Blast From the Past

Today was another hot and humid day in Florida, which seems to be the consistent climate so far on this trip. However, the views of Key West today was beautiful, which is why people have come and still come to the Florida Keys. While on our way to Key West, we passed by a historic and culturally valuable railroad. It turns out that the railroad was the first main way of travelling to the Florida Keys. The railroad was beside the current bridge and was almost completely made of wood. From what I saw, the railroad bridge is now missing large parts and people would not be able to walk along it nevermind have a train go across it. It was truly a sight to behold to see such an amazing historic landmark.

The railroad was built in 1905 to transport people and tourists from the mainland of Florida to the Keys. The main purpose of this railroad was for people, especially fishermen, to have a more accessible way to get to the Florida Keys (e.g. Key West). However, when more people were able to get to a great vacation spot, the more infrastructure is needed to accommodate those people. All of that infrastructure, including buildings, restaurants and hotels, destroys the diverse ecosystems that Florida had. In addition, that infrastructure meant that more people were able to come and stay in the Keys, which in turn causes for more need of infrastructure. This was the never-ending feedback loop that had led to the destruction of the ecosystem (e.g. mangroves and seagrass beds) of the Florida Keys. That destruction especially includes the marine life such as fish declining in number and size from the overfishing from commercial and sports fishermen. Furthermore, the destruction of [nursery] habitats that support numerous species will decline and have a cascading effect to other species and ecosystems. 

            Overall, this railroad can be associated with positively and negatively. When thinking about this railroad in a positive way, it has a great deal of history and is an amazing accomplishment for the time that it was built in. But even though this railroad is fascinating in its historical aspects and had a big part in how the Florida Keys are the way they are now, it still has caused massive ecological damage. 

https://owlcation.com/humanities/lasttrain

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/national_key_deer_refuge/

#railroad bridge #FloridaKeys #historic landmark #95% humidity #tropical ospreys