284 
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
SOUTHERN PART OF THE EVERGLADES. 
(figs. 27, 28) 
There are several streams and other bodies of water in Florida 
(besides Helena Run, just described) which in dry weather, when 
they are fed chiefly by springs, are clear and bluish, but become 
coffee-colored in wet weather when the swamps and marshes are 
full of water.* 
Most of these are of no particular interest as sources of peat, 
but there is one which deserves to be described on account of its 
uniqueness, namely, the south end of the Everglades. In the mid¬ 
dle of the Everglades, as already pointed out, the bottom is said 
to be mostly sand, and the water is probably blackish all or nearly 
all the time, as in most of our swamps. But at the south end, in the 
Miami limestone region, there is no sand, and the water which 
stands in pools and pot-holes or circulates in subterranean chan¬ 
nels is decidedly calcareous in the dry season, as shown by its 
clearness, and by the whitish incrustation that it leaves all over the 
ground and the bases of plant stems as it dries up.t * 
s; An interesting case of this in Taylor County deserves to be mentioned 
here. In January, 1909, I saw in the southern edge of the town of Perry what 
appeared to be a limestone spring with a small bluish creek issuing from it, and 
as far as I followed the creek there were lime-loving plants growing in :t and 
in the swamps bordering it. In March, 1910, I revisited the place and was 
surprised to find the water coming cut of the same hole in the ground dark 
brown, like typical swamp water. On inquiry I was told that this hole in the 
ground was not a true spring, but the outlet of the subterranean portion of 
one of several streams which have their source in San Pedro Bay, a few miles 
to the northeastward; and that the bay was then overflowing as a result of 
unusually heavy rains the month before, which accounted for the color of the 
water. This creek must be calcareous most of the time, though, otherwise the 
vegetation in it ( Ceratophyllwn, etc.), would not be so distinctly calciphile. 
Ichetucknee Spring, in the southwestern part of Columbia County, seems to 
be another case of the same kind. B. M- Hall (in U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Sup¬ 
ply & Irrigation Paper No. 102, p. 275, 1904), says of this spring:—“The water 
of the Spring has a decided amber color, probably due to surface swamp drain¬ 
age coming into it.” He does not mention the date of his visit, but it must 
have been shortly after a rainy spell. Every time I have crossed the creek 
which flows from this spring (Feb. 4 and April 27, 1909, April 17, 1910) it has 
appeared to be a typical blue limestone stream. 
fThis incrustation is not brittle as it would be if it was wholly inorganic, 
but is a soft, slightly coherent material somewhat resembling damp wood-ashes. 
It probably contains a considerable proprotion of vegetable matter (such as 
algae), which gives it a somewhat fibrous consistency. 
