The Spelling of Loxahatchee. Excerpt from the Charles W. Pierce memoir On The Wings of the Wind pages 654-655 A large steamboat dock was built on the south side of the Locohatchee River and a large force of Negroes started work grading for the railroad they were going to build from Jupiter to Juno at the head of Lake Worth. They had the grade through to Juno in short order and were laying track with hand cars while waiting for the rolling stock to come down the river from Titusville. The company was building a large steam lighter at Titusville on which to transport the locomotive and cars to Jupiter. On my next trip to Titusville, I found upon my arrival at that town the steam barge had been launched and was nearly finished. After unloading my cargo of tomatoes, I docked the Illinois near this barge. The next morning, had just finished breakfast and was cleaning up the table when I heard an animated conversation, or rather a discussion going on aboard the new steam lighter. I came on deck to see what it was all about. A painter was standing on her deck with his paint and brushes. It seems he had been sent to paint the name on the side of the cabin, but was at a loss about the correct spelling of the name and he and two others were having an argument about the way it should be spelled. Just as I had taken in the situation a carpenter came on board and asked what was the argument. They told him. He said, “That’s easy, I can tell you; L O X A H A T C H E E, that is the way to spell it.” The painter immediately started painting Loxahatchee on the side of the steamers stateroom. It occurred to me afterwards that I should have butted in on that talk and told the painter the correct spelling of the name. Loxahatchee has no meaning whatever; it is just a name invented by a carpenter on the old steam barge at Titusville. The strange part of it is the fact that while all the old settlers at Jupiter knew the name of the river was Locohatchee, they accepted the new name painted on the steam lighter. Now there is hardly anyone that remembers the right name of the river. note; We know today that the rivers name meant “turtle river” and was spelled Lochahatchee or Locohatchee depending on the document or cartographer before this event. Courtesy of Marty Baum
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:28:03 +0000
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