1
100
2
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/22c30e457ac938f5fb6469a79179ab3d.pdf
07a0ac92c3a11870e775ed069d28173a
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/ee0297bc81b46cb99f32d9d52b83ce71.pdf
46f83c598e33fe652b256ab968cee45d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Florida Citrus Exchange Collection
Alternative Title
FEC Collection
Subject
Florida Citrus Exchange
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)
Description
Chase & Company was established by Joshua Chase and his brother Sydney in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford, Florida, and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove in Windermere. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes.
Between 1894 and 1895, Central Florida was hit by several freezes and most of the citrus crop was destroyed. Chase & Company did not grow citrus crops again until 1904 when Joshua came back from an extended stay in California. Between 1894 and 1900, different types of pesticide equipment was created, including equipment driven by steam, machines, and horses.
Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/23" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/93" target="_blank">Citrus Collection</a>, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Provenance
Entire <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection items are housed at <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a> at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to these items belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about these items should be directed there. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>, University of Florida
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a>, University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Marra, Katherine
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
University of Florida, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php" target="_blank">The History of Seald-Sweet</a>." Seald Sweet International. http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php.
<span>"</span><a href="http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600" target="_blank">Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)</a><span>." </span><em>Florida Citrus Hall of Fame</em><span>. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.</span>
<span>Warner, S.C. "</span><a href="http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1923%20Vol.%2036/198-200%20%28WARNER%29.pdf" target="_blank">Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida</a><span>." </span><em>Florida State Horticultural Society</em><span> vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.</span>
<span>Hopkins, James T. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1219230" target="_blank"><em>Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959</em></a><span>. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.</span>
<span>"</span><a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-09-30/news/0260060057_1_chase-isleworth-golf-florida-citrus" target="_blank">Franklin Chase, 'Towering Figure in Citrus Industry</a><span>.'" </span><em>The Orlando Sentinel</em><span>, September 30, 1986. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-09-30/news/0260060057_1_chase-isleworth-golf-florida-citrus.</span>
<span>Weaver, Brian. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43312643" target="_blank"><em>The Citrus Industry in the Sunshine State</em></a><span>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1999.</span>
<span>"<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00086639/00046" target="_blank">Mayo Dade Offers Helpful Aid on Fruit Picking</a>." </span><em>Florida Clearing House News</em><span>, August 25, 1930.</span>
Contributor
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a><span>, University of Florida</span>
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a><span>, University of Florida</span>
Coverage
Arcadia, Florida
Babson Park, Florida
Davenport, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Frostproof, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Penney Farms, Florida
Pierce, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Wauchula, Florida
Winter Haven, Florida
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
3-page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Joshua Coffin Chase (August 26, 1927)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (August 26, 1927)
Subject
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Florida Citrus Exchange
Description
An original letter of correspondence between brothers and business partners Sydney Octavius Chase and Joshua Coffin Chase. Topics discussed in the letter include Sydney Chase's discussion he had on a train from Asheville, the success of the fruit trade in the rest of the country, the Clearing House's proposition, the Growers & Shippers League, the deterioration of the Growers Sale Agency, the disposition of Will Lee.<br /><br />Chase & Company was established in 1884 by brothers Sydney Octavius Chase and Joshua Coffin Chase. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century.
Creator
Chase, Sydney Octavius
Source
Original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Joshua Coffin Chase, August 26, 1927: <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.11, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1927-08-026
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm</a>.
Requires
<a href='http://www.adobe.com/reader.html' target='_blank'>Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Format
application/pdf
Extent
426 KB
Medium
3-page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Chase & Company Office, Sanford, Florida
Camden, Maine
Chicago, Illinois
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Entire <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a> at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>, University of Florida
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a>, University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
University of Florida, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php" target="_blank">The History of Seald-Sweet</a>." <em>Seald Sweet International</em>.http://www.sealdsweet.com/welcome/our-history.php.
Warner, S.C. "<a href="http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1923%20Vol.%2036/198-200%20%28WARNER%29.pdf" target="_blank">Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida</a>." <em>Florida State Horticultural Society</em> vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.
