The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-03-16
KEYS OF FLORIDA COAST
Only Fifty of the Little Islands In
habited-People Go to School and
Church i'm Boats-Great Beds OF
Coral and Sponges-Rich Vegeta-
ten.

-
The Florida keys are so peculiar and
different in every way from any other
traveller who has never been there
may rest assured that there is still one
novel and enjoyable experience IN
store for him.
These little islands, or keys, set n
waters of many colors, about which
cluster legends Of pirates, wrecks and
treasures, will soon be closely linked
together by the railroad now in pro-
cess of construction. Although these
keys have been more or less cultivated
for many ears and have produced
enormous quantities of ~pineapples,
lines, bananas and other fruits aaG
vegetables, the natives, or "Conchs,'
as they are called, who came from
England via the Bahamas, have de-
voted themselves mainly TO wrecking,
sponging and fishing.
There are at least fifty of these ISL
ands or keys which are inhabitable
and productive, and hundreds, PEI
haps thousands, of smaller ones of lit
tie or 10 value at present, but whicn
may some day be elevated and I'M
proved. These keys extend a distance
! of 100 miles from Miami to Key West.
Twenty miles further to the west are
the -Marquesas Keys, and still fifty
miles further are the Dry Tortugas.
Sand Key, a small island south o.
| Key West, on which a lighthouse is
located is the most southern point in
the United States. Key West is about
100 miles from Havana, while Miami is
about half that distance from the BIZ
minis Islands of the Bahamas, the
nearest foreign territory.
KEY LARGO.
Key Largo is the largest of the keys.
1t is thirty miles long, and varies
from about a quarter of a mile to two
miles IN width. The postoffice on this
key is located at a small conch settle
ment called Planter.
The railroad, after leaving Miami,
which has been for several years the
terminus connecting, with boats for
Key West and Havana and Nassau,
passes through rocky, ~pine-covered
land, Though dense tropical ham,
mOcks, through everglades and muddy
mangrove swamps across a tongue of
| land Of mangrOve-covered mud to Key
Largo. The railroad is now in process
| Of construction on this key. It passes
Own the center of the island through
a thick tropical jungle, or hammock,
where. mahogany is as common as ma
| pie in New York; by fields of pineap-
| pies and groves of lines, and by houses
| of the natives, which are located on
| the ocean side and are surrounded by
cocanut palms, sapodilla trees, sugar
apples, bananas and other tropical
fruits aand vegetables.
In passing from key to key this in
teresting railroad will probably cross
as much water as it does land. There
will be miles of bridges and many
draws, because the creeks separating
| these keys are in several instances
wide AID much used by sponging, fish
ing and pleasure craft. The road must
be high to escape the waves, and the
journey. from Key Largo to Key West,
a distance of owe a hundred miles,
will be like "a trip at sea, with the
broad Gulf of Mexico on n side and
the Straits of Florida on the other.
In spite of water and mud, stiff cur
rents, storms, dense jungles, rough,
coral rock, and millions of mosquitoes,
the work:i as being pushed. To n who
is familiar with the region it appears,
an impossible task, but money and
engineering skill accomplish wonders
and already machinery, barges, house
boats, water-boats, tons of cement,
timber, laboFers, mosquito netting and
insect powders are being rushed to
| the scene Of. action. That this road is
to be built quickly there can be no
doubt. Hustling in close jungle in the
summer tiDse in the midst of clouds
Of pungent smoke from the burning
hardwoods TO keep the mosquitoes
| from ~devOurtng creative is not an en-
viable job.
RAILROAD TO=KEY WEST
In not mors than frye and probably
not less tha1 three years Key West
will be the mast southern railroad ter
minus in the limited States. 1t is d
| point of call for many passing ships,
and besides the regular steamship lines
| which stop there, sail ships run to the
Bahamas, Cuba, Bonaea, Caymen and
to other out Of the way Eolaces. It is
a place where nsaay ships come to be
l tSpdiIStl, duu "uSIt SfS dl6tlIS vi uld-
BY ships which are wrecked upon these
dangerous reefs are finally adjusted.
1t is a dirty, unattractive cry, with a
large proportion of negroes and Cub
| ans in a population of about 20, 900.
There ae no roads on these keys.
People visit and go to school and
church in boats. Although these peo-
pie ae very pious, church is postponed
If a wreck Is on.
When there is nothing doing on the
sea they cut The hardwood timber on
a patch of land and burn it. In the
ashes they plant pineappes. No fer
tilizer is used, and after a few years
the field fs abandoned and allowed TO
come again in forest.
The soil is mostly solid coral rock,
In places broken, and in the hofloss