The History of Cuba, vol. 5

by Willis Fletcher Johnson

This Province, with its area of 5,764 square miles, owing to the fact, perhaps, that it lay west of Havana, the capital, and thus outside of the line of traffic and settlement that began in the eastern end of the Island, has played historically and politically a comparatively small part in the story of the Pearl of the Antilles. Its capital, Pinar del Rio, located about one hundred and twenty-five miles west of Havana, on the Western Railroad, was founded in 1776, and claims today a population of 12,000 people.

The delightful aroma and flavor of the tobacco grown in the section of which this city is the center, and whose quality has been equaled in no other place, has rendered this province, in one way at least, famous throughout the entire civilized world.

The topography of the province is more distinctly marked than that of any other in Cuba. The greater part of the surface, including the entire southern half, together with the coast plains between the mountains and the Gulf of Mexico, is quite level. Rising almost abruptly from the flat surface, we have the western terminus of the great central chain of mountains that forms the backbone of the Island. This begins near the shores of Guadiana Bay and extends in a northeasterly direction throughout almost the entire length of the Province. The main or central ridge of the Pinar del Rio system is known as the Sierra de Los Organos, or Organ Mountains, owing probably to the fact that the sides of these mountains, in many places, form great perpendicular fluted columns, whose giant organ like shafts reach upward for hundreds of feet.

From this western terminal point the mountains rapidly widen out like an arrow head, so that between San Juan y Martinez on the south, and Malos Aguas on the north, the foot hills approach close to both coasts. On the south, however, they quickly recede towards the Capital, some twenty miles north, whence they continue throughout the northern center of the Province in a line more or less direct, leaving the southern half a great, broad level plain.

On the north coast, from the harbor of San Gayetano east, the mountains with their adjacent foothills follow more closely the shore line, until at Bahia Honda, sixty miles west of the city of Havana, they come almost down to the head of the harbor, gradually receding a little from this point east, until the chain disappears some ten miles west of the boundary line that separates Pinar del Rio from Havana.

Strange as it may seem, nature in her mysterious caprice has twice repeated the form of a shoe at separate points in the outline of the south coast of Cuba. The first, known as the Peninsula of the Zapata, with its definitely formed heel and toe, is in the Province of Santa Clara; and again a second perfect shoe; that resembles with its high heel set well forward a slightly exaggerated type of the shoe so popular with the women of Cuba and all Latin American countries, forms the extreme western terminus of the Island and is almost separated from the mainland by a chain of shallow lakes. It extends from Cape Francis on the east to Cape San Antonio, some seventy-five miles west, with an average width of only about ten miles. Just in front of the heel we have the indentation known as the Bay of Corrientes, while on the opposite side, or top of the foot, lies the quiet and protected Bay of Guadiana. The lighthouse of Cape San Antonio is located on the extreme western point. From the toe to the heel, following the arch of the foot for forty miles, runs a low range of hills that introduce the mountain system of Cuba, developing later into the great central chain that continues to the other end of the Island.

Between the City of Pinar del Rio and Vinales, the range is broken up into three parallel ridges, the central one composed of limestone, while the other are of slates, schists and sand. The highest peak, known as the Pan de Guajaibon, has an altitude that has been variously estimated from 2500 to 3,000 feet. It rises abruptly from the narrow plain of the north coast, about eight miles, southwest of the harbor of Bahia Honda, and is difficult of ascent. The various parks, plateaus and circular basins or sumideros, often of large extent, with subterranean exits, form strangely picturesque spots that burst on the traveler, mounted on his sturdy sure footed pony, unexpectedly, and if a lover of scenery he will leave with sincere regret.

One of these charming valleys, known as Vinales, lies between two prominent ridges, about twenty miles north of the City of Pinar del Rio, and is in many respects the most glorious bit of scenery in all the West Indies. A splendid macadamized automobile drive winds from the capital up along the foot hills to the crest of the ridge, whence it descends, crosses the valley, cuts through the northernmost ridge, and continues on to La Esperanza, on the north shore of the Province.

THE VINALES VALLEY

A scene in the heart of the wonderland of Pinar del Rio, which innumerable tourists have declared second to no other spot in the world in romantic beauty and fascinating charm. The combination of cliffs and plain, with the rich coloring of tropical flora, is so bewildering as to create the illusion of a stage-setting made for scenic effect by some master artist.