The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-03-15
BROOKLYN EAGLE

when the first engine whistle footed
through the palm groves could hard
ly have been greater than among the
dweliers on some of the remote keys.
The engineers tell how terrified In
habitants fled from the first trains
with the game panic fear that lead
jewellers in back-woods communities
osee the devil, or worse, in the first
| appearance among them of smoke
splitting steamboats,.
A Strange World
1t would be hard to find within the
frontiers Of the states stranger or
more out Of the world region than this
OF the keys before the coming of the
railroads. Stranded at the threshold
of the continent, these islets lay out
side the pa Of even maritime trade
although they form the northern and
western barrier of the Straits of Flor
| ida, the gateway from the Atlantic to
the Gulf. About the only persons, ex-
cept their Inhabitants, who had any
real knowledge of the keys were a
few enthusiastic sportsmen who had
cruiSed and fished in the waters Ct
this anglers paradise. The seas out
of which the keys rise. are every
where shallow, averaging less than
! ten feet deep in their sounds and chan
follows the curve of the archipelago
| On its Atlantic side, warning vesses
on its perilous, reefs. Even with
| these sentinels on watch, this is
known as one. of the dangerous coasts
/ of the world, and wrecking is a regu-
lar occupation of the island inhoh'.
tants. In the old days it was a great
er and more profitable occupation.
Geographically. the keys are links
between the peninsula CT Florida and
| the islands of the West Indies. From
ElliotTs Key, at the northeast it is
only fifty miles across the Gulf stream
to the Bahamas. From Key West at
the other end it is only rinety miles
south to Havana IT is the only
coral region attached to the main
land and the only part of the forty
six states lying really within the zone
| OF tropical climate and vegetation.
Just how many keys there are nobody
| except perhaps the map makers of
| the government coast survey, knows.
There are more than 1000 of them
however, some mere dots submerged
| at high tide, and others haying for
ests and plantation of pine2pples
| lines. cocoanuts bananas and other
tropical fruits. The largest of them
| all is Key Largo, which is forty miles
| IOIlB. hOSL Oh the population, now
ever, is concentrated on Key West
| Island. which has a population of near
! ly 10000. Key West is seven miles
4 long. and only seventeen feet above
| the sea. In spite of its lack of ele-
walton, it has never been inundated
and, in fact, it is quite as high as the
average of the keys! The highest OF
them all, Big Pine, is only thirty-five
| feet above sea level at its summit
Singularly enough, there is a little
! fresh water like at the very top OF
| the island, one Of the few places
| where fresh waters is found in the
| keya Key West itself catches its
water supply in cisterns. and in build
ing the railroad now under construc
| ton it was found necessary to trans
/ port drinking water in tanks from
/ the mainland
| Many of the smaller keys are mere
mangrove swamps. The larger and
higher ones are covered with thick
| tropical hammock; or jungle, in
which grow the mahogany, the capo
4