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La Chua cattle ranch began full-strength operations

Source: The Menendez Marquez Cattle Barony at La Chua and the Determinants of Economic Expansion in Seventeenth-Century Florida #163

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It was about this time that the ranch at la Chua began operating at full strength. Thomas Menendez Marquez had already resigned his commission in order to devote all his time to it. The cattle, which had browsed in the woods throughout the winter, returned to the savannahs in the spring. They were then rounded into corrals for counting and branding, and the ecclesiastical tithe was set apart. There were no fences except those around gardens, and the savannahs were regularly burned over to control pests and renew the grass. Cattle from la Chua were driven to St. Augustine, crossing the St. Johns on flatboats operated by the Indians of Salamototo. In the city they were moved on to the royal abattoir, where they were slaughtered. The fresh meat was delivered to the garrison or sold to the citizens. (Florencia Visita of 1694-1695; Sdor Cigarroa and Frco Rocha, February 18, 1680.) The tallow was then extracted, the hides tanned, and then these ranch products were exported--some by the yearly vessel licensed since 1621 to trade with Spain, but most of them to Cuba. (Governor Hita y Salazar, September 6, 1677; cedula, May 9, 1687; Juan de Pueyo and Joseph Benedit Horruytiner, November 10, 1707.) It was a profitable enterprise, and probably operated as a monopoly when the Menendez Marquez brothers were on good terms with the governor. At times Don Thomais also provided the meat for the garrison at Apalache, although there were a number of cattle ranches in that province. From la Chua there was access to Apalache by both transpeninsular roads and by canoe. (Governor Hita y Salazar, Orders, April 7, 1679; Domingo de Leturiondo Visita of 1677-1678.)

La Chua had not been located, however, to serve the needs of any garrison, nor did Don Thomais prefer to use the harbor at St. Augustine. The port of San Martin on the Suwannee was much closer to his ranch--fourteen leagues rather than thirty--and nearer to Havana than St. Augustine was. Also, the pigs-and chickens coastal trade of the Gulf, important as it might be to Cuba and the Florida provinces, was not as attractive to pirates as the treasure fleets which sailed up the Bahama Channel on the Atlantic coast. When Manuel de Cendoya was governor (1671 1673), San Martin was formally opened for exports. (Thos Menendez Marquez and Joachin Florencia to Governor Torres y Ayala, April 15, 1697.) Diego de Florencia and other Havana merchants began sending sloops and ketches up the river for consignments of la Chua hides, dried meat, and tallow. Don ThomAs himself had a frigate in the coastal trade. It carried too much draft to cross the shallows of the Suwannee River mouth when loaded, so Juan FernAndez de Florencia, now deputy governor of Apalache, regularly sent Tocobaga Indians with canoes to lighten it. (Diego de Pefialver Angulo, Havana, March 21, 1696, Thos Menendez Marquez, [April 15, 1697], and Thos Menendez Marqubz and Joachin Florencia to Governor Torres y Ayala, April 15, 1697; Ju Fernindez Florencia to Governor Hita y Salazar, May 25, 1675; Juan de la Rosa, December 24, 1677, in Leturiondo Visita of 1677-1678.)
(Bushnell MM)