Hopkins, James T. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1219230" target="_blank"><em>Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959</em></a>. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.
"<a href="http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600" target="_blank">Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)</a>." <em>Florida Citrus Hall of Fame</em>. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Transcript
CHASE & COMPANY
GROWERS’ MARKETING AGENTS
PACKERS AND SHIPPERS
FLORIDA FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
SANFORD, FLORIDA
August 26, 1927
Mr. J. C. Chase,
Camden, Maine.
Dear Josh:
I met Commander on the train, coming back from Asheville, and spent an hour or more with him during the evening, discussing various Florida citrus problems. He did most of the talking.
In the first place he stated he was just completing quite an extensive trip amongst the trade, both in the east and the west, including the Canadian markets, and he had found the trade generally very optimistic not only with regard to the outlook for the Florida citrus crop but also with regard to the outlook for other perishable crops which they expected to handle, and were now handling.
His impression was that on the whole they were making money’ that Bartlett Pears, and other deciduous fruits from California, especially in the Chicago district were averaging $1.25 or more this year over last years, and there was a heavier supply. He said that the day he was in Chicago there were some eighty old cars of Pears offered, and if I remember correctly they averaged close to $4.00 a case. He said that last season, when he made about the same trip, all the dealers were pessimistic and there was no reaction in their attitude towards the Florida citrus deal, but he felt that this year things would be very much better.
During the conversation I asked him a direct question as to whether or not he, personal, as well as the Exchange, were in full sympathy with the Clearing House proposition, and whether or not they would come in provided it could be started this fall in a small way, simply with a view of controlling the movement, get our bearings, and next season make such additions and changes that might seem best to insure success of the organization. He replied in a very positive manner that he, personally, was very much in favor of it and he thought the Exchange was also, but supplimented [sic] his remarks with the statement that the directors had not had the matter up before them for any definite action. He had been out of the state for a month or more, and did not know what had taken place during his absence. He said that before he left it was arranged that Mr. Wirt would attend any committee meetings held during his absence. He spoke very highly of Newton, and said he was the logical man to put the deal across, and further stated that he thought everybody had confidence in Newton’s integrity and ability as a diplomat.
I then touched him up on the subject of the Growers & Shippers League. He was very loud in his praise of Robinson and the work done up to date. He stated that he thought so far as the Exchange was concerned they would continue to give it their full support.
I then asked him what he knew of the Growers Sales Agency. He told me they had practically gone out of business; that Edwards was very hard up, and that Stewart and Edwards had indorsed a note of the Growers Sales Agency with the Exchange Bank amounting to $35,000.00. The company was unable to meet the note, and the Exchange Bank had instituted suit against Stewart and Edwards for the amount.
I asked him what he knew about Will Lee entering the perishable game again. His idea is that it is physically impossible for him to ever get back into any business again. The government is on his trail for making up and filing with them improper income tax reports. They have instituted suit for $200,000.00 covering additional tax which they have assessed after investigation covering several years of his business. They have put the Citrus Exchange on notice not to pay out any more money to Lee resulting from the handling of any of his fruit, and have also notified other institutions with whom Lee has been doing business to hold any of his money. He stated that Lee had gotten rid of many of his citrus holdings, but in some way seemed to have control of them. While he did not say so I assumed that disposition of these groves was made with a view of defeating the government in collecting back taxes. I think the government is wise enough, in the event they investigate these sales, to have them set aside, if it is necessary to do so. It appears that Lee has no credit at the banks, or with any business organization in the state, and for that reason he stated that he could not enter the perishable game this year, and possibly never.
He gave me some other information which I will pass on to you when I see you. As our visit was more or less of a confidential nature what I am writing you is to be regarded as confidential. You might relay some of it to Justice, if you think wise, but it should be considered strictly confidential.
Last night was probably the coolest night we have had in Florida this summer. Yestermorning in Jacksonville it was red hot. I never knew it to be so hot.
Yours very truly,
S. O. C
SOC:HMR
DISTRIBUTORS
Sunniland
Trademark
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Sydney Octavius Chase to Joshua Coffin Chase, August 26, 1927.
