Handleman, Chester

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\u3ci\u3eThe Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe\u3c/i\u3e edited by  Irving A. Leonard

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Tampa Bay History 
Volume 2 Issue 2 Article 10 
12-1-1980 
The Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe edited by Irving A. Leonard 
Chester Handleman 
Broward Community College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory 
Recommended Citation 
Handleman, Chester (1980) "The Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe edited by Irving A. Leonard," Tampa 
Bay History: Vol. 2 : Iss. 2 , Article 10. 
Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory/vol2/iss2/10 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in Tampa Bay History by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more 
information, please contact scholarcommons@usf.edu. 
Tocobaga control extended as far south as Charlotte Harbor, and Bullen is forced to cite 
the not too reliable DeSoto accounts to prove other points. Still, Bullen presents us with 
the best account of Tocobaga. Milanich’s "The Western Timucua" is a solid work by a 
specialist in the field. Likewise, Deagan’s "Cultures in Transition: Fusion and 
Assimilation among the Eastern Timucua" is written by an active researcher in Timucuan 
culture. Larson, who has done extensive archaeological work in Georgia, has written a 
good account of the Guale Indians and the Spanish missions. Sturtevant, an authority on 
the Calusas and Seminoles, examines the disappearance of the last of the original Florida 
Indians by "exploiting" the details of the report made by a Jesuit mission to Florida in 
1743. A copy of the report made by Father Alane published in Spanish is attached to the 
short article. Fairbank examines the Seminole background in "Ethno-archaeology of the 
Florida Seminole." It is a good résumé of his past research. The collection of articles is 
concluded with Proctor's "Taping the Indian Past: The University of Florida's Oral 
History Project." It is a survey of what the University of Florida has done with funds 
provided by the Doris Duke Oral History Project. 
 
   To some buffs of the history of Tampa Bay, there is information given within the 
various papers that is not exactly correct. DeSoto probably landed at Tampa Bay, but his 
chances of landing near Fort Myers are remote. There is no reliable proof that Robert 
Ambrister established a trading post in the Tampa Bay area. Altogether the collection of 
papers and articles is a must for those who assemble important books concerning Florida 
history. 
 
   James W. Covington 
 
 
The Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe. Edited by Irving A. Leonard. (Chuluota, 
Florida: Mickler House Publishers, 1975. 218 pp. $11.75) 
 
   The life of adventurer, explorer, and author Kirk Monroe, at least up to age sixty in 
1910 (he died in 1930), was remarkable, exciting and altogether pleasant. This writer of 
innumerable boys' books and articles for both young people and adults, based on his 
personal experiences from the post Civil War period to the early twentieth century, lived 
almost completely in accord with his own interests and desires. 
 
   Irving A. Leonard, the editor of this anthology, first depicts Monroe's early years in the 
raw and remote wild west of the Dakotas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and other states. 
But it is the south Florida area, where Kirk Monroe made his permanent home, and where 
he experienced most of his adventurous treks, both on water and over land, that supplies 
the locale for most of the sketches in this volume. It is difficult for the south Florida 
reader of this volume to realize that barely one hundred years ago this area was remote, 
placid and inhabited by numerous Indian tribes. Yet such indeed was the case. 
 
   Monroe's description of Tampa in "A Gulf Coast City," written in 1882, is especially 
intriguing for today's resident of the Tampa Bay area. According to Monroe: 
 
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Handleman: <i>The Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe</i> edited by  Irving A.
Published by Scholar Commons, 1980
Tampa once reached is found to be a sleepy, shabby Southern town, with 
wide streets innocent of other pavement than that offered by the deep, 
loose, white sand of the country, wooden sidewalks, wooden houses and 
stores, some of which are painted and as many only tinted a delicate gray 
by the action of the weather, and seven or eight hundred inhabitants .... 
  
   Monroe further pointed out that Tampa at the time had sandy streets with "no rattle of 
vehicles" but did have two small hotels and several small boarding houses. It also had 
two churches, one Methodist and one Roman Catholic; also, a rope ferry across the 
Hillsborough River and one stone house. 
 
   Monroe spoke of fruits that were grown in the Tampa area in early 1882, including 
oranges, lemons, limes, citron, guavas, the avocado or alligator pear and sugar apples. He 
pointed out that the average temperature of the west coast of Florida is "milder and more 
equable than that of the east." He foresaw that when Tampa’s railroad and a first class 
hotel were completed, "there will be no more charming nor popular place on the west 
coast in which to pass the winter months" than Tampa. 
 
