i8 



THE CUBA RFA'IF.W And Bulletin. 



to the capable iiand of M. Chueaux, and 

 by the following year his ox-teams were 

 hauling blocks of marble down the gen- 

 tle slope of the plain to the mill near the 

 mouth of the Brazo Fuerte. Schooners 

 ascended the river to this point, where a 

 wharf was constructed substantially 

 faced with brick and made on the sjxit 

 from the clay underfoot. Thence the 

 finished product was shipped to Cuba 

 and elsewhere. The water impregnated 

 with iron and magnesia first filtered 

 through the rifts and caves of the marble 

 mountain, then, emerging from the hid- 

 den lake as a swift little streain, served 

 to cut and polish the blocks, and finally, 

 joining the C'asas river, helped to bear 

 the finished product to a market. 



The exceptional advantages of natural 

 situation, at the command of a capable 

 and energetic man. made the work profit- 

 able from the outset. The marble like 

 that of Carrara was found to be of three 

 grades, viz.: dense snow-white, statuary; 

 the second class used for interior build- 

 ing, and the coarse-grained, gray product 

 used for paving. 



Having found marble when he sought 

 for <Told. M. Chueaux found gold when 

 he sought flowers. He had created a 

 beautiful garden in the plantation of 

 Brazo Fuerte, imnorting trees and plants 

 from many countries. It was while 

 botanizing in search of rare specimens 

 that he came upon a lead of gold-bearing 

 ^ quartz, which he believed to be so rich 

 that he determined to file his claim 

 iminediately. Yellow fever raged in 

 Havana, but. fearful of being forestalled, 

 he hurried thither to "denounce" the 

 mine, was stricken with the disease in its 

 most virulent form, and died within three 

 days. 



With him died the secret of the gold, 

 like that nf other treasure already mined 

 and minted, and believed to have been 

 hidden by the Buccaneers in this, their 

 ancient rendezvous. 



Quarries, machinery and tropical gar- 

 den stood, neglected for five years after 

 Chueaux's death. In t8j^. O'Donnell, 

 then Captain-General of Cuba, bought 

 the marble mountain and formed a com- 

 pany to exploit the product. 

 _ A great mill was erected at the quar- 

 ries, equinned w-ith .-Xmerican machinery, 

 quarters for superintendent, guards, and 

 the prisoners, whose unpaid labor was 

 to make the promoters rich. 



A lime kiln was built for burning the 

 refuse, and extensive docks at Columbo 

 Bay, the nearest point on the sea and 

 the only deep water on the north coast. 



The Spanish government Cor the mili- 

 tary officer in charge) reaped a profit of 

 one real (ten cents) per day for the labor 

 of each nrisoner. ■political or criminal, 

 and he miorht be worked at the discretion 

 of the contractor. Old shackles and 

 chains at Brazo Fuerte show how this 



Kiiniims uiiin'ijil sinin: 

 Pines. 



It Saiitii l"c on Islo of 



discretion was exercised, and tallies 

 scratched upon the walls of the curiously 

 segregated prisons at the ruined mill 

 still bear witness how wistfully the exiles 

 counted the days. 



The first block of marble O'Donnell's 

 company took out. was wrought into a 

 baptismal font and presented with re- 

 ligious solemnities to the Church of the 

 Blessed Virgin, the only one on the 

 island, and is still in use. 



The company's officers were chiefly 

 personal or political friends of O'Donnell 

 magnificently salaried but almost as ig- 

 norant of the work as were their unpaid 

 toilers. Even so, the business was suc- 

 cessful until enemies of O'Donnell pro- 

 cured the imposition of a tax upon the 

 sea sand used in cutting the marble 

 blocks. This additional handicap brought 

 about the collapse of the comi^any in 

 1 849. 



Some years later. ]\Iajor Sarda. a noted 

 Spanish engineer, acquired Caballas, 

 Brazo Fuerte and Columbo. He contin- 

 ued at Brazo Fuerte the manufacture of 

 bricks and tiles, but did not attempt to 

 operate the abandoned quarries, where 

 palms and bananas grew in the roofless 

 quarters, and thrust through the rusting 

 machinery. The product of his brick- 

 yard went largely to join the slabs of 

 marble in Havana, paving parts of Morro 

 Castle as well as numberless lesser struc- 

 tures public and private. 



Sarda was the builder of the Havana 

 market and other imnortant government 

 works, and was understood to cherish 

 ambitious plans for the future when he 

 died, not long before the outbreak of the 

 last Spanish-Cuban war. 



From his widow and children. Cabal- 

 los, Columbo and Brazo Fuerte were 

 bought, in 1901. by T. J. Keenan. of 

 Pittsburg. At the latter plantation. Mr. 

 Keenan has established his winter home, 

 and is gradually restoring its wasted 

 beauties. Owing to unsettled conditions, 

 the nuarries have lain idle, as during the 

 tormented half-century that followed the 

 day of O'Donnell. 



