1674-7 John Collinsunborn and tinatnan
New Jersey — visited
dea and got involved.
Inds of coconuts were
lad and planted. Back
her man got financially
.,as John S. Collins.
evident that rats and
Ocados. rie also become uvllVOlbCu HW
some day the land would become valuable
for residences but there was no way to get
there other than by boat.
Collins set out to connect Miami with
the beach. He proposed to build a bridge,
but was met with opposition from the
county commission because a ferry serv-
Beach.
He lived to see a great tourist and res-
idential center grow up on the land that
had failed his coconut trees. Collins died
in 1928 at the age of 91.
• NEXT SATURDAY: Scarlace and
Miami. •
was at the turn of the century, including John Collins' coconut trees
(From The Miami Daily Is1 ws and Metropolis, Dec. 29, 1925)
S. Collins
t
Mins Bridge, which was
Biscayne Bay. It opened
Pioneer, 88, Marks Birthday
With Story of Mi , i Beach
• ;ss the Collins Bridge to
rhe bridge later was re-
enetian Causeway.
John S. Collins, pioneer developer of Miami
Beach, the playground of the world, is 88 years
old. Mr. Collins celebrated his birth anniversa-
ry quietly, with his children and grandchildren
around him in his modest residence on Ocean
dr.
There was little in the quiet surroundings
or the genial and kindly demeanor of Mr. Col-
lins to call to mind the lifetime of struggle
against the forces of wind and sea, the resist-
ance of tropical mangrove swamps to improve-
ment, and the overwhelming disappointments
that have made his triumph assume heroic pro-
portions.
Seated In the sun -lit office of his home,
with a few newspapers scattered about him
after an hour's reading. Mr. Collins at first hes-
itatingly, then more readily. recounted the inti•
dents in his life that have become a part of the
history of Miami Beach.
Coming to Miami Beach when It was only a
strip of land covered with mangroves near the
shoreline and with trees and underbrush
throughout the inland section, Mr. Collins be-
came associated with Nathan T. Field and Ezra
Osborne in the development of a huge coconut
grove project. That was nearly 40 years ago.
Mr. Collins went on to tell how the dream
of the giant coconut industry brought seven
New Jersey men to the southeastern coast of
Florida to buy a site for their plant and the land
necessary to grow coconuts. A large strip of
the land lying between Jupiter. north of Palm
Beath, and the southern end of Miami Beach,
was purchased.
He told how seed coconuts were brought
from the island of Trinidad. the first boatload
arriving during the winter of 1882-3. There
were 116,000 trees in the lot. Another cargo of
100,000 trees was brought over during the fol-
lowing winter. all being planted in Miami
Beach, and a third boatload of 116.000 trees
were brought over the succeeding year.
Various factors contributed to the failure of
the project. The sprouting buds were destroyed
by rabbits. which were plentiful on the penin-
sula. and sandstorms which swept over the
groves killed many of the trees.
When their venture failed, Field. Collins
and Osborne retained a portion of their land
near Miami. An interval of 10 years elapsed. It
was not until the railroad pushed south that
Field and Collins. who had remained in part-
nership, undertook to develop their properties.
With characteristic daring, Mr. Collins then
plunged headlong into attempts to cultivate the
avocado on a large scale. despite the objections
of his now more conservative partner, Mr.
Field. He purchased 3,000 trees from Leo B.
Cellon, Miami planter, and set about clearing
the land, which was a wilderness of palmet-
toes.
With atd of a 16 -ton traction engine
with . els fitted with special knives for cut -
ti . : e palmetto roots. Mr. Collins began cut -
ng wide stretches through the jungle. When
Mr. Field withdrew from the project, Mr. Col-
lins assumed the entire burden. He brought 22
men from the life-saving stations along the
New Jersey coast to plant the trees.
The grove was planted in 1907. It was
found necessary to use overhead irrigation, and
two pumping stations were installed, one of
which is still In use as an auxiliary to the
Miami Beach city system. Some of the avocado
trees are still bearing.
Another achievement of Mr. Collins was
the building of the canal which bears his name.
Digging was begun in 1909.
It was found necessary to construct a chan-
nel for half a mile into the bay in order to pro-
vide for passage of boats into the canal mouth.
The canal was half completed in 1911, when
Thomas J. Pancoast. who married Mr. Collins'
daughter. decided to lend his financial aid to
the development.
It was Mr. Pancoast who suggested to Mr.
Collins that -proper development of the proper-
ty depended upon the building of a bridge •
across Biscayne bay. It was completed in May,
1913. The bridge served Its purpose until 1921.
when It was sold. A new causeway is now re-
placing it.
