WYNDI AMBROSE

ST. CROIX — Today St. Croix,and the Virgin Islands as a whole,faces an economic crisis but histo-ry books tell of a time when “the bigisland” was one of the most pro-ductive islands in the region. Thisis the time when sugar was king indeveloping islands, according to

local author Erik Lawaetz whowrote extensively on the industry.

But what tools did it take to buildthis industry that thrived underthe Danes in the 1700s and early1800s? Apparently, it took a lot ofhuman resources, also known asslaves; land; and equipment. Inter-estingly, even as the industrybecame less dependent on slave

work with new innovations, it stillproved to be economically imprac-tical for the island as time wenton.

Historically, the sugar produc-tion process involved five majorsteps: (1) planting of the sugarcane(2) harvesting the sugarcane (3)transporting the sugarcane to amill, (4) juicing the fruit at the mill,and (5) boiling the juice at a boilerhouse — the last phase beforesugar crystals are formed once thejuice cools.

In the years leading up to whensugar was synonymous with gold,every phase of the productionprocess was heavily dependent onthe manual labor of slaves and theirhand-held tools. In his book “St.Croix 500 Years: Pre-Columbus to1990,” Lawaetz offers the accountof a Dane who arrived on St. Croixin the early 1700s — Reimert Haa-gensen — to describe the process.

According to Haagensen, it took40 to 50 slaves, and in some casesmore than that, for effective sugarproduction (minus the planting)during that time. Six were neededto cut cane, eight to tie the cane intobundles, four to carry it in carts orby donkeys to the mill, four to manthe mill, and four in the boilerhouse.

The process went on day andnight, according to Haagensen, andby the end of the year a successfulplantation produced about 1,500pounds of sugar or more.

By the early 1800s, St. Croix ona whole was producing millions oflbs. of sugar. In 1812, the islandproduced 46 million pounds of thesubstance, according to Lawaetz’s

research.By this time, sugar reigned as a

superior commodity and the pro-duction process continued to evolve.In fact, the production processwould continue to evolve even asthe industry’s worth fizzled out onisland in the 1960s.

Wooden windmills replacedhorse-drawn mills, and later stonemills replaced wooden mills. Juic-ing at the mill was typically powered

by gear wheel that Lawaetzdescribes as primitively made.Eventually manufacturers beganusing steam engines, which extract-ed 30 percent more juice than theold method.

The transportation phase of pro-duction evolved too.

Bull and mule carts took overand slaves no longer had to carry

PAGE 6 The Avis THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

2014 Black History Month

vest coconuts on their property.Jewel successfully sold an abun-dance of drinks during the recentValentine’s Day Jump Up thatincluded cane juice or coconutwater, or a combination of both.Customers even had an option toadd gin or white rum to the tastyconcoctions.

Jewel said selling the products tothe community is “lovely” because,first and foremost, it gives her achance to interact with residentsand visitors alike, many of whomhave never tasted cane juice.

“It’s a joy because you are therewhile teaching them what it is andseeing they actually love the prod-uct,” she said.

Vincent sells sugarcane andcane juice from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. onSaturdays along the side of theroad on Queen Mary Highwayacross from the Sunny Isle Annex.The Hendricksons also will be sell-ing their products at the upcom-ing St. Patrick’s Day Parade inChristiansted. They are planningto head over to St. Thomas to selltheir products during the FoodFair in April as well.

TRADITION:FROM PAGE 4

The evolution of sugar production on St. Croix

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Surgarcane workers tend the fields in 1941.

EVOLUTION, PAGE 10

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.

If it were not for the sugarcane

industry, the cultural landscape of

the territory might have been very dif-

ferent from the one we see today.

When Christopher Columbus

sailed west in search of a shorter

route to Asia, he discovered some-

PAGE 7THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014 The Avis

2014 Black History Month

Sugarcane industry shapes culture

(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

CULTURE, PAGE 11

PAGE 8 The Avis THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Photos by Tom Eader and courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Map completed in 1957)

PAGE 9THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014 The Avis

Photos by Tom Eader and courtesy of the Library of Congress

PAGE 10 The Avis THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

2014 Black History Month Special

bundles of cane on their heads. Later,vehicles resembling trains — locomo-tives — and trucks made transportingharvested cane to sugar production fac-tories a lot more efficient and less relianton human resources.

The first phase in the sugar production,cane cultivation, also modernized throughthe years. Cultivation tools transitionedfrom hoes in the hands of slaves to bank-ing plows that were pulled by bulls andlater, tractors.

