The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-06-14
Strip of Land Be-
tween Gulf and Bay
Would Make "Coney
Island" and Luna Park"
Fade Away If Capital and
Enterprise Would Only
Get Busy.
BY Bonnie Durham.

Three hundred and eighty years
have elapsed since PanifilO de Mar
vaeZ, one of the numerous Spanish
explorers who people the pages of
the early history of PEN acofa, first
saw the long white strip of the gilt
tering sands of Santa Rosa Island as
1t shimmered between the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico and those of the
bay at the north, which was TO be
later know as Pensacola harbor. Mar
vaez must have been a man of logical
conclusion and a keen foresight into
the possibilities of the future. At
any rate, according to well founded
facts as submitted by historians. it
was not long after the unfortunate
tor shall we say Fortunately Narvaez
saw the Eance-Eke island, white with
sands like the driven snow, with the
bay and the mainland beyond. when
the proposition of strengthening the
gulf holdings of the Spanish crown
was made the occasion for well di-
rected effort on the part OF bis
courtrymen, who, in the year of 1923,
thirty years after the discovery of the
island, succeeded in establishing tie
first settlement on the site of what
is now Fort Barrancas.
Santa Rosa, however, must have
| had its telling attractions - the &C
| counts of the various rises and falls
of the little Spanish settlement often
| include references to the island, where
| the town appears to nave been re-
moved on one or two occasions. In
| 1719 Fort Principe de Asturias was
| built On the present site of Fort
| Pickens, and finally we have the city
actually established on Santa Rosa
| Island. with a church, a fort, the
! governors quarters, and a dozen -
so houses scattered about and a kind
of public thoroughfare or walk which
ran the breadth of the island
Matters fourished for time, when
in the year 1854. the entire town was
| swept away by a tidal wave Nc
more attempts to Tesettle the island
appear on record, bTt the long white
/ strip of sand, with the CONTRASTING
blue of the waves and an occasional
! burst OF green. lost none OF its
charms for those on the mainland
| and remained an unexplored source
of real opportunity.
Acres OF Diamonds.
There is a legend. from the Orient
perhaps. which deals on the subject
Of opportunity. There had been ar
unsuccessful man as the world goes
He had roamed far and wide in mis-
desire TO stand straight with the
world. His neighbors, who mad moi
been even as diligent as he. had
many camels laden with the goods Of
the world. and encouragement came
over the man and he wept. One
day as he was giving himself ovel
TO the first bitterness of despair. he
looked with streaming eyes out upon
his own barren fields, which were
! bristling with rocks and stones and
sticks, and thought of his futile eff
| forts to succeed. II was then thai
a gent appeared. of the old and re
liable variety, of course. and dazzled
the room by the light OF ais Illus
tTious parsonage.
Arise, Abdul. Why do you
MOURN asked the gent, who looked
at the unsuccessful man.
ALIAS, alas" replied Abdul my
neishbors have all of them a goodiy
store of treasure Their beasts are
laden with gold and silver and
precious stones. while have nothing
| Nv lands yield naught and | finJ
no opportunity TO rise with the resi-
of my friends" aud he wept again