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Oral History Interview with Vince Doerr
Transcript
Abstract: In this oral history interview, Vince Doerr talks about Big Cypress National Preserve and the public history he hopes the preserve will share. Doerr goes on to talk about the Collier County Historical Society, his neighbors, the logging industry, and the Winds Across the Everglades film. VINCE DOERR: What I'd like to see, I mentioned years ago to Irv Mortenson and Fred Fagerhagen, is that I would like to see Big Cypress do a real in-depth thing on logging; I mean that was the main thing of the area, it really was. I'm surprised that Collier County hasn't. I mentioned to Ron at the museum [Ron Jamro at Collier County Museum] and they're trying to do some, but you always see a building of the trail all the time, all these history buffs, very little is in here of the logging there's never been that I know of, a hard bound book on logging. I would like to see an old [ ] put maps, letters together and do one. I think it would sell across the United States; the logging of Big Cypress. because you know if you want to see the logs, you've been to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary I'm sure, it's hard to imagine any part of this like that. it really is to me, but if you go out here in the swamp, you can see once in a while and you can see where they put the cross cut saws and you will once in a while see old rotten stumps in the water. I don't know if I have it today with me, but I have some pictures where it had three huge logs on a big flatcar with big chains over it with men sitting on top. Now we're talking about the largest flatcar American trains can make, not like the European the small ones, but there's three logs is all they could get on there. Roughly, they looked like probably eight across or something. That's all they could get on there, just two and one on top, and that's what was coming out of here. Janes Scenic Drive and then you've been through the woods here, you run into the trams; they're all out there. I know you've got some maps that show them and they're still there. Some of them are there in tracks and some of them are there in woods, which were half cut logs. They'd put the round part down, the flat part up; that was quickest, cheapest way to do that, but you still go out there and run those trams and that wood is still out there. The rails and spikes are gone. I've got some of the old rails and some of the old spikes. It would be nice if BICY could get some of those rails and spikes out of the woods, maybe make something at Oasis or the Visitor Center, it would be nice. I don't know about indoors or out. I would have loved to have seen Number two; that's the locomotive at the museum. I would have loved to have seen it at least come back to Carnestown under cover. Or out at the BICY, but I'm at least glad it came back. Two of them were loaded up at Harmon's, Forrest Harmon, they loaded them up at Copeland in the sixties, two of them, they took them up to Sunniland is where they loaded them if my memory's right. See, the train used to come in the sixties through Sunniland because they still excavated the pine roots, you know, for dynamite, the substance for making dynamite. And they did that through the late sixties. you go up to Sunniland, you could see the pikes of roots on the train cars up there. And then after they quit that, they tore the track up to Immokalee or wherever. But they loaded those two locomotives I think at Sunniland, took them by lowboy from Copeland and took them up there and I forgot what state. Some man took them up, a collector, Virginia or somewhere. Ron's got a historical thing on that train. You should see if you can get a copy from when you see him, okay?
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
DOERR: He's got a whole thing on that dedication of that train and it would be a nice thing for your file. It took them up there, you read later, the guy died and then they said maybe a state deal outside and finally Ron was with personnel in the department and Ron got with the museum and he started pushin'. I think it took $17,000 of volunteer money just to bring it back. I think they got it free, I'm not sure, and they brought it back to where you see it today. And then the Air Force or something, it's in the thing, they sandblasted it on weekends and cleaned it up, and so now you see what it is. and sittin' out. They really need to have it under cover, it really does. Sun and rain is hard on anything in Florida and I think he's going to put some kind of antique-looking train thing over it, you know, a cover. So what I'm saying is I would love to see a logging, a better history on logging, because its an early tourism in Naples, a lot on Naples, Chokoloskee, Smallwood store; you know, building of the trail, but the logging's been left out and that's really the main part of it. I don't know what you all can do. I 'd like to see one day here, Oasis, the main office down here in Ochopee, it would be nice to have a room, you know, I know you don't want to get into the museum business, but it would nice to have a room with nothing but a few relics hanging on the wall, or photographs, big blow-ups, like they do at the Courthouse. If you go to the courthouse, you see big blow-ups hanging on the wall. They're on loan from the museum. And that would be nice, I've got some stuff here that'll go over and we'll xerox and some of it, I'll show you and you can write it down and the negative is where I took it into the museum and they made a negative so you can go to there and Ron will pull the negative and make you copies, okay? 8x10. That way you'll have, see; they made a negative of this and then you can put them in a folder. Now one time, I was in there one day talking to Ron and they brought in boxes of negatives and old photographs. Now you got to remember the county seat was Everglades so a lot of your old stuff is centered out of Everglades. Maybe a little of Naples and the beach and the first hotel. Now you got to remember lot of the old Collier stuff was centered out and they brought all of these negative and pictures in and they're on loan from the Collier family or the Collier Corporation. And they're on loan and Ron was supposed to be making what he wanted, copies of negatives or pictures into negatives, or whatever you want and he was going to start a book and put them in a book, so if you went in there and you were a local girl and maybe you saw your grandfather, you know what I mean, and you wanted a picture of him, number 236, you see, he could go to it and make a print. And if he made any money on it, it was going back to support this photography museum or whatever, so I don't know how far along he's got on that but he's got a lot of stuff. Your interest I know, is mainly in the Big Cypress, but you know, if you ever get with him and spend some time; I don't know how much time you have had with him, but it would really be worth your time.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, Jennifer has really talked with him more than I have. See, Jennifer is doing all our research.
