USA > Florida > Florida, 1513-1913, past and future; four hundred years of wars and peace and industrial development > Part 6
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Mr. Plant's efforts were directed to the development of the mid- dle and southwestern seetions of the state, through railroad eonstrue- tion, the building of splendid terminals and a magnificent hotel at Tampa.
The discovery of immense deposits of phosphate in the south- western part of the state in 1881, has developed an enormous export trade and has added much to the wealth of the state. The timber and naval stores produets of Florida have made the state of the largest commercial importance to the world. The development of these and other Florida resources has made the real history of the state sinee 1890, and this is deseribed more fully elsewhere in this story of Florida.
FLORIDA'S DISASTERS
The industrial growth of the state has been interrupted by events which seemed at the time of their coming to assume the proportions of disasters. An epidemic of yellow fever came to Jacksonville and
-
OLD DRAINAGE DITCH AND CANAL, PART OF EXTENSION SYSTEM BUILT BY ENGINEERS OF DR. TURNBULL IN DEVELOPMENTS AT NEW SMYRNA This drain is now used for draining Main Street of New Smyrna
73
FLORIDA
Fernandina in 1888, with a death loss of about ten per cent of all the cases. Jacksonville's death list included about five hundred of her citizens.
A breath of cold from the Northwest swept over the state January 12, 1886. It wrought much damage in the northern and middle por- tions of Florida. The "Great Freeze" came on the night of Decem- ber 29, 1894. The temperature went to fourteen degrees above zero at Jacksonville and lower in some of the northern sections of the pen- insula. Two million boxes of ungathered oranges on the trees were frozen solid. Young trees were killed and the older and hardier trees were seriously damaged. Not quite five weeks later, on the night of February 7, another destructive cold came, killing practically all the citrus trees that had survived the previous disaster in the northern and middle portions of the state.
The losses from these two storms, directly and indirectly, amounted to no less than fifty millions of dollars. The result was an entire revo- lution in the orange growing industry, the groves being renewed fur- ther south in the state. The industry has reached proportions as great as those which were destroyed, and it is increasing in importance and value each year.
The fire which swept Jacksonville, May 3, 1901, was one of the great eonflagrations of history. The financial loss was above fifteen million dollars, but Jacksonville's recovery from that disaster has far surpassed all losses and has excited the admiration of the world.
In the solution of her educational problems Florida has laid the foundations, and has made rapid progress in the establishment of a school system which is to give the benefits of practical training and of higher and technical education to increasing thousands of pupils at the minimum of cost.
The financial credit of the state is equal to the best in other states and its finances are based upon the solid foundations of integrity in the administration of its affairs and upon an unparalleled prosperity.
Four hundred years have passed since Ponce de Leon, the Spanish adventurer, landed upon these shores. Almost from the day of his coming, Florida has been a battlefield. It has been the scene of strife. Every section of this fair land has been bathed in the blood of slaughter and massacre. So continuous has been this war- fare that the intervals of peace have been like the oases in the Great Desert.
74
FLORIDA
While the world owes to the Spaniard the discovery of Florida, his presence in the land has been a curse. He came in search of gold and the search was marked with blood and butchery. He came, not to create wealth, but to take by force the wealth that had been created. He opposed those who would have developed the natural resources of the land. He was a destroyer, not a builder.
It was not until the English sought in the seventeenth century to spread the industry of the Carolina Colony over the southern penin- sula, that the first gleam of hope came to the new country, yet that advance was opposed by a hundred years of war and retaliation. The English occupation of Florida in 1763, brought an era of peace and development, but it was broken by the Revolutionary war. Spain re- occupied the land in 1784 and the dark pall of her presence again spread over the country.
Florida became a possession of the United States in 1821, and once more hope dawned upon the stricken land, but soon began the aggres- sions of the native tribes, which culminated in the Seminole war.
Fifteen years of quiet preceded the outbreak of the Civil war. The unrest of Reconstruction retarded progress until 1876, when Florida entered at last upon an era of progress that has remained undisturbed for nearly forty years.
Of the four centuries of her existence as a part of the civilized world, hardly sixty years have been given to her upbuilding through serious, concerted and continuous effort. But the fruits of the dec- ades since peace has come, have demonstrated the richness of her re- sources with a growth that has no parallel. Her cities, her farms and groves, her mines and mineral wealth, her splendid climate and her rich soils, have made The Land of Flowers a great industrial empire, whose future is but faintly presaged by the accomplishments of the past.
