Looking at the De Lorme Atals, the Intracoastal waterway would seem to be
the spot chosen for the line. It and the swamp around it isolated the south
of Gulf county from the north, and the southern half was connected to the
rest of Florida to the east by rail, while the north, though unrailed, seems
more in contact economically and infrastructurally with the west of Florida.
White city is a small town on the north side of the waterway.
RandMcnally seems to show the waterway and the time zone are on slightly
different paths, and De Lorme doesn't show the time zone path, but the
waterway would seem a 'natural' bounsdary to follow if
one doesn't follow the county lines, which are unatural.
The zone heads south down the Al/Ga line, so following the Apalachicola
river to the sea is the natural extension of this. Obviously they deviated
the line to the west in the S of Gulf county to include the head of the
railroad from there to the rest of FLorida.
Makes sense not tosever the railroad at one end over a distance of a few
miles for a time zone.
Of course there's also the old joke about flights from Sydney to Auckland:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just landed at Auckland International
Airport. Please set your watches back twenty years."
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