Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-01-14
In the Land of Flowers.


ID. A. JOHNSON, ESQ,
Dear Friend-From the above yol
will find that we are in the Gland o.
flowers" and, knowing the interest yor
have in this place, I will try to give
you few particulars. My description
| may not be very poetic or elaborate
but it will be truthful, to the best of my
| knowledge. -...
After three days trip over several
| railroads, we arrived in Santa Gorda
ednesday morning, and, on account
of a strong northern wind, had to lay
over until next day, when Mr.. j. H.
Hafer came over in fine sailboat, and
In twelve hours we were at our future
home. No pen can give a full and sat
lsfactory description over the beauty
and grandeur of this bay and its clear
blue waters, teeming with fish of every
known and unknown variety, and dot
ted with ducks, geese, Grains, plume
birds, pelicans, seagulls and birds in
Vulnerable to mention. The bay is
about one mile wide and sixteen miles
long, bounded on one side by the main
land, and hundreds, yes thousands of
islands on the other, forming kind of
breastwork agsinst the wind and waves
of the gulf.
Now the first and vital question is the
quality of land, and | am happy to say
that, as far as l have seen, in my judg-
ment, it is fully as good, if not super
ior, to the best lands in the State any
where. 1t has Il darker color and seems
to be more compact than any | have
seen on the East coast, or in the inter-
ior, and will readily produce all of the
semi-tropical fruits, also all kinds OF
vegetables for the early market. We
have now radishes, lettuce, cucumbers,
onions, celery, tomatoes, cabbage grow
ing nicely, and in a few weeks all of
these will be ready for the market, and
will command almost any price. One
man here sold three boxes of cucumbers
last January for 1920, and Mr.. Hafer
has raised onions from the seed weigh
ing as high as three and one-half
pounds.
There is hardly any city here yet; a
few families are living on their lots,
and the streets are chopped out, but as
soon as the railroad comes through all
will be changed in d hurry, and in a
very few years we will have thriving
city, surrounded by orange and lemon
groves. A good many groves are started
already, among them is Col. Lewis, on
Deer Greek, sixty acres.
Had it not been for thu foolish scare
IF yellow fever a few years ago, this
place would have been thickly settled
low, but. although there was not a
single case inside fifty miles of here, it
stopped the wheels of progress ard
caused depression which will take a
rood many years to repair.
The A. G.. c. & L. railroad have COM
nenced and the company are under
,Cnd to have both branches complete
md in full running order before the !
18th of May, 1898. The two roads will
start at Lakeland, one running nearly |
lue south, and the other via Tampa |
along the coast down to Boca Grande, |
he junction of the two roads to be
Grove City or immediate vicinity.
There are no insects here whatever; |
lave not seen a fly, flea or mosquito |
ret. On a calm evening a few sand |
lies will be felt on the waters edge. 1
There are several industries besides |
ruit-growing that will pay better here |
han anywhere else; among others !
heep-raising and poultry.
Cannot tell yet where the railroad /