Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1915-03-23

, so purSuaSiYely did he talk, so FlVlu-
!. ly did he picture the glories of Ala
, chua county, its resources, its hogs
and cattle, its corn, sweet potatoes
, and long staple cotton, its wonderful
: county seat where are located the
, University of Florida and an U. 5.
Experimental agricultural station,
the richness of the soil of his county,
its large and splendid orange and
pecan groves, the splendid boating
and fishing in the Santa Ee lake,
whose waters flow from the eastern
shores into the Atlantic Ocean and
from the western into the Gulf Of
Mexico, its elevation being the great
est in the whole state, and the rolling
character of the land insuring perfect
, drainage and an absolute freedom
from malaria, that / consented to ac-
company him on the homeWard trip.
We started, as / presumed, over
the East coast railroad TO Jackson
Vile and from there by Seaboard TO
Waldo, but DR.. Eaton thought l
could see and learn more by taking
another route and he hustled me of
the train early in the morning at
Palatka junction and from there to
Palatka, where we found the Ocala
: Northern train waiting for us. This
road | am informed has trackage OF
! about fifty miles. The road is in the
/, hands of a receiver and the conductor
of our train appeared to fill all the
offices of depot master, general freight
,, and traffic manager, dispatcher and
; various other jobs. His train consisted
of twelve dilapidated box cars, an
antiquated passenger coach that had
evidently done service since before
the war and little, old-fashioned,
, d-burning locomotive very similar
to the famous "General" on exhibit
tion in Chattanooga, and of about the
same vintage. Spur tracks branch of
from the main line into remote vii
lagos where saw mills have been
, built or where the trade of the sur
rounding country had warranted the
establishment of a store. Here and
there along the line we're embryo
villages where the lure of truck and
fruit had attracted small colonies
from the north. We stopped and
visited at all these places, as the ar
/, rival of the train appeared to be the
event of the day and drew to the
depotS large crowds of both whites
and blacks.
| cannot give the names of the
places through which we passed as
: the conductor told me there were no
time cards in existence, the last of
these having been exhausted three
years previously. The country through
which we passed was as whole quite
level Here and there we saw fairly
well titled farms, but as rule the
, land traverSed was mostly wilderness;
but as we approached Alachua county
the character of the land, changed,
becoming more rolling and the farms
! were closer together.
THE DESERTED VILLAGE.
81 would like to have you see Mel
rose, the oldest tourist town in Flor
: ida said DIR. Eaton to me on the
, Sunday morning after my arrival at
Waldo, "but | will not have time to
: 90 there with you today, and l am
going to have one of the. real old
: timers take you over there in his car.
, AS he has lived here for years, has
noted the various transitions through
which this country has passed and
{ loves to talk and ponder over the
happenings of earlier days, / imagine
YOU will derive more from him than
l you could from me-"
!. Thus shortly before noon on Sun
! day we started for Melrose on the
q banks of Santa Fe lake. On the road
! we passed several good farms, num-
) Der OF peach orchards in bloom,
{ orange groves on the trees Of which
) one could see an abundance of yellow
fruit and also blossoms, whose fra
GRANGE filled the air. We also passed
I many little clearings and small dilap-
d idated Shacks, which my guide in
formed me were owned by negroes,
some of whom had been slaves before
d the war, the majority of the Others
descendants of slaves.
"This is Carlton" my friend eX-
4 planned as we rode along broad
avenue flanked in places by orange
8 groves and in other places by immense
live oaks whose spreading limbs
4 reached clear across the highway.
& sit was settled before the war by old
a General Earle, who secured some two
3 or three Thousand acres here on the
banks of the lake. He brought with
y him a great number of slaves and
5 cleared and cultivated much of this
q land. You see that pine forest off to
8 the right, well, you may not believe
q it, but that has grown up since the
4 war. That was all a cleared held
Il once and in cultivation. If you will
s look close you can see traces of the
rows where cotton was planted.
4 Approaching Melrose we passed a
n number of what had once been fine
homes setting we'll back from the
road, bul the most of them now de-
81 serted and showing evidence of decay
The broad streets of the village are
fanked on either side by immense
q live oaks. The principal thorough
fare, known as ''Shake Rag" has
s. double driveway and in addition tC
the trees on both sides has row oi
! live oaks down the center of the road
way There are number of preten
q tious homes, but all bore evidence ol
u neglect and decay, and this impres
S sion is heightened by the Spanish
moss hanging from the boughs OF the
IS trees and the Sombre shadow cast up
4 on the roadway by the dense foliage
g of the great oaks. Besides few cat
tie and hogs ranging in the broaC
g roadway, there is no sign of life &
4 speak Of Hardly person is to b'
3 seen stirring around. We did pas
q two boys on the highway as we en-
3 tered the village, and on the brOa(
: piazza of one of the more pretentiou
& homes we had seen the frocked tigur'
E of one / took TO be a minister an(
b alongside of him an elderly man. Th,
smell of fried chicken made me con
B clude that the minister was there 70
dinner, and this suspicion was late
n confirmed. 1t may be that it was IN
wontedly still this day, for the reasol
that the people had just retarned I
their homes from church and wer
engaged in the midday meal, but M
& friend assured me that the cow
8 looked ''tolerably lively"
"You would never think that thi
was once the most lively and gayes
spot in the whole state, said m
h friend as he brought the auto TO
stop facing down Shake Rag avenue
b "and that the gayeSt and livelies
b people of the South eongregated hers
n that this was a great race course an
b that fortunes changed hands on th