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8. KEY WEST – THE FLORIDA KEYS AND THE GULF COAST
KEY WEST
Hotels.– *Russell House, George Phillips, proprietor, on Duval St.; Florida House, both $2.50 per day, $40.00 to $60.00 per month.
Boarding-Houses.– John Dixon, Whitehead Street; Mrs. E. Armbrister, Duval Street; Mrs. Clarke; from $8.00 to $15.00 per week.
Telegraph to Havana and the north; office in Naval depot building. Post Office opposite the Russell House.
Churches.– Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, and Methodist.
Bookseller.– R. P. Campbell, Duval Street, (northern weeklies, Brinton’s Guide-Book).
Newspaper.– Key West Dispatch, weekly, well edited. The Key West Literary Association has a reading-room.
Steamship Lines.– The Baltimore, Havana, and New Orleans line, semi-monthly, to Baltimore, $50.00, to Havana $10.00, to New Orleans $40.00. The C. H. Mallory & Co., line from New York to Galveston and New Orleans, semi-weekly; to New York $40.00, to Galveston $40.00. The Spofford and Tilson line from New York to Galveston and New Orleans, semi-weekly; to New York $40.00, to New Orleans $40.00. The Alliance, United States mail line, to Fort Jefferson, Tampa, Cedar Keys, St. Marks, Apalachicola, Pensacola, and Mobile, the line for the west coast of Florida.
The name Key West is a corruption of the Spanish Cayo Hueso, Bone Key, the latter word being of Indian origin (Arawack, Kairi, island). Formerly it was called Thompson’s island by the English. It is about six miles long and one mile wide, and is formed of an oolitic coralline limestone. It is the highest point of the Florida Keys, yet of such insignificant altitude that the most elevated point is only fifteen feet above the sea level. The soil is thin, swampy and but little cultivated. It produces, however, a thick jungle-like growth of mangroves, cacti, tamarinds, mastics, gum elemi, and similar tropical bushes from twelve to fifteen feet in height. There is no fresh water except that furnished by the rains. Wells are dug in different parts, and reach water at the depth of a few feet, but brackish and unpalatable. So closely, indeed, are these wells in connection with the surrounding ocean, that the water rises and falls in them as the tides do on the shore, but following after an interval of about three hours.
The town is in latitude 24° 33´. It was incorporated in 1829. The present population is 4,800, of which 1500 are colored. It is situated on the northern part of the western end of the island, and has an excellent harbor. Duval is the principal street. Rows of cocoanut palms line some of the principal avenues, presenting a very picturesque appearance. A fine view of the harbor and town can be had from the cupola of Mr. Charles Tilt, agent of the Baltimore line of steamers.
Many of the residences are neat and attractive. The lower part of the town is known as Conch town. Its inhabitants are called Conches, and are principally engaged in “wrecking,” that is, relieving and rescuing the numerous vessels which are annually cast away or driven ashore on the treacherous Florida reef. The Conches are of English descent, their fathers having migrated from the Bahamas. In spite of the dubious reputation which they have acquired, they are a hard working and sufficiently honest set, and carry on their perilous occupation if not quite for the sake of humanity, yet content with a just salvage. Their favorite vessels are sloops of ten to forty tons, which they manage with extraordinary skill.
Quite a number of Spaniards are domesticated in Key West. The dark eyes, rich tresses, graceful forms, and delicate feet of the ladies frequently greet the eye. Havana is only eighty-four miles distant, with almost daily communication.
Fine oranges, coacoanuts, alligator pears, cigars and other good things for which the Pearl of the Antilles is famous can readily be obtained. The favorite social drink is champerou, a compound of curacoa, eggs, Jamaica spirits and other ingredients. Fish are abundant and finely flavored. A variety of sardine has been found in the waters near, and has been used commercially to a limited extent.
The principal industries are “sponging” and “turtling.” The sponges are collected along the reef and shores of the peninsula. From December, 1868, to March, 1869, 14,000 pounds were received by one merchant. They are all, however, of inferior quality.
The turtles are of four varieties. The green turtle is the most highly prized as food. They are sometimes enormous in size, weighing many hundred pounds. The hawke-bill turtle is the variety from which “tortoise shell” for combs, etc., is obtained. The loggerhead and duck bill are less esteemed.
Extensive salt works have long been in operation here. They produce annually about 30,000 bushels of salt by solar evaporation. Corals and shells of unusual beauty are found among the keys, and can be bought for a trifling amount. Handsome canes made of the Florida crab-tree, are also to be purchased.
