418 Big Game Fishes 
by rail and find palatial hotels alongshore afford- 
ing creature comforts, a marked contrast to the 
conditions which existed twenty-five years ago, 
when Southern Florida was comparatively un- 
known and the angler reached St. Augustine 
from the St. Johns River by an uncertain mule 
route, making his way to the Indian River as 
best he could. The latter is one of the most 
interesting and fertile regions in America for cer- 
tain fishes, channel-bass, crevally, snapper, blue- 
fish, sheepshead, sea-trout (Cyzoscion), mangrove 
or gray snapper, Spanish mackerel, and sawfish. 
It is now readily reached by rail from New York 
via Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It is not 
a river, but a stretch of salt water one hundred 
and thirty-five miles in extent, separated from the 
ocean by a low sandy beach, and ranges in width 
from a few feet, at Jupiter Narrows, to six miles 
at Titusville. It is a shallow lagoon, with a depth 
of from three to seventeen feet. It has several 
inlets connecting it with the ocean, as Haulover 
Channel, Indian River Inlet, Fort Pierce Chan- 
nel, Baker Cut, and Garfield Cut. There are 
several rivers running into it, as Gallie Creek, 
Sebastian, St. Lucia, and Jupiter. 
The bottom of this “river” is in the main hard 
