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HACIENDA LA ESPERANZA
Hacienda La Esperanza is a 2,265-acre estate located in the fertile valley of the Río Grande de Manatí, about 35 miles west of San Juan Bautista,
Puerto Rico’s capital city.
It is bounded to the north by the Atlantic Ocean; to the west by the river; and to the east and south by haystack hills that are part of the Karst
Region of Puerto Rico running eastward from Carolina to Aguadilla on the
northwesternmost tip of the Island.
Hacienda La Esperanza was started by Fernando Fernández, a career military man possibly from Castille, who arrived in Puerto Rico during the
late 18th Century. It was formed through a land aggregation process which
began in the 1830s. By the 1850s, José Ramón Fernández y Martínez, eldest
son of Fernando, had inherited the land, and by the early 1870s he owned more
than 2,000 acres. Ten years later, Hacienda La Esperanza comprised 85% of the low valley lands east of the Río Grande de Manatí.
By the 1860s, Fernández was considered one of the wealthiest men of Puerto Rico, and he either bought or was granted the title of Marqués de
la Esperanza. By that time he was also considered one of the most powerful
men of the entire Spanish Caribbean.
The soils of Hacienda La Esperanza, rich in alluvial deposits and possibly the best on the north coast for agricultural production, allowed the
Marqués to flourish and to participate in the boom of the 1860-1880 period,
when sugar was king, providing economic, political, social, and cultural
cohesion to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico.
By 1862, Hacienda La Esperanza’s sugar mill was producing annually 135,000 pounds of "moscabado" (dark sugar) and 500 hogsheds
of molasses. The hacienda was assessed at 300,000 Spanish pesos, or roughly 300,000 U.S. gold dollars by mid-19th century rate of exchange.
This assessment included cultivated and idle lands, to ols, cattle, fuel, the
sugar factory building and slave quarters. It did not include machinery or
slaves.
Slavery and steam technology played a major role in the Hacienda’s sugar production. By the time of the Emancipation in 1873, some 175
slaves, both male and female, were working on the various phases of sugar
cultivation and production. Most of them served as field workers, others were such skilled workers as masons, carpenters, blacksmiths,
coopers, sailors, sugar makers, stokers, and mechanics.
There is conclusive evidence that steam technology reached the Hacienda around 1841 with the introduction of a steam engine. The only
property identified in official records of 1847 as an hacienda proper was that of José Ramón Fernández y Martínez' father, since only mechanized
or partly mechanized productive units were so denominated. This leads one to conclude that La Esperanza could have been the first one in
the area to be partially mechanized. Industrial archeological investigations
on the site strongly suggest that the Marqués made extensive alterations to the old factory, apparently to
accommodate a new 1861 West Point Foundry engine and mill, possibly a new boiler, and a second
“Jamaican train.”
There is little documentation with respect to the machinery and the factory layout. The scant evidence available--a judicial record of 1886--
indicates that "the factory has a steam engine with its two-flue boiler, elaboration
(Jamaican) train, a conveyor belt, four evaporators and other tools." There is doubt as to what the term "evaporator" means in the context of this
document, but if it refers to vacuum pans, then there can be no doubt that La
Esperanza was possibly the most advanced sugar factory in Puerto Rico in
the 1870s.
HACIENDA LA ESPERANZA’S
STEAM ENGINE AND SUGAR MILL
The decorated steam engine is the only West Point Foundry beam engine known to survive. It is also the only known 6-column beam engine by any
American manufacturer. Additionally, it is one of only eight beam engines
of American manufacture known to exist anywhere. It is properly classified
as a 6-column, drop valve, side crank, beam engine with a 16-inch bore and
a 40-inch stroke. When running on 60 PSI of steam, the engine turned at about 20 RPM and developed approximately 25 HP. The cast-iron beam,
pivoted at its center, serves as a rocking lever connecting the piston rod and
crank. The piston produces reciprocating motion, while at the other end of
the engine the crank converts this to the rotary motion needed to drive the
machinery.
Eccentrics controlled the steam engine’s valves. The rod that transmitted
motion from the eccentrics on the crankshaft to the valve shaft are missing from the La Esperanza engine.
