The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-11-11
HiiLA liktLAsU' ) i!R>i

LG!tor Lakeland Evening Ie.e-
ram l.ayins in mind the ia,t that
4 few Gays ago htd an in1ury over
ne telephone from you eli G, AK
m, Lic as to tie exact date Of the
competition of the raiho d throu Ii
Lakeland, which il formation | gave
YOU, and the further fact that read
III the issue Of the TGie ram OF yes
jerday some comment from different
Dapels in REGARD to this matter, it
u ours to ME that 1t may lie OF In
terest to elaborate upon this some
what.
What was known as tie South
.Nloiida railroad, being narrow
.ause rod, was cOnstrlttpd from
Sanford to Orlando, probably about
1850 or 1881; it was subsequently,
constructed to Eissimmee and there,
or several years, it stopped. hat
me tie road M2s owned hy %pm'
'1rties IL tie city Of rosr,n P2oN,
Wy in iS.'a, the p'"nt Ia Hrtn IT
o. purchased 2 Charlton w'irh w~e
I'd ~ Some wo-tar" ao2.lr, thn
I'D chester ~iH~ lno"n Is i've
ac>so"yil,c, TN""a and Fnr W~t
ni.ro@G. This hartcr carried win
llMd erAnt o fvc I ousoN1
tr2s o. lard rer nile, provided that
he read should lp cNm"'n.cA to the
waters Of tho cul' Of NnsirO on or
before the 18th d9y Of Jpnua"v,
'SS4." Nv recollection is thai I've
Plant In estment Co. tc un this
extension from Kissimmce ahoYt
June. 1888, Working west. Simul-
Itareorsly they had previously
blouoht a locowctiye end shin
load of rails from Ccd r News to
Tampa ty water) the work WIS
started at TAMPA, coin" east. | was
r,crc'y lad at tive time, being in
i'll health, and Yves Fortunate cnoN"h
to secure q Contract for the cutting
OF cross ties, and arrived in Eiseim-
NEE on the 2rd day Of November,
1883. The NEXT morninr | "ot on a
locomotive. and VS. transported 10
roint seven miles from Eiseim-
NEE. which WIS thcn tho cnl Of
the tack on that si1N, and Gieem-
harFod IN Ito woods at A UlNcn
known as Reofy Creek. From RcnAy
Crock ! walked to ? Mace which |
co'led "C2nY stu" aticn.' or about
wh2t Is nov c2''nd Davenport, Int in
those days called Horse Crook. l
slowed at l'orse Creek for few days,
LOOKING aftor sore work thcrc, aud
then rCenmin" nv wolk, started 10
another land mark, known as Wire
Lake. arrived at Wirc Jake on or
about tie 25th DIV of NorcmNcr
1S83, ard put to work about one
hundred NEGROES cutting cross ties
The nearest irhahitod hose nj that
time WAS on tho woct shore ~ lake
Holm osworth, ard WIS ocruNcd Ivy
a GOOD I'D citizen. the BOY. p L
McCrarv, tho remnont of whose fam
lily still resides here.
Much Of the timber which won't
into cross ties was taken from the
present site Of Lakeland, the fl cst
body OF timber heinz th0t unon
which the park and b sincyS district
now stanfs. associated with me at
that time, in one way or another,
were the late VIM. H. Reynolds.
Hon. John l.. MORGAN, now rest
dent of akcland; Mr.. l.. w. Mails,
by, also a resident Of Lakehnd, and
associated with me in a partnership
was Mr.. j. r. Davis, now of Bar
tow.
1t was generally understood at the
time that the failure to complete this
line of road and run train over
1t before the 2Ith day of January, |
1884, would result In the forfeiture
Of the lard Grant. Time was 20
prpsSjny that I WAS required to nut
cross ties on the road in barely suf. !
fcient quantity for a train to move
over-say five or Fix ties to the rail,
The two ends OF the track, build
Ing east and west, finally met at