Is Part Of
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> (MS 14), box 7, folder 14.11, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/100" target="_blank">Florida Citrus Exchange Collection</a>, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Bartlett Pears
Chase and Company
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Chase, Sydney Octavius
Chicago, Illinois
citrus
citrus industry
Clearing House
Commander
Edwards
Exchange Bank
FCE
Florida Citrus Exchange
Growers & Shippers League
Growers Sale Agency
justice
Lee, Will
Newton
pears
Robinson
Stewart, C. E.
Stewart, C.E.
Sunniland
Wirt
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/d058903e87f2c1d6531e53bd087419a1.pdf
9b10a5fa2f4ca472e2b32695d7eb3bd0
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Miami Collection
Alternative Title
Miami Collection
Subject
Collection of archival items related to the history of Miami, Florida. The Tequestas were the first known inhabitants of the Miami area before explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574) claimed the land in 1566 for Spain, which established a mission there the following year. After Spain ceded the Florida Territory in 1821, the U.S. constructed Fort Dallas, which served as an important battlefront during the Second Seminole War. For much of the 19th century, Miami remained a region of wilderness, and it was one of the few area's to survive the Great Freeze of 1894 with relatively few damages. Soon after, Henry Flagler (1830-1913) expanded his Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) to the area, and Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896.<br /><br />Like other parts of Florida, Miami prospered during the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s, but also floundered when the real estate bubble burst in 1925. The following year, the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 devastated South Florida and the Great Depression began just three years later. During World War II, Miami played a vital role in battling German submarines, resulting in increased population growth in the post-ward period. Miami experienced another spurt in population growth when hundreds of thousands of people fled Cuba, following the takeover by Fidel Castro (1926-). Despite a number of social crises in the 1980s and 1990s, Miami remains a major international, financial, and cultural center.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/182">Miami-Dade County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Miami, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html" target="_blank">City of Miami History</a>." City of Miami. http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html.
"<a href="http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/" target="_blank">MIAMI: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY</a>." HistoryMiami. http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Letter from Carl Arvil Mead to Oscar Winfield Mead
Description
A letter from Carl Arvil Mead to his father, Oscar Winfield Mead, most likely written the winter of 1920 when Carl Mead and his family were in Miami, Florida. He was from Walton, Indiana and his father was from Pekin. In the letter, Carl Mead describes the sandy beaches of the Biscayne Bay area, the cost of house rentals , the Rickenbacker Causeway, the economic development of the city, the drive from Indiana to Florida, the family's trip to Vero, tasting various Florida fruits, and the cost of groceries and gasoline.
Date Created
ca. 1920
Coverage
Miami, Florida
Vero, Florida
Creator
Mead, Carl Arvil
Source
Digital transcript of original 3-page letter from Carl Arvil Mead to Oscar Winfield Mead: Private Collection of Ann Wilder.
Source Repository
"<a href="http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html" target="_blank">City of Miami History</a>." City of Miami. http://www.miamigov.com/home/history.html.
"<a href="http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/" target="_blank">MIAMI: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY</a>." HistoryMiami. http://www.historymiami.org/research-miami/topics/history-of-miami/.
"<a href="http://www.covb.org/index.asp?SEC=7A2FDAEA-D94A-426F-B0C9-C376A4297189&Type=B_BASIC" target="_blank">The City of Vero Beach - A Brief History</a>." City of Vero Beach. http://www.covb.org/index.asp?SEC=7A2FDAEA-D94A-426F-B0C9-C376A4297189&Type=B_BASIC.
"<a href="http://www.verobeach.com/history.html" target="_blank">History of Vero Beach, Sebastian & Indian River County, Florida</a>." VeroBeach.com. http://www.verobeach.com/history.html.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Ann Wilder and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Transcript
See uploaded file. I hope it uploaded as there is not much indication. If not -
268 N.W. 27th Terrace
Miami, Florida
Dear Father:
After about 6 days’ travel we arrived here and are well located at the above address. This place is out in the thicket almost but by no mean is it at the edge of the City as there is city for some eight miles north west of here. Enough laid out to build a city like Chicago.
