Tampa Bay

“ No malaria ever infects the delicious air, and the water is as soft as lavender. It is the place of places for invalids, and{192} a lapse of two years will see Tampa the most important business city in its State. We are writing, not for the interest of the Tampa Bay Hotel alone, fine as it is, but to impart information and to convey suggestions that may be valuable to many of our readers. By no means fail to go as far as Tampa if you visit Florida in this tempestuous winter. ”

“ It is not to be denied that this Tampa Bay Hotel is one of the modern wonders of the world. It is a product of the times. It illustrates the age, the demands of the people, what they enjoy, and what they are willing to pay for. ”

“ For four days, now, the Tremaines and their friends, including Captain Halstead and Engineer Dawson, had been at the big, luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel, at Tampa proper, nine miles up from the port.
Both Tom and his chum had demurred mildly, when invited to go with the rest of the party to the hotel.
“Oh, come along,” said Henry Tremaine, genially. “It will do you youngsters good to get away from your yacht once in a while. Up at the hotel you will mix with people, and learn some things of the ways of the world that can’t be learned on the salt water.” ”

“ MANATEE is a small town six miles from the mouth of Manatee river, near the southern entrance of Tampa Bay. There is no hotel, but accommodations can be had with Judge Gates, or other residents. Fine orange groves and sugar plantations are near here. Manatee is a shallow, sluggish stream, two miles wide, with salt water. A weekly mail boat with Tampa is the only regular communication. Historically, Tampa, or Espiritu Santo Bay, as the Spaniards named it, is interesting as the landing place of Hernando de Soto in May, 1539. ”

“ That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to submit plans and estimates for the improvement of Tampa Bay, from Port Tampa to the mouth of the bay, in the Gulf of Mexico, so as to give a depth of water thirty feet deep at mean low water, five hundred feet wide on the bar at the entrance of Tampa Bay, and three hundred feet wide in the bay itself ”

“ All the above relates to the big new hotel at Tampa Bay, but all of it is written at the Inn, in Port Tampa, distant from Tampa Bay proper nine miles. The Inn is “little,” it accommodates only seventy-five guests, but it is a gem of a hotel. It is built on, or rather over, the water on piles, and is like an island, being actually surrounded by water. There is always a pleasant breeze on one side of the house, and a breeze is very grateful in this latitude. As I write, the mercury in a thermometer hanging outside my bedroom window marks 75 degrees ”

“ Johns and Tampa at the head of the bay of that name on the Gulf coast, will be completed within two years. Then the iron horse, with bowels of fire, muscles of steel and breath of steam, with a shriek and a snort, will rush over the metallic track and annihilate time and space so rapidly, that the Atlantic and Gulf coasts will be within a few hours of each other. A narrow-gauge railroad from Tampa to the Manatee, and thence to Sarasota Bay, will soon follow, giving us direct and rapid communication with the principal cities of the North and West. ”

“ Its course is nearly due west to Egmont Key, where it mingles its waters with those of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It lies between the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth parallels of north latitude, and in longitude 51⁄2° west from Washington. A person passing up the bay on the mail steamer for the first time, will be charmed with the tropical and semi-tropical scenery that meets his view on either side of the bay, from its mouth to Braidentown, the present terminus of steamboat navigation. ”

“ Practically every Florida town and city, large and small, located inland or on the gulf or on the ocean, provides a tin-can town or a tin-can village for the tin-can tourists. Occasionally these towns are free and provide not only all the comforts of home, but comforts that home never possessed for most of the tin-canners. The largest and most celebrated tin-can town is in De Soto Park, East Tampa, on the shore of Tampa Bay. Hundreds of automobiles are lined
A tin-can paradise on the shore of Tampa Bay. ”

“ Brave men, braver women—soon256 their laughter was turned to tears and many of the officers who went out of the Tampa Bay hotel on that warm June night are now sleeping their last sleep, having given up their lives that their country's honor might live. The train carrying the headquarters to Port Tampa left at five o'clock in the morning. ”

