The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-08-10

Gus winter resorts OF st. Augustine,
Palatka. Ormond, Daytona. Rockledge,
Palm Beach and Miami, the southern
railroad terminus in the United states.
II also has steamer connections to the
Bahamas and Key West, Havana, etc.
On this line is, also. a chain of pala-
tial hotels, owned and operated by Mr..
Flagler. of standard Oil' fame, unex-
celled If equalled In the world.
Every traveller to the land Of sun
shine and flowers" is dependent in
greater or less degree on the great sye-
TEN which controls the great railroad
and steamships in and about the
pennsula-and any mention of Florida
and it's winter attractions, its resources,
etc. without reference to the PLANT
system" is like the mention of a play
with the chief character omitted.
ENTERPRISE OF MR.. PLANT.
The coming of Mr.. Plant to the
Southern states in 1858, in search of
health for his invalid wife, really
marked the opening of Florida to the
northern people as winter resort. He
came when access could only be had
by steamboat up the st. Johns river.
The mild climate prolonged Mrs.
Plants life for years He saw the ne
cessity of railroads in the state, and
commenced at once purchasing stock
in various railroads in Florida, Georgia
and South Carolina extending some,
widening the guage of others, covering
Florida on the west coast to Tampa
and Punta Gorda with branches over
the peninsula to Sanford, forming a
perfect network of railroad develop
ment in that entire section. He also
organized the first mail steamships be-
tween Port Tampa and Havana, via
Key West, and in many other ways
developed the country and revolution
ized the face of Nature on the west
coast. Mr.. Plant has spent more money
and developed more territory in this
section than any other man in the
Union.
Without entering into a statistical
and technical detail, IT may be said
that Mr.. Plant stands foremost as a
developer and public henefactor,
above any man. He represents the
great industrial revolution which has
come over the face of the Southern
states, and which marks the success of
free over slave labor. When he first
came here, he found the South welded
to a slave labor system" and the
forty-five years of his life until his
death in June. 1890 were spent here
in amassing a great fortune and de-
vclopnC the latest resources of the
South. Within that period he saw four
million slaves emancipated; witnessed
the greatest war of modern times, and
practically witnessed the birth of those
twin powers--steam and electricity
whose combined forces have created
new conditions of life; was an eye-wit-
ness Through the courtesy of jeff Da-
vis) to the tearing down and the up
| building of the Southern states and
the adjustment of the American peo-
pie to a new environment, and in the
great battle of rebuilding states and
| industrial life in the South, he stands
pre-eminent. That he had faith in the
South and her possibilities, and her
greatness and coming glory, is evinced
| by the investment of his millions there.
HAD CONFIDENCE IN JEFFERSON
DAVIS.
OF the many incidents of his career
II will make mention of only one. When
| the crash came between the states in
| 1861, that threatened the VreCkage of
the business he had built up. Mr.. Plant
with rare frankness interviewed Presi-
dent Davis. told the story of his strug-
Cling venture, of the interests involved
of the necessity Of the business of
! which he was the head to the people of
the South, and while boldly declaring
that he in no manner approved of the
| political movement which sought 10