1674-26 John CollinsFORT LAUDERDALE*Ng.WS E
THE GORE PUBLISHING COMPANY '
.1. W. DICKEY, Chairman of the Board. W. W. STARR, Vice -Pres. Advertising
T. T. GORE, President J. MILLARD CAIN, Vice -Pres. Circulation
J. W. GORE, Editor and Publisher FRED PETTIJOHN, Executive Editor
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1962 ="
• Editorial, Page Eight
Classified Departments — Dial—J-4-37,542S,
All Other Departments —. Dial JA 2.3711.
320 B.E. First Ave., Ff. Lauderdale
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS -`
The Associated Press Is entitled exclusively to the use for publication of all
the local news printed In this newspaper as well as all AP news dispatches.
All rights of publlation of special dispatches are also reserved.
NEWS Hollywood Bureau, 505 S 21st Ave., Dial Hollywood WA 2-1548.•
NEWS West Hollywood Bureau, 1439 S State Rd. 7, Dial Hollywood YU 3-7050.
NEWS Pompano Beach Bureau, 2501 N Federal Hwy., Dial Pompano Beach
WH 1-7800.
NEWS Delray Beach Bureau, 82 S.E. Fourth Ave., Dial CR 8-2676. t
NEWS -SENTINEL Palm Beach Bureau, 301 N Dixie Hwy. TE 3.9933. s
ersktrtm
The
BEACHCOMBER
(`Z) By WESLEY STOUT
Part II: John Collins meanwhile had come
• down from New Jersey to see what had become
. of his money. The cost of clearing land by hand
ran from $70 to $300 an acre. Collins brought
down 16 -ton steam tractors which cut clearing
costs to $30.
Coconuts having failed them, Collins ,pro-
• posed to plant avocados, an unproven crop, on a
mile -long and 700 -feet wide tract, now the heart
.of Miami Beach. Nate Field wanted to plant -
grapefruit, • a proven crop. Neither had a high
opinion of his fellow nurseryman's professional
competence.
. One was daring. the other cautious, incom-
patible partners. The avocados getting off to
a bad start, hurt by salt and blowing sand, first
Osborn, then Field sold their interests in the
4.5 -mile Miami Beach strip to Collins, who later
found the answer to salt and sand in Australian
Pine windbreaks. Some of these trees still line
Pinetree Dr.
* * *
Nate Field and Ezra and Frank Osborn seem
to have been first to plat Miami Beach. a plat
which vanished and was not found in Dade Coun-
ty's records again until 1923. Abstract of title
shows that Field deeded a lot, 100 -feet on the
ocean and 300 deep, at Twentieth St., to his only
living daughter, "Frank," mother of Mrs. Totten-
hoff, in return for secretarial work he valued at
$150.
In the earliest letter Mrs. Tottenhoff has of
her grandfather's, written Dec. 27, 1905, from
E. A. Forssell's Southern Hotel, Miami, he says
he was running free boat excursions to the beach
and getting prospective lot buyers: and told
' Carl-" . (cc4-a -price-on- her lot , aud` he would
find a buyer. ' •
But after Collins became sole owner of the
4.5 -mile strip, he replatted, mislocating the
daughter's lot and running Twentieth St. diagon-
ally through it. Every sale of adjacent land in
later years included a specific exception of Lot
6. Block C, in dispute. But with the title clouded,
the lot stood vacant amidst the Roney Plaza
area. In 1925, $100,000 had been offered for it. The
title continued clouded until 1930, when -Mrs. Tot-
tenhoff accepted $25,000 for a quitclaim deed,
$6,700 of which was hers after legal costs were
paid.
* * *
A Dec. 19, 1912, Field letter says: "Green
told me he was almost certain to sell from Delray
to Boynton. and 1 fixed a price south of Delray
' to Boca Ratone at $125 an acre."
A letter of a week later says: "Collins made
nue sell the last half interest in Miami Beach
to him."
A letter of the following February on the sta-
tiouery of Collins' and Pancoast's Miami Beach
Improvement. Co., refers to "a Fisher (Carl) who
will be here in a few days," and continues: "Got
an inquiry for land above Ilillsbero Inlet. Priced
it at 1200 an acre."
• Two weeks later he was writing: "Collins has
sold 1,800 -feet off his south line to some Fisher,
whom I have not yet seen, who has taken much
. off his hands. 71us sale gives Fisher control of
the mouth of the canal and the east end of the
Bay bridge: and Collins did not see the situation
; until I called his - attention to it."
The letter . concludes: "Marshall has just
come to see me about some land about New
River."
} Soon Field was fearful that the bold- Collinswould go broke, "I hope not." he wrote; "as he
Y owes me $7,000 yet on the Miami Beach land. I
have a mortgage on all the rest I sold hon, and
shall ask him for security on the $7,000.
(more tomorrow)
, A -•
1