The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-08-22
IN THE EVERGLADES.
RouGAINc 1T IN THE sWAMPs OF
FLORIDA.
A Trip to the Ochichabee Country and
Some Facts About Reclaimed Land
Dredging the swamps and
Building Canals.
[Cor. Inter Ocean.l

Three or US arranged Tor a "Trip oOWn Ine
Kissimmee valley into the Okechobee
country We secured the little end-wheeI
steamer, Rosalie, one Of a feet of five or
six small craft that ply these inland waters
In obedience to passenger or freight demand
may say that the passenger demand has
not amounted to much as yet, for the facili.
ties are exceedingly limited, and the dredges
can only be passed once day. The trip
only possessed added attractions to our
little party Of two gentlemen and one lady
because Of the small experience in "roughing
it" which it would involve.
The boat was one used in conveying sup
plies to tho dredges of the Okechobee Land
company, and consequently had no cabins.
There was room below where six or eight
persons could eat comfortably, but the deck
above was quite open.
We started from this enterprising town
and first made the trip across Lake Toho-
pakafga with but one stop-a distance OF
fifteen miles. The stop was made at Pine
island, the handsome reclaimed property of
Capt Rose. Capt. Rose was the pioneer in
most OF the arduous labor5 connected with
the inception Of the vast drainage opera
tions undertaken by the Okechobee com
pany.
As we headed toward the foot of the lake
and pushed off again, the captain pointed to
the east and said:
leads into Lake East Tohopekaliga, sheet
OF water extending over an area Of twenty
one square miles, and sonly drained,
prior to the building Of the canal
by sewage through intervening saw
grass The canal is a little over
three miles long, and has a fall of over
six feet When the canal was completed
the current was SO furiously rapid that a
dam had to be built The lake was low
sod ysf foof I
away the dam, as the current has spent it
self, in order that a steamer may be en-
abled TO ply daily between Kissimmee City
and Narcoosee, the thriving English colony
on Lake East TohopekaIiga."
shall not worry the reader with Stats
tics. but fird it impossible to proceed with
out giving the briefest possible resume of
the work already done in the way of drain
ing and redeeming the terra iRcognita be-
tween this city and Cape Sable.
The company was chartered In 1881, and
has a concession for retaining 5000, 900
acres Of land In the southern half of the
peninsula, with the right and title to half of
the land thus reclaimed. The first surveys
were made In 1882 In the country west of
Lake Hichpochee, with reference to drain
age canal extending from Lake Okechobee
TO the head waters of the Caloosahatchie
river, extending through Lake Hichpochee
and Lake Flirt. A dredge came up the
Caloosahatchie to Lake Flirt, and then cut
its way through an immense growth of low
grass on to Lake Okechobee, excavating
twenty-five miles of canal that is six feet
deep by forty-four wide. The canal is now
being widened to 200 feet and dsepened to
ten feet
The canal has already lowered Lake
Okechobee three feet. Considering that the
superficial area is something like 1000
square miles, this reduction is significant
one.
After q charming ride of nearly three
hours over Lake Tohopekaliga, we entered
the jstties that have been built from the
mouth Of the canal at South Port out into
the lake.
South Port is simply the name applied to
the place, where a sugar farm, belonging to
the Okschobee company, is located. There
are half dozen houses occupied by the
operatives, and some Of the families of men
engaged in working on dredges few miles
down the "valley," but no postof1ce. We
went ashore here and had chance to see
what this redeemed land is capable of
doing. Here we were, tripping along the
bank ON ground which was covered in from
two TO three feet of water but two
years ago. Was this Florida? There was
no sand visible. The ground appeared in
stead to be a rich, black loan. approached
the banks Of the canal, and saw from the
cut that this was not thin crust Of surface
muck, but stratum at least eight feet
thick on the average. There was a small
sugar mill In operation, and shed near by
where the cane Juice was5being boiled down
into syrup instead Of being made into
sugar, as the present state Of the market IA
vors the manufacture of syrup rather than
sugar.
Near by were patches of cane from twelve
to fifteen feet in height, of perfect stand,
and an average diameter of very nearly two
inches. Evidently this cane should have
been cut weeks before, as it was already
badly choked with an underground of rat
toons. noticed that the cane was finely
tassled like the cane grown in Cuba.
HWhen was this canal put through" in-
CURED Of a bystander who seemed to be in
authority. "Just about two years ago."
was the response. "A little over a year ago
the work of clearing the land was begun,
and a few weeks later the cane was planted.
For breaking the land a team Of two ordin-
arp mules was used; for cultivating, one
mule. The season was very unpropitious,
the spring being dry and the fall extremely
wet: but the yield is, as you see, enor-
NOUS"
@You didn't use any fertilizer upon such a
rich-Iooking muckg"
HNone at all From one-twentieth Of an
acre here we cut 500 stalks of cane, from
which we expressed 200 gallons of juice, an
average Of one quart per stalk. Many stalks
would yield two quarts of juice. Thirty five
gallons of syrup were made from the Juice.
This would be equivalent to raising Is 900
stalks per acre, containing 1000 gallons of
juice, and yielding 700 gallons of syrup.
This showing would have been 20 par cent.
better had we possessed frst-class appa-
ratus"
ais there much such reclaimed land as
thiaD ] asked.
Thousands of acres all the way from here
to Punta Rass OF course, there is some
hopeless swamp scattered along also, but it
is fair to say that agriculturally this will be
the garden of the state down here few
years hence."
HHow long is this canaI?"
"T71ree miles and three-quarters. At this
end it is ten feet deep by seventy wide.
Down yonder you can see dredge No. at
work enIarging it. Beyond the dredge the
depth is only six feet and the width thirty
SIX"
After inspecting potato and other crops
that were similarly rank we boarded the