The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-01-19
GREAT is FLORIDA

reader or the Telegraph, have you
ever paused to contemplate what a
wonderful state Florida is? What a
unique. interesting state, full of sur.
prises and paradoxes, great in size
prominent in history, marvellous in its
wealth Of specimens of the three king.
doms of nature. unsurpassed in seen
cry, full of natural curiosities, and OF
linexhaustible resources?
i It's coast line Is as long as from the
northeast coast of Florida to the
northeast corner of Maine, and along
its axis line the state is 700 miles. Ow-
ing to the difficulty of travel until the
railroads made it easy, a journey from
north to south Florida, or from east
to west Florida. was considered the
same, almost, as journey to for
eign country, and this impression is
still prevalent to some extent. 1t is
noteworthy that the Philippine Is
lands have their coast lines better
charted than is the line of part of the
west coast of Florida, the part called
the Ten Thousand Islands, and this
portion of the state is still as much
of terra incognita as is central Asia
The most ignorant peasant of the
old world has heard of three geograph-
ical names-the Jordan river, the Mis-
sissippi river and Florida. Ever since
her discovery this state has awaken
ed and kept up interest in the world.
In mutation and romance her history
has hardly parallel. From the mis-
| guided adventurer, who sought the
spring of eternal youth, to the enter
prising filibuster, who defied gun
boats while aiding the Cuban cause,
something has always happened in
Florida to keep her before the world.
Bloody, romantic deeds have been
done without number by Spaniard,
Frenchman, Englishman, American
and Indian. No Indian tribe has been
so written and sung about as the Sem
inoles, and while the names of Sitting
Bull and Geronomo faded from public
interest in less than a generation,
those of Osceola and his compatriots
are still fresh in the worlds memory.
When an illustrator for a school at
las wishes to draw a picture suggest
i've of something any other state is
remarkable for he finds no difficulty,
for there are but few unique features
that any of the estates can show. But
when he comes to Florida he must
pause and choose, for this state has so
many remarkable things worth pic
turing Arizona has her cliff dwell
ings, but We have our Indian mounds.
New Mexico has old Spanish build
ings; so have we, but they are older
and better preserved With the ex-
ception of Alaska and California,
there is no state but Florida that can
boast of anything belonging to the an
imal or vegetable kingdom that some
other state does not share. Alaska
has the reindeer, the muskox and the
polar bear; Florida has the crocodile
and the curacao eagle. California has
her sequoias; Florida has her lignum
vitae, wild fig and Chattahoochee ce-
dar. Montana has her geysers; we
the Silver Springs, perhaps the larg-
est in the world. Virginia and Utah
have natural bridges; so has Florida.
at least three. We have not the
Grand Canyon, and we have not Mag
ara, but we have the Everglades. This
little spot on the worlds map has
been mentioned as often as has the
desert of Sahara. The desert has
been crossed and re-crossed for a
thousand years, but those who have
succeeded in crossing the Everglades
can be counted on the fingers. There
is only one more spot on the earth
very high mountains excepted) that
| has been so hard to traverse, and that
i is the Isthmus of Panama. Besides
this circumstance, the Everglades,
from it's nature, is unique, and there
is nothing else like it in the world.
Florida has not single mountain,
yet, paradoxical enough, it has many
kinds of minerals. Gold, iron, sui
phur, lime, kaolin, fuller's earth, phos-
phate and petroleum have so far been
found. The sinks, the caves, the
springs are many and wonderful.
Many of the springs are used for
health resorts.
The scenery is unlike any other in
the country. A journey up the Okla
waha river is one of the most inter
esting in the world. The cocoanut
groves along Lake Worth, Jupiter In