2 NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Across the Isle of Pines Behind Two Mules 
By Thomas D. Connolly 
(Written for the North Shore Breeze) 
(Copyright Thos, D. Connolly) 
IV 
Witsoe is another thriving community. 
It has 
a dock. With the advent of so many autos the 
people of these thriving townships meet each other in 
the different social affairs which they have. The time 
is not far distant when an electric car line will circle 
the Island; also a railroad will probably run from the 
headwaters of the Casas River on the West to Los In- 
dios on the East. The land is so level that with the ex- 
ception of the small rivers, which will require well built 
bridges, the expense of a well-equipped railroad will be 
nominal, so to speak, and will have the best timber in 
the island for railroad sleepers. 
Beyond Westport are the thriving communities of 
Santa Barbara and McKinley with its well kept groves 
and .nice rolling land, and further along is San Fran- 
asco heights. It also has the Pine Ridge Country Club, 
a beautiful set of buildings, and has a beautiful sunken 
garden which looks towards the distant mountains. I 
saw one grove of grape fruit here one section of which 
contains one hundred acres, with here and there, mixed 
among the fruit trees, odd Royal palms which gives it a 
charming effect. San Franasco Heights is about in the 
centre of the island, and money has not been spared to 
make it attractive. 
Kopf Brothers have fine nurseries and groves in 
Santa Barbara and have taken the prizes on pineapples 
the last two years at Santa Fe fair. In this place you 
will see the finest of pineapple tracts, the famous 
smooth Cayenne pineapple that weighs from eight 
pounds, up to fifteen. George A. Cook has a fine place; 
also at San Franasco Heights is the famous Swetland 
grove. At West McKinley Dr. F. Perkins and T. F. 
Thornton of Manchester, N. H., own large tracts and 
each have five acres devoted to grape fruit now four 
years old. 
Before the advent of Americans to the island a 
great many cattle and pigs were allowed to run wild 
through the island. Most of these have been rounded 
up and slaughtered, yet a great many still roam wild, 
more especially the pigs, as the Island is a great feed- 
ing ground for them, Guayara fruits being what they 
feed on and this grows wild. A short time ago just 
north of Los Indios two Pineros built several fires to 
drive out the pigs in a certain place and the fires got the 
upper hand of them, and came near burning up a lot 
of the settlers’ homes; but fortunately no damage was 
done. ‘‘Fire is a good servant but a poor master.’’ 
On the northern part of the island between Isle of 
Pines and Cuba are many small islands or cays with 
tropical trees, and on them are the most beautiful 
springs of bubbling fresh water. The water is very 
shallow all the way, the deepest part about twenty 
feet and for this reason boats entering Jacauro or 
Nueva Gerona can only draw. from five to eight feet 
of water, On the southern and western part of the is- 
land, the largest steamers can come, which part of the 
island is destined later to have the largest docks, and 
Uncle Sam, now that the Panama Canal is about ready 
to be opened, will probably have his coaling station, as 
the canal is only 600 miles distant. 
Below the Isle of Pines is the Grand Cayman Is- 
land, settled by an English speaking people, descend- 
ants of pirates, which island has considerable trade 
with the Isle of Pines. 
They come to the Isle of Pines in numbers and are 
employed as laborers. They bring in large quantities 
of sour orange stock to which the grape fruit is budded. 
We pass on from McKinley towards Nueva Gerona, 
from where we started to circle the Island. The only 
mineral product of importance is marble, which is 
found in two mountains close to Nueva Gerona. They 
worked this marble some years ago and had quite: an 
extensive plant, a man by the name of O’Donnell ran 
it for some time. The Spanish government was against 
the enterprise and it issued a duty on the sand used in 
scouring it which was obtained on the shore a short 
distance away. This finally killed the business and 
now it is a mass of ruins. The marble was of fine qual- 
ity, good white, blue, dark gray and pink. The amount 
of this marble is unlimited. A good quality of brick 
clay is found and at one time they manufactured 
bricks, floor and roofing tiles, which were shopped to 
Havana. Plenty of linestone is found and when this 
is burned it furnishes plaster for houses and also for 
fertilizing purposes. 
In Nueva Gerona is a tobacco factory and they 
manufacture a splendid brand of cigars and cigarettes. 
The cigars are fine flavored and can be bought for three 
cents a piece. The material for building roads is good, 
consisting of coarse sand mixed with clay and gravel. 
This makes splendid roads even in rainy weather. 
They manufacture charcoal in considerable quanti- 
ties from the mangrove wood which grows even down 
to the. water edge—an inexhaustible supply. Nueva 
Gerona is well situated, about thirty feet above the 
level of the sea. The water comes from a magnesia 
spring. A large furniture manufactory is located here, 
where they make first class work from the different 
hard woods of the island, such as sashes, blinds and 
doors, and they have a large planing mill. It is owned 
by Fuls & Tracey. Mr. Tracey is a Boston boy and 
came here eight or nine years ago. There is a stone 
building or barracks in this town which ean quarter 
300 men. It is in first class condition built in the form 
of a square. You will find around this town rurales 
or mounted policemen travelling from one end of the 
island to the other. A man with a horse or vehicle of 
any kind has to have a license to come into the town, 
he is charged five dollars for each horse no matter 
whether it is a public conveyance or not. A pretty 
Catholic church ‘is here, built in 1829. Father John 
Schlit is pastor and his curate is Father Paul. They 
have charge of and attend to all parts of the island. 
Father John has a splendid school here, and has done 
and is doing a great deal for the island, and is held in 
great respect and esteem by every one. You will meet 
him attending to his duties in different parts of the 
island; IT saw him in San Pedro 21 miles from here on 
his motor cycle the day that lL was leaving. JI spent a 
very pleasant hour with him and his curate and re- 
ceived a great deal of knowledge and information in 
regard to the island. I stayed 10 days on this island 
and every moment of time was spent with pleasure. 