Just as the sugar industry had its rise,it also had its fall here despite the pro-gression of the production process.

In the years when sugar was king,from 1780 to 1820 according to Lawaetz,land dedicated to sugar productionranged from between 21,000 acres to27,000. But by 1915, sugarcane landtotaled 12,000 acres — a 50 percentdrop from the years when sugar was a topcommodity. By 1938, St. Croix was onlyproducing about 4.36 million pounds ofsugarcane whereas in years past theisland had produced tens of millions ofpounds of the crop.

About thirty years later, the sugarindustry officially ended on the island.

Today, the sugar industry’s biggestplayers such as Brazil, are using a lot big-ger toys for the sugar production process.

“You used to need dozen of cane cut-ters to go out there and cut cane. Now onemachine can cut acres of cane in little orno time,” said Deputy Commissioner ofAgriculture Errol Chichester.

To get back in the game, hypotheti-cally speaking, the Virgin Islands wouldnot only have to invest in that type ofmachinery but also dedicate lots of landto production, according to AgricultureCommissioner Louis Petersen.

“One of the things that the countriesthat do produce sugarcane commer-cially and feasibly have over us is that

area of production — Brazil being aprime example of that,” he said. “Theareas that have the land mass havealso (the) ultimate, the best of it, the up-to-date mechanization for planting, pro-ducing, (and) processing.”

Between 2012 and 2013, Brazil pro-duced 588 million tons of sugarcane,according an online site developed by theBrazilian Sugarcane Industry Associa-tion (UNICA). The site puts world pro-duction at 1.6 billion tons annually.

In Brazil, the world’s leading produc-er of sugarcane, the crop covers 9.5million hectares — only 1 percent ofthe country’s total area.

Though modern technology in sugar-cane production would likely minimizethe human resource factor, according toPetersen, land would still be a limitingfactor in reviving the industry. Chich-ester shared the same view.

“In our limited areas we can produceperhaps harvest once a year and thenwe market,” Petersen said.

But if the territory’s goal is to producesugar to fuel the rum industry here orto export commercially, Petersen said,“We don’t have that.”

“They consume molasses on a week-ly basis,” he said of rum producers onisland. “Our land space we have canproduce, yes, but how much would bethe question — some minimum per-centage of their needs”

Chichester said he’d heard talk ofreviving the sugar industry here, butalso thought land would be a limitingfactor.

“Back in the days when sugarcanewas in production, land was very cheap,”he said. “However … unless someonehad large parcels of land that they wantto dedicate to sugarcane, I think it mightalmost be impossible to acquire landfor the production of sugarcane.”

According to Petersen, it would notonly take public property but privateas well to attempt to revive the sugarindustry.

EVOLUTION:FROM PAGE 6

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.

Sugarcane rebelsWYNDI AMBROSE

ST. CROIX — Before Virgin Islands iconslike Moses “Buddhoe” Gottlieb and thequeens of the Fireburn made history, theywere laborers in the sugar industry.

Before Buddhoe demanded freedom forthe enslaved during the 1848 rebellion on St.Croix, evidence suggests that the revolu-tionary worked as a skilled sugar boiler,Harold Willocks wrote in “The UmbilicalCord.” As a "Free Black" who would either buyhis freedom or receive it as a gift from a for-mer master, this would have been Buddhoe’sway of supporting himself in the time ofwhich he lived.

Thirty years later, the sugar industry wasstill kicking and the ringleaders of the 1878St. Croix Labor Riots — the Fireburn —would have, by default, played their part init as plantation slaves.

Perhaps the most notable ringleaders of the1878 Fireburn were Mary Thomas (QueenMary), Alexina Solomon (Queen Agnes) andSusanna Abramson (Queen Mathilda).

The position of queen was a lofty oneamong plantation slaves. Willocks suggeststhat this is why the queens were able toeffectively influence rioters during the Fire-burn.

On the plantation, the queen was respon-sible for organizing social activities on the

plantation and for finding solutions fordomestic and estate issues. In other words,the queen “kept it together” among the slaves— the same slaves whose hands cut, trans-ported and crushed cane to produce thecommodity that made St. Croix economical-ly prosperous.

These icons who were once assets to thesugar industry on island were the samerebels who, in fighting against its depen-dence on cheap or free labor, also foughtagainst what likely made it a viable business.

Buddhoe

Industry assets become VI icons