To deliver maximum power, the La Esperanza engine had to run at approximately 20 RPM, but to extract cane juice efficiently the mill would
have had to turn much more slowly. Double-reduction gears accomplished this change in speed. The gear ratio between the engine’s crankshaft and the
intermediate gear shaft is 4.2:1. The ratio between that shaft and the bull-gear
shaft of the cane mill is 2.4:1. Consequently, if the engine ran at 20 RPM, the
mill rollers turned at just under 2 RPM. A drive pulley powered a conveyor which delivered the cane to the
mill. This conveyor (not extant), was needed to assure a flow of cane equal
to the mill’s capacity, which was twice that of a typical mill in Puerto Rico
during that period.
A sugar mill worked efficiently only if the clearances between the rolls
were carefully set. If the rolls were too close, they wasted power. If too
far apart, they failed to extract all the cane juice. The clearances in this mill were set by bolts, the ends of which
bore against the brass bearings of the feed and the discharge rolls. The feed
and the top roll were separated by 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches, depending on the
type of cane, and the discharge and top rolls were set even closer together.
To resist the forces created when the mill was running, the shaft of the top
roll was held by the master bolts, which also secured the mill to its foundations.
The mill’s cast-iron frame was reinforced by truss rods. The parallel-motion mechanism is a combination of pivoted links. It
transmits the power of the piston rod to the beam, correlating the different
motions of the two. As the beam rocks, its end describes an arc of a circle. The piston rod, however, must move in a straight line to keep
the piston in line with the cylinder. The parallel-motion linkage maintains
the linearity of the piston rod through the geometry of the parallelogram.
This ingenious linkage, devised by James Watt, was the invention of which
he was most proud.
Technical information taken from survey of Hacienda La Esperanza by the
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) during the summer of 1976.
Historical research carried out by Dr. Benjamín Nistal Moret, Assistant Professor, Department of Puerto Rican Studies, School of Social
Sciences, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Consultant to the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico.
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Ecological and Cultural Assets
Hacienda La Esperanza is one of the most precious assets of the Trust. There are within its boundaries valued ecological resources, such
as karst formations and forests with unusual flora and fauna, wetlands which
are the habitat of endemic and migratory birds, cemented dunes and mangrove
systems abounding in marine life, alluvial plains rich in humus for intensive
agricultural activities, and one of the very few coastal forests left on the north
coast of the island.
There also are such important cultural assets as a prehistoric site of great significance that radioactive carbon analysis dates as far back as
510 A.D., the c. 1861 West Point Foundry steam engine and sugar mill, a lime kiln for producing the lime that was the main substance used for precipitating
vegetable albumens and impurities from the sugar juices, and a system of canals for irrigation which was in use as early as 1840.
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SUGAR MAKING AT HACIENDA LA ESPERANZA
Type of Plantation
Hacienda La Esperanza was a slave-operated sugar plantation which can be technologically characterized as semi-mechanized; that is, it had
a crushing mill powered by a steam engine, but the processes of evaporation,
purging, and packing were conducted manually. This method of sugar manufacture was characterized by a profound
imbalance between the mechanized element, located exactly at the beginning
of production, and the rest of the process which maintained the elements
of 18th Century technology. The large capacity of the mill required a great number of agricultural
workers (cane cutters, lifters and drivers), and at the same time necessitated
an expansion of the clarification and evaporation equipment (where technological
change had not occurred) thereby increasing the number of trains and boilers,
but reducing the quality of the final product.
Production
From the 1840s to the l860s, Antillean sugar plantations produced three types of sugar: clayed, raw and "centrifugal." The production of clayed
sugar required the use of thousands of moulds made of clay or metal. It is
very unlikely that it was produced at La Esperanza; not a single trace of these
moulds has been found in the archeological excavations. Moreover, by 1840,
this type of sugar no longer had a big market. The possibility of La Esperanza producing centrifugal sugar has been
eliminated because no evidence has been found in historical documents and
there are no traces of centrifugal installations at the site. Another reason is
that centrifugal sugar was considered refined sugar, and, therefore, subject
to very stiff tariffs under the U.S. Sugar Act of 1861, geared to protect the
sugar refining industry which was one of the strongest in the United States.
