Florida as it is. It tells all about the industries of the state, its climate and resources...

Introduction

Be it known to all the world and the rest of mankind, that within the last few years, much has been said and written about Florida, extolling this land of '-Sunshine and Flowers. Many, if not all of these descriptions have some truth in them, but much of it is so embellished, in such glowing colors and only the bright side shown, that many persons come to the conclusion at once that if they can only get to this land of promise (by those interested) that sickuess and sorrow will never reach them and that labor and trouble will vex them never more.

This little book has been written with a view to undeceive such persons ; to take the glamor from these stories and to show "Florida as it is" without paint or varnish, that is the good and bad that has to be encountered in this land, to show people what they must do here and how to do it.

I do not propose to write a history or geography of the State, but simply to state the facts as they would present themselves to you were you to take a trip through the State at this time.

I will describe the manner of living, the t-tate of society, the caltivation of the soil, (sand) clearing lands, draining marshes, planting and cultivating orange groves, tropical fruits, the kind of houses the people live in, the kind and (juality of stock they raise, the game and fish they have, the mosquitos and pests that are there — in fact I propose that this little book, " Florida As It Is" shall be to the reader a complete trip all over Florida at a very small cost; that the same in'ormation in the usual way of traveling would cost you hundreds of dollars and then you would have no more accurate information and no more of it than you will have after a careiul reading of this book. I have also aimed to write the book in plain common sense language so that any and every person can, and will understand it. I have tried to avoid all personalities so as to give offeuse to none.

I have given the facts as they are without fear or favor. I have had very little outside aid. The entire book is my own observation and experience, being right on the ground and I will only say, that after reading the book you will know more about Florida, its ins and outs and pros and cons, than nine-tenths of the people who have spent a season there and in addition saved much money.

THE AUTHOR.

Florida was aiscovered by Juan Ponce de Leon, April 4th, 15 12. In 1539 it was explored and in 1565 a body of French Caivinists, who had established a settlement three years previous, w^ere driven out by the Spaniards — the latter held possession until 1763, when it reverted to England by session in 1781. The Spaniards regained possession of the country and two years later were confirmed in their possession by the peace of Versailles. In 1820 Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States, received a territorial constitution in 1833, and was admitted into the Union as a State, March 3d, 1845.

Florida is located in the extreme Southern part of the United States, between latitudes 24 and 31, and longitude 80 and 88 West from Greenwich. Its greatest length North and South is about 500 miles, and the longest line from East to West is about 400 miles. The State is amorphous in shape-

FLORIDA AS IT IS.

being neither round, oval, oblong or square. Its area is about 60,000 square miles or about ihe size of Penns} Ivania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island all put together.

The State is bounded on the North by Georgia and Alabama, on the west by Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico, on the South by the Gulf of Mexico and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean.

The State is divided into forty counties, and the area or surface of the State is land and water. The land mav be divided or classed as f^jllows :

High Pine, Flat Woods Pine, Scrub Pine, Gray or Rolling Hammock, Low Hammock, Cypress, Marsh and Swamp Lands.

The water may be and is divided into lakes, rivers, creeks, springs, ponds and bay heads.

LAKES.

There are thousands of lakes in the State, ranging in size from less than a quarter of an acre to thousands of acres in extent. Lake Ocheechobee alone, covers not less than hsilf a million of acres of land.

Lake Apopka covers not less than forty thousand acres East and West ; Tohopekaligas about the same. There are very man}^ other lakes that cover from ten to ten thousand acres, and some of them much moi-e. Most of these lakes are very deep and the water in them is clear and said to be pure in nearly all of them. A great many of these

FLORIDA AS IT IS.

]ake8, e.^pecially the smaller ones have nice sloping banks, which, with the bottoms are sandy, and perfectly safe to enter, or drive into the lakes in so far as swamping is concerned, but it is always well enough to go slow^ly when in the water, or you may get beyond your depth before you are aware of it ; many persons have lost their lives by venturing too L.r in places of this kind.

Some of the larger, and a few of the smaller lakes and ponds have quick-sand holes. These are specially to be avoided, for should you by accident or otherwise, get into one of these holes or places, your chances for getting out would be very slim indeed, unless help was right at hand. Some of these lakes, both large and small, have what they c^ll muck bottoms. This muck is njthuiumore or less than the accumulation of decayed vegetable matter that has been accumulating for ages : these when drained make the richest and best vegetable and sugar-cane land in the State and perhaps in the world, and here is where the Disston Land and Drainage Company are making their money.

RIVERS.

