New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-06-09

and succeeded in getting back into Ala
bama, thus forcing the General to do
his marching and fighting over again.
They were finally overpowefed at Chalk
Bluff, on the Apalachicola, and treaty
was negotiated at Chattahoochee, under
an oak, still shown as Jackson's
oak. Near this the Government
built an arsenal and constructed bar
racks and buildings for small garrison.
Some ten years ago the State Of Florida
obtained possession of this property by
act of Congress, and it is now used as
hospital for the insane. The ground
is very high and the sight salubrious,
being the plateau of bluff at the juno
ton of the Flint and ChattahOOchee
rivers, which, when united, form the
Apalachicola. The bluff itself was
fortified by the Spaniards during their
occupancy of this country, and the
guns commanded the approaches bv
water. The remains of these old mill
tary works and the road cut by Jackson
for his artillery through the chalk
bluff south of Chattahoochee are still to
be seen.
Blue Spring is another natural curios-
ity near Mariana. The water boils up
from considerable depth, and forms
9 basin on which yacht could sail.
Looking into the basin, the water ap-
pears to be as blue as indigo, but on
being put in tumbler it is as trans
parent as crystal. The volume of water
elected by this spring forms q consider
able stream, which, after meandering
several miles, debouches into Chipola
River. Blackwater and Yellow Rivers,
like Blue Spring, get their names from
the peculiar tinge of their water. Black
water River injects its darkness into
Blackwater Bay far out into the tides
that come rolling in from the Gulf.
The line of separation between the
dark and clear water is distinctly
seen even when entering Pensacola
Bay.
The country between Mariana and
the Choctawhatchee River is of lime
stone formation, and presents some
sixty feet deep,' resembling an i'm
mense we'll without water. There
are other sinks of lesser width and
depth. fa~-
West Florida is a region very little
known. Although it has been in the
possession of the United States for sixty
years, and Florida has been member
Of the Union for over forty years, there
are portions of the country through
which the traveller may 60 for thirty-ive
miles without seeing house. The
cause of this is the poverty of the soil.
II 10 q continuous ofrokoh - eo~I $500
ducing no trees but stunted jack-oaks,
and no vegetation but wire grass, as in
nutritious as broom straw. The soil will
not yield crops, the grass affords no
food for cattle, and there is no induce
ment for the settler to erect q cabin
and make a claim to homestead. The
country is left to the peaceful possession
of such wild animals as can find sub
sistence.
West Florida has q dead city. St.
Joseph was once busy seaport, had q
railroad to lola, on the Apalachicola
River, shipped cotton to the extent of
hundreds Of thousands of bales annual
y, and was the enterRort Of supplies for
and northeastern Alabama. Railroads
from the Mississippi to the Atlantic at
length deprived it of its commerce and
made its own railroad worthless. The
track was taken up and the iron used
elsewhere. The inhabitants of the little
city gradually abandoned their homes.
Yellow fever visited those who re-
manned. and the living we're unable to
bury the dead. What few escaped the
scourge fled, and not soul was left to
claim property or home. A tornado
completed the ruin. Every house was
leveled with the ground, and to-day
there is not a chimney standing to mark
the spot where once stood q busy little
city.-C0r. N. 7. San.