Class Book. COPYRIGI-rr DEPOSIT FL OK ID A TOURISTS, INYALIDS, AND SETTLERS CONTAINING PRACTICAL INFORMATION KEGAEDING CLDIATE, SOIL, AND PRODrCTIONS ; CITIES, TOWNS, AND PEOPLE THE CULTURE OF THE ORANGE AND OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS; FARMING AND GARDENING ; SCENERY AND RESORTS ; SPORT ; ROUTES OF TRAVEL, ETC., ETC. "V GEORGE M. BARBOUR. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. REVISED EDITION, NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 1884. Map of Florida COPTBIGHT, 1881, 1884, bt d. appleton and company. PREFACE The writer of the following pages first saw Florida in the month of January, 1880, when he accompanied General Grant on his tour through the State, as corre- spondent of the " Chicago Times." He had previ- ously either traveled or resided in nearly every other portion of the country, East, West, and South ; but his first impressions of the " Land of Flowers " were so favorable that, his special service as correspondent being over, he returned thither with the idea of making for himself a permanent home which should put an end to his wanderings. Since then he has enjoyed an extended experience in the State, engaged in a vocation requir- ing visits to all the more prominent places, and traveled over its immense territory under circumstances the most favorable for learning its real resources and observing fhe great variety of its productions. Almost from the beginning, the importance of writ- ing a book embodying the results of his observation and experience was urged upon him by the friends 4 PREFACE. whom lie made 'in the course of his travels ; and his pe- rusal of the multifarious inquiries addressed to the State Bureau of Immigration, at Jacksonville, convinced him that there is a real demand for an adequate and trust- worthy descriptive work on Florida. With the excep- tion of a few brief pamphlets, written for the most part in the interest of some land scheme or other spec- ulative enterprise, there appears to be really no publi- cation (except the Bureau of Immigration pamphlet) which answers practical questions in a practical man- ner ; and even those books designed for transient vis- itors have been rendered wofuUy inadequate and anti- quated by the progress that has been achieved during the past few years. The present volume is the result of personal obser- vation and study; and is written with a sincere desire to do justice to all parts of the State, and to describe accurately and with precision its real resources and ad- vantages. It is written for Florida entire, and not in the interest of any corporation, speculative scheme, or special locality. Having no land to sell, and no personal interest of any kind to further, the author has found little difficulty in following Othello's injunction, " naught to extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.'' Where so many have aided him with information and suggestions, the author feels that it is almost in- vidious to name only a few ; yet he can not forbear thus explicitly acknowledging his obligations to the Hon. PREFACE. 5 Seth French, late Commissioner of the Bureau of Ira- migration ; to Captain Samuel Fairbanks, Assistant Com- missioner; and to Mr. William Bloxham, the present Governor of the State. Last, but not least, he would offer his acknowledgments to Mr. C. H. Jones, of Florida, who rendered him invaluable aid in the arrangement and revision of his work. G. M. B. September, ISSl. Iisr this edition of this work the chapter on Routes (Chapter XXIII) has been entirely rewrit- ten ; and an Appendix has been added containing much important information brought down to the present date. October, I884. COI^TEKTS. CHAP. r^^® I.— Questions and Answers 11 II. — Natueal Divisions of Flokida . . . .17 III. — A Trip through the State with Commissioner French .30 IV. — A Trip through North Florida with Captain Fairbanks 67 V. — Jacksonville, Fernandina, and St. Augustine . 92 VI.— The St. John's Eiver 107 VII. — The Ocklawaha River, Silver Springs, and Ocala 125 VIII. — The Indian River Region and the Inland Lakes 136 IX. — The Gulf Coast and Key West .... 145 X. — The Sanford Grant and Orange County . . 155 XI. — Random Sketches. — An Ocean Voyage in Winter ; the Atlantic Coast of Florida ; the South- west Coast 173 XII. — Climate and Health. — Suggestions for Invalids 184 XIII. — Retrospective. — An Historical Sketch . . . 209 XIV. — Florida Folks and Families .... 225 XV. — Obange-Culture 239 XVI. — Other Tropical and Semi-tropical Fruits . 252 8 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGB XVII. — Field and Farm PEODrcxs. — Vegetable-Garden- ing 264 XVIII.— Live-Stock 278 XIX. — Fur, Fin, and Feather 285 XX. — Insects and Reptiles ...... 290 XXI. — Opportunities for Labor and Capital . . . 294 XXII. — A Word of Friendly Advice to New-comers . 298 XXIII. — Routes to and through Florida .... 303 Appendix 319 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOIsrS. A Florida Orange-Grove Lighthouse on Florida Keys Hammocks The Banana Frontispiece. 18 19 43 A Tj-pical Country Hotel in Florida — " Ocklawaha House," Pendryville 46 A Pair of "Crackers" . . . . . . .55 View on the Escambia River, near Pensacola ... 70 Street-Scene in Pensacola . . . . . .72 View of Bay from Shot Park, Navy-Yard .... 73 Specimens of Pensacola Fish . . . . . .75 Ruins of Fort McRae, with Fort Pickens in the Distance . . 76 Fort Barrancas . . . . . . . .77 Street-Scene in Jacksonville ... . . 93 A Cluster of Palmettoes . . . . . .97 Street in St. Augustine . . . . . .100 St. Augustine Cathedral ...... 102 The Convent-Gate ....... 103 Entrance to Fort Marion . . . . . .105 Mouth of the St. John's . . . . . .109 Mrs. Stowe's Residence . . . . . . .112 Entrance to Hart's Orange-Grove . . . . .114 Forest on the Ocklawaha . . . . . .126 10 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE A River Post-Office . . . . . . .128 The Lookout . . . . . . . .129 Silver Spring . . . . . . .132 A Suddeu Turn . . . . . . . .133 Looking across Indian River . . . . .137 The Cabbage-Pahn . . . . . . .151 Key West . . . . . . . .153 A Country Cart ........ 228 Out for a Drive ....... 236 Orange-Trees ........ 240 The Fig . . . . . . . . 255 A Pineapple Plant ....... 256 The Date-Palm ....... 258 Sugar-Mill . . . . . . . .266 A Cypress-Shingle Yard ...... 273 Florida Pine-Barrens . . . . . . . 280 A Hunter's Camp ....... 288 FLORIDA. CHAPTER 1. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Florida ! What kind of a place is it ? How does it look? What does it produce? What are the conditions of success there? How do the people live? How do they like it? These are a few of the multitude of questions that are eagerly showered upon a resident of this sunny, genial clime, Avhen visiting the less favored regions of our country. Those who ask them commonly suppose that they can be answered as compendiously and precisely as the some- what similar questions in a geographical text-book ; but, unfortunately, this is not possible, and the numerous pages comprising the present volume are none too many to an- swer them in full. In fact, it is for the sole purpose of answering these and similar inquiries that I have written the following book ; and I trust that, when he has finished it, the reader will acquit me of having made any larger demands upon his attention than was necessary to the accomplishment of this object. I might say, indeed, in response to the first question, that it is a delightful place ; to the second, that it looks like a region perpetually breathed upon by airs from Araby the blest ; and to the other, that it produces nearly everything, with less expen- 12 FLORIDA. diture of labor than is the case in any other portion of the wide domain included within the United States. There are few, however, who will be satisfied any longer with such " glittering generalities " — a surfeit of them having already been dealt out by previous writers on the subject ; and my own aim has been to give as clearly and specifir cally as I can such information as may prove helpful to the three classes of readers to whom the book is addressed : the tourist who comes for amusement, sight-seeing, or sport ; the invalid who comes in search of that more ge- nial climate which shall prolong his days in the land ; and, even more especially, the settler whose aim is to make him- self a home under pleasanter and more promising condi- tions than those which he encounters on the stern soil or amid the harsh blasts of the northern sections of our coun- try. Florida has a history (as will be told in the chapter on that subject) that extends back to 1512, covering a period of nearly four hundred years ; yet in spite of this, and in spite, too, of its unequaled natural advantages, it has a smaller population, in proportion to its great size, than any other State in the Union, except, perhaps, Nevada and Colorado. A constantly rising tide of immigration is now flowing in, and there has been a surprising increase in the number of inhabitants during the past ten years; but some of the very choicest localities in the State are still in a state of nature, and there is room and verge enough for an additional million of busy and prosperous workers. For Florida is a very large State — one of the largest in the' Union — with an area of nearly sixty thousand square miles; and, in proportion to its size, it has as large an acreage of productive soil as any other, except the prairie States of the West. Many portions, no doubt, are ill adapted for what are commonly regarded as the great staples of the country ; but in the range and variety of its productions it QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 13 is hardly equaled, and is certainly not surpassed, by any other section of equal area. (See Appendix, note 1.) This fact in regard to Florida is usually overlooked by those who derive their ideas from the hasty conclusions of transient winter visitors. Each so-called " season " wit- nesses an influx of thousands of these visitors, in search of health or " on pleasure bent," usually wealthy, and equipped with more prejudices than their well-filled traveling-bags would contain. Their chief desire is to find an elegant hotel, having " all modern conveniences " ; and, once estab- lished there, to secure some cozy nook on a broad veran- da, where they may watch the fruits and flowers growing in the open air, breathe; the soft, balmy air, and lazily en- joy all the kixury and delights of June in January. For recreation, they ride to the nearest orange-groves, or in- dulge in a moonlight sail, or, if a little more adventurous and " masi uline,"> take a few quiet fishing-trips, or hunt quail and oiuck. Once, at least, during their stay, they make the "grand tour" by the regulation route — up the St. John's to Palatka, Enterprise, and Sanford, up the darkly-mysterious Ocklawaha (very few, on this excursion, even leaving the boat), then down the river again and over to St. Augustine, where the longest stay is apt to be made, as its many points of interest and its animated social life render St. Augustine peculiarly attractive to the average pleasure-seeker. This, in the great majority of instances, is the full extent of their study and observation of the char- acteristics and resources of Florida ; and, such being the case, it can hardly be regarded as surprising that they should represent it as a pleasant enough place of resort in winter for invalids, but a hot, unwholesome region in summer, poor in soil, arid of aspect, the haunt of alligators, reptiles, and insects. (£ee Appendix, note 2.) It need hardly be pointed out, however, that the true capabilities of a great State can not be dealt with ade- H FLORIDA. quately in this summary fashion ; and, as a matter of fact, Florida has a soil in which can be grown every variety of fruit, flower, garden-vegetable, field-crop, or forest prod- uct, that grows in any temperate or semi-tropical region of the world. Every one has heard of its fabulous yield of oranges, lemons, and the like ; and the stoi'ies told on this head are not always exaggerated. I have seen groves of orange-trees which jaroduced from two hundred to four thousand dollars to the acre, and know of an acre of pine- apples that, within two years after the trees were cleared from its surface, yielded the owners (two bright young New York lads, by-the-way) eighteen hundred dollars. But these, and such as these, by no means exhaust the list of valuable products which Florida yields to the cul- tivator. I have seen fields of wheat ripening in January that produced twenty-eight bushels to the acre ; corn that produced in the same month seventy bushels to the acre ; sugar-cane that yielded one hundred and sixty dollars net profit to the acre ; common Irish potatoes producing two hundred bushels to the acre ; fields of rice that paid a net profit of two hundred dollars an acre ; and cassava that netted a hundred and fifty dollars per acre. Water- melons and garden-vegetables grow rapidly, attain great size, are of excellent quality, and, where convenient to city markets, or to lines of transportation, pay the producer from one hundred to one thousand dollars per acre. Of garden-vegetables three and even four crops are some- times taken from the same tract within twelve months ; and of the entire list of strange or familiar farm and garden products, fruits, and flowers, you may, in a trip through the State, find growing in abundance. The largest peach-tree, undoubtedly, in America, is near Orange City, in Volusia County, with a spread of branches over seventy feet. (See Appendix, note 3.) Nor is this all. I have seen bean-vines in their third QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 15 year bearing as vigorously as when first planted ; pears growing on vines ; peas gi'owing on trees ; and plants growing on nothing at all — the latter being the common air-plants* Of live-stock, I have seen as large, fine, fat swine, and as neat cattle and sheep, as in Vermont, New York, or Illinois ; and they can be raised and kept in good condition at so small a cost that comparison with Northern-raised stock is absurd. The climate of Florida in the winter months is simply delightful, and the summers are about as endurable as in most other portions of the United States. The summer of 1880 was said by all to be the hottest for many years, and the winter of ISSO-'Sl to be the coldest ; yet I can affirm fi-om the sure basis of personal experience that they were both healthy and agreeable, even to a new-comer. It seems absolutely impossible that any human being, or any living creature able to move about, should really suffer from either cold or heat, or from hunger, in Florida. It is asserted (and meets with no dispute) that no case of stai'vation, of freezing, of sunstroke, or of hydrophobia, was ever known in the State ; and local epidemics have never been heard of. Consider the terribly cold weather of the long, dreary winter season throughout the North ; the suffering it causes ; the many deaths among the poor, perishing for want of a little friendly warmth. Consider also the cases of sunstroke, the suffering and deaths caused directly or indirectly by the heat, in those same regions during the summer ; and the still more sorrowful cases of actual star- vation for lack of the plainest food in many of the large cities. Then contemplate the advantages of this favored clime, where food — even such articles as are regarded as luxuries in other localities — may be had in abundance, for very little cost or labor, and where a genial tempera- ture prevails at all seasons ! \6 FLORIDA. But there is one thing to be remembered in connec- tion with all this — and it is forgotten oftener than would be supposed : even Florida is not the garden of Eden, and a man can not live even here like the lilies of the field, "which toil not, neither do they spin.-' Florida soil and climate can and will do a great deal ; but living without labor is not possible, and here as elsewhere the great law prevails, that in the sweat of his brow shall man eat his bread. The true advantage which Florida offers is, that by little labor can much comfort be enjoyed, and the bet- ter directed the labor the greater the comfort. To those who have but little cajDital (or none), and who ai'e anx- iously seeking for a home with all the comforts of life, I believe that this State offers the best chances of any in our country. Finally, as a compendious answer to the many inqui- ries upon the subject that have come to my knowledge, I would say that a settler in Florida — whether he comes as a capitalist, as a farmer, or as a laborer — can live wdth more ease and personal comfort, can live more cheaply, can enjoy more genuine luxuries, can obtain a greater in- come from a smaller investment and by less labor, and can sooner secure a competency, than in any other accessible portion of North America. CHAPTER II. NATURAL DIVISIONS OF FLORIDA. As I have already remarked, Florida is a very large State, containing nearly sixty thousand square miles (59,- 268). From north to south it stretches 450 miles — from a temperate to a tropical clime. "Washed along its entire eastern border by the equable waters of the Gulf Stream, which always pours its pure salt breezes over the peninsula, and by the tropically warm Avaters of the Gulf of Mexico on much of its western boundary, it possesses a variety of climate, soil, and products, such as can be found nowhere else save in Italy, Avhich enjoys a similarity of geographi- cal conditions. Though its extreme length from the Perdido River to Cape Sable is about 700 miles, its average breadth is less than 90 miles, and in shape it is a long and narrow penin- sula, extending southward into the Atlantic and pointing toward Cuba, Havana being only 110 miles from Key West. On the southeast it is separated from the Bahamas by the Straits of Florida. The peninsula proper termi- nates on the south in Cape Sable ; but a remarkable chain of rocky islets, known as the Florida Keys, begins at Cape Florida on the eastern shore, extends southwestward nearly 200 miles, and ends in the cluster of sand-heaped rocks called the Tortugas, from the great number of turtles for- merly frequenting them. South of the bank on which the Keys rise, and separated from them by a navigable channel, is the narrow and dangerous coral ridge known as the Flor- 18 FLORIDA. ida Reef. The entire State is comprised between latitude 24° 30' and 31° north, and longitude 80° and 87° 45' west. In the aggregate Florida possesses a coast-line of more than 1,150 luiles, but on this long stretch of seaboard there are only a few good harbors. The principal on the Atlan- tic coast are St. Augustine, Fernandina, Port Orange, and Jacksonville (on the St. John's River) ; those on the Gulf coast are Pensacola, Appalachicola, St. Mark's, Cedar Keys, yA run A l di visions. 19 Tarapa, Charlotte ITarbor, and Key West. The latter is one of the most important naval stations of the republic, owino- to its commanding situation at the entrance of the most frequented passage into the Gulf of Mexico. The chief rivers are the St. John's, which furnishes nearly 1,000 miles of water navigation ; the Indian River, a long, nar- row lagoon on the eastern coast ; the Ocklawaha, the Appa- A Hammock. lachicola, the Ocklockonnee, the Perdido, the Suwanee, and the St. Mary's. The Withlacoochee, which discharges 20 FLORIDA. its waters into the Gulf, is an important stream, as are also Peace Creek, which falls into Charlotte Harbor, and the Caloosahatchie, which empties into the Gulf still farther south. Kissimmee River, connecting several of the smaller lakes with Lake Okechobee, is also a navigable stream. The surface of the State is generally level, the greatest elevation being but little more than 500 feet above the sea, and this being attained in only a few places. The lands are classified as high-hammock, low-hammock, savanna, swamp, and pine. The hammocks vary from a few acres to thousands of acres in extent, and are found in all parts of the peninsula. They are usually covered with a dense growth of red, live, and water oak, magnolia, gum, hick- ory, and dogwood ; and when cleared they afford a soil of almost inexhaustible fertility. The savannas are rich allu- vial tracts on the margins of streams, or lying in detached areas, yielding largely, but requiring ditching and diking in ordinary seasons. Except in the hammocks, the soil is generally sandy and apt to be poor. Numerous lakes dot the surface of the interior, the largest being Lake Oke- chobee, which is said to cover an area of more than 650 square miles. Perhaps the most remarkable geographical feature of the State is the immense tract of marsh or lake filled with islands, in the southern part of the peninsula, called the Everglades (by the Indians " grass- water "). It is about 60 miles long by 60 broad, covering most of the territory south of Lake Okechobee, and is impassable dur- ing the rainy reason, from July to October. The islands with which its surface is studded vary from one fourth of an acre to hundreds of acres in extent, and are usually entangled in dense thickets of shrubbery or vines. The water of the lake is from one to six feet deep, and the bot- tom is covered with a growth of rank grass which, rising above the surface, gives it the deceptive appearance of a boundless prairie. Another noteworthy feature of Florida NATURAL DIVISIONS. 21 are the subterranean sti'eams which undermine the rotten- litnestone formation, creating numerous cavities in the ground that are locally known as " sinks." These are in- verted conical hollows, or tunnels, varying in extent from a few yards to several acres, at the bottom of which running water often appears. The foregoing is a rapid summary of the geographical or cyclopedic descriptions that are usually given of Flor- ida, and it is as accurate, pei'haps, as such sweeping gen- eralizations can be expected to be ; yet when taken too lit- erally these descriptions are not only inadequate, but mis- leading. For the truth is, that there are three kinds of Florida — three Floridas, so to speak — each distinct in soil, climate, and productions ; and it is because of this that the people of other sections, as they read about the State in short newspaper sketches, or in pamphlets published in the interests of some special locality, are apt to draw erroneous inferences. For instance, the winter of 1880-81 was ex- ceptionally severe everywhere, making itself felt even in Florida ; and the Northern and foreign reader, learning that fruits were destroyed, garden-crops hopelessly ruined, oranges frozen on the trees by thousands, in fact that cold and frost played havoc in Florida as well as elsewhere, doubtless came to the conclusion that it was not much of a tropical State after all. Well, these things happened, just as reported. The frost came, and immense damage was done, and much loss inflicted. Yet the fact is that the sec- tion thus visited included but a small portion of the State — only the northern and a portion of middle Florida. A large portion of the State was not — and never is-^visited by frosts that kill. So that, while the reports were true, they were not the whole truth, and there were many dis- tricts to which they did not apply at all. The three natural divisions under which Florida must be described, if it is to be described accurately, may be 22 FLORIDA. classified as the Northern or Temperate, the Semi-tropical, and the Tropical. Northern Florida, especially the western section of it, in soil, productions, and general appearance, closely resem- bles regions much farther north. It is a land of live-stock, of corn, wheat, cotton, cane, jute, rice, ramie, potatoes, ap- ples, grapes, peaches, figs, in fact all the products of fields, forests, and gardens of a northern clime, with a few of the hardier of southern products. The tropical banana, pine- apple, etc., do not grow there, nor the orange or lemon, as a crop for profit. Its soil is excellent ; its surface is rolling and hilly, with grand forests, rocks, springs, and streams ; and the roads are firm and good. It is not tropical, but is very picturesque and home-like, and, to the Northern visit- or, is the most agreeable portion of the State. Better live- stock, or crops, can not be produced in the world, in great- er abundance, or with less expense and labor, than grow here ; but they are 7Wt tropical crops. Such is Northern Florida, where frosts and "cold snaps" are not only possi- ble, but frequently occur. Middle Florida is that portion of the State lying be- tween the twenty-eighth and thirtieth parallels, and may be termed Semi-tropical Florida. It is the region where many of the products of both the temperate and the tropi- cal climes may be found growing side by side ; where the orange, lemon, fig, guava, citron, grape, and all garden- vegetables, may be found growing, for profit, in the open air, all the year round. It is where cotton, cane, rice, and all field-crops pay best, and where wheat, corn, and live- stock are noticeably less productive than a little farther- north. The soil here is mostly of a sandy character, and begins to have the characteristic appearance of a trcpical soil ; while the surface is generally flat and uninteresting, with occasional slightly rolling tracts. There are but few streams or lakes, except in the central portion — known to NATURAL DIVISIONS. 