cienfuegos, but owing 

 to the distance from the city — twelve miles— and the present condition of the roads (it can be 

 reached only by motor car) the trip is not a comfortable one, and on this account it does not 

 hold the attraction for tourists from Cienfuegos that it once did. 



While the mill is not classed among the largest in Cuba— present capacity 140,000 bags of 

 325 lbs. each— it is evident to an outsider after a visit through this "central, "'that it is a most 

 eflBciently operated one, and from the standpoint of economy in operation, we are told, it could 

 be used as an excellent object lesson for a great many of the larger mills in Cuba. Cleanliness 

 appears to be the watchword in every part of the mill, and this excellent virtue, combined with 

 the required discipline, makes for the efficiency noted. There are several novel features which 

 indicate a spirit of progress about the mechanical operation of making sugar here which have 

 not been adopted or have been abandoned in other mills, as the case may be, among which 

 are noted a new style Link-Belt cane dump car which is operated by tilting sideways at the 

 desired angle and the cane gradually slides from the car into the hopper of the earner, a big 

 improvement over the old method of hoisting and dropping, and in this connection it is sur- 

 prising to note the few miUs in Cuba today that have adopted this labor and tim.e-saving 

 feature of handling the cane at the mill. In this mill, after the raw sugar leaves the centrifugals, 

 it is forced to the top floor and blown into a conveyor from which it is dropped to the bagging 

 floor. This is said to be an old idea to cool off the sugar before bagging it, and is not in general 

 use in sugar mills in Cuba today. Soledad does not enjoy railroad facilities to a shipping port 

 and it is necessarj' to transport the finished product of this mill in lighters down the Cajnao 

 River to deep water at Cienfuegos. 