*
GOVERNORS OF FLORIDA
TERRITORIAL
Gen. Andrew Jackson-Military Governor 1819
William P. Duval 1822
John W. Easton 1834
Richard K. Call 1835
Robert Raymond Reid 1839
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FLORIDA
Richard K. Call 1841
John Branch 1844
STATE
William D. Mosely 1845
Thomas Brown 1849
James E. Broome 1853
Madison S. Perry 1856
John Milton (Died April 1, 1865) 1861
A. K. Allison (April to July) 1865
William Marvin (July to December) 1865
David S. Walker 1865
Harrison Reed 1868
Ossian B. Hart (Died in office, 1874)
1872
Marcellus L. Stearns
1874
George F. Drew
1876
William D. Bloxham
1880
Edward A. Perry
1884
Francis P. Fleming
1888
Henry L. Mitchell
1892
William D. Bloxham 1896
William S. Jennings
1900
Napoleon B. Broward
1904
Albert W. Gilchrist 1908
Park Trammell 1912
CHAPTER II GEOLOGICAL
il
Mobile
THE MA
86
84
Longitude
West
from
Greenwich
82
80
RL
Lockhart & FTorats
Geneva
Lakewood
Century.
Laurel Hillp &
Wood
Paxton
HOLMES
Haywood
Climax
Thomasville
CONSTO
Statenville
Tugosta
Quitman/
Wehuttahoochey
SANTA_ ROSA . Funiak Surs.
NASSAU
Fern
andina
A B
AMA
Cantonment
ASHINGTON
Green boro O
Quithey
CLEON
Monticello
Jasper
A
FLA.
Crawford/
Ft.George Inlet
Pensacola
C
5
St. Marks Je.
MADISON
Grand Fossing
Mayport
Warrington
IBLANO
B
A
.A.
Springhill, +
Higdon
Incelenny
Baldwin
p. & º.Wellborn
U
BAKER
Perry
SUWANEE
Orange Park d
Allmatth
Sprs,7
Ta
o Lawtey
Green Cove
COAST
C
Soirke
S
St. Angustine
Ft. White
High Sprs.j
Alachup
Would
Federay Pi.
Other Incorporated Cities.and Towns: D
Other Places: o
enton
taGhine ville
Railroads, finished:
Railroads, proposed :______
Rochelle
San Mateo
Steamship Lines: ________ Canals:
Arther
Pomona
Oupont
Proctor
5Citty
PReddick /6
Montbrook
LAnthony
Holly Hill
Seabreeze
9 5 10
20 ap 40 50 80 70 80 90
100
110
120
130
140
150
Early Bird
Astor
Oeleon Sprs
CEDAR KEYS · ·
Belleview y
OLUSIA
Inglis
Dunnellon
C.
no De Lund c.& New Smyrna
.Bercafore
E OLake Hele
Crystal River
Hernando
Orange City
Eustis
Enterprise
a
Inverness Riffer Mino.
Gold Torga Sanford
OLE
Sumrefville
Ilake Charm
SUMTER
Oviedo
TitusAlle
Brooksyiy, Croon
Winter fark
Tooko Lake
Orlando
Cape Canaveral
0 RANG E
Qivenaboro
9
Hudson
Filmy Je
San Antonio
Narepossee
Port Richeyh
PASS 0 0
/Orexel
Phopekaliga
Cape Malabar
L.
"Eau Gallie
St. Joseph's Bay
Thonotosassa
or
Plant City! A
Clearwaterp
Tampy
- A. L.Mulberry
Bartow
dort Tamp
L.
C.
Bradley Je.
CHILLSBOROUGH
9Ft.Meade
A.
Cottman
Tigerbay
Wilmington
Bowling Green
ST.LUCIE
T
Indian River Inlet
9 Zolfo
DoManatee
-
Bradentown
From Fernandina to
Havana, Cuba
92
Nassau .
450
Colon, Panama, via Yucatan
Channel ...
1070
From Jacksonville to
Tampa
23
Brunswick, Ga.
Apalachicola
361
Savanhab, Ga ..
150
Pensacola
463
Charleston, S. C.
198
Mobile, Ala
508
Baltimore, Md.
709
Philadelphia, Pa
758
Calveston, Tex. ...
