USA > Florida > Florida, 1513-1913, past and future; four hundred years of wars and peace and industrial development > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
GREAT NATURAL SPRINGS
Of these great natural outlets within the borders of the state, Silver Springs, in Marion county, is the largest, and typical of all. It supplies a large portion of the flow of the famous Ocklawaha River. Bursting forth from the face of a limestone rock through several openings or vents, it discharges 369,000 gallons every minute of crys- tal-clear water, forming at once a stream on which might be floated deep draught vessels and creating a current of several miles an hour. The refraction of light through this water, more than thirty feet deep, gives prismatic hues to white objects on the bottom of the basin.
Other springs similar in character exist in other parts of Marion county, and in Levy, Columbia, Suwanee, Hernando, and Hamil- ton counties, from which the total estimated flow exceeds eight hun- dred thousand gallons a minute.
Formerly the source of this immense flow and of the pressure by which it was forced to its outlets, was supposed to be in the far distant Appalachian mountains and hills of northern Georgia and North Car- olina, but this idea has been dispelled by the observation that the flow from these springs is increased soon after heavy rainfalls in their respective vicinities. Other observations have established these sources as more or less local.
In their study of the phenomena governing this distribution of Florida's water supply, scientists have agreed that the Vicksburg lime- stone floor, underlying the state, makes it possible. The rainfall percolates through the upper strata, eventually reaching this lower layer of rock. With its dip toward the ocean it serves as a water- shed carrying the water down its eastern and western slopes, toward and under the areas that are prolific of natural springs or other out- lets for this water. The water having reached this underlying stratum of rock, is confined between it and the overlying strata, and as it flows to the lower depths the pressure from behind and above forces it to seek outlets through whatever openings or breaks in the overly-
ARTESIAN WELL, JACKSONVILLE-FLOWS 2,000,000 GALLONS EVERY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS FROM A DEPTHI OF 980 FEET This is one of eleven wells supplying city of Jacksonville
ROCKY COAST ON MERRITT'S ISLAND LOWER EAST COAST
91
FLORIDA
ing rocks it may chance to reach. It is simply an illustration of the familiar principle that water seeks its level.
FLORIDA'S ARTESIAN WELLS
When, therefore, an artificial opening is made through the over- lying burden of rock strata, an outlet is made through which the im- prisoned water rushes with a force proportionate to the pressure that impels it from behind or above. Such an outlet is the artesian well of Florida. These wells are of two classes, determined by the height to which water rises in the bore by the natural pressure behind it. The flowing well is one in which this pressure is sufficient to force the water to or above the surface of the earth at the point of discharge. Non-flowing wells are those in which the water does not reach the surface but in which it has to be raised by artificial means.
A characteristic common to all artesian water supply in the state is its impregnation with various chemical compounds in solution. Chief and most common is sulphuretted hydrogen. This, however, is quickly evaporated on exposure to the air, removing both the taste and the rather disagreeable odor. Some chemicals remain in solution, giving valuable medicinal properties which in some localities have made the springs famous as health resorts and restorers.
The area of flowing wells, so far as has been determined by the Florida State Geological Survey, is limited to a section along the east coast of the state, bordering the St. Mary's river, following the course of the St. Johns river and along the coast as far south as Palm Beach; also along the Gulf coast south from Hillsborough bay and covering large portions of Hillsborough, Lee and De Soto counties; following also the courses of Peace creek and the Kissimmee river in De Soto, Polk and Osceola counties; also along the line of the Gulf coast from the western border of the state to Franklin county. These wells are successfully driven in other isolated sections, notably in Marion and Osceola counties. That the area will be developed beyond its present limitations by later discoveries is not beyond the range of probability.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ARTESIAN WELLS
The conditions that determine the area of flowing wells are prob- ably the depth of the Vicksburg limestone stratum beneath the surface and its dip or variation from a generally horizontal position and by local causes. Theoretically a flowing well can not be secured at or
92
FLORIDA
near the top of the higher plateaus in the state, and the facts bear out the theory.
