View allAll Photos Tagged TarponSprings
doc photo showing drake (female also observed); William E Dunn Water Reclamation Facility, Pinellas, FL
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Oceana/Carlos Suarez
The former ACL depot in Tarpon Springs is pictured in October 1972. Passenger service had ended on April 30, 1971, but freight operations continued until the 1980s. J. Howard Audibert photo, courtesy Kevin Pytlak collection
With rail service established between Lutz (from Tampa) and Tarpon Springs by September of 1910, the T & GC acquires access to Port Richey by purchasing the route from J. M. Weeks in December of 1912.
In the meantime, Pinellas County has been created out of western Hillsborough County as of January 1, 1912. Tampa Union Station opens May 15, 1912, and T & GC trains running on the Tampa Northern line share the Station with connections to the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railway. Adapted from Heritage Village map, courtesy Tom Pavluvcik
"World's Largest Selection of Natural Sponges"
The Tarpon Springs sponge industry is the largest in the world, with a fleet of 125 or more boats with crews of some 500 men, 150 of whom are divers and most of whom are natives to the isles of the Mediterranean. After the sponges are brought in by the diving and hooking boats, they are sold thru the Sponge Exchange, taken to the individual packing houses by the buyers, where they are cleaned, clipped and packed in bales for shipment to thei destinations.
The sponge of commerce is only a skeleton of an animal that has adhered to the bottom of the sea, or on the submerged surface or in the crevice of a rock, or is sometimes attached to coral reef. They are obtained in two ways - they are hooked from the bottom by men working on the surface, and they are picked by divers who descend tothe bottom in diving suits. Commercial sponges from the U.S.A. come chiefly from the Gulf of Mexico and the Straights of Florida, extending from KEy West to St. Mark's Light near Apalachicola, in depths of from 10 to 130 feet, and reaching from 1 to 50 miles from shore.
This simplified map shows the location of the ACL railroad depot at Tarpon Avenue in Tarpon Springs, and the ACL track routes to the northeast and south. The depot is now the home of the Tarpon Springs Historical Society museum, and the tracks have been replaced by the Pinellas Trail. Click the down-arrow symbol at the right, and select 'View all sizes' to see the details, especially in the "original" size. Courtesy Tom Pavluvcik