The National tribune., 1911-04-20

that I received from Mr.. and Mrs.
Truesdell-Come right in, brother, and
stay with us; we want to do you good.
That is the thought and feeling that
viii penetrate into your blood as you
| talk with them about Lynn Haven and
the ST Andrews Bay country.
And l want to say right here for my
self that after being down there TWO
weeks. going carefully over everything,
| asking thousands of questions, from
hundreds of people, and thinking II all
! over again for a month or more, since
| ! have been back, that The National
| Tribune and the descriptive folder they
sent out were very reserved in their
| talk and description of the resources,
value, quality and the many, many
| good things that there are about Lynn
| Haven and st. Andrews Pay.
| The next morning | went up to Lynn
| Haven on the company's lanch, a large,
roomy boat, seaworthy and fast. Lynn
! Haven is about 5 miles by water and
nine miles by land from Panama City.
1t was a very pleasant and surprising
ride to us, surprising on account of the
size, depth and beauty of the Bay. You
can form no idea of its greatness by
| looking on the map. 1t is over 400
miles around the shore line. Miles and
miles of from 80 to so feet deep or
more of good anchorage for ships, so
wide at some places the other shore
could hardly be seen, and as we passed
the mouth of West Bay nothing but
water met the eye. The more you go
over it and see it all the greater it
looks to YOU. Landlocked. with the eN-
ception of one narrow opening to the
Gulf where the L. s. Government is
now at work cutting deep channel
thru bar-that is. across the open
ing to the Ray-giving a passage from
Z G11If of AJnSjpn n no tn he
largest ships. They are also cutting a
canal at the head of East Bay about 90
miles long to intercept a large river
that is naTieable for large boats over
400 miles. so it will empty into the Bay
instead of the Gulf. The Bay is full
of the finest fish you ever ate. also
oysters and other saltwater food. In
the North Bay, on which Lynn Haven
IS located, are the largest beds of the
largest and best oysters in the whole
Pay. So, if you like oysters, all you
have to do is to own a pair of oyster
tonSS and boat. and whenever you
want any oysters go out and help your
self to all You want. Fish the same
right at your door, an ineXhaustible
supply. Think of it, big part of your
living to he had at no expense, only
work or play, yau might call it, TO get
it. Don't it sound good to you people
who live in the cities up North, who,
On account of the high prices, don't
have fish or oysters very often? But
t is nothing but sure facts, a great
deal larger than | can tell II or you can
believe until ycu get right down on the
Fay and see foS yourselves. Then you
cannot see il all. it is so big and so
much of it. The more you see of il
the greater and grandcr it opens up TO
you, until YOU are all carried away
with it.
hc II .srrl.
MIR. Truesdell showed us the boundaries
of the town it was a picture worth
looking "a, gradually rising from the
Bay. mostly covered with the long leaf
pine, but magnolia and other trees
mixed in. none of the pine over 12I
inches in diameter. as it had been
'timhereG Off as they call it down
here. The timber is very scant in some
places and numerous small clearings
make it easily cleared off.
When We got ashore Mr.. TruesdelI
was very careful to Snow us in detail
all the good and bad points of the
town; no bad ones, as could
see, that amounted to anything IL
was tod up Ncrth that the land thru
this part Of the country was all gray
sand and no good, but in going over
the LINN Haven townsite and back in
the country it is all as fine a soil as
ever saw. Where they were cutting the
streets and avenues thru they had dug
bitches on each side of some of them
TO drain off the small pools you will
find once in awhile over the land In
some places the ditch was two feet or
more deep, and nothing but a very
dark, loamy soil was shown. Then.
where they were digging out the
stumps YOU could see deeper. After
they had gone thru the dark soil i'll
showed yellow loan. 1t looked good
to me. ] found and sampled number
Of wells that had only been driven down
from IA TO IS feet. 1t was all good
water, little different flavor from our
hard Northern water, but good. The
company men were busy everywhere
clearing the streets, laying off the town
lots. building a very large wharf and
pier, getting out ties for railroad to
connect with the Atlanta & st. Andrews
Bay Railroad. and trying to get things
in shape generally as soon as they
could, for there are now over 100 fami-
lies waiting 10 get their lots so they
can commence 10 build, and more COM
ing in on every train from the North.
mostly Grand Army people, as good as
the best IN the land. IL sure Is going
to be winner Still l was not salts
fed with just looking over the town
so had the direction of Panama City
pointed out to me. got my bearings by
the sun. and walked back overland
thru the woods. nine miles, TO Panama
City. ] did not hurry on a straight
line, but took my time and would go
ZigZag back ard forth. When / came
to one of the low, swampy spots ]
would go around it to see how large il
was. ! did not find any of them over
300 or 400 feet long or over 100 feet
wide. and ] don't think over two feet
deep at The mos:. They were covered
with brush growth. and when cleared
off the sun alone would dry them out.
Once in awhile a knoll or slight raise
of the ground would have gray sand
on the top, but all the way back to the
end OF LINN Haven boundary | found
only the dark, luamy soil, and ii looked
better for farming the farther / got
back than up In the town. Then ]
would ask all kinds of Questions from
everyone | met that / thought had
lived there long enough to know about
things. / would go into houses, intro
ducc myself, sit down and have a good,
friendly talk. ] found them all very
kind, friendly and open in giving me
all the information ! wanted. That
kind of work WAS a pleasure and easy
to me- as have sold all kinds of mer-
chandise in all the different ways II is
sold for over 80 years. so had no trou-
bic in approaching or making friends
with everyone j came in contact with
Would ask who was raising vegetables,
would go ont and look them over You
cannot realize or know much about
them by being told about them or look
inc AT uictIireS of them you have got