The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 80

4-E THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, Sunday, December 14, 1958 FLORIDA'S DISTANCES MEASURED IN LEAGUES HOW TO START A MODEL-T Bang Went The Lightning Flash And Next Thing The Motor Was Running "The constant drip ef water wears away the hardest stone, is a time-honored axiom. So, "Fror Smith, by hl persistent pinning, may bring conviction that steam engines and steam power for all purposes were superior to any of the modern machine and fuels. Of course he backs his argument with sly humor. Lightning Started Car 'I work on a big construction job where the power 'is generated by Diesel engines, and live in a trailer nearbv. "Early this morning it began to rain, so the Diesels were stopped and some repair work started.

Then when a little power was THE WALKING-EST MAILMAN 'Acrefoot Hiked 65 Miles A Day Albert DeVane of Lake Placid has had the privilege of acquaintance with many notable figures who for various reasons figured in the early history of Southwest Florida, and he has a rich storage of tales of old-timers who were In this region before his time. Today he writes of a remarkable pioneer carried the mall on foot, making the 65 miles in one day. I have beard that this mail carrier was offered a ride by a man in a buggy, but declined, explaining "I'm in a hurry." Acrefoot Johnson "James Mitchell (Acrefoot) Johnson with his mother, two. brothers and four sisters moved along with the Keen and Raulerson families from Columbia County to Manatee County in the Fall of 1869. "Acrefoot's mother stopped at Fort Ogden to start life anew.

The Raulersons Distances traveled by pioneer Spanish explorers in Florida are cited in leagues. Many historians assign to a league the value of 2.63 English miles, which is the eqivalent of the old Spanish 'land' or judicial league. Length of the judicial league has been changed at least twice in Spain, we are told. At present it is said to be the equal of 8000 varos (4 2 miles). In Spanish American countries, it has been reported to have carried five differing values before changed to a metric kilometer.

The land unit called the land league was a unit of square measure to indicate 5000 varos or 2.63 miles to a side. It Is very probable that the Spanish pioneers' in Florida used this measurement to record the extents of their daily travels 2.63 English miles to a league. United States Land Map Of 1855 Lists Many Polk Pioneer Families needed. It was a simple mat A Public Official In British Florida Worked For Pounds Old readers of the Pioneer Florida page will remember the fine contributions of the late Ernest B. Simmons.

Mr. Simmons rrew from childhood to middle are in Fort Meade, and when a young man enured in the newspaper business. He was a fluent writer, and built a. reputation for absolute accuracy. Throughout his mature life he evinced great Interest in Florida pioneer history and devoted much time to research.

Readers of this page had the benefit of his findings during the several years that he was a contributor. Mr. Simmons spent the last years of his life at Lutr, a community north of Tampa In this county, and died there about seven years ago. He had accumulated a vast library of historical matter, some of which was riven to the historical commission. Recently a friend residing In Bartow was looking through old files of the Fort Meade Leader and discovered a series of articles written by Mr.

Simmons listing and lauding Polk County pioneers. The articles were published in 1914, but they described conditions and named families who settled in the region when it was Included in Hillsborough County. The articles were based on old military maps, census rolls and tatements made by surviving pioneers and descendants of the first families. The articles are too long for presentation In full, but excerpts are presented: Polk County Pioneers "Through the kindness. of John Tillis of Fort Meade, a painstaking surveyor and a diligent student of old records, I have the loan of two valuable old maps.

"One is a United States land map of this township made by W. G. Moseley, United States deputy sur- What were the wages paid to the government officials during the administration of pioneer Florida by the British? Here are a few grants for salaries: The British governor In Florida received 1.200 pounds a year; the chief Justice, 500 pounds; attorney-general, 150 pounds; surveyor of lands, 120 pounds; church of England minister at St. Augustine, 100 pounds; church of Eneland minister at St. Marks, 100 pounds; pilot at St.

Augustine, 50 pounds; the schoolmaster at St Augustine, 25 pounds; the schoolmaster at St. Marks, 25 pounds; John Bartram, the naturalist, received 25 pounds for his expedition up the St. John's river in the winter of 1765-1766. James Mitchell Johnson ter to get started again. An air compressor was run for a time, then the air in turn was let Into the Diesel starter.

