The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1905-12-08
Their VIEW
OF FLORIDA
Iomber of illinois Party Writes
for his Home Newspaper.
WEEK ON EAST COAST
IN Pleased With What They Saw but
Their Short Stay at Any Point Pre-
vented any Accurate Facts.

NP0tPu dVt TsNu'"sN SN'''
Our readers will recall that several
seeks ago we made mention Of the fact
Sat party of gentlemen from Indiana
ySre making short stop in Fort Pierce,
Iii continued their tri p ON rs far south
/ Miami. The party has now returned
[ their home, and we clip the following
Irt Of the account of the observation
|ade by the party, as written by Mr.
ansen, associate editor of the Bunker
m Gazette-N News. We give it to our
yaders for what it is worth, and as it is
p views of a man who spent only one
N at this place, and onlya few days in
q State, it is necessarily. inaccurate:
lowe came down from Melbourne on
Ionday evening and stopped at Fort
erce all day yesterday. | visited the
{wspapers there and found the Gazette
|ews at THE TRIBUNE office. My but
Aid look good torls. AT Melbourne
Z waited longingly for it, but up to
onday afternoon, 1t made no appear
Dee. oo
["Fort Pierce is place of about 1000
|habitants. 1t is a thriving place and
IN of business. About one-haif of the
bpulation is engaged in fishing, the re.
ainder in mercantile pursuits. Capt,
lest is with Us and he makes hne
Icort. He knows everybody it seems
Id knows how to pull the rope. At
brit Pierce we took a drive into the
Suntry for about 10 miles. The palm
lees Of various kinds, the rubber tree,
Id other tropical and semi-tropical
|ees were interesting, but the pineapple
limitations were the most interesting.
hese are found in abundance between
elbourne and West Palm Beach. AT
knsen we saw acres and acres Of them.
hey are planted in rows about Is inches
bart and each pine is about that dis
Ince from each other. 1t ia kes a
bung set about three years to bear,
Id at bearing time the leaves of the
|ant are so thick and strong, that it is
4rd work to get your hand through the
Push to reach the ground. AT Fort
cree we were royalty treated by Mr..
cCarty, a land agent. He hired six
)ated vehicle for us and sent Us into
)e country to look at the land and pro-
bets. We went to his home and he
I'd US to help ourselves to anything we
|hnted at the place. He has lovely
|pdern home, spacious and well built.
e has an orange grove, lemon trees,
fapefruit, etc., also a large field of
heapples. We picked and ate one of
pes. Oh, what difference in the
pvor, compared to those we have tasted
the North. 1t was juicy, fresh and
elegant taste, Together with oranges
K made our dinner ON this.
Had it not been raining today, we
fpected to visit Palm Beach, at which
located the finest tourist hotel in the
prld, fine beach bathing, and numer-
$ other interesting points, West Palm
each is the business end of Palm Beach
ID is what San Francisco is to Oak
hd, Cal.
|"There is no soil in Florida. 1t is all
nd, Little or no black SOIL The only
eces you find it is in spots of some feet
circumference and here you find the
Pnana trees. In Fort Pierce, just in
ont Of our hotel the sand was five or
inches deep-that Is the loose sand
u guess it continued to the middle
the earth. This sand is white as
ow and as fine as ground pepper. 1t
cws before gale and lodges in your
Ut, eyes and on your clothes. Horses
!ched to vehicle pull very hard in
lls sand. Sand covers the whole of the
nd Where we have visited so far. The
Feets, some of them are hard, but are
|ade., The material is shell. These are
|aced on the roads and streets and are
round to pieces by horses hoofs and
the wagon wheels. Then when rain
r. mes it packs down and is made as
~ and as smooth as granitoid and as
|gnlte as flour. If we had this land in
lnois we would have no use for it. If
Lorlda had not the climate she has it
9Iid be useless to her. SO you can
" II down and say that Florida climate
pd sunshine and rain is worth 500 per
fre and the soil or land is given the
respective buyer.
everything grows in this state.
|ssterday We saw several acres of string
ans They We're just picking them,
Es''ng ready for market. They raise
y oest OF Irish potatoes, can raise
w, the sweet potatoes are big, dry
Lu sweet. In truth, they raise all we
, anG almost everything else.
VIVA railroad land sells for $l5 per
AS an illustration of the value placed
pineapple lands will say that a gentle
(Sn Is now talking land to Mr.. Hen
nnH ne has a 5 acre tract end asks
HW Tor It. OF course there are some
tprovements on it. The pines are 2,
anu years old and will bear for 10,
ana Il years to come at an estimate
.ue OF pineapple of $500 per acre.
Iese are merely figures"