Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-06-10
THE GRAND ARMY
VETERANS COLONY
The Story of the Wonderful Growth
of st. Cloud, Fla, in Last
Ten Months.

Geo. l.. Evans, who lived in Jose
phine county for many years and
later located in the state of Wash
ington and recently went to St
Cloud, Fla, has written a letter to
A. Morris, another oldtimer of this
section, regarding the conditions at
the popular veterans colony at st.
Cloud, which has been attracting
much attention from Grand Army
men. Both Mr.. Evans and Mr.. Nor
ris are members of the Gen. Logan
Post of this city. We publish the let
ter for the benefit of our G.. A. R.
and other readers.
st, Cloud. Fla, April 21, 1910
Albert B. Morris, Grants Pass, Ore.
Dear Comrade: Many of the COM
rades and friends at Grants Pass re-
Quested me to write and tell my i'm
pressions of the conditions existing
in the St. Cloud Veterans colony and
promised to do so. | agreed on
your urgent request when we parted
at the depot to write a personal let
ter and | now undertake to comply.
You may read this at a post meeting
If you wish or turn it over to the
Rogue River Courier for publication,
for there it will reach broader field
and be of more general use.
First let me say that the colony
lands are situated in Osceola county,
Fla, and it comprises $4,000 acres
of unimproved lands. The timber
consists chiefly of pitch pine, from
which turpentine is distilled. This
is done by tapping the treeJ and
catching the sap, after which dis
tillation follows. The timber. when
large enough, is converted into lum-
Der. ! have not yet seen tree that
would measure two feet in diameter
at the stump. The forests are open
and you can drive team for miles
and not bump against a tree.
The colony lands are divided into
five-acre tracts and the town of st.
Cloud is surveyed into lots 25 by 100
feet each. The purchaser of five
acre tract at 800 is entitled to a
city lot, which is thrown in. The
iand Is level and sandy and is over
grown with palmetto. The cost of
clearing the land ready for cultva-
ton is about S15 per acre, If done by
contract. The land looks worthless
at first, but it brings good crops by
iudicious cultivation and the use of
fertilizers. Oranges, lemons, grape
fruit, bananas. pineappIes, peaches
and all the different kinds Of berries
and vegetables grow without irriga-
ton, but water would benefit the
crop.
There is plenty of water to be got
by digging twenty feet. but it is
warm and has sulphurous taste, yet
it is claimed to be wholesome. This
part of the state. like the rest of
Florida, abounds in clear freshwater
lakes. There are in the confines Of
the colony four beautiful bodies of
water, all clear and fresh; in fact.
they are beautiful lakes. There are
some cypress swamps in which moth
ing grows except the cypress tree,
Of which fence posts and shingles are
made.
Range for cattle and hogs is un-
limited and these animals make their
living on the range the year around,
but oh what specimens Of domestic
animals these are. The cattle have
long horns, are long-faced, lean and
lank. There has been no improve
ment in these bovines since Noah let
them ont Of the ark, The hogs are
apparently all red and abundantly
covered with coarse bristles The
horses are small in body, but have
long faces and rein him mp as high
as you please and yet his nose
persists In touching the ground His
bones are one Of his prominent foa-
lures Taken altogether, this quad
rnncd Is ans ill-lookIng and as nsnlas-