757
Boston, Mas. . 1018
456
From Tampa to
1425
sages
901
1332
Baltimore, Md.
1283
Havana, Cuba +++
324
1516
Colon, Panama, via Yucatan Channel
219
From St. Augustine to
Nassau
412
Mobile. Ala
3.53
From Mlaml to
Port Arthur, Tex,
650
Nassau
Galveston, Tex.
685
Key West .
Santiago, Cuba
From Apalachicola to Pensacola
From Key West to
Boston, Mass,
1343
New York, N. Y.
1128
Key West
463
Philadelphia, Pa.
1098
Baltimore, Md.
1049
Charleston, S. C.
Mobile, Ala.
Savannah, Ga. 648
New Orleans, La. 22
Nassau . 325
Table of Distances in Nautical Miles showing Florida Ports to be the Nearest American Ports to the Panama Canal.
From Colon, Panamn to
To other American Ports
Florlila Ports
Key West, via Yucaton
Channel . . 1070
Passages .
++. 1563
Jacksonville, via Windward and Crooked lsl. Pas-
sagres 1616
Mobile, Ala., via Yucatan
Tampa, via Yucaton Chan-
Channel
.. 1376
Del'
. .. 1219
New Orleans, La., via Yuca- ton Channel ... .. 1395
Galveston, Tex., via Yuca- ton Channel ...
1492
Bay
of Florida
E. Y
ANDROS 1.
LONO KEY
K
KNIGHTS
NEY
A
D
80
MARQUESAS KEY
R
O
L
BOCA GRANDE O
To Havane
joy ,
Milton
WALTON
@ Verhon
Havana
0
Malldy Place
GADSDEN
Capitolo
- Mndhon
HAMILTON
I
Blountstown
Bristol
Talmasseog
Greenville
10
White Springs
Jacksonville
‘Bay
SANTA
0
Estiffanulg
F
Muyo Je.
St. Androwdies
Panama City
H
MOIville
lola
ApA.
Sopchoppy
Apalachee Bay
TAYLOR
RY.
BRAOFORD
Sampson
CLAY
Hampton
o Now Augustine
State Capital:
County Seats: @ @
Apalachicola C
Y
Wanne/
Hastings e
Newberry
PalatlesPalatkaQ
chad o Par tha Heights
Norwill's
Hawthorp .
Brousono
Welakat
Crescent o City
Scale of Statute Miles
Seville
"Ormond"
Bronthla M
5
Silverspring
Daytona % Daytona Beach
Cedar Keyar
Juliette!
G
Withlacoochee R.
QT CITRUS Udwood Coleman
Mt. Oora
Maytown
Leesburg
Homosassa Floral City
Maibad
Center Bill
False Cape
HERNANDO
Trilby Lacoochee
Šarano
Dade City
Mohaiyh Oakland
Vinter Garden
LINE
Cocoa \
ATLANTIC
----
Table of Distances in Nautical Miles from Florida Ports via the Shortest Navigable Routes.
F
KERS
Ft.Plerce
MATANILLA REEF
Bassenget
Fruitville
Mek-poga
Sarasota
Okeechobee
Jensen
MANATEE
Je Arcadia
LIT
Venice
Liverpool
New York, N. Y.
Vera Cruz. Mexico.
Tampico, Mexico.
907
M
APunta Gorda
PALM
UIT. ABACO
Gasparilla
Harbor
R.
awgra
CAYO COSTA IT
Fort.Myers
CAPTIVE I.
L
E
E
SANIBEL I5.
0
W. Pompano
Peninsular
&
Occidental
LITTLE MARCO 1.
E
V
Syorglade
0
Cape Romano-
Chokoloskce
O A DE
Mamy
H
BERRY
FIA
GREAT
Ponce De Leon 00 Buy
BAHAMA
Manatee
OF
Nassa
BANK
S
To Miami Eto.
STRAITS
NV300 do 3NONOI
NEW PROVIDENCE 1.
THE MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP WORKS, BUFFALO, N. Y.
78
Mobile
MAP OF
FLORIDA
SHOWING COUNTIES, INCORPORATED CITIES AND TOWNS, RAILROADS AND PRINCIPAL STEAMSHIP LINES
To European
$140g ____==
Pt. St. Josepha
cels. I.Caps
Port St Toe
Carrabelle
ANASTASIA IS.
