The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1907-01-18
HISTORY OF
FORT PIERCE
interesting Article Reproduced
from the HOmeseeker
FUTURE POTATO BELT
Wonderful Opportunities Here Ia Guilt
walton Of Pineapples, Citrus Fruit,
Vegetables and Stock

The January number of the Home
seeker devotes eight pages to the his
tory, advancement and advantages OF
st. Lucie county in general and Fort
Pierce in particular. AS much as we
should like to reproduce In full this ex-
haustive article, space forbids all but
brief extracts, which follow:
Fort Pierce is not without history.
Long before many portions of the State
were settled, Fort Pierce had a place
on the map. During the Seminole war
fertilization was built and occupied
by United States soldiers. 1t is said
that General w. r. Sherman was once
commander of this fort, afterwards
going to Fort Lauderdale, thence to
Fort Dallas.
Fort Pierce is located on the line of
the Florida East Coast Railway 242
miles south of Jacksonville and 124
miles north of Miami, and Is headquar-
ters of one of the divisions of the rail-
road. This makes the town one of
considerable Importance, as a large
number of the railway employees have
their homes there. The railway COM
pany is now arranging to erect one of
its large car and machine shops, which
when completed, will add large num-
Der of permanent citizens to the village.
Although Fort Pierce has only been
incorporated few short years, much
has been accomplished in the way of
grading streets, laying them with rock
or shell, and side walks have also been
constructed ed. The work of this charac-
ter has just reached the eliminating
point, when building streets will begin
in good earnest. At this writing the
city fathers have on hand $1,000 good
hard cash to be used in extending and
improving the streets and they will not
make the mistake of sand grading.
Rock or shell will be used, probably
the former, as the county owns a rock
quarry in Dade county. Besides the
work to be done by the town fathers,
many of the progressive citizens are at
their own expense building concrete
walks and other public improvements.
New buildings of concrete and wood
are being erected on every hand, and
the prospects for busy season in
building lines is very profitable.
During the two days we were in Fort
Pierce we had the pleasure of meeting
many Of the wide-awake business men
of that city and the thing that i'm
pressed us most of all was the conf
dence each and every one expressed
for the future of Fort Pierce and st.
Iucie county. In all our calls on the
business men we did not find a single
doubling Thomas" and all are plac-
ing their hard earned dollars to back
their judgment.
Fort Pierce has long been noted for
its commercial fish industry. There
are several firms engaged in the bust
ness who employ hundreds of men, The
weekly pay roll amounts to thousands
of dollars, which contributes largely to
the commercial activity Of the town.
Here the followers Of Sir Isaac Walton
find their paridise. In February 1903,
the guests OF the hotels caught 1856
pounds of channel bass, varying in
weight from Is to 40 pounds. The Ia
dian River at this point ahounds with
fish of all kinds from the smallest and
most delicate pan fish to the mammouth
Silver King.
Lying west of Fort Pierce, beyond
the hickory scrub, are thousands of
acres of fiat woods and muck prairies.
These lands have been too low for sue
cessful cultivation, on account of the
annual overfows. Last year the land
department of the Florida East Coast
railway, through Mr.. j. f. Ingraham,
third vice president, determined to
drain large body of this land and
place it on the market. 1t was ex-
pected that the work would have been
completed in time for this seasons crop
but, like all great undertakings, there
has been more or less unavoidable de-