Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-10-04
FLORIDA as Ir Is
A Rapid View of the State as II :.
Climate, Soil, PeOpIe-Industries ana
General Productions.

OF 04,24O square miles, situated betNaa.
the 18th and 3lst parallels of latitude ana
one-half of her territory forming penir
sula, with the Atlantic on the east ana
the Mexican Gulf on the west. She eniovs
delightful semi-tropical climate Tia
Gulf Stream sweeps around her soutbar~
cape, mingling the waters of the torris
zone with those of the North A.
lantic, and the tropical winds If
the South alternate with the cool
breezes of the north to modifg
the temperature and increase the saln
brity of her climate. The thermometa-
ranges between % and 100 degrees. ao.
cOrding to the season, rarely going ba
yOnd, while the season of greatest heat
during the long summer is modified and
rendered pleasant by the prevailing winds
from the two seas. Light frosts are ex.
perienced as far south as Tampa and
Manatee, but snow occurs scarcely mere
than once in generation.
DiUiSiOn-The State is divided into
East, West, Middle and South Florida
The last applies to the south half of the
peninsula, and, stretching from the Allan.
tic in the east to Pensacola Bay in the
west, has a deeply indented sea coast Of
nearly 1000 miles.
Face Of the Countrywide northern
portions of Florida preserve almost mi
fOrmly the surface characteristics of thu
several States lying north of its divisions
until within few miles of the seaeOast.
West Florida, between Mobile Bay and the
ApalachicOla river is in some localities
succession of sand hills, even down Il.
the coast, as at Pensacola, with oeea-
siOnal slOping areas covered with yalua.
BILE pine timber, and smaller areas of sandy
hummOck lands along the creeks and bay-
Gus. Near the Apalachicola river, as In
jackson county, the lands are undulating,
and far more fertile, showing many fine
plantations in a high state ofcultivation.
Crossing to the east of the Apalaehicola,
between which and the Suwannea
lies Middle Florida, there is a continual
ton of the fine undulating region OfS0uth-
ern Georgia, which extends over all Middle
Florida southwark a few miles below
Quincy, Tallahassee, Monticello and Mad
isOn.
From these points Southwark to the
coast there is a sudden and marked
change, from fertile pine. soak and hick-
Ory' lands with clay subSOil to sand hills
and water flats without much fertility.
except an occasional sand or shell hum
mock near the coast, where undulati0n
gives place to level plains. Whenever
the sand hills and plains, however, are
crossed by streams, alluvial or shell lands
are found in small areas along their val.
leys. The sand belt bordering the coast
is generally about twenty miles wide.
not uniformly sterile, but often con
tanning large areas of pine forest as well
q < HnnGn GW1n1flG of f.K innfras.
and other valuable lumber materials.
while the lower levels are generally cover
ed with saw palmetto. In the region Of
the SuWannee river this belt is much broad
er, beginning a little south of the town Of
Madison and extending to the coast, over
sixty miles.
East Florida, in the northern or Okef.
mckee region, is perhaps the least attrac.
tive of the habitable portions of the State:
generally fiat, in some parts sterile and
wet, though Astounding in pine forests and
saw palmetto. About 100000 acres of the
famous OketnOkee swamp lies in Florida,
but as accurate survey has shown il 10
possess an altitude of at least III feet
above tide water on the Atlantic, its
thorough drainage is regarded as entirely
feasible at small cost.
The ridge, or plateau, upon which the
Okefinokee is perched as a summit basin,
forms the peninsula of Florida. rising to
an elevation of 142 feet between the St
Johns and the Suwannee rivers. and be-
coming mich more fertile and hahitahla
as it extends southwark through Putnam,
Marion. Alachua and other counties Of
the middle region. Paine's prairie and
other large bodies Of hummock lands III
Alachua and Marion counties are cOnsid-
cred equal in fertility TO the hummOck
lands of Georgia and the Carolinas.
South Florida includes the lower cOun-
ties. until recently very sparsely settled
and little known. Nearly half the region
is covered with the Everglades now being
drained by the Disston Land Company, Of
Philadelphia, and with numerous lakes,
ponds and low sawgrass or marsh flats.
Around many of these lakes and border
ing the running streams are fine bodies Of
hummOck lands, as in Orange, Manatee,
HillSbOro aud other counties, while the
saw palmetto flats alternate with higher
plains, sometimes hills and valleys COW
cred with pine forests.
But whatever the character of the soil,
where not under open water or shaded
by dense forests, it is covered with yege-
tation, yielding abundant grasses for
grazing purposes.
The streams of the peninsula, from the
centre, flow to all points of the compass;
the st. Johns to the north, the Kissimmee
south into the Everglades; the Santa Fe
and WithlacOOchee west into the Gulf;
and SuWannee river and the OcklaWaha
east into the st. Johns, the latter remark
able stream, after flowing nearly 200 miles
parallel with the Atlantic. empties into it
near the northern line OF the State. The
st. Mary's on the northern boundary, flow
ing east into the Atlantic, and the Suwan-
nee flowing south into the Gulf, both have
their sources in the OkefnOkee swamp,
through which they are known to form
natural connecting waterway across the
peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean
and the Gulf of Mexico. Other import
ant rivers of the state are the Conecueh,
ChOctaw hatchie. 0ehOlOckOnee, Crook
ad river. st. Marks, 0cilla, Manatee,
Pease Greek and Indian rivers.
Florida has numerous islands along her
coast. some Of them important, as Anne
liza. Key West. Cedar hev and Santa
Rose. The TOrtugas cluster Of Keys
south Of Cape Sable. are well known to
the commercial world through their dan
geTous reefs.
The bays. sounds. straits and other
naVigable waters of Florida are very
numerous. Some of her bays are large
far inland, as Pensacola,
st. Andrews, Apalachl-
cola and Tampa BAYS: while vast
stretches of her coast on both seas are
girded with deep. land-locked waters, adj
nrably adapted to commercial purposes
SOIL.
The soils of Florida are various. The
most fertile and productive areas are
those having clay subsOils, as in the
northern portion of Middle, the south
eastern portion of West, and the middle
portion of East Florida. In the lower
sandy regions of each division OF the state
here are small areas Of alluYlal, or shell
ands. as before stated, sklrtlng the
streams or other bodies Of water. The
higher sandy areas are sand hills,
,narseIv covered with scrub pine and
covered with forests Of pine and grasses,
Is in the northern portions of the
cast and West, and the southern portions
f Middle Florida. The prairie lands Of
be lower Suwannee and the regions OF
Outh Florida are generally fertile, but
lsO light, sandy and generally wet: v st
reas Of low pine land along the p.
ohn's, Indian river and westward to the
iulf, considered at first sight to be o.
mall value, prove to be capable OF hlga
tate of cultivation, and well adapted 70
numerous products of the State.
PEOPLE.
The population of the State-white AZ.
05, colored, 126,690, aggregating 29s.9o4
n 1SS0-has considerably increased slhes
hat date, and immigration continues "
,our in, chiefly into East Florida alonS
he st. Johns and the middle regions "
he peninsula. The blacks are mos
numerous in the sections OF superior
ands. where they were formerly employer
!, o,,1tivafino cation as in the middle,