The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-03-12
.FLAGLER BUILDING
LINE TO KEY WEST
viii Go Across al Miles of
Sea
FOUNDATIONS OF CEMENT
Three Thousand Workmen Have Al
ready Been Taken South to Be-
gin Work on Gigantic Rail-
road Project.

Chicago. March l.--(special) William
e. Curtis writes as follows 10 the Record
Herald from Washington;
Although he is IS years old H. M. rag
Ter, who has made Florida paradise, Is
now engaged in what is probably the most
remarkable piece of railway construction
| that was ever attempted. 1t is also the
most expensive. He proposes TO extend
the East Coast railroad from the main
land of Florida to the island OF Key
West, a distance OF III miles, regardless
of tides, currents, winds and all that sort
of thing Within the last few weeks
the Southern railway has carried more
than 5000 1aborers. Italians and Hunga-
rians, from New York, who will be USED
in construction work, and enormous guam
titles of building material have been ship
ped by rail and by sea
Stretched along the Florida coast as far
as Key West is a chain of hundreds OF
| small islands of coral formation, the
result of millions of years of labor by
1 billions Of Industrious little insects when
/ devote their lives to the cause the coral
formations off the coast of Florida are
among the most remarkable of physical
phenomena in the universe, and the water
is full of other wonders, strange animal
life that is not found anywhere else eX-
cept along the Bay of Naples and in GER
tain parts of the Indian ocean. Here
grows that extraordinary plant, half veg
etable, half animal, known as the sponge,
/ ., ts-ot n
| life.
The reefs formed by the little insects
have caught particles that have hoated
| through the air, and during the ages the
| hollows and crevices have been gradual
w nlled with earth and vegetable matter.
| Thus islands have been formed with
soil that has all been carried by invisible
agencies through the atmosphere the
seeds of trees and plants, useful and 9th
erwise, have come on the wings of the
wind in the same way, and under the
trupic sun all kinds of vegetables and
fruits grow to perfection--oranges.5 lines
| bananas cocoanuts pineapples, manages
and other fruits that are found through
out the West Indies. There is great
deal of vacant land in the keys, which Of
fers an opportunity for people who like
| a hot climate TO engage III Atuit ioi9iuo
and market gardening as soon as the
Flagler railroad is finished and transport
tation facilities are afforded.
About fifty of the keys are inhabited
| by sparse, mohgrel population or Gu
bans, negroes, descendants of Carb IN
! dams sandhill Crackers" from Florida
and Georgia. castaways from wrecked
| vessels beach-combefs of all races, and
here and there a fuIl-blooded descendant
of the Seminole Indians that used to &C.
cllpy Florida These mofigrel people are
called "conks'-I suppose after the coneh
shells which they gather In large quantl-
ties and ship to market. They are most
ly fishermen, sponge gatherers and wreck
ers Their ancestors were pirates, ana
| used to lure passing vessels onto the
rocks by showing false lights, and loot
them. The cabins of these fishermen Of
ten contain interesting articles, which are
| a part of the plumber of wrecks in genera
tions past, and some of them are very
| valuable. A friend who made cruise
among the keys some years ago told me
| that he found service of solid silver
plate. exquisitey embossed, and bearing
the coat of arms of some proud family
| of Spain, in the cabin of a sponge hrshef-
man who claimed that he had inherited 1t
| from several generations of ancestors
and boosted that it must have been taken
from the cabin of some Spanish galleon
that ran upon these treaeherous reefs.
Steamers and sailing ships give them A
wide berth nowadays. although the Keys
are well lighted by the government. The
only navigation is done by the small lug
gers of the natives, who sail in and out
without the slightest fear. because they
know the waters as the red man knows
| the forests. Sand Key. small island
about thirty miles south of Key West. is
| La. hnt.lxy lafaA cf
states. Dry Tortugas the most weston
~ of the keys, was used as II prison by
the military authorities during the civil
war, and is now "A quarantine station.
There are no roads ON the key; no car
riages or other vehicles. and 10 animals
| except dogs and cats. People 60 about
| In boats. The children go to church in
| boats, and the mail carriers serve the
island In that way.
Key Largo, the largest of all the is
lands, runs for about thirty miles paral-
lei with the Florida coast and from three
to six miles distant. 1t Is two miles wide
at the widest point. but there are spots
where 1t narrows down TO a strip of Sand
that one could almost throw a stone
across At the southern end of the island
is a small town of two or three hundred
Inhabitants called Planters" the largest
settlement except the City of Key West.
The East Coast railway of Florida,
which belongs to Mr. Flagler personally,
with few shares of stock scattered
among It's employees to make UP a board
OF directors, has had its terminus for
several years at the town of Miami few
miles south OF Palm Beach. That Is now
the headquarters of the construction en-
glneers and from there the work Is be-
ing directed by Mr. Flagler personally
He has gone over the route again and