DOERR: Well, you both need to go there; I would tell Big Cypress, you both need to go there over a period of weeks, a day at a time, or whenever Ron could; there's a lot, there's a lot to be looked up, dug up, wrote down, ordered, you know, because it would be nice to have some of these things blown up. I'm telling you, it's just, the only thing I said a while ago, there's just so much that's gotten out of here for Big Cypress. It's a shame but it was private land and if someone said, yeah, that college could dig here; the biggest thing is got racked on is the Turner River Jungle Gardens and I'll make you a copy of this. I've got it in a folder here. But the Turner River Indian Jungle Gardens advertisements, little folder. I told them when they were clearing, and I guess they'll get back on it. That's the best thing, outside of the fire and now hunting is a little tighter, see, I don't hunt, but I can appreciate it. But before BICY this place—somebody had to come. I don't care if what a man with a billion dollars who bought because somebody had to do something because the BICY was going to get ruined, not by populations but by misuse; buggies, hunting everything. So when BICY come, it did get tighter. Planes overheads, helicopters overhead, you know where they're livin' here or there because when you had two rangers one on airboat and one on land, there's no way you could control the whole thing. Look at what you've got now and you still have problems. It's vast area, uh, 774,000 acres. So what I'm saying is that I'm glad to see something getting started. When they talked about your position a couple years beforehand , it was coming, it was coming. I figured whatever the position is, 20, 30, $40,000 a year, I thought, why don't they get it here. I know money's money and governmental; the history stuff was still gettin' out of here. It really was. And I'll say on government land, land that they had. But they just didn't have enough. Howard Dumont was in charge then and they just didn't have enough personnel to run here, watch there until as a group. they didn't even have a repeater there. When you keyed the repeater, you had to key the one in Naples. And the main office at the Baker Building, everything was there. There was no Oasis yet; it was there but it was a gas station then. there was no Headquarters; the Golden Lion was still working, it was just a motel. It very hard and very confusing, it was just a growing thing. So now it's tighter and I'm glad to see that. Now if they're digging anywhere, they have to have a permit and it has to be cleared. I mean I've seen colleges come in to my place and somebody would send them out to my place and they'd want to know where some of the Seminole Indian mounds were and this, that and the other. And said, hey, I don't go with that because I live here with the Indians. I don't want it to get back—hey, who wants somebody digging in your grandfather's grave, you know what I mean, unless its an official thing and cleared or whatever. So, I'm at the point where I'm glad to see something is finally being put together. I hope it keeps going.,I hope it don't go a little bit and then the position cut. I think most of the preserves and national parks keep their interpreter position. What is your position?
INTERVIEWER: Interpretive specialist.
DOERR: Is that historically?
INTERVIEWER: I do everything.
DOERR: Cause I know you got plants and birds and stuff and that's all well and good but mainly I'm saying I hope the history part won't get bypassed, you know, because I think it'll take a few years to get everything in order.
INTERVIEWER: I think it'll take many years.
DOERR: But I mean just to start getting it together and what hurts to is that after they get somebody in if they get good sometimes they transfer out, which is all well and good, and they move to another state and then they got the other person and get them refreshed and anyway, we'll go over this and xerox everything. I didn't know what kind of questions you had. I've got some here today on logging. As I go through stuff, on taking logs, I'll show you how far the county is behind this. BICy just arrived and they're new on this and they're going to try and put the history together of their area. Just to show you how far the county is behind in history. it wasn't until the museum, the county before you came set over closer to the new courthouse, near the sheriff department and the land was donated, by the county didn't have the money to put the building up. Well, that's all well and good tax-wise. So the friends of the museum, Collier County Historical Society, I think, were the two major groups working and they put the building up. And it was there for years and some blonde head girl run it and it was a little later that Ron come over from personnel and run it. And it wasn't long after Ron took it over that they took it, and we kid about it now because they jacked up the museum, and they jacked it up and moved it to where you know it is now. And then they built a little more onto it. they actually moved the whole thing because they needed the area there. Now a cooler, a big A/C cooler building there, that makes the coolin stuff that feeds,—you'll see it over there. So that's why they had to move it, so that's the first thing right there. Now they had CCHS had meetings right there, but as far as the county getting into it, I used to go to the Board of the County Commissioner meetings and I just couldn't believe that the county couldn't pass an ordinance over private people's property saying you cannot dig into an Indian grave; I don’t care if it's on your property or not. I mean you can't do everything on your own property you want. Can you cut all your trees if you want? No. that's regulated today. So I couldn't see that-I just got a permit for clearing Brazilian pepper probably the first fire chief is history that ever got permission because its free, but they want to know where you're clearing it. But if we got to get one for clearing exotic trees or non-exotic tree, you know, why don;t you have to have something on private land to dig? Some of the other counties have some cultural historical ordinances, whatever, but this is a rampage. So the museum was the first thing, the first step and I thought at least that's something. Then they brought the locomotive back, that's the next biggest thing I could remember and now like I say, you all are here and the biggest and best in BICY is Turner River. Don't take my word for it. I want you to get a copy of this
INTERVIEWER: Florida's Last Frontier
DOERR: by Charlton W. Tebeau, he wrote this in 47, hardbound. you can buy it in paperback, Liz.
INTERVIEWER: I think we've got it.
DOERR: You might even sell it. you can get it on the chamber down here, softbound. i would say you all get that. Generally, I'd say its okay, wrote mainly for the tourists, but it had some on building of the trail and it has some in there logging and it has little portion of Turner River., The TR, I'm trying to impress, is probably the most historical thing, probably in your boundaries that I know of. Outside the town of Everglades, see, Everglades used to be called Everglade, no S, Chokoloskee, Smallwood Store and that's all historical, but that's only 1890's, 1880's. Turner River goes back 1860' or before that. Your Fort Harred, that's about 7 miles or more due south of where old George's place. Remember where I was telling you? You know where I'm talking about, old George's place where the oil [ ]pipe, right past Burns Road? But I got a map of where an old sawmill used to be at for years and years, I always wanted, the Williams sawmill came to me through some fire chiefs from somewhere, that I wish I knew where. And how it was passed down, nobody knew, But I got a picture of it, probably the only picture of it standing, 1936, but Ft. Harred was down there but somewhere I've some old Army maps that shows it. It was wooden fort, so its all rotted down.Also you can get to it by New River, You come in from New River or come from down by old George's place and I think it's seven miles if you go down there the woods. But, uh, you look at it and think, why would they want to be way back out here? One thing the river was still [ ]. you've got to remember there were a couple more forts; one north of 41 west of Copeland Tower. Ron would love to find the spot, he likes to, what do you call it, confirm the spot or something like that. But