The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-08-02
TIE FLORIDA KEYS.
rom HarneE's Younr People

| From Haruev's Young People.
Monroe and Wade counties, Fla, en-
brace all that portion of the peninsuls
south of line drawn from Cape Ro
mano. on the gulf coast. to Wiani, or
the Atlantic coast, including all those
little islands or keys the word being q
corruption of the Spanish word cayo
island) lying to the south and the
southwest of the mainland. The LAND
| nowhere rises TO more than six or sever
| feet above the ocean level, while the
keys do not have an elevation of more
| than three or four feet.
The interior of these keys is lower
still than the coast, and oftentimes bat
little better than mere marshes OF
swamps, especially adapted 10 the
1 growth and culture of the little animal
known as the mosquito. The soil is q
mixture of coral sand and decayed veg,
! etable matter, and forms a thin crus,
of earth upon the rocky and coral for
nation. II is nutritious enough TO sup
I port growth of wild cocoanut. butter.
wood and mangrove trees. But these
/ represent about all the natural prod
Experiments with pine apple and
cocoanut groves are being tried in some
places, but as yet have not gotten be-
You'd the experimental stage.
The waters TEEN with fish and all
varieties of marine life. Certain varie-
ties of fish caught here have delicious
flavor. and furnish the only food in the
way of flesh that is called palatable.
The king-fsh, like the blue-fsh of New
England, is caught by trolling far out
on the line of reefs. During certain
seasons turtles in abundance can be
caught. Sharks of all sizes and species
make these their homes.
The climate is generally delightful,
the air cool, pure, and invigorating as
long as the breezes blow. but when a
calm comes on and the breezes die
down it becomes oppressively hot.
The hotter the air the more ferocious
and tormenting become the attacks of
the mosquitoes. The water between
the keys Is nowhere more than two
fathoms, and often not more than a
foot deep. On account of the large
number of shoals, navigation is at all
times difficult. and at night almost i'm
possible. Until several years ago it
was a sort of unknown country. In
the days when piracy fourished the
many little bays and harbors to be
found among these islands furnished
excellent headquarters for bands of
pirates. and the ignorant and super
stitious still tell tales of buried treas
ures which they one day hope to find.
Before the days of lighthouses it was
a frequent occurrence for ships to be-
driven by gale upon some of these
reefs and wrecked. There are in places
still to be seen remains of wrecking
stations where the wreckers stored
away the merchandise which they
plundered from the unfortunate ships.
On Indian Key there are to be seen re-
mains of buildings, and several large
cisterns for collecting fresh water, the
remains of a former wrecking station.
But all else has gone to ruin and de-
cay; the brave buccaneers have long
since gone to join the great majority,
and have received their rewards for
their deeds done in the flesh.
At the terminus of this chain of keys
lie the group known as the Dry Tortu-
gas, which have been used as a military
prison. OF these various keys, Key
Largo is the largest. Sugar-loaf Key
covers an area of fifty square miles, in
elusive of its lagoons. Salt Key and
some others have lakes of intensely
salt water. Key West, the most impor-
tant of all the keys. contains the city of
Key West. the county seat OF Monroe
county. Tradition gives the following
account of the origin of the name of
Key West: During the time when these
islands were the homes of Indians, long
before the coming of the paleface,
there was incesSant and bloody war
waged upon the islanders by the in
habitaDts of the mainland. The island
ers were gradually driven westward,
island known as Key West. Here
last and most desperate battle was
fought. The islanders We're again de-
fested. and slain almost to a man. The
dead bodies were allowed to lie on the
field of battle, and when the Spaniards
came they found the island strewn
from end 10 end with the whitening
bones of the islanders. They accord
ingly gave the island the name Of
Cayo Hueso Cbone island. and this be- F..
came corrupted in the course Of time .
into the name OF Kew West.