The Washington herald., 1909-01-11
A SEA-GOING RAILROAD.
By FREDERIC HASKIN
By FREDERIC ]. HASKN.

Knights Key. Fla. Jan. 1e.-Going TO
. sea in a railroad train, It's novel sen
NSation 10 get comfortably settled on
asmp-stool on the rear platform Of
raiirOsd train, run right OF the tip enc
81 the continent, vault green sea channels
rom island TO island, and make ones
way across territory that seemed once
o have been reserved forever for sight
seeing schooners 10 the port. Of Knights
Key. which port IS out IN the ocean with
the nearest land something Ike mile
away.
l. IS interesting to watch from the rear
platform the land fading away; fading
until Il seems that il soon viii be lost
10 sight. and that the only connection
with the solid earth are the two steel
ribbons stretching hack toward the con-
tinent Of North America. But the jumps
are not long JUst as one IS about 70
come 70 the realization that he is rail-
roadIng on the open sea, the train
reaches another island and pIUnges into
the heart Of a riot0Us tropical forest.
This railroad IS absolutely unique. There
IS nothing like it anywhere, and the
chances are that there never VIII be, for
there isn't any other place where it could
be built. Look al good map OF Florida
Stretching away from ths southeastern
most point OF the peninsula in a regular
curve 10 the southwest is a chain Of
small Islands called the Florida Keys.
The Islands are all long and narrow and
ior two-thirds OF the way 10 Key West
taey lie in the general direction OF east
Ind west At Knights Key there is a
pnger jump than usual and after the
aide channel Is crossed the keys lie IN
general direction OF north and south
The railroad 10 Key West has been
.ompleted TO Knights Key. within forty
IliIcs OF Key West. and much work has
!. been done west Of here. The important
link in the unconpleted chain IS the
eight-mile jump from Knights Key 10
the next island over Bahia Honda, OF
Deer Bay This work viii soon be re-
suned and within eighteen months or two
years the railroad wiE be completed to
Key West, now the largest city in the
United States without railroad COuneC-
ton.
When II Is completed. Il viii mean that
Henry H. FlagIeT has expended some
thing ike Sl5e0.009 TO build I54 miles Of
railroad from Miami 20 Key West, an
average Of nearly sl65. 90 a Il.::Ie- L VIII
mean a vast extension OF the semi-trop-
icaI agricultural lands Of the United
States. placing the rich Florida Keys
: within striking distance Of the fruit
Il cal n
the people OF Key West Many Of its
1900 people vii see a railroad train for
the first tine when this extension makes
lis final leap over the sea and lands upon
the island upon which Key West Is
built
II VIII mean a much closer connection
between the United States and Cuba than
has ever existed Think Of being able
20 take a Pullman car in Boston or
Chicago or New York. and running
straight through 10 Havana, That is
what the new railroad viii do Knights
Key is the temporary mid-ocesn port
fEom which ships now sail daily to Ha-
vana. i IS nothing bur wharf built
out il the sea. There is 2 post-ofice a
hotel. ana a few houses, all built on the
is that there Is great fish trap beside
the kitchen window flIed with all sorts
OF salt water fish. One looks them over
ana selects the piece de resistance Of
his dinner while Il is still swimming in
i5s native element
Il is Ia miles from Miami 70 Knights
Key. and no other similar length Of rail-
road in the world presents such a varied
and interesting roadside panorama Leav-
ing Miami, one travels for twenty-eight
miles southwark along the ridge Of the
pineland peninsula which is a portion
Of the eastern shore Of the Everglades
Il IS only in Florida that an inland t0po-
graphical peculiarly can be called a
peninsula but as this ridge IS bo7dered
on one side by the Everglades and on the
other by mangrove swamp. II IS clearly
entitled 10 its appeIatiOn This part OF
the journey reveals nothing but pine trees,
as Vet untouched by the turpentine
hunter. with the UndergrOvth OF scrub
palmetto. Just what one would see 40
miles farther north Suddenly the whole
aspect is changed
The pines and paImettos are left be
hind. and there Is a wide, open place q
prairie. covered with rich, waving grass
and studded over with tiny CIUmps OF
trees. II looks Ike Kansas, but in reality
Il is the famous and mysterious Ever
glades. Il is Just a tiny corner, but II Is
as much as the eye can take In And
here is the great water station, where
the pure Everglades water Is pumped
into tanks 70 be carried away In tank
cars and On tank ships for the men who
are building this railroad over the Keys
and to whom the fresh water question
ig q most vital one.
Gradually the Everglades grass gives
way 70 the msngroves. and the prairie
fades into q thicket Of closely packed
shrubbery. The land that IS beneath Is
2 mere mockery Of solid earth The spi-
dery roots Of the mangroves find their
places in the shifting, shiny, uncertain
muck that covers the rock foundation Of
Florida The water is still clear, but II
IS greenish and bTackish because OF sea
water coming in. This was one Of the
most difficult portions Of the road 70
build from the engineers standpoint But
70 the eye of the traveller on the rear
platform OF a Pullman il is all strangely
beautiful and beautifully strange.
Again. there is a little strip OF dry
ground. with real trees and real grass
and then the train leaves the mainland.
The channel between the mainland and
Key Largo is so narrow that one would
pay no more attention 10 IL than 10 cross
ing a tiny river on an ordinary railroad
Il the passengers were not told that they
were running of the continent Key
Largo IS the largest OF the whole system
Of islands. being forty miles in length,
but the railroad traverses only about
fifteen miles Of the distance Here the
right OF way IS cut through a dense for
est OF strange and beautiful trees Here
and there one comes upon clearing.
grove OF grapefruit or banana Dlanta-
ion