there's some of these old forts, some more up near Immokalee, that's during the times of the war and I think that the Third Seminole War I think was fought here. But just in general, what I'm trying to say is that I would like to see BICY; that's the best thing they did was to start clearing that because I used to say to Irv Mortensen; I was at a meeting years when things were uptight and people were mad about the land deal. And I was at one meeting; we had many meetings, at Everglades School and this meeting was on the future outlook, the hunting, there wouldn't be this or that and now looking back, things have changed and they had to, but one thing that came up was airboaters were there and they were mad because the canoeists were going out TR, man-made canal, and they said that when they came back in with their airboats, they had to slow down because the canoeists were always in the way. Well, this guy was behind me and I didn't know if he was local, I didn't care. I'm not a canoeist, but I got a canoe and I put through the old river. Now if you all want a good task and a nice time, you put in the old river. And it's hard. You have fight your way through about a half a mile to get out there by the banana trees, the old Indian camp, but I would love to see, Fred I heard didn't want to because of the Indian mounds; people might did along the edges. There's some old docks, south of the bridge, the old river and I would love to see that cleaned up and trimmed up. I would, really, see they could pulling and have parking there and they could put an historical sign there and really explain what this spot is. And Liz, when you go through it, just take note. A lot of people go over there. I've had rangers come and go there and I've tell them to go over there. Just look at the highest piece of natural ground around here is right there, right where they're clearing It's the trees, look t the type of tree. You don;t see them anywhere else. Now, you'll see only one other spot I know of, just north of where they're clearing, the old river goes a little bit back, it opens up to a little lake, I don't know, maybe a hundred fifty feet around, real spooky lookin', then it continues on northeast a bit then goes under Turner River road which is roughly a little more than a quarter mile up. There's an old culvert, a big culvert still there. And it goes under there. Now they've got a big cypress put in there; a bigger one next to it, I think, but the old culvert is still there. That's what I'm talking about; the natural path of the river now. Then it goes on now and you have to remember Turner River road wasn't there, the canal wasn't there; it goes on and heads northeast. Now we called it in the sixties, Snow White's. The reason I'm telling you this is that, if you hear this, I don't want to get into detail, Snow White was an exotic dancer in Fort Lauderdale and she had; she's still living, probably 45, 50, she had exotic cats and stuff. She was on the news about 3 or 4 years ago `cause she had complaints about having these big cats in the apartment where she lived. It was against the contract where she lived. And I saw it, spotted it right away. She was known as Snow White and she had land out here. Now Wooten's, Raymond Wooten, still has I think five or ten acres there and she had land next it or something. if you go back there, you'll still see the cages. There's old cages, old sour oranges back there, but part of the high natural ground back there. I'm not talking about fill, but I was telling Ron, but no one's put this together, but the third Seminole war, the big fightout with Captain Turner had to be just where you all are clearing, most likely, because everything else was low, Liz, or lower to what you know now because the water was higher. You follow me? So this was the highest ground and that's what my theory is. Ron, he started to do a study, you now he don't get out here that much, that would be interesting is on your part is to document that; where did that real last fight happen? And I think you can get the Army notes by writing the right places in Washington. they got the field notes and stuff And in this book, I think, I don't know how many come in with Captain Turner in the 1860's, I think, it says in the book, that they came in from the mouth of Chokoloskee Bay, nine miles. So how do you figure? Now, I've taken a canoe and it is a crazy zigzag coming up through here. Nine miles from the mouth of Chokoloskee Bay up, they name it that, I don't know what it was, I found no name then except for Turner River and they came up into this area and then they had a fight with the Indians. And I think nine or ten of them got, Captain Turner a few others got out in the boats. Then he went back, he was a big officer, a captain then, and he did his field notes; and those field notes, you can get a copy of. They'd be interesting to have them in a file or whatever. They got out alive and then later, he retired, came back and built his home at the mouth of the river in Chokoloskee Bay and if you get down there in a boat sometime, his cistern is still there but his house is rotted down, but come back and retired, he lived there. You talk about coming way out in the country with the mosquitos and nasty stuff, but he did and that's when they named it TR, but his cistern is still there. Uh, so to me, natural river, not TR canal, that was dug in the fifties, that's man-made; but the natural river the only one we got here—.but this is the only natural river we got up here so far and its all grown in. And I know Fred didn't want to clear it back because he was afraid people would be there, messing around and digging. I told him one day at a meeting and something else had come up and I said "you know, the grooming club, I talked to them, there serious canoers, not the drunks; will come in and they cut and trim it your way, put it in the canoe and bring it to any bank you want, pile it up in your trucks then you haul it off." Just the idea of doing something good for canoeing and open it up. they do it in other states. But Fred wouldn't; he didn't want to at that time, and I could see his point `cause he didn't have enough personnel and the offices weren't even established then and who could really monitor it.Now its getting a little better where they have somebody like you, historically, but it would be nice to have it for canoe, no airboats and put signs up. i don;t have anything against airboats, don't get me wrong, but when I was at this meeting and I saw it for myself, I said, "who is this character behind me that thinks airboats dominate". If anything would take this, it would be canoe because it's, you know, quiet. And here he's knockin' it. I just told Irv Mortenson at that meeting, I said, "Irv, why don't you let the airboaters stay with the Turner River canal. Let them have it and why don't start to open up, which any canoeist would love, the quietness of the old historical river. And he said one day it might be and said it ought to be so I don;t want to get on my soapbox and things are changing and i would just love to see TR go and a parking area and I would love to see a plaque up there, one of them brass plaque or whatever you call it, have it—picnic tables. I don't know where you're going with it. I haven't talked to Wally yet, the new fella. But I think it would be a nice drawcard. The nicest thing we got is Storter Park. Do you stop there? And then Turner River a little camp area. But this would be nice because you sit there and you know its an historical site. Ron is might be the most historical site in the county. You know, I don't know along the beach, the old hotel on the beach where the pier is near there, a few fights with Indians maybe up near Immokalee and there's a lot of history and there and there's a fort, but I'm saying in our area, and if you know any differently, Liz, let me know, because this has got to be the important thing right here, in BICY, outside of gettin' into later logging. You follow me? It could be put on the advertisement, you know how they send out things and you know, maybe a little pamphlet on it made by you or somebody or maybe they could sell it. It doesn't have to be a book, maybe a pamphlet. But really, in depth what happened there. I'm not sure where Captain Turner died. I really haven't gotten into it that much. That would be interesting, where did he die? and when he lived there, did his whole family—his life is