23 the residents as the Orange Lake region — where there are several quite large- si zed lakes, which are of very attractive appearance. (See Appendix, note 4.) Large orange-groves are found growing in all parts of this region, and thousands of trees are being set out yearly. Hundreds of the settlers there — especially along the line of the Transit Railroad (that runs from Fernan- dina to Cedar Keys) and its branches — in the vicinity of Starke, Waldo, Gainesville, and of Ocala and Leesburg, are engaged in raising vegetables of all kinds for the Northern markets. Thousands of crates of green peas, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, onions, cabbages, cauliflower, spinach, celery, lettuce, beets, etc., and car-loads of water- melons, are gathered and shipped to all points North in January, February, March, and April. It is an industry that has, in a few years, grown to great proportions, and, when the season is at all favorable, rej^ays those engaged handsomely. In many cases profits of several hundreds of dollars (upward of a thousand dollars are known of in several cases) have been made in a single season, from an acre or but little more, of some sj^ecial crop, that for- tunately ripened and reached the market at the right moment. Strawberries here grow abundantly, and with proper care and culture yield immense crops, repaying wonderful profits. I know of several cases where the clear profit, netted from about an aci-e, was almost fabu- lous. This is rapidly becoming a leading crop or industry of the State. Semi-tropical Florida, while not very attractive in scenery, probably produces the greatest variety of mar- ketable and profitable crops of any region in our country. Although the hardier field-crops of the North, such as wheat, corn, etc., and the more delicate fruit-products of the extreme South, like the banana, pineapple, etc., do not grow well in this region, yet the variety of the vegetable 2 24: FLORIDA. kingdom, inchiding the hardiest of the Southern and the tenderest of the Northern croj^s, is so great that the land will always produce paying crops in one form or another. As transj^ortation facilities increase, the opportunities and advantages will multiply ; for the crops of this region are grown in that season, and are of that kind, that they must be at once placed in the hands of the consumer. Without entering into a lengthy description of its climate or physical features, I may say that it is a healthy region, and that game and fish are plentiful. There is but one unpleasant feature to mar its numerous advantages : it is liable to frosts. They may come any winter — and may not in a dozen years — but a visit, when it comes, is very apt to destroy your hopes of profit for that season. Of oranges and such fruits, in this semi-tropical belt, the farther south the better ; every mile north is a step toward greater risk. You can not get too far south — that is, if you find good soil — but you can easily get too far north, even for serai-tropical products. South Florida comprises all that region of mainland and innumerable keys or islands, great and small, lying south of the twenty-eighth parallel, and is the really, truly tropical Florida — the Italy, the Spain, the Egypt, of the United States. In this region frosts rarely come, and every fruit, flower, shrub, plant, or product, that grows in any tropical region of the world grows, or can be grown, here. Either on its Atlantic, breezy, rocky coast ; its hot, torrid, south end shores, or its balmy Gulf coast, or within its vast interior — the famous Everglades region — in all these prolific, tropical soils can something of profit be grown ; though, of course, the farther south the more surely can the really tropical products be counted upon. It is the region of the pineapple, banana, cocoanut, guava, sugar-apple, bread-fruit, sugar-cane, almond, fig, olive, and all the innumerable list of tropical fruits. NATURAL DIVISIONS. 25 The great Everglades region includes much of the mainland of this part of the State. It is not a swampy- region, but is a flat, prairie country very much like Illi- nois, only this is covered with clear, pure water for thou- sands of square miles, from three to thirty inches deep, and studded with islands that have a dense growth of palmetto, cypress, pine, bay, cedar, oak, hickory, gum, magnolia, and all such timbers. These island fastnesses, by-the-way, are the homes of the remnant of the once powerful Seminole Indians. A contract has recently been made, and ratified by the State, for the drainage of this vast region, which, if successfully performed, will open up for settlement millions of acres of the richest and most valuable sugar and cotton lands in the world. The regions along the coasts generally contain the best soil for the production of vegetables and fruits. It is also in these localities that the sand-fly, gnat, mosquito, and such pestiferous insects are most abundant. But even here there are months when they are not troublesome : it is during the midsummer months when they are worst, and it is the fact that right in those localities there are places perfectly fi'ee from all the insects that infest other places. The coasts, especially on the Atlantic, are very rocky, and the scenery is in general exceedingly tropical and interesting. The woods, fields, air, lakes, bays, and rivers are filled with fur, fin, and feather, flesh and fowl, 05'sters, turtles, and fruits. The metropolis of all this region is Key West, itself on an island just o£f the south- ern extremity of the peninsula ; and other prominent places are Indian River, Lake Worth, Key Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, Cape Sable, Whitewater Bay, Oyster Bay, Charlotte Harbor, and Tampa Bay. " This is the region to go to for ])urely tropical products and for the benefits of a summer climate in winter ; but as a place for a continued residence the entire year, it will 26 FLORIDA. not be desirable until many more settlers move in. It is too lonely, and the means of transportation are too few and irregular ; but all who live in those regions are quite unanimous in asserting that the climate is pleasant all the year, and I have reason to believe life is just as pleasant there in all seasons as anywhere, except for the lack of society and transportation above mentioned. If large set- tlements, towns, and cities were founded there, and regular communication opened, it would be one of the most de- lightful regions of America, healthy and agreeable, while the products of its salt-water coast, fresh-water lakes and rivers, fields, gardens, and groves would furnish to man- kind, at all seasons, the best and most delicious of all foods that human nature craves. " Like all other tropical countries. Tropical Florida has its wet and dry seasons.* The wet or rainy season is dur- ing midsummer, which has a tendency to cool the atmos- phere, and render the summer months cooler than they are in the more northern portions of the State or in other portions of the South. During the rainy season nearly the whole country is flooded, the country being so flat and level that the water does not flow off readily. A great portion of the country requires ditching and draining, and, when some systematic method shall be adoi)ted to let off the surplus water during the rainy season, this portion of the State will prove the most productive part of the South. It has biit few swamps or marshes, unless you consider the Everglades a marsh. The Alpativkee Swamp, upon the head-waters of the St. Lucie River, is the only swamp of any magnitude in Tropical Florida, and this part of the State has less swamps than northern Wisconsin or Michigan. The country east and south of the St. John's River has more swamps than any other part of the State through which I have traveled. They are principally covered with cypress-timber, and, be- ing easy of access from the St. Johns and Indian Rivers, are valuable. There are fine lands upon Halifax River and * The following paragraphs are abridged from a report prepared by a resident at the request of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration. NATURAL DIVISIONS. 27 Mosquito Lagoon, which, at a former period, were under cul- tivation, but were abandoned during the Indian war by their owners. All that portion of the State which I have denom- inated Tropical Florida is capable of producing oranges, lemons, limes, arrow-root, cassava, indigo. Sisal-hemp, sugar- cane, sea-island cotton, rice, figs, melons of all kinds, as well as the vegetables grown in the more northern States. The country around Charlotte Harbor and Biscayne Bay is sus- ceptible of producing cocoanuts, cacao, pineapples, gua- vas, coffee, bananas, plantains, alligator pears, and all the fruits and j^lants of the West Indies. The rich lands which skirt the savannas upon the coast side are covered with rotten limestone, and have mixed with the vegetable matter to that extent that the soil will effervesce as soon as it comes in contact with acids. These savannas are valuable for sugar-plantations, as the sugar-cane requires a large per- centage of lime, and the climate is so mild that the cane will not require pl'^jiting oftener than once in ten or twelve years. The Palnu i Christl, or castor-bean, is here perennial, and grows to be tpiite a tree. I saw a number as large as peach-trees twenty feet high. Sea-island cotton seems to be a perennial in this section of the State, and is of a fine quality. Live-oak, yellow pine, cabbage-tree, and mangrove are the most abundant forest-trees, though formerly a good deal of fustic, mahogany, lignum- vitae, and braziletto was to be met with ; but these valuable species of timber have been so much in demand for ship-building and commerce that trees of any size are rare. The most formidable obsta- cle the farmer meets in preparing ground for cultivation is the saw-2")almetto {Chammrops serridata), with plated pal- mate fronds and sharply serrate stipes. The roots cover the surface of the ground, and are removed by the slow process of the grubbing-hoe. Several species of this genus of palm afforded the Florida tribes food, wine, sugar, fruit, cabbage, fans, darts, ropes, and cloth. Some have good fruit, like plums ; others austere, like dates. They are now chiefly used to make hats, fans, baskets, and mats, with the leaves. " The land bordering on the Caloosahatcbie River and its tributaries is accessible by vessels drawing not more than six feet, and cont lins enough live-oak to supply the navy of the United St? tes for a quarter of a century. Other val- 28 FLORIDA. uable timber for sliip-building is found in the same locality. Such being the natural advantages which invite enterprise to this quarter, there can be no doubt that, when its agri- cultural resources are more generally understood, southern Florida will be covered with a dense population of thrifty farmers. Cuba, with almost a corresjionding climate, has several hundred plants which serve as a basis to her agri- cultui'e, such as grains, farinaceous roots, edible seeds, veg- etables, salads, sauces, and fruits ; the great staples of ex- portation — sugar, coffee, and tobacco ; plants for dyes, yielding oil, suitable for cordage or cloth, yielding gums and resins, good for tanning ; grasses ; and woods employed in various uses. Now, it is well known that most of the jDroductions of Cuba are growing in south Florida, and, with cultivation, might be made to rival those of that cele- brated island. Sea-island cotton of a fine quality has been produced in the very center of the peninsula. Florida sur- passes Cuba in variety and delicacy of vegetable culture. At all seasons of the year beets, onions, egg-plants, carrots, lettuce, celery, etc., are produced with the most indifferent culture, while everything that grows upon vines is in abun- dance and in great perfection. Cabbages and Irish pota- toes, if planted in October, produce well. The former have been grown at Fort Myers, a single head weighing forty pounds. Cattle, hogs, and poultry increase astonishingly. Besides the above, tobacco, pindars, cow-peas, and Irish potatoes yield abundantly. " The prairie lands are immense meadows, clothed with luxuriant verdure, interspersed with clumjis of oak-trees and palmettoes of from five to ten acres each. These lands are looked upon as inferior for agricultural purposes, and are subject to periodical inundations during the summer season — i. e., from the beginning of June to the 25th of August. They are the favorite resort of vast herds of cat- tle and game, which roam and graze upon the fragrant herb- age. The estimate of the amount of cattle is from 150,- 000 to 200,000 head, thereby forming one of the principal products of the country. Stock-cattle sell for five dollars per head, and beef-cattle from nine to thirteen dollars per head. Hogs also do well, and, when strict attention is paid to them, pay well. I have known and heard of several instances in which the common woods-hosr, two and a half NATURAL DIVISIONS. 20 years old, weighed from 400 to 500 pounds gross. Sheep and colts, with the natural advantages that this country possesses, could be made profitable. The forest abounds in game, such as bears, panthei's, deer, cats, raccoons, squir- rels, and turkeys, and the lakes and rivers afford innumei*- able multitudes of fish and waterfowl. There are also nu- merous small lakes of pure water, some of which are only a few rods in extent, while others are from two to ten mile;) in length, filled with fish. These prairies are the paradisci of the herdsman and the hunter. The cattle require no feeding during the winter, and one can hardly travel over the prairies a whole day without seeing from fifty to one hundred deer," CHAPTER III. A TOUR OF THE STATE WITH THE COMMISSIONER OP IMMI- GRATION. In the midwinter of 1879-'80 the Hon. Seth French, State Commissioner of Immigration, decided to make an official tour through the southern and middle regions of the State, for the purpose of better informing himself as to the general character of the people, the soil, the prod- ucts, and the facilities for transportation. He kindly in- vited the writer to accompany him, and the invitation was gladly accejjted. It was a very extensive tour, and gave us an unusually excellent opportunity to fully acquaint ourselves with a very large section of the State. Mr. French — known to all his friends as Dr. French — is a na- tive of New York, but was for many years a resident of Wisconsin. He is a man .of wealth, liberal education, fine presence and address, social disposition, thoroughly inter- ested in his duties, and an enthusiast about Florida — in all respects just the man for the peculiar and responsible position which he then held. At noon of one rainy day late in January, we took passage at Jacksonville on the old, small, odd-looking but excellent steamer Volusia, commanded by young Captain Lund. It is an up-river steamer, an old-timer, built espe- cially for navigating the narrow, crooked channel of tho far-up St, John's. The steamer was crowded with passen- gers, including an elderly lady and her husband, from New England ; a Massachusetts school-ma'rm ; a lady with TOUR OF THE STATE. 31 a daughter of about sixteen, from Ohio ; and a lady resid- ing in Jacksonville, with three small children and a nurse. The latter was on an excursion-trip, up and return ; and those three children, that is to say, the two eldest boys, kept the entire party in an uneasy fidget for fear that they would or wouldn't get drowned. The morning of the third day found us in Lake Jessup, and from this point the trip was novel as well as interest- ing,* The St. John's above Lake Monroe (twelve miles below Lake Jessup) is little more than a narrow and very crooked creek. Passing out of Lake Jessup, we at once entered this narrow stream, and found ourselves in a re- gion differing wholly from any other portion of the St. John's country. It is a flat, level region of savannas, much resembling the vast prairies of Illinois. In all directions the eye ranges to the horizon, with nothing to break the monotony. But though monotonous, it is not uninterest- ing. These savannas, or prairies, are everywhere densely covered with luxuriant growths of marshy grasses and maiden-cane (the latter a tall, slender, waving growth of the sugar-cane species, in appearance closely resembling fields of wheat, ten to fifteen feet high), with occasional clumps of timber, consisting sometimes of but three or four trees, and sometimes being several acres in extent. The trees are nearly or quite all of palmetto, and lend a distinctively tropical appearance to the scenery. They much resemble small islands dotted over the surface of a great lake. Throughout that entire region were to be seen hun- dreds of cattle grazing on the rich vegetation, which is said to be greatly liked by them, and very fattening. One herd alone, owned by J. M. Lanier, numbers over twenty thousand head, and there are several other herds fully * The loner St. John's is fully described in another chapter. 32 FLORIDA. as large. The scene, too, was enlivened by hundreds of storks, cranes, curlews — of all gay colors — pelicans, herons, flamingoes, and water-turkeys, nearly all varieties being large, long-legged, long-necked, and long-billed, in gay- colored or snow-white plumage, all quite strange, and cu- riously interesting to the Northern visitor. Everywhere they could be seen standing in motionless meditation ; or, if the boat approached too close, they would rise in a sin- gularly graceful manner, and wheel off into the distance. The water everywhere was alive with ducks of several varieties, and numbering millions, probably, while alliga- tors were very plentiful. This, indeed, is the real home of these great, hideous, but always interesting saurians ; here are the largest size, the monsters of the race ; often of ten to fifteen feet in length. This portion of the ri^^er is, in fact, but little ti-aveled. Only five or six small steamers ply upon its waters, and it is seldom that more than two steamers pass a given point in one day ; so the beasts and rej^tiles that haunt it are but little disturbed, and thrive unmolested by mankind. The stream is so narrow that the little steamer, only about twenty feet wide, often brushed the tall cane on both sides as it passed along. Now and then it seemed as if the boat was traveling on land, as it came to some sharp bends and pushed its way through the tall grasses almost ovex'arching above. And the channel is so crooked that in many places the steamer would have to plow its nose into the bank, let the stern swing around a little, while a small boat, rowed by two stout deck-negroes, would tow the head around the sharp bend. After hours of travel, we could look back, and within one or two miles' distance see the outlines of the stream zigzagging across to the right and left, like a great letter S. At one point we could see across five of these curves within a distance of two miles. At intervals the stream widens into broad, TOUR OF THE STATE. 33 ehallow lakes, full of fish and covered with ducks. These lakes are the paradise of alligators, fish, birds, and cattle. Late in the afternoon — it was supper-time — we arrived at Salt Lake, the end of our journey by the boat, having traveled a distance of three hundred and eleven miles by water, or about one hundred and forty-five miles in a di- rect line, from Jacksonville. Salt Lake is a small lake, or series of connected ponds ; prairie on all but the east side, which has a heavy growth of timber, the commencement of a forest that covers the intervening country to the Indian River. On the shore was a solitary cabin, the depot of the mule-power, wooden- railed road over to Titusville. We anchored some distance from the shore, for the water was too shallow for the little steamer to go close in. At once several of the passengers took the small boat and went fishing, having a grand suc- cess. In a half -hour, five men caught upward of forty-five fine, large fish. Others continued shooting away at the ducks all around us, killing great numbers, that were brought in by the small boats. Many passengers had been shooting at ducks (and alligators) all day ; most of the ducks were picked up by a little Mexican, a member of the crew, who followed along behind in the row-boat, for the steamer goes slowly there, and he took advantage of short cuts. The next morning was beautiful ; all were up early, and soon the car was seen at the shore cabin. Then two or three negro laborers poled a large lighter out to the steamer, and we were soon seated in the curious vehicle. We met here a party of several tourist-sportsmen return- ing from a fishing, turtling, hunting-trip on Indian River ; also on the lighter was a cargo of about eighty monster sea-green turtles, their weight marked on their backs. These were on their way to the leading hotels of the North. "Turtle-soup to-day" was their final epitaph. The journey on this primitive sort of railroad was 34 FLORIDA. through a flat or slightly rolling country, timbered with pine, palmetto, and oak, and it was enlivened by the car getting off the track two or three times, caused by the breaking of the old wooden rails. On such occasions the male passengers would cheerfully assist the very good- natured conductor to replace the car and hunt up and lay a fresh rail. All were in good-humor, and seemed to consider it a part of the business of the trip — a sort of side-show entertainment. Titusville, eight miles from the boat-landing on Salt Lake, was reached early in the fore- noon, and we were at last on the Indian River. The town, or settlement, is the county-seat of Brevard County, and has about one hundred and fifty inhabitants. It con- tains two very neat, well-ke^^t hotels (the Lund House and the Titus House), two or three small stores or shops, a warehouse, and about fifty dwelling-houses. The land thereabout is flat, and appears to be rather poor, although we savi^ excellent vegetables, and a great abundance of flowers, growing in the gardens of its vicinity. Across the river — it is really a sound, for it has no current, and has a slight tidal action — about a mile wide here, is a strip of land, and beyond this is the ocean. This strip of land varies from a half-mile to two miles in width, alternates in poorest sand-tracts and richest hammocks, where the most prolific crops grow, and is alive with game. Here, without much looking, may be found bears, deer, cougars, wild-cats, panthers, and the wily lynx. The town with its surroundings is quite tropical in ap- pearance. The Titus Hotel in pai'ticular is built in what may be called the tropical style — a large main building with two long wings, all one story high, forming three sides of a square neatly laid out in a garden, and with the rooms opening off of the wide verandas like a row of houses in a city block. The table at once convinces the guest that he is in a tropical region, the meats being TOUR OF TUE STATE. 36 principally oysters, clams, fish, shark-steaks, turtle-steaks, etc., with many strange and familiar fruits and vegeta- bles, all tropical, and fresh in January. Colonel H. T. Titus is a noted character, once of great notoriety all over the country, as the fiercest antagonist of old John Brown, the Harper's Ferry Brown. These two, with their follow- ers, had many desperate conflicts in the early days of " bleeding Kansas " history. Colonel Titus is now old, a helpless invalid, and, curiously enough, is an uncompro- mising partisan of the political party which he so des- perately fought in its earlier history.* Early the next forenoon. Dr. French, Mr. Churchill, and myself, embarked on the trim yacht Mist for a trip to the sugar-plantation of Mr. Perry E. Wager, situated on a lagoon on Banana Creek, six miles southeast of Titus- ville. It was a delightful day, and the scenery was beau- tiful, with clear waters and myriads of ducks and strange birds — pelicans, storks, herons, etc. About noon we arrived at the plantation, and as Mr. Wager and the Doctor were old friends, we were all soon discussing an abundant dinner, after which we walked over the sugar-cane patch of ten acres. It was located in a clearing of gigantic oaks, magnolias, etc., interspersed with wild-orange trees laden with fruit, palmettoes, and the like, and covered with great vines — a jungle-scene of the most tropical kind. The soil was jet-black, and evi- dently of great fertility. Mr. Wager remarked that the bears and deer gave him much trouble by getting into his cane, of which they are very fond. A walk through the cane was something like a scramble through an Illinois cornfield, only worse, because the cane-stalks were fifteen to twenty feet tall, lai'ge as your wrist, and often curled and bent, making it like climbing through a " snake " * Since this was written Colonel Titii.s has died. 36 FLORIDA. fence to proceed. We cut three stalks of the cane, each twenty-one feet long, and they had fifty-two, fifty-four, and fifty-five joints respectively. The reader must hear in mind that each joint represents an increased value of the cane for sugar, and that on the famous sugar-j^lantations of Louisiana a stalk ten feet in height, or even eight, with fifteen joints, is regarded as something to boast of. Here the planter is not obliged, by fear of frost, to cut all the crop at one date, thus requiring a large, hastily collected force and much expense ; but he can employ three or four hands, one at the mill, one at the sirup- kettle, and two to cut and haul, and with this small force can make sugar all the year round. Nor does the cane require annual planting or cultivation, hoeing, etc., but they cut the stalks close to the ground, strip off the leaves (which are much like corn-blades), and thickly cover the gi'ound with them, thus keei^ing down the weeds, and securing, as they decay, a rich compost. The roots soon " rattoon," and no fresh planting is needed for ten or twen- ty years. The sirup of fresh cane is very sweet (to me it was slightly sickish) — and how the bears, hogs, and darkeys do love it ! It is very fattening, and a darkey on a sugar- plantation is always noticeable for his fat, oily appearance. Mr. Wager grinds his cane in a mill of three iron rollers, worked by a mule, and boils the extracted juice into sirup in a large, shallow kettle, the same as is used in making maple-sugar. With the labor of three negroes, he is able to net about sixteen hundred dollars from ten acres. Returning to Titusville, we embarked next day on the same yacht for a journey down the Indian River. It was a hazy, soft, dreamy, delicious sort of day, and, as the boat bowled along with a pleasant breeze, we qui- etly and indolently enjoyed it. At noon we landed at the home of Captain W. H. Sharpe, a very agreeable gentle- TOUR OF THE STATE. 