The Birth of the City of Miami 11


have happened, and possibly I some day may hold you to that prom-
ise."22 Two years later, while still president of the South Florida
Railroad, Ingraham took an expedition across the Everglades from
Fort Myers to Miami to investigate the possibilities of extending the
Plant line to Miami. After the Ingraham expedition reached Julia
Tuttle's home in April 1892, exhausted and half starved, James
Ingraham became impressed with the Biscayne area, spending sev-
eral days exploring it with his hostess. Soon after, however, the Plant
System decided not to extend its railroad to Miami from Tampa, and
six months after the expedition, Ingraham was hired away by Flagler.
In his capacity with the railroad's land department, Ingraham would
become one of Miami's most important early supporters.23
 Speaking before a meeting of the Miami Women's Club in
November 1920, on the occasion of a plaque dedication ceremony
in honor of Henry Flagler, Ingraham recalled his return to Miami
following the freeze of February 1895:

 I found at Lauderdale, at Lemon City, Buena Vista, Miami, Co-
 conut Grove and at Cutler orange trees, lemon trees and lime
 trees blooming or about to bloom without a leaf hurt, vegetables
 growing in a small way untouched. There had been no frost
 there. I gathered up a lot of blooms from these various trees,
 put them in damp cotton, and after an in-
 terview with Mrs. Tuttle and Mr. and Mrs.
 Brickell of Miami, I hurried to St. August- j
 ine, where I called on Mr. Flagler and
 showed him the orange blossoms, telling
 him that I believed that these orange blos-
 soms were from the only part of Florida,
 except possibly a small area on the extreme
 southerly part of the western coast, which
 had escaped the freeze; that here was a
 body of land more than 40 miles long, be-
 tween the Everglades and the Atlantic
 Ocean, perhaps very much longer than
 that, absolutely untouched, and that I be-
 lieved that it would be the home of the cit- James E. Ingraham
 rus industry in the future, because it was (HASF 1976-85-1)
 absolutely immune from devastating