The soil here is sand, not sandy, but pure san and this is filled with rock white as snow. Looks like lime hardened and as it is exposed to the air becomes harder. I would judge it is of coral formation.
I am planting some garden, but Florence says she isn’t going to worry herself about any garden as I will not raise anything anyway, but you know how well she likes those big watermelons and I sure planted some of those seeds first thing. I also planted beans, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, aim to be living fine by Christmas, “don’t you know.” This *quotation, the southerner adds to every sentence he tells you.
There are hundreds of tents here, people living in them the year around. They charge $5.00 per month for a place large enough for a tent to be place on the summer season and $15 per month commencing Nov. 1st for the winter season. Houses or shacks rent from $50 to $500 per month. If you had your house here furnished as it is, it would rent for $150 per month, but would probably sell for $10,000, located within 2 miles of the business section. Lots anywhere within a mile of the main business section sell or $1,000 up per front foot. I have decided that to judge a piece of property at what I think it is worth and then multiply it by ten or more and that will be what they will ask you for it. Too high for me, scares me out, guess I haven’t the nerve or don’t know a bargain when I see it.
We have been over to the beach a few times. There is a road built across Biscayne Bay about 150 feet wide and they call it the “Causeway” then when you get across this which is three or four miles long, you are on a large island of some 500 acres or probably more. This is all laid out in lots with some very fine buildings on it, that, maybe, if I get my nerve up, I may price some of those lots. Suppose they are worth from $5,000 up.
The children have a fine time hunting shells on the beach and they sure are pretty. We were in bathing Thursday. It is like bathing in brine if you are covered with mosquito bites. The ocean looks pretty and is unlike other clear water as it looks so blue and tastes so salty, makes your nose and eyes smart and burn like onions do some times. Florence and Betty are scared of the waves which are three or four feet high, but the girls and I went out some 50 yards, where, if the water were still, It would not have been two feet deep with a solid sand bottom, but the waves went over their heads often and they sure had a fine time. It is so hot here you *simply cannot stand it to be out in the boiling sun long at a time, so the bathers go late in the afternoon and they are there by the hundreds.
The business section of the town is growing very rapidly, many new buildings going up, 7 or 8 banks with fine buildings. I have not seen any of their statements yet, do not know how large they are. Garages by the hundreds. I don’t have a desire to loaf around those places any more. I surely have my fill of them.
There are over 1300 real estate offices in the city, a real bunch of grafters. In fact the place in general has that appearance. If you see anyone coming tell them to be sure and bring a well filled pocket book as they will need it.
On our western trip we were in an altogether different country from this. It was farming and grazing country, while this is a fruit and truck country. Florence thinks the garden spot of the world lies in and around Walton, Indiana, and I believe she would like to be home right now. Coming down thru Kentucky, the roads were good but very rough; full of holes and up one hill and down another; sand later on and ground about like southern Indiana, plenty of red clay and red sand. Niggers and sweet potatoes, mules and mosquitoes in abundance. Corn all the way, but very poor. I can raise more corn on a town lot in northern Indiana than they raise on ten acres in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, or Florida. Between each row is a row of peanuts which look fine. Plenty of fine roads in Tennessee. We came through Nashville, on to Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Out of Birmingham we came through *mountains. Not such mountains as the Rockies around Salida and Gunnison, Colorado. The children call them knobs.
We stopped at Claud Smith’s at Vero, Fla. He came from Walton 18 months ago, and is putting out a truck farm. The fruit here is of so many different varieties and flavors. Ate some apricotta (avocado) pears that look good but taste so slick and sickening. Have a seed as large as a hen egg. Mangoes, a fruit, not a pepper, whose taste is little better, pineapples, oranges, grape fruit and bananas in abundance. In our yard we have a banana in bloom, guava trees and fruit getting ripe in the yard now, *also one tree of limes. The guavas are the size and shape of a lemon but taste like *mayapples, turpentine and onions all stirred together. Think you’d like them? The limes taste like lemons but much stronger and not so large. Ruby says they surely make castor oil out of them.
