A CitrusLAND Happy New Year Blog

 

Mr. Brittain Goes to Washington

1910 Tavares & Gulf Railroad photo above courtesy Florida Memory

A CitrusLAND 2022 Happy New Year Blog

By Richard Lee Cronin

 

Happy New Year!

My New Year’s Resolution for 2022 is to continue writing about intriguing Central Floridians, and so, I might as well get started now by telling of Walter M. Brittain of Washington, DC, a gentleman having connections with Orlando, Lake County, and the Tavares & Gulf Railroad.

Fans of local history and railroad history, I believe, will find Walter Brittain quite fascinating, for he is characteristic of many of this region’s earliest forerunners. An Orlando land developer and Clermont railroad executive, Brittain came south to Florida in the early 1900s with all the right intentions. But like many who came before and after him, Walter Myron Brittain soon vanished. Brittain’s first central Florida job title was Vice President & General Manager of Tavares & Gulf Railroad, but like that of his T&G predecessor, he lived in downtown Orlando – 30 miles east of Clermont, the railroad’s base of operations at that time.

Before detailing Walter’s local involvement, I should first mention why I chose him to headline this ‘Happy New Year’ blog. Walter Brittain and I, it turns out, happen to share a job title. I am honored to begin serving today as Vice President of Education & Public Relations for Central Florida Railroad Historical Society, parent organization of central Florida’s premier museum, the Central Florida Railroad Museum at Winter Garden.

My new position with the museum fits perfectly with what I enjoy doing most – researching and writing about how the earliest days of central Florida’s history corresponds with America’s remarkable history.

One case in point? Walter M. Brittain!

 

I have been researching and preparing for a presentation on January 31^st to the Central Florida Council for Florida House. Long fascinated by the little-known roles District of Columbians had played in the 1870s and 1880s in developing Florida’s Citrus Belt, I decided my talk would be about many of those noteworthy individuals. By the way, were you aware that our State of Florida is the only State to have an Embassy at Washington, DC?

The invite to speak to this outstanding organization, I decided, was a perfect opportunity to talk, for the first time ever, about CitrusLAND, DC. 

 

 Having completed my CitrusLAND, DC presentation, I returned to researching the history of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad. Central Florida History Museum historian Phil Cross had provided me his extensive research on the railroad, notes which included mention of an Order issued to the T&G by the Florida Railroad Commission (FRC). The Order, dated October 17, 1908, reported the following: “W. M. Brittain, vice president and general manager, had appeared before the Commission on behalf of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad. Thereupon, after due consideration, it is declared and adjudged that the physical condition of the line of the railway of the Tavares & Gulf Railroad is not reasonably safe for the passage of trains over it at a reasonable rate of speed, and it is necessary for the safety of persons and property conveyed over the said railroad that the company at once proceed to improve its physical condition”.

Become a member of the CFRR! Email me for details!

 

Now then, back to that FRC Order. The T&G Railroad failed to meet conditions as set out by the 1908 order, but the reason for not complying was likely not due to insubordination by Brittain. The unstable financial situation of the railroad was more likely the cause. Walter M. Brittain was still the Vice President & General Manager in 1910, but by 1912, he and the railroad had parted ways. Brittain, as did most every central Floridian of that time, tried his luck as a land developer.

Charles A. Carpenter, also a resident of Orlando, assumed management of the T&G in 1912.

Walter Myron Brittain, born May 23,1878 at Washington DC, died 12 December 1944 at DC. A graduate of Georgetown University, Walter Brittain first worked for a DC steam railroad, but by 1903 was working at Richmond, VA, employed with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. That same year, the head of the T&G Railroad at Orlando, Florida died, so W. M. Brittain came south to central Florida to fill that vacancy.

While living at Orlando, Walter M. Brittain, in addition to managing the T&G, partnered with well-known Orlandoan Samuel Y. Way. The two developed residential lots at Lake Leora, the body of water described in my book, Orlando Lakes: Homesteaders & Namesakes, as Park Lake today, off East Colonial Drive.

Brittain & Way Real Estate Company was located, in 1912, at 13 S. Orange Avenue. Walter, and wife, Ethel Florence (Thompson), lived at the Brittain & Way development, but their specific parcel has since made way for widening of Colonial Drive.