Had It been a steam engine, all that would have been necessary would have been to open the throttle and see It turn over. Instead that big Diesel starter growled and growled some more until the air was gone. Then it was to wait until more air was pumped up. "I heard that happen about four times berore someone came running with a can of ether. That will start one or put the crew to sleep.

"WnE THE EARLY gasoline engines began to appear, many people were afraid of them. "I knew one man who ran an old-time gasoline engine pulling a grist mill while the exhaust went up a four Inch Iron pipe with no attempt at muffling the sound. "Farmers bringing In their corn to be ground into meal delivered it to the miller and then drove their teams to another part of town to hitch them. The miller himself kept one eye on the hopper and the other on the engine, to see that no one came near it with a pipe In his mouth. "One of the first big upright engines with the used-to-be familiar two big flywheels was Dought by a farmer near Chlpley, to pull a cane mill.

"He set it up all nice and ready to go, following the printed Instructions as carefully as a preacher's directions at a wedding. Not understanding the mechanical end of it, he read the directions carefully and learned that It was started by firing at a certain point but he didn't know how. He turned it over a few times slowly until the gasoline overflowed in the mixing valve, then ordered everybody to look out and struck a match to It. The gas fired but the engine didn't, so he doused that and tried again. "A match to the exhaust got a big whoosh that scared the onlookers, but still nothing happened.

Then he tried striking matches at different places around the big valve springs. "By that time one old farm- veyor in 1000. ji ine lime walking contest. He refused saying, 'You know, boys, the mail has got to be "IN 1884 HE sold out and moved to what Is now Noca-tee. He contracted to deliver cross ties for the railroad when It was extended from Bartow to Punta Gorda, and later furnished cord wood for the cabbagehead locomotives.

"Acrefoot Johnson was born September 4, 1853, in Columbia Fla. In 1876 he married Margaret Chester. To them were born eight children, three sons and five daughters. His son Guy (Rattlesnake) Johnson of Nocatee is acknowledged the world's greatest rattlesnake hunter. His grandson, J.

G. Brogden of 1512 Lambert Street, Tampa is Tampa's tallest man perhaps the tallest of the state, standing 6 feet 10V inches in his stocking feet. He was featured by Paul Wilder in an October, 1957, Tampa Tribune. "Kentucky had her Daniel Boone and Tennessee had her David Crockett but Florida had her Acrefoot Johnson, the world's greatest walking Bartow, lived Redding Blount, the father and prand-father of the Blounts of Bartow and vicinity. This family from the first has been Godfearing, and through several generations the Blounts have been powers for church work and better government The fortunes of politics a few years ago put scions of two of these first families in opposition for a cetrain county office.

They conducted a clean campaign and each left a clean record as an officer. "FORT FRAZIER was located about two miles north of Bartow (there was no Bartow then) near the southwest corner of Lake Hancock. East of Fort Frazier at Candy's Ford on Peas Creek was Fort Carroll. North of this fort and near Lake Hancock lived Rabe Raulerson, who has many descendants in this c6unty. "On the south prong of the Alafia grouped closely together were the homes of Widow Prine, Andrew Wiggins and James Whidden.

The husband of Mrs. Prine was killed in the battle of Peas Creek. Andrew Wiggins was a famous hunter of the period. He later emigrated to Texas. James Whidden, as is well known, was the ancestor of one branch of this family.

"On Paine's Creek on the Fort Chokkonikla and Fort Brook (Tampa) road, lived several families, Joe and Tom Underbill, Tom Summerall and Dick Pellam. "ABOUT ALL THE settlers of this period seem to have been grouped around thef headwaters of the Alafia or along the upper end of Peas Creek. Many lived along the military roads. "General Twiggs route starts at Fort Brooke (Tampa) and running in a general direction south and east connected Forts Meade, Clinch. Kissimmee, Drum, Vinton and Capron, the last named fort being the east coast opposite Indian river and north of Fort Pearce.

"Another and more northerly route starting at Fort Brooke and made by Colonel Taylor ran past Forts Frazier and Carroll to Fort Gardner, thence it ran south around Lake Rosalie, passed down, the west side of Kissimmee and crossing Kissimmee river at Fort Bassenger it loops around the northeast side of Lake Okeechobee, turns south and comes to an end in the Everglades near the south end of the big lake. "THESE PIONEERS were sturdy, honest. God-fearing men and women who respected and trusted each other. There were no locks on the doors in those days, and a man's word was considered as good as his bond. "Of all the settlers here prior to the Civil War there were only three families who were at all roguish.

