*Flagler was Rockefeller’s partner in founding Standard Oil… Rockefeller I’ve heard of… I had never heard of Flagler before traveling the Florida Keys a few years ago.

*The Key West extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad was/is considered to be the 8th wonder of the world.

*There is no fresh water in Key West. It’s all shipped by pipeline from Miami and follows a similar route as the Overseas Highway and the old railroad.

*You’re only a conch if you were born in the Keys.

I would be like most people, I suppose, in not thinking much of the history of the railroad nor the highway while driving the narrow stretch from Miami to Key West. When we travelled the route, we were looking at the beautiful scenery.. water…water…water. EVERYWHERE is water on both sides. One could get a little claustrophobic thinking about that especially after reading all of these hurricane stories. Of course, I would probably not go there, myself, during hurricane season. For those of you who like reading storm stories, you’ll like this book because it talks about the hurricanes that slowed the progress of this project and eventually meant the closure of the railroad after the 1935 Labor Day weekend hurricane… 500 people were killed… same hurricane as in the Charlotte’s Story book review I gave awhile back. But, I digress. Back to *this* story. When we travelled the Overseas Highway, I didn’t even stop to wonder why the tops of the railroad bridges were gone nor what an engineering feat it would have been to actually build a structure such as this across the marshy everglades and ocean! It didn’t cross my mind that until the twentieth century the only way to get to Key West was by BOAT! Ok.. that wasn’t THAT long ago. According to the author: In a sense, the highway is what remains of one of the last great gasps of the Manifest Destiny and an undertaking that marked the true closing of the American Frontier. Yep.. that’s what I was thinking about when I drove the highway (LOL). NOT… but if I ever have the priviledge of taking another drive down this stretch of highway, I will be thinking about the above-mentioned things *AND* I will plan to take more time to stop and enjoy the historical sights along the way now that I know what they are!

Flagler is credited with basically founding Florida from the upper part clear down to Miami and then connecting Key West with the mainland. He would decide where to run his railroad to and then build a resort type place there where people would want to travel to for rest and relaxation. He spent most of his Standard Oil fortune on building the Florida East Coast Railroad company. The most costly part being the Key West extension which he didn’t even start until he was over 80 years old. He dreamed of having a deep water port in Key West that would coincide with the building of the Panama Canal to make Key West a key port for international trade. LOTS more information in this book. Next time I’ll take better notes so I can write a more detailed review. I LOVED the book and I’m planning to read “Meet You in Hell” by this same author which is the story of the breakup of the Flagler and Rockefeller partnership in Standard Oil. The author alluded to the problems with this partnership throughout this book just enough that it piqued my interest. Mr. Flagler appears to have not cared about his money as much as Rockefeller.. and now everyone who loves to vacation (or live in FL) can thank him for that since it wasn’t a money producing project, but it left a trail of towns/cities and vacation places that we can still visit and enjoy today.

To round out this book review I’m posting a few pictures from our previous vacation to FL.

In summary, I have to say that I have an entirely new appreciation for this area and it’s history after reading this book. Would Florida be what it is today had there not been a Henry Flagler? Hard to say. In today’s world of bottom lines and corporate profits it would be hard to imagine someone willing to spend that much $$ on such an unsure venture. .. not to mention DEQ reports, OSHA regulations, and multiple other studies that would have been required today…. oh and the Davis Bacon wages… that would have made the cost astronomical compared to the dollars per month some of these workers earned. Hmmm… yea.. I’m pretty sure they would not have attempted such a feat in today’s world…. the cost analysis alone would have scared most people away today.