Was There A Real 'Volcano' In Wakulla?
Or Was It In Jefferson? And What Was It?

 Maybe there is, or was, a
"Wakulla volcano."
 At least that's what a Wa-
kulla County man and a Leon
County man say--only they
don't think it really was a "vol-
cano" and they say it was in
Jefferson County, not Wakulla
County.
 Last Sunday, The Democrat
recalled details--fact and fan-
cy--about the long-searched-
for "volcano" near the border
junction of Wakulla, Jefferson
and Leon counties.
 Wakulla County Judge A. L.
Porter and James N. Kirkland,
Tallahassee forester, came for-
ward with a claim that there
actually might have been a
fiery eruption. And they say
they may be the only two liv-
ing souls who have seen its site.
 The existence and non-ex-
istence claims of the "volcano"
have fascinated local residents
for more than a century.
 From the days when Florida
was a territory up to about
World War I folks in Leon,
Wakulla and Jefferson coun-
ties could stand on high hills,
climb large trees or even go
up in the Capitol dome and
look out over the tree tops and
see a thin column of smoke
rising from the wild swamp and
forest lands southeast of Tal-
lahassee.
 The Democrat article brought
this letter from Judge Porter:
 "I believe that James N.
Kirkland, 231 E. Sixth Ave.,
and I are possibly the only two
living people who have seen
the crater of the extinct Wa-
kulla Volcano.
 "Fifteen or 20 years ago Jim
and I were deer hunting in the
Gum Swamp-Pinhook area. The
hounds struck a trail in the
north end of Gum Swamp and

[Photo of Judge A. L. Parker]
Judge A. L. Parker

trailed east. I flanked north
and Jim south.
'SIGNS OF OIL?'
 "After following the dogs for
possibly a mile I came to a
small rocky knoll and in the
very top of the knoll was a
small crater about the size of
a small dish pan. The rock ex-
tended as deep as I could see
and appeared to be burned. I
called Jim and we agreed then
and there that we had found
the 'volcano' of which we had
heard and read for many years.
 "I know very little about
geology, but in my layman's
opinion the rock forming the
crater was not igneous but ap-
peared to be a sedimentary
rock where natural gas found
its way to the surface and was
set afire by lightning or a woods
fire and continued to burn for
many years until the gas pocket
was all exhausted.

[Photo of J. N. Kirkland]
J. N. Kirkland

 "In 1943 and 1944, when the
major oil companies were mak-
ing geophysical tests in this
area, I noted by their flags that
they made very close shots from
Camp Parker (a hunting camp)
to Double Sinks. I am told that
these close shots indicate that
interesting formations are be-
ing encountered by the explor-
ation crew. I hope that some
day this whole Gulf area is
going to produce oil and gas
like the coast of Texas and
Louisiana.
 "It is not unusual that the
smoke ... seen for years was
not traced to the point of ori-
gin. In those days the Pin-
hook was wild. When I first
came to Wakulla County, I
and most other people were
afraid of getting lost anywhere
between the East River and the
Aucilla. There were few roads
and at times you could walk

for half a day and not see an-
other hunter. Away back be-
fore I came, most hunters went
into the area by boat and nev-
er got as far north as the spot
where we found the crater.
KIRKLAND AGREES
 "In those days it took two
men to go to the spring for a
bucket of water after dark--
one to carry the bucket and
the flambeau, and the other to
carry a gun to keep off the
panthers.
 "At the present time the
county is cut up by three high-
ways, truck trails and wire
fences so that anybody can
navigate it without gettting lost.
However, since the area has
been under fire protection, a
dense growth of jack pines, wire
grass and other vegetation has
covered the entire area and it
would be difficult for Jim and
me to find our crater again.
 "I am strenuously opposed to
giving away anything that
Wakulla County has, by reap-
portionment or otherwise, but
honesty demands that I state
that the 'Wakulla Volcano' is
in either Section 5 or 6, Town-
ship 4 south, Range 3 east in
Jefferson County. It should be
about a mile east of the Wa-
kulla County line. Jefferson
County people are good neigh-
bors with whom I have spent
many happy days deer hunting,
and I don't want to take any-
thing that belongs to them."
 Kirkland voiced his agree-
ment with all the details of the
discovery of the "crater."
'ON MY MIND'
 "That thing has always been
on my mind," he said. "And
he said he thinks he could
find it again. He said the for-
est now is so thick that only
two or three men armed with

machetes could chop their way
to the vicinity, even though
there are trails and creek beds
to follow.
 Kirkland said the rock around
the "crater" seemed to be flint.
He said the fissure went down into
the rock at a slant.
 For years hardy explorers in
the Big Bend have tried to
track down the site of the
smoke that came from the so-
called volcano. Up until now
only one or two persons had
come up with spots that even
remotely resembled a "volcano."
 The crater Porter and Kirk-
land found could easily be the
same rockbound section Wil-
liam Wyatt of Tallahassee ex-
plored in the 1930's. Wyatt
claimed he found a similar
place in the same area with
rock piles nearly 15 feet high.
 But the elusive "volcano" is
still at large and fair game
for anyone who wants to re-
discover it and bring back rock
samples and pictures as proof.