Oct. 7, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
549 
The Florida East Coast Canal 
By DR. DE WITT WEBB 
M AYPORT, at the mouth of the St. Johns 
River, is one of the quaintest towns along 
the coast, and indeed I do not think 
there is one just like it or near like it any¬ 
where, built along and among the ever shift¬ 
ing sand dunes. Sometimes the wind blows 
the drifting sand as high as the second story 
windows and leaves the cabbage palmettos with 
only their tops showing above the sand hills. 
Drifting sand renders any attempt at a side¬ 
walk an absurdity, to say nothing of an attempt 
to build a roadway. 
Neptune has issued his edict, saying: “You 
all sorts of craft, lie can spend part of his time 
very profitably and with interest, working over 
the history of Fort Caroline and its neighbor¬ 
hood. My present purpose is, however, to tell 
of the East Coast Canal, now open from the 
St. Johns River to the Florida Keys, and with 
a stretch of 500 miles along the East coast of 
Florida, of a beautiful inland waterway, replete 
with everything of interest to tourists and 
sportsmen. 
As you enter the canal a great area of sa¬ 
vanna stretches away on either side to the 
distant wood, a level plain of living green. The 
an ideal place for natural and simple life where 
plain living and high thinking might well go 
together, and where the college-bred engineer 
at the head, and for corhpanions the sturdy na¬ 
tive born workmen of the South, and letters 
and work find themselves going very well to¬ 
gether. 
We have taken our dinner and strolled among 
the trees and seen what goes on usually in 
construction, repair, and erection in a camp 
such as this. We are now in the headwaters of 
Pablo Creek which, rising several miles to the 
south, flows north into the St. Johns. The 
whole problem of the canal was to unite the 
waters of Pablo Creek, running north, and the 
waters of North River, running south and flow¬ 
ing into the bay at St. Augustine. The canal 
now more nearly follows the original course 
of the stream through the thick woods or ham- 
SCENES ALONG FLORIDA’S NEW INLAND WATERWAY. 
may build your houses on the shores, but my 
servant, the wind, will blow the sand where and 
pile it as high as it likes, and you must make 
the best of it and sail over my domain if you 
wish to go from one place to another.” The 
ever-present government dredge pumps the 
sand from the channel only to have the hole 
filled up with more sand. 
Ships of all nations lie anchored a little way 
from the shore, waiting the visit of the health 
officer that they may show a clean bill of health 
before entering port. I think Mayport, al¬ 
though it is two miles away from the mouth 
of the canal, must yet be considered its start¬ 
ing point, as here lie craft of all descriptions 
and boatmen’s necessary supplies, so whatever 
your craft, you can get all necessary supplies 
at Mayport. 
Now, with all supplies needed on board we 
sail around a little island, which appears to have 
been left for the purpose of hiding the mouth 
of the canal from the passerby on the river. A 
few miles farther up the St. Johns River, be¬ 
yond the mouth of the canal, is the site of 
Fort Caroline, near what is now Fulton Land¬ 
ing. The history of Fort Caroline is inter¬ 
woven with the early history of Florida, and 
now that the tourist will henceforth be ever 
present along the canal and in the neighbor¬ 
hood of its mouth, on the St. Johns River, in 
canal in the main follows the course of Pablo 
Creek, but as the engineer of to-day sets for 
himself the task of making crooked places 
straight, lie straightens the course of the 
stream, which in the far away geologic times, 
settled its crooked course in the plain, then 
slowly rising from the sea, and so by straight¬ 
ening the course, one mile of canal may repre¬ 
sent three of the old channel of the creek, and 
so we sail along, the beautiful savanna stretch¬ 
ing away for miles on either side. Our pro¬ 
gress is enlivened by the rising of the great 
blue heron from its feeding place along the 
marsh, where he was regaling himself on a fish 
diet, and all forms of water birds that are now 
receiving partial protection by the law and so 
are fast increasing in numbers. 
We pass through the bridge crossing the 
boulevard from Jacksonville to Pablo Beach, 
and a little further on through the draw of 
the railroad bridge, look along the vista of t' e 
narrowing savanna and in the distance see the 
woods at its head. Further on we come upon 
the camp, which for many months has been 
the headquarters of the canal construction and 
from which has come the direction for the 
work and resulted in the completion of the 
canal. 
This permanent camp is in itself very pic¬ 
turesque. O11 ground high and dry it has been 
mocks of oak, pine, and palmetto. These dense 
woods come close to the stream and through 
this wilderness the canal is being cut, and so 
the whole country opened up for cultivation 
and industry. 
Through these dense woods on the west side 
of the canal, in the face of a September gale 
that had raged for two days, floundering oft- 
times in water above their heads, with the dead 
limbs blown by the gale falling about them, 
with two Indian guides and a renegade French¬ 
man, following the old Indian trail, came 
Menendez in the early days of September, 1563, 
at the head of 500 men, himself as well as the 
others on foot, carrying scaling ladders, his little 
army in half open mutiny, to attack and attempt 
the capture of Fort Caroline. Those familiar 
with the fierceness of a September gale, with 
its accompanying floods of rain and tides that 
overflow all bounds, can fully appreciate the 
genius and determination of the Spanish com¬ 
mander. In evidence is the care with which 
the historian, Francis Parkman, went over the 
entire route from St. Augustine to the St. 
Johns to verify the route of this Spanish com¬ 
mander. 
Now this wide and deep canal is draining 
the great area of the palmetto swamps and in a 
few years they will be turned into one great 
garden. ' r he sand thrown out looks like little 