There are quite a number of rivers (so called) in the State, the largest of which is the St. Johns. The peculiarity of this river is that it flows Northw^ard, while the entire State seems to fall off toward the South, and eventually sinks into the

Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding all this, the current of this river is toward the North, This river is navigable for more than two hundred miles, and a very large class of steamers ply on it from Jacksonville to Sanford, a distance of about two hundred miles and make regular daily trips. Smaller steamers run beyond Sanford, it being the head of navigation ior large steamers before the era of railroads in Florida. The St. Johns was about the only highway on which travel was had, and merchandise could be shipped from the seaboard to the interior of the State. Some of the other rivers of note are Suwanee, Appalachicola, Oklockonee. Ancilla, Santa Fee, Withlacoochee, Pease, Caloosahatchee, Kissmimee, Ocklawaha, Indian and Wekiva. The most of these fivers or waters are navigable for small steamers and are thus utilized. There are other rivers or rather kind of natural canals leading irom one lake to another. Many of these are being dredged and cleaned out so that small steam boats can run cut of one lake into another, thus in many cases, making water navigation from place to place for remember that very many of the larger lakes have steamers on them, both for freight traffic and pleasure. Nearly all streams that have any current at all are called rivers. The streams in Florida are nearly all sluggish, as for example the St. Johns River is said to have only a fall of

FLORIDA AS IT IS.

six feet in two hundred miles, and were you to travel on it you would probably say it had no current at all. It is very crooked ; some of the bends being so short that the larger steamers sometimes have difhculty in getting through. I know of no streams of any length in the State that have a current of more than a mile in a half da}^. There are also many waters here called rivers, that are nothing more or less than arms of the Gulf or Atlantic, extending inland as the Indian River. This river is on the east coast and separated from the Atlanic, by a strip of land, very narrow in places and wider in other places. This water has no current, its surface bein^ on a level with the Atlantic Ocean. Said by some persons to be two feet higher than the Atlantic Ocean.

UNDERGROUND RIVERS AND SPPJNGS.

There seems to be and certainly is, underground rivere here as" is proven by such large streams l^ursting out of the ground as Silver Sprino-s. This spring covers about four acres ot ground and is from forty to sixty feet deep, and the run from it is one of the principal sources of the Ocklawaha River and good sized steamers come up the run into the springs

Clay Springs is another of the same kind, only not quite so large. Glen Cove, Euniak and many others demonstrate the fact that there are many underground streams in Florida.

Again streams of water and even lakes suddenly lo FLORIDA AS IT IS.

disappear. 'Lake Levy, a body of water which, when lull, covers about twelve hundred acres, has been totally dry, the water disappearing in a few days, and in one instance remaining so for several years and nearly all the bottom was farmed in corn and cotton. There was only a small river running where the lake was and it disappeared about where the centre of the lake was. This hole seemed to fill up and the ground became covered with water again.

This has occurred several times within tlie last rifty years. The laxe is now tull of water and is kwown as Lake Levy or Paines Prairie. No per_ son knows how soon or when the bottom of the lake will again fall out.

Between Orange Lake and Micanop}', as; well as in the neighborhood of Gainesville, there are great holes in the earth. The bottom is far below the surface of the lakes in the surrounding country. Some of these holes or sinks are more than one hundred feet deep, and several hundred feet in diameter at the top, and are funnel shaped. Many of them are perfectly dry, and have large trees growing inside nearly to the bottom. The tops of many of them does not reach as high as the surface of the ground surrounding the hole.

Others of these holes are barren of trees and there is water at the bottom. How deep this water is, I had no means of fmding out and no person could tell me anything about it. The fact is, the

FLORIDA AS IT IS. ii natives seem to be afraid of these places and do not care to go near them. There is not even any signs that cattle or stock of any kinds goes near tlie holes, especially those that have water in them.

There are some natural curiosities in Florida, and they are of such a nature that I know of nowhere else in the world that the same kind exist. Take for instance this Silver Spring, which is a veritable Niagara Falls, turned upside down, and it the reader should ever visit Florida, do not fail to see it, with its pure, clear pellucid waters, big cat fish and other kinds offish, and where you can drop a nickel or any other small coin or substance and watch its descent until it strikes the bottom from forty to sixty feet below you. The water is so clear that you can see objects on the bottom about as plainlv as if there was no water there at all.

PONDS AND CREEKS.

Ponds are grass lakes, usually with mud or muck bottoms, and are inhabited with fro^rs, aliigators and other things too numerous to mention. Creeks are connections between sloughs or cypress swamps, as Shingle Creek, near Kissimmee, or Sweet Water Creek, near Bayard, in Duval county and many others.

