dried fish and pelts to ship to northern
markets. The coastal pioneers lived a
transitory life. When hurricanes washed
ashore, the storm surge would cover the
land in saltwater, souring the earth. If a
family didn’t have enough provisions to
last out the many months until the soil
became arable again—and most didn’t—
they’d be forced to move on to another
plot of land.
Trading posts started by Ted Smallwood on Chokoloskee Island (est. 1906) and George Storter (1892) at Everglade (later Everglades City) became important gathering places for the few isolated settlers and Indians.
It is believed that the first all year resident in Naples dates back to 1876. The Weeks family became the first settlers in Naples. These early settlers were all squatters. How many of them came in the next ten years is not known but they were sufficient in numbers to protest when the land became the property of Hamilton Disston in the early 1880's.
9
The Hamilton Disston Land Purchase
By an act of Congress in 1841 provision was made for granting 500,000 acres of public lands to each new state admitted into the Union, for the purpose of internal improvements. The grant was made to Florida upon its admission in 1845, without restrictions. This act was supplemented in 1850 by another granting to the State of Florida all of the swamp and overflowed lands in the state then unsold with the provision that the proceeds derived from the sale or appropriation of the lands be applied exclusively to the purposes of reclaiming them by means of levees and drains. The number of acres thus accredited to Florida was estimated to be about fifteen million.
In 1855 the legislature of Florida passed an act vesting all of the unsold lands acquired by the State through the acts of Congress, together with the proceeds derived from the sale of these lands, in a fund to be known as the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Florida. This Fund was a trust, represented by the governor and four other state officials and their successors in office. It was a separate department of administration responsible for its own obligations and none