The depth to which these wells must be bored to seeure a satis- factory supply and quality of water, varies also in different loeali- ties, from less than one hundred feet to twelve hundred and fifty feet, which is the depth of the city well of Oeala, and fourteen hundred and forty feet in the well that was sunk to supply the Ponee de Leon Hotel at St. Augustine. This depth is determined probably by the distance of the Vieksburg limestone from the surface.
In driving an artesian well, an uneertain flow of water is usually reached at a depth between two hundred and three hundred and fifty feet, but experience has taught that a larger, steadier and more perma- nent flow of purer water comes when the Vieksburg limestone stratum is reached. Therefore, to secure the flow from the deeper lying stratum, the wells are driven through the upper strata and are eased with iron piping, to exclude the flow from the upper layers of rock and clay. The easing is driven down as the boring of the well proceeds. Naturally the discharge of the flowing wells has no relation to the sea level, for while some of them are but a few feet above that level, others are more than fifty feet above it.
The eity of Jacksonville derives its entire water supply for domestic purposes from eleven flowing wells, with an average daily discharge of five and a quarter million gallons, at a temperature of seventy-four degrees, Fahrenheit. 'These wells are cased to an average depth of nine hundred and eighty feet. They vary in diameter from six inches to twelve. The flow of the largest well of this municipally owned system, is about two thousand gallons every minute.
The sub-irrigation system of the famous Sanford eelery seetion, in Seminole county, is fed by eased flowing wells, two or two and a half inches in diameter and from one hundred to one hundred and forty feet deep, from which an average flow of ten thousand gallons an hour is obtained. These figures vary considerably in various loeali- ties of the state, by reason of different depths of the underlying lime- stone formations and for local eauses.
The cost of drilling a flowing well varies according to the diame- ter and the depth at which a satisfactory flow is obtained. Owing to the uneertainty of the latter element in the problem, the contractor usually makes his eharge by the foot of depth, which eharge ineludes the necessary easing. These priees vary from one dollar a foot for a two-ineh well, to three and a half dollars per foot for a well ten inches in diameter.
LIGHT-HOUSE AND WIRELESS STATION OF UNITED STATES GOVERN- MENT AT JUPITER INLET
95
FLORIDA
In the great area covering the southern one-third of the state, the northern limit of which seems to be determined by the dip of the Vicksburg limestone stratum, flowing wells have been driven as far down the coast as Palm Beach. It is the opinion of scientific men that in this area the pressure forcing the flow through these wells comes largely from Lake Okeechobee. It has been noted that the static head from such wells is much less than from those in the area in which the pressure comes from the higher plateaus of the state. A marked difference also is noted in the chemical contents of the dis- charge from these wells.
FLORIDA'S LAKES AND RIVERS
Florida's unique gcological conditions are manifested also in the peculiarity of her lakes and streams. A great number of these lakes have no visible supply beyond the natural drainage of their basins, and no discharge excepting by evaporation. Their levels are maintained by natural springs and by seepage into the soil, similar to the absorption of rainfall, yet their waters are clear and often support a dense fish population. These lakes occur usually not along the coast nor in the low-lying parts of the state, but in the uplands and in sec- tions having a rolling topography and a considerable elevation above sea level.
The formation of many of them originated in what are popularly called "sink holes." Through the natural erosion of the soil and of the underlying rock by water seeping from the surface or from the flow from springs, an underground outlet is formed through the upper limestone formation, and through this vent the water escapes to lower levels. The overlying burden of earth caves in, leaving a water-filled cavity. Gradually the opening is enlarged by the wash of rainfall and the cavity becomes large enough to be considered a lake. Eventually this process of enlargement is aided by the union of two or more sink holes until still larger bodies of water are formed. Several of these lakes occur in the western counties of the state, each of which covers from two thousand to five thousand acres. Occasionally the under- ground outlet is clogged through natural causes, the water is evap- orated and the sink hole in course of time is filled and disappears.
