The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-03
Under FLORIDA SANDS.
5.ACRE LOT THAT BROKE
THROUGH THE CRUST.

County '0lnk hOlo - Inc luxe OF
sutherland as q Scenic Ornament.
From the Neto York Times.
Tbere is a mystery about the foundation
=, the Florida peninsula that none Of the
~,oIogists have yet given a satisfactory ex-
ssIonation Of. 1t is easy to imagine the PEN
;nena a reef of sand washed up by the cur.
ia N the ocean on one side and the Gulf
:, Mexico on the other, increasing in size
S.,baps for a few centuries and then dimiu-
;.1ing for another brief period; but there
ava some curious things about the state
mich lead the unscisntido observer to be-
lava that the peninsula Is more than heap
~ sand. An unscientihc person cannot be
.rnected to make as plausible guess about
these things as a geologist, because his mind
has not been trained to guessing upon such
.,hiects: but he may state few facts and
S,ayv from them his own unscieutific con-
clusions.
Two or three of these mysterious things
obnnt Florida are enough to illustrate the
n9ins. The first is one that have not seen,
Int which / give on the authority of the
Iacksonville Times Union, published within
a few miles of the spot mentioned. There
{. in the Atlantic ocean, this newspaper
saws at point ten miles south OF St Au-
"asrine. and two miles from the shore, a
ssTeat gushing spring of fresh water. 1.-THE
soriug is defined by the silver cleaning
ybitecaps trying to force themselves over
the powerful boiling spring" This fresh
wster covers an area Of about two
acres. In st. Augustine the driven
wells are living fountains, bring
inc their water not merely near to
tbe surface so that it may be pumped out,
Init throwing it into the air in streams. This
ia the case also in Titusville.a hundred miles
or more down the coast, and in many other
psrts Of Florida. In some places this water
i, 50 strongly impregnated with sulphur that
il has to stand In open tanks before it can
he used. and in other places it is pure. That
water, presume, even the biologists will
admit, comes through something else than
sea sand At Silver Springs, near Ocala,
the country is almost level, and the surface
is pure sand. Suddenly a river issues from
this sand; river large enough and deep
enough to float the biggest ocean steam
ship that ever sailed through the Mar
rows Steamboats, navigate the deep basin
which is the head of this river. The water
is 80 clear that the bottom may be seen dis
tiDctly, and at the sides of the basin the
water is seen pouring through the clefts In
the rock. This water is pure and fresh !;
therefore this is not the underground
streams that supplies the artesian wells at
St. Augustine and Titusville, which are sui
phurous Lastly, there are the sink holes,
found all over the Florida peninsula: deep
depressions, where the level sand has sunkeu
sometimes 100 feet that can be seen, and
many feet more that cannot be seen, for the
bottom is usually full Of water, which is
often Of great depth.
These things led me to the sage conclusion
that there is an immense hollow III the rocks
that underlie the Florida peninsula. great
cavern by the side of which LuraY and the
Mammoth cave are toys. A cavern with
rivers running through it, one of these rivers
having an outlet in the fresh water spring
near st. Augustine and another in the Sill
yer Spring. Where these underground
rivers rise / am not vet prepared to say
perhaps in New Jersey for see that the
Hon. John Kean, Jr., discovered a river of
pure water under Plainfield two days before
be called the republican state committee
together So far these subterranean Florida
rivers have been free TO the public, but
since the Standard Oil Company has piped
one OF them at st. Augustine, there is no
saying what may happen.
II one was to see a section Of his garden
suddenly drop and leave a yawning hole
100 feet or so deep, he would naturally con-
clude that there had been hollow under
meath. This Is exactly what happened to
about five acres of land near Maitland, In
Orange county before the first white man
put his triumphant foot in the Florida sand.
This curious place, which is perhaps three
miles from Maitland, is called, like all SIM
liar depressions, "the sink hole" 1t has Its
legend, Of course about people having been
drowned in it, and it is one Of the standard
ouriosities of Orange county. DR.. George
B, Bouton Of Westport. Conn. who was
spending the winter in Maitland, was not
willing to leave this freak of nature unex-
plored. and one day be and Landlord Will
lam PrinKle and set out with Capt. Eaton's
blackboard and mule to make scientific in
vestgation.
The road from Maitland to the sink hole
runs through unique settlement called
Eatonvile, little city inhabited entirely
BY colored people. In the early days of
Maitland, as much as ten or twelve years
ago, the man and brother was found to be
growing too frequent for comfort and this
town about mile away was founded for
his accommodation and his white neigh
oors convenience. Capt. Eaton, the owner
OF our mule and blackboard, was the founder
aud his name the place bears. All the
Garkies IN the neighborhood of Maitland
I'VE IN Eatonville, where they own mostly
tler own little homes, have their own
churches, their own cemeteries, and at one
tine had their own newspaper; but
The literary impulse weakened, and the
newspaper died. Besides these things the
colored brethren elect their own mayor.
t1elr own board Of aldermen, their own
EElty marshal, and so on. 1t is rather small
Ior city, having perhaps forty or fifty
small frame houses; but it is a great con-
Vehlence to Maitland, keeping the folks Of
color Just little in the rear, and still near
enough when wanted. Opposite a little
church, with boards instead of glass in the
windows, aud with a bell hung between two
posts and exposed 20 the weather, is the
EGtonvtlle cemetery. Here the Eaton
EllIIans erect scantling frames over the
Z raves OF the departed to keep the hoodoos
Inc sink hole lies in a somewhat desolate
region that has been cleared and cultivated,
. that is neglected now, aud going rapidly
uacE 10 It's first estate. There is a slight
i.Se IN the land before it is reached, and 100
! ARDS from the hole are the remains Of
nouse mat has fallen to pieces. About the
: u'us Oh the house are still standing few
"a ange and lemon trees, and we fastened
.ue Wiling mule willing to stop to lemon
n II 70 ana crossed the road to the depression
t mere was hole 100 feet deep, round, and
wv Ieet across at the top, the sides soping
TDeee9piy down to pond in the bottom,
, mulcn was about 300 feet across. These fig
vi % are, OF course, all estimates, but they
ore ore accurate enough for the purpose. In
s3u4e places along the shore the bottom of
.ue pond could be seen; but in the center
.ue water was black and looked deep. 1t is
, ratu 10 be bottomless, this pond, which
means that it has not vet heen sounded with