37 man from Georgia, with a Yankee wife, who entertained us hospitably, and showed us his thrifty young orange- grove and cane-field. After an excellent dinner. Captain Sharps and Dr. Holmes, an Ohio gentleman, now residing here, joined our party ; and, a bushel of oranges being l^ut on board, we continued on our journey, reaching Rock Ledge late in the afternoon of a wonderfully in- teresting day. Here we landed and accepted the warmly proffered hospitalities of Mr. A. L. Hatch. He came here several years ago from Mississipj^i, in search of health, found it, and in this charming spot is rapidly creating a fine home. He is an enthusiast about Florida, and is a zealous student of the culture of fruits and flowers. We all took an extensive stroll over his lawns, gardens, and fields, and it was like a visit to a botanical or horticult- ural museum, so great is the variety of plants growing there. An evening long to be remembered was enjoyed on his veranda, smoking, hearing of tropical Florida, and watching the full moon rising across the waters, that glittered like silver, while the intervening lawn showed strangely with aloes (or century-plants), palmettoes, oaks festooned with gray mosses, and multitudinous flowers. Rock Ledge is twenty miles south of Titusville, and two and a half from Lake Winder, where the St. John's River steamers are taken, and freight is shipped to Jack- sonville, four hundred and twenty-three miles distant, or one hundred and sixty on an air-line. Of course the steamers are the diminutive kind, such as I have before described. From Rock Ledge to New York is about seventy hours' travel. The place derives its name from a formation of coquina-rock along the shore there, and is a very pleas- ant locality, with a good class of settlers, some forty in all. But I think they have placed the price of their lands too high. One hundred dollai's per acre for a site on the 38 FLORIDA. river is- too high for the average immigrant, especially where the land is uncleared and unimproved. It may be worth it — for the soil is undoubtedly rich — to the wealthy, but it will bar out the industrious poor, and retard the growth of the region. It was here I made my first attempt to eat a fresh-picked guava. I failed miserably then, but have since learned to 'like the fruit, and think it excellent. As a friend once expressed it, " It's like eating a strawberry inside of an orange, large as a pear," only the seeds are like small shot. The taste for this abundant fruit is like that for tobacco — it must be acquired ; but, as is seldom the case with to- bacco, its acquisition is never regretted. The next morning Mrs. Hatch served us an excellent breakfast — peculiar in this, that it consisted almost wholly of various kinds of garden fruits and vegetables, cooked in divers ways, to show what an Indian River table can supply. We visited several homes in the neighborhood, everywhere meeting agreeable people, and were shown wonderful gardens. All agreed that snakes and such things were rarely seen, and that flies, gnats, or mosqui- toes were not unusually troublesome in the summer. Poultry, eggs, fish, oysters, turtles, and ducks are too plentiful for special mention. Among other places, we visited the Spratt orange-grove, one of the finest in Flor- ida, with one thousand trees growing on ten acres. The founder, Mr. Spratt, came here about ten years ago, an old man, and with but little means or money. He com- menced clearing the land all by himself, and now has a grove hard to surpass. The land is quite clean, level, and rich ; the trees all very uniform in size and shape, and thrifty, and laden with noticeably fine-looking and richly- flavored fruit. That grove is sure to produce henceforth an income of several thousand dollars annually ; and it is an evidence of what one poor old man can do by n TOUR OF THE STATE. 39 living a camping -out sort of life for a few years. Near here also is a fine guava-preserving establishment, recently built by some Massachusetts parties. After an extended tour of this region — all much alike in one respect, that it presented beautiful scenery and was deeply interesting — one pleasant morning again found us at the little landing on Salt Lake, and we were soon lightered out to another of those curious little upper St. John's River steamers. This was the We-ki-wa, a snug craft, but so very small and so odd ; every inch of space being utilized by the bright, active boy, a lad of about fifteen, who acted as steward, assistant engineer, pilot, dish-washer, table-waiter, chambermaid, and general-utility man. There were but five or six passengers, among them an Ohio gentleman, who had with him a fine sporting rifle, which he kindly invited the Doctor and myself to try. The Doctor led off with a splendid shot at a very large alligator, pinning it permanently to the marshy bank where it was sunning itself. Later in the day he killed another. I also had the satisfaction, such as it was, of killing two alligators, big ones. They were very abun- dant all day ; often ten or more could be seen slowly crawling into the water, where they keep their heads up, staring at us, then, their curiosity satisfied, suddenly drop- ping from sight. Early the next morning we reached Enterprise, on Lake Monroe, where we staid some time. Our party improved the time by going ashore and visiting a famous suli^hur- spring on the estate of Count Frederick de Bary, a wealthy New-Yorker. A fine residence, large orange-grove, pier, and packing-house are here, the spacious grounds all hand- somely fenced and improved in neat style, with every- thing elegant and complete. The spring is circular in form, about fifty feet in diameter, and is located in a pretty nook. The water is green as the greenest paint. 40 FLORIDA. and forms quite a good-sized brook. It is slightly warm tastes strongly of sulphur, but is not unpleasant. Re- suming our journey, the boat was soon on her way down the river with our friend, the Ohio man, at the wheel, which he managed with unexpected skill. Blue Spring Landing was reached at noon, and here the Doctor and I left the boat. It was February 1st, and a very warm day. The spring, from which the landing takes its name, covers about an acre, is of very pure, clear watei', of a slightly sulphurous flavor, and deep blue in color ; it is the fountain-head of quite a large stream that flows into the St. John'So The adjacent grounds are slightly rolling, and the general appearance is picturesque, offering a tine site for a winter hotel. The water looked so cool, clear, and tempting, that we couldn't resist, and, finding a re- tired nook, we plunged in and enjoyed the agreeable novelty of an open-air bath in midwinter. Afterward a warm walk of about two miles brought us to Orange City, in Volusia County, and we were soon in the cozy, hosi^itable home of the Doctor, his own Florida abiding- place. Orange City was founded in 1876 by the Doctor and a number of congenial spirits, mostly from Wisconsin. Already a good deal of land has been cleared, roads and streets have been surveyed and opened in every direction, and lots set off for business and residence purposes, a school, churches, and shops. Several stores and eighty or more residences have been erected, new fences and buildings are constantly being built, and the place is rapidly growing, having a population now of about three hundred, which is increasing every month. One hundred and seventy-five groves, on about one thousand acres of land, are in bloom, and new groves and gardens are being started everywhere in the vicinity. Here I met two young men, brothers, from New York City, who came a short time ago for TOUR OF THE STATE. 41 their health, and now have one of the largest and finest pineapple-fields in the State. The newsy " South Florida Times " is published here. The two following days were spent in short tramps and drives in the surrounding coun- try. The third day, the Doctor, with his son, myself, and Mr. Andrew Jackson, a jeweler from. Eau Claire, Wis- consin, a wealthy, shrewd business-man, distributed our- selves in a wagon, and started on . a trip through the country. The roads were in good condition, and we trotted along briskly, passing new homes everywhere, the people being all busily engaged in fencing, clearing, build- ing, or setting out trees. At noon we arrived at De Land, another enterprising colony, mostly from western New York. The site was located in 1877 by Mr. H. A. De Land, the celebrated soda-manufacturer of Fairjiort, New York, and bears his name. The country here con- sists of rolling, open pine-land, and is quite pretty and home-like in ajipearance. A fine church and a first-class schoolhouse, one of the best in the State, several stores, and dwellings, had then been erected ; and the buildings Avere all of noticeably substantial, comfortable construc- tion, while the house-grounds were cleared up and set out with flowers and shrubs. The "Florida Agricultur- ist " is published here. It has a large circulation, and is considered standard authority on all subjects in its special line. From De Land we drove to Spring Garden, another of the enterprising colonies of this favorite section. New York and Illinois are mostly represented here. In 1872 Major George II. Norris, a native of western New York, well known in Chicago, came here and p^^rchased an im- mense Spanish grant, and, having perfected his title, laid out this pretty hamlet. A lai'ge amount of land has been cleared in the vicinity, and wide streets have been opened for miles, well fenced, and set out with orange-troes for 43 FLORIDA. shade. The " Spring Garden House," quite a cozy, home- like, well-built hotel, is kept by Mr. E. M. Turner, a wide- awake Chicago hotel-man. It stands in a large orange- grove, surrounded by a number of pretty hotel-cottages for invalid guests. A landing -pier and packing - house have been built at Spring Garden Lake, two miles distant, where the St. John's River steamers land goods and passen- gers. Quite a number of families have their homes here, and form an unusually select and refined community, dis- crimination being exercised in the sale of lands. Their homes are noticeably well constructed, and have an air of settled improvement, surrounded by lawns, gardens, and groves, grape-arbors, fences, etc. In the evening quite a party of the residents met us at the hotel, and a very pleas- ant, entertaining time was enjoyed. Accompanying the Major to his hospitable residence near by, I had the pleas- ure of feasting on a heaping dish of freshly-picked straw- berries, and partaking of some excellent samples of orange- wine. The next morning we drove to the immense orange- groves owned by Major Norris. He has 11,000 trees, mostly on hammock-lands, which are nearly all bearing ; in fact, he gathered last winter ujDward of 460,000, filling 3,100 boxes ! In time that grove will produce millions, yielding a j^rincely revenue. The trees were nearly all sour stumps budded with sweet fruit. The Major said, "In a few years I will show the visitor here an avenue five miles long, lined with solid orange-groves all the way," and I think it quite likely that such a spectacle may then be seen. At the house of Mr. B. F. Haynes we were feast- ed on delicious bananas ; and another resident whom we met was Pi-ofessor Isaac Stone, who was for years United States consul at Singapoi'c. His wife, Mrs. Stone, is the author of a standard work on India — " India and its Princes." TOUR OF THE STATE. 43 Orange City, De Land, and Spring Garden, are three places that impressed me as favorably as any I have seen in Florida. There are other places that are more inter- esting for historical reminiscences or scenery, or for some particular enterprise ; and others may, very likely, become The Banana. larger and more active communities, like Sanford, Lees- biirg, and Charlotte Harbor ; but those three places first named will, I think, always be pretty, home-like, pros- perous villages, of slow, steady, healthy growth and solid prosperity. The region has a mean elevation of about 44 FLORIDA. seventy feet above tide-water, and is noted for its health- fulness. From Spring Garden we returned to Orange City, vis- iting Beresford, Volusia, and Starke's Landing, all on the lake. They are merely little landing-jjlaces, with but three or four families in the immediate neighborhood, but are the foci of quite a goodly number of families living back on the highlands. At Starke's Landing we visited the famous old grove of Captain Starke, and saw hundreds of noble orange-trees twenty-five to thirty-five years old, scattered about irregularly over a grand old lawn. Some of them are fully thirty feet high, and bear crops of from two to ten thousand oranges each. This was one of the grand old English estates of the last century, the property of Lord Beresford. Remains of his extensive improve- ments are yet to be seen. Here we saw hogs feeding on oranges, and it certainly seemed a shame to see them eat- ing such rich fruit. Here also we saw an immense tree that had just been transplanted with its crop in full fruit, and showed no signs of injury. All that region is of hilly pine-land, with open growth of trees and excellent soil, the exceptions of bad soil being very few. And it undoubtedly is a very healthy section and quite free from insects, being high, well drained, pine- timbered, and open to the pure sea-breeze all along its eastern coast. Ormond, Port Orange, Daytona, and Smyr- na, are all thrifty, enterprising, growing little hamlets, lo- cated in the rich hammock-belt of land on the adjacent ocean-coast, where they have the advantages of good soil and both fi-esh and salt water ; but the insects in the sum- mer months make a residence there unpleasant except in some specially favorable locations. Each has from ten to fifty families of unusually agreeable, select people, the nucleus of future pleasant communities. In fact, the peo- ple of nearly all the villages and settlements throughout TOUR OF THE STATE. 45 Volusia County are of exactly the right sort of Northern stock, and under their enterprising, law-abiding control, the region is sure to become one of the most prosperous in Florida. . The next morning we bade farewell to the good peo^ pie of Orange City, and again set out on our travels. At Blue Spring Landing we took the steamer George M. Bird, which in the coui'se of the afternoon carried us to Sanford, where we remained over the following day, a rainy Sun- day. Sanford and the adjacent country I have considered important enough to have a chapter to itself ; so, to avoid rejjetition, will say nothing about it here. Early on Monday morning we resumed our journey in a fine two-horse rig, accompanied by Mr. D. L. Way, editor of the " South Florida Journal," of Sanford. Our route was southwest from the St. John's, and for the first five or six miles the ride was through a flat, uninteresting coun- try, which gradually rises and becomes fairly hilly. Alta- monte was reached about noon, and we were invited to the pleasant home of Mr. George E. Wilson, a young man who came here from Maine several years ago, and now has a comfortable house, a large orange-grove, and a grocery, a pei'fect sample of New England enterprise and thrift. After an excellent dinner, we visited some fine gardens in the neighborhood, and saw ample evidence of good soil and energetic people. It is noted as a pleasant neighbor- hood, the residents being generally cultured people from the North, and the appearance of the country thereabout is pleasing. It is quite likely that they will have railroad communication with Sanford soon, which will undoubtedly make this a fine locality for either residence or occasional resort. Late in the afternoon we reached Apopka, where ^re re- mained overnight. It is a small place, of about three hun- dred inhabitants, mostly Southern natives, and the cluster 46 FLORIDA. of cheaply constructed buildings, all of plainest design, un painted and weather-beaten, closely huddled together on the narrow, short streets, gives it an appearance much like the backwoods hamlets of Alabama, Geor- gia, and the States of that belt. The soil thereabout is rolling pine and ham- mock, and famous for its fertility. We visited sev- eral gardens and groves, and saw none better any- where else in the State. It is an excellent region for oranges, sugar - cane, and vegetables, and is ex- ceptionally healthy. The country is everything that could be desired, but there is an evident lack of taste and enterprise among the inhabitants. It is the cen- ter of a good and growing trade, has a good average school, and will, no doubt, soon have railway connec- tion with the St. John's at Sanford. (See Appendix, note 6.) tSpr' Three miles from the town is Lake Apopka, a superb Vody of water — an inland sea, about fifty miles in circumference, surrounded by a large tract of hammock, wi-th a rolling black soil, densely covered with forests of r TOUR OF THE STATE. 47 hard-woods, etc. The richness of the soil in this hammock is famous throughout the State. Hon. T. G. Speer, State Senator, is engaged in cutting a series of short canals that will givc! water communication from Lakes Apopka, Dora, Eustis, and Griffin, into the Ocklawaha, and so to Jackson- ville. When this short canal (or a railroad outlet) shall have been secured, this lake will soon be surrounded by a large population. The next morning we turned northward, and at noon reached Zellwood, on little Lake Maggiore, where we ac- cepted the cordial hospitalities of Colonel T. Elwood Zell, who owns a fine estate and a beautiful home here, and from whom the locality derives its name. The country from Apopka to this place, which we traversed, was all high, rolling pine-land, with frequent lakes and hammocks, evidently very good soil. The vicinity of Zellwood is very attractive, with productive soil and agreeable scenery. The Colonel and his charming wife are Philadelphians, who spend much of their time abroad, but make occasional win- ter visits to their dainty home on this j)retty spot. It was quite dark when we arrived at Pendryville, on Lake Eustis, where we found very comfortable accommo- dations at Mr. A. S. Pendry's home — the Ocklawaha Hotel. Mr. Pendry is from Rochester, New York, and has select- ed a very attractive location for his home. He has cleared a large tract of land, built a good hotel, fenced his lots, and made many improvements. It is generally a rolling pine-land thereabout, with small lakes, and large tracts of hammock bordering on Lake Eustis. Undoubtedly a healthy region of pleasing scenery, it will very likely be- come in time quite a prosperous place.* Here Mr. Way * This prediction has been verified much sooner than I could then have suspected. Visiting Pendryville in June, 1881, I was struck with astonish- ment at the progress that had been made in the brief space of a year and a half. The Pendry farm has been laid out in town-lots, which are rapidly 3 4:8 FLORIDA. left us to return to his home in Sanford, greatly to our re- gret, for he proved a most agreeable traveling companion. He has a fine, thrifty-looking orange-grove, prettily located on two small lakes, visited by us shortly after leaving Zell- wood. We remained all day at Pendryville, driving about, viewing the prospects, and forming a very favorable opin- /ion of the locality. The right class of immigrants are set- tling there, and a railroad is certain to tap that region very soon. The St. John's and Lake Eustis Railroad is now within two miles of the hotel. (See Appendix, note 7.) The next day we drove to Fort Mason, on the opposite shore of Lake Eustis. On the route we stopped at the home of the Hon. J. M. Bryan, member of tbe Legislature, and he accompanied us to the town, which consists of a hotel, two well-stocked stores, and a cotton-press. The country and soil thereabout is rich, low hammock. Here we met Sena- being bought and built upon, numerous orange-groves have been set out in the vicinity, population is pouring in with unprecedented rapidity, and the bustle and stir of a prosperous growth are everywhere visible. Owing largely to the skillful and well-directed efforts of Mr. John A. Macdonald, editor of the " Florida New-Yorker," attention has been attracted to the advantages of the locality ; and in no portion of the State have I observed more healthy and pleasing signs of progress — such as neat and tasteful fences, substantial houses, and lands thoroughly cleared and carefully culti- vated. The young orange-groves, too, looked exceptionally well, and re- markably early returns have been obtained in some cases that were called to my attention. Moreover, as I saw more of the country, I was impressed much more strikingly with its scenic attractiveness. Rolling hills and undu- lating slopes are the characteristic features of the region, bold bluffs front the lakes on almost every side, and from certain points on the northern shore of Lake Dora (about five miles from Pendryville) views are obtained that are unlike anything seen elsewhere in Florida. The lake itself nestles at the foot of wooded bluffs over a hundred feet in height ; on the oppo- site shore still higher hills lift boldly from the water ; while farther away still, beyond Lake Harris, at the distance of twenty-eight miles, a misty line of heights rises almost mountainously against the horizon. TOUR OF THE STATE. 49 tor T. G. Speer, who was engaged in constructing his dredging-machine, and he explained his intention of cut- ting a canal so as to connect the entire series of large lakes in this famous lake-region. This improvement will open up a vast amount of rich soil to transportation con- veniences. The country from this point to Leesburg is all a rolling pine-land, in some places quite hilly, and contains innu- merable small lakes and frequent tracts of rich hammocks, in which we saw many wild groves of sour oranges grow- ing, all laden with their deceptive golden fruit. The Doc- tor pronounced it an excellent region, of rich soil ; but very few houses or improvements were seen. At one of the few houses encountered on the route (a handsome, new building, occupied by a family from Illinois), we stopped and were shown a splendid large orange-gi'ove, yielding the owner an income of several thousand dol- lars annually. He had come here very poor, had lived cheaply and worked hard, and now is reaping his reward. Early in the afternoon we crossed the wild head- waters of the Ocklawaha, on a ferry worked by hauling on a rope stretched across on poles. The road on either side was, for a long distance, through a dense jungle, and we were glad to get well through it and reach our destination. Leesburg, the county-seat of Sumter County, the home of fifteen hundred people, is a quiet, contented, easy-go- ing, rather old-fashioned sort of a place, all the business houses being low, plain, wooden buildings, mostly of one "story, ranged along one wide, sandy street. A good win- ter hotel is badly needed, and would probably be a profit- able investment. The town lies in the midst of a rather flat pine and hammock country, the soil of which is nearly all very rich. It has a good school and church, and an orderly society, which includes only one lawyer, who does not make a very large income, although they boast that 50 FLORIDA. he can earn double fees by arguing for both parties in the same case. The adjacent region is being rapidly taken up, and already contains many settlers. This is the upper end of navigation on the Ocklawaha River, whicli furnishes the only outlet of the region. Leesburg has, beyond doubt, a prosperous future before it ; within the year, probably, the Peninsular Railroad will reach there. (See Appendix, note 8.) The whole of the day following our arrival was spent in looking about the town, gathering statistics of its trade, garden and field crops, shijDping facilities, etc. The next morning we accepted an invitation to enjoy a sail on Lake Harris, and at an early hour were on board a trim and rapid yacht. The party included Mr. William Fox, once of Chicago, now a prominent citizen of Lees- burg ; Mr. George Pratt, owner and editor of the " Lees- burg Advance " ; Mr. Jackson, owner of the yacht, re- cently of Cincinnati, now residing on Lake Eustis, where he has purchased a fine property ; and ourselves. It was a beautiful day, with a pleasant breeze, and we bowled along over the clear waters of this lovely lake (it is eight miles wide by ten miles long) in exhilarat- ing style. The shore everywhere has much natural beau- ty, being high, with a rich, dark soil, generally covered with a heavy growth of very large hard-wood trees, oaks, etc., evidently very fertile as well as very pictu- resque. We passed several fine estates, their lands neatly cleared and fenced, substantial, cozy-appearing houses, surrounded by pretty gardens, flowers, and young groves, presenting perfect pictures as seen from our boat. Among several places at which we stopped was that of Colonel J. W. Marshall, a hearty, genial, intelligent gentleman of the old school, who came here from South Carolina shortly after the war, which so sadly impoverished the planters of that State. Here he has established himself TOUR OF THE STATE. 51 on a grand estate, containing several large orange-groves of all varieties and ages, from the tender seedling grove to the full bearing, and all remarkably thrifty and well kept. The oldest grove, now in full bearing, yielding im- mense crops, is one of the finest we saw in all the State, with the largest-sized trees and the heaviest crops. The old Colonel showed us all over his extensive estate; it has a rich soil, carefully cleared, a rolling, hilly surface, and produces a great variety of plants and fruits, including teas, coffees, etc., fully demonstrating the fact that every- thing in the way of fruits, flowers, garden and field prod- ucts, may be grown on the soil of this lake-region. Taking us finally into his bearing grove and pausing at a large tree, the low-hanging branches of which were laden with easily plucked fruit, he gave lis a complete coiirse of in- struction in the fascinating, divinely refreshing art of " or- ange-eating and how to do it." And his recipe, while it may not be of the highest degree of mincing daintiness — the eating-soup-with-a-fork style — is an exceedingly enjoy- able, practical method of getting the juice, the whole juice, and nothing but the juice, out of an orange. Said he : " Now, gentlemen, roll up your sleeves, remove your cuffs, high collars, etc., unbutton your vests and a few other waist-buttons ; take a sharp knife, \)u\\ a dark-shade, heavy orange, peel it to the quick all around, leave no bitter rind, shut your eyes and suck ; don't bite — just suck." The reader hardly needs to be assured that we obeyed to the letter. I think we each averaged about fifteen or- anges in rapid succession — and in silence, sweet silence — /one steady draught of nectar pure and wholesome. Lack of capacity alone compelled us, one by one, to regretfully cease this luscious feast ; and repairing to the house, we were invited, after a short respite, to partake of a fine dinner, well washed down with select brands from an evi- dently well-stocked cellar. Soon after dinner we took our 52 FLORIDA. departure from this hospitable home, the old Colonel de- positing a huge basketful of oranges in our boat as a remembrancer. We bade him good-by with regret, all hoping that his considerable shadow may never be less.