With few exceptions the rivers of Florida have no rapid currents. From the general topography of the state there is insufficient fall to make them available for water power. The St. Johns river is the most important of these streams, and while it has the title of a river, it has
96
FLORIDA
more of the characteristics of a chain of lakes through which a slug- gish current continuously moves in one direction. It has its source in Saw Grass lake, in the southern part of Brevard county, and unlike any other navigable stream under the jurisdiction of the Federal Gov- ernment, it takes a northerly course, and paralleling the eastern coast of the state it reaches the Atlantic ocean near Jacksonville, three hun- dred miles from its source.
For more than one-half this distance it is navigable for steam vessels, and ocean-going ships come to Jacksonville, twenty-seven miles from the ocean, by a channel thirty feet deep. The normal tide variation at the city docks is eighteen inches, and tidal movement is clearly discernible seventy miles from the Atlantic.
THE EVERGLADES
The southern one-third of the state is a vast plain, varying in its elevation from sca level to less than fifty feet above. Vast areas of pine timber, hardwood hammock, open prairie, some of it covered at certain seasons of the year with water, swamp lands and low sections stretch over these southern counties. Beneath much of this territory the underlying Vicksburg limestone stratum lies very deep and in many sections it has never been reached by borings of two thousand feet.
Geologically this part of Florida was the last to emerge from the sea with the movement of the continent. Its soil is rich with the accumulations of vegetable matter deposited through uncounted cen- turies. It has a fertility and a productive capacity that is nowhere surpassed. It is known as The Everglades, whose reclamation for agricultural purposes has been attempted under the general super- vision of the State of Florida.
Within this section, nearer the Atlantic than the Gulf side of the state, lics Lake Okeechobee, the largest body of water entirely within the limits of any single state, and, next to Lake Michigan, the largest body of water wholly within the United States. It has a surface arca exceeding nine hundred square miles. It is shallow, generally circular in outline and has a surface elevation of twenty-seven feet above the ocean level. It is contained in a great, saucer-shaped lime- stone basin, which by the ingress of the Kissimmee river and of other feeding streams, by the sudden and heavy rainfall in certain months, and by the absence of natural outlets is overflowed, flooding the sur- rounding saw-grass prairie.
LAND DEVELOPMENT IN KISSIMMEE VALLEY
DRAINING ST. JOHNS VALLEY LANDS
Vol. 1-7
99
FLORIDA
The plan of engineers to lower the level of this lake and thereby to prevent its overflow into the adjacent territory, has been undertaken in the construction of five canals draining into the ocean at various points in Palm Beach and Dade counties. These canals are planned to be completed in 1914.
Another canal already connects Lake Okeechobee with the Caloosa- hatchee river and reaches the Gulf of Mexico through San Carlos Bay, near Fort Myers. The successful drainage of the lower portions of this great area would open about twelve million acres of land, much of which, it is claimed, would be suitable for settlement and cultivation.
FLORIDA SWAMPS
Florida has large areas of swamp land in which are not included the great stretches of salt marshes that border the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Strangely enough, a large proportion of this swamp area is located at considerable elevations above the sea level. Much of it is immensely profitable from its product of cypress timber, of which Florida has a larger supply than any other southern state. With few exceptions, these swamps might be drained at comparatively small cost by opening natural waterways that have been stopped or that have been interrupted by unimportant natural barriers which inexpensive dredging would remove. When unoccupied lands in the Peninsular State shall become more valuable, because scarcer by a more dense settlement, it is probable that thousands of rich acres will be thus reclaimed and added to the arable lands of the state.
From the vicinity of Titusville, in Brevard county, a ridge of rock formation extends southward almost to Lake Worth, following closely the line of the east coast of the state and from a few yards to as many miles from it. It is broken by occasional gaps through which the natural drainage of the sections behind reaches the Indian river and the ocean. For a large part of its length it separates the valleys of the St. Johns and Kissimmee rivers from the coast, and for uncounted ages it has retained on these plateaus the rainfall and the outflow of natural springs.
The result has been the gradual accretion of vegetable mould which has been changed into decp deposits of rich muck lands. It is covered with a rank growth of wild grasses and it bears few trees, excepting an occasional palm and some palm hammocks of considerable area. Although the floor levels of these plateaus are from ten to eighteen
100
FLORIDA
feet above the sea, there has been no drainage aside from the slow seeping of the natural moisture to these two great rivers.
