'Those other Colliers' left their mark on Key Marco

The gateway to Collier City. COURTESY PHOTO It was those other Colliers," stated " Judy Sproul, granddaughter of Barron

Gift Collier, as a point of clarification about some kind of dredge. Digging for information about "those other Colliers," the ones with no relation to Barron, led me to the story of their own diggings — diggings that uncovered one of the most significant archaeological finds in Southwest Florida history, and that also resulted in a new approach to digging for clams.

Calusa, cats and Cushing

At the November 1896 annual meeting of the American Philosophical Society, the guest speaker captivated his audience with tales of his extraordinary archaeological expedition to Key Marco. Renowned Smithsonian American archaeologist Frank Hamilton Cushing had unearthed thousands of Calusa artifacts at a little mud hole he dubbed "The Court of the Pile Dwellers." These astonishing artifacts were hidden in a muck hole about 200 feet from a store owned by "those other Colliers."

The history of Key Marco began around 4,000 B.C., when it was inhabited by the Calusa Indians, who were excellent woodworkers. Before their demise due to diseases given to them by Spanish explorers in the mid-1700s, the Calusa used millions of oyster and clamshells as a base to build mounds for temples, burial sites and protection from hurricanes. Later pioneers used these mounds as the basis for their settlements.

Years before Mr. Cushing's expedition and hundreds of miles away, William Collier brought his family to what he thought was Alabama but later learned was Tennessee. He stayed and raised his family, including an innovative son named W.T. Collier, who later became a successful developer of water-powered sawmills.

The route to home

W.T. married and moved to northern Florida, but his career was put on hold until after the Civil War. When he came back to rekindle his sawmill venture, a turn of events changed the course of his life and lead to the finding of one of the most definitive Calusa artifacts, the Key Marco Cat, and W.T.'s invention, the clam dredge.

As the story goes, when W.T. went looking for sawmill workers in the neighboring county, he was lured to a secluded area, knocked unconscious, robbed, shanghaied and taken to the Bahamas, where he was left stranded on a sandbar. Luckily, the island was close to a popular shipping route and he was rescued a few days later.

After many months of working his way back home to northern Florida as a crewmember on various schooners, he loaded his wife Barbara, their nine children along with a multitude of critters on a schooner he had built himself. He set sail in 1870 for Key Marco, the new frontier he had learned of on his unexpected travels.

Key Marco prospered under W.T. Collier and his son W.D., aka "Captain Bill."

One day while Captain Bill was dig- ging into the mucky soil for fertilizer near the site of the Old Marco Inn (which he had built), he stumbled upon one of the richest archaeological finds in Florida. Although great care was given to the finds, many were lost after being exposed to the air. One 6-inch-tall wooden cat statue survived. The Key Marco Cat became the very symbol of the lost Calusa.

Collier City's other industry

While Barron Collier drilled for oil, "those other Colliers" dredged for clams, which were so plentiful that Key Marco could support two factories.

The E.S. Burnham Packing Company operated from 1902 until 1929 on the Caxambas waterfront that had been donated to them by the Barfield family.

At the invitation of Captain Bill, J.H. Doxsee opened his clam factory in 1904. It lasted for five generations, due in part to W.T. Collier's clam dredge. The Doxsee plant closed in 1947, by which time the clamming industry had finally ran its course.

The Key Marco Cat's new home

The Marco Island Historical Society has raised $4.1 million of the $4.5 million needed to build its new museum that will allow the Key Marco Cat to come back home where it rightly belongs. The museum will also host an educational center where residents and tourists can research and learn about "those other Colliers" and more about the fascinating history that happened right in their own backyard.

For more information on the Marco Island Historical Society's new museum, visit www.themihs.org

Lois Bolin is the co-founder of Naples

Cultural Landscape, a fund at the Community

Foundation of Collier County.

Naples Backyard History is the fund's

educational initiative. For more information,

visit the NBYH Mini-Museum at

1300 Third St. S., call 594-2978 or visit

www.naplesbackyardhistory.org.