There is a reason Cuba once was called the "strip mine center of the world." There were numerous mines in the area in the past, and Cuba is in about the center of Fulton County, says a local man who worked 35 years in the mines. Robert Clayberg, 77, of Cuba, was on hand at the Masonic Lodge on the west side of the square Saturday. A display of the history of area coal mining was featured there during the Spoon River Scenic Drive last weekend and will be again this weekend. Clayberg says he began working in the mines in 1952.