The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1907-03-07
FLOR
L E II Il E R


st Petersburg IL the best advertiz-
ed md most doomed town In the
state and IL building up the most
raLldiy. After spending couple OF
days ut Tampa we took steamer
across the bay u distance OF Fl miles
for st Petersburg where we spent
ten days. The west coast claims
much milder climate I'm the winter
than the east coast escaping the cold
nor theast winds from the ocean and
in this respect / guess they have the
decided advantage, but for beauty
we like what we saw Of the east
coast much the lest. However we
Were ut a disadvantage during our
stay In st Petersburg, having en-
countered the worst wea ther OF the
winter. and had to remain indoors a
good part of the time. We boarded
with family of genuine Sou therners
from Georgia, the landlord, or rather
the husband OF the landlady, was II
Confederate veteran, but we were
very Hospitality treated and enjoyed
our stay with them very much.
There Ia a much better country a
round here than we have seen else
where In the state aud there are
snany fine groves OF oranges anil
grape fruit, and also Strawberries
j and celery raised. both OF which are
now quite plentiful In the market
but even here it requires an immence
amount OF fertilizers to make them
grow. To grow oranges successfully
we are told they require fertilizlng
three times a year. Two packing
plants In operation ut st Petersburg
md they .slip from two to four car
loads of oranges AMI grape fruit
daily during the season.
A mld-winter fair IN 1w on
sho wing the products Of tbs country
but outside the tropical fruits rheir
displays cannot In any way compnre
with our Northern exhibitions,
They can skin us perhaps ON oranges
leniUDs. pineaples and bananas but
0therwiss their showing IL very
poor I'm comparison with the boun-
fiful products Of the South Dakota
soil. We were amused at their dis
play Of corn which consisted Of six
little chaffy nubDins about o u r
inches long.
st Petersburg is laid out on an
elaborate scale and has many fine
residences but It will require consid-
leral,is time and a large outlay Of
capital to beaatify IL to compare
with the principal east coast resorts.
1t has a fine climate and bay and
will In time NO doubt become a
beautiful winter resort that will sat
isfy the ambitious Of its promoters.
The side trips we had planned
during our stay here were cut short
bs the damp chilly weather which
prevailed but which was much more
severe IN most parts Of tbestate.
One of the popular trips which we
made was To yetran City on the
Roca Geiga bay u distance OF sepsa
miles, which Is connected with st.
Petersburg by trolly. On this trip
ave passed through many fine orange
groves, which were untouched by
the frosts. We crossed the bay n
f,istsnse ui four mites, arriving at
Pass-a-tjrille one OF a number OF
palm crownsd islands which sspar-
ates the bay from the gulf. Crosslng
the long narrow island we canght
ohr first glimpse OF the Gulfof Mexico
proper, and spent several hours
watchi pg Is surf crested waves
aud gathering shells along the beach.
Another day we Joined IN excursion
ON the Tampa Bay, 30 Fort Dade,
Tampa BAY TO Fort nade. a
70 yerpmentiortop the Gull situated