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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
2014 Black History Month
The evolution of sugar production on St. Croix WYNDI AMBROSE ST. CROIX — Today St. Croix, and the Virgin Islands as a whole, faces an economic crisis but history books tell of a time when “the big island” was one of the most productive islands in the region. This is the time when sugar was king in developing islands, according to
local author Erik Lawaetz who wrote extensively on the industry. But what tools did it take to build this industry that thrived under the Danes in the 1700s and early 1800s? Apparently, it took a lot of human resources, also known as slaves; land; and equipment. Interestingly, even as the industry became less dependent on slave
work with new innovations, it still proved to be economically impractical for the island as time went on. Historically, the sugar production process involved five major steps: (1) planting of the sugarcane (2) harvesting the sugarcane (3) transporting the sugarcane to a mill, (4) juicing the fruit at the mill, and (5) boiling the juice at a boiler house — the last phase before sugar crystals are formed once the juice cools. In the years leading up to when sugar was synonymous with gold, every phase of the production process was heavily dependent on the manual labor of slaves and their hand-held tools. In his book “St. Croix 500 Years: Pre-Columbus to 1990,” Lawaetz offers the account of a Dane who arrived on St. Croix in the early 1700s — Reimert Haagensen — to describe the process. According to Haagensen, it took 40 to 50 slaves, and in some cases more than that, for effective sugar production (minus the planting) during that time. Six were needed to cut cane, eight to tie the cane into bundles, four to carry it in carts or by donkeys to the mill, four to man the mill, and four in the boiler house. The process went on day and night, according to Haagensen, and by the end of the year a successful plantation produced about 1,500 pounds of sugar or more. By the early 1800s, St. Croix on a whole was producing millions of lbs. of sugar. In 1812, the island produced 46 million pounds of the substance, according to Lawaetz’s
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Surgarcane workers tend the fields in 1941. research. By this time, sugar reigned as a superior commodity and the production process continued to evolve. In fact, the production process would continue to evolve even as the industry’s worth fizzled out on island in the 1960s. Wooden windmills replaced horse-drawn mills, and later stone mills replaced wooden mills. Juicing at the mill was typically powered
by gear wheel that Lawaetz describes as primitively made. Eventually manufacturers began using steam engines, which extracted 30 percent more juice than the old method. The transportation phase of production evolved too. Bull and mule carts took over and slaves no longer had to carry
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TRADITION: FROM PAGE 4 vest coconuts on their property. Jewel successfully sold an abundance of drinks during the recent Valentine’s Day Jump Up that included cane juice or coconut water, or a combination of both. Customers even had an option to add gin or white rum to the tasty concoctions. Jewel said selling the products to the community is “lovely” because, first and foremost, it gives her a chance to interact with residents and visitors alike, many of whom have never tasted cane juice. “It’s a joy because you are there while teaching them what it is and seeing they actually love the product,” she said. Vincent sells sugarcane and cane juice from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays along the side of the road on Queen Mary Highway across from the Sunny Isle Annex. The Hendricksons also will be selling their products at the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Christiansted. They are planning to head over to St. Thomas to sell their products during the Food Fair in April as well.
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2014 Black History Month
Sugarcane industry shapes culture BRITNEY KNIGHT ST. CROIX — Sugarcane in the Virgin Islands has shaped the culture of the territory, from the impact of working in the sugarcane fields for more than 200 years to the influence of migrants who have relocated to work in the fields.
