FLORIDA 



2213 



FLORIDA 



Italy, Canada and Spain and there are fewer 

 than 400 Indians left in the state to represent 

 the historic race of Seminoles. 



Tallahassee, in the extreme north-central 

 portion of the state, is the capital. The larg- 

 est cities are the harbor cities of Jacksonville, 

 Tampa, Pensacola and Key West. In those 

 four cities almost one-fifth of the state's popu- 

 lation is concentrated, busy in the shipping of 

 fruits, cotton, cigars, lumber and forest prod- 

 ucts and vegetables. Naval stations are main- 

 tained at Key West and Pensacola. 



Land Surface and Waters. Excepting Lou- 

 isiana, Florida has the lowest average eleva- 

 tion above sea-level of any state in the Amer- 

 ican Union. Its greatest height is a central 

 divide, a ridge from 100 to 274 feet high, 

 which separates the rivers flowing into the 

 Atlantic from those flowing into the Gulf. 

 Over six per cent of the area of the state is 

 water. 



The northwestern part of Florida, an exten- 

 sion of Alabama uplands, is a hilly, rolling 

 country. The coastlands are low, level, and in 

 many places marshy, with numerous sand ( and 

 coral reefs and narrow islands, which enclose 

 long, shallow lakes, lagoons, rivers and bays, 

 such as Indian River and Lake Worth, on the 

 east coast. The most remarkable coral for- 

 mations are the Florida Keys. 



Florida might be called the state of lakes, 

 for within its central region there are esti- 

 mated to be 30,000 lakes, most of them very 

 shallow, however, and due to sinkholes or 

 hollows in limestone. The largest of these, 

 Lake Okechobee, is described under its title 

 in these volumes. To the east of Lake Oke- 

 chobee lies the world-famed Palm Beach. 

 Others of the larger lakes are Orange, Apopka, 

 Kissimmee, Istokpoga, Tohopekaliga, Crescent 

 and George. 



South of Lake Okechobee a large part of 

 the peninsula is covered by the Big Cypress 

 Swamp and the Everglades. The presence of 

 these vast grass- and cypress-fringed swamps 

 and of the Everglades, which alone cover an 

 area of 5,000 square miles, or over eight per 

 cent of the area of the state, has given to 

 Florida the name of Everglade State, as well 

 as Peninsula State, mentioned above. For 

 many years work has been conducted to affect 

 the drainage of the Everglades to reclaim the 

 land for agricultural purposes, and in 1913 a 

 state appropriation of $6,000,000 was made to- 

 ward that end. 



Among Florida rivers, Saint John's is one of 



the most important. For almost 400 miles it 

 winds its way northward from Lake Washing- 

 ton, near the east coast at about the middle 

 of Florida, and passes through several other 

 lakes until it enters the Atlantic Ocean. Its 

 course, bordered with semi-tropical vegetation, 

 is a delight to tourists. Another beautiful 



10 20 30 40 50 

 Navigable Bivert 

 Canalt ^K=^B 



OUTLINE MAP OF FLORIDA 

 Here are shown the boundaries, principal rivers, 

 chief cities, mineral deposits and the highest 

 point of land in the state. 



river is Ocklawaha, in the center of the state. 

 Other rivers of importance are Saint Mary's, 

 forming part of the boundary between Florida 

 and Georgia; the Caloosahatchee, which, con- 

 nected with a drainage canal through Lake 

 Hicpochee, drains Lake Okechobee into the 

 Gulf of Mexico ; the Kissimmee, flowing south- 

 ward into Lake Okechobee; the Peace, flow- 

 ing into Charlotte Harbor on the west coast; 

 the Suwanee, crossing the state from the north, 

 and the Apalachicola, an extension of the 

 Chattahoochee and Flint rivers of Georgia. 

 Two smaller rivers, the Withlacoochee and the 

 Hillsborough, have recently been developed to 

 furnish electric and water power. The Su- 

 wanee, famed in the song known in every 

 household, is a small, unimportant and not 

 especially beautiful stream. 



Throughout the state are numerous springs 

 and underground streams connecting lakes. 

 Some of the springs contain health-giving 

 properties and are visited by invalids from 

 all parts of the world. Wakulla Spring in the 

 northwest, probably the largest spring in the 

 world, is about 500 feet wide and 100 feet 

 deep. Not far from Saint Augustine, on the 



