86 FLORIDA : ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 



The commerce of the world will hereafter be carried on through the agency of steam, 

 and will expand in the use of that agent just in the ratio in which fuel (coal) can be 

 easily and cheaply obtained for that purpose. The coal-beds of Alabama, estimated 

 to cover between 4,000 and 5,000 square miles of area, are intersected by this line of 

 road, and, from their contiguity to Pensacola, must become the great source of supply 

 for the steam marine and coaling stations of all points south of Pensacola. The coal 

 now used for this purpose is principally brought from Great Britain, a distance of 3,000 

 miles. From the Alabama coal-beds to Havana (which can be thus supplied) the dis- 

 tance is about 810 miles, and coal from these mines can be placed on shipboard at Pen- 

 sacola at $4.75 per ton ; the sea transportation is but 620 miles. These facts and figures 

 guarantee that the day is not far distant when Peusacola must become the great coal 

 depot of the Gulf, making annual shipment of millions of tons of this article, devel- 

 oping the resources and wealth of the country, and expanding into one of the first 

 cities in the world. 



The rapid development of the iron mines of Alabama, whose natural outlet to the 

 markets of the world is the port of Pensacola, will not only contribute a considerable 

 quota to the commerce of this port, but will, in connection with the Florida forests, 

 furnish superior material for ship-building, which at no distant day must rival in 

 extent the similar industry of Northern ports, the proximity and cheapness of all ma- 

 terial required, giving builders in this locality peculiar advantages. 



FACILITIES FOR TRANSPORTATION. 



No State in the Union has so extended a sea-coast as Florida, and 

 none contains a larger extent of inland navigable water ; nor is there 

 any State which enjoys greater facilities for permanent, reliable, and 

 cheap communication with the commercial marts of the world and the 

 interior cities of the North and West. Ocean steamers, with the most 

 ample accommodations for passengers and the most extended appoint- 

 ments for freight, ply regularly between New York, Boston, Philadel- 

 phia, Baltimore, Charleston, and Savannah, and the Florida Atlantic 

 ports. At Fernandina these lines connect with the Gulf and West India 

 Transit Eailway, which, at Hart's Eoad, connects with the Jacksonville 

 and Fernandina Eailway ; at Callahan intersects the Savannah and 

 Jacksonville Eailway ; at Baldwin with the Florida Central Eailway ; at 

 Waldo connects with the Peninsular Eailway to Ocala, and with the 

 Santa Fe Canal to Santa Fe Lake ; at Gainesville with the Florida 

 Southern Eailway to Palatka and Ocala ; and at Cedar Keys with lines 

 of steamers to Tampa, Key West, Havana, New Orleans, and all the 

 Gulf ports. 



At Jacksonville connections are made with the numerous steamers on 

 the Saint John's and Oclawaha Elvers, which connect at Tocoi with the 

 Saint John's Eailway to Saint Augustine; at Palatka with the Florida 

 Southern Eailway to Gainesville and Ocala ; at Astor with the Saint 

 John's and Lake Eustis Eailway; at Sanford with the South Florida 

 Eailway to Lake Apopka and the Kissimmee River $ at Salt Lake with 

 the Saint John's and Indian River Tramway to Titnsville ; and at Lake 

 P< insett with lines of stages to the Indian Eiver at Eock Ledge. 



At Jacksonville connections are also made with the Fernandina and 

 Jacksonville Eailway ; with the Savannah and Florida Eailway, which 