(Above) A photo taken on the steps of an Estate Concordia plantation structure in the 1800s. (Left) The Concordia structure sits in ruins in modern day. Submitted photo and Stephanie Hanlon
If it were not for the sugarcane industry, the cultural landscape of the territory might have been very different from the one we see today. When Christopher Columbus sailed west in search of a shorter route to Asia, he discovered some-
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(Map completed in 1957)
Photos by Tom Eader and courtesy of the Library of Congress
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
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Photos by Tom Eader and courtesy of the Library of Congress
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014
2014 Black History Month Special
Sugarcane rebels Industry assets become VI icons
WYNDI AMBROSE ST. CROIX — Before Virgin Islands icons like Moses “Buddhoe” Gottlieb and the queens of the Fireburn made history, they were laborers in the sugar industry. Before Buddhoe demanded freedom for the enslaved during the 1848 rebellion on St. Croix, evidence suggests that the revolutionary worked as a skilled sugar boiler, Harold Willocks wrote in “The Umbilical Cord.” As a "Free Black" who would either buy his freedom or receive it as a gift from a former master, this would have been Buddhoe’s way of supporting himself in the time of which he lived. Thirty years later, the sugar industry was still kicking and the ringleaders of the 1878 St. Croix Labor Riots — the Fireburn — would have, by default, played their part in it as plantation slaves. Perhaps the most notable ringleaders of the 1878 Fireburn were Mary Thomas (Queen Mary), Alexina Solomon (Queen Agnes) and Susanna Abramson (Queen Mathilda). The position of queen was a lofty one among plantation slaves. Willocks suggests that this is why the queens were able to effectively influence rioters during the Fireburn. On the plantation, the queen was responsible for organizing social activities on the
Buddhoe plantation and for finding solutions for domestic and estate issues. In other words, the queen “kept it together” among the slaves — the same slaves whose hands cut, transported and crushed cane to produce the commodity that made St. Croix economically prosperous. These icons who were once assets to the sugar industry on island were the same rebels who, in fighting against its dependence on cheap or free labor, also fought against what likely made it a viable business.
Submitted Photo
The Estate Peter’s Rest juice station was one of five juice stations on St. Croix, used to extract cane juice in the late 1800s.
EVOLUTION: FROM PAGE 6 bundles of cane on their heads. Later, vehicles resembling trains — locomotives — and trucks made transporting harvested cane to sugar production factories a lot more efficient and less reliant on human resources. The first phase in the sugar production, cane cultivation, also modernized through the years. Cultivation tools transitioned from hoes in the hands of slaves to banking plows that were pulled by bulls and later, tractors. Just as the sugar industry had its rise, it also had its fall here despite the progression of the production process. In the years when sugar was king, from 1780 to 1820 according to Lawaetz, land dedicated to sugar production ranged from between 21,000 acres to 27,000. But by 1915, sugarcane land totaled 12,000 acres — a 50 percent drop from the years when sugar was a top commodity. By 1938, St. Croix was only producing about 4.36 million pounds of sugarcane whereas in years past the island had produced tens of millions of pounds of the crop. About thirty years later, the sugar industry officially ended on the island. Today, the sugar industry’s biggest players such as Brazil, are using a lot bigger toys for the sugar production process. “You used to need dozen of cane cutters to go out there and cut cane. Now one machine can cut acres of cane in little or no time,” said Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture Errol Chichester. To get back in the game, hypothetically speaking, the Virgin Islands would not only have to invest in that type of machinery but also dedicate lots of land to production, according to Agriculture Commissioner Louis Petersen. “One of the things that the countries that do produce sugarcane commercially and feasibly have over us is that
area of production — Brazil being a prime example of that,” he said. “The areas that have the land mass have also (the) ultimate, the best of it, the upto-date mechanization for planting, producing, (and) processing.” Between 2012 and 2013, Brazil produced 588 million tons of sugarcane, according an online site developed by the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA). The site puts world production at 1.6 billion tons annually. In Brazil, the world’s leading producer of sugarcane, the crop covers 9.5 million hectares — only 1 percent of the country’s total area. Though modern technology in sugarcane production would likely minimize the human resource factor, according to Petersen, land would still be a limiting factor in reviving the industry. Chichester shared the same view. “In our limited areas we can produce perhaps harvest once a year and then we market,” Petersen said. But if the territory’s goal is to produce sugar to fuel the rum industry here or to export commercially, Petersen said, “We don’t have that.” “They consume molasses on a weekly basis,” he said of rum producers on island. “Our land space we have can produce, yes, but how much would be the question — some minimum percentage of their needs” Chichester said he’d heard talk of reviving the sugar industry here, but also thought land would be a limiting factor. “Back in the days when sugarcane was in production, land was very cheap,” he said. “However … unless someone had large parcels of land that they want to dedicate to sugarcane, I think it might almost be impossible to acquire land for the production of sugarcane.” According to Petersen, it would not only take public property but private as well to attempt to revive the sugar industry.