When the earliest settlers arrived on the Mound, the surrounding habitat was very different and native plants dominated the landscape. Years passed before Estero Island settlers could profit from agriculture. By the early 1900s, settlers were raising tropical fruit crops with some success, and the coastal hammock, or hardwood tree grove, west of the mound was converted into orchards and fields. There William and Milia Case raised figs, bananas, grapefruits, mangos, papayas, tomatoes, and limes, likely selling their fruit to local markets. Farming was a predominant industry on the island and mainland, and many farmers experimented with grapes, oranges, avocados, grapefruits, pineapples, sapodillas, coconuts, and peaches. Grapefruit eventually emerged as the leading cash crop in the Fort Myers area, and by 1915 statewide citrus production reached 10 million boxes a year. Tropical fruit trees at the Mound House site now show the diversity of crops grown on settlers' properties over the past 100 years.