Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
strict social segregation.
99
At one end of the camp lay the overseer's resi-
dence, a large bungalow-style house surrounded by a yard that included
a servant's quarters, chicken coop, and garden area. One former worker
recalled that overseers' residences were surrounded by picket fences that
represented less of a physical barrier than a social one: ''If you needed to
speak with the overseer, you could approach only as far as the fence gate;
from there you explained to him what you wanted.''
100
Adjacent to the
overseer's residencewere houses for the timekeeperand the spray-master.
The interior living spaces, yards and gardens were smaller than those al-
lotted to the overseer and they shared a chicken coop and servant's quar-
ters. A riding stable was situated nearby. Separating the three managers'
houses from the workers' camp was an orchard area and a large garden
plot shared by the foremen and medicine dispenser.
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Foremen lived in modest, single-family houses with small yards that
literally occupied the middle ground between management and labor:
only about fifty feet separated them from the nearest row of worker
housing. Living units for workers with families consisted of a 12' × 24'
spacedividedintotwo12'squareunfurnishedapartmentsusuallyelevated
about eight feet off of the ground. Concrete patios below the raised struc-
tures provided additional living space. Separate, enclosed kitchens were
located behind each house. Camps also had multiple ''bachelor barracks''
(72' × 18') divided into six rooms.Worker housing lacked interior plumb-
ing and electricity; camp residents shared drinking water faucets, toilets,
and showers. Housing was laid out in straight rows around a soccer field,
a reflection that banana camps remained largely masculine spaces. The
plan did not allot garden space for workers because, according to a U.S.
o
cial, it ''would entail excessive use of valuable lands.''
102
A commissary,
medical dispensary, and a recreation hall lay in close proximity toworker
housing units.
Few social spaces played a role as central—and controversial—to
camp life as the commissaries, or company stores where workers could
purchasearangeofproducts,includingdryandcannedfoods,men'swork
clothes, and farm tools such as machetes and axes. Commissaries also re-
tailed grains, beans, and other produce grown by local farmers. In addi-
tion to maintaining stores, the Tela Railroad Company brought freshly
butchered meats and milk by rail from their Puerto Arturo pastures (near
Tela) to company farms in the Sula valley. Víctor Reyes recalled that ped-
dlers sold items such as meats and shoes, but that the company stores
offered ''everything'' at lower prices, a perception generally shared by sev-
eral other former campeños.
103
A 1947 U.S. consular report supported this
