Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-04-21
A FLORIDA TRIP.
DOWN INDIAN RIVER IN A HOUSE 3


wife, Mr.. Woodward and wife and my
self and wife this winter chartered IA
house boat and sailed down Indian River
for two or three weeks cruise to
Jupiter, Juno and Lake Worth. One may
read the beautifuly-wordedp pen pictures,
or the song of the Indian River by the
poets and scribes. but when you come
to see it with your own eyes you realize
that all has not been told There is II
wierdness and novelty in the scenery
that cannot be fully described. The
Hudson has her own beautiful landscapes
and mountains peculiar to herself.
Colorado has her grand canons, gorges
and cliffs; and the Columbia, winding her
way from the mountains to the sea
through rocky gorges and beautiful val
eys, commanding the admiration aud
praises of poets and scribes the world
oyer; and the st. Lawrence, with her
thousand Islands and the Niagara, with
her grand cataracts and falls. All these
have been written. sung and praised
F
peculiar features and beauties, and yet
they all have some features common to
to all.
But the Indian river Is unique; it has
nothing in common with any other. 1t
is the only river of the kind in the world.
1t has its own climate. its own banks,
its own trees and foliage on its banks,
its own fruits, its own flowers. its own
breezes, its own sunshine peculiar and
different from all others. 1t lies parallel
with the Atlantic coast for distance
of over siXty-fve miles, separated by a
narrow strip of land. 1t is a sheet of
pure salt water fed by several nlets
ranging in width from one to five miles.
1t is by far the finest river for fishing,
yachting and plcasure-riding to be found
on the continent.
Rock Ledge is located on the banks of
this remarkable river, l75 miles south
of Jacksonville, and % miles below Titus
vile, in the midst of the finest and most
productive orange groves in the world
The shipments from this one point will
amount to 100000 boxes this season.
Pineapples, cOcOanuts, lemons and other
semi-tropical fruits are grown, but not
so abundantly as the orange. The town
has three tirst-class hotels and many
beautiful new cottages of modern style.
Daily mail Is served and there is tele-
graphic communication.
Rock Ledge is the great stopping
point on the upper river and will have
the greatest season of its history.
Merritt's island, or the south point of
the island, is just fine, as we look at il
from a passing view. The next of i'm
portance are FIT. Pierce, Eden and
Censor. Here is the home of the pine
apple, and as you look from the river
it looks like Vermont hill in mid-wn-
ter, coveredS with snow for the sand is
as white as snow itself, and when we
go ashore we find the hills are small
and one hundred rods from the shore
over the hill we find what Florida people
call a savannah. 1t is a great marsh
covered with saw grass, the home Of the
alligator. This savannah runs south
lance of 30 miles. The sand on the hill
sides, or soil, looks too poor to grow
white beans, and do not think its looks
deceive us. But they do, with plenty
of feed, grow large crops of pineapples.
| was informed by reliable authority that
Mr.. Richards grew last year from one
acre of ground $3.50 worth of pineapples,
with high feeding, but this was an I'M
usual crop.
Next of Importance is 30 miles below
the st. Lucy river, the home of the
manatee, tarpon and shark. The fishing i:
fine here in its season.
Then we enter what is called Indian
river lower narrows, l3 miles IN length
and so narrow that there is only room for
the boats to pass the most of the way.
The shores are covered with mangroves
and cabbage palmettos. We often saw
wild animals on its shores among the
mangrOves. After passing through the
narrows we enter the harbor at Jupiter
where we cast anchor for eight days
Next day we took the train for Juno ant
Lake Worth, a distance of 20 miles, and
as | above stated, the pineapples com
mence at Fit. Pierce and from there t
the southern end of Lake Worth there
extends almost an unbroken line of pine
apple plantations. Within the last five
years this industry has made most sur
prising growth, until the acreage is wa!
up in the thousands, with hundreds o.
thousands of dollars invested in the pas
year.
While here we had what we call north
erner and the hotel-keeper takes COLI
snap philosophically and knows that /
will hurry his guests along. The grow,
owner can only pray for grace to keel