just not known. So you got anything to ask—my opinion I would love to see and things into the logging and BICY, I would like to see some of them brought back and set up. Some of them could put up by the office along with the flowers, you know what I mean? And a historical sign, it don't have a museum, but maybe a sign that says here are some tracks maybe twenty feet long. Just put them back the same way with the old spikes. This is a decoration outside the picnic area. there's stuff in the woods and one thing I'm trying to find and I know, so I gotta stay legal on it. What I mean by that is that I'm trying to get it for Ron and the museum and it would be nice if you all could get one. And back in 1860, they used to do a survey and you know townships, ranges and such; some of them worked in that. Some of them worked in 36 square miles. So we're talking about a township now, four corners of a township. Some areas only worked in that. Some of them worked in half of that and what they were; this is heart dead grey and you've seen grey stuff cut, haven't you? This hardwood, heart cypress, hard pine? All right. It's out here in the woods; the dead grey stuff. Some of it sticks up like spears. some hunting dogs used to run and get cut. Some buggies used to run into them, these kids with ATC's used to run into them and we used to have a lot of wrecks, but that's dead wood. That dead heart wood that you see out there, pine or heart cypress; some people think you're saying hard but its heart; they engraved out of that, monuments, like the concrete ones you see. They're on the corners of every square mile. Out where I live, out on Burns Road, every square mile has four corners. You usually have a little half inch pipe with a brass cap and it says, you know, what section you are. If you're at the corner, it'll say four of them, right? if you're at the midway and some of them are half mile; it'll show you the one above it and the one below it. All right. These didn't work in miles. These worked in longer runs. But they were hard wood carved out and I know where there's one or two in Naples in the surveyor's office. I'm trying to get one for the museum. Now to me, that's something because, that's one of the first surveys of the state, 1845, no, it was after that. I want to say maybe 1860's, 1880's. And there is some, Liz, so keep this in the back of your mind, there are some out here. i haven't found them. If there is, there might be some, you have to follow the old survey because the old survey could be off some compared to the new township surveys. So if you get your old maps and your old surveys, look at them and there might be, I've got a feeling there might be one around with TR area, where you're clearing, follow me? Now if there is, it would be there. See, ever since I can remember, fire has never come through there and that's where they are gonia be because where fire come through there, they're burnt. They would burn. They're hearty heart and they would burn. There's one up near the Alley I heard of from an old hunter but he maybe had a beer or two and he forgot where, But they out there and they're not concrete and they're carved in it. You'll know when you see it. Ron don't have any. Ron would love to have one in his museum. I'm hoping to try to get a picture of one from an old surveyor and give it to Ron you know, and if I do, I'll try to get a copy to you to show you. But your people need to keep your eyes open. Now when I say keeping' legal on it, when you find one, I know it can be removed legally. You'd have to get with Geodetic Survey probably or whoever is in charge of the township range and sections, the monuments and it could be replaced with a new concrete, saying this an old historical site and be taken be you or by the museum because, uh, it be nice to save to so that needs to be , I told some of the rangers; Chip and different ones and keep your eyes open; you're out here in the buggies and but they're gonia be in a thick area. I have a feeling and I've been all around and lookin', there might be one in Barns Strand; that's to the right going in on Burns Road, okay?, the immediate right. Fire has never come through there. Almost one year when we had 300,00 acres out here burn, but almost, but it never has. Now this is one back there; it's the square mile one in section thirty-three, the southeast corner. It's a good challenge to find but it's back in the jungle; it's there. But they were put out in the fifties; a lot of them were put out in the fifties. Lot of them you see here. Now if you want to know if they're really old, look at the concrete, like, you know, the older ones have shell in the concrete, okay? Okay. That's how you know if they're really old, some of them go back into the thirties, but I've always had an interest in the surveyor, you know, the historical part so anyway, did you have any questions? I didn't want to get carried away.
INTERVIEWER: That's all right. We kind of interested in what you know about the logging here.
DOERR: On the logging part, I've got some stuff on it and I got a lot more to dig up and I've got some pictures and photographs of the trains. And we'll xerox them and you take that, and what I did is I had slides and the museum, when they got the train there, I was surprised one day when I went in there and I, the trains ain't that old—Lee Cypress, as you know, Copeland area, that's not in your area, but it affected all the trams and everything was Lee Cypress, why we got the trams, why we got the logs? Well, Lee Cypress was the headquarters and as you know, all of them went to Perry, the logs. Some of it was used local maybe, but a lot of it went to Perry, Florida, okay? That's all when, I think it says it here in this book, Perry, Florida, Lee Tidewater Cypress Corporation. And there's some photographs I got some, but there's some photographs that shows Lee Cypress when it was first done and it was a neat little town. You know, little dinky houses, and they're falling down now, but if you look at them, they're cypress. Some of them are buggy or worm eaten cypress and back then, that's kind of lousy lumber, second graded. Some of your homes, show you how history reverses, the homes that are along 29, you know where Janes Restaurant is there, as you go along 29; I was in them years ago, fixing something electrical for something and they had panel on top of the wormy cypress, you know, and I noticed that when I was cutting you out that, and some younger couple moved in there and they were going to take the paneling off and some of them had sheetrock over it and back then, that lumber was no big thing, but its gold. See how time changes things? But then it was second rate lumber. You wanted nice clear cut, nice high price lumber. So the lumber went to Perry, or the logs did, and I heard talk, I haven't got it documented in a book, I heard talk that they went up with logs and came back, once in a while, pre-made, these little cypress buildings that you see over in Lee Cypress. There little ones and kind of pre-made and they put them on and when they got them here, they just stuck them together with four side walls. Also I heard, too, that they brought dirt in once in a while from Perry, Florida. That's up near Tallahassee or so. That's way up there, Perry, Florida, uh, they might have got dirt somewhere. But I heard they brought dirt in once in a while on the cars to help build up Lee Cypress area because it was low. I heard that. That was interesting, too. But a good one there on logging is Monroe Graham, okay? Monroe Graham. He worked, I think, with the trains and everything. And there's this guy Lewis, and he gave me his pay badge. We were talkin' history one night and he gave his pay badge they called it and his is number 431. It's a round silver badge and I don't know, that's what he called it. There's some around. You'll see it in the museum. There's one in the museum. Did you see in the museum where they had Oglesby, with the train cap and everything in that glass case?
INTERVIEWER: It's been a while since I read that.
DOERR: When you go in there, there's a glass case and they have a train with a picture of a train cap with a picture of Cecil Oglesby. Now he would be a good one to touch base and see what he has. I'm pretty sure he would have some stuff being the son of; now his dad drove the train. And I think he drove number two.
INTERVIEWER: Cecil is our song leader at Everglades Baptist.