* A long, circuitous sail was made around the lake that we might view its^ beautiful shores, and we reached the hotel in the evening. Early next morning we resumed our journey, and were soon well on our way to Sumterville, west of Leesburg. The route lay through a rather flat, uninteresting belt that appeared generally wet, and, in tracts, marshy, a good sugar-cane region. We crossed one broad body of water, which was much deeper than our driver had counted upon, and, in consequence, we barely escaped the unpleasant incident of a ducking. In some places the road passed through extensive hammocks, always attractive. About five miles from Leesburg we reached the stony belt of Central Florida, the only locality in all the peninsula (except along the coasts and in some of the northern counties) where we found stones. Here they were plentiful, scattered about in all shapes and sizes, and it gave us considerable satisfaction to hear the wheels click along over them, with the music so familiar in more north- ern regions. It was noon (Sunday noon) when Sumterville was reached, and our team turned back to its starting-point, while we took quarters at the i^rimitive hostelry that offers scant accommodations to way-bound travelers. Sumter- ville is an old ante-helium settlement, with large tracts of cleared land — evidently a high level, as it is not wet — - with a dark soil, which is undoubtedly very rich and pro- ductive. The hamlet contains two or three very rude backwoods sort of stores, and about a dozen dwellings, but has great expectations, that are quite likely to be ful- * Since our visit. Colonel Marshall has sold this grove for $28,000 cash. TOUR OF THE STATE. 53 filled, as it is on tlie present State stage-line and United States mail-roiite from Ocala to Tampa, and is on the di- rect line from Leesburg to the latter place, such as a rail- road will desire to select. It is a good, healthy, fertile region, needing only settlers. The next day several of the residents called on its, and we spent the day, a warm one, in visiting a number of gardens and fields and orange-groves in the vicinity. Everywhei'e the vegetables, crops, and fruits looked finely, growing in great abundance with little care. We also drove to Lake Panasofkee, six miles distant, a lai'ge lake surrounded with rich black hammock-land, the region for sugar-cane and all garden and field crops. Also in this neighborhood are numerous large " sinks " of the land, so frequent in all parts of Middle Florida, usually circular in form, the sides quite straight and smooth, varying from twenty-five to one hundred and more feet in depth, and seldom containing any, or but little, water. This, indeed, is the singular feature about them, for often they are close to large lakes whose waters are fifty feet above the bot- tom of the sink, yet none in the sink. It is as if some- thing had given way in the bowels of the earth, and the soil had fallen in ; but they must all have subterranean outlets, for in no other way can the absence of water be accounted for. The next morning we took the stage-coach, a little rattle-trap sort of an affair, and were soon on our way to Brooksville. It is a long ride through a decidedly rolling country, mostly pine-land, with very little ham- mock, and few lakes. The stone belt extends all through this region, ending along the Withlacoochee River. It closely resembles the piny-woods region in Michigan, and the ride became very tedious and monotonous, ex- cept that we saw any quantity of feathered and furred game, rabbits, squirrels, quail, etc., and occasionally wild 54 FLORIDA. turkeys, large and sby. This is a range wliere deer and bear also are plentiful. The entire trip that day was through an unsettled region, the only human beings living anywhere along the road being four or five families of Florida natives, the genuine, unadulterated " cracker " — the clay-eating, gaunt, pale, tallowy, leather-skinned sort — stupid, stolid, staring eyes, dead and lusterless ; unkempt hair, generally tow-colored ; and such a shiftless, slouching manner ! sim- ply white savages — or living white mummies would, per- haps, better indicate their dead-alive looks and actions. Who, or what, these " crackers " are, from whom descend- ed, of what nationality, or what becomes of them, is one among the many unsolved mysteries in this State. Stupid and shiftless, yet shy and vindictive, they are a block in the pathway of civilization, settlement, and enterprise wherever they exist. Fortunately, however, they are very few and rapidly decreasing in numbers, for they can not exist near civilized settlements. The four or five cabins we passed of these " crackers " were bare log structures, with low roofs, no doors or windows — merely oj^enings — or fireplaces ; no filling between the logs, and usually no floors ; no out-houses, wells, or fences ; and no gardens or plants, except a sweet-potato patch. A near lake, or spring, supplies their water ; hogs, cattle, and game, their meat ; and the tops of cabbage-jjalmettoes, sweet-potatoes, and wild fruits, form almost their only diet ; while pellets of clay eaten as a seasoning ingredient take the place of needed salt and jjepper. As the stage was slowly climbing a rise in the road, we were surprised to see four women, seated on a fallen tree close by the roadside ; all were of precisely the same size, with the same features, eyes, and hair, and a vacant, stupid stare ; each wore a light-colored, faded calico dress, of plainest, scantiest possible make, quite clean (a surpris- TOUR OF TEE STATE. 55 ing fact), and large, plain, cotton sun-bonnets ; each wore a cheap, bright-hueil, cotton handkerchief around her neck ; A Pair of "Ckackkf.s.' and they were all barefooted, carrying their low, thick- soled shoes in their hands. The dress and kerchief ap- peared to be their only garments — no underwear whatever. 56 FLORIDA. Our driver, a sociable sort of fellow from Ohio, stopped and chatted with this strange feminine quartet, and we learned that they were a mother and three daughters, which was the climax of surprise to us, for the four faces all appeared of the same age. They were going to a dance at a " cracker's," some fifteen miles farther on, and they had already walked about five miles. Think of woman — lovely, tender woman! — walking barefoot twenty miles to dance all night in a close cracker cabin, with whis- ky-perfumed cracker males, to the scraping of a wheezy violin in the hands of an old darkey ; the scene lighted with pine-knots ; the feast of hog, hominy, beef, sweet-po- tatoes, and likely a few villainous compounds of flour, cheapest brown sugar, or sirup, and called caJce or " risin'- bread." And, perhaps, that cracker ball will be kept up two or three days and nights, until all the stock of eatables and whisky is used up. The " cracker," when resolved to give a dance, shoots some game and carves a hog, finds a market and sells his game for a little cash, lays in a stock of whisky, a little flour, cheap sugar, siruj), tobacco, hominy, or grits, more whisky, coffee, or cheap tea, goes home, sets the " wammin- f oiks " to baking, while he resolves himself into an invi- tation committee, and sets out on his lean, lank, cracker pony, and invites all the crackers for miles around to " cum raound." And they come. A fight generally ends the dance, and the best man wins the girl, for these dances are usually prolific of "jinin" matches. It should be said, however, per contra, that there is very little sexual immo- rality at these half -civilized gatherings, for the mothers — as in this case — are also on hand, and keep a sharp eye on proceedings ; while the men — the fathers — will shoot. We passed on, and at noon crossed the Withlacoochee River, at Hays's Ferry, where there are two or three cabins. The river is here a wide, deep, dark-colored, swift-running TOUR OF TEE STATE. 57 stream. A rope stretched from bank to bank was our means of passage. Just across the river we found the cabin of a cracker, and here we were to get dinner. After a long delay, we were called in and told to " set by " ; but, although the table was heaped with food (alleged to be), yet I couldn't eat of it : sweet-potatoes in two styles — baked and fried in slices — but less than half cooked in either shape ; bread, merely chunks of yellow, hot, steamy dough, incased in burned crusts ; muddy coffee (plenty of grounds for being muddy, if the reader will excuse the pun) ; and fat pork. There were eggs visible, however ; so, under pretense of not feeling icell, I induced the cook to soft- boil a few, and, having managed to strain off some coffee from its mud basis, worried through a luncheon. The housewife was of indolent, unhealthy, flabby appearance, slattern and unwholesome. Said the drivei', who knew them well, "That husband of yours, if he should ever trip up in a mud-puddle, would lie and die there, he is so lazy." And that loving wife replied, with a shallow smile: " Yas, I 'spect that's so ; he are mos' dreffle, or'nary, lazy- like, sho' enuff, jes' no 'count." The listening husband grinned as if a compliment had been paid him. Such villainous, disgusting cooking as that found on the tables of the low whites of this region is surely un- equaled. The ignorance among the women of this very necessary art is frightful. Living in a region where, al- most without solicitation, Nature provides all the daintiest and best of fruits and garden-vegetables, yet their tables seldom have any sauces or fruits of any kind, except occa- sionally dried ajiple-sauce, bought at the store, or else some wretchedly made guava-jelly. Vegetables are seldom seen on any tables, except those of the land-owner class, or of Northern settlers occupying homes in the neighborhood. No wonder the " crackers " look so unhealthy, or are so stupid, or that the men take to whisky, and like to fight so 58 FLORIDA. vindictively. Anything that involves a change must be agreeable to people fed on such wretched diet. Steam- engines are great civilizers of nations, but good cooking beats anything as a civilizer of individuals. I have seen its beneficial effects among the very worst Indians of the West. Resuming our journey, the region passed over in the afternoon differed somewhat from that of the forenoon, being more hilly, and involving a constant going uj) and down of more or less steep inclines. We were now out of the stony belt, and the hammocks were more frequent. No settlers were seen, and game was very abundant. Late in the afternoon large tracts of cleared land began to be seen, mostly neglected ; and at supper-time we reached Brooksville. Standing on the broad, level top of a high hill, in the midst of many hills — the largest hills we saw in any part of the State — Brooksville is one of the most prettily located towns or settlements we saw in Florida, being equaled only by Tallahassee. It is, in fact, the most un-Florida-appearing place imaginable, with excel- lent, rich, dark-brown soils, occasional stones and gravel, first-class hard country roads in all directions ; forests of oaks, maple, beech, hickory, and all such hard-wood growths, rail-fences, and far-viewing hills. All was like Ohio, Wisconsin, New York — the western part on the Erie Railway — in fact, anywhere in a hilly but not rocky re- gion. Even the houses, the old and the few (very few) new ones, somehow do not look Florida-like. This is one of the most desirable sections of the State. Although not at all tropical in appearance, yet all the products of the tropical as well as of the northern cli- mates grow here. Cotton, cane, wheat, oats, bananas, oranges, peaches, corn, guavas, figs, all thrive as well as in any of their special regions. Here also we found grass, a good sod, that seemed refreshing to walk on. Prior to TOUR OF TUB STATE. 59 the war this was a region of large plantations and wealthy planters. All seem to have left, as their slaves left, aban- doning everything. The houses decayed and were de- molished, fences were destroyed, broad fields have gone to waste, and weeds, underbrush, and tangled vines have everywhere taken the place of cultivated crops. Next morning we found Mr. Frederick L, Robertson, editor of the "Brooksville Crescent," an old friend of the Doctor's. Horses were procured, and we rode to the resi- ence of State Senator H. T. Lykes, on Spring Hill, six miles distant ; then across the country, ten miles, to the large estate of Mr. William Hope, where we found all varieties of vegetables growing finely, and rode through a field of several hundred acres of oats, spreading out over the hills and valleys — Ohio, surely, except for the season (it was February) ! Good roads, numerous brooks, hard-wood forests, broad fields (abandoned mostly), plenty of game, was the result of our observations. The town is the county-seat of Hernando County, and contains the court-house — a large, new, wooden building, a good struct- ure, but provokingly plain in design — three groceries, two or three saloons, and about thirty dwellings, nearly all small cottages, generally surrounded by small gardens, and groves of orange and such trees. Everything looks old- fashioned and of out-in-the-country style. Yet in lo- cation and soil it is the gem of South Florida ; and, if a railroad should ever reach here — which is very likely, for any road to Tampa will surely pass through Brooks- ville — it will very probably become, in time, the center of a thickly settled, prospei'ous region. Late io the afternoon we set out on our journey to Tampa, fifty miles distant. Fort Taylor was reached at twilight. This place, once the site of a military camp, now has but one house, surrounded by a fine grove of old orange-trees. About midnight we reached the hum- 60 FLORIDA. ble cabin of the stage-station, where we obtained lodg- ings which, though very rough, were acceptable after our ride of twenty-six miles. The route had been through a slightly rolling pine-wood region, with a dark soil of average fertility, few lakes, no settlers, and very little hammock. Early next morning we were out looking about the ranch, a plain little roughly constructed building, sur- rounded by numerous out-houses, and a garden, where a variety of tropical plants were thriving. The keeper was a genuine curiosity, an old regular army veteran, a native of Maine, who came to this country as a pri- vate of the Second Regiment U. S. Artillery to fight the Seminoles in 1835, and has remained here ever since. After a breakfast, abundant but rudely prepared, we resumed our journey, passing through a region similar in all respects to that traversed on the previous day, lone- ly and monotonous, rolling pine-land of average fertility, no settlers, but abundance of game. At noon we reached the Hillsborough River, a stream about fifty feet wide and eight or ten feet deep, and crossed it on a well-constructed toll-bridge. Beyond the river the appearance . of the country changes very much, being a high, rolling, open-hammock region, with fair soil and a heavy growth of native wire-grass. Clearings and houses, gardens and groves, began to appear, and we were once more in a region of settlers. Late in the afternoon we at last drove into Tampa, very hot, much fatigued, dusty, and hungry. The last few miles had been over very sandy and parched roads, making hard pulling for the tired horses ; and we felt exceedingly glad when we halted at last in front of a cool, quiet, inviting-looking hotel, that much resembled a neat and comfortable village dwelling. We had completed a long journey seldom taken — a TOUR OF THE STATE. 61 ride across the heart of South Florida from the Atlantic to the Gulf, a distance of about one hundred and forty miles in a direct line, but about two hundred, and. fifty as traversed by us, with side-excursions to visit promi- nent places. Tampa is an old town, the name being associated with the very earliest Spanish history of the State, and is well known as "a place in Florida" by all school- children throughout the country. It is quaint and old-fashioned in appearance, contains about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and is situated at the upper end of Tampa Bay. It is laid out with consider- able regularity into squares, with streets of usual width, level and clean, but very sandy. Having been designed for a big place, the town is much scattered, the houses average few to the block, and, though the sidewalks are generally good, there is much " cutting across-lots " in going from one point to another. Few of the dwellings are pretentious, but they have a comfortable, home-like appearance, all standing in ample grounds, and nearly all having abundance of tropical fruits, plants, flowers, shrubs and vines, sea-shells, and the like, reminding the visitor that he is in a tropical clime. The public buildings — court-house, schools, churches, and halls — are all well-built, fair-sized structures, quite creditable to the remote little community. There is no large hotel of the customary hotel style, and such an es- tablishment is greatly needed. The present accommoda- tions for travelers are three small dwellings, neat, clean, and well kept, but not roomy — mere boarding-houses, in fact. The business-houses are all plain, village-like, low- roofed, wooden structures, scattered irregularly along the street leading to the wharf. They generally carry good stocks, and a large business is transacted here. The United States Government owns a larjie tract of 62 FLORIDA. land, forming a peninsula which reaches out into the harbor. It is a lovely spot of about seventy-five acres, quite like a park, with rolling surface, covered with good sod of native grasses, while clumps of low-growth bushes and gigantic oaks and hard-wood trees are scattered about. The view, looking out over the harbor, is very beautiful. The barracks, officers' quarters, cavalry-stables, hospital, 'and other military buildings, are scattered about the ground, and are all old, and have a neglected, dilapi- dated appearance. No troops are permanently stationed here now ; but occasional detachments are sent here for a few months for sanitary benefit. A walk over these grounds is quite pleasant, and is one of the " proper things " for the visitor to do. Large tracts of land in the suburbs have been cleared of their pine-woods, laid out into long, wide avenues, and named after Northern States, the plots comprising ten or more acres each. Many of these lots have been sold, and the purchasers have evidently spent much money and time in improving them. The residences are unusually well built, tastefully ornamented, and brightly painted, while neat barns, out-houses, fences, sidewalks, and the civilized improvements usual in Northern pro- gressive communities, are everywhere seen — the reason, perhaps, being that the settlers are nearly all Northern people. In spite of all this labor, taste, and enterprise, however, there is a very noticeable number of vacant houses, showing signs of abandonment. The appearance of the greater j^ortion of the soil in the vicinity of Tampa is sandy, with an unhealthy, ashy-gray color, that promises little for productiveness. There are occasional tracts of dark, rich soil, but these are scarce, and very seldom for sale, Thqre is good soil in that region lying along the coast and on the islands, but in the immediate neighborhood of Tampa I think it TOUR OF TEE STATE. 63 is mostly poor, and nearly valueless for purposes of fruit or vegetable culture. The harbor contains numerous islands and is quite pretty. It is alive with fish and ducks. We found the lion. T. K. Spencer, of the " Sunland Tribune," and en- joyed an agreeable visit with him, looking about the place. The Peninsular Railroad, now in process of con- struction through the central region of Florida, will doubtless soon place Tampa in direct connection with the commercial centers of the East and North. This will greatly benefit it, besides opening up to settlement a large region. (See Appendix, note 10.) It was a beautiful morning when we took our de- parture from Tampa, going aboard the little steamer that carried us down the harbor to the handsome ocean- steamer Lizzie Henderson, one of the fine line of Gulf- steamers (the "Henderson Line") that ply between New Orleans, Pensacola, St. Mark's, Cedar Keys, Key West, and Havana. The boats of this line are large, roomy, Avell equipped, and well supplied. The freight and pas- sengers were I'apidly transferred from the roomy old lighter to the steamer, and we were soon steaming down the broad bay to Manatee, thirty miles distant on Man- atee River, which flows into the extreme southern por- tion of the bay. Immense flocks of ducks of several kinds, innumerable porpoises, and countless fish leaping out of the bright watei-s, were constantly in sight. The watery pathway of certain shoals could be traced by the sight of hundreds of fish of the six-pound size leaping out of the water in a rapid, direct line. Late in the afternoon we passed up the broad river several miles to JManatee, where a short stop was made to take on cargo. There was no opportunity to visit the settlement, or to examine the soil thereabout, but the dwellings located along the banks of the river were 64 ♦ FLORIDA. mostly roomy and neat-looking houses, and several gar- deners were at the wharf with vegetables of large va- riety and excellent quality. The sun was setting brilliantly as we passed out of the bay into the Gulf ; and the islands with their luxu- riant vegetation, the solitary, tall, white lighthouse, and the tropical-appearing bar on which it stands, the por- poises disporting in all directions, and the deep-blue wa- ters of the Gulf, all made a scene beautiful to behold and long to be remembered. At sunrise the next morning we were entering the lovely harbor of Cedar Keys, passing near a number of pretty islands, among them Atsenna Otie Island, where there is a large saw-mill and machine-shop owned by Faber Brothers, of New York, giving employment to a colony of thirty families, mostly Germans, engaged in cutting and prej^aring the cedar-wood for the famous Faber lead-pencils. At the wharves of the little seaport and railroad terminus we found five large steamers and numerous sailing-vessels, giving it quite an appearance of commercial enterprise. The Doctor, Professor J. N. Comstock (entomologist of the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, whom we had met on the steamer), and I, enjoyed the day stroll- ing about the streets and limited suburbs, visiting the curious shell-mound — quite a hill, comj^osed of sea-shells of all kinds, such as are found along that coast. It is the scientific siipposition that this strange mound was erected by a race of prehistoric dwellers in this region, who resorted here to feast on oysters, clams, etc. It offers a superb position on which to build a large winter hotel, for the scene in all directions, as viewed from that elevation, is beautiful, the whole harbor and the Gulf being visible. We met my old friend Major Parsons here, and had a very agreeable visit and a tramp about the TOUR OF THE STATE. 65 town with liim. Ills reminiscences of Cedar Keys, extend- fng back over a period of forty years since he first came here from the North, a clerk in the Quartermaster's De- partment of the United States Army, under old General Z. Taylor, are very interesting. In the afternoon, while the Doctor dozed. Professor Comstock and I went down to the beach, where the tide was out, and busied ourselves pulling out oysters from the great quantities that solidly line all the shores of the bay, and feasting ourselves to repletion on that luscious bivalve. Cedar Keys is a port of entry, and has several large mercantile establishments, all carrying extensive stocks, and evidently prosperous. Their patronage is derived from the settlers all along the coast and many goodly rivers that empty into the Gulf there. There is very little, if any, good land on the adjacent mainland. The trade is solely the result of its railroad and shipping ad- vantages. The buildings are mostly constructed of the substantial coquina-stone, and, with its main street (in fact, there is only one street in the place) paved with shells, all white mortary in appearance, it much resembles an old Spanish seaport. Early on the morning after our arrival, we were again on our travels — the final stage — seated in one of the handsome coaches of the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Company Railroad, better known in its abbrevi- ated and more convenient form of the " Transit," that crosses the State from Cedar Keys to Fernandina. Gaines- ville, Waldo, Santa Fe, Starke, and Lawtey, all thrifty, busy, growing, enterprising places, of which accounts are given elsewhere, were passed. Waldo is an especially pretty place, and the inhabitants show much taste and care, of which they may well feel proud, and for which they deserve much credit. Near the dejiot is a neat lit- tle park, fenced nicely ; the grounds all about the pretty QQ FLORIDA. town are clean and grassy as a lawn ; also, near the de- pot is a band-stand of neat design, at the base of a sliip- sliajDe, mast-rigged flag- staff, the gift of a jolly old sea- captain resident. The dwellings, mostly of cottage style, are neat, tasty, trim, and clean, of generally good design, surrounded by lawns of grasses and flowers, gardens of fruits and vegetables, all showing careful labor and at- tention. The soil thereabout is fertile, and the people are energetic and industrious. Waldo is a pretty spot, a good place for either health-seekers or wealth-seekers. Early in the afternoon we reached Jacksonville, and the " Tour of Florida with Hon. Seth French, Commis- sioner of Immigration," w^as ended. CHAPTER IV. A TRIP THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA. It was the middle of Marcli when Captain Samuel Fairbanks, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, set out on an oiRcial pilgrimage through the northern sec- tion of the State, in search of information for the use of his bureau. The Captain was peculiarly well adapted for his official position, and especially to investigate this por- tion of the State, which had in all its parts become fa- miliar to him, through a residence of over forty years. He came originally from central New York, and there are many other people here from that favorite section of the Empire State. The writer accepted a cordial invitation to join Cap- tain Fairbanks on the proposed trip, and enjoyed a de- lightful time, for the Captain was a pleasant, entertain- ing traveling companion, full of interesting information, anecdotes, and reminiscences of the State and the people. The previously described journey in the other portions of the State had given me a fine opportunity to see the wilder and more remote regions, and the present trip gave me an opportunity to learn of the older and more populous sections. Our route lay through the counties of all the northern and western portions of the State, where, in the " piping times of peace," the ante- war days, the true era of Southern prosperity, the planters of Florida lived and flourished and waxed wealthy. In those days 68 FLORIDA. Cotton was King, and the broad rolling acres of the vast plantations that covered the hills and beautiful valleys of the charming region were everywhere white with their great crops of the snowy staple. " Every acre meant an- other bale, and every bale meant another nigger," was the current saying in regard to it. This was always, from the days of its transfer to American rule, a favorite re- gion with the cotton-planters ; here were obtained the largest yields per acre, of the best quality (the famous sea-island variety), and the earliest in market. We left Jacksonville late one afternoon, by the Flor- ida Central Railroad, changing at Live Oak (the county^ seat of Suwanee County) to the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad. The early morning hours found us speeding through Ohio, Wisconsin, or central New York ; certainly, it was not Florida in appearance — hilly, with a rich, brown, clayey soil, solid roads, rocks, and fields of grass, just like the Northern States. Early in the fore- noon we arrived at Quincy, the county-seat of Gadsden County, and took the stage from the depot to the town, one and a half mile distant by a road which winds prettily over hills and through fine forests. Quincy is a quaint, old-fashioned town, Southern in appearance (not, however, of the dingy, miserable, " crack- er " style), a representative type of once-flourishing in- dustry. It has a large, j^ark-like, well-fenced square, with the court-house standing in the center, one of the old Southern regulation kind of square four-roomed-on-two- floors buildings. Huge oaks and similar trees shade the park, and around it or adjacent to it are the " city " build- ings, jail, etc., with plain and rather faded brick stores, the usual number of offices, pumps and water-trough, and the universal Southern hitching-rail on high posts, with al- ways a number of saddle mules and horses attached. Over all is an impalpable but unmistakable mantle of mildewy A TRIP THROUOE FOETE FLORIDA. 