SAMUEL C. UPHAM. ILLUSTRATED. JACKSONVILLE, FLA.: ASHMEAD BROTHERS, 1883.   Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, By SAMUEL C. UPHAM, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. To THREE LIVING LINKS IN THE CHAIN THAT BINDS ME TO LIFE, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THEIR FATHER, THE AUTHOR....

T WO or three letters written by myself to friends at the North having found their way into print, I have been literally flooded with letters during the past six months, from all sections of the Union and British Provinces, asking for information in relation to the Manatee region of Florida. Hundreds have been replied to, and many remain unanswered for want of time. This little book has been written with the belief that it will answer the requirements of my numerous correspondents, and also prov

W HEN I published the little brochure —“Notes from Sunland”—two years ago, the Gulf Coast of South Florida was, comparatively speaking, a terra incognita . The favor with which that work has been received—having passed through three editions—and at the request of numerous correspondents in the United States, Canada, and Continental Europe, I have concluded to enlarge the work and make it more general in its scope—the former work being confined exclusively to the Manatee region. In reply to the q

Indians and Alligators—Dade’s Massacre—Ponce de Leon and the “Fountain of Youth”—De Soto and “El Dorado”—Florida Exchanged for Cuba—Pensacola Captured by General Jackson—Florida Purchased by the United States—Secedes from the Union—Reconstructed. T HIRTY years ago the word Florida was synonymous with mosquitoes, alligators, snakes, and Indians. As a part of this Union, it was at that time considered financially a worthless sand-spit, which had cost our Government fifty million dollars and many l

Geographical Position and Boundaries of Florida—Area and Population—Indians in Florida—Climate, Soil, and Productions—The Rainy Season—Florida as a Health Resort—Classification of Lands—School System and Churches—Swamp Lands Sold to Disston—Religion in Florida. F LORIDA lies between the degrees of twenty-five and thirty-one north latitude, and eighty to eighty-eight west longitude from Greenwich. The northern boundary being nearly three hundred and fifty miles from east to west, and its length f

Manatee Bay—Its Tropical Scenery—Egmont Key—Snead’s Island—Date, Palm and Olive Trees—Climate—Insects—Braidentown and its Surroundings—Manatee, the Oldest Town on the Bay—Its Early History—Braiden Castle—Fair Oaks—Orange Groves—Willemsenburg and Fogartyville. T HE Manatee River, or, more properly speaking, bay, is one of the most picturesque sheets of water in Florida. It is fourteen miles in length, with an average width of one and a half miles. One of its tributaries—the Manatee River proper—e

Madam Atzeroth—Birth, Parentage and Marriage—Arrival in New York—Visit to Philadelphia, Easton and New Orleans—Arrival in Florida—Locates on Terraceia Island—Vicissitudes of Pioneer Life—A Friend in Need, a Friend Indeed—Arrival of her Sister and Family—Trip to Newnansville—Corn-Dodgers and Sawdust-Death of Mrs. Nichols—Removal to Fort Brooke, Tampa—Col. W. W. Belknap and Family—Return to Terraceia—Homestead Papers Illegally Executed—Return again to Tampa—Gale of 1846—Remove to Palmetto—Indian W

The Warners, Mother and Sons—Palmasola City—Steam Saw-mill and other Improvements—Sam Nichols and his Shell-mound—Palmasola Bay—Sarasota Bay and its Surroundings—Snead’s Island—Shell-mound—Date-palm and Olive Trees—Uncle Joe and his Dogs with Glass Eyes—Sapp’s Point—Palmetto—The Patten and Turner Plantations—Judah P. Benjamin—Oak Hill—Terraceia Island—Landing of De Soto in 1539. W ESTWARD of Fogartyville, on the south side of the bay, among the most prominent residences, are those of the Warners

“Sunnyside”—Orange and Banana Groves—Lemons And Limes—Coffee Trees and Pine-apples—California Grapes—Quality of the Land—Mode of Cultivation—Florida, Past, Present and Future—Increased Production—Better and Cheaper Transportation—Interrogatories And Answers. H AVING given the reader a hasty outline of the Manatee region, I will add a brief resume of my personal experience at “Sunnyside” during the past eighteen months. On my arrival in Braidentown, in the fall of 1879, my land was a “howling wil

Rainfall during year, 69½ inches.   At least one-half the days classed as “cloudy and partly cloudy” were clear one-half of the day, and a majority of the “rainy days” were clear three-fourths of the day. During the gale on the 29th and 30th of last August, which was so destructive on the Atlantic coast of the State, rain fell here almost uninterruptedly for nearly forty-eight hours, but the wind did little or no damage. The rainfall during the two days was six and one-half inches, the heaviest

During a three years’ residence in Braidentown, I have kept a thermometrical record of the weather, also a register of the rainfall. A synopsis of my observations for the years 1880 and ‘81 was published in the Florida Agriculturist , in the months of January, 1881 and ‘82. In my “Notes from Sunland,” published in the fall of 1881, I gave meteorological tables of the temperature and rainfall at Braidentown, commencing with the month of January, 1880, and ending with March, 1881—fifteen months. I