 

Walter left Central Florida to accept a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh, PA. He eventually returned to Washington, DC, where in 1944, while working as an employee of the Federal Housing Administration, Walter Myron Brittain died at the age of 66.

Brittain’s story as it pertains to central Florida history is not at all unusual. Many a venturesome sole migrated from the North hoping to make a difference, only to find challenges which seemed insurmountable – encounters which then sent them packing.

 

As early as 1873, correspondent Will Wallace Harney of Pine Castle told of the one ingredient each and every newcomer to Central Florida needed most: “Without pluck and courage,” Harney wrote shortly after his own arrival at Orange County, “he cannot live in Florida”. I would argue though that it took more than mere courage for those who came to this land during the first hundred years after Statehood.

One had to be resolute that, no matter how often fate knocked them down, as it did so often, our central Floridian forefathers and foremothers needed the endurance to get back up on their feet and prepare to face the next insurmountable challenge head on.

 Visit my website at www.croninbooks.com for Central Florida history.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

1845: The Speer family & the St. Johns River

 

Holiday Post - Part 3:

 

The Speer family & the St. Johns River of 1845

Algernon Speer and father-in-law Arthur Ginn are well-known to fans of central Florida history. They are remembered as the earliest settlers of Mellonville - Fort Reid, along the south shore of Lake Monroe, or Sanford as most know it today. But what about Algernon’s brother, Alexander Speer, of Culloden, GA?

A February 1845 letter to the editor of 1845 sheds new light on a third Speer family member in the origins of central Florida. Published March 13, 1845, in the Southern Reporter, Alexander, it turns out, was also well acquainted with a newly christened Orange County. Florida Territory became the 27^th State in 1845. A Second Indian War had ended three years prior, and surveyors were busy at work that year mapping Florida south of Lake George. Surveys were needed so homestead applications could commence.

Mosquito County became Orange County as of 1845, and Orange still had oceanfront property that year. Volusia County was not formed until 1854. But few individuals knew about Orange County, and only a handful of settlers, as we learn from Alexander Speer, had dared to call the wilderness south of Lake Monroe their home.

Having explored the land below Lake Monroe by early 1845, Alexander Speer provided an eye-witness account of his travels into central Florida. His analysis below is unedited except for an occasional (sic) to indicate a different spelling than is used today.

Augusta, Ga., 1^st Feb. 1845,

South Florida

“Messrs. Editors: In reply to numerous inquiries from various parts of the State, permit me to trouble you with one more letter on South Florida. The inquiries are so numerous, that I hardly know how to reply without being tedious. However, I will condense what I have to say as much as possible.

“First. There are two routes to Florida, one by railroad to Savannah, and thence by weekly steamboats to Lake Monroe, 225 miles up the St. Johns. This route, from Macon, going and returning, will cost about 50 dollars.

“From Savannah to Lake Monroe, will take about four days; and the traveler would do well to lay in his stores at Savannah, on which to subsist while exploring the country. In going this route, the voyager will see a most magnificent river in the St. Johns. It varies from 1 to 3 miles wide up to Lake George, a distance of 140 miles. Lake George is 12 miles wide and 20 long, and beautiful as the vision of fancy. Here the tide stops, and the river from this place is from 200 to 400 yards wide, and very deep; and from this lake up is called the “Upper St. Johns.”

“The lakes are in the following order, as you ascend: Little Lake George, Lake George, Spring Garden Lake, Lake Berisford (sic), Lake Monroe, Lake Jessup (sic), Lake Pointsett (sic), Lake Hainey (sic), Lake Winder (sic), and Lake Washington; and beyond this, the river is unexplored.

“Lake Washington is very large and is perhaps about 100 miles higher than Lake Monroe. Lake Jessup (sic) was the ne plus ultra of my peregrinating and is about 250 miles by water from the mouth of the river.

“During the war, large steamboats ascended the river about 46 miles beyond Lake Monroe, and it is unknown how much farther they can go. The objections to the traveler taking this route, are, that it is expensive, and he will hardly be able to get horses to explore the country when he gets there.