69 decay, of neglect rapidly verging on dilapidation. Such is the general appeai-ance of the business portion of Quincy. (See Appendix, note 11.) The suburbs make an impression altogether more favor- able. The residences here are mostly large, well-built structures, with handsome house-grounds, gardens, lawns, out-houses, shade-trees, sidewalks, etc, — in all respects, ex- cept that of a few semi-ti'opical products, closely resem- bling the usual thrifty appearance of a steady, old, agri- cultural center in the North. The weather at the time of our visit was lovely (it was March 10th) ; fruits, flowers, and gardens of thrifty vegetables were everywhere visible ; the doors and windows stood wide open, verandas were occupied, croquet-parties dotted the lawns ; and " The Pirates of Penzance," and other latest music, was every- where heard floating through the open windows, from the keys of skillfully played pianos. At the handsome resi- dence of Postmaster Davidson, we were shown some of the finest specimens of the exquisitely beautiful, golden- hued, feathery pampas-grass that I ever saw, and it grows in many other gardens thereabout. The views across the country in all directions are fine, ranging over broad fields, hills, valleys, hard-wood forests, orchards, good fences, and roomy residences — in all a beautiful region exhibiting unmistakable signs of agricult- ural prosperity. Nowhere does live-stock grow better. In the near future, when the old (but worthy) class of men and women shall have passed away with their ante- bellum ideas of business, crops, social " ranks," educa- tion, slave-labor, and their bitter memories of the war, with its defeated hopes and its "lost cause" — when this race, with such memories in their hearts, shall be gone, and the young generation of their offspring, filled with new ideas, new aspirations, new hopes, shall be in full control, then, I believe, Quincy and all the other towns TO FLORIDA. of that fair, fertile region will be among the pleasantest garden-spots in all America. At present the goodly people are "brooding upon memories." Chattahoochee, which at present is the terminus of the Florida Central and Western Railroad, is merely a little hamlet on the Chattahoochee River, close to the Alabama line, and has stage connection with Marianna, the county- ViEW ON THE Escambia Eivee, neae Pensacola. seat of Jackson County, another of those old-style, quiet inland towns, a description of one of which answers for all. The State Insane Asylum is located at Chattahoo- chee, a roomy old structure, clean, and having an air of comfort and adaptation to its purpose, and containing about thirty inmates. The river, in that region, is quite a large, respectable stream, the outlet of an extensive back A TRIP THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA. Yl country — once the water-way of an immense traffic — to the Gulf-port of Appalachicola. The scenery thereabout is very fine, and the atmosphere noticeably soft and clear. This is attributed to the fact that it is due north of the Gulf, and is always tempered by the famous " Gulf-breezes." From Marianna, a long ride by stage-coach brought us to Pensacola. The ride was tedious and fatiguing, but not really monotonous, for the scenery was very at- tractive, except in occasional tracts. Vernon, Euchee Anna, and Milton, passed en route, are all three county- seats, and are small, drowsy-looking towns, old-fashioned, and in all respects typical sj^ecimens of the better class of representative Southern county-seats. A square, an old-fashioned tavern, a court-house, and a few shops, may be said to compose each and all of them. On every side, in all that region, including Gadsden and adjoining counties, were seen large old plantations, and roomy, old, Southern-style planters' residences, giving evidence of a long-settled region, that had suddenly been arrested in its growth, and was in a state of suspended animation. Yet it is a good country, and has, in fact, a steady growth, though it is of a kind not strikingly per- ceptible, being in crops and products, instead of houses, factories, and such town imjDrovements, that are more likely to catch the attention. The great, crying need of all that portion of the State is a railroad, and the series of causes that have pre- vented the completion of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad are disgraceful to all concerned. All the parties — the moneyed cliques, railroad-wreckers, law- yers, and agents — that have for years defeated the con- struction of that road across this fine region to its natu- ral terminus at Pensacola, deserve the honest execrations of all who reside there ; for they have greatly damaged 4 72 FLO pan A. and retarded the growth and prosperity of what ought to be one of the most flourishing sections of Florida.* Pensacola is a charming city, clean, nicely laid out, Stkeet-Scene in Pensacola. with great shade-trees, handsome homes, the houses gen- erally of good architectural taste, with pretty lawns, ar- bors, gardens, etc. The navy-yard and fortifications, with their garrisons and official staffs of both branches of the service, give it an animated appearance ; and the officers and their families contribute very much to the high repu- tation for culture and refinement enjoyed by the society there. The city has a large commerce, and is one of the most important lumber-shipping ports in the United States. In respect to attractions for tourists and visitors, Pen- sacola is one of the most important places in Florida ; and, ■•' Since the above was written the courts have, after many years of tedious and costly litigation, awarded the railroad to its rightful owners. The road is now known as the Florida Central and Western Railroad, and belongs to the system of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company. A TRIP THROUOn NORTH FLORIDA. i6 instead of attempting a detailed description of my own, I will quote the following passages from a well-written and tastefully printed local hand-book : " The splendid Bay of Pensacola, unrivaled for its beau- ty, depth, and security, was discovered by Pamfilo de Nar- vaez, in 1525. Various adventurers gave it different names, as Port de Ancluse and St. Mary's Bay, l)ut that of Pensa- cola, which prevailed, was the true name among the Ind- ViJEW OF Bay from Shot Pakk, Navy-Taud. ians, the natives of the country. The first settlement was made by the Spaniards, in 1G86. The first Governor was Andre Arivola, who constructed a small fort, called San Carlos, and erected a church upon the present site of Fort Barrancas, The French took Pensacola in 1719 ; the Span- iards retook it, and the French again took it in the same 7J: FLORIDA. year and kept it until 1723, when it was restored to Spain. In the mean time, Pensacola had been removed to the west end of Santa Rosa Island, near the present site of Fort Pickens, where the Spaniards constructed a fort, which af- terward was improved by the English General Haidemand. The settlement remained on the island until 1754, when, the town being partly inundated, the site was removed to the magnificent location which it now occupies. Pensacola was ceded to the English in 1763, by whom it was laid oif in regular form in 1765. The town surrendered to the Span- ish arms in 1781. On the 7th of November, 1814, General Andrew Jackson, with the American army, entered the town, when the English fleet in the bay destroyed the forts, San Carlos (at Barrancas) and Santa Rosa. " By consulting the map of Pensacola and its surround- ings, the reader will observe the network of water-courses, bays, and bayous centering at that city. The water is clear, bright, and beautiful. Surf-bathing uj^on Santa Rosa beach, as enjoyable as language can express, the salt-water bathing in the bath-houses of the bay, and bathing in fresh water as clear as crystal, can all be had within a distance of seven miles. The Perdido Bay is one of the loveliest sheets of water in the State, rivaled by the Escambia Bay, with its bluffs and ever-moving fleets. Any attemj^t to particular- ize becomes confusing, as tbe special beauties and attrac- tions of the different bays and bayous are remembered. Escambia River is the ' Ocklawaha ' of West Florida. The stranger who wishes to enjoy a short trip will be pleased as the steamer plows through the broad, placid waters of Escambia Bay, and then delighted with the luxiiriance of the tropical growth as the vessel winds its way up the nar- row and tortuous channel of Escambia River to Molino. At this point the excursionist can take the train and return by rail to Pensacola. " The fresh-water fishing is superb. The waters liter- ally swarm with all kinds of fish, notably trout, black bass, and pike. All varieties of perch abound, including a spe- cial kind, a very game fish, called bream. It is not unusual for a good angler to pull out fifty to sixty of these fish in an hour, weighing from a half to one pound. Both in salt and fresh water, fishing is carried on with pleasure and profit the entire year. In the bay and bayous every descrip- A TRIP TIIIiOUGU NORTH FLORIDA. iiy tion of s.alt-water fish abounds, and, in the season, fifty cents ■will purchase half a dozen IS])anish mackerel of the size for ■\vhich the ejiicure pays seventy-five cents for one half in the Specimens of Pensacola Fish restaurants of New York City. These fish, and the salt- water trout, give special excitement to those who love a contest with a very game fish. No one can claim to have seen what fishing is until he has visited the snapper banks off Santa Rosa Island. There the famous red snapper can be caught, two at a time, weighing from five pounds to sixty, as rapidly as the line is thrown in. The limit to the quantity catchable is commensurate with the physical en- durance of the catcher. " The pleasure of boating at Pensacola is not confined to fishing or idly rolling on the mighty wave, or smoothly plowing the placid waters ; but added to these charms are the numerous places in the vicinity to go to. The stranger / 76 FLORIDA. who may visit it will not wonder at finding first on this list Santa Rosa Island. Upon its beach, mid-day, in its over- flowing brilliancy, makes the beholder feel as if, according to Milton, ' another morn had risen on mid-noon,' The sunset comes with a splendor and glory unknown to more northern climes. . . . Santa Rosa Island is a sand-key of the Gulf, forty miles long, and varying in breadth from a Ruins op Fort McEae, ■min Foet Pickens in tue Distance. fifth of a mile to over a mile across ; it is the breakwater of Pensacola Harbor, and receives the shock of the rolling seas of the Gulf of Mexico, which often break against it in fury, while the waters of the bay within are still as a mill- pond, and scarce a ripple washes the beach of the city front, seven miles away, though the water at the city is as salt as that in the center of the Gulf. The sea-beach of the island is a gently sloping expanse of white sand, back and forth A TRTP THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA. 17 on which the advancing and receding waves will glide for hundreds of feet. You can stand where no water is one nionicnt, and the next be struggling waist-deep against a surging wave that is climbing up the sti-and. This beach is the incubator of the great turtles of the Gulf. Its grad- ual incline, the easily excavated sand beyond, and the warm southern exposure, adapt it to their approach, the making of nests, and hatching of their eggs. So they resort to it for this pm-pose, and in due time the young turtles are hatched, unless the eggs are captured by the various creat- ures, bi|)ed and quadruped, who seek them in the season. From Pensacola over to the island is about seven miles, and as the land-breeze of the night sets fair across the bay, it is a pleasant trip of moonlight nights to run over on a sail-boat, land on the bay-shore, walk across the island, which is not a third of a mile wide opposite the city, and seek for ' turtle-crawls ' on the Gulf-beach, or bathe luxuri- ously in the surf. The ' crawl ' shows on the sand where the under-shell has been dragged along, and, following this up to a point above the wash of the highest waves, the nest is found, usually about two and a half feet below the surface. A single nest will contain 78 FLORIDA. from one hundred to three hundred eggs. At Sabine Pass, on Santa Rosa Island, alligators are found by the ten thou- sand, and are killed in large numbers by hunters who fre- quent the place. " While on the island, very few visitors fail to find an interest in collecting shells and sea-beans. Then comes a visit to Fort Pickens. This grand and historic old edifice, though denuded of a portion of the iron dogs of war that used to bay, not ' deep-mouthed welcome home,' but roars of defiance, still possesses a multitude of pleasant and in- teresting sights and objects that make a visit there both profitable and agreeable. Across the bay is the navy-yard, and just west of the navy-yard, is Fort Barrancas. Both are beautiful, and will interest the most indifferent. Added to the novelties to be seen is the delightful society enjoyed by all who know the hospitable and intelligent officers of both the garrisons. Below Barrancas is the Pensacola Lighthouse." An interesting and agreeable route from Pensacola to Tallahassee is via one of the popular Henderson line of steamers to St. Mark's, and thence by the railroad. The pleasures of a Gulf trip are detailed at length in another chapter. St. Mark's is a very ancient port, one of the set- tlements made by the original Spanish explorers of Flor- ida. Shortly after its settlement a large stone fort and pier were built ; but they were long ago permitted to de- cay, and were finally destroyed by the settlers desii'ing the cut rock for their own uses. It is tiow a deserted village, only two or three small and unpretentious buildings mark- ing this famous spot, romantic in historical events, beauti- ful in scenery, and once a busy mart, the second seaport in all the United States to boast of a railroad terminus. From here to Tallahassee, twenty-one miles distant, runs a railroad, built in 1835-'36. This was, in its early days, a very busy little road, the outlet of all the productive cot- ton region lying inland. At that time the planters lived in princely style, fairly rolling in wealth ; for those were the A TRIP THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA. 79 lialcyon days of the slave-owning cotton-planters, and this was their paradise. The road is now almost disused, trains only passing over it twice a week, on " steamer- day," connecting with the weekly Henderson steamers. Tallahassee, the capital of the State, " the floral city of the flowery South," is one of the loveliest places in all America. It is built upon the broad, gently rolling sur- face of a high hill, surrounded on all sides by other lovely hills and deep valleys, for it is in a region of hills, valleys, and lakes. It is laid out in squares, with Main Street — which is its principal business street — lined mostly on one side with plain, old-fashioned brick stores for a distance of four blocks. This street is fairly level and wide. All the other streets are charmingly irregular and uneven — in fact, many are quite declivitous — and are lined with grand, old, mammoth-sized magnolias, oaks, maples, elms, and other magnificent shade-trees. Broad, roomy, open squares are frequent, all shady, park -like, and inviting. At one end of the city stands the State-House, a large and very plain brick structure, painted a light color, with a front and rear portico, having each six great two-story col- umns. It stands in a spacious square on the crest of the hill, and can be seen from a long distance. The grounds are laid out with winding j^aths and lawns, shaded by many grand old magnolias, oaks, and the like, and the air is redolent with perfume from the many flowers always blooming there. It is an unpretentious old city, with an air of village- ^like rustic simplicity ; no factories (except one cotton- mill) ; all is quiet, country life. The residence avenues are mostly lined with cozy little cottages, and comfortable, roomy, substantial mansions of the good old-time style of architecture, and all are surrounded by neatly fenced lawns and gardens, almost all having quite ample grounds, well kept — and flowers, flowers, flowers ! Everywhere in the 80 FLORIDA. greatest abundance are flowers. A most creditable pride in their lovely home-grounds is exhibited by the citizens, who seem to have a friendly rivalry in this beautiful orna- ment of nature, that is expressive of culture and a fine taste for the beautiful. Tallahassee is truly a " floral " city. The suburbs are everywhere lovely, and the views from the streets or house-tops — especially the roof of the State-House — are exceedingly fine. The surrounding coun- try is a vast range of hills, valleys, brooks, lakes, park- like clusters of large trees, broad, well-cultivated fields, large plantation dwellings and cotton-gins, and distant forests — in all, a remarkably beautiful natural panorama of nature, such as is seen nowhere else in Florida. Here we remained several delightful days at the quaint, old, tavern-like " City Hotel," enjoying numerous drives about the surrounding country. One beautiful day I rode out to " Goodwood," the grand old estate of Major Arvah Hopkins, several miles out of town. This residence was well worth visiting, because it affords a striking evi- dence of how elegantly the old-time planters enjoyed life. Erected in 1844, it comprises numerous buildings ranged around a large square in the rear, used for laun- dry, cook-house, milk-house, saddle and harness house, etc., etc. ; and the spacious surrounding grounds are laid out in park-like style, with paths, lawns, and innu- merable strange plants, ferns, and flowers. Another day a party of us went on a trip to Lake Jackson, a large and long lake, six miles from the city. It closely re- sembles Cayuga Lake in New York, surrounded by high bluffs, all cleared, and everywhere the broad fields reach- ing down to the water's edge. Captain C. E. Dyke, our escort on this trip, and in whose company I enjoyed many other rides and trips, besides evenings at his elegant home, is one of the most notable residents of Florida. A native of New Hamp- A TRIP THROUGH NORTH FLORIDA. 81 sliirc, wliere lie long ago learned the j^rinter's trade, lio came to this State in 1839, and at once found a "job" in the office of "The Floridian," established in 1828. In 1847 he had worked his way up from the case to the editorial chair, and in that year assumed control of the paper, which he has ever since so ably conducted, with- out a single failure to " go to press " regularly each week in all that long period of time. Besides being the Nes- tor of Florida editors, he has for many years been State's printer ; and his office, close by the State-House, is a favorite consultation-room for all State officials, who, as a rule, have always placed implicit confidence in his opinions and advice. He is undoubtedly the best in- formed upon all matters, political and legal, pertaining to Florida, as a Territory and as a State, of any one living. For upward of forty years he has been the in- timate friend, confidant, or adviser of nearly all public officials. Knowing all the secret and unwritten history of the State, his stock of historical and personal remi- niscences is very great, and, if " written up," would make a volume at once interesting and instructive. One of the pleasantest resorts in the capital at the time of our visit was the official apartments of Governor W. H. Bloxham, then Secretary of State. An unusually genial, off-hand, sociable gentleman, utterly free from ostentation, he is the favorite of all the State officials, and of a large circle of life-long, intimate friends. Gov- ernor Bloxham is a native of Florida, and is the first gentleman elected to that position who has been able to boast of such a distinction. He was born very nearly within sight of the capital, where he now sits as Gov- ernor ; and his comfortable old home near the city, stand- ing in the midst of an immense plantation of several hun- dred carefully cleared and cultivated acres, is one of the genuine, old-style cotton-plantations of the most hospita- 82 FLORIDA. ble sort. In the electoral campaign of 1880 he was chosen Governor, and it was unquestionably a good choice, for he is heart and hand in favor of any and all proper efforts to aid the cause of education, of immigration, and develop- ment of the State by railroads and similar improvements. He is, in particular, a warm friend of the public-school sys- tem, and greatly admires the Northern and Western States for their earnest efforts in this cause. He also believes in extending liberal aid to immigration, hoping to see Flor- ida the home of at least one million people, and covered with a network of railroads and canals. A stanch Demo- crat, he is not a " Bourbon," but is one who did not believe in the initial secession movement, and is heartily satisfied with the result. So far as he can control or influence the peculiarly retrogressive elements that as yet exert much influence in the political councils of this State, all may be sure that the rights and interests of new-comers will be protected. An exceedingly pleasant circle of gentlemen to be met in Tallahassee are Chief-Justice E. M. Randall and his Associate Justices, R, B. Van Valkenburg and T. D. Wescott, of the Supreme Court ; also Mr. Charles H. Foster, their Clerk. Judge Randall is from Milwaukee, has lived here many years, and has an elegant home in Jacksonville. Judge Van Valkenburg is from western New York, was a distinguished General in the Union army, and Minister to Japan. He is also a long-time resident here, is warmly attached to the State, and owns a very fine estate on the St. John's River just opposite Jacksonville. Judge Wescott is a resident of Tallahassee, where he dispenses an elegant hospitality. These gentle- men are profoundly respected by all, irrespective of polit- ical creeds, and are of great benefit to the State as an encouragement to immigration. They are an unimpeach- able guarantee that life and property are and shall be A TRIP TEROUGH NORTE FLORIDA. 83 safe in this State, and that lawless desperadoisui of the semi-political character — the "Mississippi plan" — will not be permitted or tolerated. The fact that these Northern- born gentlemen are members of the Sujii-eme Court of the State is a greater aid to the cause of immigration than may be supposed, even by the most observing and best-disposed native resident. Near the city stands the famous Murat estate, once the property of Prince Achille Murat, brother-in-law of the first Napoleon, members of whose family are buried in the beautiful city cemetery. The estate is finely lo- cated, and the building-site is unsurpassed, but the house now standing upon it is quite plain and uupretentious. Another local "lion" is the noted "Wakulla Spring, which I reached by a pleasant drive of sixteen miles. The spring lies in a rather flat, uninteresting, pine-wooded region, near several cultivated cotton-plantations. It is nearly circular in shape, about four hundred feet in di- ameter, and the shores are densely wooded to the water's edge. A rude landing has been constructed, and an old darkey is always present with his boat to row the visitor about the glassily smooth surface of the pond. The sides are very nearly perpendicular, and are composed of smooth and solid rock. Sixty-six feet below the surface of the water is the first or upper level, a broad, shelving surface of clean rock ; and through this is a large, irregularly cir- cular opening apparently about one hundred feet in diame- ter, through which can be seen the lower level or bottom of this wonderful spring, a total depth of one hundred and nine feet. The rock that forms the upper level is evidently not very thick, for in one place there is a per- fectly round opening about three feet in diameter, through which can be plainly seen the second bottom, fifty-five feet farther below. It is a great, thin fringe of rock, like a crust, with a vast opening a little to one side of its center. 