Southward from Savannah, the railway route to Florida renews the
monotonous landscape of woods and swamps. For ninety miles it goes in
an almost straight line southwest through the pine belt of Southern
Georgia, crossing the Ogeechee and Altamaha Rivers to Waycross, and
then, turning to the southeast, proceeds in another almost straight
line for about an equal distance towards the coast, and crosses St.
Mary's River into Florida. It traverses the edge of the noted
Okifenokee Swamp of Georgia, the Indian "weaving, shaking, water," a
moist and mushy region of mystery and legend, drained by the poetic
Suwanee, the Indian "Echo river," which has been made the theme of a
favorite melody. This stream flows through Florida into the Gulf of
Mexico, while on the eastern side the extensive swamp overflows into
the winding St. Mary's River leading to the Atlantic. To the
southward, the pine woods of Florida grow out of a sandy soil nearly
as level as a floor, in which almost every depression and fissure
seems filled with water, and the balsamic odors of these pines,
combined with the mildness of the winter climate, give an indication
of the attractions which make Florida so popular as a resort for the
Northern people. The route finally reaches the broad St. John's River
at the Florida metropolis, Jacksonville, a Yankee city in the South,
bearing the name of the famous President, General Andrew Jackson, and
having thirty thousand population, largely of Northern birth. This is
the centre of the railway system of Florida and of most of the
business of the State, having a large export trade in timber, naval
stores, phosphates, oranges and other Florida products. To the
visitor, probably the first most forcible impression is made by the
free growth of oranges along the streets and in the house gardens. The
city stands upon the northern and outer bank of a magnificent bend of
St. John's River, this noble stream, which flows northward from
Southern Florida, being a mile wide, and sweeping around to the
eastward at Jacksonville to reach the sea about twenty-five miles
beyond, its navigation having been improved by dredging and
constructing jetties to maintain a channel through the bar at the
mouth. The business section is near the shore, and the railways come
down to the wharves; while, as the curving river stretches away to the
southward, the bank is lined with rows of fine suburban villas,
occupied by the business men who have built their comfortable homes
amid the oranges, oleanders, magnolias and banana trees. The river has
low tree-clad shores, and far over on the opposite bank are more
villas and orange groves.
Jacksonville is well supplied with hotels and lodging-houses, which
accommodate the crowds of winter visitors from the North, and it
spreads into various suburban villages reached by steamboats and hard
shell roads. It is the great _entrepôt_ for Florida, standing at the
northern verge, the salubrious and equable climate being the
attraction, for frost is rare, and the winters are usually clear and
dry and give a most magnificent atmosphere. Rows of splendid oaks line
the streets, and form fine archways of green, giving a delicious
shade. Besides the orange, the alligator is also a Jacksonville
attraction, live ones being kept as pets, little ones sent northward
in boxes for gifts, and dead ones of all sizes prepared for
ornaments. This reptile is the type and emblem of Florida; his skin
and teeth are worked into fantastic shapes, and his curious bones and
formation do duty in the make-up of many "Florida curiosities." In
fact, outside of the timber, which is most prolific, the best known
Florida crops are the alligator and the orange. Although frosts have
killed many in late years, yet the product of the orange trees is
still large, Southern Florida containing the most famous orange
groves, especially along the Indian River and on the lakes of the
upper St. John's River, where they are usually planted on the southern
borders of the lakes, so that the frost is killed by the winds
carrying it over the water, and thus the orange trees are protected.