THE ERA OF SALT
Let us now go back some three hundred years
to a time when overpopulation and pollution in
La Florida were not even dreamed of. Early in the
18th century, the shallow fishing grounds around
Cuba and its nearby islands were already being
overutilized and depleted of their edible resources.
In their search for more productive waters,
Spanish-Cuban fishermen found Charlotte
Harbor to be a rich source of mullet, redfish,
pompano, grouper, whelk, sea turtles, and other
marine animals. However, because of the long
distance from Charlotte Harbor to Cuba, most of
these products had to be processed locally to
avoid spoiling. Racks were built and net-caught fish
were split and hung on them to cure in the sun by
air drying. Mullet roe was soaked in salt water and
then dried and pressed.
In the first decade of the 1700s, the previously
well-organized Calusa Indian society that, for
centuries, had managed Charlotte Harbor and,
indeed, much of South Florida, was in final decline.
“Contact” with Europeans had brought disease
and disarray, and Indian social organization was
further disrupted by its vulnerability to the
“demon rum.”
During the first half of the 18th century, as the
remnant Calusa disappeared, a new mixture of
Native Americans began to visit in the Charlotte
Harbor area. These people were mostly Creek Indians,
who were being dislocated by colonial
North shore of entrance to Safety Harbor, North Captiva Island - Ice House at Captiva Rocks.
expansion in Georgia.
50 GASPARILLA ISLAND September/October 2019
In the latter part of the same century, faraway
events had a profound effect on the Charlotte
Harbor scene. In 1763, as a part of the
comprehensive Treaty of Paris, the seven-year
French and Indian War ended and, at the same
time, Spain ceded Florida to English rule. During
the next two decades, some Creeks and other
Indians moved into the Florida peninsula, which
was mostly unoccupied. Around this time, the
word “Seminole” came into use; it probably
derives from cimarrones, a Spanish term indicating
unmanageability, applied to Creek Indians who
lived in Florida apart from other Creek Indians in
Georgia and Alabama.
Spanish fishermen began to trade with the
Creek Indians. The Spanish Cubans also built and
operated coastal homesteads dedicated to marine
production known as fish “ranchos.” Indians were
hired to harvest and cure the harbor's fish —
notably mullet. Rancho operators introduced
technological innovations for fishing such as
oar-driven skiffs, metal hooks, large nets, salt for
curing, and wooden barrels for shipping dried and
salted fish. In this way, Cubans gained
independence from north-Atlantic fish-food
production called “Yankee Cod.” Indeed, the
Spanish living in Cuba preferred to eat fish caught
in Florida.
During the brief reign of the British, all Florida
Indians were labeled as Seminoles, and Spanish
trade with the Seminoles became illegal and was
considered to be smuggling, whereas fishing
operations in Charlotte Harbor continued. Indians
worked on most of the Cuban fish ranchos,