84 FLORIDA. The water is so marvelously blue that indigo woukl look pale in comparison with it, and so clear that small gravel and bits of tin one inch square could all be seen plainly on the bottom. Countless fish, some quite large and some very small, could . also be seen lazily floating about in the distant depths. While the water is blue, the rocks are of the most intensely brilliant green, over which occasional phosphorescent flashes of shimmering light play fitfully, jDroducing a weird and phantasmal efl:'ect. There is neither a ripple nor a motion observable in the water, yet here is a stream that comes pouring up from the bow- els of the eai'th and forms a river (the Wakulla River) sixty feet wide and four feet deep. This is the spring that Ponce de Leon, the Sj)anish adventurer and discoverer, romantically supposed to be the long-sought " Fountain of Youth," He and his super- stitious soldiers seem to have completely misunderstood their interpreters or the Indians, who probably meant to convey the information that it was a spring of clear, healthy water, that had a beneficial effect upon the bather therein. He and his followers, being where St. Mark's now stands, sought out the Wakulla River and followed it up to this spring, into which they eagerly plunged. It need hardly be said that they came oiit cleaner, but no younger ; and the lives of many innocent savages were at once sacrificed to appease their disappointed anger. They found, or could see on the distant bottom, the skeletons of two gigantic mastodons, their flesh all gone, but their bare bones perfect an-d white, their great curl- ing tusks interlocked, evidently fallen in and drowned while engaged in a terrific combat on the brink. There the bones lay until, in 1835, Professor King, of Phila- delphia, engaged several men, some of whom are now living in Tallahassee, to recover them. This was success- fully accomplished, and they were shipped on board a A TRIP THROUGU NORTH FLORIDA. 85 schooner, to be placed in the museum in Philadelphia ; but, unfortunately, the vessel was lost at sea, in a gale off Cape Hatteras, and these interesting skeletons were finally lost for ever. Returning home from our visit to this romantic spring, our party visited another smaller but very interesting spring, and also examined a number of the many mys- terious " sinks " that are found in that Wakulla region. These sinks are mostly circular in form, about fifty feet in diameter and fifty to one hundred and fifty feet deep, with smooth sides, like great wells, only they are dry, or have but little water in their deep bottoms, while large lakes or rivers may be but a few hundred feet distant, with their waters nearly level with the surface of the ground. The wonder is, how there can be such a dif- ference between the levels of the waters in the lake and in the sink ; how the water of the lake fails to get into the sink, and where the waters of the sink come from and go to. These sinks are found in all portions of Flor- ida, and are a remarkable and characteristic feature of the peninsula. In Wakulla County is a vast jungle of trees, vines, water, and marsh, that has never yet been fully explored. Neither the United States nor the State Government has ever attempted to survey it (in fact, there has never been a geological survey of this State). Several adventurous gentlemen in Tallahassee have, on various occasions, at- tempted to penetrate its depths, but found it imj^ossible except at much expense. As far as they penetrated, they found a strange country of volcanic appearance. Every- where were seen great masses of rocks, often an acre in extent, all cracked and ragged as if upheaved from a great depth. Traces of gold, lead, copper, silver, and iron are said to have been discovered ; and abundant traces of petroleum are found there, and in numerous other lo- 86 FLORIDA. calities in that region. It is in this impenetrable jungle that the famous " Florida volcano " is supposed to ex- ist, for a column of light, hazy smoke or vajjor may be (and has been for years) seen rising from some portion of it, and provokes the conundrum, " What is it ? " Among other strange freaks of nature in that region is Lost Creek, where a large stream suddenly ends, evi- 'dently plunging downward into the earth, in an abyss that is bottomless. Also the Natural Bridge across St. Mark's River, about seventy feet in width and the same in sj^an, over which people pass. A volume could be written about the natural curiosities of Florida that would be deejjly interesting and of scientific value. A thorough scientific survey of this State should be ordered by the State authorities ; but, with the present class of able tax-reducei'S, it is a futile hope to expect any such measure to be authorized. The people of Tallahassee have a beautiful custom of holding a fair, early each spring, that probably differs from anything in the way of the fair exhibitions held elsewhere in the South. It is a floral fair, held at their spacious fair-grounds, open to all, but of course nearly or quite all the exhibits are made by the Tallahasseeans. The exhibits are vegetables, fruits, and flowers, especially flowers. As might be conjectured, the managers, exhibit- ors, and j^atrons generally, are the ladies, who take great interest and pride in this exhibition, so distinctively local, so pleasant, and so indicative of refined taste and cult- ure. I attended the fair of 1880, held in March. Floral Hall was a beautiful sight, with a profuse display of flowers, of all varieties, kinds, forms, colors, and perfumes, all artistically arranged and exhibited to the best advan- tage. Nowhere, it may be said in conclusion, is there a more refined and cultured society than in Tallahassee. A riilP TUROUGn NORTE FLORIDA. 87 Among them are many descendants of the most promi- nent and aristocratic old families of America, with names that recall old colonial, Revolutionary, and 1812 days in the battle-fields and in State councils ; and their large, well-attended schools, numerous, handsome churches, beau- tiful homes and surroundings, all attest to the high stand- ard of the best society of Tallahassee. From Tallahassee to Jacksonville the traveler passes over the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile to Live Oak, and thence via the Savannah, Florida and West- ern Railroad. The other important towns in this section, besides those mentioned, may be briefly dealt with. Monticello, in Jefferson County, thirty-three miles east of Tallahassee, is the terminus of a branch railroad about five miles long, and is a flourishing town of some two thousand inhabitants. It contains two hotels, good schools, a weekly newspaper, and churches of the several denomi- nations. Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Bap- tist. The climate is almost identical with that of Talla- hassee, and the adjacent country is very similar in appear- ance to that which surrounds the capital. Near Monticello is the Lipona plantation, where Murat resided for some time while in Florida ; and in the vicinity is Lake Mic- cosukee, whose banks figure in history as the camping- ground of De Soto, and as the scene of a bloody battle between General Jackson and the Miccosukee Indians. Madison is a pretty town of about eight hundred in- habitants, situated on the railway, fifty-five miles east of Tallahassee. It is the capital of Madison County, is built on a plain near a small lake, and contains Presbyterian, Baptist, and Methodist churches. The Suwanee River is near by, and in the county are Lakes Rachel, Francis, Mary, and Cherry. Live Oak, the county-seat of Suwanee County, is at the junction of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile 88 FLORIDA. and the Savannah, Florida and Western Railways, and ifi the half-way point between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. The surrounding country is pine-woods with sandy soil, which looks poor, hut which, with a little manure and good cultivation, produces excellent crops. There are a number of market-gardens in the vicinity, and great quan- tities of vegetables are shipped from this point to North- ern markets. The town spreads over a good deal of ground, and contains about eight hundred inhabitants. A live weekly newspaper, "The Bulletin," is published here, the schools are good, and there are churches of several denominations, with some respectable store-build- ings and a number of pleasant residences. Five miles south of the town (connected with it by a " tram-road," or wooden railway) is Padlock, and four miles north is the little village of Rixford. Houston lies six miles east of Live Oak, on the rail- road, and is surrounded by a good farming country. Near the town are some fine springs, and in the vicinity are sev- eral beautiful lakes containing an abundance of excellent fish. Wellborn, twelve miles east of Live Oak, is a much larger place, and among its pojoulation are a number of settlers who have come thither from Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. There are some fine hammock-lands near the town, and in the neighborhood are Lake Wellborn and other lakes teeming with fish. Only eight miles away are the famous Suwanee White Sulphur Springs, attractively situ- ated on the banks of the Suwanee River. Lake City, the most important place in this region, is on the railroad about fifty miles west of Jacksonville. It is a prosperous and substantially built town of some twenty-five hundred inhabitants, with a number of brick stores, well-kept hotels, seven or eight churches, good schools, tasteful private residences, and a large trade in vegetables and other products of the surrounding coun- A TRIP TIIROUGn NORTH FLORIDA. 89 try, including lumber and turpentine. Its climate, being drier than that of Jacksonville, is thought to be more fa- vorable to those consumptives who are in advanced stages of the disease, and the place is a favorite winter retreat for such invalids. Lakes almost surround the town, hence its name. Three miles south is Alligator Lake, which has no visible outlet. In the wet season it is three or four miles across, but in winter it retires into a deep sink- hole, and the former bottom is transformed into a grassy- meadow. The following description of Suwanee County is from a letter written by Mr. N. C. Rippey to the Tallahassee " Floridian." We quote it because it is applicable to all this portion of the State, and contains information of value to immigrants : " The county lies in a big bend of the Suwanee River, or at least the river forms the boundary-line on three sides. There is a high ridge extending across the county east and west, or nearly so, near the center north and south, some four miles or so in width. It is covered with the finest growth of pine-timber in the county. In it is an abundance of stone, in ledges and in bowldei's. It is of a gray color, very soft ; can be easily cut with a knife or saw, and, on being exposed to the air for some time, it becomes as hard and durable as granite, and makes a very fine material for building purposes. " The country north of the ridge is pine-woods with sandy soil. Here and there are to be found tracts of hammock- lands, varying in size from a few acres to several hundred. These lands contain a rich, loamy soil, and a great variety of excellent hard -wood timber, suitable for all kinds of building and manufacturing purposes. There are a number of beautiful lakes scattered over the country, containing an abundance of excellent fish. There are numerous springs, some of them Avhite sulphur, famed for their medical vir- tues. There are branches or creeks gushing out of the earth, and after flowing a few miles entirely disappear. The country south of ' The Ridge ' is moi'e rolling and fer- 90 FLORIDA. tile, and is underlaid with limestone that frequently cornea within a few inches of the surface. There are no lakes or streams of running water. There are a great number of natural wells that ajjpear as though they were cut by the hand of man through solid rock ; they are round, or nearly so, varying in size from a few inches to forty feet or more in diameter, and from a few feet to forty or more to the edge of the water ; fish are frequently found in the largest ; the water is clear and cool. There are a number of caves of considerable size, but they have nev- er been explored to see how far they extend under the earth. " The pine-lands produce about fifteen bushels of corn per acre. A little manure and good cultivation will yield more than double that ; cotton, about a bale to two acres, sometimes three ; upland rice, from forty to sixty bushels per acre ; oats and rye are raised in considerable quantities, but I was unable to learn the yield per acre ; sugar-cane does well, and is a very profitable crop ; a great variety of fine vegetables are raised and shipped to Northern markets ; there are a number of small vineyards in the county, and some excellent wine is made from the grapes ; there are quite a number of small orange-groves, and, strange to say, they are nearly all planted by the hands of women ; it is a fine country for peaches and pears. The people are just beginning to find out what a great variety of fruits and vegetables they can raise, and everybody seems determined to have an orchard of all kinds of fruit. ' Turpentining ' has become quite an industry, and there are several large turpentine farms in the county that are reported to be very profitable. " The Suwanee River is navigable for small steamboats to the crossing of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad, and for large steamers to Rowland's Bluff, near the southeast corner of the county. The river frequently has rocky bluffs and bottoms, and many fine springs are to be seen along the banks, and some rich lands. "The population of the county in 1880 was 7,379, of which 4,1G6 were white and 3,213 were black. Judging from the number of immigrants that have gone into the county this past fall and winter, the white population must now be about five thousand." A TRIP THROUGH NORTE FLORIDA. 91 Dr. D. G. Brinton says : '' The climate of this part of Florida is dry and equable. Many invalids would find it a very pleasant and beneficial change from the seacoast or the river-side, and immigrants would do well to visit it. Game and fish are abundant, and the sportsman need never be at a loss for occupation." Several new towns have been projected on the route to Jacksonville, and are showing some good results from per- sistent effort. The names of two are Glen St. Mary and McClenny. The first is near the south branch of the St. Mary's River, in Baker County ; the other is farther east, nearer Baldwin, in the same county. CHAPTER V. JACKSONVILLE, FEKNANDINA, AI^^D ST. AUGUSTINE. Jacksonville, the commercial metropolis nnd social center of the State, is likely to be the first point at which the visitor to Florida will make anything of a stay — the place where he will get his first impressions of the " Land of Flowers." It is a handsome and prosperous-looking city, covering a good deal of ground, and, particularly during the winter season, when all the hotels are thrown open to the thronging guests, it presents an animated and pictu- resque appearance that is quite exceptional at the South. The streets are remarkably wide, and are nearly all shaded by long rows of mammoth live-oaks, forming arcades of embowering green in winter as well as in summer. Good sidewalks of brick or planks contribute greatly to the comfort of pedestrians, but the streets themselves are too .sandy for rapid or pleasant driving, and are " heavy " for all vehicles. Bay Street is the principal business thoroughfare, and runs parallel to and one block distant from the river. For a distance of about a mile it is lined on both sides with stores, offices, and other mercantile buildings, including several of the leading hotels. The Astor Building, at the corner of Bay and Ilogan Streets, is the finest in the city, and in it, besides several stores and a number of offices, is the United States Signal-Service station. Horse-cars, connecting the railroad-depots, run along Bay Street, up JACKSONVILLE. 93 Catherine to Duval Street to the St. James Hotel, clown llogau Street and back to the starting-point, making a vorv convenient circuit. On the river at the foot of Ocean Stkeet-Scene in Jacksonville. Street is a fine public market, and there is a smaller one up- town at the corner of Hogan and Church Streets. Many of the shops make a specialty of " Florida curiosities " (the majority of them manufactured in New York), and con- 94 FLORIDA. nected with that of Damon Greenleaf, on Bay Street, is a " Museumenagerie," which will prove interesting to vis- itors, and the admission to which is free. There is in the city a quite remarkable number of hand- some residences, and with very few exceptions they are surrounded by ample grounds laid out in tasteful gardens and lawns. Sometimes these gardens are perfect little parks, and the fruits, flowers, and shrubs all indicate a semi-tropical region. The society of Jacksonville is uni- versally admitted to be unusually select, cultured, and re- fined ; and the reasons are not far to seek. Many of the most prominent citizens have been drawn thither from all parts of the country on account of its climatic advantages, and are in general the picked men of their several locali- ties. At any gathering of the best society there will be found gentlemen who have occupied high positions in all portions of the United States, and in nearly all professions and occupations — in the army, the navy, the judicial, the political, literary, artistic, and commercial world. As ex- amples, I may mention that General Spinner, he of the famous greenback autograph, owns a beautiful home here, whither he has retired to enjoy the well-deserved comforts of an honored old age ; and that Judge Thomas Settle, of the United States Circuit Court, the original of Judge Denton in " The Fool's Errand," has another fine residence. During the winter season the great hotels (the St. James, the Windsor, the Carleton, the National, etc.) are thronged with wealthy tourists from all parts of the world, and the place has then all the gayety and animation of a leading summer resort at the North. Situated on the left bank of the St. John's, at the point where that noble river makes a sharp bend to the east, the city presents a very attractive appearance from the water, and from its higher points commands a pleasing outlook upon the stream and its low-lying opposite shore. Its situ- FEENANDINA. 95 atiou is a very favorable one for commerce, and its trade is very extensive, particularly in lumber, the preparation of whicli gives employment to a number of large saw- mills. Nearly all the railroad and steamer lines of the State center at Jacksonville, and immense quantities of fruit and early vegetables, as well as of cotton and sugar, are shipped thence to Northern and foreign ports. With what are known as the " modern conveniences " the city is well supplied. It is lighted with gas, has an excellent system of water-works drawing the water from artesian wells, and has recently been provided with an effective system of sewers. The public schools are well organized and in successful operation ; there are a circu- lating library and a free reading-room ; Episcoj^alian, Pres- byterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic churches ; banks, public halls, newspapers, and telegraphic connection with all parts of the United States. According to the census of 1880, the resident population was 14,500, and the rate of growth has been and is very raj^id. When Florida shall have achieved what now appears to be her " manifest des- tiny," Jacksonville will be one of the great commercial and industrial centers of the country. Fernandina, — This picturesque old city, one of the most interesting in Florida, lies on the Atlantic coast, about fifty miles northeast of Jacksonville, close to the Georgia line, being the northernmost point in the State. It is built on the west shore of Amelia Island, overlooking a broad bay which affords the finest harbor on the coast south of the Chesapeake Bay, and which gives it important commer- cial advantages. Vessels drawing twenty feet of water can cross the bar at high tide, and the largest ships can un- load at the whai'ves. The Malloi'y Line of Direct Florida Steamers has its southern terminus at Fernandina, and the steamers of the Charleston and Savannah lines call here on 5 96 FLORIDA. their way to and from Jacksonville. One of the most im- portant railroads of F'lorida — the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Railroad — begins at Fernandina and runs southwest across the State to Cedar Keys ; and the Fer- nandina and Jacksonville Railroad, recently completed, af- fords a short air-line route between these two cities. With such advantages, it is not surprising that the commerce of Fernandina is large and increasing. Immense quantities of fruits and vegetables are brought thither by the railways for shipment north ; and there is an important export trade in lumber, cotton, and sugar. (See Appendix, note 13.) Fernandina was founded by the Spaniards in 1632, and has an interesting history, over which, however, I have not time to linger. It is now a busy and prosperous place of about two thousand inhabitants, whose numbers are largely augmented by visitors during the winter season. It is built on a broad plain that rises gently from the shores of the bay, showing to fine advantage from the harbor. The streets are laid out at right angles, are wide and generally well kept, and are everywhere densely shaded with great oaks, magnolias, and similar evergreen trees. The business portion of the city contains some substantial structures ; but the largest and finest buildings are the hotels. The Egmont Hotel is one of the finest in the South, and the Mansion and Riddell Houses are spacious and well kept, all being crowded during the season. The suburbs are very beautiful, the houses being for the most part tastefully con- structed, and nearly always surrounded by ample grounds laid out in lawns and gardens, and covered with a tropical luxuriance of flowers and shrubbery. Quite a number of "orange-groves are found in the vicinity, and opposite the Egmont House is an interesting grove of palmettoes. Crossing the island in a direction due east from the city, an attractive drive two miles long leads to the famous Amelia Island Beach, one of the finest in America, and af- FEBKANDINA. 97 'x?:^ iv:^ •t 98 FLORIDA. fording an unsurpassed beach-drive of twenty miles. The beach is as smooth, as hard, and as level as a floor ; and during the season it presents an enlivening sight, with its long lines of carriages and other equipages. Another charming ride may be enjoyed to Fort Clinch, a romantic old fortification situated on the extreme northern point of the island. But of all the attractions of Fernandina and its vicin- ity the chiefest is "Dungeness," once the home of Gen- eral Nathanael Greene, of Revolutionary fame, and now the property of General W. G. M. Davis. This noble estate was granted to General Greene by the State of Georgia, in recognition of his splendid services to the South, and is situated on Cumberland Island, about an hour's sail from Fernandina in a small steamer. Cum- berland Island lies along the coast of Georgia, close to the Florida line, and is some eighteen miles long by about a mile in average width. On one side lies the broad Atlantic, and on the other is the sound, across which, at the distance of about a mile, is the mainland. Dungeness, so named by General Greene's wife, is situ- ated at the southern end of the island, and includes about one third of its total area. The magnificent man- sion was burned in the early part of the civil war, but the ruins still stand firm as a rock, the massive old coquina- stone walls having actually been hardened by the fire. In the quaint old burying-ground, some distance from the house, lie a number of the relatives of General Greene and his wife ; and here is the tomb of " Light-Horse Harry " Lee, father of General Robert E. Lee. On a charming morning in January, 1880, I visited Dungeness, and spent a couple of hours in wandering about the beautiful grounds, with their curious old gar- dens and fruit-groves. It was my second visit to the place, and I felt that I could exist there as a modern ST. AUGUSTINE. 99 Robinson Crusoe, if need be, and never tire of its love- liness. Such teeming gardens ; such brilliant flowers ; such wide fields ; such noble groves of grand old live- oaks and magnolias ; such a tropical luxui-iance of tan- gled vines ; such broad, winding avenues, leading from the water to the house-park ; such delightfully perplex- ing walks ; such a glorious sea-beach, the twin of that on Amelia Island ; such oysters, lining the sound-shore in millions ; such game and fish ; and such a clear, pure air — no, never could I tire of Dungeness ! — dreamy, ro- mantic, delicious, entrancing old Dungeness ! St, Augustine. — The visitor to St. Augustine may en- joy the consciousness that the spot on which he then stands has behind it a longer stretch of authentic history than any other within the limits of the United States. It is, indeed, the oldest European settlement in our country, having been fovinded by the Spaniards under Menendez in 1565, forty- two years prior to the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia, and fifty-five years before the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Its history has been checkered and ro- mantic in the highest degree ; it was from the very first a place of considerable note, and the theatre of interesting events ; and it still possesses a curious aspect and flavor of antiquity. Coming to it from bustling, active, Northern- like Jacksonville or Fernandina, one is conscious of a com- plete and sudden change of time and place — as if the brief ride on steamer and railway had produced magic results, and landed him in some quaint, old, dead-alive Spanish town of the middle ages. The large influx of wealthy settlers 'from the North has greatly altered the character of the place within the past few years ; but the smart modei'n vil- las still have the air of foreign intruders, and the quaint, romantic old city retains at once its individuality and its unlikeness to anything else in America. 