So convenient did this harbor prove to the needs of Ocampo that he called it Puerto Carenas, by which name it was known until 1519, when the 50 odd citizens left by Velasco a few years before on the south coast, where they had tried to found a city, moved up from the Almandares to Puerto Carenas and straightway changed its name to the Bay of Havana, by which it has since been known.
The same little stream of semi-liquid asphalt can today be seen, issuing from the rocky shore along the east side of the bay. This deposit was mentioned by Oviedo in 1535, who referred also to other asphalt deposits found along the north coast of what was then known as Puerto Principe. These asphalt deposits, so close to the shore, were undoubtedly utilized by the navigators of the 16th and following centuries in making repairs to the numerous fleets that were kept busy plying between Spain and the New World.
Alexander Von Humboldt, who in the year 1800 came across from Venezuela to Cuba to study the flora, fauna and natural resources of the Island, mentioned what he called the petroleum wells of the Guanabacoa Ridge, located not far from Havana, at a point once known as the mineral springs of Santa Rita. Richard Cowling Taylor and Thomas C. Clemson, in a book published in 1837, mentioned “the petroleum wells of Guanabacoa” which had been known for three centuries and that were undoubtedly the wells to which Baron Von Humboldt had previously referred. La Sagra, too, in 1828, described petroleum fields located near Havana, and in 1829, Joaquin Navarro described several deposits of bituminous material in a report which he made to the “Real Sociedad Patriotica.”
The bituminous deposits referred to by Taylor and Clemson proved to be a solid form of asphalt. It was afterward used in large quantities as a substitute for coal. They speak of finding crude petroleum also, filling the cavities in masses of chalcedony, only a few yards distant from the asphalt. The place referred to was afterwards ceded to the mining companies of Huatey and San Carlos, located twelve miles from Havana, where may still be seen the original wells.
In a report on bituminous products of the Island by G. C. Moisant, reference is made to a liquid asphalt or petroleum found in Madruga, a small town southeast of Havana. This petroleum product, according to recent investigations, flows from cavities in the serpentine rocks found near Madruga and surrounding towns.
An oil claim was registered in 1867 near Las Minas, 18 kilometers east of Havana, as the result of oil indications in the cavities of rocks that cropped out on the surface. A well was opened that yielded some oil at a depth of 61 meters. This was sunk later to 129 meters but afterwards abandoned. Within the last few years several wells have been drilled in the vicinity of the old Santiago claim and have produced a considerable amount of oil.
The General Inspector of Mines, Pedro Salterain, in 1880 reported the presence of liquid asphalt, or a low grade of crude petroleum, that flowed from a serpentine dyke, cropping out on the old Tomasita Plantation near Banes, on the north coast some twenty miles west of Havana. The product was used for lighting the estate. All of the wells of this province are located on lands designated by geologists as belonging to the cretaceous period. This is true of those properties where indications of petroleum are found near Sabanilla de la Palma and La Guanillas, in the Province of Matanzas.
During a century or more, hydrocarbon gases have issued from the soil in a district east of Itabo, in the Province of Matanzas. In 1880, Manuel Cueto had a well drilled on the Montembo Farm in this district. He finally discovered at a depth of 95 meters a deposit of remarkably pure naphtha which yielded about 25 gallons a day. It was a colorless, transparent, liquid, very inflammable, and leaving no perceptible residue after combustion. Cueto afterwards opened another well to a depth of 248 meters and there discovered a deposit of naphtha that produced 250 gallons per day. According to T. Wayland Vaughn of the United States Geological Service such gases are plentiful in the surrounding hills.
In June, 1893, commercial agents of the United States Government reported that petroleum had been found near Cardenas of a grade much better than the crude oils imported from the United States. In November, 1894, another commercial agent from Washington reported that asphalt deposits near the city of Cardenas could produce from a thousand to five thousand tons of this material a year.
In 1901 Herbert R. Peckham, describing asphalt fields east and south of Cardenas, mentions the drilling of a well by Lucas Alvarez, in search of petroleum, which he found at a depth of 500 feet, and from which he pumped 1000 gallons of petroleum, but this exhausted the supply of the well. As a result of investigations made by Mr. Peckham, seepages of crude oil and liquid asphalt of varying density may be found here over a district measuring about 4,500 square miles.