The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-07-10
THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA


perity of the East Coast is epheme>
iral-that its only real asset is its tour
ist business, and that some day the
crowd will go elsewhere, and then, as
Tyre and Carthage are, the East Coast
will be-
A good tourist trade is great help,
but it's my opinion that if not another
seeker for pleasure ever wandered
down the long ribbon of joy unfolded
by that almost always smiling sea and
its tributary shining rivers and bays,
the people could live and live well.
Under the dense underground, once
the terror of newcomers, where the
mosquitoes swarmed and rattlesnakes
lurked, there was rich soil, and it is
now being cleared away for crops as
we'll as for hotels and golf links. AS
for the pinelands, of which there are
vast stretches, we all know what they
can do under cultivation, but it would
be better for the state if they were
never cleared. Their pines should be
conserved to toss their arms in the
winds till Gabriel sounds his horn.
The Everglades, a greater mine of
wealth than any ever found in Cali
fornia or Australia, steadily develop.
There are many things that will not
grow in this country, but many more
that will, and the people could livs
and live we'll if cut off from all the
rest of the world. However, it will
never be cut off, for it needs the
world, and the world in even greater
measure needs it.
People from almost every corner of
this planet have aided in upbuilding
the East Coast, and Marion county
has done its share. Hundreds of peo-
pie from OLD Marion have made their
homes in hearing of the Atlantic surf.
Miami has not less than a hundred
families from Ocala. The Star may
well take an interest in the East
Coast, for it is no stranger there.
From ST. Augustine to Homestead,
there is hardly a town or village
without Star readers.
The little party of which | was d
member, on my last visit to the East
Coast, left Gainesville before daylight
on the morning of Saturday, July IL
last. We rode in a rather shabby but
sturdy f1ivver, and there were six of
US, including a forty-pound water
melon. Alachua county is building to
Rochelle road that is going to be
good, but is very naughty now. Alach-
ua's share of the road to Palatka was
mostly sloughs, not of despond, but
duckpond, if the water hadn't been too
thick. Putnam's sector was hard-too
hard. An accident delayed US almost
three hours near McMeekin, but the
time was not altogether wasted, as it
enabled US to make some pleasant &C
quaintances. Also, it was better to
have part of the car give away there
than few days later when we were
struggling thru that long stretch of
sand and marsh between Melbourne
and St. Cloud. 1t only took US seven
hours from Palatka to Gainesville
forty-eight miles.
1t is pretty country most of the
way from Gainesville to Palatka. 1t
is mostly billy and number of pretty
lakes nestle in the valleys. This Sec
ton was one of those first settled by
| A ~
ida from Spain. Immediately after
the war a considerable number of
northern people also came to make
homes here. They went largely into
the orange-growing industry and their
groves were for awhile the finest in
the world. They and the orange
growers of Alachua and Marion were
responsible for the Florida Southern
(now the Atlantic Coast Line) rail-
way which was literally built from
one grove to another all the way from
Palatka until far south of Leesburg.
The country was "South Florida"
then-it is Central Florida now. The
"big freeze" hit West Putnam hard
it did not seem to me that there were
as many or as fine groves as there
were thirty years ago. But there is
more farming and more industries in
the little towns. The. kaolin works at
one point are famous all over the
United States.
Pa!atka the Gem City," has been
a welcome place to me since first
made its acquaintance in 1888. The
name "Palatka" in type looks like a
beautiful 1ower-its liquid syllables,
taken from the Indian "Pilatka," rip
pie in music over the most untutored
tongue. A Southern city. it began to
lconquer the north almost as soon as
the Federal gunboats on the ST.
Johns ceased to shoot. Many north
erners came in right after the war
and stayed, and side by side with the
southerners have worked in making a
truly American town. Its enterpris-
ing people have greatly improved
their town in the last dozen years. 1t
is one of the candidates for the state
capital, and there is no gainsaying
the fact that a new and modern
,statehouse would look we'll if it's out
lines were reflected in the waters OF
Florida's greatest river.
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