Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-05-13
Notes of IA Journey South.
UP THE ST JOHN RIVER, NO. III.

UP THE ST JOHN RIVER, NO. III.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla, April s.
| spoke in the preceding letter of the
remarkable deposits of shells which l
saw at Old Enterprise. At sundry places
on our way, where there was opportunity
to examine the rivers bank, the soil APP
peared to be likewise full of shells, so nu
merous as to form a large portion of the
soil ] saw in no instance any sign of
attrition of the shells such as would come
from the beating of waves. The entire
appearance was that of shells of which
the living animal had died in still water,
and the she'll left to settle quietly in the
soft mud formed by decaying vegetable
matter and such fine earth as the winds
or sluggish streams might carry from dry
ground into an adjacent swamp; appar-
emily this process must have gone on for
ages, when the greater part of this vast
region was a morass, but slightly above
the level of the sea.
In the course of time in some of those
great commissions which many parts of
our planet have undergone. tracts of this
morass were lifted up, forming dry ground
in some places and leaving channels for
rivers and low places for swamps and
lakes in others. The immense accumula-
tons of fresh water shells in the soil of
the hummocks and higher banks of the
rivers, cannot be accounted for in any
other way. The drier portions of the
surface would be, in the process of time,
covered with a proper growth of trees
and shrubs; and the wetter portions
the swamps of the present tirne-would
furnish foothold for trees and plants
adapted TO such places. The nearly level
condition of the entire region would pre-
vent the recurrence of any severe wash
ings OF the soil from floods. do not sup
pose that any survey has determined the
amount Of fall from the upper source of
the ST. Johns to its mouth; but the Cap
tain Of the steamer on which we went up
the river, told me that the best observa-
tons made, as he had been informed,
did not make the fall to exceed twenty
eight inches. Tranquility, so far as the
movement OF water is concerned, must
therefore be the general order Of things
s7r the greater portion OF Florida, at all
seasons.
do not suppose that anything like
proper geological or Typographical survey
Of the Florida peninsula has ever been
made. Considering it's great extent, and
the swampy and lake character of much
of It's surface, it would be a difficult pro-
cess to make one but if done as well IS
the nature of the country would permit
it would be n work of great interest
Whether il would be possible to find &C
cess to the underlying and solid strata 10
an extent sufficient TO determine accu-
rately their relation to the strata of the
regions further north, and to explain
clearly the phenomena of he numerous
great and remarkable springs of water
pure and mineral-to which ] have al
luded in my previous letters, | doubt. |
believe ! omitted to speak of one spring
the Blue Spring" 50 called, which we
visited on our way up the river. 1t j. AT
a landing called Beresford, few miles
below Lake Monroe Beresford is said to
have been the seat of "A plantations and the
furthest one up the river, when Florida
Was in possession OF the English. the lat
ter part 81 the last century. Bringing
the boat - ut a pretty point of land on
the east 81 a.. we found a large stream OF
water Of IA decided BLUSH tint, very dis
tiuct in color from tho dark water of the
st. lohu-, into which it flowed The
spring comes up half mile or SO from
the ~hore--is said to be eighty or ninety
feet across and some fathoms deep, and
boils up with such force that boat can
not he rowed on to it. The stream which
j. thus poured out makes river about
ninety feet wide and six feet deep The
place might be made a very attractive
one at a trlfiing expense but the shiftless
mortal who occupies the place was, of
course,too inaolent to turn the attractions
nf the place to any account whatever, and
did, as we were told, but scantily sup
port, III cracker style, his little sallow
faced family, from a plantation which
might be made to bring in handsome
yearly income.
II will easily be conceived that through
a country like that bordering the upper
st. Johns. an unwholesome air must per-
wade the larger portion of it for a consid-
cradle part OF the year. Chills and fever,
called 1.-The shakes" in this region, and bill
ious fevers prevail during all the warmer
part of the year, to an unlimited extent.
A wholesome, clear looking countenance,
such as the youth of all classes in our
northern climates possess, is a rare thing
to be seen in the residents of those MAS
matte regions The few who are able to
tboooo hiEh Hihe SIouHus. OlslduU from
the river and swamps, who have whole
some and various food, and proper medi-
cine, and above all care and do betake
themselves often to remoter and purer airs
III the summer, may escape the malarious
influences of which l speak But the
characteristic look of all the Cracker"
population, so-called - those who live
chiefly on hog and hominy, and of all those
who live near the rivers, even though an
occasional change of wild turkey or deer,
or of beef poor enough to be used for fox
bait comes in their way-can best be de-
scribed by. the phrase, "putty-faced" No
such complexion is ever seen at the north,
so far as my observation goes.
1t may easily be supposed that the pop
ulation on the sides of such stream and
| its accompanying lakes must be yery
| scanty. For miles in succession there
| would be no sign of q human being. And
when the steamboat hauled up at some
| bluff, to land or take on two or three pas.
sengers and a few bags of corn or bales
of hay, and perhaps to leave mail bag,
it was rare that more than one, or at most
two miserable looking habitations were
to be found, although the place BY name
had long designation ON the maps. "a
local habitation and name" was numeri-
cally exact; and very likely nothing
more could ever have been said Of it. 4
temporary encampment Of Indian lodges.
when the Seminoles swsrmed throughout
the Florida peninaula, in all probability
was all to which the term VILLAGE could
| ever have been applied. *