The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-30
FEATURES OF FLORIDA LIFE.
The Trading Boat Is Still Used on the
East Coast

Inc trading Boat Is Still Used on the
East Coast.
Sewalrs> Point, Indian River, Fla,
Aug. 29-With the opening of the East
Coast line of railroad TO Lake Worth, and
the prospect of its ultimate extension to
the waters of Biscayne Bay, many Of the
old institutions, customs and methods of
the Indian river country are fast disap-
pearing some of them have already
gone forever. But the trading boat
IS stll in evidence, although
not holding its own in the onward march
OF civilization on the east coast. Time was
when the settlers depended almost en-
tlrely upon these floating stores Tor their
supplies, and there was feet of fully
thirty of them between OrmOnd and the
Jupiter river. Now there are only seven
OF them as nearly as can be learned-twO
halllng from Melbourne, one from Eau
Gallie. and one each froJn Ttusville,
Fort Pierce and two different points on
the ST Lucie river
The trading boats f1oUrished and their
owners made money in the DAYS before the
deepening of the channel-when there
was not enough water in many places for
even the lightest draft steamboats-and
when regularly stocked stores were few
aud far between along the river. Then
the trading boats frequently carried mer-
NNA4o~ oesEA - tlllS many bA4OAodlAOo VI
dollars IN value, and trade was brisk and
profits big
They all had look somewhat similar
generally sloop-rigged with low house
covering nearly everything and were
from fourteen to twenty tons burden.
But the settlers knew them all by name
and could, in most instances, distinguish
them some miles away by some little
popularity of shape, color or rig Their
coming was hailed with delight and their
captains and crews were hale fellows,
well met" with the people at every set
Element.
To-day I went aboard one of these boats
at the pier here. She was large, roomy
craft-about sixteen tons, l should say
and hailed from Melbourne. Her shape
was OF the t1at-lron pattern, her hull and
all her woodwork painted white, and her
rig that OF sloop. Below deck she was
htted up like store, with a counter,
shelves, scales desk, etc Her stock CON
sisted of groceries, both staple and fancy,
coarse clothing, hats, caps, boots and
shoes, cloths, dry goods, notions, station
cry, books, hardware, confectionery,
powder, shot, fishing tackle, guns, revolv-
ers ana general sporting goods
VIEWS OF A CAPTAIN.
"Do the people along the river buy of
you as much as formerly" / asked the
captain of the craft.
Well yes, was the reply, in a slightly
doubtful tone, 1--WE get rid of about as
much stock per trip as we used to, but we
don't make as many trips as we did form
erly, you see"
Let me ask you why it is that these
people buy of the trading boats when
there are so many stores and the means
OF transportation so rapid and so cheap"
II reckon our prices are just a little
lower, and then the country folks get
tired OF selecting goods from the same
old stocks in the home stores. The
change is greeable-and on top of it all
1t seems like many of the folks here
abouts prefer to stick to the old custom.
When we hauled up at Jensen the other
day we had all we could do for four hours
serving customers. They came from the
settlement and from far and near in
boats. Our sales there amounted to over
500, and darkness alone put a stop to the
business. The colored people buy more
than they used to. In the first place,
there are more of them, and nowadays
they have more money than formerly and
live better in every way. The men buy
laCk-kniyes, pipes cigars, tobacco, neck
ties fishing tackle and shot; the wo-
men, ribbons, handkerchiefs, hose, belts,
aprons, wrappers, scissors, thread and
cheap Jewelry; the children, peanuts and
confectionery. On pleasant Saturday
afternoons | have seen as many as thirty
boats of all kinds made fast to this craft,
and our customers would reach as many
as hundred sometimes. But six or eight
times year is as often as we go nova
days. 1t wouldn't pay to keep the boat
going all the time The novelty of the
thing would wear off, and the business
would peter out fast. AS it is, the reg
ular traders manage to work off good
deal of their surplus stocks through the
trading boats. But their number grows
less year by year. l reckon you won't
see craft of this kind on the Indian river
five years from now"
The crew of an Indian river trading
boat comprises generally from two to four
men-the boss and his assistants. The
latter take turns at cooking, clerking and
manning the boat, and the nights are
always divided into watches. There are
always numerous pistols, revolvers and
shotguns on board, for it frequently hap
pens that the boss" must carry a large
amount of money along until he gets a
chance to deposit it. A trading boat was
pointed out to me one day last February
whose captain was said to have Sc, 900 in
cash ION him" But. with an express of
flee every ten or fifteen miles, and banks
in many of the river towns, this is really
no longer necessary.
The development of the East Coast
country, under the inspiration of Mr.. H.
NJ. tlagler, is amazing in its rapidity, but
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