The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-09-21
RECLAIMING MUCH LAND.
A Great Undertaking in Progress in
Florida.
Special Correspondence.)


canal connecting Lake Worth with the
natural waterway of New River. The
dredgeboat Matanzas is now six miles
south of Lake Worth, with an open
channel averaging five and one-half feet
in depth behind her. "For over month
past" said Captain Halleman to the
Citizen representative, "we have been
able to see the smoke of the dredgeboat
Biscayne approaching US from the south,
and every day the black cloud grows
more and more distinct. l expect that
by the last of September each boats
crew will be enabled TO make out the
smokestack and crane of the other,
with the aid of glass. I estimate that
the two dredges are now about four and
a half or five miles apart-the Blscayne
with about ten miles open canal behind
her. She has already crossed the lower
ting ahead much faster than the Ma
tanzas. My opinion is that the two
boats will come together on or before
the 1st day of January, 1895. That is
| it no obstacles are en- countered more
serious than those which have already
been overcome"
DIFFERENCES IN SOILS.
aHow do you account for the differ
ence in the progress of the two dredges
Captain Hal nan?"
1.-The difference in the soil has much
to do with it, and one boat may be more
fortunate than the other in the matter
of breaks and damages to the machin-
cry. For instance, the Matanzas is now
cutting through the top layer of clay
above bed of white sand, and it is next
to impossible to make it stay where the
shovel places it-on the sides of the
canal. 1t washes back into the water,
and sometimes the dredges have to go
over the same ground two or three times.
By reason of this the Matanzas' progress
of late has not averaged more than sixty
or seventy feet per day, while in the
summer she was going at the rate of
1920 feet every twenty -four hours. Where
the soil is all black muck, the shovels
cut through it like cheese and you can
see the boat go ahead evey minute. Both
dredges have encountered more or less
rock of late, and this has made progress
slow and has been hard upon the
machinery. fs
But the Biscayne has been more for
.tunate than the Matanzas in the matter
of damage to her apparatus. just at
present she is going through a stratum
OF hard rock, partly coquina and partly
sandstone of reddish hue.
Z CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS.
@This rock is two feet or more under
the soil. and being percolated with water,
it is rendered quite soft. and the shovels
cut through il with little or no diff
Guilty, except that more power is neces-
aary. After the rock is exposed to the
sun it becomes dry and very hard, and
I doubt very much if we could cut
through it with the shovels. In some
places in It's natural condition it is hard
er than in others. and on two or three
occasions / have thought seriously of
resorting to blasting but, SO far we
have managed to make the dredge do all
the work. A stock of dynamite is kept
not far off, however, and we may have
to draw on it almost any day, but |
hope not"
The opening of this canal is bringing
to light some of the finest muck land in
the world-equaI, if not superior, to that
reclaimed by the Disston Companies, in
the famous Tohopekalga region of
Florida. 1t is almost wholly decayed
vegetable matter. and is black as coal,
even after the moisture has been drawn
out of it by exposure to the sun. For
sugar caue, rice, cassava, cabbages. and
other vegeta bles. it is tine finest in the
world, and there are many thousands of
acres of it. With quick transportation
by rail to the North and West, vegeta bles
farming in the Lake Worth and Bay of
Biscayns regions will be great and
profitable industry within the next two
or three years. There are also many
thousands of acres of lands finely adapt
ed to pine-apples and sisal hemp which
this canal will open to settlement.
NO SICKNESS AMONG THE MEN.
Captain Halleman is in charge of all
the dredging and the work of the
Florida Coast Line Canal and Transpor-
tation Company south of Lake Worth.
AS before described in these columns, tine
plan of this company is to open con-
tinuous Eavigable waterway from St.
Augustine to the waters of Biscayne
Bay, paralleled by the ocean on one side,
and thefJacksonville, ST. Augustine and
indian River Railway on the other
this, by deepening the channel of the
Matanzas, Halifax, and Indian River,
and the waters of Lake Worth, and by
constructing canals across the land sepa-
rating these natural waterways.
RECLAIMING VALUABLE LAND.
When completed, this Coast canal will
not only open up to inland navigation
stretch of land nearly 400 miles in
length, but it will drain and reclaim
many thousands of acres of land now
nntillable and uninhabitable. 1t is
hoped that. by the completion of that
portion of the canal bewteen Lake Worth
and New River, communication may be
opened this winter between Vest Palm
Beach and Nassau, N. p, the principal
port of the Bahamas. The route would
be down Lake Worth and through the
canal, thence to the A tlantic through
the inlet at New River or the lower
Hillsborough.
by the way" remarked Captain
Halleman, in closing. "the health Of our
men had been REMARKABLE good all
through the trying months of spring and
summer. They live on plain fare, and
all the water they use for cooking or
drinking is first distilled. It comes from
the canal or divers wells, and it is put
through the condensers before it is fit
for use. 1t is, therefore, almost abso-
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