Within recent years some of the most important land develop- ments in the south have been undertaken in the drainage of these vast areas to the Indian river and the ocean. To accomplish this, canals have been cut through this ridge which since history began has barred these waters from their natural levels. By this method, thousands of acres of the richest black muck lands to be found in the state, have been opened for agriculture and already they have added materially to the assets of Florida. These lands are particularly adapted to citrus culture and to vegetable growing, and their area is sufficient to support a population of a million people.
THE FLORIDA KEYS
A careful study of the map of Florida shows a border or fringe of islands extending along the entire eastern coast and well up along the western side of the state. In some places these islands have become a part of the mainland by their slow and gradual upheaval from the waters of the ocean.
This formation extends along the east side of the state from Georgia on the north and forms an inland waterway, affording pro- tected navigation, with few interruptions, for small craft from Charleston, South Carolina, to Key West. This natural waterway is known by various names along the east coast-Nassau Sound at Fer- nandina; Pablo creek south of the St. Johns river; North river, Matan- zas river at St. Augustine; Halifax river at Ormond and Daytona; Mosquito lagoon, Banana river, Indian river, St. Lucie sound, Jupiter river, Lake Worth, and Biscayne Bay are among the more important of these waters.
Cutting away and dredging the natural barriers along the route where it was necessary, has opened a way the length of the state for light draft vessels, and plans have been put under contract, with the sanction of the state, to make the course available for commerce through its entire length, as it is already for a large share of it.
South from Biscayne Bay these islands are known as The Florida Keys. Their geological formation differs from that of the islands lying further to the north and from that of any other islands on the earth. They follow at increasingly greater distances from the main- land of the state its general contour as they extend southwest and west around the southern end of the state to Key West.
-
TROPICAL GROWTH ALONG LOWER INDIAN RIVER
NATURAL GROWTH OF COCOANUT PALMS ON LOWER EAST COAST
MANGROVE JUNGLE ON FLORIDA KEYS
" BLOWING ROCKS" ON LOWER EAST COAST
105
FLORIDA
Outside the line of keys are some of the most dangerous reefs and shoals that border the entire coast line of the United States. They were for centuries a fearful menace to the navigation of these ocean waters, until the Federal Government established a chain of lights for the protection of mariners.
The keys themselves extend as a long line of narrow reefs, hun- dreds of them, varying in size from Key Largo to the little islands rising a few inches or feet above the waters and but a few acres in extent. Beginning with Bahia Honda Key on the route to the south and west, the islands depart from the long and narrow form and take more irregular and varied contours.
In the main, they are of coraline formation, rocky and bleak, but supporting on their comparatively poor soils a rank growth of tropical vegetation and air plants. They are capable of supporting but a scant human population, for on many of the keys there is no natural source of potable water, and the supply is secured by conserving the rainfall or by evaporating salt water. The sea abounds in a rich pro- fusion of fish life.
Among the more important of these islands are : Elliott's Key, Old Rhodes Key, Angelfish Key, Key Largo, Islamorada, Upper Mate- cumbe, Tea Table, Indian Key, Long Key, Conch Key, Duck Key, Grassy Key, Crawl Keys, Fat Deer Keys, Bamboo Key, Stirrup Key, Key Vaca, Boot Key, Knight's Key, Pigeon Key, Bahia Honda, Summerland Keys, Big Pine Key, Cudjore Key, Sugar Loaf, No Name Key, Saddle Bunch, Big Coppitt, Rockland Key, Boca Chica, Raccoon Key, Spanish Keys, Eagle Key, Mullett Key, Key West and Dry Tortugas.
THE GULF COAST
The west or Gulf coast of Florida differs much from the east side of the state in its lack of this continuous border of islands and in the consequent absence of an uninterrupted inland waterway closely fol- lowing the outline of the coast. Lying off the southwestern coast of the state is a large area of islands known as the Ten Thousand Islands. They rise from the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and vary in size from small patches of green on the surface of the gulf, to islands of many acres. A number of them has been put under profitable cul- tivation in the production of pineapples, bananas and tropical fruits. Many of them are covered with rich soils and but for their isolation
106
FLORIDA
and inaccessibility, as at present, might be made of large agricultural value.
