The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-31
A TRIP TO DAYroNA BEACH

Mr.. William Hooker, Mr.. Frederick
K. Hooker and Mr.. Chas. H. Lloyd,
the editor of this paper enjoyed q
trip to Daytona Beach in the latter $
car last Saturday, going especially lor
plunge in the surf and to take a
glimpse of the growth OF that Sec
tion of the state, after the lapse OF
several years.
We went through tba big SCRUB
via Crows Bluff and reached Daytona
in time for dinner-the car behaving
,, beautifully. except for the matter OF
two punctures, which Mr.. VIII HOOK
or said should be regarded as incl
dents, not accidents.
When in the big scrub, as far as the
eve can reach, there is nothing but
scrub, and except for the little scrub
bushes and dwarf pines, is almost as
bare of verdure as the sands of Sa-
hara.
The country between Ocala and
Daytona Beach is not settling up very
rapidly, not as rapidly as we had an
ticipated, especially after leaving the
borders of Marion county.
For instance, between DeLand and
Daytona, except just out of DeLand,
we did not see single farm, no evil
dences of cultivation and occupation
except an occasional turpentine still
and it's accessories.
After crossing the Oklawaha river
we saw a number of orange groves,
and just before leaving the Marion
county line one especially fine one.
there are, indeed, enough sprinkled
along the route to show the possibili-
ties of the soil-the soil is simply
keeping up a vigil of "watchful wait
ing" for the touch of the husband
man. The opportunities awaiting his
coming seem abundant.
Returning from Daytona, we came
via Eustis, Tavares and Leesburg and
along the route, while the habitations
are not extremely numerous they are
not quite so few and far between as
by way of the scrub.
We not only saw more orange
groves, but we saw more farms, and
our eyes were RECALLED by several
promising nurseries, which means
something "for future reference"
In Lake county some farmers seem
to be paying some attention to the
cultivation of natal grass and occa-
sionally we caught glimpses of some
fine horses, cows and hogs.
While the country places show but
little cultivation and habitation, the
towns all show evidences of marked
improvement.
DeLand has many handsome new
homes and Stetson University seems,
to have all the buildings necessary
for all kinds of higher education for
the next hundred years.
She has imposing bank buildings,
beautiful store buildings, fine Elks'
club building, court house, and num-
Der of elegant church buildings.
The Clyde Line Steamship Com
pany is building a forty-foot avenue
from Crows Bluff to DeLand Junction
out of periwinkle shells which are
found in mounds on the st. Johns riv-
er by the thousand tons, and the city
of DeLand will continue the avenue
into the city, which will give hard
road from Crows Bluff to the ocean.
Mr.. James E. Alexander has a suite
of elegant law Offices in DeLand and
of course the Ocala delegation could
not have passed through DeLand
without extending to him the "glad
hand"
1t affords us pleasure to say that
he is still wearing the same tinted
glasses and sees the world CARRIED in
its most beautiful colors. He says
that he neither drinks, chews. smokes,
MES, but pays attention strictly tot
business. He is a friend to every
body, and everybody is his friend.
May Dame Fortune bestow upon
him her sweetest smiles.
Daytona still lays claim to being the
prettiest little city in Florida, and to
date no city has wrested this claim
from her.
In the winter time it is the home
of many millionaires, and they have
built the most charming and pictur-
esque homes. Than Ridgeway and
the avenue fronting the river there
are rarely more beautiful thorough
fares in any of the towns and cities
of the old or the new world.
There are said to be fifty-four icens-
ed hotels and one hundred boarding
houses in Daytona, and they are all