A symbol for Sando

THE EDITOR: It’s as a good time as any to mount a suitable symbol to mark the south entrance to San Fernando. I write this as a student of history and a resident of the second city of our country.

The southern boundary of the city was identified many years ago. It is at the beginning of Mosquito Creek with its unhindered view of the Gulf of Paria. But what is missing is a marker, a sign or especially a monument to speak of our past and as a memorial to those in the future.

The boundary of the city would do well to have an oil pump jack mounted on the small rise to the east side of the entrance to the recently renovated roadway. The pump jack is a fitting symbol indicating the history of oil in the south of the island.

If mounted it would be just a few miles from Aripero, where the first commercial oil well was drilled back in 1866. Its location will therefore mark the entrance to the rich oil producing fields in the deep south.

The city of San Fernando has seen much growth from the wealth accumulated from the energy sector through drilling and production activities over the years. The nearby refinery grew up from the 1950s and can be seen from the vantage point of the San Fernando Hill. Both are significant landmarks, manmade and natural, for the city.

But the mounting of a symbol – a pump jack – would give significance to the oil history of the city and the area south of the city.

Numerous small drilling efforts dotted the map even within the city limits and nearby communities like Palmiste bear evidence. While beneath our feet runs scores of pipelines, some long forgotten. They traverse the landscape and dot the area with small “christmas trees” (remnants of oil wells) and the many innocuous signs of gas lines buried along the way.

But even so, the symbol will remind us of the work of the early oil pioneers and serve to represent their efforts and the ongoing nature of oil production in our country.

Fittingly, I believe the inscription could read: “Welcome to the city of San Fernando – A place where pump jacks bow to greet you.” Indeed it reminds us of the hospitality of the people of the southland and the rich legacy of the land, from where “black gold” brought wealth to the coffers of the country and built the city of San Fernando.

A pump jack is what we need to silently speak to passers-by, especially the children and the visitors, as we honour our past and pray that the memory of our oil ventures will forever last.

Meanwhile, an old oil derrick can show the way at the eastern entrance to the city, lighted at night as a beacon. But I think I’m pushing my luck here.

We do need a symbol or a sign that celebrates all that represents south – the oil in the soil, the honourable toil and the growth of a grateful city. Let the aesthetics and history combine to highlight the true blessed heritage of our industrial capital.

TERRENCE HONORE

San Fernando