The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-07-22
MARION COUNTY HAS UNDEyELoPED
RESOURCES WITH GREAT possibilities
One of FIOrida's Most Progressive Sections
Yet Ii Has Scarcely Been Scratched
Marion County Floridian)

Marion county is one of the most unde-
yeloped counties IN Florida.
This may seem to be an astonishing state
ment; for Marion IS widely known as one of
the most substantial and progressive coun-
ties i'm Florida The fact is, however, that
this county has scarcely more than been
scratched The natural resources of the
county are great. 1t has vast possibilities.
To say that this section of the state is so
undeyeloped is simply another way of say
ing that Florida as whole Is still in its
infancy with respect to development. Flor
ida has an area of 1866 square miles,
larger than the states of New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts,, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland
combined, and with a population of only
1926, less than the city of Baltimore
Florida is undergoing marvellous develop
ment This development is serving to en-
phasiZe the fact that there is so much that
is undeveloped. To predict that the state
will make greater strides during the next
ten years than it has during the past fifty
is to make very conservative prophecy.
Marion county is larger than the state of
Rhode Island by several hundred square
miles. Less than one-ffteenth of the lands
In the county are being cultivated. There
is very little waste land in the county. Most
of the lands are high and rolling, well
drained and suitable for some sort of agrf-
culture and horticulture. The low lands
can be drained. Marion county is one of the
most populous counties in Florida, yet it
has a population of only 23,968, according
to the federal census of 1920.
Lands in Marion county may still be
classed as cheap, although this is one of the
richest sections of the state, and farm values
have increased more than eighty per cent.
during the last ten years. Improved lands
in this county can be bought for from S25
to 500 an acre. Raw lands can be bought
for less. The land prices are based on di-
versified farming, and the publicity that
Florida has received outside of the state
has featured the tourist resorts. citrus
fruits and early vegetables. Florida has
never been looked upon as general farm
ing state and it is only in recent years that
it lis beginning to be realized outside of the
state what has been done here in general
farming. With few exceptions, the people
of other states visualize Florida as land
of winter resorts, orange groves and early
vegetables. Higher prices are demanded
here, of course, for some of the trucking
and citrus fruit lands. The prices in this
county will not remain cheap much longer.
county offers too many opportunities to be
overlooked.
Large areas in this county have been cut
up into farms and groves averaging about
100 acres. The rest of the county is in
large tracts, for the most part 'cut-over
lands, held under single ownerships There
is big field here for responsible develop
ment operations that would help men and
women to own farms and groves and home
places under plan similar to the proposed
federal government plans for aiding SOL
diers to purchase, equip and operate farms,
or along the lines of the government coloni-
cation schemes of California and Australia.
Such operations would really assist men and
women to get back to the soil and not merely
oil %ho111 irf nd
tract for deed and a lot of notes and nothing
with which to operate.
The natural beauty of the country lying
within the boundaries of Marion county is
worthy of being capitalized to an extent
now undreamed of. There is in the county
a group of springs of marvellous size and
beauty probably the most extraordinary
group of large and crystal clear springs to
be found anywhere in the world. None of
them has been developed to an extent even
approaching it's possibilities. They need to
be placed in the hands of capable landscape
architects, not to be made artificial and
formal, but that the beauties of the sur
roundings might be preserved and brought
out. Hotels are needed and the water at
fractions need to be supplemented with golf
links and facilities for other outdoor sport
and recreation. Besides these remarkable
springs there are many beautiful lakes in
the county, clear water lakes with wh.te
San0 DOICOmS ana DeacneS. by
bluffs and hills. They afford ideal sites for
winter homes. Further than that, these
springs and lakes offer year around attrac-
tions. Some of the springs and lakes are
near the railroads and highways. Others are
still more or less inaccessible. As already
stated, this is vast county and it has not
been scratched. A wonderful thing about
the county is that it has so many miles of
good roads, roads that would put to shame
counties in some of the richest agricultural
sections of the United States. There are
over 225 miles of hard-surfaced highways
in the county, over which traffic is halted at
no season of the year. 1t is splendid sys-
tenn of roads when the population of the
county and its large area are taken into
consideration. The roads are not perfect.
The people of the county are not satisfied
with them. They are roads, however, that
with few exceptions, the farmer and grove
owner can move their products over every
day in the year, and they reach most of the
farms and groves now in the county. The
county has voted bonds to build better roads,
the automobile. East of the Ocklawaha
river there are few good roads and no rall-
roads. The population in this section of the
serving this territory and system OF good
Lake Region. A large part of the section is
most attractive lakes in Florida. 1t is q
large lake, with high hills around it and it
has white sand beach. At present it is
isolated, and is reached by neither good
roads nor by a railroad. Salt Springs, near
r ol,a Karr ara ranoarLohlo SpriuOS Thu