During or about 1913 others became inter-
ested in Miami Beach. among whom was Carl
G. Fisher, who arrived just after completion of
the bridge. He financed the scheme to the ex-
tent of 550,000.
Mr. Fisher joined forces with J.N. Lummus,
Mr. Collins, Mr. Pancoast and others in deepen-
ing Biscayne bay and in marketing land on
Miami Beach. The Miami Beach Improvement
Co. was formed, with Mr. Collins as president
and Mr. Pancoast as vice president. The Alton
Beach Realty Co.. with Mr. Fisher as head. was
also formed. Later, these companies merged
Into what is now known as the Miami Beach
Bay Shore Co.
During the last four or five years develop-
ment of Miami Beach has been exceedingly
rapid, a half dozen large hotels, a score of
apartments and hundreds of new homes having
been erected.
Now that the greater part of his life's work
has been done, Mr. Collins has gone Into com-
parative retirement from active business. He
watches with keen satisfaction, however. the
improvements that are going on through the
length and the breadth of Miami Beach, the
narrow peninsula of sand which was wrested.
largely through his efforts, from the clutch of
the mangrove swamps.
r• i416•,r_ .
ably the most comfortable car In exlsten
says. "My dictionary defines arguable as
or dispute, not certain.' Is Peugeot's use c
guable?"
Ordinarily. I would let out a whoot
and proceed to savage the philistines of
Ing a perfectly good adverb like arguah''
to carry the negative connotation of deb
proven. suspect" — and twisting its r
positive like conceivably — "it could
cessfuliy."
But that would be wrong. As an adje
means debatable, and has long carried a
notation: when you say. "That's arguah
"I'm not buying that line of guff."
However. as an adverb, arguably r
line of positive precedents. When we s
the sexiest legs," we mean: "Reasonabl
persuasively put forward the proposi:
legs are capable of driving most men wil
That's strange: 1 dont know of ar
tive-to-adverb switch of meaning. Jacgm
great usaglst, disapproves of the use o'
positive sense, and suggests that adver
an element of disbelief when using it
think we have tripped over a quirk in th,
Instead of wrangling, let us study t
velopment. The first use In the suppler
ford English Dictionary is from an 189
view: "His policy. if sometimes arguab'
In 1959 The Times of London was
tart's sinfonia concertante for violin a:
guably the greatest of his concertos."
files, a 1960 Harper's use is "Since thy
lutely stiff with arguably uglier objects
In all these cases. the adverb is cert:
"not bloody likely." On the contrary,
the positive "a good case can be made to
people define the word with both posit
elements: "As may be shown by argurn
tive — the connotation is persuasive) o•
of argument (that's negative — the co
Datable)."
My hunch is that the adverb argua
ously sired by the adjective arguable. v.
etymology with some legal usage. 1
from the Latin arguendo, which mean
of the argument."
So to hell with consistency, hrot`
this in your composition -crunchers Thr
ble is negative ("1 told Orville. 1 told
telling you — it's arguable whether
ever get off the ground"). The adverb .
tive ("The smile on that flight altendan
only reason people will take the mid('
two fatties on the shuttle").
The first letter that comes in will
tiously
Senior forum
Beulah Collins
Gripe of young
blessing for ret
The eternal complaint of the you
dull — nothing ever happens," be
blessing of retirement.
"And all the people coming up to
retirement had better pray it con-
tinues that way," says Lee Austin,
who gives thanks every night that
his day has been uneventful.
Austin retired three years ago
from a pretty good job. His Income
was adequate. He and his wife elect-
ed to remain in their old home. "ex-
cept that we voted to spend a month
.every winter in a different Southern
state. starting in Florida and moving
west." They're now in Mississippi.
Austin went into retirement bels
three major problems to it:
✓ Keeping anything from happer
✓ Filling up the idle hours of the
✓ Getting a new outlook on mon
The first. he thought, was the V
member how all your life you got res
pecially bad in youth when you ke
thing to happen. Through the baby
was bad, too. But it was worst of all
when you'd go for months or mayb
promotion or raise. You longed for
pen.
"Well. once you retire, your sal
pends on keeping anything from h:
down a tree before it falls on your he
lar checkups from the doctor so a r
hit you. You reduce your car drivi•
down your chances for an accident.
"On No. 2. the matter of filling
like to tell people approaching retire
know one of the big hangups of re'
people to plan ways to occupy Ih
practice that turns out to be no pr,