The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-07-20
San Marco de ApaIaehee.

4 0dii mdtNS dC FNf
| am writing this from the historic
town of st. Marks. The mill estab-
lishlished by John A. Graham sixteen
years ago, and now owened by the
Coast Cypress Lumber Company, is
the greater part of ST. Marks of to-
day. There is a hotel, built by Mr..
Graham, the commissary, a store and
perhaps dozen houses. The mill is
not in operation now, and the entire
population of st. Marks is probably
not over fifty persons.
This desolate little town was at one
time an important cotton port, and
was the terminus of the first railroad
built in Florida the third railroad
built in the United States. This road
was built by Governor Call in 1886,
and was primitive stretch of TWEEN
ty-one miles. Over it was hauled all
the cotton grown in this section, which
was loaded on vessels at the Spanish
Hole, near st. Marks, and shipped to
New Orleans
The st. Marks of the Spaniards is
but a fastfading memory The town
was built on point at the confluence
of the Wakulla and st. Marks rivers,
about eight miles from the gulf. The
town was fortified for the protection
of the Apalachee Indians, but why the
Spaniards selected this site is difficult
to understand Here on the elevated
point between the rivers stood the old
fort San Marco de Apalachee, built
in 171S; the tide was very full in the
rivers and left only few feet of the.
wall in view, but when the tide is out
the wall can be seen many feet high
Very little is left of the old fort eX-
tions. 1t evidently ran across the
point from the ST. Marks to the Wa
kulla, but the wall that is standing
today is on the st. Marks side Here
on the bluff fisherman's cottage is
perched among the ruins. | wanted to
land and take a closer look, but a
demented woman was holding the
fort with shotgun, SO instead, | con-
tented myself with rowing as near as
was safe. We did land from the rear
and walked over the ruins of the
u. S. Marine hospital that was estab-
| lished here after the exchange of flags
in 1921, when ST. Marks came under
the Stars and Stripes. The walls of
the hospital were standing until a
few years ago, when Mr. Graham tore
them away to use the stone in the
Foundations of the mill
| went to the top of the grass-grown
mound, thirty or forty feet high, that
was the old Spanish magazine. Two
large cedar trees grow at it's crown,
and between it and the river stands
another fisherman's hut. A young
woman was sewing near the open
window, and purple althea, stirred
by the swift breeze waved its grace
full branches. A fig tree, SO old that it
might have been scion from the Gar
den of Eden, grew near the wall /
brought away some cuttings of il as
souvenir. The ruin and barren des-
olation of the place struck me with
sort of pang. | tried to picture the
fort as it had stood, the mailed Span
lard, the frowning guns, the stealthy
Indians wanted to feel the spell,
the romance, to call bluff old Andrew
Jackson back. and to people again, in
fancy, the crumbling ruins Arbuth- |
not, the aged Scotch trader, defending
himself in vain from the charge of |
aiding and abetting the Indians. hur- |
ried away to the Suwannee to pay |
with his life for the unproven charge. |
the Indians, swart and treacherous.
lurking ever in the wooded depths. The |
shadows took form and shape, and
the past began to yield up it's dead to |
my dreaming. Then-"chug, chug!'-
over the waters, came the spelI-de-
stroying ''chug! chug!" of a gasoline
engine. and three fishermen, with the
days silvery harvest in the bottom
of the boat pulled up at the dock-and
the Spaniards, Indians, Jackson and
his followers were gone-all gone
back into the misty realm from
whence they came
We threw our line to the fishermen
and they towed us up the river TO the
Hangman's Tree. where General Jack
CON huno tla p,o,>hn. r,.s -,