36 Peck ham — Bituminous Deposits of Cuba. 



his associates. It is about five years since anything was done 

 here. At the first Alvarez had only his house and the sugar 

 mill. While digging a well for water (N"o. 1 on the map) 

 they went down 78 feet, obtaining a water that was worthless 

 because of a black thick oil found with it. This being unfit 

 for drinking purposes, another well was dug at No. 2. Water 

 was obtained at 78 feet with only a slight trace of oil. This 

 well was used for water and furnished all there was on the 

 premises. The water in this well is now 39 feet deep. For 

 some years after this, Alvarez gave the oil from well No. 1 to 

 the native population for various domestic purposes and espe- 

 cially for fuel. Then he with others conceived the idea of 

 drilling a well for oil alone and refining it. An engineer and 

 the necessary machinery were procured and well No. 3 drilled. 

 A large hole was put down about 25 feet, inside of which a 

 two-inch pipe was driven down 500 feet, when oil was obtained. 

 A pump was then put in and 100,000 gallons extracted, which 

 was all the well would yield. It was then decided to drill this 

 well still deeper, but the drill became smeared with oil and 

 drillings to such an extent that the drilling was stopped. To 

 obviate this difficulty another well was put down at No. 4, 

 three feet from No. 3, with the idea that when the same depth 

 was reached at which the trouble occurred, the sticky stuff 

 could be pumped out through No. 4 and drawn away from the 

 drill in No. 3. The machinery was attached to the same 

 walking-beam as that which was drilling No. 3, but when the 

 same depth was reached as that of No. 3 no oil was found. 

 No. 4 was then abandoned and another well put down at No. 

 5, 150 meters to the southwest of No. 3. This well was sunk 

 to a depth of 180 feet, when the drill broke into a subterranean 

 hole and the drills were lost. After some time spent in fruit- 

 less effort to recover the drills, everything was pulled up and 

 taken back to w T ell No. 3, to sink it still deeper by using better 

 and improved machinery. An engineer was engaged from the 

 United States to do the work, when one of the principal 

 owners in the enterprise died and all operations were stopped. 

 After the war broke out between Spain and the Cuban 

 insurgents, both of the refineries were burned and nothing has 

 been done there since. The foregoing history was told to me 

 by one Juan P. de Torrontequi, who was one of those actively 

 interested in all that was done. He now lives in Cardenas. 

 It shows that oil was found in two wells, one of which yielded 

 100,000 gallons, which were refined and sold to the people in 

 the vicinity ; also, that considerable work has been done in 

 drilling, but in a very crude way. 



At present the refineries and house'are in ruins. The walls, 

 chimneys, and portions of the machinery are all there is in 