To show how blood and early training will tell in such matters. I will say that one of the rogue families has furnished criminals in each generation for three generations, and the descendants are still giving society some concern. "On the other hand, I have only to call attention to such families as the Blounts. Whiddens, Durrances and Tillises, to show the benefi-cient effect of good blood and correct early training. "Polk County has been peculiarly fortunate in the character of its first settlers." Narvaez Survivor Said That His Skin Peeled Like Snake's By the time the derelicts of the Narvaez party reached Malhado Island, possibly today's Galveston, they had no clothing.

They had lost all of It In a wreck while repairing their barge. A wave had carried off the barge with their clothlqg. Nunez Cabeza de Vaca records that they peeled their skins like snakes from sunburn. When the four derelicts, after four years, arrived at Compostela, Governor Guzman supplied them with clothing. Nunez records the 1 supply was accepted but hardly appreciated and that for a long time the wearing of clothing was unbearable and sleeping was impossible except on a hard floor.

er had spied the crank handle In the flywheel rim. and with "what's this spun the wheel. Being new and perfectly set up. the engine caught and accelerated to full speed at once while the gears of the empty cane miU rattled. When the owner heard the new racket be stuck his head out of the shed and jelled 'Put some cane In the mill quick.

1 don't know how to stop it "ONE OF THE noisiest old-time engines I ever had a headache from was an eld Blakeslee we used to pull a shop with at a big sawmill that was being repaired. It was battery Ignition, and each time the batteries became weak it would start shooting with that stomach-emptying vacuum sound that could be heard for miles. "Old-time fishermen who wrestled with little single cylinder two cycle motors used to pull backward on the flywheel until It fired and the explosion would jerk the wheel free. "Then came the time I acquired myself one of tne little put-puts and set it up in the back yard to try it out. I pulled that flywheel both ways until I had the rim polished, but never got a pop out of it.

"So I hit upon the bright idea I had a Model Ford that would start so I connected the flywheel of the two-cycle put-put to one rear wheel of the Ford and spun it up to full speed. On two-cycle engines the carburetor is on the crankcase end. and when that one did fire it was in the wrong end. blowing the carburetor not only off but all the way through under the house and into the front yard. THE AUTOMOBILE after rooting out the horses became a necessary evil, and most people learned to start them.

"During the 1928 hurricane a milkman driving a Model pulled Into a customer's yard near Pahokee and the Ford drowned out Worrying with it In the driving rain did no good, so the milkman deserted its wet seat for the customer's house. While he was waiting there came a heavy thunder clap with a flash of lightning, and when he came ttack out to the Fliwcr, the motor was running. "Oh. well, that was what It took to start some of them. "Then maybe you think a steam engine would not pull the same trick.

Up at Bud Tharp's sawmill in Washington County th engineer, Charley White, was tightening the wedges on the crank pin brasses when the engine suddenly came to life, scaring him out of his wits. "No one knows how the lever throttle on the nearly new Russel engine came to fall open. Only the fact that there was a slip-collar dog clutch in the saw mandrel saved the sawyer, who was seated astride the saw sharpening the teeth. "And when the encine roared into life right behind him he lost no time in vaulting over the carriage track lato the sawdust pile." A Notable Book A valuable recent addition to mv library is The Daniel V. McEachern Story Saca of a Seattle Scot by Dr.

E. C. Nance, who recently retired as president of the University of Tampa after 12 years of brilliant service. Dr. Nance made a trip to Scotland ami spent the past summer in Washington state and North Dakota gathering material for the book, and the result is not only a masterpiece of eloquence but an inspiring presentation of the noteworthy achievements of the truly great man who is the subject of the story.

and Keens stopped at Dry Prairie. "Times were hard following the Civil War. Confederate volunteers were disfranchised from voting. The county was run by the carpetbaggers and many of our best pioneer citizens, rather than face and endure the humiliation, decided to move to South Florida's frontier where, if they wished, they could flop their arms and crow like a rooster or 'holler' as long and as loud as they pleased and feel free. "THEY ARRIVED In Fort Ogden by ox team.