100 FLORIDA. "^^ ST. AUGUSTINE. 101 The site of St. Augustine is a flat, sandy, narrow pen- insula, formed by the Matanzas River on the east and the St. Sebastian on the south and west. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by Anastasia Island, which lies directly in front of the harbor, and for miles around it is encom- passed by a tangled undergrowth of palmetto - scrub and other bushes. From Jacksonville it is about thirty miles distant in a southeasterly direction, and it is about forty miles south of the mouth of the St. John's River. The very streets of St. Augustine are romantic and characteristic, being crooked and narrow — seldom more than ten to twenty feet in width — and all paved with shells. The older houses are built mostly of coquina (or shell-stone, quarried on Anastasia Island), and the prevail- ing style of architecture is very quaint and ancient, the verandas frequently hanging out over the streets and al- most touching each other across the narrow way. The principal streets running parallel to the river are Bay, Charlotte, St. Geoi'ge's, Spanish, and Tolomato. Those running at right angles (east and west) are Orange, Cuna, Ilypolita, Treasury, King, Bridge, and St. Francis. Bay Street is the main business street, and commands a fine view of the harbor, Anastasia Island, and the ocean. St. George's is the Fifth Avenue of the place, and contains some of the finest buildings and residences. At the head of this street stands the famous City Gate, once a part of the old Spanish wall that extended across the peninsula from shore to shore, and protected the city on the north. The last traces of the wall have long since vanished, but the City Gate is in a fair state of preservation, and, with its lofty ornamented towers and sentry-boxes, it is a pictu- resque and imposing structure. Near the center of the city is the Plaza de la Constitu- cion, comprising about an acre of ground inclosed with a substantial fence. In the center of the Plaza stands a 102 FLORIDA. monument erected in 1812 to commemorate the adoption of the Spanish Liberal Constitution ; and on the eastern side is a Soldiers' Monument erected in 1872 by the Ladies' Memorial Association " in memory of our loved ones who St. Augustine Cathedral. ST. AUGUSTINE. 103 The Convent-Gate. gave their lives in defense of the Confederate States." Fronting on the Plaza are several noteworthy buildings, among them the dilapidated old cathedral with its quaint Moorish belfry, forming one of the " sights " of St. Augus- 104 FLORIDA. tine. The cathedral was built in 1793, and one of the bells bears the date of 1682. Also fronting on the Plaza is the Governor's Palace, formerly the residence of the Span- ish governors, but now used for the jJOSt-ofRce and court- rooms. Next to this building on the north is the old Con- vent of St. Mary's, and the Convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph is a tasteful coquina building on St. George's Street, south of the Plaza. Perhaps the most interesting features of old St. Augus- tine are the Sea Wall and Fort Marion (formerly Fort San Marco). The Sea Wall is built of coquina, with a granite coping four feet wide, and is nearly a mile in length, pro- tecting the entire ocean-front of the city. It furnishes a delightful promenade, and is usually thronged on moon- light evenings. Near its south end are the United States Barracks, occupying a building which was formerly a Fran- ciscan monastery. At its north end, commanding the sea- front, is old Fort Marion, probably the most picturesque structure in America. Like the Sea Wall and most of the older edifices in St. Augustine, it is built of the coquina' quarried on Anastasia Island, and the construction of it occupied one hundred and sixty-four years, having been commenced in 1592 and completed in 1756. The labor of building it was performed almost entirely by negro slaves, Indians, and prisoners of war ; and every stone of it was cemented with the sweat of toiling sufferers. While in the possession of the British, this was said to be the prettiest fort in the king's dominions ; and with its esplanade, moats, barbicans, drawbridges, massive arched entrance, dark pas- sages, vaulted casemates, ornate sentry-boxes, frowning bastions, and mysterious dungeons — in which were found in 1835 two skeletons in cages, victims probably of some inquisitorial cruelty — it is still a strangely attractive and interesting spot. For modern warfare, of course, it is quite useless, and not being kept up for military purposes, it is ST. AUGUSTINE. 105 quietly crumbling into decay. At present it is simply a fa- vorite place of resort for sight-seers and curiosity-hunters. It is especially popular with romantic, newly-married tour- »=.ni>|i:^ \\W\} ^u^ ists, and with marriageable maidens and their escorts ; and it is reputed to have no rival in the number of lovers' 106 FLORIDA. vows and marriage - promises tliat Lave been exchanged within its recesses. Of the modern buildings at St. Angustine, the largest and finest are the hotels — -the St. Angustine, fronting on the Plaza and Charlotte Street, and the Magnolia, in St. George Street, near the Plaza, being the jDrincipal ones. Thex'e are also quite a number of fine modern villa resi- dences erected by Northern settlers, and in the environs are many beautiful orange-groves and gardens. The har- bor affords unsurpassed opportunities for boating and fish- ing ; and pleasant excursions may be made to the light- houses and coquina-quarries on Anastasia Island, and to the North and South Beaches. Salt-water bathing may be enjoyed in suitable bath-houses, but sharks render open sea- bathing dangerous. The ofiicers of the garrison and a number of wealthy gentlemen who visit St. Augustine reg- ularly each season, have built and maintain a cozy little yacht club-house, which is one of the leading attractions of the place. It is built out over the water of the harbor, just ojDposite the St. Augustine Hotel, and its hall, richly furnished in the Eastlake style and decorated with pictures, is equipped with leading papers and periodicals from all parts of the world. To the army officers, some dozen or more in number, is due much of the social animation of St. Augustine. In the matter of healthfulness St. Augustine takes a high place among Florida resorts. Malaria is almost un- known, and the constant sea-breezes moderate the cold of winter and mitigate the heat of summer. Frosts seldom occur, and the mean winter temperature is 58'08°. Never- theless, cold northeasters are liable to make themselves felt in January and February, and this renders the place less desirable for consumptives than some of the inland resorts. The summer climate is delisrhtful. CHAPTER VI. THE ST. John's river. This famous river, from its mouth to its head-waters in the far-off regions of Southern Florida, is purely tropical ; its waters, shores, scenery, vegetation, all animate objects, the birds in the air and on the water, the fish and reptiles within its depths, are mostly strange, attractive, and in- tensely interesting, especially to the Northern traveler. It is the only really tropical stream in the United States navi- gable its entire length, and is different from all others in that it reverses the usual order of the water-courses of America and flows due north. A sluggish, slow current, its entire length lies parallel with, and is only separated by a narrow belt of land from, the Atlantic Ocean, into which it empties at a point eighteen miles east of Jacksonville, close to the Georgia State line. From its source to its mouth it embraces three varieties of sti'eams, each entirely distinct in form, width, depth, scenery, shores, soils, and vegetation ; and these strange transformations not only add greatly to the interest of the river, but relieve it of the monotony characteristic of long rivers. The first stretch of the river, from its mouth to a point shortly above Welaka, a total distance of ninety-seven miles, is a vast lagoon, averaging from one to six miles in width, deep, with a slow current, the shores a series of bold bluffs and declivities, everywhere covered with extensive forests of great live-oaks, sweet-gums, cypresses, willows, and occasional magnolias. These forests tower up grandly. 108 FLORIDA. their wide-spreading branches loaded with waving festoons of soft gray Spanish moss and interlaced with gigantic vines, while the soil beneath is mostly free of heavy under- brush, presenting a romantic, park-like appearance as viewed from the deck of the passing steamei'. The settlements are fi-equent, and are usually attractive- appearing villages, with noticeably large, well-built, bright- looking homes, neat grounds and fences, cozy-looking little stores, fine long piers — evei*y thing wearing an air of long- established prosperity. Large estates, having commodious residences, with wide, roomy verandas, standing in the midst of neatly cleared house-grounds, and surrounded by broad fields and thrifty, green-leaved orange-groves, the home pier projecting into the river (for every one residing on the St. John's River must have a pier and a fleet of boats to complete his happiness), are everywhere in sight, lining the shores on either hand and charming the traveler with their manifest evidences of comfort and content. This region is regarded as healthy, and is not infested by insects to any unusually annoying degree. No portion of the State is more desirable for the health-seeker, or for the traveler in search of repose, desiring only a quiet, cozy retreat for a summer- like home in mid- winter months, where all the choicest vege- tables, daintiest fruits, and most brilliant-hued flowers, ex- cellent fishing, and the pleasures of small-game hunting, may be enjoyed all the year round. For the settler, too, its only drawback is the liability to frosts in occasional years, damaging to the prospects of fruit-culture on a large scale for positive revenue ; but this is not an altogether bad feat- ure, since it enhances the healthfulness of the region. No- where do figs, grapes, strawberries, pears, peaches, and all kinds of vegetables, grow to better advantage or produce more abundantly. Oranges also do well on the east side, where ample water protection is secured ; but lemons, limes, pineapples, and bananas are uncertain, though they THE ST. JOHN'S EIVER. 109 are unusually nutri- tious if ripened with- out injury by frost. (See Appendix, 15.) Nearly all tour- ists in Florida "do ! 1 ■' the St. John's" up to Sanford, but com- II ' r '''i' paratively few take a trip on that por- tion of the river be- 1 low Jacksonville ; yet those who do not, !' ! j miss a view which \ I'',', ' equals in picturesque strangeness any river scenery in America. Here the river is a 1 W'. broad estuary, with no perceptible cur- rent, stretching spa- ciously between low- li i w III W' lying shores, which close it in on either lull , hand wath serried Ir ranks of evergreen forest-trees. No town i! or hamlet breaks in 'i'- K- upon the primitive simplicity and wild- ness of the scene, and the few houses 1 v lillllh'llv. that are here and there seen appear to be lapped and in- ll iiliilllilliiiililltii MM 110 FLORIDA. wrapped in a soft, dreamy, delicious quiet. Yet there is no sense of loneliness. On the broad bosom of the stream at all hours may be seen the beautiful, swan-like steamers as they come and go to and from New York, Savannah, Charleston, and other ports ; and the countless sailing-ves- sels that " go down to the sea " lend a perpetual animation and interest to the scene. A winter home here, with a well^ kept garden, fruit-grove, and flower-decked lawn, a horse,' dog, gun, fishing-rod, and yacht, is as near an approach to the original Eden as one can reasonably expect in this world. As is the case with nearly all the Southern rivers, the mouth of the St. John's is obstructed by a sand-bar, which interferes seriously with navigation, and which is now being dealt with on the Eads system of jetties. Near the en- trance is the famous Pelican Bank, the resort of myriads of sea-fowl ; and a little north is Fort George Island, which is a favorite summer resort of inland Floridians, and which has an hotel, several handsome residences, an observatory, a lighthouse, a quaint old Pilot Town, and some fine shell- roads.* (See Appendix, note 16.) The round trip up the St. John's River from Jackson- ville and return involves about eight hundred miles of travel, and every mile is deeply interesting, with its rapidly shift- ing scenes of tropical vegetation and life. Always on the steamers will the passengers be seen clustered on the decks, forward and aft, all intently observing the novel and ever- changing panorama, admiring the numerous strange birds, of several varieties, as they gracefully wheel off in the dis- tance, or curiously studying the hideous attractions of the alligators that may be discovered basking in the sunshine * A good view of the lower St. John's is obtained from the steamers which run from Charleston and Savannah to Jacksonville. A better plan, however, affording an opportunity for a short visit to Fort George Island, is to take the little steamer which runs down the river from Jacksonville every afternoon, returning next morning. THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER. HI along the banks. Alligators are quite wise in their gen- eration, know the imiversal propensity of mankind to kill something, and are aware of their own very tempting quali- ties as a target when exposed to a boat-load of travelers, of whom the masculine members are nearly all armed with deadly weapons ; so they do not offer any very extended opportunity to study their physiognomies, but always rush for deep water, the principal impression they convey being that of a scurrying, splashing monster with a great tail curled upward, ijlunging head - foremost into the water. Above Lake Monroe, in the savanna region, alligators are very plentiful and not shy, but below Lake George they are very rare, and none are seen from the steamers. Ten miles above Jacksonville, on the west shore, is Or- ange Park, a neat village of broad gardens, wide streets, a handsome winter hotel, numerous pretty cottages, a river- road lined with large oaks (in one of these is built a lattice summer-house reached by easy ascending stairs), a long pier, and a stylish wharf -house. Five miles farther, on the east shore, is Mandarin, a cozy and prosperous village of roomy, airy, neat homes ; the orange-groves, gardens, lawns, roads, fences, and pier all giving unmistakable evidences of com- fort and good taste. Here, showing prominently from the river, is the home of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Six miles above, on the western shore, is Hibernia, a pretty hamlet, much resembling Mandarin. Indeed, the same de- scription answers for both, and also for Magnolia, six miles farther up, on the western shore, equally pretty and thrifty. Green Cove Springs is three miles above (thirty miles from Jacksonville), on a broad, deep bay on the western shore. This is a charming village of several stores, two large, well-furnished and finely appointed winter hotels, and numerous pretty homes. The streets are shady and neat, making it an attractive resort. The springs, from which the village takes its name, are the principal attrac- 112 FLORIDA. tion, located in the center of the place and arranged for drinking and bathing. The water is slightly sulphurous and remarkably clear, sparkling, and copious. Picolata, a pretty locality on the eastern shore, nine miles above, is a small hamlet of four or five houses, with orange- Mrs. Stowe'b Residence. groves ; and on the same shore, four miles above, is Tocoi (forty-three miles from Jacksonville). Here the traveler takes the cars for St. Augustine, fourteen miles distant, across a monotonous, flat, pine-timbered country. Tocoi is entirely uninteresting, merely a railway-depot, with freight- warehouse, car-shed, water-tank, and two small dwellings. TEE ST. JOHN'S RIVER. 113 There is a moss curing and packing house near by, where the Spanish moss is prepared for mattresses for Northern markets. This Avill probably become an important business in Florida in the future. Fedei'al Point, six miles above, is a small hamlet on the eastern shore, with three or four cot- tages, a stoi'e, and numerous young orange-groves. It is noted for the great quantity of strawberries grown there, upward of fifty thousand quarts having been shipped in the winter and spring of 1881. Here are two of the finest orange-groves in the State, curiously noticeable because, conti'ary to all theories, arguments, or practical trials at- tempted elsewhere, they are located on low, flat, inferior- looking pine-land, the surface being very little above water. Orange Mills, five miles above, on the eastern shore, is in all respects similar to Federal Point. Palatka, the county-seat of Putnam Coimty, is seven miles above (sixty-one miles from Jacksonville). This beautiful young city is located at the head of a large bay on the western shore of the river, on a high, broad plateau, affording a grand view up and down the river. The soil thereabout is rich, susceptible of easy cultivation, and yields abundant crops. Hundreds of market-gardeners are settled in the surrounding country, and vast quantities of all kinds of garden-vegetables and small fruits are annually shipped North. In the vicinity are many old, productive, and valuable orange-groves ; and on the opposite side of the river (reached by ferry) is the grove of Colonel Hart, one of the most famous in the State. Palatka is the second city in size on the St. John's Riv- er, and is rapidly growing. It contains numerous large, well-stocked stores, packing-houses, warehouses, hotels, sev- eral handsome churches, public schools, and public build- ings. The streets are wide, neatly kept, and are generally shaded with large oaks and orange-trees, and lined with many tastefully constructed residences, and neat cottages 114 FLORIDA. with ample house-grounds. Thrift, prosperity, good taste, and enterprise are everyv/here manifest. The Florida Southern Railway Company (narrow-gauge line), one of the most extensive corporations in the State, has its headquar- ters here, the car-shops, storehouses, depots, wharf, and gen- eral offices being all established. Also the general offices Entean.^e to Hart's Okanok-Urcive. of the Ocklawaha River and the Crescent Lake lines of steamers are here, and the Charleston and Savannah lines of ocean-steamers make this place their up-river terminus. It will be seen that its shipping and transportation facilities are quite important. The population is about two thousand, mostly energetic, Northern and Southern-born people. THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER. 115 San Mateo, on tlie eastern shore, four miles above Palat- ka, is a veiy attractive place, situated on a high bluff, with numerous large and thi-ifty old orange-groves, and many vegetable-gardens. It has a telegraph-office, express-office, and one of the largest orange-packing houses in the State, a church, public hall, school, stores, etc. The society is ex- cellent, the dwellings are neat and attractive, and no place' has a better reputation for healthfulness. A short distance above is Dunn's Creek, leading into the famous Crescent Lake, about two miles wide and six miles long, a beautiful sheet of water lying between St, John's and Yolusia Counties. It is surrounded by a fine region, with pleasing scenery and excellent soil. Crescent City, Owasco, and Oakwood, are pretty little hamlets on its shores, the first-named being the largest and most flourish- ing, with churches, schools, stores, hotel, etc. There are several other little settlements — rapidly increasing — on the lake, which is said to be quite healthy and to have notice- ably few insects. A steamer connects this region with Palatka. Returning to the St. John's, and journeying up-stream, next comes Buffalo Bluff, on the east shore, six miles above San Mateo. This is a pretty little settlement, with numer- ous thrifty young orange-groves and gardens. Three miles above, on the east shore, is Nashua, very similar in appear- ance to Buffalo Bluff. Saratoga, a little community, where the steamers occasionally stop, lies between the last-men- tioned places, on the same shore. It has good soil, and will likely become a thriving town in time. Three miles more brings us to Welaka, one of the most charming localities on the St. John's River, and one of the healthiest and prettiest settlements in the State. The loca- tion is on a high bluff, crested with an extensive grove of peculiarly beautiful and majestic live-oaks, and the soil, generally free from underbrush, looks clean and jjark-like. 116 FLORIDA. Here are a number of the best orange-groves in the State. The residents exhibit much good taste in the construction of their homes, and their gardens, lawns, flowers, and fences are noticeably neat. Nearly opposite Welaka is the mouth of the famous Ocklawaha River. \ Norwalk is three miles above, on the western shore, the settlement being located about a mile back from the river, in a region of good soil and attractive surroundings. It has schools, churches, stores, etc., and is noted for the ex- cellence of its society and the great amount of vegetables and garden-fruits produced, annually shipping large quan- tities. It contains many fine orange-groves. Just below this landing the character of the St. John's River changes. Here the lower St. John's practically ends, and the middle St. John's begins ; the broad, clear-water, bay-like form abruptly terminates, and the steamer passes into a narrow channel, fifty to three hundred feet in width, and remarkably crooked. The water is darker, with a cof- fee-colored appearance which is attributed to the rank veg- etation of the region. This is the tropical jungle region of the river, and continues, with occasional exceptions in the shape of pine or high-soil clearings, on up to Lake Monroe, eighty miles above Norwalk, The shores are mostly flat, very little above the surface of the river, which frequently spreads out over the low boundaries of the channel proper, and forms vast, shallow lakelets, where game resorts in great numbers. Everywhere the shores are covered with a dense growth of oaks, cypress, sweet-gum, willow, and the like, all interlaced with gigantic vines in greatest abun- dance ; great clusters of gray Spanish moss hang from the branches, and the ground is covered to the water's edge with an impenetrable jungle of tropical grasses, reeds, bi'ambles, and bushes. Brilliant-hued flowers — some varie- ties are very large — are everywhere, in the water, on the bushes, the vines, and the trees, and add a novel beauty to THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER. 117 the scenery. Occasionally a glimpse may bo had of that mysterious and infrequent air-plant known as loomau^s- hair, a mossy growth very closely resembling the long, soft, golden-hued hair of a young woman, and the clusters when seen have an appearance of being thrown carelessly into a tree or bush. Mistletoe-boughs, with their bright- red berries, are also everywhere seen. Here is the haunt of the alligator, where the traveler has a first sight of these famous saurians. They are not plentiful, and must be seen quickly, if seen at all, for they are very shy and have a dis- trust of steamers. The managers of the steamer-lines have recently issued strict orders forbidding any shooting from their steamers, a wise and timely regulation, for, by their insane shooting at everything, the tourists were driving all birds, alligators, and animals from this portion of the river. The scene is also enlivened by the bright plumage — snowy white or brilliant red predominating — of the many birds and water-fowds as they gracefully skim through the air, especially the lai-ge, long-legged, long-necked, long-billed white herons, which are very plentiful, and present a fine sight as they majestically wheel in slow curves through the air. This dense jungle scenery frequently impresses the traveler with an idea that the adjacent country is uninhabit- able, but such an impression is erroneous, for this is merely a valley region ; there is excellent country lying back at distances varying from a few hundred feet to two miles. Resuming the journey up the river, from Norwalk it is two miles to Mount Royal, on the eastern shore, a pretty situation with several neat homes and thi-ifty orange-groves. Just beyond is Fruitland, a little settlement famous for large production of vegetables. (See Appendix, note 17.) To Fort Gates, a small hamlet on the west shore, it is three quarters of a mile. Three miles above, on the eastern shore, is Georgetown, situated at the north end of Lake George. This is a small trading-place, but is one of the most attrac- 118 FLORIDA. live localities on the river, owing to the excellent taste shown by the people living near the landing. Their dwellings, lawns, fences, and gardens are extremely neat as seen from the steamer. Several fine, large orange-groves are near by, that bear heavy crops. The steamer here enters Lake George, one of the largest and most attractive of the inland lakes of Florida. It is six miles wide and thirteen and a half miles long, famous for the variety and excellence of its fish, and as being the re- sort of myriads of wild ducks and all kinds of water-fowls. Many parties of sportsmen annually visit the lake for the shooting and fishing, and always are delighted with their success. Lake George Post-Ofiice is the first landing on the lake, two miles above Georgetown, a trim little i:»lace on good soil. One and a half mile farther is Drayton Island Landing, the port of this famous island, remarkable for its fertility, abundant crops, and health. Seville, on the east shore of the lake, is five miles distant, an attractive place, with a number of fine orange-groves ; and six miles above is Spring Grove, a small but flourishing settlement on the western shore. Four miles more and the steamer is at the famous Volusia Bar, that hides itself beneath the water at the upper end of the lake, causing endless delay and annoy- ance to the steamers of the rivei' — often so low for weeks, falling to thi-ee and a half feet, that none but the lightest- draught boats can cross. An appropriation has recently been made by the national Government, and a force is at work removing the obstruction, on the Eads jetty system. Again entering the river, which is here much narrower and shallower, five miles from the bar is Volusia, on the eastern shore, an unattractive landing, the port of a thrifty back country. On the opposite shore, a quarter of a mile above, is Astor, merely a well-constructed, large warehouse and wharf, the river terminus of the St, John's and Lake Eustis Railroad, a narrow-gauge road leading to Fort Mason TUE ST. JOim'S EIVEE. 