Weeks Nine and Ten, in which our intern is really, really, REALLY busy.

    Greetings and salutations dear reader. I have been extremely busy these last two weeks with the internship, class, a side project, granddaughter, and well...life in general. Remember the picture I posted of the guy juggling chainsaws? Well these last few weeks someone keeps tossing more chainsaws into the juggling act.

Fig. 1. One of the wood-burning trains of the Orange Belt

    Have no fear oh reader. I have it all under control (well that is what I have been telling myself in between doses of omeprezole and tagamet). In between bouts of panic I have managed to complete another segment for the Florida Frontiers program. As I stated earlier, I have dumped the previous ideas for the back up ones. This latest segment is on the old Orange Belt Railway which ran between Lake Monroe (Sanford) and St. Petersburg. The owner was Peter Demiens, owner of a sawmill in Longwood, Florida who took over the railway after the builders defaulted on payment for railroad ties. The first spur went from Lake Monroe to Oakland in west Orange County. The arrival of the railway to Oakland really transformed the town as it became a Railroad town and center for the Orange Belt Railway.

Fig. 2. Orange Belt Railway Pass c. 1900

     The point of the whole segment was that railway history in Florida always seems to center on Plant and Flagler. But what about the other guys who had railways that crisscrossed Florida? What about the ones whose success was not as stellar as the two Henry's? Men like Levy and Demiens built railways that transformed Florida's landscape too but their stories seem to be overshadowed by Plant's and Flagler's. Demiens' and the Orange Belt's impact on Florida was pretty transforming for the west central portion of the state. St. Petersburg was named after Demiens' hometown in Russia and the railway, along with the Florida Midland, carried citrus from the groves to the American public. The impact of the Orange Belt was a pretty big deal.
     The other thing I wanted to stress in the segment was that railroads were not always a success for their owners either. Demiens failure to make any money with the Orange Belt is an example of how risky railroad investment was not only in Florida but the rest of the country. However the transformative element of the railroad altered towns like Oakland, Withlacoochee, Winter Garden, Clermont, Tarpon Springs, and St. Petersburg.
     One last thing I have discovered in the last few weeks that I have been unaware of is the methodology of my work. It really didn't hit me until class discussion on Wednesday. The idea of explaining macro themes through micro stories was explained to us as a growing trend in the present historiography. Ah. The light bulb went off inside my head. By telling these stories I am creating a narrative that ties into larger themes. Not only was I intrigued by this concept I now have something to add to the historiography paper I have to produce at the end of this semester. It all clicks into place.