Selecting a home site, pine saplings were cut for rafters and the bark was skinned off. Selected straight-grained pines were cut to make the puncheon floor. They went into Peace river swamp and gathered selected cypress, and with an ax, crosscut saw, froe and an iron -banded wooden mallet rived out shingles for the roof, and palings for the yard fence and the garden. "When everything was in place (including the split and hewn puncheons), an announcement was made at the Hard-Shell church of a logrolling at their home site. "Neighbors, kinfolks and friends at the break of day loaded their families and a basket dinner.

The women folks also had rose bushes, crepe myrtle, cape jasmine and Spider lillies for the walk from the front gate to the doorstep. "Work began and by noon, when dinner was called. It was taking a homey form. "THE DINNER spread was fit for a king. Backbone with homemade rice, wild turkey 1 1 1 a barbecued venison, fresh corn hominy with red eye gravy, turnip greens cooked with fresh pork, corn pone bread with grandma's finger prints on each pone, chitterling and crackling corn bread, grated sweet potato and cassava pone, egg custard an inch thick (that had to be sampled before dinner), white 'bluejohn butter (if you have never tried It you have missed a treat), dried peach pie with brown crust and a fruit jar full of sour cream to pour over it.

"For drinks they had milk, buttermilk, clabber, hot orange leaf tea and coffee. A couple of jugs of 'white lightning' were hid in the bark shavings, should any one want a little dram before din- ner. "Dinner was over and en-Joyed by everyone. The topic of conversation was the Civil War, and all agreed they were glad to be far away from It all. "In the late evening the house was up, Including rafters, puncheon floor and a few shingles in place.

Goodbyes and God bless yous ere given and everyon 1 or their homes after welcoming their new neighbors to the community. "JUDGE ZIBA KING had opened a store and was probably postmaster. He was also a cattle man. He loaned Acre-foot Johnson and family a small herd of cattle to pen. These cattle were milked which gave them milk and butter.

The milk was called bluejohn due to its light blue color and having but little cream. "The rail cow pens were moved in the late spring and early fall. The fall crops were called standovers, giving the family potatoes the year round. "Merchandise was brought in on stern-wheelers which plied Peace river from Charlotte Harbor to Fort Meade, at seasons of very high water as far north as Bartow. "The panic of the '70s hit and times were awfully hard.

Practically all of the money in circulation was Spanish doubloons, and most of them were held by the cattlemen. this survey was made a number of valiant pioneers had already pushed their way into this territory, disputed by the Seminole Indians who had escaped deportation after the peace of 1842. These men. some of them survivors of that war, settled in the neighborhood of Forts Meade, Frazier and Chokkonikla, and a few hardy ones farther west on the south prong of the Alafia. "OF THOSE SETTLING in Fort Meade township the following were recorded on Surveyor Moseley's map in 1855: "Three families of Dur-rances, one on Camp Ground Branch, at what is now known as the Scott's grove, and one east of Peas Creek about one mile south of the Homeland and Lake Buffum road, and the third one about two miles southwest of Homeland.

The names as I secured them from Uncle Ed. Hilliard are William. Jesse and Rufus Dur-rance. These estimable pioneers multiplied until their descendants are numerous in several counties. "Near the Camp Ground Branch ford on the Fort Meade and Fort Frazier road stood the cabin of Alderman Carlton, martyr of the fight with the Indians at the Tillis place in 1856.

South of ton's cabin on the next branch lived CapL F. A. Hendry. The branch near his place still bears the name of the Berry Henry Branch as distinguished from the Wash Hendry Branch, a little further down on the opposite aide of the river. "About a mile and a half north of Carlton's place, and probably about the site of the Singletary place, was the home of Mr.

Parker, ancestor of another esteemed Polk County family. "Down the river, on the west bank just south of the present road to, the steel bridge, was the' home of Lewis Lanier, one of the first of the pioneers. "ABOUT THREE MILES northeast of Fort Meade and east of Peas Creek, were John Green and Wm. Underbill on opposite sides of what is now known as Poole Branch. Just south of the Green home stead is the Green burying ground, where John Green and other members of his family, as well as other old and some later residents of that neighborhood, are buried.

