The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-04-14
ENGINEERS N GALA
4 Large Number OF Business Men Met
and Consulted With Them Regard
ing Waterway Improvement
sunday Evening

8Iessrs. w c. Langitt. Henry Tay- /
Tor and W. j. Bardin. engineers Of the
United States army. and their secre- |
tary. Mr. A. Fl. Weber. accompanied
BY the well known and popular officer
in charge of this district, Major J. r.
slattery, had a good chance to see the
needs Of the upper Oklawaha Sunday.
and learn the wishes of the people of
this region in regard 10 that river and
the Withlacoochee
The engineers arrived in Leesburg
Sunday morning, and were taken in
charge by the Leesburg board of trade,
assisted by committees from Ocala,
Eustis. Tavares and Mount Dora, all OF
which places are vitalIy interested in
the Improvement Of the Oklawaha, and
are doing all in their power to secure
a six-foot channel, sixty feet wide,
from the head of navigation TO the st.
Johns.
ocaIa was represented by Judge w.
g Bullock. Mr. r. s Kyle and Secre-
tary j. D. Rooney
The various engineers. accompanied
by their hosts, embarked on a launch,
and were taken all thru the picturesque
water region around Beesburg, and to
Tavares, Mount Dora and Eustis. After
seeing the principal points of interest,
the company was entertained at
sumptuous dinner at Comfort Lodge.
the bungalow on Treasure Island"
of Mr. E. H Mote. The dinner was an
excellent one and was thoroughly en-
joyed by all, Mr.. Mote playing the host
to perfection.
In the afternoon, the engineers, ac-
companied by the Ocala delegation,
came down the lOklawaha in a launch
to Kyle & Young's big drainage farm.
Here they were met by Mayor Robert
son with his auto, also the cars of Mr..
| Chambliss, Mr.. Kyle and the Board of
Trade, and after a look at the farm,
! interesting from an engineering as
well as an agricultural standpoint,
they were brought to Ocala and lodg-
ed at the Harrington.
After supper, the engineers proceed
ed to the Board of Trade room. where
| they met a good-sized delegation OF
business men, all very much interested
| in the matter at hand. Present were
j. d. Robertson, r. l. Martin, j. H
Crimson, T. C. Chambliss, J. NJ Thomas
/ Fred Magaw, w. A. Knight, c. Carmi-
| chael, T. s. Kyle, c. H. Lloyd, A. c.
Cobb, Harvey Clark, E. G. Bennett, j.
R. Dewey. Edward Drake, w. B. Gala
CHER and reporters for the Star and
Times Union. From other towns were
present Messrs. r. l. Turner and Geo.
w Scofield of Inverness. E. c. May and
r. f. VanNess of fernando, Idleburger
of Panasoffkee, A. G.. T. Moore, secre-
tary of the Gainesville board of trade,
and w. H. Hale, secretary of the Cedar
Key board of trade.
| As the claims of the Oklawaha had
been fully presented to the engineers
during the day. the floor was given to
the representatives of the Withlacoo-
chez and Cedar Keys, all of whom
made short but pfthy addresses, back
ed up with carefully prepared statist-
les. Secretary Rooney read some very
pertinent data on the Withlacoochee
furnished by Mayor Robertson, who is
well acquainted with the needs and
possibilities of that stream.
The session did not last very long.
as all who had anything to say said 1t
to the point. The engineers gave close
and courteous attention; their decision
of course, will not be known until
later They left this morning for
Jacksonville, from where they will go
direct to Washington.
They said that there would be an
lother month to obtain information in
fegard to the needed Improvement.
Send Delegation to the Capital City
This and other matters of the sort
will be considered by the general board
of engineers in Washington next
mittees be sent by ocala and other