LIVING HISTORY
and several members of the Rockefeller family have made
special trips to South Florida just to fish with Burt Pruitt.”
During these years, he also became known as a defender
of wildlife and the river. He was an honorary warden of the
Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, which had set aside
the North Fork as a wildlife sanctuary. In September 1952, he
was involved in the arrests of three youths accused of shooting
firearms in the area. The charges were dropped, but he
warned them that further violations would bring prosecution.
Just a month later he was involved in a raid on poachers
who were conducting illegal seining operations in the North
Fork. The poachers escaped in a fast boat, but $3,000 in netting
and other equipment were seized. Three years later he
notified deputies that youths were preparing to skin a 5-foot
alligator they had killed in the preserve with a rifle.
His family troubles were not over, however. In May 1958,
Burt Jr. was taken into custody in Ocala after allegedly threatening
to kill his 8-year-old daughter and blow himself up
if anyone tried to stop him. It was reported that there were
seven sticks of dynamite, blasting caps and a Luger pistol in
the car.
The girl was released to her grandfather. The next day her
mother, Faye June Pruitt, sought custody, but Judge John M.
McCarthy ruled the girl would remain with Burt. Burt Jr. was
also released into his father’s custody.
Four years later, Julian Burt Pruitt Jr., known as “Sonny,”
died in the Phoenix, Ariz., area at age 33. Information on
how could not be found. He is buried in Riverview Memorial
Park, Fort Pierce.
CHANGES FROM PROGRESS
From that time onward, the news about Burt concentrated
on fishing, fighting alligator poaching and how he became
more and more surrounded by development.
Progress was changing his way of life. First, the lower part
of the North Fork was dredged and deepened. Though at first
worried about this, by 1962 he claimed “the fishing is better
than ever.”
Developers came. “They’re closing in on me,” Burt said in
1970. At that time, incorporated Port St. Lucie completely surrounded
Burt’s pinelands, though building had just begun.
By then, Port St. Lucie was one of the fastest-growing cities
in Florida, and Burt was not so optimistic, though the river
looked the same, with its mangroves and jumping mullet.
“I used to guide small parties to a catch of 35 or 45 (sports
fish) on a good day,” he’s quoted in Snellings’ column. “And
you could catch snook year round. Now you can only get
snook in May and June, and if you catch two or three on a
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trip now you’re doing pretty good.
“There were times I’d seen someone cast out a plug and
have five different tarpon hit at it, and spit it out before he
could bring it back to the boat. You don’t catch too many
tarpon here anymore.”
He talked of counting 3,300 birds for the St. Lucie Audubon
Society in 1968. “This year (1970) I counted less than 100 birds.”
He also had unkind words for the Army Corps of Engineers
draining water from Lake Okeechobee into the river
and for farmers draining insecticides from their fields.
“Sometimes it’s so bad you can smell it.”
By 1970, Burt was charging $50 for a fishing trip, but he
said he wasn’t getting as much out of it as he was when the
rate was $15. Because of skin cancer that kept him out of the
sun, he was no longer guiding but had guides working for
him. He and Cora Leigh were living in Fort Pierce.
Burt died Jan. 21, 1980, at age 77, in Lawnwood Medical
Center in Fort Pierce of cardiorespiratory arrest. He had recently
had a heart attack and had severe coronary arteriosclerosis.
He is buried in Riverview Memorial Park next to his son.
Cora Leigh, in poor health in later years, died at age 89 on
Sept. 22, 1998. E
40 Port St. Lucie Magazine
Mary Dodge is secretary of the Port St.
Lucie Historical Society as well as being
webmaster for that group, the St. Lucie
Audubon Society and Hispanics of the
Treasure Coast. A retired journalist for
the Port St. Lucie News, she has lived in
St. Lucie County with her husband, Jack,
for 34 years.
Burt Pruitt and his son, Burt Jr., are buried side-by-side in Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Fort Pierce.
GREGORY ENNS
The Anchorage is one of the developments that occupy land along the river
owned by Burt Pruitt.
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