South of the mouth of the Ocklawaha the St. John's River broadens into
Lake George, the largest of its many lakes, a pretty sheet of water
six to nine miles wide and twelve miles long. Volusia, the site of an
ancient Spanish mission, is at the head of this lake, and the
discharge from the swift but narrow stream above has made sand bars,
so that jetties are constructed to deepen the channel. For a long
distance the upper river is narrow and tortuous, with numerous islands
and swamps, the dark coffee-colored water disclosing its origin; but
the Blue Spring in one place is unique, sending out an ample and rich
blue current to mix with the amber. Then Lake Monroe is reached, ten
miles long and five miles wide, the head of navigation, by the regular
lines of steamers, one hundred and seventy miles above Jacksonville.
Here are two flourishing towns, Enterprise on the northern shore and
Sanford on the southern, both popular winter resorts, and the latter
having two thousand people. The St. John's extends above Lake Monroe,
a crooked, narrow, shallow stream, two hundred and fourteen miles
farther southeastward to its source. The region through which it there
passes is mostly a prairie with herds of cattle and much game, and is
only sparsely settled. The upper river approaches the seacoast, being
in one place but three miles from the lagoons bordering the Atlantic.
To the southward of Lake Monroe are the winter resorts of Winter Park
and Orlando, the latter a town of three thousand population. There are
numerous lakes in this district, and then leaving the St. John's
valley and crossing the watershed southward through the pine forests,
the Okeechobee waters are reached, which flow down to that lake. This
region was the home of a part of the Seminole Indians, and
Tohopekaliga was their chief, whom they revered so highly that they
named their largest lake in his honor. The Kissimmee River flows
southward through this lake, and then traverses a succession of lakes
and swamps to Lake Okeechobee, about two hundred miles southward by
the water-line. Kissimmee City is on Lake Tohopekaliga, and extensive
drainage operations have been conducted here and to the southward,
reclaiming a large extent of valuable lands, and lowering the
water-level in all these lakes and attendant swamps.
From Lake Tohopekaliga through the tortuous water route to Lake
Okeechobee, and thence by the Caloosahatchie westward to the Gulf of
Mexico, is a winding channel of four hundred and sixty miles, though
in a direct line the distance is but one hundred and fifty miles.
Okeechobee, the word meaning the "large water," covers about twelve
hundred and fifty square miles, and almost all about it are the
everglades or "grass water," the shores being generally a swampy
jungle. This district for many miles is a mass of waving sedge grass
eight to ten feet high above the water, and inaccessible excepting
through narrow, winding and generally hidden channels. In one locality
a few tall lone pines stand like sentinels upon Arpeika Island,
formerly the home of the bravest and most dreaded of the Seminoles,
and still occupied by some of their descendants. The name of the
Seminole means the "separatist" or "runaway" Indians, they having
centuries ago separated from the Creeks in Georgia and gone southward
into Florida. From the days of De Soto to the time of their
deportation in the nineteenth century the Spanish, British, French and
Americans made war with these Seminole Indians. Gradually they were
pressed southward through Florida. Their final refuge was the green
islands and hummocks of the everglades, and they then clung to their
last homes with the tenacity of despair. The greater part of this
region is an unexplored mystery; the deep silence that can be actually
felt, everywhere pervades; and once lost within the labyrinth, the
adventurer is doomed unless rescued. Only the Indians knew its
concealed and devious paths. On Arpeika Island the Cacique of the
Caribs is said to have ruled centuries ago, until forced south out of
Florida by the Seminoles. It was at times a refuge for the buccaneer
with his plunder and a shrine for the missionary martyr who planted
the Cross and was murdered beside it. This island was the last retreat
of the Seminoles in the desultory war from 1835 to 1843, when they
defied the Government, which, during eight years, spent $50,000,000
upon expeditions sent against them. Then the attempt to remove all of
them was abandoned, and the remnant have since rested in peace, living
by hunting and a little trading with the coast settlements. The names
of the noted chiefs of this great race--Osceola, Tallahassee,
Tohopekaliga, Coa-coo-chee and others--are preserved in the lakes,
streams and towns of Florida. Most of the deported tribe were sent to
the Indian Territory. There may be three or four hundred of them still
in the everglades, peaceful, it is true, yet haughty and suspicious,
and sturdily rejecting all efforts to educate or civilize them. They
celebrate their great feast, the "Green Corn Dance," in late June; and
they have unwavering faith in the belief that the time will yet come
when all their prized everglade land will be theirs again, and the
glory of the past redeemed, if not in this world, then in the next
one, beyond the "Big Sleep."