6 TEQUESTA


Miami Shores. Sturtevant had been a friend of Brickell in Cleveland
until a disagreement brought the friendship to a halt.2
 The Miami area, in the years leading up to the railroad's arrival,
was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country." The only overland
transportation to the area was by a hack (or stagecoach) line that ran
from Lantana on the southern end of Lake Worth to Lemon City on
Biscayne Bay. The few published accounts from that period describe
the area as a wilderness that held much promise.3
 Lying five miles north of the Miami River, Lemon City could
boast of only fifteen buildings in 1893. However, many homesteaders
had settled on land up to five miles away from the core of the
settlements. One of these buildings was a new hotel that could ac-
commodate twenty-five to thirty guests. Two miles south were sev-
eral people living in Buena Vista. "Cocoanut Grove" (as it was
spelled then) sat ?? miles south of the Miami River; it contained
twenty-eight buildings "of a very neat and tasteful character," two
large stores doing an "immense business," and a hotel run by Charles
and Isabella Peacock. Cutler, eight miles south of Cocoanut Grove,
also contained a few settlers.4
 But the jewel on Biscayne Bay was Miami. The site where the
Miami River emptied into the bay was described as the cream of the
property in the area. There was rich, heavy hammock growth, and
to the south, on the Brickell lands, a high, rocky bluff, which was
characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida."5 The
Tuttles lived in a large home that had been in use when Fort Dallas
occupied the spot at the time of the Indian wars of the mid-nine-
teenth century. Julia Tuttle repaired and converted the home into one
of the show places in the area.6 It possessed a wide porch on the
second story that provided a sweeping view of the river and the bay.
The bay itself was a favorite resort for wealthy yachtsmen who
came to the area in the winter for fishing and cruising.7
 Flagler's biographers debate just when he first planned to ex-
tend his railroad south to Miami and eventually on to Key West.
Perhaps no one but Flagler ever will know, although correspondence
related to this matter dates to the early 1890s. However, the point in
time when the decision actually was made to begin extending the
railroad south from West Palm Beach can be ascertained as Febru-
ary 1895.1
 Flagler, who earlier had achieved great wealth in partnership
with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, had been developing the