AN AMERICAN GIBRALTAR 

 Notes on the Danish West Indies 



THE negotiation of a treaty be- 

 tween Denmark and the United 

 States, under which Denmark is 

 to sell to this country her holdings in the 

 West Indies, at once brings into the re- 

 lief of public interest a little group of 

 islands on the northeastern rim of the 

 Caribbean Sea. Not only because of 

 their eventful history are these islands 

 worthy of consideration, but because they 

 have figured in many diplomatic negotia- 

 tions, and their ultimate ownership may 

 have an important bearing on the inter- 

 national relations of the future. 



That this group of about fifty islands, 

 only three of which are big enough to 

 have a name on any but hydrographic 

 charts and local maps, and the biggest of 

 which one could walk around in nine 

 hours, seem important to our government 

 may be judged by the price it proposes 

 to pay for them. We gave less than 2 

 cents an acre for Alaska, less than 3 cents 

 an acre for California, Nevada, Colorado, 

 and Utah, less than 14 cents an acre for 

 Florida, and under 27 cents an acre for 

 the Philippines. Even for the Canal Zone 

 we paid but $35.83 per acre. Yet at $25,- 

 000,000 for the group we are offering 

 Denmark more than $295 per acre for 

 her holdings. 



THE ISLANDS MEASURED 



Authorities have disagreed as to the 

 area of the islands. Even as to the three 

 main islands — St. Thomas, St. John, and 

 St. Croix — there is no agreement upon 

 the question of area. In order to get a 

 definite statement as to their size, plani- 

 meter measurements of them were made 

 on hydrographic charts in the offices of 

 the National Geographic Society, and 

 they show that St. Thomas is 28.25 

 square miles in area, St. Croix 84.25 

 square miles, and St. John 19.97 square 

 miles, making a total of 132.47 square 

 miles for the three islands. Some au- 

 thorities give the area as 138 square miles 

 and others as 142 square miles. 



From the standpoint of the United 



States, St. Thomas is the most important 

 of the group of islands. This importance 

 arises from the fact that the harbor on 

 the south side of the island, on whose 

 borders the town of Charlotte Amalie is 

 located, is one of the finest in all tropical 

 America. From the days of the bucca- 

 neers its strategic advantage has been 

 realized, for when the Spanish Main was 

 the happy hunting ground of the gentle- 

 men of the Black Flag this harbor was 

 their headquarters. Behind its outer hills 

 the pirate craft found shelter from the 

 open sea, and were well screened from 

 the sight of passing ships until the mo- 

 ment came to pounce down upon them. 

 In more recent times it has played the 

 role of safe harbor for the thousands of 

 vessels bound from Europe to Panama 

 and surrounding territory, or vice versa. 

 With a free port, where repairs, ships' 

 stores, and coal might be had, upon which 

 there had been no levy of tariff duties, 

 the shipping world found the harbor of 

 Charlotte Amalie an attractive way sta- 

 tion on most of its Caribbean routes. 



A RUINED AGRICULTURE 



The result was that agriculture in St. 

 Thomas fell into decay, and nearly all of 

 the activities of the island's population 

 were devoted to the interests of its har- 

 bor, and one of the finest coaling stations 

 in the tropical world was established 

 there. It has a length of 635 feet, with a 

 breadth of 160 feet, and is inclosed on 

 three sides by a solid stone and mason- 

 work breakwater, built from 2 feet be- 

 low ground to 7 feet above sea-level. 

 More than 16,000 tons of coal can be 

 stacked in it. and leading from the break- 

 water is a jetty where four vessels can 

 coal at a time, thus affording striking 

 facilities to steamers and ships of war 

 which require their bunkers replenished 

 with dispatch. Steamers drawing 17 feet 

 of water can be coaled day or night at the 

 rate of 100 tons per hour. 



In addition to the coaling station there 

 is a floating dry-dock and a marine slip, 



