The Opelousas courier., 1886-06-12
THE EVERGLADES.
Millions OF Acres in Florida
Swanps to be Reclaimed.
A Vast Region Long Considered Unfit
for Cultivation to be Drained.


A well known civil engineer who has
recently returned from IN extended trip
In Florida has many interesting things to
tell about that State. Independently
of its natural resources" said he, "Flori-
ola is one of the most charming regions
that I know of for a man who travels
with his eyes open.
"The Everglades proper, as set down on
the map, occupy over 20, 900, 900 acres in
the extreme southeastern part of the State.
In the central part of the State, however,
in a network of little lakes, rivers and
swamps, which wa long considered unfit
for any of the purposes of civilized life.
This region IS, nevertheless, between
forty and sixty feet above the sea level,
so that there was no reason why it should
be considered undrainable. The lakes
and swamps have been formed by the
rank vegetation, which for centuries
grew decayed and fell into the rivers,
thus damming them up and partially
flooding the surrounding country. A
company obtained from the Government
a grant of all the lands which should be
drained by it. The company. brought
down dredges and began its work by
clearing out a channel from lake to lake,
from Lake Kissimmee to Lake Okeecho-
bee. This whole country is so extremely
fiat that this single channel, which
only lowered the water in the northern
lakes a foot Or two, reclaimed about A.
/. 900, 900 acres of swamp land. A canal
was then cut from Lake Okeechobee
westward to the Caloosahatchee River,
which completes the system of. drainage
to the Gulf. 1t is now proposed to cut
another canal eastward from Lake
Okeechobee to the Atlantic, a distance of
forty miles. If the project is ever car
ried out, it will shorten by about $50
miles the sea voyage between points on
the Atlantic coast and the Gulf ports.
The company also extended to drain the
southeast Everglades by the same method
employed in retaining the northern
swamps.
''This region has never been surveyed,
but recently one of the company's en-
ployes made an expedition into the heart
of the Everglades, pushing himself
through the swamps in a smallbo He
reports that the project of drainage is
completely feasible. In this way the
company hopes to acquire about IS, 900, :
900 acres more. The Government grant
included Pine Island, at the mouth of
Caloosahachee River, On the Gulf coast.
This island is probably destined to be-
come a point of considerable importance.
It was sold for 81 % an acre. The pur-
chaser sold it for so so. At the next
transfer it brought So an acre. And
now it has been bought by some capital
lists, principally Boston men, for SO an
acre. 1t is intended to build on this
island a town, which shall form the
southern terminus of the Florida South
ern Railroad. This town will be on the line
of the most direct communication between
Jacksonville and the north and Havana.
There will probably be a line of steamers
run between Pine Island and Havana.
Zone of the most interesting districts
in Florida is Levy and Marion Counties,
just east of the bend in the Gulf coast.
This is a limestone country and is almost
without streams or lakes. All the rivers
are subterranean. There are numbers of
caves at the bottom of which one can
hear the water flowing. At Silver
Springs one of these underground
streams energies abruptly and forms a
river $50 feet wide and seventy feet deep.
In the same region is Lake Wier, which
has no visible outlet nor inlet, but is IL D
piled and drained by subterranean chan
nels."-New York Tribune.