Bell Clark,
PUTNAMJA
10
Pt. Romo
Cape San Blas
ST. GEORGE I.
LAFA
Suwanee
Williston 9
Ormond Beach
Morriston
ARION
Ocal!
stanton
Gulf Jt
Summerfield
Umatilit
I
Mallory S. S. Co. To Mobile
Gulf & Southern S.S. Co. To New Orleans Southern S. S. Co. To Port Arthur
Tarpon Sprog
Washington
Haines City
Melbourne
28
BREVARD
Largoy w . Tumpa ATampa CUJAl
Ritimhice
0
Keransville
OCEAN
F. E. C. .Fellamere Viake
0
Pasa a' Grillo
Tamnu but
Palmetto
Wauchula
Manavista
Sebring
19900
DE SOTO
WESTERN REEF
TLE
Santiago, Cuba, via Crooked lel. and Windward Pas-
New York, N. Y. Philadelphia, Pa.
BEACH
GREAT BAHAMA
Charlotte C
Palm Beach
ISLANO
ABACO
Walchce
HNVA
Southern
Big Cypress Swamp
I
Naples
26
Dania
S. S. CO.
Mallory S. S.
Co. To Galveston
Cape Sable
Barnes Sound
S. S. Co.
Mallory
Bonifay
Cottondale
Crestview
Galliver
NASH.
Chipley
KSON
ARWer Junction
Sneads
Cretna
Jennings
Yuleis
Norfolk, Philadelphia, Boston
Mer. & Min. Trans. Co.
To Savannah, Baltimore and
Philadelphia
St. Mary's
Clyde S.s
AMELIA I.
. S. Co. To Charleston,
Cumberland's
G
E
0
R
G
I
A
CARL
Flint
Folkston
Bruns. &
and New York
VIAW
Muscogey
Mobile
ROSA
Scotta Felt
Crawfordville Fanlew
LIBERTY
WAKULLA
Hampton
Lake City L
Lake Butler
$0
Pensacola, St.Andrews & Gulf S. S. Co.
FRANKLIN d
Sap Pedro Je.
ETTE
LINE
ALACHUAMelo
SOUVAD
Youth Jhestonville
. E.c.fPablo Beach
LINE
Codyu
Ellaville
4
Savannah, Ca., via Wind- ward and Crooked Isl.
Co. Tampa To Philadelphia
Biscayne Bay
FLORIDA
LARGO
Pensacola, via Yucatan Channel . ..... 1350
To European Ports
Hull
New Orleans, La.
570
Nassau
Okeechobee
BAHAMA
GREAT
West Palm Beach
Colon, Panama, via Crooked 1sl. and Windward Pas- ages .
Pensacola
New Orleans, La.
474
COAR
Canal
WORTH WEST PROVIDENCE CHANNE
EASY !
Southern S. S. Co. Tampa To Philadelphia
Mallory S. S. Co. To New York
Harcon
Catherine 0.
Webster
pronto
F
Kissimmee
Lakeland
Lake Alfred
PINELLAS Dunedin
Indian Paan
Pie Éde
Sebastian
St.Petersburg
S. Co. To Brunswick
& Flø+
Norma Goiceville"
Neals Ldg.
5 Bainbridge
FINE
0
Charleston, S. C., via Wind- ward and Crooked 1al. Passages ..... . 156
187 147 630
From Pensacola to
Colon, Panama, via Yucatan Channel
1350
USNADOTA KET
Lake
Lake
LE
St. George
Interlachen
Key West
Marla
BRIEF sketch of the geological history and forma- tions of Florida is necessary to a clear understand- A ing of certain conditions here, which exist in no other section of the United States. These conditions pro- vide, over the immense area of the state, an inex- haustible supply of water by conserving the annual rainfall; they provide a natural system of distribution and they have created a diversification of soils which, with the climate, give a wider range of vegetable products than belongs to any other state. They have permitted in ages past the formation of mineral deposits, which are the present source of large profit and which already have given Florida an important place in the commerce of the world.
ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN
Florida is a part of the great Atlantic coastal plain of the United States. This plain embraces a strip of varying width along the Atlan- tic and Gulf coasts, which covers the eastern portions of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Geor- gia, and all of Florida, as well as much of the southern sections of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. This formation is sedi- mentary, containing clay, shale, limestone, and sandstone, which were brought in prehistoric times from the mountains and high lands lying to the north and west. In these carlier periods of creation, what is now included in this coastal plain lay beneath the waters of the ocean, and the materials washed from the higher lands determined in large measure the character of the arca which, with the gradual ele- vation of the continent, has become the lands that now border the ocean and the gulf.