Mr. Green and Levi Pierce and others were victims of an epidemic of smallpox. "This Mr. Pierce was the father of Stephen, Howren, Thomas and John Pierce, the fathers of our present day Pierces. "West of Fort Meade, about two and a half miles on Mc-Cullough Creek, lived James Whidden, and south of him lived F.

C. M. Boggess, the school teacher of the neighborhood. It was he who started Uncle Ed. Hilliard and Uncle Bennett Whidden on the road to learning.

This pioneer pedagogue hailed from Mobile, Ala. He later moved to Fort Ogden, where in 1860 he engaged in publishing a newspaper. "Just south of the township line on the road to Fort Chokkonikla lived Wm. Mc-Cullough, for whom the creek was named, and Dave Russell. Near these places, but unrecorded on the government map, was the home of Wil-loughby Tillis, the scene of the Indian raid of 1856.

About half way between this fort and Fort Meade was the Brooker place, where the troops are supposed to have forded the river in their chase after the Seminoles just before vanquishing the savages In the battle of Peas Creek. "USING THE MILITARY map of 1856 as a basis, let us consider some of the old settlers outside of Fort Meade township. "North of the present Homeland and Lake Buffum road, and east of Flatford on Peas Creek, was the house of John Skipper, father of all the Skippers of Polk and De-Soto counties. Mr. Skipper was of different political faith from most of his neighbors.

A Republican among many Democrats, he was a sturdy character, a virile and positive man, and his many descendants have inherited the characteristics of their sturdy old ancestor. "Some three miles south of Fort Frazier, and on the outskirts of the present city of A CRACKER IN THE PONCE DE LEON HOTEL Massa Flagler Wanted People To Use The Big Brass Spittoon For lack of space the following story was omitted from the article by Capt. W. H. Sanders ef Inverness published last Sunday on this page.

He was relating memories of a venerable friend who resided in St. Augustine a surveyor named Colee and this was one of many amusing atories related by Mr. Colee. Suspicious Old Cracker "One of his stories of personalities that he told while-sitting by that evening camp fire is an epic worth retelling. I will come as close to his words as is possible at this late day.

What a pity there were no tape recorders in that day to have carried on his words, intonation, lusty chuckle at Old Tampa A Scene In t--. is- want to retire, gimme my key. "CAPTAIN COLEE even went further on such a tale, as not to blow out the electric lights and other things that were new to the art of sleeping, as the old cattleman knew of in the then country homes. "It has been a great regret to me that at about that time, there was a change in the superintendent of the canal work and a new man from Boston took over in Mr. George G.

Gleason's place, and the new man In turn made a change in the civil engineer group. That left Captain Colee out of his job and I never had the luck to get to St. Augustine and hunt him up. "The few months that he was in or near our Oak Landing camp, has left its mark all these years since and I feel that I am but paying a belated tribute to a man and his time that he highly deserves. Perhaps there are still' a few of the old-timers still living In St.

Augustine that can say much the same thing about an unforgettable character. Great Historian Probably the most outstanding and credible historian of pioneer Florida was Woodbury Lowery of Washington, D. C. He died in Sicily April 11. 1906.

His will dated July 5. 1904. bequeathed to the Library of Congress his collection of manuscripts, among which were 18 volumes of copies of manuscripts relating to Florida, New Mexico and California. In the bequest were included the anonymous original manuscript entitled De-scripclon Historica Cronolog-ica de la Florida and many maps of the Spanish possessions within the present limits of the United States. 1 1 i -3 i i a times, as can be done today.

"The story had its locale In the then new Ponce de Leon Hotel that Flaeler had built in the late 1880's In St. Augustine, and was concerned with an old cattleman who had made his pile and come in to St. Augustine to see the newfangled tavern that the Damn Yankee had built. The name has slipped my memory, but the captain gave a very extended history of him, and several of his other experiences, so one had a good mental picture of the man and his way of life. "When this man entered the hotel he was ushered up to the manager by a uniformed bell captain.

When the clerk turned the register around and asked him to sign, he said 'No, sir, I don't si en any paper for anybody. The flustered clerk tried to explain that It was just a record of all the guests. He grew even more emphatic and swore a little. "Peace Vas finally restored by the clerk writing his name, at which the cattleman commented he was satisfied, they could not sue him on another man's forgery. "AT II I waiter was almost scared to death when he served the lobster and salad.

