The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1905-10-13
FlAslER'S cRowalne EFFORT.

tension of the Florida East Coast rail-
way via the Florida Keys 90 Key
West will have been accomplished.
Henry NJ. Flagler intends to make
this extension and the invasion of
Cuba the browning effort of his life,
and it will be another jewel in the
crown of the man who has made
Florida beautiful.
If MIR. Flagler should live another
fifteen or twenty years there will be
undoubtedly network of good roads
on the Florida east coast, as feeders
to the railroad which he built, he be-
ing possessed of faith greater than
most men would have had in the bar
rem waste stretching from Jackson
vile on the north to Miami on the
south.
With far-seeing ability, Mr.. Flagler
made up his mind that the people of
the north when they became wealthy
enough to travel, would want CON-
Portable place in which to spend the
winter months, which are severe
enough in che north and west even
for robust people, but an all year
round residence in the north for the
invalid is an impossibiliuy. With fast
and we'll equipped trains the New
Yorker or the Bostonian or the Chi
cago man can be transported in lit
tie over a day to one of the palatial
hotels managed by the Flagler hotel
system. Florida then is the nearest
point to escape to and find mild eli
mate and homelike surroundings.
Something is wanting, however,
gnd that something is good roads on
the Florida east coast and that is
something the state of Florida will
surely give visitors and their own
people in the not distant future. OF
course. Mr.. FIagler cannot do it all
but he will, as is always the case, do
his big share of the work. There is
no reason why a main trunk road for
automobiles and carriages should not
be built from Jacksonville to Miami,
and there is no reason why, except
the important outlay of money and
commencing the work, that intersect-
ing roads should not be built connec-
ting the different places of the east
coast with a main trunk line road
and the railroad.
With these roads and system OF
draining and irrigation the Florida
east coast will become populous. and
it will be veritable garden as every.
thing that can be grown in the tropics
can be grown in Florida. Public spir.
tied men, like Mr.. Flagler, are giving
roads more than a passing thought
these days, as they have seen in good
roads. such as New Jersey and other
States have, a real wealth producer
for good roads attract good people.
1t is good thing for the east coast
that r. Flagler has taken to auto
MODELLING, as there was a time when
it was quite dangerous. so l am told,
for an automobilist to enter the Flag
Ter home yard. Now he uses the au.
tomobile at Larchmont, at Ormond
and'in the White Mountains, and, the
writer is informed, that the autOmo-
bile may add years to the life of Mr.
Flagler, as its health giving qualities
is already appreciated, and its utility
is such that the team is not much in
evidence these days.
The building of the Florida East
Coast railroad extension will be ar
engineering feat of great proportions
as the line will pass from KEY to key
on trestIe work, and of course will be
of cement and steel. The steel piers
will rest partly on the coral rock that
abounds on the route of the road
from Miami to Key West; and the
keys ever which the road will run
will undoubtedly become attractive
residence places. At one point of the
road several miles of bridging will
be done and this road therefore
will be possibly advertised as the