Introduction
Rufus P Rutherford
My
name is Rufus P Rutherford, story teller. I was born and lived most
of my life in this place right around here in this in these parts and I
probably know more about the happening of these springs then any one about.
Back in the old days when I was a lad (up walks young Rufus) and this here
was farm country, now you got to remember one thing now, farm country is
hot and dirty work with that Florida sun blazing down at you we just looked
forward to the weekend when we could go over to Mr. Gary’s Magnesia Springs
and just cool off. By the time I was sixteen the springs was like
a second home to me. But all that nearly ended in the summer of 1935.
The Great Depression was going on and folks all over the country were facing really hard times. Round here we just went on like we always did, working our farms and coming to the springs on the weekends and just trying to cool off. Some folks weren’t lucky as us and they had lost their jobs or their homes or their farms and they just sort of taken to the road. There was a lot of them this particular year, 1935, and stopping at the springs and looking for a little work or at least a free meal. Mr. Gary he always tried to give them both.