Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-03-17
ON THE OCKLAWAHA.
DIR. GREEN DESCRIBES TRIP ON
THE SERPENTlNE STREAM.
The Wild Loneliness of the Swamp,
the LiShtwOOd Examinations,
Mail Service, and Robert
Nj. La Toilette.

freeze which was so destructive to
the orange crop, | spent a few
weeks in Florida visiting among
relatives. Before my departure
had been reading in one of the mag
azines about trip on the Ockla-
waha river made by some northern
tourist, which interested me and
gave me a desire to see it for my
self. So one day, with Mr.. ]. Mes
smer l went up to Palatka from
Cisco, where he was then living,
and engaged passage on the steam
er Okekumpkee which was plying
the river at that time. l am told
that the river is not as interesting
now as it was then, the last ten
years have done much to lessen it's
attractions. The timber has been
cut away to some extent along the
shores, letting daylight in where
semi-darkness was the rule, driv-
ing some of the birds farther in
land and robbing the stream and
its environs of some of it's weird
features which added so much to
the enjoyment of the trip. A few
years ago the wild loneliness of the
swamp, the mysterious windings
| and doublings of the serpentine
stream, the novelty of the light
| wood illumination by night, the
shrill cries of panthers and other
wild creatures, the sluggish turtles,
the astonishing varities of foliage
never failed to appeal to reflective
| or imaginative nature. However
it must not be supposed from all
this that the jaunt has lost all its
attractions, far from it. 1t is still
so enjoyable that the $500 it costs
for the round trip is cheerfully
paid by the sight seeker. You leave
Palatka at 200 p. m. on the steam
er Hiawatha, Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays, returning in the fore
uoOu VI Tic ScCOUu Udy.
1t was in 1854, the enterprise
had its origin. In that year, Col
H. L. Harte came from Vermont to
FLORIDA, bought a steamboat and be-
gan business on the Ocklawaha
After the war he opened up the
river part of the way to steamboat
navigation, and for this service the
state gave him every alternate Sec
ton of land along it's banks. After
run of 25 miles up the st. Johns
you enter the Ocklawaha at it's
mouth and slowly push your way
up stream. The water appears
black as ink. The river is quite
deep and very narrow, in some
places only just wide enough for
the passage of the boat. 1t actually
rubs the banks on both sides, while
the passengers need to be careful
lest they are brushed from the deck
by the overhanging branches which
sweep it from either side. The Ok
ekumpkee is stern-wheeler,
strongly built; she has no center
board, her wheel Is protected in
such way as to enable her to ride
over logs, branches of trees and
whatever other distractions might |
be found in the river. without the
slightest danger from accident or
injury.
The country adjacent to the river |
as l saw it was low-lying mostly |
covered with timber, with only |
here and there a few miles of high
er hummock land. Noticing a
stretch of this open country off to
our right, enquired of native by |
whose side l was seated, if there
was any game In the vicinity.
20, yes sah," he replied, plenty
OF game sab, mostly bean and deah,
but they don't do much shooting
down heah."
A little further on our boat pull
led up at a primitive landing where
4 few of the crackers were gathered
% see us come in. / happened to
be seated near the bow of the boat
an ungainly, sickly look
ing specimen of the genus homo,
. mere boy in appearance but prob
ably much older than he looked;
his pale putty face carried death
y aspect, his mouth was filled with
obacco from which little yellow
'ivulets were meandering down
from it's sides, ad libitum ad nau-
scum; his unkept hair hung about
ais head, a tangled mass of faded
fellow strands jumbled together in
litter confusion looked as though
{ had never known the use OF brush
,r comb and might have been de-
signed as a covert for the unscan-
ny creeping things which are said to
nhabit the southern swamp. There
We stood with his feet wide apart
- his bands thrust down deem in