Today in Cape Canaveral history: 28 May 1873: I believe that the Indian river hammocks contain the richest land in the United States. Capt. M. O. Burnham, keeper of the Cape Canaveral lighthouse, has raised sugar cane that will average over two quarts of juice to the stalk. One cane alone produced a gallon, a quart, and a pint of raw syrup. I saw a stalk that had fifty-two joints, averaging four inches to the joint. So rank does the cane grow that many of the stalks tassel like corn. Burnham planted this hammock with cane many years ago. It produced immense crops for seven years, without manuring or putting a hoe to the ground. But the Captain’s nearest neighbor is twelve miles distant, and there is neither doctor, school house, post-office, or church within thirty miles. His only way of reaching them is by a cat-rigged sail boat, and he is entirely dependent upon the caprice of the wind. All his children and grandchildren were born far away from any physician or schoolmaster. I went to his house at Cape Canaveral, and his good wife declared that a lady in our party was the only woman who had visited them in four years. The Captain has a wonderful sugar field and a rare orange grove, but there is no way of getting sugar or orange to market. – The Sun.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 12:18:04 +0000
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