The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-17
BROOKS HAS STORY
OF EVERGLADES
WELL KNOWN MISSOULA MAN
HAS INTERESTING TALE OF
TRIP IN FLORIDA.

thItuSI III " iddSS. II ohpipiis
that these Everglades form an i'm
mense tract of lane millions of acres
in extent and covered with a rank
growth of what is known as saw
grass. This grass is about as high as
a mans shoulders. This immense
tract of Everglade land was original
ly owned by the state of Florida, In
order to make it of value, they sold
these lands to large dealers at a
nominal price per acre, generally from
40 cents to 81. The proceeds from
these sales have been used to dig a
series of canals from Lake Okechobee,
a body of water about so miles long
and 40 miles wide, near the center of
the Everglades. This lake is shallow.
about "a feet deep at the deepest
| point. and has an elevation of about
20 feet above sea level. Canals have
been dug into his lake to drain it,
and with the expectation that ulti-
mately the lowering of this lake will
be lowered about four or five feet.
hut only three of these canals have
been completed as yet. and these have
made no perceptible decrease in the
water level.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
Everglades are yet covered with
water, hundreds of thousands of acres
rave been sold unsought and unseen
t prices as high as $50 per acre to
innocent purchasers, and these our
hasers have been unable to even To-
ate the land owing to the fact that
he government has never subdivided
these lands into tracts smaller than
ections. Talking of his trip yester-
lay, Mr.. Brooks said:
w left q point at the mouth of
what is known as the Fort Lauder
lale canal, about IS miles north of
Mama, and in one day reached Lake
Dkechobee. a distance of about so
miles. All of this was through the
9eart of the Everglades land. AS far
Is the eye could reach in every di-
ection it appeared like one vast field
f hay. Wild birds. ducks, heron and
rranes were to be seen in big flocks.
occasionally in the distance would
ne seen what is known as a hum
mock or an island, where the land is
sufficiently high above the sea level
10 he cultivated. In every case the
government has decided these islands
to the Seminole Indians.
Lake Okechobee abounds in fish,
and l was told by a man who is in the
business that the fish are actually
poor when they are caught, for the
reason that there is not sufficient
food for such numbers. They are
caught in seines and taken out to
ne railroad in boats. several carloads
being shipped each day from Lauder
dale to the northern markets.
WI entered Lake Okechobee and
crossed a bav a distance of about 10
miles TO another canal which drains
he water into the Gulf of Mexico;
passing into this canal we came to
another small lake called Hicpoche.
This LAKE also abounds in fish, and |
7aW more ducks, cranes and heron
han | expected ever to see in my life.
Passing out of Lake Hicpoche we fol-
lowed the canal to the head of the
Caloosahatchee river. From this point
down to Fort Myers was the most
ride ! have ever taken. The
river was very narrow, and at many
points we We're obliged to back the
boGil III VI tulH- VII tlllltI sue
are immense orange and grapefruit
groves, the products Of which are
taken by boat down to Fort Myers,
which is the end of the railroad on
the west coast of Florida.
" passed the famous Floweree
grove Of 500 acres, the late owner,
Daniel FloWeree. having lived in
Helena. These lands with bearing
groves are valued at from 81. 900 per
acre Up. 1t is a question in my mind
whether any of these make interest on
the values. We reached Fort Myers
the third day where we found a pros
porous city of several thousand peo-
PIE, supported by tourists and the
fruit groves.
our steamer was one of the old
fashioned stearn-Whcelers and made
about five or six miles per hour. We
travelled only by daylight, tying up to
the banks whenever dark overlook us.
This vas owing to the very crooked
channel through which we had to
This country is often flooded in
the spring, due to the very heavy rain
tall, n | have been told that it is
possible to go from the Gulf of Mex
leo to the Atlantic IL 4 roWboat, cross
country, at times.
My idea of the Everglades is tina
t will be many years before it will be
to occupy them as farms, and
that only when theT will have dis
Gov cred some crop tina; can be ham
in large bodies like sugar cane,
plTeapples and the like.
Land being sold now is conerally1
atN frtised as truck land, and it will
never be profitable to work it as such.
We spent several days in the
nelghborhood of Fort Myers, where
there is fishing in abundance. The
tarpon season was just opening and
several had already been landed. From
Fort Myers we came north to TAMPA,
and home"