The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-05
indianapolis Horse and Mule Market.
EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA.
A Huge Marsh Which Has Never Been
Thoroughly Explored.
Pittsburg Dispatch.

TittSDurg DfSpdtcn.
The southern extremity Of the peninsula
Of Florida is one huge marsh known as the
Everglades: This impenetrable wilderness,
or rather jungle, is made up Of about I'll
OF the large county OF Dade. almost all Of
Monroe. the greater part of Dee. much of
De Soto and most of Brevard. At the
north end of this singular formation is
Lake Okeechobee, into which the Kissin-
NEE and other rivers discharge their wa
tiers and which are largely responsible for
tangle growth STSa"fR Is in nn's SOME see1 piae seset ninet Sr
miles wide, extending from the Atlantic
across to the gulf. and from its southern
one hundred miles. There are great
stretches of cypress swamps, wildernesses
re- Elnss Of ia merass. o wi 1Ree oom maasr, imwe dfs
spots in this desert Of untraversable and
bewildering intermingling of a semi-trop-
snakes, bears. wildcats and other carnivo.
"a, while geese. ducks. sea birds. and other
aHua,ie rowI dot the water and myriads of
cypress forests vocal. The entire State of
Florida is not much above the level of the
than a few dozen feet higher than tide wa
ter. Throughout this everglade region no
human being has ever fully penetrated.
and there are lagoons that no human eve
has ever seen, that are much the same as
those of preglacial time. While there are
might be operated there are hundreds OF
intervening miry boys of ooze and slime of
unknown depth that bar the way. There
10 hO " eCoSOI Gtlt-AO SCaEOn III
a frozen surface may be traversed and
so this dismal area, for thousands OF years.
has been given over TO such a production
as was in keeping with such an environ
ment. But 1t Is now contemplated to pen
citrate this great marsh with canai-like
bitches, with a view of SO lowering the
general water line as TO bring this swampy
mass into cultivation for the products Pc
culiar to this zone. and for which the de-
caying vegetable matter of the ages is
supposed to be admirably fitted. Little or
nothing is known of the geological SUBJ
structure of this peninsalar termination, but
that an immense coral formation is its
base is altogether probable. II is safe to
predict that excavations through this ma
terial will reveal many skeletons OF crea-
lures that found death In the treacherously
yielding surface In a dry time this COM
post bears up fairly well, but when contin-
ued rains are precipitated upon IL the en-
tire area is inundated, when the softened
material is incapable Of sustaining any Of
the larger quadrupeds.
These everglades are interesting in this,
that they typify in a manner the early
earth was water and marsh. OF course,
there are no such creatures now as wal
lowed In the lagoons and crunched the
roots of the aquatic vegetation In the
way the present fauna OF the great Florida
swamp is typical OF their long-ago ances-
tors. While the alligator Is nearly extinct
in the regions OF easy access, the saurians
of the everglades have never been much
molested, and have there attained q size
and ferceness unknown to other parts or
the State. Strange cries are sometimes
this inaccessible domain. a churning or the
water attests encounters between large and
savage contestants. while the flight and
that the instincts OF the evergiade brute
[, are still as ~Sanguinary as they Were before
man had 50 evolved as TO dominate over
them and them from the earth.