National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-02-19
DRAINING oKEECHoBEE,
The Results 10 BE Obtained by Reclaim
ing the Florida Lake.

The Lake Okeechobee draining project,
Of which current kilograms make some mention
Will, if carried out successfully, result in giving to
cultivation land area in Florida equal to that
Of the State Of New Jersey. i is reported that the
State authorities OF Florida have entered into r
contract with l. Coryell, of Jacksonville and A. b.
Lindcrman, representing capitalists of Philadel-
hla and san Francisco, to drain the lake and thus
reclaim 3, 100000 acres of excellent sugar lands.
Lake OkecchObee is about forty fivem miles long and
twenty-five miles wide. This does not include the
marsh lands surrounding it, which are of still
larger dimensions.
The wafer of the lake is very shallow. seldom
over seven feet, and III few places ten feet deep,
and III most parts boats cannot approach within
two Or three miles of the shore OH account of the
shailOwncss. No fish live in the lake-not even an
aigatOr-as the water is stagnant and offensive to
the smell. The proposition is to drain this lake
into the Caloosehatchie River 4 canal eight
miles long viii accomplish it if the river has suf-
cient fall to allow Of its being done. At present
the outlet from the lake TO the river is closed up
by grass and lily pads, throwing the waters of
the lake in the rainy season into the Everglades
What grand speculation there could be made
by draining the lake and cutting up the land into
forty acre farmsi For several wears il would
give the most splendid rice crop ever seen, and
then comes in sugar cane, which would almost
rat0on forever. There is no country possessing
such grand belt of cane land that could be so
easily turned to advantage. The difficulty in the
way OF The scheme is minated above. The fall
of the land to the IS so very slight as TO
cast great doubt upon the practicability of the
enterprise. and some persons who have considered
the subject maintain that there is no fall at all
and consequently that the drainage will be an
impossibilty. All these points viii, of course be
satisfactorily settled by the preliminary surveys.
This strange region is yet inhabited by Indians,
all that is left of the once great Seminole nation
There are about eight hundred Of them in ALL liv-
ing III villages Oh the Everglades and 0keechobee
Lake, of whom Tiger Tail is the chief These peo-
pie are perfectly harmless, and many of them are
half civilized; but in other days they gave the
country vast amount of trouble. Intrcnched in
The Businesses Of the Everglades, they kept the
whole military power of the United States at bay
from 1855 TO 1912, and again renewed the struggle
in 1852 and 1851, only finally succumbing in the
latter year after series Of desperate encounters
The present remnants of the Semfnoles are the last
vcstige of the most powerful and warlke of the
aboriginal nations of this continent. They made
heroic struggle for existence but the Fatcs were
against them.
The Okeechobee drainage scheme is started
while yet another great engineering project for the
advantage of Florida is under consideration-the
building of a ship canal from Cedar Keys to the
ST. Johns river, below Jacksonville. Preliminary
surveys and estimates have been made, but no ac-
tive steps appear to have been taken since the fall
of 1879 The problem here is much of the same
kind as that of the lake and swamp drainage-to
ascertain if an ample water supply to keep the
canal full can be had from the Okefonekce. which
must be its principal feeder. If these two great
works should prove 10 be entirely feasible the adj
vantage to Florida and the country would be in
hRddelphia Telegram.