90 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—‘NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
tine and it was at this time decided, since East and West Florida 
were now under one government, to appoint a commission to select 
a site for the permanent capital. Two commissioners were ap¬ 
pointed, one from St. Augustine and one from Pensacola. 
The territory designated to be examined for the permanent loca¬ 
tion of the new capital lay between the Chipola and the Suwannee 
rivers. Accordingly in October, 1823, the two commissioners met 
at St. Marks, a most central point and a very important port at that 
time. The selection of Tallahassee, yet practically a wilderness 
and just vacated by the Indians, was soon made. It was necessary, 
however, for the commissioners to visit the chiefs of the two bands 
of Seminole Indians, who were camped near what is now known as 
Lake Lafayette and obtain, if possible, their consent and agreement 
to these plans. Entire approval, it seems, was withheld until the 
following year, when Governor Duval visited them and obtained 
their confidence, and acquiescence. Accordingly in 1824 the city of 
Tallahassee was surveyed and the first house was built that year. A 
log cabin erected on the southeast corner of the present capitol 
grounds served as the Capitol Building, and it was here that the 
first meeting of the Legislative Council in Tallahassee was held.* 
Jefferson County, named for Thomas Jefferson, the third Presi¬ 
dent of the United States, was organized soon after the establish¬ 
ment of Leon County, of which it was formerly a part. Monti- 
cello, named for the Virginia home of President Jefferson, became 
the county seat, and was surveyed in 1828.*!* The new county was 
early settled by people, from the more northerly southern states 
many coming from Virginia and South Carolina. That this county, 
too, had e.arlier been inhabited by the Indians is seen from the 
present day names such as Aucilla, Miccosukee, Wacissa and Wau- 
keenah. 
Agriculture was the main pursuit of the first settlers in both of 
the counties, and its development increased steadily with the in¬ 
crease of population. The rolling uplands of the northern portion 
of these counties were early under cultivation. Cotton was the 
main product and this was extensively grown by slave labor. St. 
Marks and Newport were the principal points of shipment for the 
*A History of Florida, by Caroline Mays Brevard. 
tSoil Survey of Jefferson County, Florida, p. 7, U. S. Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Advance Sheet, Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1908. 