The west coast of Florida is bountifully supplied and indented with splendid harbors of Nature's own building. That at Pensacola has room for the assembled navies of the world, with a natural channel of forty feet or more to the ocean highways. Tampa Bay brings to Tampa's wharves a deep-water commerce of immense value, and Char- lotte Harbor is one of the finest land-locked anchorages on the coast of the United States. It needs but little deepening to make it equal to the best for the purposes of shipping, and already it has a heavy tonnage. Apalachicola, at the mouth of the river of the same name, has also a fine harbor, and besides these the Gulf coast of Florida has many deep-water protected bays that will be known to the world when the commerce of the south and through the south shall be further developed.
-
CHAPTER III CLIMATE
C LIMATE and industrial accomplishment have an inti- mate relation, particularly - where occupation is largely agricultural. In no part of the United States has this statement more pertinent proof than in Flor- ida, and it is probable that in no respect has the Pen- insular State been more misunderstood than in the characteristics of its climate.
Some facts may be given which distinguish the state in this respect, and however much they may contradict general impressions, they are based upon actual observations covering from twenty to eighty-five years.
Florida's annual variations of temperature, between the extremes of summer and winter, are less than those of any other state in the Union.
The highest temperatures ever recorded by the United States Weather Bureau observers in Florida, are lower than the official rec- ords at Chicago, St. Louis, and a score of inland cities in the north and west.
Florida's normal annual rainfall varies by only small percentages from those of northern inland states.
Florida's changes of temperature and other weather conditions are not abrupt, a fact which makes the climate in many northern lati- tudes most trying and severc.
Sunstroke is practically unknown in Florida, due to the prevailing high percentage of humidity in the atmosphere. Heat prostrations occur occasionally, but they are rarely fatal and recovery follows specdily with rest and with little or no medical treatment.
These facts and many others of like import are explained by the peculiar geographical location of the state. It is peninsular in form. stretching from the general southerly line of continental United States more than four hundred miles into the southern seas and in no part exceeding one hundred and fifty miles in width. No section of the
109
110
FLORIDA
state is so remote from the ocean on the east, or the Gulf of Mexico on the west and south, that it is not affected by their tempering influ- ence. The great gulf stream, bordering more than one-half of the coast line, moderates temperatures and influences rainfall and wind movement throughout the entire year.
INLAND WATERS
Scattered through the state are hundreds of lakes and rivers, which also have a marked influence on local temperatures. When it is remembered that of the gross area of Florida, more than thirty- eight hundred square miles, or seven per cent, is inland water surface, the extent of this influence may be appreciated.
The United States Wcather Bureau has discovered that climatic conditions prevailing in the peninsular part of the state vary some- what from those in the western section. Therefore, disregarding state boundaries, the counties lying west of the Apalachicola river are considered rather as a part of the Alabama section than as belong- ing to Florida proper. The conditions that prevail in the northern part of the state differ from those in the southern section, to an extent that the cultivation of many varieties of fruits is profitably undertaken in the lower sections, which would be commercially impos- sible in the northern part.
In discussing the climatology of Florida, three things are to be considered-temperatures, rainfall and humidity, and wind movement. The statistics quoted are based upon observations of the United States Weather Bureau covering periods of varying duration and, in a few instances, upon records preserved by scientific men for many years antedating the establishment of Federal stations in the state.
All records of temperatures are measured by the Fahrenheit scale. The mean, or average, temperatures of each day have been determined by different methods. Prior to the establishment of the weather bureau in Florida, the average of the thermometrical readings taken at 7 A. M., 2 P. M. and 9 P. M. was accepted as the daily average, and from these results the monthly, seasonal, and annual normals were deduced. Since self-registering instruments have been in use by the department, the mean temperature has been determined by adding the highest and lowest daily readings and dividing the total by two.
A summary of climatological conditions and normals of that part of the state lying east of the Apalachicola river, has been prepared by Mr. A. J. Mitchell, section director for weather bureau service
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.