4/9/18 Report - Martin County History Including Bottling Plant. State Park Maps. Don't Be Too Patient.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Map of Old Broward Beach State Park.

The above map shows the state park just below the Fort Lauderdale inlet into Port Everglades. The name has been changed.

I once found a large binder with maps and information on the Florida State Parks in a thrift store.  The maps and information was from the early 70s. Although some of the information is outdated, it is still a useful reference.

On the above map you shows Whiskey Creek, for example.  Other maps show historical sites along with a few notes.

It can be worth browsing through thrift stores.

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In my opinion, one of the best posts I ever published was the recent post on sifting an entire city lot.  How many people would have guessed that one small suburban Florida lot that was the site of one modest working-class house would conceal nearly 500 coins?   Not many I would bet!  But one person proved that to be true by sifting the entire lot in addition to using a metal detector.  I posted the detailed results of that study on  3/26.  In my opinion every detectorist should have eagerly studied that post, and it should have been the most read post of my blog.  That post actually told how many coins were in the ground compared to how many were found with a detector  You usually don't find out how much is missed - just how much is found.  This was the exception. 

Nearly 500 coins were found in that one small lot!  That is what I want you to remember.  The next time you pass a lot and think there is probably nothing there, think again.  Less than half of those coins were found after many metal detecting sessions failed to get them.  There were still many good coins left in the ground long after most detectorist would have given up on the site.

Patience is a virtue, but too much patience can a problem too. You need patience to stick it out when things are slow  You need patience when you are tempted to give up and quit, but there are also times when you need to quit and move on to another location or another strategy or technique.  There is a fine balance.

A site can quit yielding much, but sometimes it isn't the fault of the site.  Sometimes another method is required.  Decisions should be made analytically and strategically, rather than emotionally.  A big part of the fun of detecting for me is figuring out what is going on and how to do things more effectively.

When I was doing a lot of detecting in shallow water, I couldn't work the water when it got very rough.  It was a real pain.  The waves would knock my ear phones off and give me a headache.  Then I learned another technique.

Water is powerful.  You can't really fight it.  It is better to work with it. I learned to go with the flow rather than trying to fight the waves and trying to remain stationary on the spot.  Some people use weights to help them, but I learned to feel the surges coming and knew when to pick up my feet so that each surge would carry me in one direction before coming back and dropping on the spot where I started.  Fighting the waves was futile.  That new technique allowed me to work the rough water when I otherwise couldn't.

Impatience can be a virtue at times.  It can be a virtue when you won't settle for the status quo and learn to do things more effectively.

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I recently asked about the Stuart Bottling Works when I posted a picture of one embossed bottle from that plant.   Joe P. sent me the following link to some historical vignettes of Martin County published in TCPalm (See link below.).



Stuart's first bottling plant

In July 1913, James Elersly Weir, Jr., purchased a pitch pine wooden building owned by Joseph A. Lucas, a real estate developer, located on an isolated dirt road (Decker Street) south of Stuart; he had it converted into a bottling plant, Stuart Bottle Works. Soft drinks were bottled, sealed with large snap off caps and distributed in Stuart, Palm City, Jensen, Salerno, Hobe Sound, even to Fort Pierce and Jupiter. Weir only remained in Stuart a few years, joining family in West Palm Beach, in the plastering business and later, an auction house.

The bottling plant building was eventually owned by Ira L. Decker, who operated a concrete manufacturing business and was used primarily for storage. In the afternoon of Feb. 6, 1933, while Decker and local firemen were battling a brush fire nearby, the building caught fire. The wooden structure quickly went up in flames making it impossible for Ira to retrieve equipment, vehicles or machinery.

At least two bottles from the plant survive, clearly marked Stuart Bottling Works, one of which can be seen at the Stuart Heritage Museum.

Here is the link.

http://archive.tcpalm.com/news/historical-vignettes-some-of-martin-countys-firsts----part-2-ep-306511173-342350261.html

Thanks much Joe!

I've found at least four of those bottles south of Fort Pierce.  I think probably six.  I sold one or two of them.

I think anyone interested in local history will enjoy using that link to read the various Martin Country firsts.

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The surf is only two feet today and the tides are flat.  Thursday the surf will be bigger.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net