Key West is a U. S. naval station for supplying vessels with coal, provisions, etc. There is a Naval Hospital near the town, 100 feet in length, and several other extensive public buildings. As in a military point of view the point is deemed of great importance in protecting our gulf coast, the general government has gone to large expense in fortifying it. Fort Taylor, at the entrance of the harbor, is still in process of construction. When completed, it will mount 200 heavy guns. Besides it there are two large batteries, one on the extreme north part of the island, and one midway between it and Fort Taylor. The Barracks are usually occupied by a company of the 5th U. S. Artillery.
The climate of Key West is the warmest and the most equable in the United States. Even in winter the south winds are frequently oppressive and debilitating. From five to ten “northers” occur every winter, and though they are not agreeable on account of the violence of the wind, they do not reduce the temperature below 40 degrees Fahr.
Though the proximity of the Gulf Stream renders the air very moist, mists and fogs are extremely rare, owing to the equability of the temperature, and though the hygrometer shows that the air is constantly loaded with moisture, this same equability allows the moon and stars to shine with a rare and glorious brilliancy, such as we see elsewhere on dry and elevated plateaux.
Another effect of the Gulf Stream may also be noted. Every evening, shortly after sunset, a cloud-bank rises along the southern horizon in massive, irregular fleeces, dark below and silver gilt above by the rays of the departing sun. This is the cloud-bank over the Gulf Stream, whose vast current of heated waters is rushing silently along, some twelve miles off.
DRY TORTUGAS. FORT JEFFERSON
Two steamers of the Alliance line from Key West, touch monthly at the Tortugas. Also, two schooners ply between the two points.
The Dry Tortugas (Sp. Turtle islands), are a group of small coral islands, about a score in number, fifty miles west of Key West. Garden Key is the main island, upon which Fort Jefferson is situated. It is about one mile in circumference, comprising nine acres of ground. The fort is an irregular hexagonal structure, of double circular walls of brick and earth, with a foundation of coral rock. It was commenced in 1846. The entrance is through a handsome and massive *sallyport. Inside, on the right, are the lighthouse and keeper’s residence.
Between the walls the barracks and officers’ quarters are situated. A well-kept walk of cement leads from the sallyport to the latter. Within the inner wall is an open space of about fifteen acres, well set in Bermuda grass, and dotted here and there with cocoanut palms.
There is a good library in the fort. Service every Sunday by an army chaplain.
Nearly a thousand prisoners were confined here during the war. At one time the yellow fever carried off great numbers of them. Sand Key, a barren sand bank of twenty-five acres, is used as a cemetery. Loggerhead Key, some miles west, has a tall and symmetrical lighthouse. Bird Key is a favorite resort of turtles.
MIAMI AND KEY BISCAYNE BAY
Mail Schooner on the 1st and 15th of every month from Key West. Accommodations poor and insufficient. No public house, and few settlers at Miami.
Undoubtedly the finest winter climate in the United States, both in point of temperature and health, is to be found on the south-eastern coast of Florida. It is earnestly to be hoped, for the sake of invalids, that accommodations along the shore at Key Biscayne and at the mouth of the Miami, will, before long, be provided, and that a weekly or semi-weekly steamer be run from Key West thither. In the concluding chapters of this book I shall give in detail my reasons for thinking so highly of that locality, and shall here describe it with some minuteness. One strong argument in its favor I insert here. While it is the very best, it could also be made the most accessible part of the sea coast of Florida, as the whole journey from the north or north-west could be made by water; the only transhipment being at Key West.
On leaving the harbor the schooner takes a southerly course, passing on the left numbers of low keys covered with dense mangrove bushes, quite concealing their shores. Here and there are gleaming ridges of white rocks, over which the breakers tumble in glittering sheets of foam. This is a portion of the dreaded reef, on which unnumbered vessels have met their destruction. These naked islets, uninhabited and surrounded by the interminable moan of the ocean, impressed with an undefined sense of sadness the early Spanish mariners. They therefore called them Los Martires (the Martyrs); “and well they deserve the name,” says the old chronicler, “for many a man, since then, has met a painful death upon them.” (Herrera, Historia de las Indias. Dec. I, Lib. IX, cap. X.)
These are kept within sight until the Cape Florida light comes into view, (latitude 25 degrees, 39 minutes, 56 seconds,) on the extreme southern point of Key Biscayne. On rounding the light, Key Biscayne Bay is entered. This is a body of water about twenty-five miles long, and from two to six miles broad. The settlement of Miami is on the river of that name, a clear, beautiful stream, fringed with mangrove, and marked for some distance with a long line of coacoanut trees, laden with their large, green fruit. At its mouth it is about a hundred yards wide, with an average depth of six feet. There are about a dozen settlers on Key Biscayne Bay. Lieutenant Governor Gleason resides at Miami, and will entertain travelers to the extent that he can.
