The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

The colony of La Gloria in the fall of 1918 contained about 75 families and comprised, all told, probably 500 people. This estimate includes the little nearby settlements of Guanaja, Punta Pelota, Columbia, Canasi, The Garden, and other little suburbs or groups of families, scattered throughout the district.

With the Cubans, the people of La Gloria have always maintained the most friendly relations, while mutual esteem and respect is the rule of the district. The Mayor of La Gloria, a Cuban, was elected by popular vote, and is highly esteemed in the community as a man who has been always an enthusiastic and efficient supporter of the interests of the colony. Seventy per cent of the population is American. La Gloria has always been fortunate in having a good school in which both Spanish and English are taught.

The town itself is located on the northern edge of the plateau, or rise of ground overlooking the savanna that separates it from the bay. A fairly good road some five miles in length, built at Government expense, connects the town with the wharf, whence, up to the winter of 1918, all produce was sent for shipment to the harbor of Nuevitas some forty miles east by launch.

The streets are very wide, shaded with beautiful flowering flamboyans, and the houses, many of them two stories in height, are built of native woods, cedar, mahogany, etc., products of the saw mills of the neighborhood. These, as a rule, are kept painted, and the general appearance of the town, although not bustling with business, is one of comfort, cleanliness and thrift.

It is not an exaggeration to state that there is no little town in conservative New England where less of waste, or disfiguring material, even in back yards, or rear of houses, can be found, than in the little town of La Gloria. The furnishing of most of the houses consists of a strange mingling of articles of comfort brought from home, combined with other things that have been improvised and dug out of their tropical surroundings.

A mistake, made in the early days of La Gloria, and one common to every American colony in the West Indies, has been the exclusive dedication of energy, effort and capital to the growth of citrus fruit. The first essential factor to the success of a colony in any climate is food, and forage for animals. This, in nearly every American town in Cuba, has been ignored, every effort being expended on the planting and promotion of a citrus grove from which no yield could be expected inside of five or six years, and during which time, many a well meaning farmer has become discouraged or has exhausted his capital, leaving his grove in the end to be choked up with weeds and ruined by the various enemies of the citrus family. However, the people of La Gloria planted and stuck to their orange trees and many of these, today, are yielding very satisfactory returns, in spite of the serious lack of transportation.

The best land belonging to the colony is located in the district known as Canasi, some three miles south of the town, in the direction of the Cubitas Mountains. There are 600 acres in this section devoted to oranges and grape fruit, all of which have been well cared for and are increasing in value each year.

The citizens of the colony have joined forces and built a well equipped packing plant, 100 feet in length by 30 feet in width, from which, last year, were shipped 432,000 loose oranges, and 9,200 boxes of grape fruit, the latter going to the United States by the way of Nuevitas. All of this fruit at the present time is hauled by wagon, some eight or nine miles to the wharf, on the bay, whence it is conveyed to the harbor of Nuevitas for sale and shipment.

La Gloria’s hope of really satisfactory transportation facilities is vested in the North Shore Railroad of Cuba, and her dream of suitable connections with the outside world of trade will soon be realized. La Gloria has many things to commend it, aside from soil and climate. One of these is excellent drinking water, found at an average depth of twenty feet. The soil on which the town is built is largely impregnated with iron ore, which forms a splendid roadbed, and enables the population to escape the seas of mud that are rather common throughout the interior, excepting along macadamized roads.

Most vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, may be grown throughout the entire year in La Gloria, and a variety of potato adapted to that peculiar soil will probably be found in the near future. A serious mistake common not only in La Gloria but in nearly all other colonies in Cuba has been neglect in sowing forage plants and thus providing for live stock, so essential to the success of any farming district.