The Birth of the City of Miami 17


Valentine of Fort Lauderdale was surveying and platting the area at
the fork of the Miami River and some of the Brickell property outside
the town site of Miami.52
 Following his doctor's advice, Flagler arrived in Jacksonville on
October 30, on his way to St. Augustine." At the same time, railroad
workers, clearing the right-of-way to Miami, (with graders following
along behind them) were nearing Lemon City.54 On November 4,
Flagler, along with J. R. Parrott, Ingraham and R. T. Goff, left St.
Augustine to inspect his railway, hotels and railroad bridges. He
traveled as far south as Lantana by train, for the tracks ended at that
point.55 In the meantime, the railroad bridge across Lake Worth was
completed while Flagler was in South Florida. With this bridge com-
pleted, workers who had been engaged in its construction, moved
south to begin building railroad bridges over the Hillsboro and New
Rivers.56
 In the second week of November, Flagler journeyed to Miami,
returning to St. Augustine on November 14.57 In all likelihood, Flagler
came to Miami to sign the contract of October 24. With that, and the
railroad on its way, activity in Miami began to pick up. Men, both
black and white, from throughout Florida flocked to Miami to await
Flagler's call for workers of all qualifications to begin work on the
promised hotel and city. By late December 1895, seventy-five of
them already were at work clearing the site for the hotel. They lived
mostly in tents and huts in the wilderness that as of yet had no streets
and few cleared paths. These men were primarily victims of the
great freeze that had left both money and work scarce.58
 At the December 10 meeting of the Dade County Commission
in Juno, Dade's county seat, Mary Brickell posted a performance
bond to operate a ferry across the Miami River. This conveyance
would allow men camped on the north side of the river to reach the
south side where the Brickells operated their trading post and post
office.59
 The long-awaited Florida Coast Line Canal was completed to
Biscayne Bay in mid-January 1896,6Y To inaugurate the canal, Flagler
- its president with other officials, took the first trip along the
canal's uninterrupted, sheltered route of 40 miles from Lake Worth
to Biscayne Bay in the river steamboat J. W. Sweeny under the
command of Capt. S. A. Bravo.61 The line began operating regularly
scheduled steamboat service between Lake Worth and Miami with
the completion of the canal. The boats Hittie and Della left from