The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-07-22
A PLEASANT TRIP
ON A SPLENDID BOAT

Kiss from Silver Springs Sunday, but |
those who didn't go missed a pleasant |
day and a delightful voyage.
Silver Springs run and the Oklawaha |
river were discovered for the second |
time when the CITY of Ocala" was
launched. II was never before posi- |
BILE to view the beauties of the stream
with the satisfaction of getting there
added to the comfort of such a large |
boat. Our American habits Of mind
have rendered 1t well-nigh impossible
to enjoy any journey unless we are
moving at a rapid pace. So the pleas
lure of the Oklawaha trips on the
larger vessels has been partly lost to
many by their snail-like pace; and
while the swift smaller boats were all
right for a short trip, not few peo-
pie can certify that one of the most
uncomfortable places in the world for
a tired person is a little boat.
| The City of Ocala has remedied both
these disadvantages. Big enough to
enable people to travel on her in COM
fort, she is fast enough to take an
honorable place among the craft on any
river. 1t would be difficult TO find on
a hot summer day a more restful place
than her upper deck when she is at
full speed up or down stream. the river
between It's banks OF trees ike d ledIg
lane: but man never made a road as
smooth as the water, and the wind
caused by the motion Is just strong
enough to keep one cool and blow
some Of the WEAKNESS out OF a tired
human frame. The deep green of the
trees is refreshing to the eye wearied
with the brick and tin and glazing
lights of the city. There is plenty of
variety, big red and white flowers
CLEAN in the dark green of the forests
. like stars in a summer night, turtles
are plenty and gators not few, and
occasionally there is a flash Of white
or color as a semi-tropic bird wings
its way across the stream or back into
the woods The waters of the river
are dark, but Silver Springs run. now
as ever, is a mirror in which shines
an ever changing wealth of tints in
the rocks and sands and the long,
waving grasses. Time and again, the
excursionist holds his breath and
waits for shock as he sees rock or
bank OF hard white sand rising thru
the water to meet the boat only to
feel surprised and relieved as it slides
back under the keel many feet below.
> There is no telling how many million
years it took the rushing stream to
dig this mighty trench, but Silver
Springs must have fed a vast il shall
low inland sea until the constantly
cutting current ate it's way thru the
last bank Of rock and sand and catch
ing the sluggish Oklawaha in its grasp
= rushed it swiftly to the st. Johns and
to the sea- Nowhere else in the world
does such a large river start from a
single spring.
The greatest beauty of Silver Springs
run is in it's depths. The writer has
seen people. not only of artistic train
ing but also those whose daily grind
of lfe-work gives them little time for
thoughts of any but the intensely
practical. entirely forget themselves
. as they hung over the sides of the boat
b and watched the liquid Kaleidoscope
Wherever the sand is clear of grass
the water gives it the most beautiful
shimmering. light-blue tint magma
u BILE. The grasses themselves are OF
many hues and every little rock and
u shell. has been polished by the current
into a jewel, and there is a never
IL failing source of interest in the
swarms of fish that float in the clear
water like birds in the air. So far as
the writer knows, there is no stream
. of water of the volume Of Silver
= Springs run possessing it's clearness
: The prettiest part of the stream is IN,
three or -: niles rsssxxsessx,.-,lse:<afder
depth of the water max
u ing 1t blue as looks ahead o
astern, only to change to transpar
Is ency when you look over the side.
er The City of Ocala left the pavilion
p at 9:45 Sunday morning and an hou
u. and twenty-eight minutes later tie
~ up at Los Kiss, twenty-five mile
pt down stream. The powerful little en-
CINE throbbed as steadily as the tick
III ing of a watch, and not soul on boar
IT, had anything to do except Captain
H. Frank Mathews, who held the steer
p ing wheel The boat steers easil
es as an auto, but the constant turns re
III quire incessant watchfulness. Their
Is only lacks one of thousand turn
III from Silver Springs to the st. Johns
and time and again the forest tree
W rise in a dead wall ahead, and tn
~ initiated travellers eyes widen frs
III with alarm and then with surprise a
Sc the swift boat answers a twist of tn
u wheel and half turning in half he
length glides away down anothe
tie liquid vista toward another rampar
II OF green, sometimes a hundred yard
Gu never more than a quarter of a mil
We ahead.
Los Kiss Landing, pretty meadow
ed sloping from the woods to the water
or edge, received its name from ALDER
er Arson Graham. Albert originally ha
lis a poetic Imagination. which fed in h
w early boyhood on the scenes of h
e native river valley. which he know
IL like a book, and was perhaps fully d.
as veloped in later years by some tim
spent in the sublime scenery of til
ei Pacific coast. He has put a word tir
II on every curve of the river and ever
OF lake, savannah and forest glade
~ many miles of it.
After pleasant hour for luncheo
We at Los Kiss, the City of Ocala starte
rs dred yards opposite the bold sulphu
Id spring discovered a short time ago b
a' Captain J. l. Smoak. Mr.. Smoak mad
''o his way to the spring, which is out
the forest some little distance fro
the river brink, and returned with
oh' bucket of the water, which is certain
or ly of the best and purest sulphur to
Ire found anywhere. 1t has no mixtul
me of salts or iron to make the taste di.
ic- agreeable. and drinking II cannot IA
ch to be beneficial.
or Leaving the spring, the City
EN- Ocala steadily and swiftly pushed L
ng stream, and in two hours was back +;
les her dock. waiting for the usual crow
as that goes out from Ocala every SUI
phi day afternoon on the Ocala Northel
an for a pleasure trip on this handson
a land Snaa5y hnat