The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1905-08-18
NO. xxxIII.

q hoy Of fourteen, came with his father
floR, Richmond, Va, to Tallahassee,
F4aJ making the entire trip overland
by private conveyance. Landing on
Christmas eve, in Tallahassee, he
founded a small town with one street
now Monroe, extending from the
capitol to the present. sight of the Leon
hotel. Huge stumps occupied the
middle of the street, while on either
side were few One-stOry wooden
stores, from which the settlers obtain
ed their supplies. The major grew 20
manhood and started life in Leon
county as cotton planter. but as that
product was very cheap. selling some
times as low 3 IL cents per pound, he
gave that up aid moved to Jefferson
county, established a tobacco farm
and cigar factory. This ran smooth
~ along for few years, long enough
for his cigars to make reputation in
the New York markets, when one
season, from a small box of wrappers
received from Havana. his entire
crop becme infested with as mali bug
whose work did not show itself until
after the cigars were manufactured
and shipped TO the markets, when
they were found TO be porous from
the raids of these little pests. Know
ing no better way to get rid of this
destructive little enemy, he set fire to
the establishment, and went further
south in search of another field for
investment. Reaching the wilds of
nlanatee county in 1912. and beliving
in her future, and the possibilities of
her rich hammock lands, he determi-
med to establish sugar plantation
on the north side of Manatee river.
PRIMITIVE WILDERNESS.
The enormity of this undertaking
can be best understood, when it is
known what a real wilderness this
section then was. The families living
in the county at that time might have
been counted on ones fingers. and
there was no regular communication
with the outside world except by
schooner to St. Marks, once in SIX
weeks. There ~aS no communication
with Tampa by land or warter-not
as much as COW trail through the
woods. Here Major Gamble purch ls-
ed thirty five hundred acres of land,
and with one hundred and ten slaves
and a few expert workmen who had
strayed into that section. he began
clearing land and the manufacture of
brick for the erection of a residence
and sugar mills, The first clearing of
land contained one hundred and sixty
acres, and with it sixteen miles of
ditch for drainage.
A large mill was erected, the first
crop harvested and manufactured,
with yield of eighty hogsheads of
sugar, when the entire factory caught
fire and was burned to the ground.
The dauntiess major then purchased
much more extensive machinery
which he succeeded in getting set up
in time for the manufacture of the
next years crop. For these mills
there were erected three brick build
ings aggregating three hundred and
fOrty-three feet in length.
AN EXTENSIVE PLANT.
These contained a fifty horse-pow-
er steam engine; powerful mills with
machinery for reaching down and
lifting up quantities of cane at
one hold, and feeding it into the huge
mills, from which it emerged as dry
as the proverbial chip;two ranges of
kettles containing five each, with ca
pacities gradually decreasing from six
hundreds gallons to fOrtyfive gallons;
four large cisterns sixty feet long,
fifteen feet wide and three feet deep;
and numbers of large coolers with
porous bottoms through which the
moiasses drirped from the sugar.
The acreage in cultivation was in
creased from one hundred and sixty,