The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-05-08


ling over $500 square miles
across the southern tip Of Flor
ida, commanded new attention
last week as representatives OF the
Federal Government arrived to
give the area further considera-
ton as national park that
would be second only to Yellow
stone in size.
Scientists, explorers and others
who have for many years studied
the possibilities of the Everglades
as a park interpreted the visit of
PWA Administrator Harold L.
IIckes ard WPA Administrator
Harry l. Hopkins as assurance
that something definite is to be
done soon. Congress authorized
the Everglades National Park in
1884, but completion of the pro-
ject has had to wait upon the
acquisition of land.
0ains support
Ernest f. Coe, chairman of the
tropie Everglades National Park
Association, first directed Federal
attention to tie area in 1928, and
ever since that date the project
has rapidly gained organized sup
port. 1t is an unspoiled. prinl;-
tive expanse with rugged charm
that has caught the fancy OF al
who have veatured into its trop-
zeal solitude. When final steps
have been t:ken to make it a
completed Park area, il will
doubtless become spot of ma
jor Importance to travellers seek
ing STRANGE sights.
Rising scarcely six feet above
mean tide at its highest point, tho
area is one of fantastic moods,
now brooding mass of snarled
and impregnable mangroves sixty
feet high, now brilliant stretch
! of white beaches and birds of rare
plumsge. There, too, are ever
shifting shoals, black waters teem-
ing with fish, lagoons, great royal
palms with ALBANIAN. vines that
are intertwincd as breastworks
against human intruders seeking
delicate flowers found nowhere
elsa in the United States.
Crocodiles and Sharks
1t is the region of crcodiles al
| ligators, sea cows, sharks, huge
snakes and mosquitoes, and for
hundreds of winding miles one
may glide through this kaleido-
scopic wilderness in boat that
takes as much as five feet cf wa
ter. Few persons have experience
ed the thrill of such a voyage
however, for the thousands Of
quirks end turns are confusing,
ard it woild not re pleasant to
be lost in tat vest swamp. Only
seasoned adventures and Semin-
ole Indians have penetrated it's
depths. When the area has been
opened as park, there will be
markers fo~ the novice and roads
to make the most interesting spots
accessible.
Painters, wildcats, bears, deer
and racoons are to be found in the
Everglades in large numbers. but
they, like other wild life, will be
protected by park regulations.
The entire area will be left as
primeval as possible. The only
changes to be made are such as
will enable the visitor to see with
convenience and moderate COM
fort what is there.
Soil made constantly richer
through the years by decaying
vegetation has produced an exu-
berant plant life which scientists
regard as a laboratory of incalcul-
able Importance. Two hundred
and fifty-one kinds of plants are
known to grow there, marking the
area as perhaps the most signific-
ant botanically in America.
Orchids and Rare Plants
Orchids with stems fifteen feet
long, bearing as many as 1000
flowers, were found there by DIR.
John K. Small, head curator of
the New York Botanical Garden,
who travelled from 5000 to 49,
900 miles a year for thirty years
exploring Florida, particularly the
Everglades. He estimated that a
single orchid plant found there
was 500 years old. Four men
were required to lift it. Trail
blazers have shipped to Northern
markets mSny carloads of these
delicate flowers, of which there
are more than twenty-four species