312 



FLOKIDA. 



pendent on the fisheries scarcely falls below 

 200,000. Fully five eighths of these are Ameri- 

 cans. Excepting a few foreigners, chiefly of 

 Spanish descent, the remainder are mostly 

 negroes. The $9,602,737 represent the sum 

 realized by the fishermen as the result of their 

 labor, and not the market value of the catch. 

 Owing to the cost of transportation, icing, 

 packing, etc., the values of many of the prod- 

 ucts are greatly increased before they finally 

 reach the consumer. Hence the market value 

 of the products is not less than $16,600,000. 



FLORIDA. STATE Go VERNMENT. The 

 State officers during the year were as follow : 

 Governor, "VV. D. Bloxham (Democrat) ; Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, L. W. Bethel; Secretary of 

 State, John L. Crawford ; Treasurer, Henry 

 A. L'Engle; Comptroller, W. D. Barnes; At- 

 torney-General, George P. Raney ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, E. K. Foster; 

 Adjutant- General, J. E. Yonge; Commissioner 

 of Lands and Immigration, Hugh A. Corley. 

 Judiciary: Chief-Justice of Supreme Court, 

 Edwin M. Randall ; Associate-Justices, James 

 D. Westcott, Jr., and R. B. Van Valkenburgh. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. The reclamation 

 of lands in the southern portion of the penin- 

 sula, by affording an outlet for the waters of 

 Lake Okeechobee, has been much discussed for 

 many years, but no decisive step was taken in 

 that direction until January, 1881. At that 

 date Colonel I. Cory ell appeared before the 

 Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement 

 Fund, as the representative of Philadelphia 

 capitalists, ;md negotiated a contract with the 

 board for the drainage and reclamation of the 

 lands lying south of township twenty-four, in 

 consideration of receiving one half of the lands 

 so reclaimed. The last Legislature chartered 

 the " Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okee- 

 chobee Land Company," who have succeeded 

 to all the rights under the contract. 



This company immediately had a series of 

 surveys made to test the practicability of the 

 proposed undertaking, and from their surveys, 

 as well as those made by the United States, 

 under the direction of General Gillmore, it was 

 shown that Lake Okeechobee has an elevation 

 of twenty-two feet above the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and that Lake Tahopekaliga, the head- waters 

 of the Kissimmee River, has an elevation of six- 

 ty-five feet above the waters of the Gulf. These 

 facts being ascertained, the company assumed 

 the entire practicability of reclaiming this vast 

 area, amounting to many million acres, by draw- 

 ing off the waters, and preventing the periodi- 

 cal overflows. The work was commenced by 

 building powerful steam-dredges on the Caloo- 

 sahatchee River and Tahopekaliga Lake, the 

 plan of operations being to open a canal from 

 the Caloosahatchee River to Lake Okeechobee, 

 and the cutting of a canal from Lake Taho- 

 pekaliga through to Kissimmee Lake, then 

 straightening the Kissimmee River, and the cut- 

 ting of one or more canals from Okeechobee 

 to the Atlantic Coast, as well as the construc- 



tion of subsidiary canals. The dredge upon 

 the Caloosahatchee entered Lake Okeechobee 

 on the 21st of December. 



Up to December 1, 1882, the company re- 

 port that they had expended $93,777.40, and 

 had constructed over twelve miles of canal, 

 twenty-two to thirty-five feet wide and five to 

 six feet deep. 



The early completion of the first series of 

 canals is already assured, which, in addition to 

 the reclamation of the lands, will afford a great 

 inland system of steamboat navigation from 

 Kissimmee City through the Caloosahatchee to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of 180 miles. 



The feasibility of forming an inland water 

 communication from the mouth of the St. 

 John's River to Biscayne Bay, in the extreme 

 southern portion of the State, a distance of 

 some two hundred and seventy miles, by utiliz- 

 ing the waters of Pablo Creek and North, Ma- 

 tanzas, Halifax, and Indian Rivers, has long 

 been conceded. It took practical shape when 

 Colonel I. Coryell and Hon. John Westcott or- 

 ganized, under the general incorporation act, 

 the "Florida Coast- Line Canal and Transpor- 

 tation Company," with a capital of $500,000. 

 Active operations were commenced in Novem- 

 ber, by the construction of a suitable steam- 

 dredge, which was carried from St. Augustine 

 to the south end of Matanzas River, where it 

 commenced operations. 



In regard to railroads, the Governor, in his 

 message to the Legislature of 1883, says: 



Florida has every cause of congratulation in having 

 more miles of railroad construction in her limits, in 

 the last two years, than in her entire former history. 

 West Florida, that has for so many years been cut off 

 from direct communication with the remaining por- 

 tion of the State, has now practically rail connection 

 with our system of roads ; and Pensacola, the queen 

 of all Gulf ports, as well as the interior western coun- 

 ties, will in a few weeks have direct communication 

 with our Atlantic sea-ports. The rapidity with which 

 the Pensacola and Atlantic road has been built, con- 

 nected with its superior structure and equipments, 

 speaks well for the company, as well as for the efficient 

 superintendent. The time is not far distant when 

 through trains of freight and passenger travel from 

 the Golden Gate of the Pacific Avill find their exit by 

 this line through the ports of Jacksonville and Fcr- 

 nandina. The Florida Southern has also completed, 

 and has in operation, one hundred miles of road, and 

 I am informed has made arrangements for a further 

 and greatly increased extension^ The road chartered 

 from Live Oak to Eowland's Bluff has been finished 

 to the latter point, and is vigorously pushing forward 

 in the direction of South Florida. The roads from 

 Wavcross to Jacksonville, and from Femandina to 

 Jacksonville, have been completed. Jacksonville and 

 St. Augustine will, in a short time, have a new road 

 completed .and thus be furnished with direct rail con- 

 nection. The road from Waldo has been pushed on 

 to Silver Spring and Ocala, connecting there with the 

 Tropical, whicn has been built and is in operation as 

 far south as Wildwood, in Sumter County, with a 

 branch graded and cross-tied from Wildwood to Lees- 

 burg. The South Florida road has been built from 

 Orlando to Kissimmee City, thus giving the Kissim- 

 mee Valley direct communication with the St. John's. 

 The St. John's and Halifax, Palatka and Indian River, 

 Green Cove and Mel rose, and the Jacksonville, Tam- 

 pa, and Key West roads, all have portions graded, and 

 the former some eight miles of iron laid. While 



