Primo’s soldiers worked through most of the early spring of 1718. By the end of April they had erected a powder house and a wooden stockade, Fort San Marcos, measuring 72 feet on a side. Atop the new structure three cannon proclaimed the re-establishment of Spanish military power in the area. But no sooner had the fort begun to take shape than hordes of friendly Lower Creeks appeared requesting supplies and gifts from the Spaniards. Primo, who barely had enough food and supplies for his own troops, was at first reluctant to aid the Indians but finally decided that he could not risk alienating them and quickly exhausted his meager larder. Short rations, in turn, caused dysentery among Primo’s men, who had to slow their work on Fort San Marcos. [Note 64: gov to king 8/12/1718] Still they accomplished enough to re-establish a Spanish outpost in Apalache, the first since 1704. Although it hardly approached the 600-foot structure the Junta had proposed in 1716, it was, nevertheless, strong enough to last until Florida became an English province in 1763. (Tepaske GSF)