Marathon Key................do the Charleston clear to Tampa Bay......................Charleston is in South Carolina.........canals and Cuba..................man does this go deep...........



Flagler became particularly interested in linking Key West to the mainland after the United States announced in 1905 the construction of the Panama Canal. Key West, the United States's closest deep-water port to the Canal, could not only take advantage of Cuban and Latin America trade, but the opening of the Canal would allow significant trade possibilities with the west.
The construction of the overseas railway required many engineering innovations as well as vast amounts of labor and monetary resources. At one time during construction, four thousand men were employed. During the seven year construction, five hurricanes threatened to halt the project. Despite the hardships, the final link of the Florida East Cost Railway was completed in 1912, the year before Flagler's death.
  FEC Chief Engineer William Krome
Linking the entire east coast of Florida, a state that at the time was largely an uninhabited frontier, demanded a great deal of foresight and perseverance. Nearly a century later, the effects of Henry Flagler's incredible accomplishments can still be seen clearly throughout Florida.
FURTHER READING:Akin, Edward N. Flagler: Rockefeller Partner & Florida Baron, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1988.