The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1885-04-01
Florida.

E40r1da. -
When the first issue of the Western
UorM went to press, your correspondent
was exploring the Kissimmee Valley,
having been kindly rendered the steamer
Rosalie by the Atlantic 4 Gulf Coast
Canal and Okeechobee Land Co. ex-
tended my explorations ninety miles
from a post-office by the route of the
Rosalie. While regret that could not
claim the honor of being contributor to
your first issue, yet l am compensated
for this loss by my varied experiences in
the wilds, and in the towns and cities
which are being rapidly developed by
truly cosmopolitan people, from almost
every part of the civilized world.
Our Western people who have been
reared on the picket line of the New
World IS civilization, halt and view with
amazement the growth of towns and cities
as well as the rapidly increasing railway
and steamboat facilities on the peninsula
of Florida, which for health, pleasure,
prosperity, charming climate, hunting
fishing and boating, is unexcelled. Nor
is this section without its attractions in
the more prosaic, but important matter
of dollars and cents. Investments are
common which have paid 20 to 200 per
cent, and which there is every promise
will do even better than this in the next
few years.
In the West we first build shanty
town, and later on replace it by better
buildings. Not so in Florida. A
frst-class hotel is planted among the
pines, live oaks and palmettoes; sub
stantial, permanent houses are at once
erected, and in few short months the
advantages and improvements Of old
towns are enjoyed. The truth about
Florida is not realized by those who
read about it, and never will be until
each person interested visits it in person
and makes the round of the peninsula.
The ST. Johns river is not the Hudson,
the Susquehanna, Delaware, or any other
especially interesting river. Its banks
are low and uninviting to most people
who are accustomed to rolling or
mountainous country. DO not judge
Florida by { nleassg steamboat !, 3 Z 3. Z
Kissimmee and other tributary valleys,
lakes, rivers and creeks, have been reser-
voirs holding the surplus water, and pre-
venting its escape to the ocean. These
millions of acres covered with water
were not only useless, having no value,
but were source of great danger and
expense to other millions of acres, as
the rainy seasons caused these reservoirs
to overflow and spread destruction
over hundreds of miles.
The Atlantic & Gulf Coast Canal and
Okeechobee Land Company, chartered
by special act of the Legislature of Flor
ida in 1881, for the purpose of draining
and reclaiming the above mentioned
lands, have received recently, from the
State of Florida, perfect titles to over
/ 1.OOO, 900 acres of land. The success of
the operations of feet of dredges and
steamers has surpassed the most sangu
inc expectations of the projectors of the
scheme, and proved beyond doubt its
practicability, and in a financial way
destiny seems to point out this company
as fated to be one of the most wealthy
and successful corporations ever charter
ed by the State. This company takes
nothing, or worse than nothing, YER
table cancer, and by cutting canals,
clearing out rivers and improving the
same, drains the water from the surface,
lowers the lakes and rivers three to six,
or more, feet, creating dry land which is
among the most valuable in the United
States for production of sugar, cotton,
rice, vegetables and fruit. Not only
does the company reap rich reward but
bII6 lJGdlC VI Il 1OIlOt lCSO1NOo oebOAOAtSOOAy
compensation. Experience shows that
cane continues to mature in the Kissim-
NEE valley until February, and tassels
out. The absence of malaria among the
crews of the dredges who have been for
two years, daily, in the water above their
waists, is remarkable. Imust defer, for
the present comments upon the beautiful
valley, its resources, hunting, fishing,
feathered tribes, stock raising, etc.
AS Manatee county occupied quite a
space in your first issue, | will not now
report my pleasant experience among
her hospitable people, but may sometime
tell you about
Christmas on the Manatee
The Lakeland newsman and his stingaree.
The last view of the gulf coast from the
steamer Gov. Stafford, and the reminis-
cences of Tarpon Springs, with its charm
ing surroundings, fills my heart with
pleasure at the thought Of. e'er long re-
turning to drink their health-giving
waters, inhale the pure, mild, salt water
air, be famed by the balmy breezes OF
the boundless ocean, mingled with the
aroma of the stately pine and the aristo-
cratic palmetto, fish in salt or fresh
water, lakes and rivers, gallop through
the pines Gree from underbrush), as rap
idly as the hounds follow the deer in an
English hunting park, and at the same
time get more shots at deer and other