The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10

tiNtC u WhS dituobI pcyOnu tuC pOWot of hope to see any escape from the saw-grass fastnesses
 Saw-grass Is a terrible thing. Its stems are as strong as bamboo and their triangular blades have serrated. saw-like edges that cut through ai- most any ordinary protection . man can wear. The wound inflicted by the saw-grass Is a very ugly one. and re- auires an aiarminsiy long time to Everglades and Is more to be dreaded than the actual snakes or the imag- mary poisonous insects with which the region is infested
 The unsolved mystery of the Ever glades is its water. No one knows where 1t all comes from. no one knows where it all goes. and no one can give reason for the peculiar way 1t behaves while 1t is here. The rainfall month In the rainy season. Rain rap Idly affects the level of the Everglades water. There has been . two years drouth In Florida and in that time the States rainfall dropped . total of six feet below normal. The Ever giades water fell to low level and stayed there. When the rains came again few months ago, 1t was only 8 litetle time until there was a nood level In the Everglades.
 Everglades water is hard, being strongly impregnated with lime, and therefore cannot be rain water. Rain water does not even predominate. In Northern Florida there are many sub terranean streams which are often tapped for artesian wells. It Is the accepted theory that these under ground rivers have their outlets in the Everglades. creating the enormous springs which are known to exist in that region. Yet for all these the- ories, 1t is dihicult to account for the currents. Every explorer of the Ev- erglades from Escaiente to the pres ent day has agreed that the water seems to have e general motion in one direction, a great mass rnove- ment comparable only to the tides at sea. This great movement Is broken at frequent intervals by swift cross currents, which apparently begin mo- where and end nowhere. They are comparable only to the great sea riv- CTS which are called ocean currents. Some of the Everglades currents are undoubtedly caused by an outflow from the bed of the basin through a hole in the limestone floor. These proba- ply connect with a subterranean pass age which later discharges its water far out to sea.
 The water itself is a mystery. It is wonderfully clear it Is pure as crystal. 1t Is palatable, and there Is no place where 1t stands long enough to become stagnant. Perhaps the greatest won der of the wonderful Everglades Is the absence of mosquitoes. Close to the rim of the great basin, where there are holes in the limestone that catch water and where the mangrove swamps begin, there are plenty of able and lusty mosquitoes. But back In the in- terior of the Everglades this pest Is all but unknown. The water Is con- stantiy moving and there are no good breeding-pIaceB.
 The Everglades, rock bottomed, grass covered. fresh wAtered, health full. is very different place from the great swafnp of the imagination of so many people. It Is bounded on the west by the Big Cypress swamp, on the south by the impossible and dangerous Big Mangrove swamp. on the north by Lake Okechobee and On the east by the narrow strip of pine land that separates it's rim from the Atlantic ocean. az tAa 'af
 It is all above the level of the sea. The engineers say 1t can be drained. If this is done, some millions Of acres of wonderful rich agricultural lands will be opened up. Just how to drain 1t is a question which is an issue in Florida states politics at this moment. Three hundred years ago a Spanish Governor began to cut drainage canals through it. but wars with the Indians stopped the work. During the Semi nole war of 1S35-43. the United States army officers were astounded to come upon a drainage canal which was be- ing cut by the Seminoles. The United States Senate considered the question of draining the Everglades as carly as 1g40. The work is now in charge of the State of Florida and has been actually commenced, despite the op- position of those who believe an adequate survey should precede the work of equalization. a-.
 Escalente named this region "Laguno del Espiritu Santo"-the Lake nf the Holy Spirit. The ancient tribe of Calos Indians called 1t Take Mayaimi." a name which still persists in the Miami river. The Seminoles named the region "Pah-hay which literally means "grass-water." Then the English came and called the place River Glades." The Indians. the negroes and the Spanish speaking and corrupted it to Everglades"
 Everglades may have no definite in English, but 1t is the one name for this place of mystery and beauty. It still has mystery, for Bome- where within its depths. the Indians declare, still exists the wonderful orange grove which the Cabs chiefs used to own. The customs records show that in the month of March in the year 1898. more than 200 years ago, the trade of Everglades Indians with Havana amounted to $17,oO0. That orange grove was the great asset of the Calos Indians and people ei Florida still half believe in It's existence.
 But the Everglades yields grudging- ly it's secrets It gives no clew to it's mysteries except to confide something to the vagabond Seminole--the Indian can. cross the Everglades from west to east In four days, while white man must take fourteen And the Indian Is one with the wild in defending stub bornly 1t seclusion However, the sur- veyor and the steam dredge are laying siege to this strange estate The rail- road has already broken down part of it's barrier. Perhaps before another has passed the mystery will be gone and the saw-grass wastes win have given way to the truck gar ien and the fruit farm. That is for he drainage engineers.
 (Copyright, 1908, by Frederic J. Has kin.)