DOERR: Okay, Cecil Oglesby, that's the son and his dad just died a year or two ago, but get with Cecil and Cecil would probably have some stuff that maybe he would xerox or something like that. Now there was supposed to be four—I know there were two trains there. I think there—I know three or four. But we; one of them I think Ron traced down and found out where it went but two of them left here. Number two and I think number seven. Two of them left when they loaded them up and when he died they brought back number two. Get with him and see what Cecil knows, it would be interesting to know exactly. I think I got it at home and I want to keep saying there was four, but anyhow, what I was going to tell you, that right beside the red barn, it burnt around Christmas time two years ago and uh, it belonged to Lee Cypress and you've been on scenic drive
INTERVIEWER: yeah
DOERR: when you run right into it, you'll see the concrete piers sticking' right up out of the ground. that was the red barn, and when it burned, we all were lost with the idea that people would come out from Naples and we used to say, "Lee Cypress, go to the red barn and turn left." It was a landmark. Now its not there, but the concrete piers are still there. That was the mechanically, to keep up the locomotives. The locomotives used to be parked by them, okay? And then they had a turn-around there where they could turn around, loop around, to go back scenic drive. Scenic drive was not a road. it was the main track, but when it was down away with, they used the bed and it became a road. In fact, under part of the road today there's still old cross, what they call corduroy logging. That's where you would have some mucky, they used to lay logs across and fill in it over it to get a base and more logs and that's we used to call corduroy loggin' or road. I was one day in the museum and I said to Ron, "Ron, how come you don't have more pictures of the locomotives?" There's a few and he said, he said we've got some at a distance in black and white. And I said I've got some in color and the two of them by the barn. I said if I could find them, I knew I had them in slides, and I did and I made them. I'll show you some here. Then the red barn was the parts for the locomotives and also the big generators. that's what the big mounds that you see today where the barn burnt. There's great big poles sticking that held the generators to run the power for the town. And Lee Cypress was under Lee Cypress Tidewater out of Perry and from what I've read for years it was unique because they had their own town, their own store, their own restaurant, their own post office, at Copeland, and their own money. that's in the box if you go to the museum; Janes money with a hollow J. There's some of that around and that was all turned in, late 40's or 50's. What they did was they paid you in it and you bought things in their store and it faded out and anybody who had it, everybody cashed it in. Some of it is still around. If you keep asking around, you'd be surprised people and older pole and maybe they don't have no kids or anybody to leave it to and even Ron, people walk in there and it surprised him. They donate it forever or on loan. And I think BICY might ask around and talk to people right, you might get something on loan or at least a copy of it and that's all you can do. A lot of this is, I can't even start to tell you stuff I known here, it's in somebody's attic and no one knows where it came from. The yoke is a good example. They didn't have many of those dynamite carts—the Monroe Station store had the yoke in there. If you get to the museum, have Ron show it to you. They're all different. They're all hand-carved, hand-made. I told he really needs to look at it and eye it up to what pictures it's in. it's like number two, the old train. I told Ron, Ron, you can get it at the old video places and probably at the library in town,
INTERVIEWER: Winds across the Everglades,
DOERR: made in 1960 or so; that's with Burl Ives, Gypsy Rose Lee and Christopher Plummer. That was one of the last major movies made here and they have it, showing it [Number Two] pulling into Everglades City where the Captain's Table is now, that was the old train station. When they step off the train, Gypsy Rose Lee, there's a sign written off to the side that says "Welcome to Miami". They were playing like it was Henry Flagler's train coming into Miami, but it was really over here [Everglades City]. And I think that's Number Two. I don't even think the train runs. I think they put a little steam and pushed it in. The train tracks still came down there, but that's the last and like I said, it would be nice to know if that was Number Two in Winds Across the Everglades, or Number Seven, because those were the last two there. A lot of local people were in it; a lot of those people are still around. Cory Osceola, he's dead now, but he had one arm; he and wife are in it. Anyway, back to the logging, these locomotives would load up, take the logs out and like I say, I don't how long it took them to go to Perry. I was kind of interested in finding out the turn around; you know, how many days it took to get up and how many days it took to get back. But Monroe and Old Blue are the only last two that really rode it, but it would be interesting to look them up. They're in Lee Cypress, okay? Now another one is Mr. Swain. Mr. Swain lived in the green house across from the little church in Lee Cypress and I know he had loads of stuff. All I could figure is that he was either a foreman, or paymaster, a foreman of Lee Cypress Tidewater for many years. He was in that house and he sold it. He would nice to go spend some time with because he was part of Lee Cypress. On the quality of the lumber; there's two or three types of cypress; some of that I got at home. We're still gettin' cypress today from central Florida. When you buy cypress today, I don't where, there's not much cypress in Collier, so when you go to a lumber yard and you buy cypress, some of it is from another country or some of it is form northern Florida. I don't know why they brought from down here, maybe better quality, better sap.
INTERVIEWER: They had logged it out. Burton-Swartz, I just got an article, Burton Swartz had logged out all the cypress in northern Florida and had a mill set up in Perry, then liquidated, sold out to Lee Cypress. They shut down the mill in late [19]42 and late [19]43, Lee Cypress acquired the mill and took it over and had the property down here and that's how they had the mill in Perry and all the equipment.
DOERR: There's a few out here, Roberts Strand, there a few if you get back in some of the big trees and over on Turner River, there's some big cypress. It's grown back since the thirties, but like I said, there's trees in there you don't see out here. I was surprised the Rodger family let that go. I have tried to buy it. I know they had to sell to BICY, and they're left with three acres and three acres, each home place was left. So they had two buildings and they were going to let them keep the six acres and I think they did. They had six acres and I was surprised they let that go `cause I thought one day, it's hard to create new commercial out with BICY, but I thought they could open it up as a historical thing as it was. Now I got pictures, Liz of that in slides, and I told Ron that and I went over there with Mr. and Mrs. Burns. And there used to be a wooden arch that would go over the river, I think it's color slides, where you're clearing now and I was telling a few of them who in there clearing one day. As I run into stuff, I'll get back to you, and it was going fine and they had cages and bears and, believe it or not, airboats went south out of there; they stayed on this side of the bridge. Something happened that one of the bears got loose and tore up one of the Indians and they had a disagreement or something and that's when it closed; the Indian or tourist thing. People say what happened to it? that's' what happened and the picture I took used later, after it was a tourist thing, there used to be church there; a Baptist preacher used to come out—
INTERVIEWER: Do you know about when it closed down? What year?
