Florida Photographic Concern | Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

Gigantic old-growth slash pines, with all the glory to be called “longleaf pine,” stood right here in the St. Lucie River region of Stuart, Palm, City, Indiantown, Jensen, and Hobe Sound. Eagles built massive nests in their crowns. Fox squirrels as large as cats leapt through their branches. Black bears stopped to scratch their backs against wide and furrowed bark. Stealthy panthers and long-legged bobcats silently crept over pine needles in search of turkeys, deer, and wild hog. The endless knocking of the red-cockaded woodpecker echoed throughout until humankind’s insatiable demand for lumber and turpentine brought these forests down.

“Towering pines near Stuart, the Hearste Track. Mills start cutting soon.” Florida Photographic Concern, ca. 1923, courtesy of Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg.

My mother, historian Sandra Thurlow, recently has been amazed by her friend Tootsie’s Facebook pictures! I am sharing more today. In her research, mom also found a column of the late Ernie Lyons, award winning Stuart News editor and writer from 1931-1975. His words pulled from the dust give new life to what once was all around us-something once so wonderful that we don’t even know existed anymore – the great pine forests. As a certified tree hugger, with a tear in my eye, I share Tootsie’s local historic Hill photos together with mom’s discovery of Ernie Lyon’s column. Together they tell the story of our lost forests, a story we must never forget.

“In Johnston & McNeil’s pine forest of one hundred and thirty square miles of fine trees, near Stuart, Fla. Others own still larger adjoining holdings, amount them being the Southern States Land & Timber Company.” The remarkable photographs in this post were taken by Florida Photographic Concern, of Ft. Pierce, Florida ca. 1923. They were shared courtesy of Mrs. Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg a friend of my mothers. These photographs were among many included in planning and selling the idea of Stuart’s Deepwater Harbor that I wrote of in my last blog post.

“Some of the seven thousand barrels of resin at Johnston & McNeil’s turpentine camp, sixteen miles south of Stuart, near the great St. Lucie Control Canal .”

“Another view of Johnston & McNeil’s resin, at camp near Stuart, Fla.”

“Johnston… “ These virgin slash pine forests were under storied by palmetto and wire grass creating a wildlife sanctuary of food and protection.

According to “The Atlas of Florida,” 1992: “Pines, especially long leaf and slash, accounted for three-fourths of the state’s original 25-30 million acres of forests.

A fox squirrel, courtesy of Dr, Gary Goforth.

“Manatee Pocket,” Port Salerno, just inside the St. Lucie Inlet and adjacent to Sewall’s Point turning basin. Courtesy of Stuart High School graduate Mrs. Tootsie Haggard Kindberg who shared her rare Hill Florida Photographic Concern historic photographs taken in the early 1920s.

Original document for U.S. Government explaining photographs to be used to secure creation of Stuart’s “deepwater harbor” signed in 1923 by Stanley Kitching, Stuart Commercial Club. This document is transcribed above by Sandra Thurlow.

It is sobering to study history. So many of our region’s early dreams, desires, and economics were tied to the St. Lucie Canal (1916-1924) and also building a gigantic deep water harbor, “Port Stuart,” just inside the St. Lucie Inlet that would have been located in the region of Sewall’s Point and Salerno’s Manatee Pocket. Because of local resident, Mrs. Tootsie Kindberg, who shared her rare Hill Florida Photographic Concern collection, we now have major insight into this era.

For context, in a January 11, 1923 Stuart News article entitled “For All Florida,” Stanley Kitching, president of the Stuart Commercial Club, speaks of the importance of sharing these photographs. Kitching argues the photographs prove need to the U.S. Government for a port to help extract the untaped riches of the St. Lucie region- as this deep water port or harbor would be connected not only to the St. Lucie Canal, but also to Lake Okeechobee.

In support of her friend Tootsie, my mother historian Sandra Thurlow has transcribed a Stuart Messenger article written on January 18, 1923. It is a documentation of the meeting with the U.S. government about funding the deepwater harbor. The attendee read like a “who’s who list.” Although this dream did not materialize in full, thankfully, it must be studied.

I want to thank Mrs. Tootsie Haggard Kindberg who shared her family’s historic photos that were the inspiration for this post. Please look through them and read the article! Looking backwards, we can more clearly navigate what lies before us. To have these photographs all in one place in a very scattered world is a gift. Thank you Mrs. Kindberg!