The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-09-05
(By Harry Snowden Stabler.)

| 10Y marry ouo"uoA 9e"oAeA''
All good Floridians date every
! thing from the Big Freeze. That
happened twenty years ago--a shor1
time in any country except thit
blessed one of ours-.but as long age
as it seems to them no man In that
warm climate recalls it without q
shudder. However, should such an
atmospheric freak occur today 1t
would not only be far less destruc-
tive, but 1t would be viewed with
more equanimity by the people, for
in 1912 the citrus fruits came near
being fourth instead of first In the
value Of the States products.
Florida today is an unknown
country to ninety-nine out Of every
hundred people in the United States.
Even the majority Of those who visit
it fail to get anything like a cor
rect idea. In 1894 the peninsula
was thought by the Inhabitants
themselves to be a mere strip OF
sand jutting out between the At
lantic and the gulf, fit for nothing
but growing oranges. So If you had
then ventured the opinion that the
freeze was sort of economic cata-
clysm-one of those proverbial
blessings in disguise'--you would
probably have been hanged to a
sour orange tree if one could have
been found.
But there were mighty few left,
and many people, thinking their
only asset was wiped out. quit the
State. There were many others,
however, possessed of courage. for
titude and vision, whose faith In the
future of the country has been am.
ply justified. Those who stuck to
citrus growing realized that while
freezes do come every now and then
to damage the crops, or even cut the
seasons tender growth back, the
temperature had not fallen so low
as fourteen degrees in Florida since.
1885. Among them was E. II.
Mote, whose story is worth sketch
ing because it is in some ways typi-
cal of thousands of men who came to
Florida when it was in very print
tive stage, fell in love with it and
stuck to it.
Mr.. Mote was Delaware man.
Like many another he went south
for his health in 1881, locating at
Leesburg, then village of less than
a hundred people, situated between
Lake Griffin and Lake Harris. The
lake region is by far the most beau
tiful part of Florida, but even then
the crooked promoter was abroad in
the land. So the newcomer promptly
got stung in the purchase of some
land which he had never seen, al
though he paid only five dollars an
acre for it. With the deed in his
pocket he went out to take look
at it. 1t was not only covered with
scrub, but there were lot of small
scattered all over it. Be-
meath each one was a hole.
what are those?" he asked
Gopher holes"
The Florida gopher is not furred
but shelleh 1t is sort Of land tur-
tie and il often dig a hole into
which you could throw a good sized
valise. Disguised. the tenderfoot
was about to drop his deed into one
of them when he was persuaded to
trade the land for a pair of mules,
one of which was spawned, the other
blind in one eye. With this pair of
steeds and 5000 Mr.. Mote embarked
in the livery business. 1t logged
along a few years, finally came down
to walk, and then one day per-
fectly bare feed room over the sta
BILE gave him an idea.
Danger from Frost is Less Now
In a week or so enthusiastic Flor
ldians were sailing round on roller
skates. The rink was opened in
February and by July it had netted
$4,000, just enough to give Mr..
Mote a start in the hotel business.
That grew, but the town needed a
real emporium. 1t was opened with
1 general stock of goods costing S.
700, half of which was bought with
,ash A series of free excursions
brought the natives from distances
If fifty miles or more and the whole
stock was sold out in less than two
weeks. Out Of this business he
bought q twenty-acre orange grove
,onS 900 nnn D.