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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 162/340

A Period of Growth and Development
their tax obligation by cutting roots, bushes and weeds from the
sides of the roads to keep them from being so rough. The town had
a board walk, and kerosene lamps on posts provided illumination
at night. Except for the railroad, travel in and out of the town was
primarily by horse. The town provided hitching posts and water
troughs for the animals. A livery stable was maintained by Man
Terry.23
Moreland noted that much of the character of Fort White was
similar to a frontier town of the western United States. Many
women did not go to town on Saturday afternoons because con­
ditions were usually “rough.” The principal saloon was located on
the main street (Jordan Street). It was equipped with swinging
doors. Young men and boys were not permitted to enter, and the
“respectable people” of the town tried to avoid walking past the
establishment.24
Frontier conditions seemed to prevail in the classrooms of the
schools as well. Moreland attended both a small one room school in
the country and the three room school in Fort White. He noted that
teachers readily disciplined students with chinquapin or any other
switches that might be handy. Students commonly kept a bottle of
cane syrup in the school room to be used with the biscuits and meat
which they brought in their tin lunch pails.25
Moreland remembered the Pitts Phosphate Company as one of
the largest industries in the Fort White area. A small tram road
consisting of wooden rails covered with steel strips and a small
wood-burning locomotive called “cabbage head” carried the phos­
phate to Fort White where it was transferred to the Plant railroad
line. In turn the phosphate was taken to Fernandina for export. He
noted that the Plant railroad, which later became the Atlantic

23 S. W. Moreland, “The Fort White I Remember in Early Youth,” typewritten
copy, Columbia County Historical Society Collection.
“Ibid.
25 Ibid.
149

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