The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-04-21
HOME FROM FLORIDA.
A Visit to Palatka. BY Sea from s.x.,,..
- to New York.

correspondence of The journal
This closing letter of series written
"under Southern skies" will necessarily
be somewhat rambling. On leaving
Magnolia Springs, where 1 spent the
winter. visited the city of Palatka
Florida, some fifty miles farther sontb
and the station junction of the East
Coast Railroad, and the fork of the At
lantic Coast Line, the branches meet
ing from st. Petersburg and TAMPA
Palatka is one of the most important
towns of the interior of Florida and
the principal railway center of the
middle portion of the State. It is
we'll known as a popular winter resort
1t has large resident population and
splendid commercial facilities. but. un-
fortunately, the best hotel, the large
Putnam House, is closed and the
smaller houses are unable to care for
trade
Palatka is the beginning of the beau
tiful and far famed trip up the st.
Johns. From there to Georgetown, at
the entrance to Lake George. and from
Valusia Bay, where the steamer leaves
the lake, to Sanford on Lake Monroe.
the river is narrow and tortuous, Dor
dered by graceful, tropical trees. hoary
with age and heavily hung with trail
ing Spanish moss. Palatka is located
in a most charming country. The
mighty waters of the st. John flow
north by Pslatka and to the south is
the beautiful Lake George, one of the
prettiest bodies of water in the south.
On arrival at Palatka we looked the
city over enjoying a ride through the
business section, many of the streets of
which are paved with blocks of wood.
The buildings are quaint. Many are
very old and out of repair, as Palatka
suffered severely in the ''orange freeze"
some years ago, and like many other
places in Florida has never regalned
what she then lost. There are, how
ever, some fine residences and many
attractive gardens. The principal bust
ness is the shipping of cypress lumbe
and the large mills employ many people.
The raising of garden truck is another
important industry. Acres and acres
are under cultivation and much of the
produce shipped north, in the line of
lettuce, parsley, parsnips and all early
vegetables, comes from this place.
We enjoyed drive to the Palatka
water works station, the engineer of
which is Mr. John Walker of North
port, brother of Mrs H. l.. Lord of
Belfast and by whom we were pleas
antly entertained during our visit. The
station is built much on the plans of
that at Little River. The water is
held in a big tank built of brickwork in
the ground and is supplied from boil
ing springs. 1t has been in operation
about fourteen years, but Mr.. Walker
has only been there a short time.
While at the station the thermometer
on the outside in the shade registered
90.
We had dinner at the house of Mr..
Curry, where we were served with new
potatoes, onions, lettuce, cabbage and
other products right from the garden.
Mr.. Curry's farm comprises 10000 acres
and he is placing it under cultivation
as fast as he can. Much of the truck
was even then ready for the market, to
be succeeded by a second crop. The
soil was rich and the acres of fine green
potato tops looked fine. His goat pen
contained about hundred with their
young and this was managed in true
western style We rode into the sub
urbs to visit a large orange and peach
grove, where the fruit was about the
size of a walnut, and late in the even
ing, thanks to Mr.. Walkers piiotage,
having had delightful visit, left on
the train for the North. After few
hours stop in Jacksonville l took the
train for Savannah, Ga, arriving there
late in the afternoon of the closing Cay
of the month.
The trip by train was interesting, as
we passed through negro settlements
with their log cabins and large forests
of pine where turpentine was being
taken from the trees We soon reached
the yellow waters of the Savannah
river and stopped at the grand Union
depot. After enjoying ride over the
electric 3elt line of the city, and ira
versing some of the beautifully paved
streets, we embarked in the late even
ing on board the seamer Nacoochee of
the Ocean Steamship line, craft of
some $500 tons, for New York. The
Nacoochee is a good craft and Capt
Lewis a good commander. We left
Savannah Friday morning, April 1st,
at $50 a. m. and the sail down the
river was delightful. The ship had a
good cargo and a full passenger list and
calm weather prevailed during the en-
tire trip. Late Saturday afternoon we
sighted the Diamond Shoal'' light
ship and ran close by the ship in dead
calm. The passengers made up box
q 4