The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-09
HOW TO GET RICH.
Some Experiences OF New Settlers In tn
East Coast Country OF Flor ida.

Some Experiences of New Settlers In the
East Coast Country OF Flor ida.
1t is now very generally acknowl-
| edged that the south offers the most
| tempting opportunities for investors
and the best industrial conditions fol
| home-seeksrs of all the undeveloped
areas ON this continent. In both these
| particulars. Florida Is equal to any OF
her sister states of the south and in
point of climate and healthfulness she
surpasses them all.
And even In Florida, the natural con-
ditions are not ON a dead level all over
that immense state. There is Il great
diversity of soil. of climate, of crop
capabilities, of industrial and social
| conditions, of transportation facilities
and of the means of producing wealth.
But ii is to the East Coast country to
which the attention of the outside world
has In recent years been most gen
orally directed, for the peculiaritieS of
that section are striking and everything
about 1t is attractive.
The East Coast, in the present use of
the name. includes that portion of the
state lying along the Atlantic from st.
Augustine to Biscayne bay, extending
westward as far as the valley of the
st. Johns and the lakes north of the
Everglades. in which that river has its
source. 1t is watered by the Matanzas,
the Halifax. the Hillsborough, the In
dian, the St. Lucie and the Jupiter
rivers, by Lake Worth and by the lakes
and streams lying between that and
Biscayne bay. 1t is traversed from end
to end by the Jacksonville, st. Angus
tine and Indian River railway, while
Il system of canals, now nearly COM
pleted, not only supplements the eff
iicient railway service, but is draining
and re-claiming great areas of land
which will soon be on the market.
What do | know of the East coast
country as place to earn u living in?'
asked Il prosperous-looking farmer the
other day, repeating the question of a
stranger who had accosted him at the
railway station in st. Augustine. what
do | know of it? ! know all about it..
My home is here in the East Coast coun-
try, and | wouldn't exchange 1t for any
other in the world. To tell you all
about it would require days and weeks,
but let me tell you of neighbor of
mine in MOultrie (only five miles from
st. Augustine). He bought three acres
of land there in 1890 and cleared it for
a vineyard. For the land he paid $50,
and up to July, 1894, the cost of clear
ing it of vines labor, posts, wire and
fertilizer. had reached $3.50, so that his
vineyard Stood him at that time $500.
In 1892 he sold s27 worth of grapes from
1t; in 1898, $240 worth, and in 1894 the
yield was 5000 pounds, which brought
him in $l,1S7. or yield of nearly $4OO
per acre. Any man can do as well. But
suppose he does only half as we'll
what's the matter with that?
Upon being questioned still further
by the stranger as to how new settler
with small means could live while his
vineyard or his grove or his pineapple
plantation was coming into bearing,
the East Coaster replied:
You can raise nearly everything you
need to eat: you don't require many
clothes, for the climate is very mild,
even in the winter time; and, if you are
willing to work out by the day, you can
always find something to do at good
wages. But | can't illustrate the thing
any better than by tellin' you the story
of Bill Palmer, a Tar-Heeler, who
knocked about Florida considerably
and finally settled down on the East
Coast. For six years after he left his
home in North Carolina. Bill met only
bad luck and finally the month of De-
cember. 1892, found him dead broke in
Titusville on the Indian river. I'll let
Bill tell the story himself as reported
in the New York Tribune"
"It was there in Titusville," said Bill,
that / caught on again. / got job
working at bridge building on the East
Coast line The pay was good and the
living fair. ! took up homestead Of
125 acres on the st. Lucie river, not far
from Sewell's Point, and have occupied
it for four months out of every year
since-according to law. / have put up
a conf terrible shanty. cleared twenty
acres, and set them out in pineapples
and upon my word man, l can live
there for $50 a year! What I mean is
that $3.50 month is all the cash 1t
takes"
Bill went on to explain that with his
gun and his fishingrod he could keep
his table supplied with game and fish
every day in the year; he raises his
own potatoes and grows his own cane
for syrup he works for the fruit grow
crs during the picking season, and so
gets all the fruit he wants free: his
land also produces corn, cabbages, to-
matoes, cucumbers and other truck
To-, hot nd "a nd
fruit grow in great abundance. Two
suits of jeans will do for a whole year,
with only one hat and one pair of shoes
--underclothes and socks not coming
into the calculation at all; a little money
has to go for hog meat and -four occa-
sionally, and for coffee regularly, and
all the rest Is for tobacco.
Next summer" concluded Bill. IL
shall have a crop of pines that ought
to bring me in at least $4,000 cash
money and then | shall be just where
/ was when left Carolina in 1SS4-only
/ shall have n 125-acre homestead be-
side, and the whole thing acquired In
less than three years. Living the way
] do, / ought to be worth $4,000 inside
of five years. Then I'll be willing to
quit. But just think of 1t, stranger,
how / knocked about for eight years
and had to go broke before | struck
this yere East Coast country, where
an industrious man can earn from $4,000
to $1,000 year easily by raising pine
apples and live on $50"
OF course. few men would care to live
the way Bill Palmer did. But really
land Is cheap on the East coast. The
climate is superb, the schools excellent,
the people liberal and hospitable. wages
good, work plentiful, and when the
crops come they bring fortune with
them.
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