$ $ $ MIA MI MILLIONS $ $ $CHAPTER TWOIT IS a far cry from the magnificent Bayfront park which makesup the front porch of Miami today, to the casual lettering of anunsung draftsman who was drawing the original plat of Miamiin 1896 and unthinkingly penned in the word "park" at a con-venient blank space on the line of the bay front.The bay front was not in fact a public park in the beginning.When James E. Ingraham came here to lay out Miami for HenryM. Flagler, after planning the cities of Tampa and Sanford, hecannily reserved from 10 to 60 feet above high tide all along thebay from the north city limits at about Thirteenth street aroundto the Miami river, and land on both banks of the river. TheStandard Oil fortune that Flagler invested here was not made byleaving water front openings for competitors to land and storetheir products.SCharles D. Leffler began shipping groceries from New Yorkfor his Miami store at the turn of the century.; He found that hecould save money by taking advantage of the water rates of theMallory line into Key West, and bring his goods to Miami on thevessels of Capt. Dick Albury and others. The little schooners wouldcome in to the front of one of the streets at the bay front and un-load, and Mr. Leffler's truck would pick up there and carry themerchandise to his store.Soon, he recalls, the movement became an epidemic, andenvious checkers for the Florida East Coast railroad sat all dayalong the bay front under the hot sun and watched boats unloadmerchandise that might better, in their opinion, have come downin freight cars. One day the Flor-ida East Coast sent in a crewequipped with second-hand crossties and barbed wire, and ran athree-strand fence from what isnow Belcher property to theRoyal Palm club at the foot ofS. E. Second street, thereby put-ting a sudden stop to theschooner business along that partof the bay.About 27 little Lefflers,Worleys, Romfhs and others livedwithin a block or two in bay-front homes north of the presentColumbus Hotel, and the newbarbed wire fence resulted inscratched hides and torn britchesas the children went to and fromtheir wading on the edge of thebay. Tempers of George A.FRANK B. SHUTTS11$ $ $ MIA MI MILLIO NS $ $ $Worley, sr., and of Mr. Leffler finally dictated the purchase ofwire clippers and one morning long stretches of the fence were cut,and the children romped through. But another railroad crewappeared with more crossties and more barbed wire. Soon after,the fence was cut again. So it went, back and forth, during 1901and 1902, until the fence was the center of a town row.The matter came to a head in a lawsuit against GeorgeWorley, in which the State Supreme court finally decided that thepart of the bay front marked "park" on the original map belongedto the city of Miami, and the part left blank belonged to Flagler.From the center of old Seventh street to the center of Third street,north of the present Fifth street, was city property, and the re-mainder belonged to the Florida East Coast, and the Model LandCompany, except for the site of Elser Pier at the foot of Flaglerstreet.The city wanted very badly to get the bay front closer to thefoot of Flagler street than the "park" which the Supreme courthanded it, because the federal government promised to spend$100,000 to start a harbor if the city would build the docks. TheFlorida East Coast railroad had entered into a contract with theUnited States to construct a turning basin and channel across thebay to the government cut, but after its completion of the rail-road to Key West, its interest in channels ebbed, and it refused tocarry on the contract. The federal government found it couldnot get satisfaction out of the courts.Miami's only prospect for a harbor, therefore, lay in its ownefforts coupled with what the war department was willing to do.Through Frank B. Shutts, who had founded The Miami Herald in1910 and was also starting a law practice, the Flagler interests in1913 gave Miami a three-year option to buy all the bay front fromFlagler street to the P. & 0. docks, including the channel and aspur track, for $415,000 in 5 per cent bonds.By then, however, S. Bobo Dean was in command of the oldMetropolis, and he began a fire-eating crusade against the F. E. C.that soon had much of the town's population believing that this"greedy corporate monster" was about to devour them, body andsoul. As a result, Mayor John W. Watson vetoed the bond issueordinance and the Flagler spokesmen retired into their shells inSt. Augustine.The city then began suit against the railroad and the ModelLand Company to take the bay front by right of eminent domain,but A. J. Rose finally had to report failure. In 1917 the city of-fered the Florida East Coast $1,500,000 for the land from S. E.Second north to the P. & 0. terminals, and got nothing but a curtrefusal, by letter. After 15 years of bickering and litigation, thecity and the Flagler estate reached an impasse where the trusteesfinally refused even to answer letters from the city or to treat withits spokesmen.The deadlock was broken in 1920 when Mr. Shutts, at the city12$ $ $ MIA MI MILLIO NS $ $ $council's request, went to the Flagler trustees in New York andfinally wheedled the trustees of the Flagler estate into selling thebayfront property for $1,000,000 in 6 per cent Miami bonds. Theactual acceptance was made in Miami with Mr. Shutts, W. A.Blount, widely known Flagler attorney, S. P. Robineau as cityattorney and Chester B. Masslich of New York, Miami's bond at-torney, conducting the negotiations.The site of Elser Pier at the foot of Flagler street, belong-ing to a company headed by Locke T. Highleyman, was offeredto the city at this time for $175,000 but the city fathers were alittle slow in accepting. When they found in 1924 that they hadto have Elser Pier, they paid $375,000 for it at forced sale.Had the matter of the bayfront been permitted to drag twoor three years more, until the boom got well started, there is noquestion that the Model Land Company and the Florida EastCoast would not have parted with the site of the present parkfor anything like $1,000,000. In fact, it is doubtful if there wouldhave been a park along Miami's bayfront today if the purchasehad not been made just before the dawn of the boom.The germ of the park idea, planted by an anonymous drafts-man, lived through 40 years, of which half of it was passed in bit-ter squabbling between the city of Miami and the Flagler inter-ests.