Production Capacity
There is enough evidence to assume that there have been three successive mills at Hacienda La Esperanza: an animal-powered mill that
possibly worked until the late 1830s or early 1840s, with horizontal rolls of
iron; a second mill with a small steam engine and a horizontal crusher which
may have survived until the late 1850s or early 1860s; and the third, present
mill, thoroughly documented by physical remains and records. Based on estimates of similar mills in the Antilles, the first mill
at La Esperanza produced between 100 to 150 tons of raw sugar per harvest.
The second mill, whose size can be estimated on the basis of the remains of the conveyor, averaged perhaps 200 tons per crop.
The third mill may have produced between 500 to 600 tons per harvest. This volume established Hacienda La Esperanza as the largest producer of
its time in Puerto Rico, and among the largest semi-mechanized operations in
the Antilles, the sugar-to-cane yield should not have exceeded 5% as a crop average, although it is well established that the yield curve shows lows
at the start and finish of the harvest, and a peak at the state of maximum
maturity of the cane.
Sugar Planting and Cutting
Sugar cane was planted in rows from three to five feet apart. In planting, pieces of cane twelve to fifteen inches long were placed in furrows
about one foot deep. The pieces were laid horizontally, each end joining the
end of the next. In poor land, two pieces were put side by side. The plant
was then covered with soil, and as the shoots sprang up, the ground was
cleared of weeds by hoeing. Cane planted in good land usually was ready to
harvest one year after planting. When the cane was ripe and ready for crushing it was cut down with
"machetes," fine, sword-like steel blades with wooden grips. The stalks were
cut about one foot above the ground, leaving the roots to grow again for the
next year. The leaves were taken off and the top part cut off about one foot
from the end. These ends and the leaves were used as fodder for cattle. The canes were then cut in pieces of about four feet long and carted to the
mill. The period of harvest -- called "zafra" -- usually begins in early
January, lasting until late May. The fields were divided into sections, called "tablones," and spaces
were left, at convenient distances, for carts to get in to take the cane to the
mill.
In good land, the cane did not require replanting for four or five years. Good lands in Puerto Rico and Cuba would produce four hogsheads of
sugar per acre, while poor lands would not produce more than one and a half to three hogsheads. The hogshead contains 1,700 pounds on the average.
Operation and Maintenance of the Mill
As the climate is very damp at La Esperanza, and the mill is near the coast, the resulting humidity and salt-water spray made it necessary
during the dead season, from June to late November -- the months when the
cane was growing -- to dismantle and thoroughly clean the engine, and to
remove, clean and pack all the brightwork (brasses). The parts of the machinery that could not be taken down and packed were coated for protection.
The timbers and brickwork of the foundations were inspected for any settling
in consequence of the heavy rains during the dead season and the movements of
the machine. Valves, cylinders, etc., were adjusted and oiled.
The steam boiler at La Esperanza was of the type then in common use for mills that made open-kettle sugar, and known as a "lancashire" boiler.
It had two flues and was built into brickwork. The fire passed through the
two flues returning under the bottom of the boiler and then to the chimney.
The furnaces of the steam boiler were fired with wood, bagasse, and, if wood
was scarce, coal.
The mill for crushing the cane to extract the juice was the element of the machinery subject to the greatest stress and thus the one most liable to
break down, so that maintenance was imperative. The mill had three rollers,
set in a strong frame of cast iron, resting upon large timbers set upon solid
foundations.
The conductor or cane carrier was an arrangement to convey the cane from the yard up into the mill. It consisted of two endless chains at
each side, and boards or slats fastened to the chains. These chains passed
over and around a drum in the yard, and another at the mouth of the mill,
where the cane fell in as the conductor revolved. There was another conductor at the other end of the mill that conveyed
the bagasse up to a point high enough for a cart to get under and to receive it
as it came out of the mill.