FISFI AND OYSTERS.

In nearly all of the waters of Florida tfiere are abundance of Fish, Trout, (P>lack Bass), Strawberry Bass (Perch,) Blue and Mud Catfish, some of which are very large. They say there are other fish here also, such as Bream, Red Horse, White Fish, Eels. &c. This may be, but I have seen none of the latter.

There are a great mon\- oysters, both on the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts of Plorida, but they are very small and inferior in every way, to the oysters farther North-East; there is no care taken of these oyster beds, and it is said many of them are being destroyed by wash from rivers and streams, covering them up with sand and other debris. These are called Coon Oysters, and certainly would not be relished bv the epicure or conconnjisseur.

. ALLIGATORS.

There are thousands and millions of Allig;4tors of all sizes from a few inches in length to almost fifteen or more feet. There seems to be but one species of alligators, and all the difference there is in them is in size alone. They can, and do live both in and out of the water. They are not dangerous except when wounded on their nests or hibernating grounds are molested. A ten feet alligator can crush a man's body with his jaws or kill him with, a strike of his tail.

At mating time frequent fights occur between the males At such times you can hear them hollow for miles. Their hollowing is something like a mad bull.

They are a heavy, ugly and ungainly animal, and are something after the shape of an enormous Lizzard. They are web footed and their hind legs are much longer than their front ones, and are attached higher up or nearer the back than the front ones and their legs are unproportionately close together. They swim slowly in the water — more like floating than otherwise, and when swimming or floating, their bodies are about one-third out of the water.

Their movements on land are usually slow and awkward, but when pursued or pursuing, they can, and do travel as fast, or faster than a man can walk, or even run for a short distance. They move on land in very nearly a straight line. They are so iormed that that they cannot make short turns or curves when in motion on land. Notwithstanding all this, you should not fool with them when at rest, as they sometimes make very awkward motions with their tails and jaws, and you cannot always tell what kind of a move they may make. There is some danger of being bitten or receivinpf a stroke with their tail.

Their traveling on land is principally in the night time or on dark cloudy days during a rain or immediately after a shower, when they frequently go from one lake or swamp to another. On fair, warm and sunshmy days you can see thousands of them basking on old logs and stumps on the banks of the lakes something after the style of little turtles in tlie mill-dams of the North.

Their nests or hibernating grounds are formed by themselves, where the water is rather shallow or on a knoll or kind of island They collect all manner of stuff, pieces of logs, sticks, brush, grass, moss, pine knots and indeed nothing seems to come amiss to them. This is all formed into a mass with mud, muck and wild cabbage leaves and sand. These nests when completed, rise several feet above the surface of the water and are kind of saucer shaped or scooped out on the top. Here they deposit their eggs, and cover them, and nature does the balance

The "gators" however do not leave this locality during incubation, and here let me say it is rather dangerous to examine these nests, or even approach them unless you are well armed and have a steady nerve and well prepared to do battle, for unless somebody has been there before you and killed the "gators," you are sure to see them and they will be upon you before you are aware if not on your guard, and sometimes as many as a djzen vj'iW approach you from different points and here they are dangerous. If however you have a good Winchester or some other good repeating rifle of about forty-four calibre and are a good and true shot, you need not have much to lear, for if you kill one or two of them, the others will soon disappear, and here let me say, the fatal spot to hit an Alligator is right in the lower part ot the neck or right behind the front leg, below the middle. You

FLORIDA AS IT IS.

can sometimes kill them by sijooting lliem in tin; eye or through the bod}', but it is not a sure thing

The mouth of the ''o-ator" contains eighty-four teeth. Forty in the lower and forty- four in the upper jaws, and they are all canine or sharp pointed, and some of them in a big ''gator" are as much as three inches long, and are very irregular, and if one becomes broken nature replaces it.

The head of a ten foot "gator" is ju--t about the size of an ordinar}' horse head. The jaws are full length of the head. The condyles or hinges are on the necK, so you see when he opens his mouth the entire head is in two pieces as it werk. Imagine a horse to be able open his mouth clear up to his ears and you can have an idea of a '•gator's" mouth. It is no trouble for a "gator" to svNallow a good chunk oi a dog or a little nigger at one swallow, both of which it is said, they are very fond of.

The top or upper part of the head is very flat and the bones are from a half to three-quarters of an mch thick, hence you might about as well shoot against a rock as against a "gator^s" head to kill him. They feed on just about anything that comes in their way. In many instances pine knots have been found in their stomachs, worn as smooth as glass.

