The National tribune., 1910-03-03

Itivated and improved than the rest of
the rogte iE2@ SaYaIn3Lil sSs NsSsst .seen.ses e.,se.
land WeII-tiiled grounds begin 10 appear,
and Jacksonville itself rises up before
one. complete and very attractive
lmodern city its southern location being
Imainly indicated by cabbage pSms in
the streets and the se1nitropic fora
generally, which becomes more abun-
dant with every mile. Jacksonville is a
city built by Northern men with North
ern capital, and everything is fully up
to date. with the best TO be found in
the North. A more attractive city can
not be found anywherei The business
buildings, and particularly the numer-
Gus churches, are of the very best class
and highly attractive in appearance.
From jacksonville South.
| But little is seen of oranges and citrus
fruits around Jacksonville, but as the
train speeds southwark these become
more in evidence. Frosts have been too
lfreuuent and too severe around Jack
lsonvilIe to encourage citrus growers,
but thence southwark the climate anne
Iliorates with great rapidity. For 100
miles the road runs along the beautiful
st. Johns River, and when Palatka, so
miles south of Jacksonville, is reached
we are in the thick of orange groves.
They are seen everywhere, heavily laden
with fruit, and they form the shade
trees in the yards of the comfortable
frame houses which are the rule in that
lsection of the State. One hundred miles
lfrom Jacksonville we come to the thriv-
ling town of Sanford, situated on beau
Itiful Lake Monroe and IN center of the
great celery fields of Florida. Sanford
Ipeople think and talk nothing but eel
lery. Celery patches grow close up to
the railroad, and are to be seen in every
direction. They tell marvellous stories
of the profits of celery growing. One
of the record transactions recently was
that of a man who came to Sanford
Ieight or 10 years ago as q common la
borer at $50 month and began buying
lcelery ground and getting it into shape
He finally had handsome little celery
farm, and one day Il Northern visitor
bantered him to a sale, which the owner
Iinadvisedly accepted, and transferred
his property for $4,000. The moment
he accepted the price he regretted it,
but he was too much of a man to bacl;
Iout. He went across the road and
bluffed another man into selling tim
five acres for $500. or about S1,150 an
lacre, which is the record price up 10
date. Celery land costs great deal in
labor and money to bring into prOduc-
Itiveness. but when this is done the prof
its are enormous. Net returns of $1,000
an acre are reported qnite common and
particularly skilful growers do even
better
An Astonishing Sight.
Owing to delays in the train, we did
NOT reach st. Cloud until Sunday Tncrn-
Ing Feb 20, about . o'clock There
had been heavy rain the night before,
the morning was warm, but the sky
overcast. As our automobiles came thru
the narrow road under the festouus Of
lSpanish moss hanging from the liveoak
and cypress out upon the shores of
beautiful Lake East Tohopekalga there
ITose before us a sight which brought CX-
lcIa:lations of surprise from the bps of
| everyone. There, on the level toWnsite
which five months ago had nothing but
the tall, long-leaved pines and low.
wide-spreading liveoaks and the fan
like saw palmettos, rost4 the new roofs
of hundreds Of comfortable homes.
Thru the trees and scrubby under
growth wide avenues ana streets, have
been cut, and these were thronging with
people. AS we rolled into the town the
astOnishment increased Tho the streets
and avenues were numbered with build
ing material and cut deeply into the
sand by the passage of hcavy-,aden We
hicles, everywhere were signs of thrift
and comfort and marvelohs cXlilbition
of what energetic men and woI11eh can
do in a short time when they set their
minds to it. The men of the Grand
Army of the Republic have done many
astonishing things in their lives. for
they were the selected class of men who
did things in the highest way, but they
have never done anything more Won
derful than this rapid transformation
of this beautiful but wild p ain into
first-class town in the surprisingly short
time of four or five months.
Last August there was but one house
nm fI,n fta f,n, lN,,fl Il
ing erected by the company for its Of
flee. Scattered long-leaved pines reach
ing up to rs and 80 feet in straight
columns, with O little crown of branches
at the top and scrubby oaks, saw pal
mettos and gallberry bushes occupied
the ground between the columnar pines.
Now everywhere rise homes good
enough for any man to live in. A great
many of these cost from $4,000 TO 49,
600 each. Several large houses have
been bought from Sears, Roebuck &
Co and other similar establishments
and sent to Florida entire. These were
very tasteful, comfortable and coEven-
lent. Other houses and storerooms
were put up on the well-known Western
style of new towns
At the depot was a good ard suffi-
cient freight house, and the erection of
an adequate passenger station is
planned and soon TO be begun. Near it
was a large store, which was great
department store in miniature, with
everything for sale from baby's teeth
! ing ring to furniture. stoves, Eedding
carpets, etc. There We're smaller stores
on New York and Pennsylvania ave-
nues, which seem to be the main streets,
and two quite well-furnishcd drug
stores were doing a highly encouraging
trade, with ice cream and soda water
| prominently to the front. Their only
/ difficulty was in getting ice, which V i'll
he overcome as soon AS the company S
ice plant is in operation, which will be
within few weeks. Neat boot and shoe
lstores, dry-goodS stores. groceries and
lslmi!ar establishments were seen, with
full stocks Of goods
The compaay'S poWer-houje, IL large
substantial building, has keen complet
eG ana is awaiting machinery which
was shipped some time ago. The beau.
uIui hotel had coached its second story
and a third story was ordered anG he
, gun the next day. Whcl finished il
VIII be one OF the mes. attractive hos.
telries in the South, w.,h fine Offices :
spacious dining room anl up~iD-,lati.
electrically-ligh sleeping rooms \,
Eretly a bank ~ can be secn anywhere
~ the cpun ~ ornaments New Yorl,
avenue. II is built of white brick, with
taIl columns IL front. the furniture in
SIDE OF the best mahogany, and has a
Hashahcent vault with absolutely bur-
slar-proof safe. The bank will be in
operation within few days the only
ueIay pelng the arrival of the furniture
me printing Office had been oomplet-
CO. ana was only awaiting the arriva
VI 'he press TO begin the publication in