The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1889-11-26
STARK

STARKE
The Thrifty Capital of Bradford County and
Country Tributary-The New Railroad
Centre, Hampton-A Ride through the
Country-Man ManHfactures-New Enterprises
- Productions Inducements - Personal,
etc.
BY way of a beginning, we viii say, HAT
the man who is looking for a home III
Florida, to raise fruits, vegetables, tarEl, or
dc business in most Of the ordinary lines;
tie man who at the same time takes health
and pleasant community of people into
consideration, desiring to buil1 for himself
q home, where the ICY winds Of winter or
the hot ones Oh summer cannot reach him,
misses all to q large eXtctt il he gives this
section the go-by. 1t IS not our inlenlion
to claim everything for it, or, IN fact, TO
give the slightest col0ling calculated to
mislead. Only actual results and living
examples will be given, which have either
been shown or proven TO the writer during
q stay of several days which were spent in
looking up the facts. We will further say,
in order that the distant reader may more
thoroughly appreciate the information Civ
en-, that this article as we'll as the score OF
OlHtIS NIIlltu pll lIlC tOlHtG QuLlUH lilt
wear, and the many more to come on the
various sections OF the State during the pres
ent winter, that they are in powise paid tor
articles-simply an enterprise or rather an
undertaking of the FLORIDIAN to furnish
reliable information of every portion of the
State for the benefit of those seeking
homes amongst us. 1t matters little where
they locate, so they come to Florida, when
hn fbn TT
acknowledged Stale paper for the past six
ty-one years, will also prosper in proper
ton, and with its hundreds and hundreds
of outside readers who have recognized its
reliability and taken it for the ole purpose
Of getting information makes it duty to
use every eXertion to furnish such iniorma-
ton in a thorough and disinierestcd man
uer, and it will be done.
STARkE,
AS before stated, is the county seat Of
Bradford county; is located on the Fcrnan-
dina, Key Wet and Ocala OF Plant CITY
division of the +. G. & p. railroad about
tweney seven miles south Of where the
Jacksonville and RIVER junction division oI
the system crosses. The new Georgia and
Florida Southern crosses five miles south, ar
new point called Hampton, OF which
more will be said further along. This give
the county two trunk lines crossing each
other and afOrding unusually good trans
portation facilities.
NEW ENTERPRISES
A very good idea of town or section car
always be formed by their enterprise, and
by this gauge Starke and the county make
q good showing The necessary stock fol
large fruit canning factory has almos
been subscribed, not only enough for neces
sary buildings and machinery, but capita
! 10 run on and do a heavy business. The
company will soon organize and file ari-
cles OF incorporation, when work will be
gin.
A bank with capital of not less thar
| $50 900 has made all necessary arrange
nents 20 commence business and viii &c
50 at M early dute The parties are new
comers.
Another party from the North who owns
large landed Interests here is making ar
rangemcnts for establishing a large wood
working plant !Or manufacturing various
articles IN the house trimming line, furniture
material, handles, crates, etc, from pine
gum, hickory, red bay, Cyl ress, etc, which
abound in the vicinity in the greatest
abundance and OF the finest grades.
One of the
BIG ENTERPRISES
is that Of the Bradford County Muck Land
Drainage Company, the members OF which
are all our own home people, consisting OF
Dr.. J. l.. Gaskins, Speaker OF the House
Of Representatives, G. l.. Peek, leading
lawyer of this place, and NJ. f. Lewis, and
J. p. McCulley, the leading merchants and
extensive fruit growers of Lawtey. Their
property lies about two and half miles
west OF town, consisting OF 600 acres,
including lakes Sampson, Crosby and Row
ell, which are the ones being drained in or
der To rccaim the valuable muck deposits,
and also on which to extensively grow
sugar and rice The work is progressing
satisfactorily, and they viii soon begin the
construction OF saw mill, rice mill and sugar
making plant The Georgia and Florida
Southern railroad runs directly through the
property 1t Is also the intention Of The
company to lay oul town, 10 be called
Sampson City, on some suitable location,
where all their machinery Will be erected.
Mr.. c. L. Peek, who is one OF the above
company, and Mr.. T. Fewkes, will also
erect rice mills, one at StaIke and one AT
Sampson City
Mr.. w. II. TAYLOR has made beginning
with cabinet shop, and stated that he was
making preparations for securing steam
power and enlarging his business gen
orally.
There are already two steam gins for gin
ing long staple or Sea Island cotton. A
saw and planning mill and a considerable
sized wagon shop, with several smaller
shops of various kinds, all of which seem
10 be thriving.
SEA ISLAND COTTON.
Bradford county grows about one-eighth
of all of this staple grown in the State, and
last year shipped about 1880 bales. This
is an exceedingly profitable crop. While
it costs no more to raise or market, sells
for from % to 26 cents per pound. or over
double ordinary cotton. There are i'm
mense bodies of uncleared lands in the
county suitable to its growth which can
vet be obtained at very reasonable prices.
THE OTHER PRODUCTIONS
Are most too numerous to name here, but
we will mention some of the principal ones
It is of course in the great strawberry sec
ton. and is only behind the Lawtey section
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