FLORIDA. 



287 



an individual who employs them in the manu- 

 facture of naval stores. Their number Las 

 increased from 197 in 1885 to 236 in 1886, and 

 313 in 1887. The health of the prisoners and 

 their treatment by the lessee are satisfactory. 



Education. The State superintendent reports 

 for 1886 an increased organization and effi- 

 ciency in the public schools, and a hopeful pros- 

 pect. The following table shows their growth 

 and condition as compared with 1885 : 



Estimating the population at 350,000, Florida 

 has a school for every 175 inhabitants. She 

 expends $5 for every child of school age and 

 $7.37 for every average attendant upon the 

 schools. During 1885 and 1886 teachers' insti- 

 tutes were held in twenty -eight counties, 

 bringing under their instruction 795 teachers. 

 Normal departments for instruction of white 

 teachers were conducted in the West and East 

 Florida seminaries, and normal schools for 

 colored teachers organized and conducted at 

 Tallahassee and Gainesville, and continued for 

 two months, giving 275 attendants the benefit 

 of training for their work as educators. These 

 short normal courses were the only instruction 

 the State could offer for the training of teach- 

 ers, until the Legislature this year provided for 

 the erection of buildings and the maintenance 

 of regularly equipped normal schools at De 

 Funiak Springs and at Tallahassee, the former 

 for white and the latter for colored pupils. 

 The higher institutions, East and "West Florida 

 seminaries, and the State Agricultural College 

 are making satisfactory progress. 



Railroads. The Governor, in his message to 

 the Legislature, says : " The two years last past 

 have witnessed the building and equipment of 

 more than 500 miles of new, and the renova- 

 tion of more than 500 miles of almost worse 

 than useless old road, thus substantially add- 

 ing to first-class railroad facilities fully 1,000 

 miles. In no other equal time in the history 

 of our State has such progress been made." 

 The total number of miles of road assessed in 

 1886 was 1,701, with a total assessment of 

 railroad property amounting to $11,372,016. 

 During 1887 the Legislature granted letters of 

 incorporation to nine new companies, and 

 probably over 150 miles of road were con- 

 structed. The assessed value of railroad prop- 

 erty for this year rose to $12,752,331, a gain of 

 $1,380,315 over 1886. 



By the railroad law passed this year, the 

 duty of supervision was given into the hands 

 of a board of three commissioners, appointed 

 by the Governor, and holding office four years. 

 They have power to make and establish rea- 

 sonable rates of fare for passengers and freight, 

 and to make any other reasonable regulations 



applicable to all the railroads of the State. 

 They can require railroads to produce books 

 and papers for inspection, and they may ex- 

 amine such, as well as all agents or employes 

 of the roads. Their decisions may be appealed 

 from. The Governor appointed Ex -Chief- 

 Justice McWhorter, Ex-Circuit Judge Enoch 

 J. Vause, and William Himes as members of 

 the board. 



The Okeeehobee Drainage. By a contract made 

 in 1881 between the trustees of the State In- 

 ternal Improvement Fund and the Atlantic 

 and Gulf Canal and Okeeehobee Land Com- 

 pany, it was agreed that the company might 

 drain and reclaim all the overflowed lands in 

 the vicinity of or submerged by Lake Okeeeho- 

 bee or the Kissimmee river, or their tributaries 

 or outlets, by permanently lowering the waters 

 of the lake ; and of the lands of the State so re- 

 claimed the company shall be entitled to one 

 half. In pursuance of this agreement the 

 company constructed canals and other works 

 upon a large scale, and by 1884 claimed to 

 have drained a large area. In that year agents 

 of the State sent to inspect the work reported 

 that nearly 2,500,000 acres had been perma- 

 nently restored to cultivation. The trustees, 

 accordingly, conveyed to the company 1,174,- 

 942 acres as its share. But a committee ap- 

 pointed by the Legislature of 1885 made a re- 

 port at the session of this year which denies 

 the conclusions arrived at by the trustees, and 

 represents that only 80,000 acres have been 

 actually reclaimed. This report, implying that 

 the company had unfairly obtained title to 

 nearly all of its land, was the subject of ex- 

 tended discussion, and resulted in the passage 

 of a bill giving the trustees power to bring 

 suits to recover the lands so alienated or to 

 enter into any compromise with the company 

 that should seem advisable. 



Minerals. A report upon the geology and 

 mineralogy of the State was made to the Legis- 

 lature of this year, from which the following 

 facts are gathered : No deposits of the pre- 

 cious metals and but few of the lower metals 

 except iron can be found. The iron-ore is not 

 the best, being of the limonite variety. It is 

 found in the largest quantities in Jackson 

 County, but no attempt has yet been made to 

 utilize it. Rich deposits of phosphates exist 

 in several counties, notably Wakulla, Alachua, 

 Marion, Hillsborough, and Manatee. These 

 are as rich in phosphoric acid as the well- 

 known rocks on the Cooper and Ashley rivers 

 in South Carolina. The largest deposit, in 

 Wakulla County, is a triple phosphate of lime, 

 iron, and alumina. Limestone is found in con- 

 siderable quantities throughout the State, lut 

 is generally too siliceous to produce good lime. 

 Clay suitable for making good brick exists in 

 all parts of the State, the best quality being 

 in Escambia County. A considerable deposit 

 of soft brown or lignite coal has recently been 

 discovered in Santa Rosa County, near the 

 west bank of Black water river. The vein lies 



