The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-06-26
A BEAUTIFUL
FLA. RIVER
Caloosahatchee Through
Lee County Is Well
Described.

The following from the Fort Myers
Press describes the beauties of the
Colooahatchie river, one of the pref
test streams in Florida:
of the eIi iunasiJ Of the house try the out
side awhile" is good advice, for the
outside is much larger, though you
can't make many people believe it;
in fact had lost sight of the fact my
self There is so much to occupy us
and to take up our whole attention
within the limits of the four walls
that we forget that the vast majority
OF good things are still out doors and
are always going to remain there 1t
was philosophy of this kind that caus-
ed the writer to take a trip up to-
wards the Everglades last week
We would have gone clear up and
looked out over the land OF the wa
ter, the sea hidden in the grass" or
whatever the Indian name for Ever
gladeS may mean, but the CaloOSa-
hatchie has found business dull and
has laid off a large part of its work
ing force, is only running on hall
time as it were, and the shadows
stopped us at LabelIe, so we left the
upper part of the river for another
trip.
The Caloosahatchie is somewhat
crooked; not in the figurative sense of
the word, but LITERALLY. No one
would suspect it who saw only the
broad bay at Fort Myers. but not far
above the railroad bridge it begins TO
writhe and twist like an eel in trou-
BILE. At the elbow at Olga it sue
ceeds in getting its tail into its mouth
and above that point it gives several
little wriggleS which must make in
teresting work for the crew of a big
river steamer, but they say they be
come so accustomed to that sort of
steering that any other kind would be
out of the question, ard that if they
were to cross the gulf to Key West
there would hardly be sea room be
tween Marco and Galveston for the
rail fence course they would want to
take. But they certainly know their
business on the river, and it is a
sight to see the Suwanee go neatly
around a bend where you or | would
bump the nose of a rowbOat into the
bank.
Centuries ago nature foresaw that
river fronts would be in great demand
and started in to provide as many as
possible between the 'glades and the
gulf, by making the river search all
over the woods to find it's way out
1t is one of the longest short rivers in
the world.
Back of the high banks are groves
of oranges and lemons and grapefruit,
Just as fine as you will find in any
part of the world.
No one could doubt the resources of
Lee county, who saw those trees, not
the dwarfs of the more northern lat
ltudes, but great giants as tall as live
oaks, loaded with fruit that will soon
turn from green to gold and then into
gold dollars, an evolution helpful to
us all
Just at sunset on the first day of
our trip We turned into the Orange
river, and that night we pitched our
camp at the bridge at Buckingham.
This is truly land of plenty, oranges.
green corn and the melons. peaches
and palm cabbages, and we enjoyed
them all and were welcome At Olga
we saw grape vineyard a year old
that had put on a growth that was
simply wonderful and we understand
that there are many other such vine
yards along the river. Alva is a
splendid little town and the same
can be said Of Fort Denaud and La
belle.
The best thing about a country is
its people, and our river people are
of the best American stock, kindly.
genial and hospitabIe We are glad
to have met them and to have seen
their pretty homes on the winding riy-
err
FROM La0eHe we turned our course
homeward and f1oated downstream he
tween banks crowned with Iiveoak
and palms, the former being cover
ed with air plants and orchids and
the IatIer dressed out with wiIdgrape
vines and smilaX, while a dozen varie-
ues OF mallows crowded down 10 the
waters edge elbOwing the lilies and
low
we snail long remember our trip
on the Caloosahatchee.
ONE WHO MADE IT.