[photo caption] Typical Scene on Wide-Awake Farm -- Range Cattle Taking Things Easy

An Ideal Stock Farm in Ocklawaha Valley

"THE BEST 2,200 acres in Florida for general farming and livestock."
That is the unqualified and positive statement made by several Marion county public officials in describing the Wide-Awake Farm in the southeast corner of Marion county, on the famous Ocklawaha river that flows through the richest lands in the world.
The endorsement of these officials, two of whom have held office for more years than the average span of human life, is sustained by a complete soil analysis made by Lindley Heimberger, agricultural engineer and soil expert, for eleven years first assistant State chemist of Florida. Marion county is in the most progressive livestock section of the State and has more pure-bred cattle and hogs than any other county in Florida.
W. M. Waddell, of Fort Worth, Texas, ranch owner and banker, made a tour of Florida last September to study livestock conditions. He returned in November and visited the Marion County Fair to inspect the livestock display. Mr. Waddell said, "I cannot draw on my imagination for a better cattle-breeding country than the ranges I have seen in Florida."

Water and Rail Transportation
Wide-Awake Farm lies in the valley of the Ocklawaha. The river is practically the western boundary of the farm, and gives water transportation to Leesburg, the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line railroads.
Weirsdale, on Lake Weir, a station on the Atlantic Coast Line, is a six-mile ride from the farm, five miles of which is over a hard-surfaced road connecting with the good roads for which Florida is famous. Lake Weir is one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the State and center of social life for a large colony of winter residents.

The Ocklawaha river is a navigable stream flowing in a northerly direction and emptying in the St. Johns river near Palatka. Ocean-going schooners navigate the St. Johns river as far as Palatka. Cattle and hogs can be shipped by water direct from Wide-Awake Farm to the Armour packing plant at Jacksonville at less cost and in better condition than by rail, for the reason that pens may be built on barges and arrangements made to feed them en route.