DOERR: It would have to be [19] ‘59, ‘60 , along there. Back to Williams on the sawmill, William's sawmill—I've some maps for you—Williams Sawmill was about two to three miles east of Burns Road on the right, so whenever you go back today or whenever you're going, if you look out there in the field, you'll see an orange marker. Somebody sprayed it orange. The reason I don't like to see it sprayed is that it calls attention. But anyhow, about three miles, watch on your right; it'll open up and you can hardly notice, there's a little driveway; there used to be a man they used to call nigger George—but nigger George is known as nigger George and when BICY came, they had a little trouble accepting that. What nigger George was was nigger George was an old colored guy, this was back in the forties, fifties; he stayed there and at this old sawmill and pine trees grew back there. Old nigger George stayed there and I guess he, or somebody set some of these pines out, and he had an old building he lived. And the thing was that people from Miami would come out with their buggy and instead of totin' them back all the time, they would just park the buggies there and they would give nigger George some cans of beans or some money, and the old guy, was making a living just watching those buggies; kind of like Monroe Station in later years. I'm not sure when he died, and the sawmill, I'm pretty sure it burnt. I don't know when it would have burnt—Not the station at Turner River—it was a piece of land that Barron G. Collier gave to Mr. and Mrs. Holmes; they're from some foreign land and he give that little piece of land and he was the head carpenter for Barron G. Collier, did all the framing in the building at Everglades, but they didn't want to live in town, they wanted to live on the Trail. But that's a lot of history there and I spent many days and nights sittin' down there. But anyhow, the Williams sawmill where nigger George was burnt, whatever happened it to, but when you go back by there and you'll see the monument and it's one of the square mile corner and you'll see it painted orange and if you look, there's a little road going back by it and in this picture, standing on the trail, you'll see the big logging building and it looks like its up on stilts and you'll see, uh, sawmill and they had a belt that runs from out of the building to the steam engine and the run the steam engine with this big chimney, 30 feet high, red brick chimney, if you go there the chimney's fell over. That run the steam that turned the sawmill, but when nigger George was there, that was already all down. but the site is there and that needs to gone over. And that is the only thing, Liz, between Turner River and Monroe Station. There is nothing else that was ever done in an established building between Burns Road and Monroe Station—[more discussion about opening up Turner River and the current progress and future plans]
INTERVIEWER: Can I ask you one quick question-there's a lot of place names in the park we're trying to find out. You talked about Mr. Burns. Can you give me some background on him?
DOERR: I got everything on Mr. Burns. Not braggin', but there's probably nobody around; there's probably one landowner out there owning land-he's older than me. His name is Eric, right across the road from me, he's the longest landowner out there. He's three years longer than I am and he lives in Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres. He still comes out here on weekends. He still has his place. He has three acres. He had twenty, but he's down to three. Real, nice, old German fellow, but he and I-I knew Burns from just about the first he got there and, Burn's place, sometime if you can, when the bugs ain't bad, meet with me out there; it's kinda growed up, but just of documentation, the old house is still there; the old barn in the back had a cypress slabs that he got from the sawmill local, I think's John's next door. There used to be a sawmill between here and the campground and John and Mary run it and they were the last to snake logs out of Burns road. This was, uh, [19]71, even though Big Cypress was officially, November 21 or 23, officially, they did official anything until [19]74, remember? So they were still snakin' logs, he and his wife, on Burns Road. And Burns had the slabs, the part they through away, as part of the barn that's still standing. A hurricane will finish—and then the old rusted tin on it came from a barn in Homestead they turned down where they had Social Security, they didn't have much. When they started their homestead, and I'll call it that, [19]59 or [19]60 when they came out there, they did economically. they had an old block they'd chip off the cement `cause they didn't have a lot of money, but sometime I'll go over the war stories-he was a funny man, wore a straw hat, smoked a cigar, do anybody any favor but don't cross him. He's still livin'. Mrs. Burns died, but I used to go up to; my folks have a farmplace in Georgia and they stop by up there, visiting when he used to go back and forth. They lived there and he graded the road with his old tractor with a blade behind and we would donate fill. I remember I used to have fill brought and dumped, just as you go into Burns Lake and turn right, then go a half mile and turn north again, one we hauled fill and it just went in the water. When I bought land back there, there was very little foresee, no electric, telephone, even though it was only two miles to the Trial. It was like buying a hunting camp with a trail to it. But I knew and in [19] 68, I was almost wanting to get out of there `cause the big jetport was going-unbelievable. And I mean people today and stuff to do with it, stuff I got in my file. Monorail train hundred and fifty miles an hour, I-75 right here going to the airport. It would have had an impact on the Everglades and Nixon pushed the button by low voltage control in the Oval Office and they dynamited eleven in the morning, that's twenty-five miles from me, and eleven at night, you could hear it; that's a safety factor, even mines know that; you watch that area and Nixon still in when they halted it and the cross river barge canal. You were too young then [Vince turns to Jennifer],
INTERVIEWER: oh, no, I still remember it,
DOERR: they stopped it the same day because that was really going to effect it, cutting that canal across the state. So that ended the 38 square mile, largest airport in the world; three of the largest would have fitted in there at that time and I went to one meeting and they said a C-5A would be a mosquito. Runways, they were talking seven miles long, concrete, 96 inches of concrete which I could see thick concrete because you're in a wet ground and even in your caprock out around Monroe Station and out in the woods, just before Monroe Station there's place out there, Liz, there's a lot of places out there that is just flat rock weathered millions of years but there's places in there is like solid, very little dirt in there. It's just, but don't let that fool you, You `cause you got that don't think you can build the Empire State Building; it's just a crust, it's not as good as it looks, so some people thought that would be a good place because the airport can stand on all that rock. Sometimes that rock ain't as good as you think. I'm glad to see it happen. They was going to put a ten mile buffer zone around it. Real estate people drove me up a wall `cause they would come out and I remember one real estate guy wanted to know if I would sell and he said everything's got a price and I said, hey, I don;t need the money and I don't know where I want to go. There's no where in Big Cypress, I mean in the state of Florida you can go to be as remote there is none. If you look at the map, probably Perry, Florida, because of the logging; the pine, the all the logging and a lot of that land and the logging is hurtin' and they're selling some of that land for $200, $300 an acre now and a young person could go buy a hundred acres cheap, but there's no jobs. And so if you look at a map with less roads, maybe Ocala, but that's all built up now. I was raised due west of Davie and 1961, they started a work called Nova, Nova College and we thought that was a funny word. And they aid, yeah, we're going to build a college and I thought if they build a college here, everything that follows, apartments and I was right and if you go there today. David still holding western-style because of the Chamber of Commerce and the real estate they say that's the law, but the thing is, I just knew that would change it. And land that used to be under water for half the year-we used to load grass and sod and Bermuda, and the muck and sand of land that was cheap is forty, fifty thousand dollars an acre. I can't believe how fast Davie took off. I just wanted to get out, and then in [19]68 it was crazy out here. this guy was buying 5, 10, 15, 20 acres and the reason they were doing this, and the guy said they were doing this was a standard form of real estate-I what really helped was when BICY came along. If BICY hasn't come along and the airport would have went, and this would have built up. In [19]68, I was ready to sell and get out of here, even though I was 25 miles from it, so BICY to me, saved it. And I tell hunters this. I remember Fred Dayhoff, I remember Fred came out one day and parked out by the tower and I said, yeah, hey had land acquisition, people from the Baker Building doing appraisal, Mr. Sewell. And they were in the parking lot and we were going to start parking at people's places we know, so if we get anything going, can we park. I said yeah, BICY always park, they own it. The reason they asked was that I think they had thirteen tires sliced down there on Loop Road. And I really don't think it was local mad at the government coming. What I think it was was maybe somebody hunters, but it was hard. When they first come, people said, well, I won't sell, and some of them that mouthed off the loudest were the first to sell. Honest. So anyway, I'll se what I can dig up and we'll xerox what we can [start shuffling papers, papers not visible on camera]. Here, you all scoot in—one of you all could right, I'll tell you what. We'll xerox and he'll have to negative and he'll have what you need is the print, so you won't have to write down what it is. [Conversation about photographs not in the picture, logging trains parked on Janes Drive, problems with photographs] A lot of stuff is Naples, Naples pier, Olde Naples and I thought what about the rest of the world, that delayed it, or however you want to say it. We'll xerox these and you can show Ron—.here's the thing you can work out.—you can work something with Ron—.
