But little is known of this river; and like many of the streams which for countless centuries have been cutting their tortuous ways through the table lands and gorges of the eastern part of Oriente, its shores have seldom been visited by human beings since the Siboney Indians, who once made that section their home, gave up trying to be Christians and took their chances of happiness on the other side of the “Great Divide.”
The Harbor of Puentes Grandes, that separates Oriente from Camaguey on the north coast, is sufficiently deep for ordinary draft vessels, but owing to sand spits and coral reefs that extend for some distance out into the Atlantic, and to the fact that good harbors lie within a few miles on either side, commerce up to the present has never sought this place as a port of entry.
About twelve miles east, however, we have the Bay of Manati with a fairly easy entrance and an elbow-like channel that will give anchorage to vessels drawing fathoms. On the shore of Manati Bay has been established a very fine sugar mill surrounded by thousands of acres of cane grown in the Yarigua Valley. Sugar is exported from this port directly to the United States.
Within the next twenty-five miles, east, are found two well protected harbors, Malagueta and Puerto Padre. The latter is the deeper and more important, owing to the large basin of fertile lands immediately surrounding it. Puerto Padre has excellent anchorage and belongs to the type of narrow mouthed bays so common to the north coast of Cuba.
On the eastern shore of Puerto Padre are located two of the Cuban American Sugar Company’s largest mills, “El Chaparra” and “Las Delicias,” each with a capacity of 600,000 bags of sugar per year. These two mills are considered, both in location and equipment, among the finest in the world. The sugar, of course, is shipped directly from Puerto Padre to New York, rendering them independent of railroad transportation, and consequently large revenue producing properties.
General Mario Menocal, General Manager of the Cuban American Company’s mills, began his great industrial career at Chaparra, which he left to assume the Presidency of the Republic in 1913. It is a very neat little city, with wide avenues, comfortable homes, good schools and many of the conveniences of much larger places. President Menocal visits Chaparra several times during the grinding season each year.
Some thirty-five miles east we have the large open roadstead of Jibara, with sufficient depth of water to provide for shipping, but with very little protection from northerly gales. On the western side of this harbor is located the city of Jibara, which forms the shipping place for the rich Holguin district, some thirty miles south.
Some forty miles further east, around the bold Punta de Lucrecia, we have another fine, deep-water, perfectly protected harbor, known as the Bay of Banes, whose rich valleys lying to the south and west contribute cane to the Ingenio Boston, belonging to the United Fruit Company, whose output is approximately half a million bags of sugar per year.
Southeast of Banes, about fifteen miles, we reach the entrance of the Bay of Nipe, considered one of the finest and best protected harbors in the world. Its entrance is sufficiently wide for ships to pass in or out at ease, while the bay itself furnishes forty-seven miles of deep water anchorage.
Nipe Bay is a little round inland sea, measuring ten miles from north to south by fifteen from east to west. The Mayari River flows into the bay from the southern shore and furnishes, for light draft boats, transportation to the city, some six miles up the river. On the north shore of the bay is located the town of Antilla, terminus of the northern extension of the Cuba Company’s lines, and one of the most important shipping places on the north coast. On the Bay of Nipe is located the Ingenio Preston, one of the finest sugar mills in Cuba, contributing 371,000 bags in the year 1918 to the sugar stock of the world.