The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-05-21
FLORIDA AND ITS
MANY ADVANTAGES
tMrs. c. A. Cole
Continued from Yesterday
tMrs. c. A. Cole.)

And now | must give you short
account of the beautiful inland trip
from Kissimmee to Fort Myers,
which Mr.. Cole and had the pleas
ure of taking, through some of these
lakes, rivers and canals which pene.
trate the interier of the Peninsula.
1t consumes from four to four and
half days to make the trip, ride
by water of 300 miles. We were
members of party of twelve, made
up for this romantic trip, which the
captain of the boat tells us he takes
about twice year. Our party repre-
scnted several different States
Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Florida, and jolly,
Icongeniai crowd they were.
This thriving little city of Kis-
simmee lies on the north bank of
Lake Tohopekaliga. From here we
made our start.
At I a. m. on a Wednesday We
boarded the river steamer Lille.
The day was typical of an Iowa sum-
mer day, and we could not have
wished for better conditions.
The sale across Lake Tohopekali
ga in the early morning was delight
full, as we drank in the fresh, cool
air from off the water. 1t is the
custom of the captain when making
these trips to sail only during the
daylight, tieing up at nightfall, that
we might not miss any of the beau
ties of the trip.
Passing out of Lake Tohopekaliga,
we entered a canal, and from that
on through small rivers, other small
lakes and canals, until we reached
kissimmee river, a stream one hun
dred miles in length. To say that
this river is crooked hardly expresses
it, as it curves around the shores un-
ceasingly.
places in this river where he runs
every direction of the compass in
going one mile, forming loop after
loop. Often we would run some dis
tance, then be thirty to forty feet
from where we entered the loop.
There are many places in this river
only twenty-five to thirty feet in
width, our boat being twice that
length or even more, it was with
difficulty that the turns were made,
and when in making one of these
turns our little boat got stuck, it
only afforded amusement for the
party on board, and added to the
many other amusing and interest
ing incidents of the trip. For miles
we would run, twisting and turning
with nothing in sight but weeds and
water, then again the banks would
be fringed with bushes and small
trees, these affording a retreat for
the alligators, many of which we
saw along the banks, and a few shots
were fired from guns in the hands OF
some Of our party, with the hope
that we might be able to carry back
souvenir of our trip, but out of re-
spect for the sportsman of our party,
l refrain from explaining why we
were not able to do so.
After a ride of nearly two days on
the kiesimmee river, we came in
sight of Lake Okeechobee, stretch
ing far and wide before us, the only
large lake through which we pass.
1T is from this ;ake they are running
the canals to drain the Everglades
We crossed to the east coast and
hugged the shores for some distance
with the hope of catching sight of
the drainage dredges, but We're
doomed to disappointment, owing to
the fact that they were at work sew
eral miles up the canal, and our
captain was unable to enter the
canal, as it was filled with debris
thrown up by the dredges. From
Lake Okeechobee we passed through
another stretch of small rivers, lakes
and canals and finally entered the
Caloosahatchee river; and here
words fail me to describe the gran
deur of this scene.
Certainly this river is one of the
most beautiful streams in America.
Its banks are steep and several feet
high, and are lined for miles on both
sides with dense growth Of palm
and cedar trees lai thick with un-
derbrush of palmattoas, which look