INTERVIEWER: We don't have file. We don't have files. We don't have anything.
DOERR: What about when you start typing these things—Lee Cypress and stuff—you know you could work out a deal where you xerox and he'll make out a copy—there's not many ties he has out here—One thing, is that I got a lot of radios. I was into secret work, you know, crypto and stuff, and I'm going to loan, it;s an open radio it shows al the tubes and I'm going to have a case made for it and they have this great plexiglass to protect things from somebody to touch them—there's this pile of rocks about 200,300 yards in, because all your rocks, Liz are all in little piles along the road and they dug the Trial by the borrow pits at Monument and all—one day they this will end up a scenic tour one day. Well, it may be but with population, cars, and babies born, this will be four lane and it won't be a problem because they already the 200 foot right-of-way. So we walked back there and they would pouch out to you and sure enough, when we got out there the base was upside and all broke up and he's got this I think, [the center keystone plaque] the museum but when they tore it down—I went back and Monday I had a meeting in the museum and we had lunch brought and I went over to the easel board and they had an arch and I said Ron what's this arch—and he said you ought to know, Vince, that's the famous arch. We were going to try and find it. And I said I had just seen it Saturday and he said what? And I said, yeah, you know that big thing. I'm surprised it wasn't hauled off and it's in a pile and he got really enticed by it and we were working with BICY and he wants to take it and take it into Naples and put it together for the museum—he said maybe if they could get part of it together and—Fred said he had no problem with it and the thing is, I talked with George Archibald and it was really funny, and he said, Vince, how are we going to get it. And I said, I don't know whether you should get it when the water's up and its muddy and you can drag it; they would have to work east of the trailers on the other side of the fence, or they would have to wait until dry season with big rubber tired loaders like Harmon's got over at the rock pit over here. But i don't know, but I'd like to see something down with it. I don't care if BICY wants to put it up somewhere. To me, it ought to be put back together. If you get a chance, when it's dry, walk out there. I went out there and took pictures of it and I took, and there's some loose pieces and I took a few pieces in to show Ron.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think all of it's out there or just part of it?
DOERR: I think it's all there. It's going to take a task to tow it in and put it together. But you see here, I told Ron, why was it tore down and Ron said, you're askin' me? Why was it tore down? Now the only reason, well, someone might say its because they widened the Trail. They widened the Trail in 1960. Where would it be and they run into it. 1951 or so, maybe they widened the road some and we don;t know because I cannot buy that, 1951 or 1960, that they widened this wide, then we had to tear it down to let two lanes go under it. I can't buy that because you could let one, it's high enough for any semi today, but they could have left one lane and went over here. I mean you're talking a historical thing. See, people didn't think history. Oh, I'll tear it down—and it's just a shame. There's an arch like this over Collier-Seminole, but there's an arch smaller over that and I got a picture of it and I'll try to get a copy of it for you and Ron said he never heard of such a thing, but I got a picture and in it, is these two Indians and those Indians daughter, I think she's at the BICY Indian camp and I haven't got back with her, but when I get back with her, I'll get copies made for her because that's her mother and dad and that's unique—I don't know why it was tore down but the only thing I can think of was to take the dredger in and it was smaller than this [the arch at the Collier-Dade County line]. The dredger for years set behind the old gas station, I talked with Doc Johnson, then he took it from there straight back to when it is. It didn't have anything to do with the entrance, so that's a fact. Now Mr. Johnson, he lives in Naples, not too far from Wal-Mart. His son works in Guy Carlton's office; the tax collector, but I saw Mr. Johnson and two other old timers-Airport Wrecker-there's some old timers there. I see them every once in a while—year ago, you wouldn't believe Ochopee. There's more people here in 1940, almost, than there is today, countin' Chokoloskee and Everglades, than—.because of the tomato farms and you'd surprised when you fly this in a helicopter, down toward Naples, all the fields. I've got picture of traincars filled with tomatoes, hauled out of here by train-unbelievable. And, uh, we were in existence, Ochopee Fire Control, this was about 17, 18 years ago when the packing house burned on Birdon Road and 41. The Indians have a drive to go in, that's how they drive their cars parallel to the Trail, to go into the Indian camp in Ochopee. Sometimes they park across the road because they can't drive across the bridge because the bridge is no good. That packing house there, I hated to see that go, it was a big huge barn, 1978 or so, I've got some picture of it, kind of southwest of the house across from Chevron station—southwest behind it. Big huge, probably the biggest standing garages or barns. It was tore down for the lumber in 1978 so or. That went, they shot a movie, not
INTERVIEWER: Thunder and Lightning—
DOERR: I won't get on that. I don't have much faith in David Carradine, you know. Him and Kate Jackson, when you get kicked out of the Golden Lion, the Captain's Table, you got to be bad. So anyway, but not that movie—there was another one—Everglades Connection? I would say,
INTERVIEWER: Wind Across the Everglades,
DOERR: shows Burl Ives back in the swamp, killing birds for plumes, uh, this other is they blow up moonshine and they shot the seen where they were throwing bottles all over Marco Park, Winn-Dixie parking lot—I don't know how they got over there—but
INTERVIEWER: Everglades Connection—
