The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-04-09
Once a Trading Post It Is
Now Taking Front Rank
In West Florida

44A w O6k Il AOA A@4d
Milton, the. county seat of Santa
Rosa, is situated on beautiful pla-
teau near where the historic Black
water river empties into Blackwater
bay. It would be hard to find a town
anywhere in the whole country with
q more beautiful geographical loca-
ton.
The streets and sidewalks of the
town are overshadowed by the long
branches of mammoth live oaks and
choice pecan trees. The scene pre-
scented Ii Of such beauty and gran
deur as to impress visitors with a
feeling Of restfulness, security and
welcome. To this feeling might be
attributed much Of the wonderful
growth and prosperity which have
made Milton famous throughout the
gulf coast country as one of the best
business points of it's size in the state.
Early IN the last century small
trading post and few small sawmills
and grist mills with their small, scat
tered cabins composed the total of
what was to be the future town of
Milton. Every once In a long while
q small schooner would put In at
what was at first called scratch an
kle," and get load of lumber or tim
Der and sail away perhaps never To
come back to this section again. But
somehow or other the mariners later
discovered that Milton offered oppor-
tunities to the smaller ocean-going
craft which could not be found at
many other places on the gulf coast,
Shipping sprang into prominence
here and within a quarter Of a CEN
fury after the small trading post had
been established hundreds Of vessels
were making regular trips to and
from what had by that date come
TO be well known as Mill Town, OF
Milton. Much of the cotton grown
in Southern Alabama and practically
al Of the immense crop of wool pro.
duced each year in what now consti-
tutes several counties of West Flori,
da was brought TO Milton for market
and shipment. The lumber and tim
Der industry continued to grow unit
Milton became known in almost al
parts of the world as one of the yer!
best places 70 buy such commodities
Many ships continued to engage il
this trade until a very prosperoul
town of considerable size had grow
up around what had been few year
before only tiny trading post vii
lage.
Settlers Thrifty Pioneers.
The early settlers of Milton wer
among the most thrifty pioneers O
this section Of the south. They bull
rs good schools and churches as thosl
TO be found at that time anywher
along the gulf coast. They set vi
and maintained civilization Of whicl
they were always proud. It was onl,
the forerunner of that civilization
which marks every phase of TIL
towns wonderful career during thes,
days of great cities and great enter
prises.
Some of the earlier enterprises o
the town of Milton still exist, though
in much larger capacity today thar
in former times. Some of these en-
terprises have changed hands ant
names several times, but they exis
today in almost the exact place
which they occupied during the las
century. They have existed and mad
fortunes for several generations, ant
several of them are still producing
fortunes for those who today owl
and operate them.
The Collins water mill was one o
the pioneer enterprises of Milton. Tn
Collins mill still exists in the town
though today it is operated by stear
and has well-regulated ice manu-
featuring plant annexed to it. Thos
who now operate this mill are the di
rect descendants Of those who bull
and maintained the old water mil
which was great part of the town
early life.
The Chafin min is still being on
Grated. This valuable piece of prop
erty was sold only a few years ag
by the J. A. Chafin estate to the Nil
ton Mill Co., and it is being operate
TO its full capacity by that compan
today. This, too, was one Of the ear
her plants operated for the purpos
of squaring up timber and convert
ing much of this country's yellow pin
timber into marketable lumber. TIL
former proprietor of the mill was ,
A. Chafin, who became one Of tn
leading factors in the towns develop