“A public house is kept by Major Taylor at Enterprise, on the east (sic) side of Lake Monroe. From this lake to Smyrna on the Atlantic coast, is 18 miles, and to Tampa, on the Gulf, is about 70 miles; the Lake lying nearly between them. Further up the river, say 70 to 80 miles, it approaches so near the Atlantic, that, from the river you can hear the roaring of the surf as the waves roll in on the shore – and here the river is said to be 60 or 80 feet higher than the sea; and it is asserted that a canal of six miles long would connect that part of the river with the sea, and this is already contemplated by the settlers of Indian River.

“The better plan to explore the country is to go by land. Any one can look at a map and see the course. From where I reside, the way would be through Lowndes County and thence to Fort King. Here the settlements cease, and for about 80 miles you have the wilderness, to Lake Monroe. There are roads, however, or trails, and no difficulty to get on by taking some stores with you. On this route you may see Orange Lake, then Lake Eustace (sic), and Lake Opopka (sic), then Fort Gatlin, where three families reside, then turn east (sic) 25 miles to Lake Monroe and Lake Jessup (sic), where several families reside.

“I am asked if the country is healthy? How about musketoes (sic)? And what about the water?

“1^st. As to health, I would be very willing to live there. I think is healthy. My reasons are these; the great mass of the country is poor sand pine land, or sandy oak scrubs. The branches, creeks, rivers and lakes, have sandy shores and sandy bottoms, and there is very little wet land, notwithstanding the authority of Murray’s Encyclopedia of Geography, which asserts that it is all swamp, and produces forty bushels of frogs to the acre.

“2. The climate is mild and delightful – ne extreme cold or heat – a slight frost indicates the greatest cold, and heat scarcely ever reaches 90 degrees. Here in Georgia, we have it up to 95, and in the upper valley of the Mississippi, according to the notes of an officer of the army, it ranges from 105 to 115. In Cuba 84 is the greatest heat.  The reason is, these warmer regions are continually fanned by sea breezes, moderating the heat of the sun, producing a bracing and exhilarating effect on the feelings, and preventing that lassitude which is so often the precursor of fever.

“3. The settlers after trying the country for several years, say it is healthy; and I, from the face of the country, see no reason to doubt their word. But let man judge for himself and act accordingly.

Next in order come the musketoes (sic). The editor of the Democrat, in Columbus, manifests some alarm on this subject. I was amused at his fears. What? A man living in Columbus afraid of musketoes! (sic) It is too bad. This insect is not a stranger in Georgia. Hot weather and standing water will bring them forth anywhere. They swarm on the lakes of Canada; they filled the woods in the settling of Kentucky. Go near the rivers and you will find them – go back into the pine lands and there are none. As it is here, so it is in Florida. I saw none when there, but no doubt about the rivers, there are a plenty in summer. I was told there were none in the pine lands off from the river.

As to water, I think it about such as we get in the pine lands of Georgia. Some better and some worse. Neither the river nor lakes are good, though those who are accustomed to them think differently. The small creeks and branches tasted very pleasantly. So also the wells and springs, as far as I saw. What is called sand hill water is as good there as in Georgia. It is true, however, that there is no such water to be found in Florida as is seen gushing from rocks and mountains, and an up-country man would no doubt for a time complain of the water, but this passes away in a few weeks, and he feels it no more.

From Culloden, I think it about 400 miles to Lake Monroe by land; and by water, via Savannah, it is about 800. I beg leave to remark, that I am persuading no one to go to Florida. I have no interest involved, and no motive to make a misstatement, and have not done so knowingly. I intended an act of kindness when I published my letter, and nothing more. Let all judge and act for themselves. I selected a spot on Lake Jessup (sic) to which I desire to move, but whether I shall ever get there is another question; time will determine.

ALEXANDER SPEER.”

End of Speer's letter to the Editor.

Happy Holidays from

Richard Lee Cronin, Author & Historian

CroninBooks.com

GIFT HISTORY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! 

