Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-08-31
From the Boston Transcript.

someone once Salu OF tCCll ItlOHNS -"
le thought in continents" Truly, like
I'll that fellowship of empire builders OF
which he is head and chief, his were long,
ong thoughts-as long as from the cape
% Cairo" America does not produce quite
hat sort Of expansionist for which most
people will calculate a fervent thank
aeaven'), but Ii has at least one example
Of a man whose main interest in life Les
n laying his hand on the waste places and
making them g~lad-also profitable TO all
concerned. Henry NJ. Flagler made d
arge part of the state or FLORIDA Inc
east coast Is practically his idea and now
lie has had another long thought. This
one stretches from New York and Chicago
20 Cuba and Panama.
Changing cars IS an annoyance, accord
ing to general and well-founded convic-
ion. Says Mr.. Flagler, why, merely be-
cause you want TO go TO Cuba, should you
De subject TO the unpleasantness of leaV-
ing the seat you took in your Pullman at
Boston, Philadelphia or Washington? Pre-
Dosterous! / shall carry you TO cuba by
rail" And so to Cuba by rail you will
go, If you choose, probably next year.
The proposition sounds a tritie strange
n view of the fact that nearly 200 miles
IF ocean separate the mainland of Florida
from the pearl Of the Antilles; but 1t is
u az ~ sEhlC VI AioN - "H 49,
IDEAS Of men of this stamp are, in the long
:un. Is it not a notable fact that the
only practical things in the world are the
work of dreamers, or people who first de-
eided that Il must be done and then found
A way? Mr.. Flagler found a way to
carry out his idea by means OF that chain
Of keys which run along the Florida coast
and terminated, some Seventy-tiVe miles
below Cape Sable, in Key West. His rail
a. 10 s1a.r IN nd - ~
from key to key by a series Of wonder
July constructed bridges to Key West.
Then a tra.nferry takes the cars in charge
for some five or six hours, and finally the
same Pullman from which you waved
farewell to your home town draws up with
you in the station at Cienfuegos or San
tiago or any other town on which your
fancy may decide. This is modern enter
prise tinged with a suggestion of that
magic carpet upon which the Arabian hero
seated himself when he wished to fly from
Bagdad to Damascus.
Now a key is a small island Occidental
ly, it may be mentioned that the word
should be spelled cay but mapmakers have
made concessions to those who know not
foreign tongues, and 1t does not require a
very vivid imagination to picture the effect
Of passing over these tiny specks in a rail-
way train. The Islands are all right as
supports for the bridges, but at features
n the landscape, or seascape, they are not
always important factors. A few, indeed,
are Of considerable size-several miles,
even-but the majority are mere dots, and
one can have, looking from the car Win
dow, the very curious impression of being
at sea in a train that rushes along at a
rafting good pace. The distances from key
to key are really much smaller than they
appear, for the tiny speck which seems
to lie far off on the horizon is probably
very much less than a mile distant. This
is a happy state Of affairs, for it enables
the traveller to have his poetic illusion
without thereby sacrificing anything TO
mere commonplace safety.
AS a matter of fact, the road is safe
enough N spite of the fantastic flavor
about the whole undertaking. Engineers,
many of them, said it could not be done,
but the best Of them said the plan was
perfectly feasible, though tremendously
difficult. To quote our learned friend Ma
cauiey, Every schoolboy knows that the
density of sail water increases as the equa-
tor IS approached, and here the railway
meets its first great difficulty. Steel would
corrode rapidly in those Florida waters.
Difficulty number two was furnished by
the lively little insect that bores holes in
the wood In those parts. Wood was ruled
out in many Of the places it fills salts
factorily in the north. These troubles
overcome by the liberal use of cement, it
remained only for the railroad to feel it's
way through a practically UNEMPLOYED
country, and to lay its roadbed in the
swamp and forest tangles. This 1T IS doing
now, with armies of men in different spots
along the line that leads from Miami TO
Key West.
Follow the road below Miami (Which un-
til recently was the "jump.ng-off place
of civilization in Florida) and you will
find, miles in among the everglades, a
little village Of white tents, the dwelling
place Of workers on section one. Every
thing is neat, orderly, well-disciplined. 1T
must be so, If men value their lives work
ing under the scorch:ng sun in among the
water-prairies. A big cement cistern
looms up among the tents, for there is no
water fit TO drink in the everglades, and
every drop of the rainfall is precious. Fail
ing that, tanks are brought down from
Miami. The hospital tent Is supervised by
an alert physician. There is no chaplain
attached to these armies, but Sunday SER
vices are regularly held and there is no
dearth Of exhorters.
Farther down, among the keys. other
regiments are camped and these are better
of, for cool sea breezes blow and swamps
are fewer. Nearby Is anchored a house
boat, not the abode of pleasure-seeking
wealth. but the simple house of a SUPER
~intendent, who travels snail-like, carrying
his house with him from key to key.
Great rodgers scoop up the soft rock and
pound IL into bits while rollers
press 1t into a smooth road, the hardest
III or a road in the void. Scores of boats
ply up and down. would hardly be in
accurate to say hundreds, for there must
be nearly two hundred in all. There are
the Dig dredgers and pile-drivers laying
the foundations of the piers, there are
org steamers carrying laborers and mater
iais, there are busy little despatch boats
rushing madly about on important err
rands, there are rowboats innumerable
doing everything that rowboats can do.
Inc Wild birds have left the keys for more
secluded spots.
Perhaps as soon as next spring the SER
vice VIII be put on. Complete but for one
break for several miles where a steamer
must do duty until the long bridge Is
completed. The railway over the OCEAN Is