At this part of the coast, a ridge of loose coralline limestone about four miles in width, and from ten to twenty-five feet in height, extends along the shore between the bay and the Everglades. No ponds of stagnant water are near, and the soil, though not very rich, is a loose, sandy loam, exceedingly well adapted for garden vegetables and fruit. Arrow root (Maranta arundinacea) and the koonta, an allied plant, grow in great abundance, and are highly prized by the Indians as food.
Arch creek empties into Key Biscayne bay ten miles north of the Miami river. It receives its name from a *natural arch of limestone rock, fifty feet wide, which spans the waters of the stream as they flow through a channel a number of feet below.
The *Punch bowl is the name given by the sailors to a curious natural well about one mile south of the mouth of the Miami and close to the shore. It is always filled with good sweet water and is greatly resorted to on that account.
Game, as deer, bear, turkeys, etc., is very abundant in the pine woods which extend along the coast, and fish swarm in countless numbers in the bay. Turtle of the finest kinds can be caught on the islets off shore. Oysters are plentiful, but smaller and not so well flavored as on the gulf coast.
When it is remembered that in addition to these desirable advantages, the temperature of this favored spot is so equable that it does not vary in some years more than 25°, its advantages as a resort for invalids will be evident.
The abundance of game on the shore ridge from Cape Sable to the Miami, led it to be chosen as a favorite spot of resort by the Indians, and it is still known distinctively as the “Hunting Grounds.” Its character is quite uniform. Near the shore is a breadth of rolling prairie land at points quite narrow, at others six miles in width, and elevated from three to eight or ten feet above high water. This is backed by a ridge about one quarter of a mile wide, covered with pines and black mangroves.
Most of the keys are cut by deep lagoons, and the whole of their surfaces are under water at high tide. Only a few have any soil fit for vegetables, and settlements upon them are very scarce. Old and New Matacumba have springs of fresh water, and were one of the last resorts of the ancient Caloosa Indians. Dove and Tea Table Keys are said to have the richest soil, “the best I have seen in Florida,” says Mr. Wainright, of the U. S. Coast Survey.
9. THE WESTERN COAST
Steamers from Key West touch at all the principal points on the western or Gulf coast of the peninsula.
This coast is very much the same in character throughout its whole extent. It is an almost continuous belt of marsh, cut by innumerable creeks and bayous, extending from five to fifteen miles into the interior. Thousands of small islands covered with stunted mangroves, and wholly or in part overflowed at high water, conceal the main land. The channels between them are usually shallow, with mud bottoms, and in parts, the slope of the shore is so gradual that low water exposes a mud flat one to two miles wide.
From Key West to St. Marks there are two tides daily, in the twenty-four (lunar) hours, one, the highest, rising from one foot to one foot six inches. From St. Marks to the Mississippi the smaller tide disappears, so there remains but one daily.
Immediately north of Cape Sable, which shows from the sea a sand-beach three feet high, are the Thousand Isles, some few of which were formerly cultivated by Spanish planters. Charlotte Harbor, between latitude 26 degrees 30 seconds and 27 degrees, is entered by the Boca Grande, which has fifteen feet of water at low tide. The bay itself has a depth of three or four fathoms. At its southern extremity it receives the waters of Caloosahatchee river. This stream has a depth of twelve feet for thirty-five or forty miles, and with a little expense could be rendered navigable for steamboats. The lower part of its course is through swamps, but about twenty-five miles up, it flows through high lands covered with palms, oak, pine, and palmetto.
Between Charlotte Harbor and Sarasota Bay the shore forms a straight line of white sand beach several feet in height, and covered with pine and cypress. Sarasota Bay is about twenty miles long, and one to four broad, dotted with numerous mangrove islets. Its depth is about eight feet.
North of Tampa bay are several small rivers, the Pithlo-chas-kotee, or boat-building river, the Chassahowitzka, the Crystal, the Homosassa, and the Wethlocco-chee or Withlacooche. Their banks are low and marshy, producing little of value except a fine variety of cedar. Much of this is exported to France and England for the manufacture of lead pencils.
In the coves where the mud is not too deep oyster banks are numerous, and on almost every little stream the traveler finds the shell heaps left by the aborigines of the country. One of these of unusual size and interest, on the Crystal River, I have described in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1866, p. 356.
Sponge reefs also occur at various parts of the coast and many small vessels are employed in collecting these animals and drying them for the market.
