"There was one place on Fisheating Creek where you could drive across, but you had to hold something in front of the car so the motor wouldn't drown."

The memories bubble forth from Ruby Jackson, particularly clear because she is writing her first book, entitled simply, "Homesteading."

It was an American get-rich-quick sceme that brought Nathaniel and Ruby Jackson to Venus in 1926. The Great Depression put an end to their plans, but not their involvement in Highlands County.

Born in Texas, "My parents moved to Alabama as soon as they could." However it was in Atlanta, Ga. that she lived for a while and taught school until she married Nathaniel in 1921. They owned a grocery store in Atlanta, but proceeds did not stretch far enough to build their own home.

"We came to Venus to homestead, improve that land, then sell it and move back to Atlanda to build our house."

The homestead, according to Mrs. Jackson, was "the last 160 acres in Florida" and they were fortunate to find five acres already cleared. "The state required five cleared acres in order to homestead. Evidently someone else had tried and failed.

"There were no roads. We had to drive around palmettos and trees. Mr. Jones had a broken-down sawmill in Venus, and my husband helped him fix it so he could saw wood for our house."

They had a vegetable garden of cabbage, collards and turnip greens. They also had cows and put in citrus. The hundred baby chicks they purchased posed a problem. "We thought we had to teach them how to eat."

The beef cows were killed periodically and the meat given to other homesteaders. "They had no beef at all. They took a lot of fish from the creek, otherwise they ate chickens and wild hogs."

When the Depression hit in the 30's they found they could not sell their land in Venus. The bottom had dropped out of Florida's boom and no one was buying. So the Jacksons did the next best thing. They drove their Model T Ford back to Atlanta, sold their holdings there (Atlanta was not as deeply affected) and moved back to Highlands County permanently.

<>Before that major change came another in the life of the Jacksons. "One night there was a knock at the door and we were surprised. No one lived anywhere around. It was the superintendent of schools from Moore Haven. He had heard that I was a school teacher and wanted me to teach in Tasmania."

For newcomers, it must be explained that Tasmania is across Fisheating Creek in Glades County and was rather a rough and tumble place in the past; not so much a town, as a settlement.

Ruby Jackson accepted the job for the munificient sum of $75 a month. She "carried over" six children from the Highlands side, and in a building in Glades taught about 50 students, grades 1 through 9.

"We had one room, two outdoor toilets and a water pump. There was no bridge then, so we drove both ways across the creek. Two of the children had to sit on the front and hold canvas over the front of the Model T so the engine woulnd't drown. I always told them they couldn't drive with me if they chewed tobacco. I can't stand it!"

Those people had never seen a car, or a Bible. They were fascinated with the Bible, so I started teaching Sunday school in the afternoons on Mrs. Hogan's porch. I taught Sunday school for 50 years."

Because of the distance involved in her teaching, the couple swapped the homestead house and land for a home in Venus, conveniently on the highway.

"We had to make a survey before trading it. We did it with a compass and rope. I held the rope and told my husband to move this way or that. We found the trees the state had slashed on one side to show the boundaries. They slashed all four sides to show the end of the property."

During the height of the Depression, "when the cattle weren't selling," Nathaniel Jackson ran for and won the post of county commissioner because it paid $150 a month. Between that sum, Ruby Jackson's $75 for teaching and a supplement for "school bus" driving, they managed to get by.

Jackson was a commissioner throughout the 30s in a post then elected by district. He lost out in the first election after the Highlands started voting countywide. He did make some important changes.

"The roades were all deep, sandy ruts and we were never sure if we'd get stuck." Did they? "Well, my husband was a very strong man. When he became county commissioner he taught them how to build roads, sloping down at the sides so the rain would run off. Why, you can't pass on roads with ruts!"

(Andy Jackson says his father helped develop the county's first road grading machine.)

Although the children were born in Venus in the sense of residence, they were delivered in Sebring in Dr. Weems' clinic. Sarah now lives in Athens, Ga., Patricia in Denver, Colo. and Andrew is a Sebring attorney. There are seven grndchildren.

About 1944 the family moved to Sebring, eventually building a home on Lakeview Dr.

"The lake was beautiful then. The lawns went right down to the water and it was a pleasure to drive around. It is awful what happened to it. I'd like to lead some campaign to clean up the weeds."

Mrs. Jackson has been past president of the Sebring Woman's club, a member of the Garden Club and the Women's Missionary Society of First Baptist Church.

She used to do a lot of swimming and fishing, and cooking? "Mercy, yes!" She used to be an avid reader and used to make all her own clothes. She also adores local sports. "Andy was a baseball player, so baseball is my favorite. I attend games here when I can and I always watch on TV."

Football? "It's too rough. It looks like they are getting killed."

Mrs. Jackson also recites, and demonstrated her ability and memory with two recitations that, she says modestly are popular among her circle of friends. "When I was teaching in Tasmania, Friday afternoons were story telling time for the children. But because they didn't have anything else to do, the parents always attended too."

Then there is her book, "Homesteading." She started work on it about six months ago, written by hand. She intends to have it printed locally, and although not anticipating a big market, she hopes people here and in Venus would like a record of those early days in Hightlands County.