8 TEQUESTA


of land for each mile of the waterway. The FCLCTC sold this land
to settlers and farmers who, in turn, provided commerce for the canal
which was to operate on a toll system. Thus began the first major
commercial enterprise to link the Miami area with the outside world."
 The company was never well capitalized. Sales of the lands
awarded it by the state of Florida for work completed was disap-
pointing. This led to serious financial problems in 1892, at which time
the FCLCTC prevailed upon its competitor, Henry Flagler, for help.
Flagler's railroad then reached only as far south as Daytona Beach,
but he was planning to extend it to Rockledge, eighty miles to the
south. The railroad also operated on a system of receiving state
grants of land for each mile of railway constructed. The canal's
charter had effectively tied up the state land along its proposed route
to Biscayne Bay. The state pledged the canal company all of its land
designated as land to be granted. This state land amounted to every
other section, on a township and range basis, within a six-mile-wide
stretch along the canal's route. Flagler realized that the state was left
with no land to grant to his railroad when it pushed farther south, so
he used his bargaining skills learned during his Standard Oil days to
negotiate a most favorable partnership with the canal company: he
would provide capital in exchange for assuming the company's presi-
dency and his railroad would receive a grant of 1,500 acres of the
canal company's land for each mile of new track. The extension of
the railroad would, in turn, increase the probability that the canal
company could successfully market its remaining lands to potential
settlers. The canal company and railroad also agreed on a plan to
settle and develop some of the lands jointly.'2
 Thus, with the assured land available, Flagler pushed his rail-
road farther south, reaching Rockledge in February 1893 and Fort
Pierce in January 1894. In February 1894, Flagler opened the jewel
of his resort hotels, the Royal Poinciana, at Palm Beach."3 It was the
largest wooden structure in the world, containing 1,150 rooms. The
following month Flagler completed the extension of his railroad south-
ward from Fort Pierce to West Palm Beach. In return for this ex-
tension the canal company issued the railroad 102,917 acres in Janu-
ary 1895. These deeds contained land in the Miami area as there
were not sufficient lands owned by the canal company along the
railroad extension between Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach."4
Within weeks of receiving this land Flagler would decide to begin his
extension to Miami.