The National tribune., 1911-04-06
ST. CLOUD.
The "OId Soldier Magic City'-A Vet
eran Need Look No Farther for an
Ideal Home.

The "OId Soldier Magic City'-A Vet
eran Need Look No Farther for an
Ideal Home.
(F'rom the Richmond, KY, Climax.)
February 13, 1911.
Editor of the Climax: From the
above heading Of this letter you can
see 1 am in the Sunny South in the
"Old Soldiers Magic City" or city
of wonder. On July 1, 1909, there was
one small house occupied by survey
! ing crew to lay off the town. Well, they
| did their work well. Today there is
about one thousand houses as near as
one could guess. A brief history of
| st. Cloud and it's surroundings will be
of interest to my old comrade soldiers
who are looking for some balmy place
to pass the last days of life-St. Cloud
| is the place. No use to look farther.
The town is situated on tract of
| land once owned by the Disston people
of Philadelphia, containing thirty-seVen
| thousand acres of land
In the center of this tract of land
| is the city of st. Cloud, The town is
two miles wide and three miles long,
carefully and beautifully laid off.
This tract of land has a beautiful
lake of water on each corner or near
each corner of the land. The Disston
people WIeH tIiGy O"Aeu tiit ietDu "a
nailed these lakes all together and ca
nailed these lakes into the st. Johns
River, thus lowering the lakes about
six feet; it will be seen that this puts
st. Cloud on the best drained land in
Florida. But the work of drainage did
not stop mere. After the Seminole
Land and Investment Company bought
this land there was one strip of low
land in the center of town. They sunk
ditch about three or feet, the entire
length of over three miles; this, with
few shorter bitches, made the town
nice and dry.
A Wonder to Behold.
The town is entirely on new land,
much of the original forest. The town
is a wonder to behold. Let us take
glance at the town only Is months
old and see its growth. There is an
artesian well 912 feet furnishing an
abundance of pure water; has Ma
tional Bank in dandy brick building;
it has brick postoffice building, and
forty thousand dollar brick hotel, mod
ern, up-to-date in every respect; has
three or four small hotels; has an ice
plant making and delivering ice at
your door every morning; has electric
light plant for the town and telephones;
it has nearly every convenience that
other towns 40 and so years old have,
except paved streets; of these we have
none, Many of the business houses
have pavementS, otherwise the streets
are all the original sandy bed the Lord
allotted to Florida in her creation. But
all parts of the Lords creation has some
beauty, and when l look at the orange
trees full of their precious fruit, the
banana trees, the grapefruit, tangerine
trees and the pineapple and all kinds
of vegetables and flowers growing in
abundance, it makes me think how
good and pleasant it is to be where
the sand is; there can be no doubt
about it but that Florida is the coming
State for the man who wants to live
on easy street. Ten acres of oranges
and with ordinary care furnishes a good
living for family of ten people
FIorida's Needs.
Florida only needs the hand of in
dustry to boom on to the front III
have been asked much about the eli
mate in Summer. / met many of my
old comrades from the States of Kan
sas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, H.
linois and Ohio who had been in st.
Cloud over year each, and every one
of them said they never suffered with
heat last season as they did in their
home States. They said they always
had q cool air every day which made
1t always pleasant. In Winter season.
for the old worn-down comrade there
was all the heat one could wish for.
At this time there are over five hun |
I'd old Federal soldiers there enjoy |
that balmy southern air; over a |
undred Flags wave over the city |
every day above the comrades houses. l
/ met my friend and comrade A. S. |
Cole. formerly of Lewis County; he To-
Gated here to stay; he gave up hisS.Old
Kentucky Home" to come to spend the
rest of his life. on account of the cli-
mate. l also met comrade ]. F. Farris, |
an old Kentucky comrade, whose home
is in Muskogee, Okla. He is largely in
terested in st. Cloud in the real estate
business, and is doing a nice business. |
He has thousands of dollars invested in
the best real estate of the town and |
thinks the town is going to the front I
A Law-Abiding People.
All these grand improvements have
been made without an officer; the town
has no officers In 1t and has never been