OBSERVATIONS BY LT. JOHN W. HAWLEY, 
OF U. S. COAST SURVEY. 
29th January, 1885. 
Mr. Wm. C. Chase : 
Dear Sit—Your letter 13th inst., requesting my opinion* 
with such data as I may have bearing upon the subject as to the 
desirability of Tampa and adjacent places on the Gulf coast for 
winter resorts, especially as to health, has been received. In 
reply, I have to offer for vour consideration the following data, 
taken from the log book of the Coast Survey schooner “ Earnest,” 
employed in the waters of Tampa and Sira Sota Bays, under 
my command during winter and spring of 1876: From February 
9, 1876, till May 27, 1876, the record shows a total of 96 
bright, pleasant days, 12 days during which there were at inter- 
vals light passing showers, and but one day when it rained con- 
stantly for twenty-four hours, and “let it be recorded,” was the 
3d of April, 1876. 
The general direction of the wind during that period was from 
N.F. by way of east to S. F., and it varied in force from light airs 
to a fresh breeze. Calms were noted for ten days during the 
entire time. An easterly wind is pretty sure to bring fine, dry 
weather on the Gulf coast; the fogs and moisture picked up by 
it from the Atlantic Ocean having been consumed during its 
transit of the main peninsula. I have no record of the tempera- 
ture, but I well remember that it was warm and delightful. The 
barometer stood high most of the time, showing a dry atmos- 
phere, and at night there was so little dew as to be barely per- 
ceptible, and one could be out without wraps and have no fear 
of contracting a cold 
I had no sickness among my crew that could in any way be 
attributed to climatic effects I am not familiar with Point 
Pinellas, but its location between large bodies of salt water would 
indicate that it should be free from malaria, and have an even, 
mild climate. 
My experience during 1876, and subsequently in 1878, in 
Tampa bay and Charlotte harbor, leads me to believe that all 
places 011 the coast, in the immediate vicinity, are healthful, and 
on that account, and for many others which I might mention, are 
very desirable for winter resorts. 
Yerv respectfully, 
JOHN W. HAWLEY. 
Lieutenant Hawley, at present engaged in New York harbor, is a prominent 
officer in the United States Geodedic and Coast Survey service. He surveyed 
Tampa hay, as may he seen by the official charts. Pinellas is on Tampa hay. 
Lieutenant Hergesheimer, who has been for some time past engaged in survey- 
ing the waters of South Gulf coast of Florida, and to whom Dr. Toner refers in his 
letter herein, fully agrees with Lieut. Hawley. Lieut. Ilergesheimer is gathering 
some very valuable data concerning the South Gulf coast region. 
WM. C. CHASE. 2 
FROM DR. JOHN ABERCROMBIE. 
Pinellas, Florida. 
Mr. Wm. C. Chase : 
Dear Sir—I have lived at this point for something over three 
years, moved here with a large family from Memphis, Tennes- 
see, where for seven or eight years I practised my profession ; 
prior to this, for many years I lived in the Mississippi river 
bottoms, below Helena, Arkansas. We came here almost a 
family of invalids, my wife with a chronic bronchial affection, 
with terrible cough, the rest of us, aneamic, sallow, subject to 
frequent attacks of intermittent fever; my wife experienced 
prompt relief, the cough disappearing entirely; the children are 
ruddy and robust. 
After examining the Gulf coast carefully, from the head of 
the Caloosahatchee river to Cedar Keys, making frequent 
pedestrian excursions inland, I selected this point as my future 
home. I could find many localities where the soil was more 
fertile, but none that promised such immunity from disease as 
this. We have no swamp lands, no large area of “ hammock ” 
land and but little blackish or salt-marsh. The climate has 
never been over rated ; the mild temperature, constant motion 
and purity of the atmosphere, make it almost perfection. So far 
as I am aware, I am the only physician within twenty miles or 
more of this point, I have since January 1st made five profes- 
sional visits, at one time ten weeks elapsed without a call, not 
even a dose of medicine was wanted. The cases I have seen 
were general of a mild tyj e and readily yielded to treatment. 
That there is so little disease in a country comparatively new 
and where the summer is long, is worthy of remark. Anaemia, 
in one form or another, especially in child bearing women, due 
entirely to poor quality and lack of variety in food, is the 
principal trouble. The healthy condition of the people (natives) 
who are utterly ignorant of everything apertaining to sanitation, 
is without doubt due to the fact that, with pure air, they have 
another great blessing, an abundant supply of pure and soft 
water. On the highest land an abundant supply can be had at a 
depth of between twenty and thirty feet; even during the most 
protracted drought. I do not indeed remember to have seen a 
single well of a depth greater than twenty feet. These wells are 
rude, cheap affairs; brick for curbing being out of the question. 