DISSTON LAND AND DRAINAGE COM- PANY.

The head quarters of the company is at Kissimmee City, a town of three or four years growth, situated on the North shore of WestTohopekaliga. The city now is said to have about twelve hundred inhabitants. I think however if eight hundred w^ere taken out of the town, but few would be left. Tliis Disston Company was formed three or four years ago. They built several steam and dredge boats, and went to work to lower the lakes of East and West Tohopekaliga bv opening a canal through a kind of natural drain or water way into Lake Ocheechob'ee. After their engineer corps had surveyed and gone over the route, their report seemed to show that there was a fall of some seventy feet from the south end ol Lake Tohopekaliga to Punta Rassa on the Gulf Coast, and that Tohopekaliga through the nalura) channel had a fall of about one inch to the mile, which, by proper canalling, «&c., could be increased by shortening the distance to at least three inches to the mile, which would, by their calculation, drain and reclaim about rive million acres of land. An arrangement was made with the State that the company should have half of cdl the land in fee simple that should be thus reclaimed. On these conditions the company went to work, commencing at the South end of Tohopekaliga and cut a canal some three or four miles into Cypress Lake, and from thence into Lake Kissimmee five or six miles. This canal is wide and deep enough to allow a <(()()(] sized st«'amboat to pass through. It was

FLORIDx\ AS IT IS. 17 found as soon as the canal was opened, that the water in Tohopekaliga would be drawn off to a certain extent, though these canals are carried into Ocheechobee through the Kissimmee River.

The next move was to cut a canal a distance of

about three miles, thereby connecting East and

West Tohopekaliga Lakes ; this was accomplished.

Then the Kissimmee River was next cleaned

out, dredged and shortened, thus opening a water

navigation for steamers and other boats into Lake

Ocheechobee. This lake seems to have no natural

outlet, but near the South end of it and about four

miles westward, is Lake Hickpochee, which is the

head water of the Caloosahatchee River. To

work, the company went and cut a canal from

Ocheechobee into this lake and then opened and

dredged the last named river, which runs through

Lake Flirt, and thus completed the water route

to Punta Rassa on San Carlos Bay on the Gull of

Mexico. This, however did not seem to lower the

water in Ocheechobee very much. They are now

trying to drain this latter lake into the St. Lucie

Sound on the Ath'intic coast, thus necessitating the

cutting of a canal through swamps and other lands,

a distance of some thirty miles. A part of this

work is done, but it will be sometime before it is

completed. And what effect it will have w^hen

completed is yet to be determined. One thing

however is a fixed fact, the company have opened

water communication from Kissimmee Citj^ to the

Gulf, and steamers and sail boats are making trips between these poinds and they have lowered the waters in both the Tohopekaliga Lakes, about live feet tl\us reclaiming. The company claims about two and a half million acres. I think the claims are too large, but be this as it may, there are thousands of acres of as good land as there is in Florida under cultivation to-day that was two years ago covered with water, and thousands of acres more are being prepared t) plant sugar cane and vegetables. Should this company fail to reclaim any more land, they have already done a grand work, both for the State and themselves. HIGH PINE LANDS.

Now the reader must not understand that any of the lands in Florida are very much elevated above the level of the ocean or large lakes. Take the State throughout and it is flat — very flat, more so than in Kansas, but still there are elevations and depressions, none of which exceed a very few hundred feet. I suppose the elevations about correspond with the depressions.

The term '-High Pine Lands," as well as the other descriptive terms used, are relative terms and used more to designate the kind and quality of the land than its elevation, "High Pine" Land would be just as well designated, and perhaps better by calling it dry pine land, and that is just what it is. This land is among the highest in the State The best quality of this land is covered with a growth oi large yellow pine trees, some of which are curly pine, and very valuable. The trees are nearly all large, some ot them as much as two and a half and three feet across the stump and from fifty to seventy-five feet without a limb. When sawed into timber, it is worth t'rom thirteen to twenty-two dollars per thousand feet at the mill, and the curly pine is worth irom forty to fifty dollars per thousand when sawed into lumber at the mill This kind of land you will usually find in tlie neighborhood of deep lakes with sand bottoms and rather high, sloping banks — the trees growing nearly to the water's edge.

Occasionally in the high pine lands, you will find here and there a scrubby live oak. The undergrowth is wild oats. This is a kind of rou^h grass that grows tall and not at all thickly on the ground. It is not good for much. Stock will eat it when they can get nothing else.