DOERR: but get that, because in that, you'll see them running through Lee Cypress, it was made in the early sixties. That's the most any movie has veer been to show scenery around here; it shows Big Cypress Bend; shows city hall when Cooke, a lady, was mayor then; you'll see more than that than any movie that was ever made here. But int hat movie, I think it's that one—I think it's that one—might have been another one, but they shot there at the packing house. Well, in shooting, someone must have smoked and accidentally dropped `cause later that afternoon it caught and [ ] we couldn't get it out. We only had one truck and BICY wasn't here, but, uh, it burned. In that, you'll see a shoot out but we just thought something dropped through cracks in the floor and simmered because it burned. It was a [ ] fire. We were there that night—you can talk to them [the old timers]. The thing is you can hit it right with an old lady and she'll be your hook-up—Jimmy Gaunt, see he named Ochopee and it is with two p's and it is with two e's—what was funny that when the state got here, it was one p going this way [east] and two p's going the other way [west]. They come say, Vince, where is the boundary for Ochopee's city limits? and I said, I don't know. Just stick the dumb sign out here and stick the other one—who knows? But Jimmy Gaunt—I've got an old lamp at home, it's about this high [gestures with hands], all brass wire, you know, like a lantern? And I got it from Jimmy Howe; Jimmy Howe was the first and probably only president, until it closed, of the Bank of Everglades. My savings book reads Bank of Everglades—now Bank of Immokalee—Jimmy Howe, one day—they were some nice old houses like across the post office—I went over there to fix their TV antenna, put a new one up, take the old one down and I wasn't going to charge them or anything but I happened to be out in the garage and I said, Jimmy, where'd you get this old lantern and he said, do you want it? That old thing has been hanging up for years and what is was was a lantern they used for working late in the fields, and coming in the field, what you call a field lantern, but its all brass; every piece of wire on there. I mean I would have gave a hundred dollars for it. So when I got ready togo he started to write me a check and I said Jimmy I don't need your dumb check; I'll be glad to pay you for the lantern, so I no more walked from there and went over to Watson Grocery, now owned by Mr. King, and I walked in and showed it to Mr. King and I said Mr. King, look here. He spotted it right away. He knew it was a farm lantern and he said, I'll give a hundred dollars for it. I'll still got it somewhere. If you take the time to drive and see it, across from Golden Lion or BICY, you got to watch it going out there, but they had the sewer treatment all ready to go to feed the new homes because they were still on septic tank, but, uh, that was the—Harmon had it surveyed and there are some pipes over there so watch it—while we was out there, you'll go on some ground that is a little higher and you can tell, you can notice it and also there's some old farm equipment out there and it would be worth your time to go out there and dig it up; some old plows and stuff, but to clean it off and sandblast or paint, but there is some old farm equipment out there and if you look hard enough, there's probably some muck shoes. DO you know what muck shoes are? They're shoes you put on a mule to make his feet bigger, okay? like you do in the snow with snowshoes—
INTERVIEWER: And they were made out of what? Wood or metal?
DOERR: Some of them are leather, some of them are canvas-type. They got a metal plate but they fit over and clamp and they give a better—I'm trying tog et some. If I can get some, I'll try to—Forrest Harmon—he built all those houses behind—his sons runs Harmon Brothers, you know, at Copeland—Forrest, I think, he's got a barrel of them, I think. I'm trying to—I told Ron that and Ron got all excited. See, Forrest is real good and maybe Forrest would donate to the museum, but I'll see if I can't get Forrest but if I can't—but these are muck shoes. We used them in the fifties once in a while on horses just going through some areas—anyway, I didn't know they surveyed that and I told George there's a lot of stuff out there and I asked George how did they get this fill out there? He said we skipped it out and you walk behind the oxen and you tilt it up and when you got enough you tilt it down and it—it's like a big [ ] scoop, you know and you'd skid it and when you get where you want, you just tilt it, but that amazed me right there. There's a bucket, an old bucket that BICY ought to try to get out and I don't think it's on Wooten's property and when the tides out, you know the tide affects the canal, tide in, tide out; just before you get to Wooten's trailers; you guys know what I'm talking about? There's a strands there, you know, the strand starts and there's Wooten's trailers; just as the strand starts, okay—you come from Carnestown and its all open out there where you all burn, and you can go in his driveway and drive all the way back and when the tides down, there's an old bucket there from the days when they dug the thing. I told somebody; I told Ron, I said, I don't know if it'll take a crane and get it out from the other side, but it would be nice to take it out and clean it up because it was used to make the Trail. It's there. And also if it's really low, you'll see timber and sometime when you see it, you need to get a picture of it, right along there in the open prairie part, when the water's low and what that was was when they scuttled a big jobber here, see that crane and people always ask, well why didn't they make the canals bigger, but if you look and you've probably seen this in pictures, they had tracks here because it used to slip down so they put these logs and you need to get a picture of that one because this the only I know of all along here, but when the tide's down real low, you'll catch it if you just look over there and see because it hold that dumb thing up `cause that thing used to go in all the time. Mr. Johnson told me, he said it sink and down in the mud and you could see it, in the mud and muck, you jack it and the jack would go down in the mud. He said you talk about muck shoes, they had to put muck shoes on the jack,but some of the things, you wonder how they did, if it was worth it and the Alley, maybe its a littler mushy down here, meaning more sawgrass and mangrove, the edges of it, but you had modern equipment. and all you did is when you went over, you dumped and that's why the rode is where—why they'd put the dumb road so close anyway? The arm wouldn't make it, unless they pushed it and back then, it was skinny Model T's or A's and what could they 30, 40 mile an hour, so let me see, anyway—we'll xerox some of this, I don't want to hold you all up—I have a lot and when I get it sorted, I'll bring to you. I knew roughly what all was in it and I finally run across it and the ones on Turner River—I don't know. I walk back in there where they're clearing and we need fresh meant back there and the more people you take pack there—[laughter]
INTERVIEWER: Anything you got , see, we're collecting information on Ochopee and anything you got, we'll take.
DOERR: Oh, yeah, I'd like to anything saved. I hated to see any one thing and like the one of the sawmill because its a one time thing. Now I can get copies of these for you and all I ask is that if you get something that I can get a copy from you all. And I don't know.l.I got an address of some guy, I know you all can track down, you need to get—things for the tourists, I mean something really in depth, the army notes from Captain Turner. I know its U. S. Army something, and you can get them xerox, I got some and I got the address, but these—
[INTERVIEW ENDS]
Description
In this oral history interview, Vince Doerr talks about Big Cypress National Preserve and the public history he hopes the preserve will share. Doerr goes on to talk about the Collier County Historical Society, his neighbors, the logging industry, and the Winds Across the Everglades film. Interviewed on July 28, 1992.
Credit
Big Cypress National Preserve
Date Created
07/28/1992
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