We also have some trees that they say bear mulberries and pigeon peas, on fruit on them till February. That is all the fruit we have in the yard. *Cocoanuts in nearly every yard where they have been there long, as it takes ten years to grow trees to the producing stage.
The forests and swamps are covered with pines and palms, such as palm leaf fans are made of, some trees thirty feet high, with oleander and hibiscus and other pretty flowers growing wild. Saw plenty of hogs running wild, the real elm peeler type and the cattle not much better. No wonder milk is $1.00 per gallon, as there is no grass and poor quality of cattle. Flour is $1.80 per 24 pounds, eggs 46 cents a dozen potatoes 7 cents per pound, meats a little higher than mother [something missing], bananas and oranges a little higher here than at home. Oranges and grapefruit will be in full season about Nov. 15th.
We came over several toll bridges and one toll road that cost 75 cents for 15 miles. The roads in Georgia and Alabama are mostly good, quite a little asphalt. One place in Alabama we came down an old railroad bed for 50 miles. About 25 miles out of Birmingham while driving at night it came on a severe rain storm. We were along a large telephone system and such popping and cracking you never heard. Then came a blow out. We stayed by the roadside all night. Our hinged front seat worked fine as did also the hammocks for the girls. The mosquitoes were awful.
Gasoline gets higher until you get to Vero where it is 27 cents. It is 24 cents here. Corn is $2.25 per cws, oats $1.25 a bushel. It seems to be the freight rate that does it.
All the coast towns are nice but the northwest part of Florida where there is too much pure sand. Southern Georgia has lots of pecan growers.
Carl
Alternative Title
Letter from Carl Mead to Oscar Mead
Subject
Miami (Fla.)
Vero (Fla.)
Beaches--Florida
Contributor
Wilder, Ann
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/183" target="_blank">Miami Collection</a>, Miami-Dade County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Format
application/pdf
Extent
47.8 KB
Medium
3-page letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Accrual Method
Donation
Provenance
Originally created by Carl Arvil Mead.
Curator
Wilder, Ann
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
268 N.W. 27th Terrace
Miami, Florida
Dear Father:
After about 6 days’ travel we arrived here and are well located at the above address. This place is out in the thicket almost but by no mean is it at the edge of the City as there is city for some eight miles north west of here. Enough laid out to build a city like Chicago.
The soil here is sand, not sandy, but pure san and this is filled with rock white as snow. Looks like lime hardened and as it is exposed to the air becomes harder. I would judge it is of coral formation.
I am planting some garden, but Florence says she isn’t going to worry herself about any garden as I will not raise anything anyway, but you know how well she likes those big watermelons and I sure planted some of those seeds first thing. I also planted beans, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, aim to be living fine by Christmas, “don’t you know.” This *quotation, the southerner adds to every sentence he tells you.
There are hundreds of tents here, people living in them the year around. They charge $5.00 per month for a place large enough for a tent to be place on the summer season and $15 per month commencing Nov. 1st for the winter season. Houses or shacks rent from $50 to $500 per month. If you had your house here furnished as it is, it would rent for $150 per month, but would probably sell for $10,000, located within 2 miles of the business section. Lots anywhere within a mile of the main business section sell or $1,000 up per front foot. I have decided that to judge a piece of property at what I think it is worth and then multiply it by ten or more and that will be what they will ask you for it. Too high for me, scares me out, guess I haven’t the nerve or don’t know a bargain when I see it.
We have been over to the beach a few times. There is a road built across Biscayne Bay about 150 feet wide and they call it the “Causeway” then when you get across this which is three or four miles long, you are on a large island of some 500 acres or probably more. This is all laid out in lots with some very fine buildings on it, that, maybe, if I get my nerve up, I may price some of those lots. Suppose they are worth from $5,000 up.
The children have a fine time hunting shells on the beach and they sure are pretty. We were in bathing Thursday. It is like bathing in brine if you are covered with mosquito bites. The ocean looks pretty and is unlike other clear water as it looks so blue and tastes so salty, makes your nose and eyes smart and burn like onions do some times. Florence and Betty are scared of the waves which are three or four feet high, but the girls and I went out some 50 yards, where, if the water were still, It would not have been two feet deep with a solid sand bottom, but the waves went over their heads often and they sure had a fine time. It is so hot here you *simply cannot stand it to be out in the boiling sun long at a time, so the bathers go late in the afternoon and they are there by the hundreds.