There is very little Bramble or Palmetto on this kind of land, hence it is easily cleared and prepared for cultivation and when it is well fertilized will produce melons, beans, cucumbers, corn, and sweet potatoes,- and makes excellent orani^e land. Many prefer this kind of land for oranges and all the semi-tropical fruits ; pmrticularly those of the citrus family, for the reason that it costs less to clean up and prepare for a crop. The timber, if at all within the reach of a mill, will much more than pay for the clearing and planting of a grove, while the cost of clearing Hammock lands will more than pay for fertilizer to bring a grove mto bearing.

Agam orange trees on high pine land are not subject to "'Die Back" or foot rot. This disease is said to be caused by the tap root of the trees striking the water or hard pan, which the}' are almost certain to do in low lands. The soil, it soil it may be called, is nearly all pure sand — white on top — after removing the top, it is of a yellowish color, and the yellower the sand is the better the land is said to be.

SCRUB PINE OR BLACK JACK LAND.

This kind of land is partially covered with scrubby pines, a kind of dwarf oak called Black Jack, a few scraggy, little live oaks and kind of thorny, rough bramble. This kind of land in my judgement, is of such a nature that it never can be utiHzed for anything. The soil is white sand from top to bottom, and I guess the more a man owned the poorer he would be.

LOW OR FLAT WOODS PINE LAND.

This is called second class pine land. It has a good deal of pine timber on it, also Live Oak and sometimes a little Water Oak, not usually heavy timbered, and the timber is not of as good quality as that on the high pine land. It has much more white or sap wood than the other or high pine. It does not grow so large as the other and it is a rarity to see a curly pine on this kind of land. This has an undergrowth of scrub. (Hog) and saw Palmetto, sometimes of pretty dense growth and is hard to clear and grub and when it is prepared for cultivation is pretty good for vegetables, grapes, guavas and strawberries. It is very poor land for oranges, or indeed any of the citrus family. It will do for pine apples and bananas. The soil is a blackish mold, (Irom decayed) vegetation,) for half an inch or so on top, then white sand for ten to fifteen or more inches, when you get to a kind of brownish quick sand that is usually from a few inches to several feet in thickness. Under this is a kind of a hard pan which seems to separate or divide the surface water from that below. This hard pan seems to be formed of very line, grayish sand, and is almost impervious to water and very hard and usually about a foot thick. To get water at all fit to drink, you must go below this stratum.

Remember to raise crops on this land, you mus^ fertilize and that heavily and constantly. We may as well say it here as elsewhere that fertilizing is the key note to all the vegetables and fruits raised in Florida with perhaps one exception, and that is sweet potatoes and a little of it does not hurt them I)y any means.

HAMMOCK LANDS.

Are of two kinds, rolling or high and fiat or low Hammock. This word Hammock seems to be peculiar to Florida. The word originally meant a solid mass of turf, considerably elevated above the surrounding earth, then spelled Hommock, or Hummock, then the Indians called any little hillock, or small eminence of a rather conical form, whether covered with trees or not, a Hommock, but now the people of Florida call any piece of land whether high or low, that produces hard-wood trees, such as oak, hickory, ash, magnolia, &c.. Hammock lands and the original Hammock is now^ called reclaimed marsh land. This will enable the reader to fairly or properly understand what is meant by Hammock lands. All land on which hard wood predominate, w^hether high or low, are called Hammock land, and all lands on which pine predominates, are called pine lands.

ROLLING OR GRAY HAMMOCK Land is usually covered with a heavy growth of timber, such as oak, hickory, magnolia and all the hard w^oods that grow in the State. The undergrowth of palmetto, green briars, devils staff; (a kind of prickly ash) and other bramble is very hard to clear and get in shape for cultivation, and costs a great amount of outlay, but wdien once got into shape, produces well and with fertilizer can be made to produce immense crops of vegetables and strawberries. This is also the best of orancre land provided it is high enough above the w^ater level. FLAT HAMMOCKS Are much lower than the other kind, and have a much denser growth both timber, and undergrowth Ihan the former, consequent!}' are much harder to clear off and prepare for cultivation, but when brought under cultivation are among the best lands in the State, and if an}* land in the State will produce crops without being fertilized, this kind of land will, and this produces much better by beingfertilized. On this land you can raise vegetables of all kinds that will grow here, provided the bugs, VARMINTS, and insects let them alone. In abundance you can also raise lemons, grapes, guavas, pine apples, bananas, and many other of the semi-tropical fruits and berries.