Water is generally found in a very pure and white sand, quite 
free from earthy matter; in this strata I have never found shell, 
limestone, or lime in any form. Occasionally water may be 
found in which there is a slight trace of sulphur. We have no 
well in this southern portion of the peninsula which is either 
“hard” or brackish, not even those wells in immediate proximity 
to the coast line. As wells are never covered, or protected from 3 
the noonday sun by arbor or shed, the water is often warmer 
than it should be, this can .be avoided by the use of (deeper) 
tubular piping, and by means of these, I have no doubt but that 
we may have flowing wells, such as are common in the eastern 
portion of the state. Cement, or underground cisterns for 
storing rain water can be made here more easily, and as cheaply 
as in clay soil. It is true that during the long drought of ’83-’84 
some few wells went dry, and careless families suffered for 
portable water, using that collected from holes in low spots, or 
from drains nearly gone dry, by deepening their wells a few feet, 
there was ever to be had a bountiful supply. To sum up this 
matter, I can say with perfect truth, that nowhere have I ever 
known a people so singularly free from disease of every kind. 
Nothing of a malarial type, 1 see no cause for malaria, nor have 
I ever known a country, a lywhere so bountifully supplied 
with good, wholesome and palatable water. If any one ever 
suffered for water, it was because he was too lazy to dig twenty 
feet to obtain it. The fish and game and natural resources here 
are certainly an inducement for a comfortable, healthy home. 
In haste, I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 
JOHN ABERCROMBIE, M. D. 
Dr. Abercrombie having travelled extensively in this country and abroad, and 
for years devoting attention to sanitary and health matters, is able to give an 
opinion. It will be seen he concurs with Dr. John B. Wall, of Tampa, and Dr. 
Charles J. Kenworthy, of Jacksonville, Fla., concerning Pinellas. 
WM. C. CHASE. 
FROM CIVIL ENGINEER HENRY A. SMELTZ 
Pr. Pinellas, P'la. 
Mr. Chase: 
Dear Sir—Your note of inquiry as to “my impressions” of 
Point Pinellas is before me Well, my impressions to-day, after 
five and a-lialf years’ residence, are very different from those I 
had when I left Tampa to come here, for then I expected to find 
it a low, swampy point of land jutting out into the gulf. Espe- 
cially are my impressions different because then I landed here an 
invalid of several years’ standing, having but one sound lung 
and scarcely able to walk, whilst to-day I am strong and robust 
and as able to spend my day in the field as I have ever been. 
And as an evidence of what the Point has done for me let me 
remind you that I surveyed the entire Point, with a shore line of 
about fifteen miles, and during all these months, winter and sum- 
mee, I camped out with my men in one tent, and, with the others, 
slept on the ground most of the time, and never lost a day from 
sickness, nor did any one of my men. 
The survey was made to lay off in five-acre lots all lands 
within a mile of the coast, and into ten-acre lots further back. 4 
And as it was required of me to make a detailed report on the 
character of each lot as to high or low land, quality, what 
adapted to, &c., &c., it necessitated my going over and becom- 
ing acquainted with every portion of the Point. 
As to the shore lines I find, on comparing my own field notes 
with those of the United States Survey of 1848, that the shore 
lines generally have receded and the banks become more abrupt. 
The record of my level-book along these shores would surprise 
any one unacquainted with this sub-peninsula. As a rule the 
land rises gradually, but decidedly, as soon as you leave the 
water line, and on an average of two hundred yards back the 
level-book shows an elevation of from seven to ten feet, except,, 
of course, where the shore line is abrupt, and here frequently the 
banks are fifteen feet above tide-water. Then, as you go inland 
to what may be called the backbone ridge or water-shed, which, 
on the Point, would not be inaptly represented in shape by a 
horseshoe, we reach air elevation of from sixty to ninety feet. 
Owing to this rise of the land everywhere, and the peculiar 
shape of the Point, I believe Point Pinellas has the best system 
of natural drainage of any large body of land I have ever sur- 
veyed (except in mountain regions). And with a very small 
expenditure to open up a few ditches there is not an acre of land 
on Point Pinellas which will not be perfectly drained and fit for 
cultivation. 
Hence, the wonderful exemption from all forms of malarial 
disease. 
As to water, I never had less trouble to supply my. men with 
drinking water, for when out of reach of one of the scores of 
splendid wells of pure, soft water all over the Point, the digging 
of a hole from five to ten feet deep, and a flour barrel put in for 
curbing would, by next morning, give us an abundance of good 
water. When on the immediate sea shore, we need go back but 
a few feet from tide mark and soon get plenty of fresh water by 
digging down about three feet. 
I think, without exception, the water supply of Point Pinellas 
is as abundant and of as good quality as I have ever seen in any 
country. 
I cannot close this hasty sketch of “my impressions” of Point 
Pinellas without recording my disappointment as to the number 
of snakes found during the survey we made, for I am sure 1 never 
surveyed in any State where there are so few snakes to the square 
rod as there are in this section. 
Respectfully, 
HENRY A. SMELTZ, C. E. 
Mr. Snieltz was recommended to visit Florida by Dr. Frank Donaldson, Sr., of 
Baltimore, Md. WM. C. CHASE.