For many years, perhaps even since prehistory, a column of smoke rose from the massive swamps which lie just inland from the top of the arch of Florida's Big Bend.
Some said a den of pirates, others still say fire from the earth, but no human ever saw the smoke up close and lived - or chose - to tell the public.

Then suddenly, on August 31, 1886, the day the great Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake rang the church bells of St. Augustine, drained Lake Jackson, and shook the ground in Tallahassee, the mysterious column of smoke vanished, apparently never to be seen again.

Since that day, no one now able to tell the tale can credibly claim to have found the source of the smoke. Those who made the claim never went back, and were uncertain they could find it again if they did. Over time, the timbering industry has plowed and planted. Swamps have been drained. Roads have been built. What was once too remote and hostile to survive is now just a day out hiking or hunting.