The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-03-31
FLORIDA DESTINED TO BE
ONE OF RICHEST STATES
IN THE SOUTH, SAYS WALL
STREET JOURNAL
Increase of Population Due to Immi.
grafton From the North and West.
Extension of Railroads


grafton From the North and West.
Extension of Railroads
Under the heading, Hollands Let
ter" the Wall Street Journal, which
is New York's leading financra1 or
gan, says:
An article recently published from
the pen of Gov. Albert w. Gilchrist of
Florida, is the first formal and detail
: ed statement made by anyone of high
political authority in that state, tell
ing of the amazing changes in prog
ress there and of the reasons why
the state may be expected from now
on to grow as rapidly, relatively at
least, as any other state in the I'm
ion.
What Governor Gilchrist has writ
ten has been a topic among men of
commerce, finance, manufacture and
transportation in this city for the past
two or three years. There have been
occasional references in this column
to the information brought here from
Florida. The striking growth of the
city of Jacksonville and the indica-
ton that this increase in wealth and
population is to be continued have
been commented upon by men famil
lar with conditions in Florida, men
like Henry NJ. Flagler. The mana
gers of some of the railways whose
trains run continuously from New
York or Philadelphia to and through
Florida have spoken with gratifica-
ton and sometimes with amazement
of the material development of the
Florida peninsula. The late Samuel
Spencer, when president of the South
ern railway, predicted that Florida
would become one of the richest of
the southern states.
This development is a phenomenon,
unique in several respects; for one
thing, the state is attracting a large
immigration, no small part of which
comes from the west, and while there
are now at all of the states winter re-
sorts many people who, as whole,
represent the larger cities of the
north, New York. Philadelphia, Gin
cinnati, Chicago and Boston, yet
these constitute only small portion
of the passengers brought into Flor
ida by the railways. Southern Florida
and central Florida are likened to new
stretches of country in the far west,
into which the pioneer has gone seek
ing opportunity. Take, for instance,
the city of Tampa.
On the average, two trainloads of
, prospectors come in each week, some
of them from the southwest, but the
majority of them from Iowa, Missouri,
and other western states. They are
so numerous that some of them are
compelled to sleep in the cars. In
this respect the community takes on
the aspect of frontier town. OF
course, this impulse has led to specu-
lation in land, but the majority of
farmers are astute; they do not listen
to the tempting propositions of the
land speculator, but seek reliable and
authoritative advice.
The Question of Transportation
Soon after the close of the civil war
some attempt was made to develop
the agricultural resources of Florida,
especially fruit. But progress was not
very rapid, chiefly owing to lack of
transportation from the interior of
Florida to the north. The Astors
owned a little railroad, about twenty
milese in length, running from the st.
Johns river to st. Augustine, and they
made the most of their opportunity in
the way of charging for passenger
fares, the regular fare being two dol
lars. English capital, in combination
with some from Philadelphia, under
took a large transportation develop
ment in southern Florida. A little
railroad was built from the village of
Sanford, the terminal of navigation on
the st. Johns river, to the hamlet of
Kissimmee. Thence it was proposed
to dredge Lake Kissimmee so that a
good channel could be obtained, and
to canalize the outlet of the lake, the
Kissimmee river, to Lake Okeecho-
.rbee, which lies back of Palm Beach
about forty miles, about 100 miles
Asoutb of Sanford and 210 miles below
Jacksonville, and also to canalize the
. Caloosahatchee river, the outlet of
Okeechobee, which is navigable from
the gulf to Fort Myers, distance of
about fifteen miles. as the crow flies,
and twice that distance by water.
But a proposition of that kind in
volved at that time heavy outlay OF
capital, and there was no great prom
Use of business sufficient to provide
hn r