The low lands along the coast are often rich, but they are unhealthy. The United States Army Medical Reports pronounce them the most unhealthy parts of the peninsula. This, however, does not apply to the sandy pine tracts south of Tampa Bay, many of which still bear the imprint of an extended cultivation in some past time.
TAMPA
Hotels.– *Florida House, Orange Grove Hotel, both $2.00 per day, $35.00 to $40.00 per month.
Boarding Houses.– Several in number, from $5.00 to $10.00 per week.
Mails.– By steamer, twice weekly; to Brookville, weekly.
Churches.– Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic.
Newspapers.—The True Southerner, republican; the Florida Peninsular, democratic, both weekly.
Sailboats and Horses, about $1.00 per day.
Tampa is a town of 600 inhabitants, on the left (east) bank of Hillsborough river, where it empties into Hillsborough bay. It is thirty miles from the light house at the entrance of the harbor. The soil is poor, covered chiefly with pine, red oak and palmettos.
For many years this has been an important military station. Fort Brooke, commenced 1823, stands on the reservation near the town, and additional barracks have recently been erected. Several companies of infantry are here most of the time.
Excellent hunting and fishing can be had in the vicinity of Tampa. The oysters in the bay are as large, abundant and finely flavored as anywhere on the Gulf coast. The orange groves are flourishing and many of the inhabitants raise garden vegetables. Old army officers have learned to regard it as one of the best stations in the United States for providing the mess.
The land in the vicinity is level. A large Indian mound, nearly twenty feet high, stands upon the reservation, close to the town. Last winter (1869) this was opened by a curiosity seeker, and the usual contents of Florida mounds – bones, pottery, ornaments, etc. – taken out. Beautiful specimens of chalcedony and fortification agate, well known in mineralogical cabinets, are found along the shore, washed out from the marl. Above Tampa, on the Hillsborough river, is a Sulphur Spring thirty feet in diameter and twelve feet deep. At the rapids of the Hillsborough river, near the spring, a dark bluish siliceous rock, supposed to be eocene, crops out.
MANATEE
is a small town six miles from the mouth of Manatee river, near the southern entrance of Tampa Bay. There is no hotel, but accommodations can be had with Judge Gates, or other residents. Fine orange groves and sugar plantations are near here. Manatee is a shallow, sluggish stream, two miles wide, with salt water. A weekly mail boat with Tampa is the only regular communication. Historically, Tampa, or Espiritu Santo Bay, as the Spaniards named it, is interesting as the landing place of Hernando de Soto in May, 1539. The precise spot where his soldiers disembarked cannot now be decided. Theodore Irving (Conquest of Florida, p. 58) places it immediately in the village of Tampa, at the extreme head of Hillsborough Bay. Buckingham Smith, whose studies of the old Spanish maps and records of Florida have been most profound, lays it down at the entrance of Tampa Bay, on the south bank, between Manatee river and the Gulf Shore. But he adds: “could I utterly disregard the authority of old maps, and an opinion sanctioned by a long succession of writers, I should judge the landing-place of Soto to be far southward of Tampa.”
After a short stay, the steamer leaves Tampa and heads for Cedar Keys, distant one hundred and sixty miles; fare $10.00; time twenty-four hours. This has already been described. The next point is St. Marks, the terminus of the Tallahassee railroad, which has already been spoken of in a previous route. (Distance 100 miles from Cedar Keys to St. Marks; fare $10.00.) The steamer next stops at distant sixty miles from St. Marks. This town, once a place of considerable trade, exporting a hundred thousand bales of cotton a year, is now extremely dull. It has a good harbor, and being at the mouth of the Chattahoochee river, has capacities not yet developed. Steamers run from here to Bainbridge, Georgia, and all stations on the river.
APALACHICOLA,
After leaving Apalachicola the steamer heads southward, the long, low island, St. George’s, being visible on the left, and St. Vincent’s island and the main land on the right. Once into the Gulf, no more land is seen until the well-fortified entrance to Pensacola harbor comes in sight. The town of Warrenton, where the United States navy yard is situated, is first seen. It is a small place.
PENSACOLA
No hotel. Boarding houses by Mrs. Davis, on the beach, near the depot; Mrs. Knapp, on Intendencia street; Mrs. Williams, on Palafox, the principal street. Mr. Hoffman, at the depot, has good accommodations for a limited number. Gentlemen can obtain lodging-rooms above Giovanni’s confectionary store, on Palafox street, and meals at the City Restaurant, opposite the square. The charge at the boarding houses is $3.00 per day, $15.00 per week.
A daily mail and telegraph office are now there. Baths and livery stables convenient.
