Morning journal and courier., 1886-04-05
DOWN HIN FLORIDA.

sand Acres-A Beautiful White Sand Beach Forty Miles Long and Six Hundred Feet W1de-Pelicans and | Porpoises-Orange Groves of New Ha- ! New HaVeners.
 | JACKSONVILLE, Fla, March 29.-On ar irving again at Jacksonville we find by our I list that we have visited four hundred and
 thirty places having name in Florida, and
 great many places not yet named.
 We shall mention only few of the mos. l important places that we have visited since our last letter in which we mentioned Lees | burg, where we arrived after dark and through an unpleasant experience got an un- l favorable impression of the place, wLich we l afterwards learned not correct The people there do their business in a very quiet ] way which when understood is very pleas 1 ant.
 Eustis is very pleasantly located on the
 border of Lake Eustis, and is so named after l the lake, which, by the way, is beautiful | sheet of water some 6x4 miles in extent. | The town is we'll laid out and is being built 1 up rapidly. We counted over twenty build l ings in process of construction from one standpoint. It has a population of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, with good rail
 road and steamboat facilities, and is backed ! by good surroundings of high and improved I lands. Back from the town mile or so is
 one of the most beautiful views we have had \ in Florida, a view over land and water said to be over thirty miles. We were there dur ' ing the visit of the editorial party, and had an opportunity of seeing the make | up of the Eustis, citizens and | can say that we have never been in the com ! pany of more generous and whole-souled | set of men which is DO doubt the reason that ! such town has grown up within three or ! four years. Orange groves abound every ! side .Msssrs. Doane & Co. have in grove | two hundred acres and the Eustis Orange I Grove company has one hundred and twenty ! acres under cultivation, and many other smaller groves are in the vicinity. We had | the pleasure of visiting the garden of Rev: | w. w Hicks. of Washington, fruit and ! vegetable garden of three thousand acres, ' only a short drive from Eustis, and found \ Mrs. Hicks and lady friend strolling among the seed beds She kindly gave US al! the information desired, which would make Q long article of itself. We saw Dr. Hicks at distance, with his men who were, we un- derstand making preparations to raise cain, so we left. We feel indebted to Col. H. Pot ter of Eustis, fer the of his span of bays
 and mary other courtesies.
 Fruitland Park is another young town of
 much promise, not so much a merchantile
 town, a town of pleasant homes in
 healthy location. It is located on the Florida Southern railroad about four miles west of
 Leesburg. There is strip of country in this
 section, taking in sweep of six or eight
 miles which is a succession of long slopes and hills, running from
 fifty to one hundred feet or more in height
 and covered with pine trees, where not
 cleared and planted in orange groves or other
 improvements. The hollows are taken up
 with deep and clear bodies of water, or what is called here clear water lakes, some of
 which are of considerable size. Within the
 boundary which constitutes Fruitland park
 proper, about twenty of these lakes can be seen and the diversity of landscape thus af- forded is exceedingly attractive to say the least. Tavares has number of substantial
 houses and a fine large hotel gettting
 the finishing touches; population about 800.
 A population of about 3, 1000 inhabit Palatka,
 which is located on the west side of the St.
 Johns river, south of Jacksonville about
 seventy-Gve miles. The city is built on an
 elevated slope, which gives a natural drain age to the site. It is well laid out in regu-
 lar streets, both in the business and ''resi- dential" parts of the place. Orange trees
 are the principal street shade in some sec-
 tions. The steamers and sailing craft are
 well provided with wharfage. The depots
 are well located and the town or city is well
 supplied with churches and fine hotels. The
 great gap caused by the confagration of
 November, 1884, is nearly filled up again by
 fine brick blocks, which gives the whole
 place very substantial appearance when
 viewed from the river.
 Sanford is situated on the border of Lake
 Monroe, which is the limit of navigation for large steamers on the St. Johns. The steam CTS make the trip in about sixteen hours from Jacksonville. |
 Winter Park is a pleasant little place, fo1 ! particularly as winter resort. It is about 150 miles from Jacksonville.
 Brooksyilie the county seat of Fernando ! county, is situated about the center of the | country and sixteen miles from the gulf It | is some 300 feet above the sea level and now having tho facilities of railroad traffic will ! doubtless grow rapidly, as it is located on one 1 of the highest points in the county. This is ! a fine section of country and almost any thing can be raised here, even list of the | names of which would occupy too much | space.
 Auburndale, in Polk county, on the line | of the Southern Florida railroad has very | desirable location among the lakes. The ! future prominence of this little town is fully ! assured, as it possesses advantages which are | many and easily available. It is seventy | two miles from Sanford and forty three from Tampa will locate it.
 Neptune: The very name means much but visit to the place means more. The of the scene at first can scarcely be realized. This new town is located about sixteen miles east of Jacksonville, between MayporE and Pablo Beach. It is said to be on the highest | Iard on the shore. The beach is forty miles | long and of fine white sand so firmly packed | by the sea that the wheels of strong wagon | carrying four men leave no impression upon 1 it, and it is so smooth and level that the fin est shells, curious fish, sponge formations T ,/NFe aiEIo | aid on the sand as clean as though they had 1 been laid there by hand after the tide went ! put From the bluff to the water at ! ow tide is distance by measure nent of six hundred feet, which is I covered the whole distance by the rise and l all of the tide except in calm weather. Only ! hink of beach six hundred feet wide and Onger than the eye can reach north and \ outh, sprinkled over with many rare spsci k mems of natural formations, with clear ! ocean surf rolling lazily along and small col l 'nies of jackdaws and seagul1s scattered | long the waters edge often knee deep watch a ng with apparent interest for something to I { urn up. They are not afraid; they simply f leep an eye on us as we pass within few feet of them. A If porpoises for miles in length, feeding, C olling, and being rolled by the waves in the hallow water, sometimes within hun | fred feet of the shore. Then further out still ! nay be seen the keen eyed pelican shoot like ! t cannon ball into the water and by marking ( he spot with the eye it may be seen in what f direction the fish (its prey) fled, and how far t got before it was caught by the reappear- lnce of the fisher, as the pelican is one of i hose fellows who never comes back with an , 'mpty pouch. This new town is owned and e aid out by Capt. E. F. Gilbert, 2 jeweler and optiican, ormerly of Hartford, Conn.,, who, with his wife, made our visit exceedingly pleasant Their interesting children fairly loaded us with bags of beautiful shells and other inter sting animal and vegetable curiosities p
 Hawthorne: The Florida Southern rail c oad and the Florida Railway and Naviga- l fl ion company cross each other in Alachua 4 ounty at pleasantly located town called ] b hawthorne, so called after one of the old and ! g families of the place. When the 1 2 Florida Southern railroad was put through u hey called their station Waite's Crossing in | u lonor of another respectable and liberal II amily. So the place has two names, which 5 not only unfortunate for the town, but lso for the travelling public who wish to top there, as passenger who wishes to ston !