“ In fact, innumerable people from all points of the United States flocked to Florida. The town of Tampa was prodigiously increased during that year, consecrated entirely to the works of the Gun Club; it then comprised a population of 150,000 souls. After having surrounded Fort Brooke in a network of streets it was now being lengthened out on that tongue of land which separated the two harbours of Espiritu-Santo Bay; new quarters, new squares, and a whole forest of houses had grown up in these formerly-deserted regions under the heat of the American sun. ”

“ Will be cheerfully paid to any one who shall restore to me in safety a boat's company, lost from Tampa Bay on the 26th of October last. They were dragged to sea by a devil-fish, and when last seen were near this island. The company consisted of my nephew, Harold McIntosh, aged nearly fifteen, having black hair and eyes; and my three children, Robert Gordon, aged fourteen; Mary Gordon, aged eleven; and Frank Gordon, aged seven years; all having light hair and blue eyes. ”

“ It is pleasing to know, when one is far away, that he is not entirely forgotten by his friends; but you are slightly mistaken when you say I own a large orange plantation near Jacksonville. I am located on the Manatee River, some eight miles above its entrance into Tampa Bay, on the Gulf coast of South Florida, in latitude 271⁄2°, and below “frost line.” ”

“ Sailing and stopping, how care is lightened of its burden in the life we are now pursuing! There is nothing expected of us, but we are anticipating a great deal of pleasure from the trip. We are now landing at Egmont Key, which is an insular domain—a kingdom bounded by deep waters—a residence among turtles and birds of varied notes. This island is five miles in circumference, and seven from the mainland, commanding the entrance to Tampa Bay. ”

“ Unpalatable as this food appears to an epicurean taste, the sailors devour it with a relish, as it gives them strength to endure many hardships. The morning wind is fair, although light, and we are sailing again toward Terrasilla Bay, which is a portion of Tampa, bearing another name. The sugar-crop is waiting for shipment to Key West, and our invoice not being full, we stop for freight. Numerous bars line this bay, where oysters of a delicious flavor, and clams of immense size—some of them weighing three pounds, with the shell—are obtained at low tide without dredging. ”

“ As a rule, men of large interests are charmingly simple and unaffected in manner, and this is eminently true of H. B. Plant, President of the famous Plant System Railway and Steamship Lines, a millionaire, and the controlling power of three great hotels, the Tampa Bay, the Seminole at Winter Park, and the Inn at Port Tampa, all in Florida.
“Mr. Plant resides in New York much of the time, in an elegant home, but is also to be found a good deal in Florida, while he takes trips to Jamaica and other places where he has business to transact. ”

“ Excellent hunting and fishing can be had in the vicinity of Tampa. The oysters in the bay are as large, abundant and finely flavored as anywhere on the Gulf coast. The orange groves are flourishing and many of the inhabitants raise garden vegetables. Old army officers have learned to regard it as one of the best stations in the United States for providing the mess. ”

“ They did not touch the coast beyond the Bay of Apalache nor much south of Tampa Bay. Both Barcia (En. Cron. Año 1549) and Herrera (Dec. VIII., Lib. V., cap. XIV., XV.) say they entered the latter, but this cannot be, as the supposed description is entirely inapplicable. For other particulars see Eden’s translation of Peter Martyr, (fol. 319, Londini, 1555.) ”

“ Sponge reefs also occur at various parts of the coast and many small vessels are employed in collecting these animals and drying them for the market.
The low lands along the coast are often rich, but they are unhealthy. The United States Army Medical Reports pronounce them the most unhealthy parts of the peninsula. This, however, does not apply to the sandy pine tracts south of Tampa Bay, many of which still bear the imprint of an extended cultivation in some past time.{108}
TAMPA.
Hotels.—*Florida House, Orange Grove Hotel, both $2.00 per day, $35.00 to $40.00 per month. ”

“ Giovanni Carretta, who for fifteen years enjoyed a remarkable fame in New York at Delmonico’s and the Union Club, is the pastry-cook, and his deft hand has lost none of its wonted cunning. Rossi, from the Manhattan Club, is the baker.
“There are two hundred employees in the Tampa Bay Hotel, all of them carefully selected with a view to their special fitness for the places they fill. The chambers and suites are handsome and convenient proportionately with the public rooms. The carpets everywhere are harmonious in color, restful to the eye, and in the best of taste ”

