Sebastian's water tank

Bill, Great question about water. Attached is a screen cap of Indian River County plat from 1933 (apologize for poor quality) now hanging in the Sebastian Area Historical Society museum. In the upper left is a notation about 'north end of pump house' indicated by a small dark square. Across the tracks is the tank (circle). The concrete pads are still there today a mile south of the Sebastian River and about a half mile north of the Sebastian depot site (now vacant). The location surprisingly is in a hollow on top of the sand ridge that the hard curve is taking the railroad over on its northbound approach to the Roseland Trestle. I thought it would be at the river bank itself, but oldtimers tell me that there was a question about brackishness so they pumped clean water up through the sand dune. Fellsmere RailRoad (after 1923 Trans Florida Central) branched off at Sebastian depot and constructed its own water tower ten miles west in Fellsmere (as it never got to this water supply). That one was flow-well fed, no pump at first. Even more amazing, this location is just inside the eastern tip of the ancient Fleming Grant 115,000 acre tract from Spanish colonial days. Wow, what history here in a spot that looks like a desert from the train! Best regards, cabooseMikey.