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A Small Yacht Cruise on the Florida East Coast Canal 
HE party of five—there were six as far as 
Titusville—with a crew of four, sailed 
from New Smyrna for a trip by the 
canal route to Miami. To three of the party it 
was a voyage of discovery; to the others it was 
a voyage of men well satisfied with their work 
accomplished. To all it proved a voyage of delight, 
There were Mr. George F. Miles, to whose 
many years of unremitting effort the work owes 
its success; Captain Gleason, his able assistant; 
Major Beach, of the Corps of Engineers, U. 
S. A.; Mr. W. R. Steckert, largely interested 
in lumber interests; Commodore J. H. Allen, and 
the writer of this account. 
Captain Sams and his crew of able seamen as- 
sured us against shipwreck. Sam, the cook, was 
assurance that the table would be all that could 
be desired. The bill of fare was substantially 
that given by Hallock, whose book is familiar 
to all the older frequenters of the Florida coast, 
and to it I would refer those curious to know 
how we lived. 
Our craft was a two-master, but with a twenty- 
five horsepower motor as an assistant to the 
wind, and in fact the assistant did all the work 
of the voyage, the sails never being called into 
requisition. 




























@ 
By De WITT WEBB 
We started to thread our way through the 
islands that dot the surface of the Hillsborough 
River. Winding in and out, following a most 
crooked and picturesque way, the shore afford- 
ing aS many sites for fishing camps as one could 
desire with all the wood needed for the camp- 
fire close at hand, and the river here as else- 
where abounding in fish of all sorts, only wait- 
ing for the fishermen. So we sailed as far as 
Turtle Mound, the highest shell mound along 
the coast. 
While there are plenty of shell 
the showing how thickly this was 
settled in prehistoric times, this shows like a 
hill rising from the plain. From its high eleva- 
tion, this must have been an observation mound 
from whose summit its occupants could look 
over a wide extent of country and observe any 
enemy, still a long distance away, approaching 
by either land or water. 
Eldora and Castle Windy were passed soon 
after leaving Turtle Mound, where the nearby 
camper can obtain eggs, etc., when tired of the 
ordinary camp-fire. 
Listen to the voice of the sea. It is only just 
beyond the barrier, a half mile away, and from 
the west, not more than two miles, comes the 
heaps in 
vicinity, 
SNAKE CREEK, AT THE HEAD OF BISCAYNE BAY, 



iam 

whistle of the locomotive, and you are saili|, 
between the two, with an ever-changing sce}j 
We sailed amid these changing vistas of islan|, 
through tortuous channels, until all at once |; 
emerged into the wide expanse of open wa) 
called Mosquito Lagoon. This, in winter, is {\; 
resort of great numbers of wild ducks and otl!, 
waterfowl. On its western shore for many yei|{ 
at Oak Hill stood a hotel much frequented |; 
. sportsmen where you could wear the same s}# 
for breakfast, dinner and supper, and not |y 
considered out of form. The dogs, too, had t\h 
range of the house without protest. I rememt 
once being there when there were thirteen 1}; 
longing to different guests, all sociable and ple: 
ant to each other except one black pointer nam/f 
Pete, who was always sulking from pure jealot', 
because the others received attentions which |p 
deemed belonged to himself only. While all th 
rest were sociable, as dogs sometimes are, -}j 
chose often to lie all alone by himself and suki 
On this shell mound close by the house wih 
picked up one day a skull with the point of‘ 
bone-headed arrow still sticking in the socket {l| 
the eye, telling the story of a tragedy of the loth 
forgotten time. bu 
Mosquito Lagoon, which stretches to the Hat}y 