But the present area of Florida being then covered by water was further removed than the rest of the coastal plain from this source of sedimentary deposit, and the clear sea was more favorable to the exist- ence of an abundant shell life, the accumulation of which formed lime rock. Hence, with the gradual lifting of Florida above sea
79
80
FLORIDA
level, the underlying foundation rock was a massive and very thick bed of limestone. And in this respect Florida differs much in its geological formations from the other states included in the coastal plain.
Formerly it was a generally accepted fact that the greater part, if not all, of Florida was of coral formation, but this view has been upset by recent scientific investigations.
VICKSBURG LIMESTONE
Florida deposits are all of comparatively recent date geologically. The oldest formation known in this area is called by scientists the Vicksburg limestone, which is classified in the Oligocene division of the Cenozoic Period of creation. It was formed through the ages by con- stant accretions of minute organism known as foraminifera, the shells of these small animals with larger shells making up the limestone. The deposit became solid or but slightly porous by the chemical deposits and action of sea water.
This formation is a part of the extensive foundation which encircles the gulf from Florida to Louisiana, and it is found somewhat widely distributed in Alabama and Mississippi. In Florida it lies in a gen- erally horizontal stratum, but in the mighty upheaval of creation it was given an elevation in the western and northern central portions of the peninsula, with a dip toward the gulf on the south and west, and toward the Atlantic on the east. This elevation formed a ridge which the topographical surveys of the state have clearly defined.
A general line of elevation of from one hundred to two hundred feet, and in places reaching much higher, extends from the western bounds of the state at the Perdido river, and follows closely the Georgia state line as far east as Baker county. This elevated plateau is marked by ranges of hills, from one hundred to more than two hundred feet high. They are broken by the valleys of the Apalachi- cola and the Choctawhatchee rivers.
THE BACKBONE OF FLORIDA
Extending in a generally southerly direction from the Georgia state line, another plateau of some elevation joins, or crosses, that already described. In its northern beginning it extends from the Suwanee River valley in Hamilton county, to the eastern limit of Baker county. From this width of about sixty miles its longitudinal
JUPITER INLET
AMONG THE FLORIDA KEYS
Vol. I-6
83
FLORIDA
extension, becoming narrower as it is traced southward, covers Baker, Bradford, the eastern portion of Hamilton and Suwanee counties, the western parts of Clay and Columbia counties, the central portion of Alachua, the eastern part of Levy and the western part of Marion, parts of Citrus, Sumter and Hernando counties. In this area the elevation is close to one hundred feet, with an occasional rise above two hundred feet and breaks below the fifty-foot mark above sea level. Pasco and Hillsborough counties have areas of elevation exceeding one hundred feet, and Polk county has two distinct plateaus above the one hundred and fifty-foot level and including ranges from two hun- dred to two hundred and fifty feet high.
It will be seen that the general course of this ridge lies closer to the gulf than to the ocean, and that east of it is a section that includes a large portion of the total area of the state.
The contour line of fifty feet elevation above sea level, from the western limit of the state, follows generally the line of the gulf and from six to twenty miles distant, as far as Lafayette county. There it sweeps further from the gulf, returning again to the lesser dis- tances in Levy and Citrus counties, and it continues with many twists and turns into Hillsborough county. There it takes a southerly course into De Soto county to about the latitude of twenty-seven degrees, when it runs east and northeast through Polk and Osceola counties to the St. Johns river, which it follows rather closely to Duval and Nassau counties.
This leaves the large portion of the state south of about the middle line of De Soto county, less than fifty feet above sea level. This sec- tion is known under the general name of The Everglades, in which, in spite of the seemingly low levels and vast expanse, the variations in elevation are sufficient to justify the greatest drainage project ever undertaken by engineers.
GENERAL ELEVATIONS
This sketch of the topography of Florida will serve to contradict the impression that the entire state is a low-lying, swampy area, only a few feet above the surrounding occan. It has no mountains nor high ranges, as elevations are measured in many other states. The greatest elevation above sea level within the state, so far authentically recorded, is Orange hill in Washington county, which, it is claimed, reaches five hundred and sixty feet. Florida's seaports, of course, have the same elevation as those of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards every-
84
FLORIDA
where. The state is bordered by a wide area less than fifty feet above the sca, just the same as every other Atlantic state as far north as Maine, and it is just as adaptable to industrial occupation.