The business section of the town is growing very rapidly, many new buildings going up, 7 or 8 banks with fine buildings. I have not seen any of their statements yet, do not know how large they are. Garages by the hundreds. I don’t have a desire to loaf around those places any more. I surely have my fill of them.
There are over 1300 real estate offices in the city, a real bunch of grafters. In fact the place in general has that appearance. If you see anyone coming tell them to be sure and bring a well filled pocket book as they will need it.
On our western trip we were in an altogether different country from this. It was farming and grazing country, while this is a fruit and truck country. Florence thinks the garden spot of the world lies in and around Walton, Indiana, and I believe she would like to be home right now. Coming down thru Kentucky, the roads were good but very rough; full of holes and up one hill and down another; sand later on and ground about like southern Indiana, plenty of red clay and red sand. Niggers and sweet potatoes, mules and mosquitoes in abundance. Corn all the way, but very poor. I can raise more corn on a town lot in northern Indiana than they raise on ten acres in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, or Florida. Between each row is a row of peanuts which look fine. Plenty of fine roads in Tennessee. We came through Nashville, on to Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Out of Birmingham we came through *mountains. Not such mountains as the Rockies around Salida and Gunnison, Colorado. The children call them knobs.
We stopped at Claud Smith’s at Vero, Fla. He came from Walton 18 months ago, and is putting out a truck farm. The fruit here is of so many different varieties and flavors. Ate some apricotta (avocado) pears that look good but taste so slick and sickening. Have a seed as large as a hen egg. Mangoes, a fruit, not a pepper, whose taste is little better, pineapples, oranges, grape fruit and bananas in abundance. In our yard we have a banana in bloom, guava trees and fruit getting ripe in the yard now, *also one tree of limes. The guavas are the size and shape of a lemon but taste like *mayapples, turpentine and onions all stirred together. Think you’d like them? The limes taste like lemons but much stronger and not so large. Ruby says they surely make castor oil out of them.
We also have some trees that they say bear mulberries and pigeon peas, on fruit on them till February. That is all the fruit we have in the yard. *Cocoanuts in nearly every yard where they have been there long, as it takes ten years to grow trees to the producing stage.
The forests and swamps are covered with pines and palms, such as palm leaf fans are made of, some trees thirty feet high, with oleander and hibiscus and other pretty flowers growing wild. Saw plenty of hogs running wild, the real elm peeler type and the cattle not much better. No wonder milk is $1.00 per gallon, as there is no grass and poor quality of cattle. Flour is $1.80 per 24 pounds, eggs 46 cents a dozen potatoes 7 cents per pound, meats a little higher than mother [something missing], bananas and oranges a little higher here than at home. Oranges and grapefruit will be in full season about Nov. 15th.
We came over several toll bridges and one toll road that cost 75 cents for 15 miles. The roads in Georgia and Alabama are mostly good, quite a little asphalt. One place in Alabama we came down an old railroad bed for 50 miles. About 25 miles out of Birmingham while driving at night it came on a severe rain storm. We were along a large telephone system and such popping and cracking you never heard. Then came a blow out. We stayed by the roadside all night. Our hinged front seat worked fine as did also the hammocks for the girls. The mosquitoes were awful.
Gasoline gets higher until you get to Vero where it is 27 cents. It is 24 cents here. Corn is $2.25 per cws, oats $1.25 a bushel. It seems to be the freight rate that does it.
All the coast towns are nice but the northwest part of Florida where there is too much pure sand. Southern Georgia has lots of pecan growers.
Carl
apricots
avocados
bananas
banks
Betty Mead
Biscayne Bay
Carl Arvil Mead
citrus
coconuts
Florence Mead
grapefruit
limes
mangos
Miami
oranges
Oscar Winfield Mead
palms
pears
Rickenbacker Causeway
Ruby Mead
swamps
Vero