First Steamboat on Lake Monroe

 Holiday Post Part 2 

‘Essayons’ Lakes Monroe

Cruger & DePeyster Sugar Mill Ruins, courtesy Florida Memory Project

A year following steamboat Florida entering Lake George in May 1834 (Part 1), the December 1835 Dade Massacre, during which 108 soldiers were killed, combined with a total of 16 plantations burned on Christmas Day of 1835, resulted in a buildup of troops to defend the Florida Territory. Burning of the plantations at New Smyrna and Spring Garden, including the Cruger & DePeyster Sugar Mill as the ruins of which is shown above, brought troops up the St. Johns River. A United States territory then, it was to be another decade before Florida was to become a State.

Chapter One of my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise quotes from the personal memoirs of frontierswoman Jane Murray of New Smyrna. Jane describes her home being attacked and burned by Indians, and of how, alone with her small children, she managed to escape as her home burned to the ground. Georgia newspapers of January 1836 reported accounts of an attack on nearby Spring Garden too, and of troops boarding the streamer John Stoney in route to the St. Johns River.

Central Florida history by Richard Lee Cronin

www.CroninBooks.com

As troops began positioning, General Winfield Scott arrived at Volusia landing, south of Lake George on the St. Johns River. “Finding there the United States steamer Essayons, I embarked in her and with a guard of only seventeen men determined to penetrate, by the St. Johns, the southern part of the peninsular as far as practicable.” General Scott stated the reason for the expedition was to chart the course and depth of the river, and said that he found, “no difficulty in passing up to the head of Lake Monroe and might have carried that at point a draft of eight or nine feet of water.”

1840s survey of Lake Monroe and St. Johns River east of todays Sanford

Dates stated above are especially noteworthy in putting the legend of Orlando Reeves to the test. Supposedly killed by Indians near Lake Eola in September 1835. Reeves, according to a tablet attached to a rock at Lake Eola, was on night duty when attacked. Orlando and much of Orange County however was at that time Indian territory. According to General Scott’s published report of May 1836, the Army had not yet commenced land exploratory missions prior to May 1836, nor did such a campaign commence until after Fort Monroe had been established in December 1836.

The Orlando Reeves fable lives on because of a rock at Lake Eola

First Road to Orlando, by Richard Lee Cronin, exposes the truth!

 

General Scott had determined that they had sailed 200 miles south via river from Volusia landing, commenting that he thought they could have gone another fifty or sixty miles south towards Cape Florida had they been able to cross the bar. The “bar” mentioned by Scott was likely where the river flowed from Lake Jesup, just beyond present day Sanford. The General added, “such point, we found about eight miles below Lake Monroe, on the east bank. A leading trail passes through it”. The “trail” was likely the trailhead where Camp Monroe would soon to established, this trail being the north end of what in 1838 became the Fort Mellon to Fort Gatlin Trail, aka, by 1856, The First Road to Orlando.

185 years ago this month, in December 1836, Army troops established Camp Monroe on Lake Monroe. A pier was built extending out into Lake Monroe for offloading soldiers and supplies, and soldiers spent Christmas of 1836 guarding a lonely wilderness outpost far from home. Two months later, in February 1837, their fortress was attacked by Indians and, as a battle ensued, Captain Charles Mellon was killed.

President James Monroe, father of the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation to European Powers that there would be no further colonization of Latin America, had died July 4, 1831. Lake Valdez as the “Second Lake” on the St. Johns River had been named prior to the United States taking possession of the Florida Territory, was changed to Lake Monroe in honor of the 5^th President – the third to have died on the Anniversary of our Nation’s Independence. Camp Monroe, in 1837, was renamed Fort Mellon in honor of Captain Charles Mellon. Troops then began preparations for an exploratory journey of 28 miles due south – deep into an unknown wilderness.

As troops marched south in the direction of Lake Tohopekaliga, they paused to established a supply post after about a day's journey - naming that post Fort Maitland. The post was named in honor of William Seton Maitland, a fellow soldier who had died of injuries at the Battle of Wahoo Swamp.

The march continued south until they reached a position to establish yet another fortress, naming that post Fort Gatlin in honor of Dr. Gatlin, a casualty of the 1835 Dade Massacre. Both fortresses were established in 1838 - and yet neither was named for Orlando Reeves - primarily because there was no such soldier.     

Our holiday series blog will continue.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM

RICHARD LEE CRONIN, and

CRONINBOOKS.COM