Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-25

|
we once more go on our way rejoicing. With
two such experiences we are in clear water
Farther along we pass very pretty stock
island and reach Fe1nandina at a. M. It
| did not take but very short time to look
| this town over, about the only thing of note
| being very fine beach. We then take the
train at lilo for Jacksonville. From here
| we are ferried across the st. Johns river and
| take the narrow gauge railroad to St. Angus
| tine. And here we are in one of the Oldest
| cities in the Union. The streets are very
| narrow and sidewalks there are none. We
| first visit the old Spanish cathedral, the old
est in the United States, having had its first
| mass in 1865. The interior is very plain,
| decorated with few very old paintings, all
| tending to show great age. Opposite we see
| the Spanish plaza-what we would call a
| small park-containing very fine collection
of tropical plants, with walks very neatly
| laid out, where any pleasant evening may be
| seen lots of the bellies and beaux out for
| their promenade. At the end of the plaza is
the noted slave market, where hundreds upon
| hundreds of slaves have been bought and
sold in days gone by. From here we go to
| take walk on the grand sea wall, mile
| long and two feet wide on top, built by the
| Spanish, which brings US to the old Spanish
| fort, San Marco, the greatest curiosity in the
| place. AS the old story goes, it was built
| by the Spaniards and cost its weight in gold.
| It is built of couuina quar1ied from the is
land opposite. The walls are from twenty to
forty feet high and forty feet thick in the
| thickest place, and that is where the dun
geons are Surrounding this fort is a .noat
sixty-fve feet wide spanned by a drawbridgs.
We now enter the main gate and we see the
| room in which Wild Cat, the great Indian
| chief, was confined, and from this room there
| is a tunnel running which has not been ex-
plored for a great number of years. but
| tradition has it that it an underground
passage to the old cathedral. From here
| we shown into the room containing the
old-fashioned oven which was large enough
| to bake for good sized army. Next we
see where court martials and church servl
ces were held.
Next we visit the dungeons. In order to
reach those we first bend very low and
| finally creep on hands and knees. The first
| one is in total darkness, and the others
| more if such a thing could be possible
| There is not any ray of light or air reach
| ing anyone confined in these places except
| through where We have crawled, making it
a very close, damp place. From this dis
| NAL hole we GO to the top of the wall for
| a sniff of fresh air. The watch tower
| top of the wall is about twenty feet higher.
| Here you have a fine view of the harbor and
| its surroundings, as there is where sup
| posed they expected the enemy to approach
from. The only thing we see about the fort
| in the way of embellishments is the Spanish
coat-of-arm which is found in every
|
| ted States barracks, which was formerly an
| old Spanish nunnery, and we are of the opin
| ion that if the nuns We're there now they
| would fare rather hard. Here we are in luck
| once more, being just in time to their
| evening parade and listen to the music OF
| their fine band. The grounds are very nice
| ly kept and every where are seen the marks
| of Uncle Sans care. We took very pleas
| ant sail out around the island, picked up
some very fine specimens of shells and
| helped to capture very good sized alligator.
On return to Jacksonville we pass
| through the old city gates built of the afore
| said coquina. At Jacksonville we take the
steamer up the St. Johns river to Palatka.
We find this to be a very pretty little city.
| The new buildings that are built in place OF
| those burned last year give it quite a new ap
| pearance. After spending very short time
| here we take steamer for Ocklahama river
and pass up to Green Cove Springs: The
scenery up this river is, in opinion, the
finest we saw on our trip, and the river is SO
| crooked that we have plenty of time to ad-
| mlre it. Az one time we are within guar
| ter of a mile of the landing, but have to
| travel mile and half to reach that point
| The steamer occasionally puts its foot in the
| mud and comes TO a dead stop. Then Mr.
| Darkey gets out his thirty foot pole, and af-
ter great deal of grunting and a little work
| sends the boat into navigable waters once
| more.
which are noted for theft depth and clear
| ness, being some sixty feet in depth and 50
clear that you nickel on the bottom
| of the spring. 1t is a source OF great
amusement to the captain and others who
have tried the experiment to stranger
try to spear fish that is thirty feet down in
the water with ten foot spear After eat
| ing fine dinner we started back, and for the
| benefit of those who had never seen it, the
captain ordered fire built on tor of the pi-
| lot house of pitch pine, which gave to the
scenery very lurid and brilliant effect We
| spent the night in Palatka at the Graham
House, a well kept hotel and after break
| fast the next morning cross the river
| to isit the orange grove of Mr.. Hart. He
has about forty acres under cultivation and
| to the eyes of northern man it is most
beautiful sight. At the present time the
growers of this fruit have an arrangement
| by which sufficient quantity of coal tai
is kept burning throughout the night, the
| smoke from which keeps the frost from the
| fruit. We now return to Palatka and again
| take steamer for Jacksonville, and our
way we SEE the noted orange grove of Har
riet Beecher Stowe, of which so many pen
and ink sketches have been drawn, but
which in reality is very tame affair.
And now we take the train for New Or
leans direct. Not anything of particular
| interest occurred on our way, but an oeca
sional hot box which the darkeys i'll
their slow way takes somewhere from
| hour to an hour and half to repair, which
makes somewhat behind time. At one
| place on this route in going five miles we
| pass over six bridges spilings. In some
| places the spiles are one hundred and sixty
| five feet long in order to get to the bottom
| of the mud. AS the sun is rising in the
morning we have magnificent view of Lakes
Ponchartrain and St. Louis. We arrived i'll
| New Orleans at the foot of Canal street al
| two o'clock p. H., one of the first things that
astonishes the eye of a northern man is tn"
| filthy condition of its streets, the modern
sewerage system seems to have made bot
very little headway here. The open square
or park which lies between the French mar
ket and the Cathedral is interesting III itself
and surroundings. Here, says history, Bien-,
| vile first planted his colony of fifty persons.
| Evidently he successful planter, for his
| colony lived and fourished in spite of all its
| discouragement. Half century later this
square was the scene of the official transfer
of Louisiana to Spain and quarter of a
century after this three imposing buildings
were built side of this park by two
| Spanish gentlemen, government house and
| Jail and between the two a very fine cathe-
| dral called ST. Louis In 1901 and 3 it wit
| messed the transfer of Louisiana first to
| France and then to the United States. Here
on Dec. 1S, 1914, General jackson reviewed
| his victorious army and in honor of the geH
| eral it's name waschanged to jackson Square.
| w e next VlSlG WnaG TO 9 northern man Is
| quite curiosity, in which are to be seen
some beautiful mountains.
From here we continue on to Lake Pom
chartrain, beautiful inland lake connected
| with the gulf by a very narrow outlet of
water. The sight here is, indeed, grand. AS
| far as the eye can reach it is one wide ex-
| panse of clear smooth water equally and if
| not exceeding the view from West Haven
shore. The Henry Clay and Lee monuments
are the two finest monuments in the city.
The custom house, very fine building, has
| for its foundation novel material, being
| nothing more or less than bales of cotton.
The exposition we will say little about.
There seems to be great adversely of opin-
| ion in regard to it. In our opinion it is not
to be compared to the Centennial exhibition
either in size, management, exhibits, al
| though some of the exhibits are very
fine.
We took steamer at nine o'clock in the
morning to visit the far-famed jetties at the
mouth of the Mississippi river constructed by
Captain Eads which are twelve miles long
and are used to turn three separate currents
| into one, this one having depth of twenty
four feet. On our way we Forts Jackson