The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-08
MIAMI ON BLSCA YNE BAY
By '. Frederic ,,.;,d';,. ! H.:tin, t:. n ,,,

tC J. laSkiu. 5Ff fr.g mlhtEwrHdmauHmzmMuam uamGuMoai1Ral He Is the one and only. true and gen uine. original Jacobs blown-in-the- bottle Alligator Joe. Almost every l other town in Florida that has an ai- hgator farm also has the one and only. true and genuine, original Ja- cobs. blown -in-th he-bottle Alligator Joe. And if there Is a town too poor to af- l ford this exclusive luxury then 1t is certain to have an alligator named Big Joe." But. of course, this Is Miami, and we must have faith in Mi- amfs own. 1 On through the mangrove aisle for three or four miles. seeing strange birds and stranger trees. suddenly the boat comes to a place where there Is l real dry land. IL Is a hammock. A Hammock" in this part of the world is piece of ground, large or small: 1 level of the rest sof Florida and is | heavily timbered. This particular hammock has been denuded of It's pines. except along the river bank. and now | 1t Is great tropical fruit garden. The | landing stage is shaded by a great cluster of bamboo, and the walk back to the groves is through an avenue of royal palms The green and gold beau- ties of the citrus with It's oranges and tangerines and lemons and Hines ana | grapefruit are spread before the vis- itor here as they are in few places. Then there are mangoes, sapodiiias, | avocados, figs, bananas and all sorts of rare fruits. arranged as much for 1 show as for productivity.
 Soon the river skirts another fruit farm. but here The great landing Is marked private there is a, slip for the owners yacn.. and through the rows of oranges one gets a glimpse of fountain. n.watered lawn and g bungalow that cost as much as a castle on the Rhine. This Is the great estate of a man whose millions originated In New England and who made this foreSiiis Swinter home and piaygronnd By another route, one approaches this place by. a three mile private. road. paved Ter automobiless and connecting with the county Highways. For the greater part Of the distance 1t runs through waste land where even the palmetto bushes struggle hard for livelihood among the rocks. But all the way. thanks to Boston millions. there is border of green plants and flowers on each side of the road.
 Passing this estate, the boat keeps on up the river. The mangroves dis appear, the banks, become firm and rocky, and the current is swifter and swifter. Finally the engines can make no headway against the rapids, one sees the swirl and hears the falls and that is the end of the trip.
 Floating back down the river one | notices how remarkably clear the water 10. Every object at the bottom of the stream Is diseernible, and for all its swasnpy banks and its tanEIs of manEroveB, the Miami gives the impression that 1t is a river that
 has just had . bath.
 This is the land of clear waters. One takes a boat at Miami, on the bay side, and crosses out over Bis- cayne Bay to some island or other point of interest. Tn the bottom of the boat Is a plate of glass. some- times only six feet deep. sometimes thirty. the water Is SO clear that everything in it is visible. Nothing is more interesting than this glimpse ~ the home life of the salt water crea. . lures. The sea gardens here ara ri. , vals of he famous ones at Nassau . and Cataline Island.
 { Miami, by the way, is the port from s which the steamers ply to the Inter- ! esting old British town of Nassau on . the Island of New Providence in the l Bahamas. The distance is only 145
 miles from Miami, and. the tourist travel in that direction is increasins ], every year. It is now twenty times
 as great as it was before the rail-
 road came to Miami.
 Chief of the glories of Miami is it's
 fishing, There are yachts and house.
 boats without number in this peace-
 ful and shallow sea called Biacayne,
 and there are pleasures enoGgh for
 the dawdlers. But the fishing is for
 the strenuous and there is no sort
 Of aristocracy among the hshermen
 except that of the sport itself.
 The tarpon fishing is..better. so say
 the experts, on the. west coast of
 Florida in the waters of the gulf
 This is the home of the game king
 hsh--in quest of which the little fish,
 ing boats go outside the bay and onto
 the broad ocean--the spanish mack. %
 erel. the amberjack and a dozen other favorites. There are sharks in
 great numbers, and there is, also, the
 great tarpon. The waters are so ex- ceedingly clear that the fish have every opportunity to see the angler
 and his engines of war SO that much
 skill is required in fishing.
 Miami is not entirely given over to
 sightseeing and to play. It's thrifty nome population Is intent upon build.
 ing up a good city and upon develop. ing the surrounding territory. So
 much has been done in the past thir-
 teen years that it is easy to belIeve
 the rosy things predicted for the fu-
 ture. No other section has such ad-
 vantages in the culture of granefruIt
 the pineapple farms are unsurpa ssed' ana there Is constantly ncreasing
 the North VI
 Many people who came here on1v
 to establish winter homes. have yield
 ed to the charm of the tropics ana
 now live here the entire year In the
 protection of the free trade winds
 sney nave settled down permanently
 knowing that they need fear neifbe,
 extremes of heat nor cold. Tha I,rs
 or the tropics Is not a mlsnonier. Tb.
 drowsy. sun-lit days and the Rorreous e
 restful nights are like succeedins
 pages in the book of enchantment, N1
 wonder the spendthrift tourists com'
 eC"nnr,s.. %ns 10 !ana Mismi on Biseayne Bay.