The National Geographic Magazine 



are being rushed to the scene of action. 

 That this road is to be built quickly 

 there can be no doubt. Hustling in 

 the close jungle in the summer time in 

 the midst of clouds of pungent smoke 

 from the burning hardwoods to keep 

 the mosquitoes from devouring one 

 alive is not an enviable job. 



In not more than five and probably 

 not less than three years Key West 

 will be the most southern railroad ter- 

 minus in the United States. With a 

 deep harbor it will soon develop into 



"On Elliott's Key" 



a metropolis of great importance from 

 many standpoints. The time to Ha- 

 vana, Panama, and Central America 

 and Mexican ports will be considerably 

 shortened and many Spanish-American 

 buyers who now go to Havana will 

 come to Key West, and northern firms 

 will establish there offices and show- 

 rooms and warehouses to meet this 

 trade. It is already the center of, a 



big cigar business, with a pay-roll of 

 $40,000 a week, every cent of which is 

 soon put into circulation again. It is 

 the center of our sponge industry, 

 which employs a fleet of 150 vessels. 

 It is a point of call for many passing 

 ships, and besides the regular steam- 

 ship lines which stop there, sailships 

 run to the Bahamas, Cuba, Bonaca, 

 Caymen, and to other out-of-the-way 

 places. It is a place where many ships 

 come to be repaired and where the 

 affairs of many ships which are 

 wrecked upon these dangerous reefs 

 are finally adjusted. It is a dirty, un- 

 attractive city with a large proportion 

 of negroes and Cubans in a population 

 of about 20,000. It is said by those 

 who are well informed that this island 

 of about 1,000 acres will have a popula- 

 tion of over 100,000 in less than ten 

 years. 



There are no roads on these keys. 

 People visit and go to school and 

 church in boats. Although these peo- 

 ple are very pious, church is postponed 

 if a wreck is on. 



When there is nothing doing on the 

 sea they cut the hardwood timber on a 

 patch of land and burn it. In the ashes 

 they plant pine-apples. No fertilizer 

 is used, and after a few years the field 

 is abandoned and allowed to come 

 again in forest. 



The soil is mostly solid coral rock, 

 in places broken, and in the hollows 

 there are patches of rich red soil and 

 humus, in which bananas and vege- 

 tables grow with great luxuriance in 

 mid winter. There are many fruits, 

 but the one the Conch loves best is the 

 sapodilla. This tree grows almost wild 

 and bears an enormous amount of fruit. 

 From the juice of the green fruits of 

 this tree "chicle gum," the basis of 

 chewing gum, is manufactured and 

 shipped in immense quantities to this 

 country from Mexico. The Conchs call 

 this fruit "dilly" for short. In the 

 woods there is a so-called "wild dilly," 



