The Florida Keys 



a wonder that when cold weather 

 comes this region is not completely 

 overrun with people. The Florida 

 keys are so peculiar and different in 

 every way from any other part of the 

 United States that the traveler who 

 has never been there may rest assured 

 that there is still one novel and enjoy- 

 able experience in store for him. 



These little islands or keys set in 

 waters of many colors, about which 

 cluster legends of pirates, wrecks, and 

 treasures, will soon be closely linked 

 together by the railroad now in pro- 

 cess of construction. They will, soon 

 no doubt be as thickly populated and 

 as carefully cultivated as are the Ber- 

 mudas. Although these keys have 

 been more or less cultivated for many 

 years and have produced enormous 

 quantities of pine-apples, limes, bana- 

 nas, and other fruits and vegetables, 

 the natives or "Conchs," as they are 

 called, who came from England via the 

 Bahamas, have devoted themselves 

 mainly to wrecking, sponging, and fish- 

 ing. 



There are at least 50 of these islands 

 or keys which are inhabitable and pro- 

 ductive, and hundreds, perhaps thou- 

 sands, of smaller ones of little or no 

 value at present, but which may some 

 day be elevated and improved. These 

 keys extend a distance of 165 miles 

 from Miami to Key West. Twenty 

 miles farther to the west are the Mar- 

 quesas keys, and still 50 miles farther 

 are the Dry Tortugas. Sand Key, a 

 small island south of Key West, on 

 which a light-house is located, is the 

 most southern point in the United 

 States. Key West is about 100 miles 

 from Havana, while Miami is about 

 half that distance from the Biminis 

 Islands of the Bahamas, the nearest 

 foreign territory. Key West has long 

 been recognized as an important mili- 

 tary and naval as well as commercial 

 base. 



Key Largo is the largest of the keys. 



It is 30 miles long and varies from 

 about a quarter of a mile to two miles 

 in width. The post-office on this key 

 is located at a small Conch settlement 

 called Planter. 



The railroad after leaving Miami, 

 which has been for several years the 

 terminus connectingwith boats for Key 

 West and Havana and Nassau, passes 

 through rocky, pine-covered land, 

 through dense tropical hammocks, 

 through everglades and muddy man- 

 grove swamps across a tongue of land 

 or mangrove-covered mud to Key 

 Largo. The railroad is now in pro- 

 cess of construction on this key. It 

 passes down the center of the island 

 through a thick tropical jungle or ham- 

 mock, where mahogany is as common 

 as maple in New York, by fields of 

 pine-apples and groves of limes, and by 

 the houses of the natives, which are 

 located on the ocean side and are sur- 

 rounded by cocoanut palms, sapodilla 

 trees, sugar apples, bananas, and other 

 tropical fruits and vegetables. 



In passing from key to key, this in- 

 teresting railroad will probably cross 

 as much water as it does land. There 

 will be miles of bridges and many 

 draws, because the creeks separating 

 these keys are in several instances 

 wide and much used by sponging, fish- 

 ing, and pleasure craft. The road must 

 be high to escape the waves, and the 

 journey from Key Largo to Key West, 

 a distance of over 100 miles, will be 

 like a trip at sea, with the broad Gulf 

 of Mexico on one side and the straits 

 of Florida on the other. In spite of 

 water and mud, stiff currents, storms, 

 dense jungles, rough coral rock, and mil- 

 lions of mosquitoes, the work is being 

 pushed. To one who is familiar with 

 the region it appears an impossible 

 task; but money and engineering skill 

 accomplish wonders, and already ma- 

 chinery, barges, house-boats, water- 

 boats, tons of cement, timber, laborers, 

 mosquito-netting, and insect powders 