The man was very indignant when the "red bug' and the 'goat feed' were set. before him and the language he used to that waiter fitted the 'roundup of his cattle better than it did that dining "AFTER DINNER the old cattleman was sitting in the foyer and watching the shifting groups of guests and listening to the music. However he became very restless and looked around for an open fireplace, same as he was used to have in all the country homes In that part of Florida. "As he had been a chewer of tobacco all his life, he had unconsciously taken a generous chew while watching people and things go by. With no fireplace handy, not being used to the great shiny brass spittoons that were the furnishings of the hotel, he did the best he could and trying to hit a spot away from the general path of the guests, found that the colored boy kept quietly pushing one of those gorgeous spittoons In his way, and he had to hunt a new spot "After this had been repeated several times, he called the boy back and with several swear words and a general statement of the probable paternity of the darky, flatly told him if he shoved that danged contraption in his way again, 'D him, he would spit in it.

"To his complete astonishment, the boy replied, 'Yasser, Boss, dat's jes what Massa Flagler wants you to do. "WHEN IT WAS the usual bedtime, the old lad saw that the guests went to the clerk's desk, and were handed their keys and either took the elevator or stairs and disappeared for the night. So he finally mustered up courage, and stepped up to the desk and informed the clerk that he wished to remain. With all the smooth courtesy that clerks have he assured the old gent that the Ponce de Leon was honored to have him as their guest and turned to answer some one else, but did not hand him a key. "Somewhat mystified, he went back to his seat and wondered why he had been treated that way.

Again watching others get their keys he decided to sneak up and listen to what they said. "When he heard them say 1 am retiring, and want my key, he piped up with gusto 'Yes, by I've been trying to think of that word for tht past hour. 7 Since his retirement as president of the University of Tampa Dr. Nance has devoting his time to writing and lecturing. He Is a native of Kentucky, born in 1900 of Scottish-French ancestry.

He was an infantryman in the U. S. Army in France in World War captain of chaplains in World War II; author of five books as columnist magazine writer, lecturer, and president of the University of Tampa 1945 to 1957, has received many awards, citations and honorary degrees in the United States and other countries for services in the armed forces, in the fields of civics, religion, higher education, literature and the arts. During his residence In Tampa he has received the "most distinguished citizen award, and in 1957 the Freedom Foundation honor award for "an outstanding achievement in bringing about a better understanding of the American way of life." He was given the University of Florida's Centennial award for "outstanding service to higher education." "IN 1877, WHEN Acrefoot was 24 years old, he took a sub-contract to deliver the mail from Fort Ogden tc Fort Meade and return once a week. For this service he received $26 per month.

"He delivered the mail on foot, following the old wire road, a distance of about 65 miles. He went from Fort Ogden to Joshua Creek, to Long Point, Gumheads, Bark cow pens. Crewsville, Berrah, to Fort Meade. This walk was made in one day, a feat almost unbelievable in this day of riders. There are a few people living today who can substantiate this fact (it is also of record).

"Acrefoot was 6 feet 7Vi Inches tall and weighed over 250 pounds. He was a man of almost superhuman strength, comparable to Atlas. "Acrefoot could outwalk a better than average horse. At the height of his walking career Judge Ziba King, F. C.

M. Boggess and Newton and Lewis Parker offered to send Acrefoot to an International There are a number of old citizens of Tampa who were boys and girls when Florida's Shape The configuration of Florida on maps has been compared to various objects by early historians. Some thought it looked like a thumb. Others compared it to a boat The earliest English writer of the 16th century describes Florida as follows: "The region Floryda is a poynt or cape of land reachynge Into the sea lyke unto a toungt." this picture was made. It is a picture of J.

H. Krause DiacKsmiin snop ana me small building beside it is the warehouse of the Peninsular Telephone Co. The location is the northeast corner of Franklin and Twiggs streets. It was on this site that the first home of the Citizens Bank and Trust Co. was erected.

The bank occupied it until it erected the much larger building on the west side of Franklin St. The Negro seated in a wagon in front of the blacksmith shop was Henry Clay, who had a small farm In the Sweetwater Creek area. He usually drove the oxen at a brisk trot The old bank building is now the Lerner dry goods store..