The mill's engineer, Pedro Defontain, of French origin, was in charge of keeping the engine running steadily, not too fast, not too slow;
maintaining the steam nearly always at the same pressure; seeing to it that the cane was laid on the carrier regularly; watching over the rollers;
and ensuring that the juices flowed steadily to the collection pans. The Manfacture of Sugar
The various stages of manufacturing sugar out of the cane may be described as follows: (1) the extraction of the juice from the cane; (2) the
separation from the juice of all the matter except sugar and water (known
as defecation and clarification); (3) the removal of the water from the sugar (known as reduction or granulation); and, (4) the cleansing of the
sugar crystals by washing or draining (known as purging or curing).
At La Esperanza, the sugar cane was crushed in a "trapiche," consisting of three cast-iron rollers placed horizontally in a cast-iron frame.
(The middle roller is called the king roller, the others are called the side
roller and the macasse roller.) The sugar cane was fed by means of a slate gutter to the rollers. The juice ran into a gutter under the rollers
and from there drained into big square pans or collectors. These collectors were kept clean at all times to prevent the start of fermentation
that would sour the juice.
After the juice had been extracted, it was necessary to remove everything that contaminated it. This was done by adding lime, a strong
alkali, which when combined with the albumens in the juice, coagulated. The process took place while the juice was in the defecating pans -- large
kettles at the extreme end of the "Jamaican train" (the term used for the
line-up of equipment used in the entire process). The juice was heated at
this stage, and as the temperature rose, more lime was added. A thick, greenish-yellow scum formed at the surface. Boiling was carefully avoided,
since it would break up the floating scum and diffuse it throughout the juice.
The juice was then allowed to settle until it formed three layers: at the top, the coagulated scum; at the bottom, particulate matter; and in
between, a clear and transparent liquid.
The scum was removed with perforated strainer-like ladles attached to long wooden handles. From there, the clear juice flowed to the clarifiers,
a set of big cast-iron kettles generally known as "taches," arranged in a
row. At La Esperanza, there was a double set in tandem. Heat was applied at each end of the "train," with the largest kettle
farthest from it. The largest kettle was called the "propre" and able to
hold all the juice produced at one crushing.
From there, the juice, reduced in volume, passed to the next kettle, smaller than the first, called "flame" or "flambeau," where the heat
was intensified. Straining the scum was still done at that stage. From there, the juice, further reduced, passed first to the kettle
known as "syrup" or "sirop," and then to the smallest one called "taiche,"
or "batterie."
In this last kettle, the syrup was further reduced, almost to the granulating point, or sufficiently concentrated to separate into grains of
sugar upon cooling. At that point, a test was done by touch. A dab of syrup was taken upon the thumb, bringing the forefinger in contact with it,
and rolling both fingers to see the length to which a thread of syrup could
be drawn before it broke. The person who performed this test was called the "puntista."
From the "tache" or "batterie," the crystallized sugar went to the coolers -- shallow open vessels, each one capable of containing around one
hogshead of sugar. They were made of wood so that cooling would be gradual. In about twenty-four hours, the sugar grained -- that is, it formed
into a soft mass of crystals imbedded in "melasses." From the coolers the sugar was taken in small carts to the curing
or purging house, where it was packed in potting-casks called "bocoyes."
The "melasses," still attached to the crystals, was let to drain into a
container or reservoir under the casks, leaving the crystals almost dry.
Within two or three weeks, and sometimes longer, the sugar was fit for shipment. Sugar produced by this method is known as "raw sugar."
Information based on historic and archeological research conducted at La
Esperanza by: Dr. Manual Moreno Fraginals, Historian and Economist; Ovidio Dávila y Dávila, Chief Archeologist, Office of Archeology, Institute of
Puerto Rican Culture; flow charts prepared by José García Gómez, School of
Architecture, Columbia University, with the advice of Dr. Benjamín Nistal
Moret, Brooklyn College, School of Social Sciences. Other sources: The History
of Sugar, Noel Deere, Chapman & Hall, London, 1950; Cyclopaedia of Useful
Arts, Vols. II & III, Virtue & Co., London, 1866; Appleton’s Dictionary of
Machines, Mechanics, Engine Works and Engineering, Vol. II, New York, 1869.
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