This impervious Vicksburg limestone floor of the state serves also as a natural watershed to distribute the water supply over wide areas. It appears at the surface in limited sections, but for the most part it is buried beneath the geological deposits of later periods, consisting of clays, a later limestone, marls and shell beds, residual deposits, river- formed deposits, recent rock formations, sand dunes and shell mounds containing Indian remains.
The general line of its upheaval forms the central Florida plateau sometimes called the "backbone" of the state. It is found in places within forty feet of the top of this ridge. Its dip toward the east and west is marked. It is reached almost a thousand feet below the surface at Jacksonville. Following the Atlantic coast southward it rises. for at Titusville, one hundred and fifty miles from Jacksonville, it is found at a depth of about one hundred feet. From near this section it takes another dip, and at Palm Beach, another hundred and fifty miles south, it lies more than a thousand feet below the surface, and on the Florida keys, borings of more than two thousand feet have failed to reach it.
In the clay formations overlying the Vicksburg limestone, have been found in widely scattered parts of the state, the fossil remains of the mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, saber-toothed tiger, horses, bison, deer, tapirs, giant sloths and glyptodons.
FLORIDA MEASUREMENTS
The peculiar shape of Florida almost forbids description. It is an irregularly formed peninsula whose Atlantic coast line trends almost southeast. The state has an arm extending westward from its central line a distance almost as great as its north and south extension. Its length by a north and south air line, from the St. Mary's river to Key West, the southernmost point of United States continental pos- sessions, is approximately four hundred and twenty-five miles. The extreme width across the northern part of the state, from the ocean to the Perdido river, which marks the Alabama boundary, is three hun- dred and seventy miles. The lower peninsula in its greatest width, about the line of Tampa, measures one hundred and fifty miles.
In area Florida is the second state east of the Mississippi river, Georgia alone being larger. It contains a surface area of 58,666
ON THE ST. LUCIE RIVER
-
87
FLORIDA
square miles, of which 3,805, or a little more than 6 per cent, are fresh water surface.
The coast line of the state measures approximately thirteen hun- dred miles, which by the indentations of bays and sounds are increased to almost sixteen hundred miles.
The conditions governing the geological formation of Florida led to the creation of immense deposits of phosphate, peat and valu- able clays, including fullers' earth and kaolin, which are considered elsewhere.
These same geological conditions existing in Florida, have made possible its unique water supply system, which conserves the rainfall, purifies it by percolation through the earth as a filter, and brings it again to the surface in many localities through inexhaustible springs, and in other places making it available through flowing wells driven by artificial means.
UNDERGROUND WATER SUPPLY
The average annual rainfall over the entire state is slightly more than fifty-three inches. This amounts to more than 921,000,000 gal- lons for every square mile. Allowing for losses by evaporation, drain- age and all other causes, it has been estimated that at least one-half of this amount is added each year in the central part of the state to the underground water supply. By gravity it is carried deep into the earth, passing through the sand, clay and upper limestone strata, until eventually it reaches the underlying and practically impervious Vicks- burg limestone.
The limit to which water percolates into the earth has never been reached by borings, but it is well known that the greater the depth, the greater is the pressure forcing it to seek an outlet to higher levels. Something more than five hundred pounds pressure on each square inch is necessary to bring the water to the surface through a boring eleven hundred and fifty feet into the earth, and several artesian wells in Florida exceed this depth.
The outlet for this pressure is found in numerous natural springs in the middle and northern sections of the state. The dip of the Vicksburg limestone stratum carries the water beyond the land limits of the state and discharges it through springs beneath the ocean sur- face. Such a spring, evidently of large size, exists a mile or more off the Atlantic coast some distance south of St. Augustine. When the ocean surface is quiet, the water from this spring may be seen bubbling
88
FLORIDA
up through the salt water, covering an area of more than an acre and perfuming the atmosphere with sulphuretted hydrogen. From this spring, surrounded as it is by the brine of ocean, vessels have refilled their empty tanks. A similar spring is known in the Gulf of Mexico, and it can not be doubted that many others cxist at depths too great for observation at the ocean surface.
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