The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1910-01-14
1.-THE RIVIERA"
OF AMERICA
interesting Letter in Progress
Magazine by litteIl MCCIung
GREAT DEVELOPMENTS
Completion Of East Coast Extension and
Project Of Draining tvergIad,s viii
Complete the Romance of Florida

~
Scarcely generation ago the great
peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic
for nearly six hundred miles at the
southeastern corner of the United
States was little more than a fatland
of marshes, dunes, tall pines and
spreading palms and sparsely settled
communities the home of the alligator
and his enemy, the shiftless Seminole.
To-day this peninsula is the winter
paradise of America. With the BAHIA
ma Islands sixty miles off the East
Coast, it forms the Riviera of the
Western world. This winter two hun
dred thousand visitors will enjoy its
balmy breezes and its glorious skies
Where once stood the hut of the woods
man rise magnificent homes and hotels
unmatched in size and splendor by the
great tourist hOstelries of Europe
Where the Indian padded his canoe
from key to key runs sea-gOing rail
road-One of the engineering trumphs
of the century. BY once tangled
marshes saw mills are slashing the
pires into millions of feet of lumber.
On beach that was bare few years
ago. motor cars now make world
records.
IF old Ponce de Leon could come back
to earth and revisit Florida, surely he
would think that somebody had stumbled
on the fountain of youth, the search
for which cost him his life. For Flor
ida has found fountain of youth, fed
by a stream of silver and gold. The
first to feel the white mans foot and
possessing the oldest town in the
Western Hemisphere, Florida's devel-
Opment has been more recent than
that of any other eastern state, with
+ the possible exception of West Virginia.
Only few years ago the popular
conception of this southern peninsula
was that of land of mosquitoes and
sand flies, tropical underground and
tOrrid weather. Few dreamed of its
great possibilities rs haven in winter
from the cold and slush of the north or
az a gigantic factor in the commercial
World. Its vast resources lay almost
dormant.
But two men, pOssessngiin the fullest
tense practical imagination, and
what was also necessary great wealth
saw unique future for Florida.
They were the late Henry B. Plant.
head of the Plant system of railroads,
and Henry M. Flagler. Plant chose
for development the west coast, while
Fagler took the east coast. Each
thought the other was making a mis-
take in his choice.
Time has proved that Mr.. Flagler's
section was the more fortunate.
While the development of the west
coast has continued along substantial
lines, with Tampa as the base OF Oper-
atoms, the other side of the State is in
the lead. Mr.. Flagler saw the advan-
tage the East Coast possessed in being
nearer Cuba and the West Indies, and
his minds eye beheld vast current of
the world commerce drawn toward
the far south. Mentally he pro- ecteda
railrpad down the coast, bringing TIT,
entire eastern part of the United
StatcslintO close touch with the penn,
sula. On the East Coast he saw old
st. Augustine cleaning like an an
tique jewel in the sands, and further
south his eye was ATTRACTED by, the
natural charms of Palm Beach and MI
ami. -
But the vision was not too dazzling
for his constructive genius. At once
he began ito spend money million at
ter million. He built the Florida East
Coast Railway-a direct line from
Jacksonville to the southern end OF the
State, nearly four hundred miles long
This road is now being extended more
than hundred and fifty miles through
the Atlantic ocean over the Florida.
Keys to Key West, within less than
hundred miles from Cuba!
From the sea he brought up hundreds
of tons of cOquina. shells-a the Span
iards had done two centuries before
and, adding cement, ne built IN 81
Augustine the PONCE de Leon hoteI,.
the largest and costIiest structure 'of
Moorish design that ever had been
erected in this country. In front OF
this he constructed an immense court
that, with its fountains and palms,
easily rivaled the patios of Spain. =
Gradually the tide Of winter travel
turned into Florida, and now it has
reached enormous proportions. Other
hotels as splendid as the Ponce de Leon
have been built at st. Augustine, Or
m0nd- on the Halifax, Miami, Tampa,
Palm Beach, and at Nassau in the Ba-
hamas. The Royal Poinciana, fronting
Thousand feet on Lake Worth at Palm
Beach, is the largest tourist hotel in
the world. 1t contains more than two
miles of halls and corridors and It's
main dining hall covers two-thirds OF
ahacra and seats q thousand, six nun
dred persons.
But not alone in the number and
magnihcence OF lite entertainment