re: How did they track hurricanes in the 1900s?

I need to read the book "Isaac's Storm."

I think it goes into some detail about warnings and fears that were ignored, because too many people considered it unlikely that another big storm would hit Galveston. The Texas Gulf Coast had been hit hard by hurricanes in the 1880's (I believe Florida got slammed too), but 20 years was enough time for wiseasses downtown to think it would never happen again.

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Iirc, thats not very true at all.

Cuba meteorologists had messages being sent out about the storm but the US blocked all messages from them because of politics etc.

It could have been way less of a loss

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Really? Ok, The US just took over "influence" from Spain over Cuba in the Spanish American War. America was just starting to invest in Cuba while Cuba may have felt the US was helping fight for it's independence from Spain. So US relations to Cuba were generally good while the Cuba relations to the US may have been tepid. This marked a roughly 50 year run of American investments into Cuba, to which, New Orleans was a major hub to Havana.

So if your assertion of Cuban meteorologists sending warnings to the US were correct, then the US blocking for political reason wouldn't make sense. Now, if Cuba was blocking the messages due to them being pissed at the US for the "takeover" then I'd understand.

Even Thomas Jefferson offered to buy Cuba in 1809, God I love that man. Spain was a stubborn old empire.