“ La Vega, in his{170} remarkable chapter on the construction of the native villages, [316] speaks of such broad passages leading from the public square at the base to the house of the chief on the summit of the mound that the natives were accustomed to throw up for its site. What we are to understand by the royal highways, Caminos Reales, near Tampa Bay, that lead from one town to another, (que van de un Pueblo al otro,) [317] an expression that would not be applicable to mere trails, is not very evident. ”

“ Louisiana had done her part—she had raised a fine and as was afterwards proved, an effective body of men. They received their arms, colors and bounty, thirty dollars (the wages were ten dollars per month) and marched, some that evening, others next morning, to the rail road, where we found the cars in readiness and were soon embarked on Lake Ponchartrain. Two steamboats, the Watchman and Merchant were chartered to transport us to Tampa Bay, and the David Brown proceeded to the same point, via the Balise. ”

“ Tremaine. Ida Silsbee added that she, personally, did not care to go alligator hunting again.
“You’ll both of you be more contented,” decided Mr. Tremaine, “if we run down to Oyster Bay and hoist anchor for Tampa. Up at Tampa [194] you girls will have a chance to wear your pretty dresses. Jeff, can you start, before ten in the morning, and get the wagons back here to convey us to the coast?” ”

“ That there is hereby established, declared and established a State road to be a part of the system of the State roads of the State of Florida and under the jurisdiction and control of the State Road Department of the State of Florida, beginning at the State system of roads in the City of Tampa and running along the most practical route to where Bay-to-Bay Boulevard, intersects the Atlantic Coast Line Railway tracks, thence parallel with said tracks to the City of Port Tampa ”

“ The petitioner asks for 'a square of eight leagues, in the royal lands which are found on the waters of Hillsborough and Tampa bays.' The grant is, 'I grant to him, in the terms which he solicits, the said quantity of land, in the places which he indicates.' Tampa or Espiritu Santa, as it was known or called, before Florida was ceded to the United States, is the largest on the Gulf of Mexico. It is at least forty miles long, and in one or more places, from thirty forty miles broad. Hillsborough river empties into it from the north. ”

“ Two hours later a large steamer exchanged signals with them. the name of the Atlanta flew at once over Tampa Town. At four o'clock the English vessel entered the Bay of Espiritu Santo. At five it crossed the passage of Hillisborough Bay at full steam. ”

“ Augustine, Key West, Cedar Keys, Tampa and Pensacola Bay; it also has innumerable islands. There are 19 navigable rivers, the longest being the St. John's. This river is about 300 miles in length, one third of which can be navigated.
Climate. The climate is very healthful, and not intensely hot, being moderated by the sea breezes. There are 250 clear days in the year.
Natural Resources. With its extensive coast-line, Florida has a large fish-trade, the chief seat of which (in fresh fish) is Pensacola. About 8,000 men are employed in the fisheries. ”

“ The head of the harbor divides into Old Tampa and Hillsborough Bays, and on the latter and at the mouth of Hillsborough River is the city, numbering about 393 twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The great hotels are surrounded by groves with orange and lemon trees abounding, and everything is invoked that can add to the tourist attractions. The special industry of the resident population is cigar-making. Port Tampa is out upon the Peninsula between the two bays, several miles below the city, and a long railway trestle leads from the shore for a mile to deep water. ”

“ Then, too, or with very few exceptions, the colored people command the respect of the whites.
“Port Tampa, which is the port from which the Plant Steamship Line sails for Havana and other places, is about ten miles below here. One of its attractions is ‘The Inn,’ a great hotel built in colonial style, beside the South Florida Railroad, over the water and about 2000 feet from the shore. It is both a summer and winter resort for tourists and Floridians. Another attraction is the fishing, either for bass from the wharf or boats, or for the tarpon, or, ‘Silver King,’ at Pine Island. ”