A Land Remembered (Part 1)

Recently, I started reading "A Land Remembered" by Patrick D. Smith. So far through 200 pages, the book provides excellent detail of the hardships families faced in early Florida during the 19th century. Families struggle to survive, but they stay together as one and fight through the "rough times." The MacIvey family escaped Georgia to the unknown lands in Florida to start a new life. At first the MacIvey family lived in the scrublands of North-Central Florida, but the ongoing Civil War and dangerous drifters convinced Tobias MacIvey (father and husband) to move even deeper into the undiscovered lands of the Kissimmee. Each day, Tobias and his son Zech hunt the woods as well as capture wild cows. As time passes by and the MacIvey family struggling each week, Tobias discovers the rewards of cattle driving. Tobias and Zech work together to drive the cows and along the way, hire a few men to work with them. Thus, the MacIvey Cattle Company was born. The MacIvey family and their fellow workers (Bonzo, Frog, and Skillit) traveled to Punta Rassa to sell their cattle and making enough money to buy supplies that will last them for months. After seasons of successful cattle driving, Tobias finds out that more wealthy men continue to buy off land in South Florida, making cattle driving more difficult.
Stopping here, the loss of land during the late 19th century immediately reminded me of the beginning of old Florida's end. Wealthier landowners continued to buy off the land for future development projects. The loss of land will eventually lead to environmental degradation, canal systems, the drying up of the Everglades, and the loss of wildlife. Patrick D. Smith's "A Land Remembered" thus far is interesting in how he presents not only the family struggles to survive, but the land's struggle to adapt to future exploitation.