The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-06-01
ON THE BEAUTIFUL wEkIwA.


holds a close second to Silver Springs
and the surroundings are altogether in
favor of the former.
Before the advent of the railroads,
the Wekiwa river, like the OcklaWa-
ha, was navigated by small boats, AMI
supplied "a large extent OF countr!
with the every day commodities OF
life We mention this merely t. give
some idea of its size.
1t is formed by the Wekiwa springs,
flows for distance of sixteen miles
in northeasterly direction and emp
ties into the st. Johns river.
The banks are lined mostly with cy-
press and palmetto trees, heavily fes
tooned with moss, which gives it a
look of almost enchantment.
On its banks are numerous mounds
of shell, supposed to have been placed
advent of the white man on the ives
tern hemisphere, and We have thought
what royal time they must have had
on this enchanted stream, with fish
and wild fowl in such great abundance
While the deer and turkeys are less
abundant the Wekiwa still abounds in
fish and the trolling is excellent. In
distance of four miles Mr.. C.
Miller of this city, caught twenty
four trout of fine size. When we were
there the river had been swollen by
excessive rains and the biting was not
VI vi
| o. T. Green, each of us landing four
good sized ones.
We are indebted to the trip down
the rive to Maj. Steinmitz. who is de-
voting his life in givin pleasure to his
| friends.
Judge w S. Bullock, of Ocala, has
recently come into possession of tn,
Wekiwa springs and the lands adjoin-
ing it and is busily engaged in an eff
fort to make it popular resort for
the pleasure and health-seeke dur
ing both the summer and winter sea-
sons
He has just completed a pretty hotel
which is built and furnished for COM
fort and convenience. The rooms are
large and airy, wide halls and veran-
das, and we know of no place more
ideal for an outing.
The property consists of two hum
dred acres and without exaggeration
is a charming spot. There is gentle
declivity from the hotel to the springs,
covering distance of several hundred
yards, and the altitude of the hotel
is fifty-two feet above the level of the
springs. There is almost forest of
palmettos and the beautiful ferns.
giant oaks and other trees give it an
intensely tropical appearance.
Maj. Steinmitz, wealthy gentle
man, of Philadelphia, visited these
springs by accident on a hunting and
fishing trip twenty-four years ago and
was so charmed by the beauty of the
springs and the Surroundings that he
has remained there ever since, at least
lduring the winter season, and is never
and visitors a trip down the weird
Wekiwa. He has tanned a flock of wild
turkeys and squirrels and birds by the
score
Regularly every morning he throws
out bucket of corn near the springs
for his pets and to see them fiockinr
from the woods to their feeding
grounds is a novel sight and one no
where else TO be found certainly no.
where else in Florida.
The flock of turkeys now numbers
about seventy-five and are almost as
tame as the domestic fowl and as
many as dozen may be seen feeding
at the same time and the nimble lit
tie squirrels by the dozens. The hens
are now setting and we saw only the
gobblers. They are fine size and are
bronze in appearance. Mr.. Chazal and
others succeeded in getting fine snap
shot pictures of them.
The waters of Wekiwa Springs are
very similar in color to Blue Springs
in this county and are not so strong
of sulphur as White Springs, on the
Suwannee but afford altogether better
bathing facilities. The "boiI' covers
not so large an area; the balance oil
the springs being shallow, making II
absolutely safe for children. There has
never been an accident reported
For number of years Major Stein
mitz had the springs leased and dur
ing his tenure had bath houses, boa
houses and a dacing pavilion AND
houses to accommodate picnic partie!
in which to spread their lunches il
case Of rain, toboggan slides. ETC. This
, pavilion is now used by the children
for roller skating, and life at Wekiws
is altogether enjoyable, both for grown
people and for children.
Marvellous stories are told of the Gu.
rative powers of the waters of thes,
springs.
) General Bullock. when a member o
congress, was seized with a stomach
disorder which baffled the skill o
the most celebrated physicians. H,
visited some Of the most famous
springs without avail and in almos
hopeless despair went to Wekiwa TIL,
effects OF the water was almost mag.
ical and in very little while a com,
/ plete and permanent cure was effected