   Kirk Monroe was particularly fascinated by the Seminoles; he loved the children and 
was one of the few white men of the time whom the Indians trusted implicitly. He 
referred to Florida Seminoles as "as fine a specimen of American Indian as can be 
found." His black hair "is clipped as short as possible but for at the top of the head, where 
it grows to full length." The author pointed out that the Indians’ great fear was that they 
would be removed to the Indian territory. This fear made them shy of all white men, 
especially of those whom they suspected of being connected with the government. But 
Monroe says that at the time Florida Indians were peaceful, industrious and self sup-
porting, that civilization had already influenced them, and that they were now living more 
and more like the white man. He strongly hoped that the government would recognize 
these Indians as people possessing human rights so that in some measure the "Century of 
Dishonor" would be ended. 
 
   Other topics depicted by Kirk Monroe include "Shad-Fishing in Florida," "Pineapple of 
the Florida Keys," "Cruising in Florida Waters," "Tarpon Days," and "Adventures with 
Alligators." Most are of interest to today’s reader if only because of their colorful 
descriptions of how radically one century can change the life and physical appearance of 
a state like Florida. 
 
   Yet while intriguing and colorful in many instances, the sketches are not brilliant; they 
hardly compare with the writings of a Mark Twain or Thomas Wolfe. It is well that 
Irving A. Leonard has reprinted these adventures of a long forgotten writer. They are 
authentic and well worth reading. Monroe’s writings should be read and appreciated, but 
they are not great literary works. They are most useful to people of Florida who have an 
interest in life as it was in this state a century ago. Their attraction for other readers may 
be limited, however. 
 
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Tampa Bay History, Vol. 2 [1980], Iss. 2, Art. 10
https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/tampabayhistory/vol2/iss2/10
   A bibliography of Kirk Monroe’s books and articles is to be found in the volume’s final 
pages. The number of his writings is impressive indeed - over forty books and 
innumerable articles. Most are forgotten today, and it is not likely that the present day 
young people will be reading many of these. Still, Monroe’s writings will make a 
contribution to those who care to know Florida in its earlier days. 
 
   Chester Handleman 
 
 
History of Fort Myers Beach, Florida. By Rolfe F. Schell. (Fort Myers Beach: Island 
Press, 1980, 96 pp. $3.95.) 
 
   A more apt title for this paperback, written by long-time Florida resident, Rolfe F. 
Schell, would have been "A Chronology of Fort Myers Beach" for that’s what it amounts 
to - not a history. In concise, chronological order, he traces the development of the 
popular beach (located on historic Estero Island about 15 miles southwest of Fort Myers) 
from prehistoric times to its present-day hustle. 
 
   The most interesting part of the 96-page book involves the Spanish explorations of the 
area surrounding Estero Island in the 1500s when the extinct Caloosas were the dominant 
Indians in Southwest Florida. This theme is dear to Schell’s heart, whose book, De Soto 
Didn’t Land at Tampa claims the conquistador landed at the nearby mouth of the 
Caloosahatchee River (in Lee County) instead of at Tampa Bay. 
 
   For readers inquiring about names, dates and places, this book can be a handy 
reference. It describes the original homesteads and their present occupants. Although 
Southwest Florida was settled much later than other sections of the state, it’s hard to 
believe that Estero Island was still being homesteaded as late as 1914. In reviewing the 
settlement of the beach from the giddy days of the Florida boom to today, Schell tells 
where and when many of the now-landmark structures were built and how they changed 
hands through the years. 
 
   Schell writes of the background of events, businesses and civic groups from scanning 
area newspaper microfilms, interviews with old-timers and his own remembrances. But, 
while he writes from his years of intimate knowledge of Fort Myers Beach, he 
deliberately leaves out such doings as murders, bootleg and all-night beach parties and 
wild goings-on once part of the island’s colorful history. 
 
   Schell’s reportorial style lacks the dash of the late Florence Fritz whose out-of-print 
book, Unknown Florida, describes in some detail the early beginnings of Fort Myers 
Beach. The book also shows signs of publishing in haste, as exemplified by sloppy 
writing and careless editing. 
 
   It contains irksome, if minor, misspellings, such as Charleston for Carlstrom Field in 
Arcadia, typographical errors, especially in the names of persons, and misstatements of 
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Handleman: <i>The Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe</i> edited by  Irving A.
Published by Scholar Commons, 1980


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\u3ci\u3eThe Florida Adventures of Kirk Monroe\u3c/i\u3e edited by Irving A. Leonard

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