119 (twenty-six miles distant), where it opens up the famous Lake Eustis and Lake Dora region, the equal — even the su- perior — of any region in Florida for superb scenery, excel- lent soil, rapid growth, and healthy enterprise. From Astor it is three miles up to Bluifton, a common- place post-office landing ; and two miles above is the en- trance to Lake Dexter, on the east shore, a fine little lake containing a number of pretty islands, and affording an out- let for Spring Garden and a good back country. From the entrance it is twelve miles up to St. Francis, an unattractive landing on an elevated site, once the location of an old-time Spanish settlement. Six miles above is Hawkinsville, on the west shore, a mail-landing with two or thi'ee houses on a level clearing of evidently fertile soil, judging from the thrifty appearance of the oranges and bananas growing there. It is remarkable for an extensive quarry or bed of coquina, or shell-rock, the only formation of the kind in this section of the State or along the entire river. De Land Landing is one mile above, a solitary, neatly constructed storehouse on the east shore, the port of De Land village, which lies four and a half miles in the interior. It is three miles more to Lake Beresford, a pretty sheet of water lying on and adjoining the river on the east side. Here the steamer enters and crosses the small lake to Ros- siter's, and Alexander's, two landings near each other, small settlements of three or four cheap, rude little buildings, the ports of the Spring Garden and De Land villages and an excellent adjacent region of fertile soil and numerous settlers. Again passing up the river, from the entrance of the lake it is five miles to Blue Springs on the east shore, a rather interesting landing-place, a wharf, roadway, one resi- dence on a little hill surrounded by a number of exceedingly large orange-trees that annually bear a thousand and more oranges each. The spring, that gives the name, is just 120 FLORIDA. below — a large pond of remarkably blue, sparkling water of slightly sulphurous flavor, and full of large fish (here for their health, probably (?) ). It is the port for Orange City village, on the high lands two miles in the interior. Eight miles above is We-ki-va, a mere solitary rude log shanty on the east shore just opposite the mouth of the We-ki-va Creek, a dismal location. Here passengers and freights for Altamont and Apopka are transferred to the little craft that ascends to those enterprising towns. Six miles above, passing through a broad, level, open prairie belt — the first on the river — the steamer enters Lake Mon- roe at its western end (the lake lies east and west), and in four miles more the steamer is at Sanford, a total dis- tance of one hundred miles, by mail-line steamer route, above Palatka, and one hundred and sixty- one miles above Jacksonville. Lake Monroe is four and a half miles Avide and ten miles long, and well stocked with excellent fish. It is practically the head of the middle St. John's River, and the lower ter- minus of the upper St. John's ; and at Sanford, on the south shore, freights and passengers for the interior of Orange County (Maitland, Osceola, Interlaken, Orlando, some portions of Altamont and Apopka) are transferred to the South Florida Railroad at its fine wharf. Also goods and passengers for far-off tropical Lake Worth, Indian River, and the cattle-prairies of the south, are transferred to the curious little steamers specially constructed for the shallow, crooked channel of the upper St. John's. One mile east of Sanford is Mellonville, merely a pier, an old hotel, and a few dwellings. Everything here was once well constructed, and this was at one time the only settlement on the lake, and quite an important place. It was established in 1835 as a military post during the wars with the Seminole Indians, the landing for the town and garrison of Fort Reed, two miles in the interior, where is THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER. 121 now quite an attractive little village and several of the old- est, best, and most productive orange-groves in the State. Directly opposite, on the north shore of the lake, is En- terprise, the county-seat of Volusia County. It is located on a plateau that rises to a considerable height back some distance from the lake. The soil is excellent and very fer- tile. The town contains a court-house and county build- ings, a spacious winter hotel, thi'ee or four stores, and a large saw -mill. It is a neat, pleasant-appearing place and a famous resort for tourists in the winter season. In the vicinity, or suburbs, are several tine residences, the winter homes of Northern families. Much taste is shown in these dwellings, their lawns, gardens, and surroundings. Here is the famous estate of De Bary (the w^ine-importer of New York City), quite w^orth a visit to see the extensive groves, packing-house, piers, and such improvements established. A spring of sulphur-water gushes from the earth in the center of a large field on the lake-shore on the De Bary estate. The spring is about fifty feet in diameter, very deep, and the waters remarkably green and strongly im- pregnated with sulphur. A large hotel, to eclipse anything of the kind in the South as a winter resort, is being con- structed there, for which the locality is peculiarly adapted. In this vicinity are a number of the largest and oldest bearing orange-groves in the State.* * The question of distances on the St. John's River from Jacksonville to Sanford is' very puzzling to the tourist, and even to old residents, owing to the differences in the tables of distances given in the innumerable little advertising hand-books, so-called guide-books, railway-charts, etc., varying from one hundred and forty-four to two hundred and thirteen miles, in- cluding many intermediate quantities. Some quote " per United States survey," which is erroneous, as there has been no United States survey, ex- cept a mere visit known officially as a " preliminary reconnaissance." The figures as given in this article were obtained from Captain William Shaw, an officer who has navigated the St. John's twelve years as captain of sev- eral steamers, and who at present commands the steamer Fred De Bary, the 122 FLORIDA. From Lake Monroe to the extreme southern head-waters of the St. John's River, in Lake Washington, is a journey of two hundred and fourteen miles, following the river- channel, which is remarkably crooked, narrow, and shallow. The region above Lake Monroe (the upper St. John's re- gion), the third section of this strange stream, is a total change from the two lower sections already described. It is a vast prairie region, with occasional clusters, or small groves, of palmetto, sometimes a solitary tree, or half a dozen in a groujD. Here are seen great herds of cattle, for it is an excellent grazing region, and here the lazy, hideous, but cowardly alligators are found in all their glory. Being seldom disturbed by man, they thrive in all this region in great numbers, attain their fullest size, and are not so timid ; can be approached nearer than in the northern sec- tions of the State. The entire region is literally alive with game, the rivers and numerous lakes being full of fish of many varieties, the prairie-grasses and the groves filled with all kinds of small game, while bear and deer are abun- dant, and in all directions may be seen ducks, geese, loons, coots, pelicans, storks, cranes, herons — all kinds of birds and fowls for food or plumage. It is a paradise for hunters and anglers. The journey through this region is always deeply interesting to the traveler (if properly j^rovided with sports- men's outfits, mosquito-nettings, etc.), who is usually im- pressed with a feeling of being far away, out of the coun- try, in a strange clime and land. The lower St. John's presents an attractive Southern scene ; the middle St. John's presents a semi-tropical scene of jungles and orange-groves ; but the upper St. John's is the truly tropical region, deeply impressive, more easily re- finest of the river-boats. Tlic figures can be decreased somewhat by pass- ing over the route direct, without stops, or increased by making stops at all private landings. The distances here given are accurate, as made by the mail-boats. THE ST. JOHN'S EIVER. ] 23 membererl than described. (An extended description of a journey in this region is given in the chapter on the French trip.) Thij: St. John's River Fleet. — One of the most con- chisive evidences of the rapid growth of Florida, especially of South Florida, is the numerous and constantly increasing fleet of steamers that traverse the waters of the St. John's River. It is but thi-ee or four years since two or three old and slow-going boats performed all the service upon this great artery of commerce, where now upward of a dozen swift and commodious steamers are bai'ely adequate to the requirements of travel and traffic. Of the several steamer lines now in operation, the "DeBaryLine" is the most important and popular. It carries the United States mails, and runs daily to Sanford, stopping at all mail-stations. At the general ofiice of the line in Jacksonville (on their own wharf) will be found Captain William Watson, the manager, and Mr. C. B. Fenwick, the highly popular and genial general passenger agent. The steamers of the line are the Fred De Bary (Captain Shaw), the largest and most elegant on the river, the George M. Bird (Captain Amazeen), the Rosa (Captain Smith), the Florence (Cap- tain Brock), and the Sylvan Glen, a swift boat formerly running on the New York and Harlem line. — The " Pio- neer Line," the oldest on the river, comprises four steam- ers, of which the Arrow (Captain Payne) runs twice weekly between Jacksonville and Sanford, while the little craft Volusia (Captain Lund) runs weekly to Salt Lake and other points on the extreme upper St. John's. The other steamers of this line, the Fox and Daylight, ply between Sanford and all points above. — The " Independent Line " consists at present of the City of Sanford (Captain Rhodes), which runs twice weekly between Jacksonville and San- ford. A fine new boat is shortly to be added to its service. 124 FLORIDA. — The We-ki-wa (Captain Jones) "goes it alone," plying between Jacksonville and the remote upper regions of the river. It is a small and old-fashioned boat. — ^A small steamer leaves Jacksonville every afternoon for Fort George Island, at the mouth of the St. John's, returning next morn- ing, and affording a delightful excursion. — Several small steamers ply at frequent intervals between Jacksonville and the various villages and private landings on the river as far up as Palatka.* * There are such frequent changes in the steamboat service on the St. John's River, that the foregoing statement can not be accurately relied on in every detail. The tourist, of course, will inform himself at Jacksonville- More precise information, too, will be found in the chapter "Routes to and throuirh Florida." CHAPTER VII. THE OCKLAWAHA RIVER, SILVER SPRING, AND OCALA. The head-waters of the Ocklawaha are formed by a series of springs rising to the surface in the central sections of Orange and Sumter Counties, and by tributary streams from the several large lakes of that region, including Lakes Eustis, Harris, Gi-iffin, and Dora. Some of these springs are remarkable for their size, purity, clearness, and mineral qualities, particularly Clay Spring, near Apopka. The river Hows through portions of four counties, with a course al- most due north until it touches the northern boundary of Marion County, when it turns due east, and empties into the St. John's at Welaka, twenty-live miles south of Pilat- ka. Its total length is about three hundred and forty miles, and it is navigable throughout by the little steamers, which also traverse many of its tributaries to their fountain-heads, thus penetrating to all jDortions of that rich interior region lying in the center of the peninsula. The steamers of the well-known " Hart Line " are a species of craft peculiar to the Ocklawaha, and for many years they afforded the only means of access and transportation for all that vast region. Railroads are now penetrating it, and in a few years the whistle of the locomotive will be heard in every hamlet.* * Tho St. John's and Lake Eustis Railroad, as before stated, has been extended as far as Tavares, and is projected to a river connection from that point southeast to the St. .Jolin's River. Tlic Lalce Region is also pene- trated by the " Peninsular " and " Tropical " branches of tho Transit Kail- 126 FLORIDA. The river, as it is termed, is quite an indefinite body of water. It is more properly a series of lagoons, overflowed swamps, long narrow lakes, and great springs — all connected and interlinked — the water-basin of the western portion of Forest on the Ocklawaua. the St. John's River Valley. It is an extensive region of dense jungle, lying low and flat, undrainable, and impossi- road from Waldo, thence southwardly. These roads are being pushed rapidly, and there is a bright prospect that they will soon open one of the most picturesque regions of Florida to easy access. TUE OCKLAWARA RIVER. I07 ble to imjjrove for human use ; and will always remain wild and unmolested, a paradise for all the strange reptiles, in- sects, birds, and fish that seek its innei'most recesses. To the pleasure-seeking tourist and the sportsman it affords an inexhaustible field of interest, but to the invalid, health- seeker, or practical settler it offers no attractions. As the steamer follows the vaguely defined course of the channel, there ai"e frequent landings, localities where points of the mainland extend like a peninsula into this watery jungle, affording access and outlets to the more profitable and healthy regions lying inland. (See Appendix, note 18.) The writer, as has already been explained, accompanied the Grant party on their tour through Florida in January, 1880. Returning from a visit to the ujjper St. John's, at Welaka, we changed steamers, and were soon snugly quar- tered on the strange little steamer Osceola, which started off at once for a night-journey up the Ocklawaha. The steamers that thread the very narrow and wonder- fully crooked waters of that stream are each an aquatic curiosity. Built especially for the route, they are alto- gether unique ; there are none others anywhere like them. They are particularly curious in that they have an ai^pear- ance of having been placed in service just before comple- tion. Constructed with two decks — quite low between — a snug little square-shaped wheel-house high up forward, and a tiny little lobby deck aft, with the row of three or four little state-rooms ranged between, they are unexcelled for the accommodations which they afford in the scanty space at command ; and are a much more comfortable and ser- viceable craft than their appearance would indicate.* Upon the roof of the wheel-house of our special steamer was a large iron box where a bonfire of pitch-pine knots lighted up the scenery by night. A huge stern-wheel fur- * For specific information atx)ut steamers, hours of departure, fares, etc., see chapter on " r.outes to and throujih Florida." 128 FLORIDA. nished the propelling power. The cabin was quite neat, but a perfect little doll's house in size and furnishing. The " seclusion that a cabin grants " was not included on this A KlVKR Po8t-Offioe. boat, but it was big enough to afford accommodation for all, there being but four or five passengers other than our party. It was but a few moments after leaving the j^ier at We- THE OCKLAWAIIA RIVER. 129 laka that the valiant little steamer suddenly turned, plunged boldly into a dense thicket, and we were in the very mouth of the Ocklawaha. The first query on board was, " How did the pilot find the entrance to the stream ? " for it re- sembled a little brook pouring out from a jungle of over- hanging trees. Another problem was, " as to how he man- aged to kcL'j) in the right channel on the route " ; for it The Lookout. would be difficult to imagine anything short of a bow-knot more crooked, and there were many places where half a dozen apparent streams would be found all converging upon one point, and all exactly alike. The wonderful ability of that pilot, his foresight, or eyesight, insjjired us all with profound admiration, not to say awe. The steamer began its journey late in the afternoon, 130 FLORIDA. to give us a night view of the river, and we all sj)ent the evening, night, and morning on deck, deeply interested in watching the scenery, which begins its strangeness at the very outset, and is worth the seeing every rod of the route. It is grand, impressive, strange, tropical — now gloomy and awe-inspiring, now fairy-like and charming, and again weird and wild. The great forest-trees of that region are all of immense size, oaks, gums, magnolias, cypress, etc., inter- spersed with the more tropical palmetto and palm., all laden and interlocked with a perfect network of immense vines, too tangled for description, brilliant with vegetation^ leaves of all colors, flowers of all shapes, sizes, and hues, and loaded with great clusters of mosses. The most con- si)icuoiis and abundant of these mosses is the Spanish moss, with its delicate, silvery-gray shade ; but clusters of the popular, jDretty mistletoe, with its bright berries, are also seen, and occasional masses of that handsomest of all mosses, the famous woman's-hair. This sti'ange air-growth has a rich, glistening, golden color, is long and fibrous in text- ure, wavy, and closely resembling a mass of blonde hair. It is a rare moss, and when seen hanging from some bough gives one the impression that three or four bushels of gold- en locks have been shorn from, fair heads and hung thereon for adornment. The scene is enlivened with birds of many kinds, nearly all strange to the Northern eye — snowy- white storks, cranes, herons, water-turkeys, hell-divers, curlews, etc. — many hav- ing brilliant plumage. The waters teem with large turtles and alligators, that quickly disappear as they catch a glimpse of the puffing, chuffing little steamer as it comes around a bend. The stream is generally very narrow ; in many places, often for quite a long distance, the branches of the great trees interlock across the channel, forming vast arched avenues, paved with a floor of intensely black water, roofed THE OCKLAWAUA RIVER. 131 with dense, dark foliage decorated with great fringes of moss. These covered passages ax'e solemn and impressive at any time ; but in the night, when lighted up by the blaze of the brilliant bonfire burning on the roof of the wheel-house, then the scene is quite indescribable. The inky water, the lights and shadows of the foliage, the dis- turbed birds as they wheel gracefully out of sight, all leave an impression never to be forgotten. Early the next morning, Silver Spi'ing was reached, and after an excellent breakfast all went ashore. There is noth- ing especially interesting about the locality except the spring. Boats were in readiness, and all enjoyed a row over its translucent surface, and wondered at its marvelous clearness — so clear are the waters, that small pebbles lying on the bottom, sixty-five feet below, can easily be distin- guished. We dropped in several small pieces of tin about the size of a silver dime, and could plainly see them at the bottom ; and a tenpenny nail, dropped in and closely watched as it descended, could be distinctly traced to its resting-place far below. The spring has a surface area of about three acres, and the very commonplace, flat, circular shore is mostly covered with a growth of heavy pine and thickets of underbrush. The sides beneath the surface of the water are nearly ver- tical ; in fact, the spring is very like a great punch-bowl sunk in the earth. The water boils up from invisible sources in the bottom, so evenly and quietly, that not a motion is observable on the surface, and so copiously that a deep and navigable river about one hundred feet wide is formed at the start, and in seven miles reaches a junction with the Ocklawaha. (See Appendix, note 19.) After a thorough inspection of this wonder of nature, we rode over to Ocala, six miles distant, arriving there in season to enjoy a dinner at the comfortable, old-fashioned tavern. The drive from the spring was mostly through 132 FLORIDA. a nearly level pine-wood country, not particularly interest- ing ; but in the immediate vicinity of the town the soil is I'll V ''1 f generally good, and under careful cultivation that is rapidly improving its value. THE OCKLAWAIIA RIVER. 133 134 FLORIDA. Ocala numbers about one thousand inhabitants, is the county-seat of Marion County, and was a flourishing place in ante-bellum days, the center of a large neighborhood of wealthy planter society. A railroad has just been com- pleted there from Waldo, on the Transit Railroad, and another road, now building, will soon reach there, giving Ocala at last the much-needed quick steam communication with the commercial centers of the country. Its population is enterprising and energetic, and Ocala is evidently destined to be an important railroad center in the near future, for it is in the direct pathway of other railroads necessary to de- velop that portion of the State. (See Appendix, note 20.) The return voyage down the Ocklawaha was without special incident, but repetition can not wither nor custom stale the infinite variety and interest of that unique scenery. Every visitor to Florida should make the famous excursion " up the Ocklawaha," and no one who has once made it will be likely ever to forget a night-journey upon what has been well called " The Mysterious River." Until recently Silver Spring was the end of the ordinary tourist journey on the Ocklawaha, but the little steamers go far beyond that, threading the upper river, and making the circuit of Lakes Eustis, Harris, and Griffin. These three lakes are among the largest in Florida, and the trip upon them enables the tourist to see some of the most striking and picturesque scenery in the State. Just south of Lake Eustis, with which it is connected by a channel that has not yet been opened to navigation, lies Lake Dora, another large lake, whose high and bluff-like shores remind one rather of the lake region of western New York than of the low and sandy levels that usually characterize Florida. From the summits of several of the headlands on its north- ern side maybe obtained views far and near that will prove memorable in their loveliness — that will haunt the mind long after the vision of them has vanished. THE OCKLAWAIIA RIVER. 135 The following? table will prove useful, as showing the principal landings on the river and lakes, and the distances from the mouth of the river, which is twenty-five miles south of Pilatka, and nearly opposite Welaka : TABLE OF DISTANCES MILES. Davenport 8 Fort Brook 35 Orange Spring 3Y Ida 50 Forty-foot Dluif 54 Eureka 68 Sunday Bluff 70 Palmetto 76 Gore's 82 Deurisosa 88 Graliamville 92 Limpkin Bluff 96 Silver Springs Run 101 Silver Spring 110 ON THE OCKLAWAIIA. MILES. Lake Ware Landing 125 Moss Bluff 128 Stark 162 Orange Hope 164 Slighville 168 Leesburg 178 Lake Griffin Post-Office 183 Lovell's 195 Fort Mason 205 Pendryvillc 208 Espcrance 229 Yalaha 234 Helena 247 Okahumkee 249 Fair hotel accommodations can be obtained at Leesburg, at Pendry ville, and at Fort Mason ; but the latter is a most unattractive place. What is greatly needed in the interest of tourists is a cross-cut railroad from the Lake Eustis re- gion to Sanf ord on the St. John's, affording the opportunity for a " round trip " up one river and down the other. When this is constructed, as it should be soon, commodious hotels will spring up in all this region. CHAPTER VIII. THE INDIAN RIVER REGION AND THE INLAND LAKES. The Indian River region is tbe most widely known of any portion of all South Florida, but it is visited by very few tourists and travelers, owing mostly to its general in- accessibility. The shortest distance from Jacksonville by the usual — and at present only — method of transportation (the St. John's River route) is upward of two hundred miles, and this long journey ends at Titusville, located al- most on the head-waters of the famous river. A detailed description of the journey from Jacksonville, also a descrip- tion of the various places which I visited on the Indian River, is given elsewhere, in the chapter containing an ac- count of the writer's tour of the State with Hon. Seth French. The purpose of this chapter is to give a more comprehensive description of the resources and advantages of the region regarded as a whole. Indian River runs parallel with the Atlantic coast, northwest and southeast, extending south of latitude 27°, and running north of 284^°, measuring from one and a half to seven miles in width, and fi'om four to sixteen feet in depth of channel, though in many places one may wade more than half a mile from shore. It abounds in every variety of fish, but is distinguished for its superb mullet, the general weight of which is from two to five i^ounds, but in many instances they weigh from six to nine pounds, measuring twenty or twenty-two inches in length. The sheep's-head, sea-trout, cavalier, and bass are THE TXDTAN BIVER REGION: 137 J C.8, -