Newspapers.– The Pensacola Observer, tri-weekly; the West Florida Commercial, weekly. Reading room for gentlemen at the “Gem” restaurant.
Churches.– Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist.
Physicians.– Drs. Hargis, Lee.
Pensacola has about 2000 inhabitants, one-third of whom are colored. The bay was discovered in 1559, by Don Tristan de Luna y Arellana, who named it Santa Maria de Galve. He landed with 1500 men and a number of women and children, intending to establish a permanent colony. The neighborhood, however, proved barren, the ships were wrecked, and after two years the few who survived returned to Mexico. In 1696, Don Andres de Arriola made another attempt with more success. He constructed a fort at the entrance of the harbor, and received the title Governor of Pensacola, the name being taken from a small native tribe called Pensocolos, who dwelt in the vicinity. The name is Choctaw, and means “Hairy People.” In 1719, it was captured by the French, under M. de Serigny, who lost and regained it within the year. In 1721, it reverted to Spain, and some attempt was made by that power to lay out a city.
A few old Spanish buildings yet stand, but have nothing about them worthy of note. Half a mile north of the bay is the site of Fort St. Michael, a commanding eminence, with a fine view of the bay and navy yard. About six hundred yards north of St. Michael’s, stood Fort St. Bernard, known as el sombrero, from its resemblance to a hat. Both these edifices are completely demolished, and a few stones, potsherds, and pieces of iron are all that remain to mark their positions.
The climate of Pensacola is bracing in winter, but not at all suited to consumptives. All such should avoid it, as they almost invariably grow worse. The pine lands, twenty or thirty miles north of the city, are much more favorable to such patients.
A railroad is just finished from Pensacola to Montgomery, Ala., which connects this seaport with Louisville and the northern States east of the Mississippi. Doubtless this will give the old town quite an impetus in growth. A pamphlet setting forth its advantages as a seaport and place of residence was published in July of the present year (1869) by A. C. Blount, President of the railroad.
MILTON
Is a pleasant town of about a thousand inhabitants, thirty miles from Pensacola.
Hotels.– Eagle and City Hotel, $2.25 a day in each.
A daily steamboat line connects the two towns (fare $2) and a tri-weekly line of hacks runs from Milton to Poland, Ala., en the Montgomery & Mobile R. R., thirty-three miles – fare $5.
After leaving Pensacola, the next stopping place of the steamer is
MOBILE
Hotels.– The Battle House, corner Royal and St. Francis streets, $4.00 per day, an old established and well known house; *Gulf City Hotel, corner Water and Conti streets, $3 per day, $17.50 per week, $65 per month, new and good; Roper House, corner Royal and St. Michael streets, same price as Gulf City Hotel, except $50 per month; Girard House, 123 Dauphin street, $2.50 per day; Goff House, Conti street, not first class.
Post Office.– In Custom House, opposite the Battle House. Telegraph and Express offices near by.
Bath Booms.– In Battle House, 50 cents; in Gulf City Hotel, 35 cents, and in a barber shop on St. Francis street, opposite the ladies entrance to the Battle House, 35 cents.
Restaurant.– Jenkins’, on Royal street, opposite the Battle House, is the best.
Bookseller.– Putnam & Co., 52 Dauphin street.
Livery Stable.– Hayden & Meenan, 39 Royal street, near the Roper House; carriage and driver, for half a day, $8.00; buggy, for half a day, $5.
Newspapers.– The Daily Register; the Daily Tribune.
Physician.– Dr. T. S. Scales, 128 Dauphin street.
Omnibusses meet the boats and cars, and street cars run on the principal streets – fare five cents and ten cents.
Theaters.– Mobile Theater, Variety Theater, both on Royal street.
The city (population 35,000) is situated about thirty miles from the Gulf of Mexico, on the west side of Mobile Bay. The bay is shallow and the channel tortuous. The rivals of the city say that the entrance is filling up, and will, before many generations, become little more than a marsh. The site of the town is on a sandy plain, elevated about fifteen feet above high tide, and is, consequently, well drained. The houses extend along the bay nearly three miles.
The city was founded by the French at the commencement of the last century, but remained an insignificant post until 1819, when it was incorporated. Since then it has grown with rapidity, and is now one of the most active cotton ports in the United States. Many of the buildings are handsome, and though the city suffered considerably during the war, it is rapidly regaining its former wealth. An excellent Directory has been published by the Southern Publishing Co.
The Custom House is the finest public edifice. It is constructed of marble.
There is a public square in a central locality, and the abundance of hedges of the Cherokee Rose, a flowering evergreen, gives the streets a pleasant appearance.
