Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-08-14
GREAT DRAINAGE.
KECLAIMING THE EVERGLADES
OF FLORIDA.
Several Hundred Thousand Acres
Already Added to Florida's Tax
able Property-How the
Work is Done.

place IN the Florida peninsula. A gigan-
| tic drainage system, whose ultimate OBJ
ject is the reclaiming of the Everglades,
has already lowered the level OF the big
lakes, turned oozy swamps into dry land,
put farms, houses and mills where alliga-
! tors once divcd and cattle wadcd ard
ferrymen piled in dugou.s, and made
| this town, i'll the heart of the peninsula,
Il seaport. Several hundred thousand
acres have been added to Fioritlas tax
able property and made available for
profitable cultivation. In the next ten
wears this will become the greatest rice
and sugar region in the couniry. Tine
thing has been accomplished with charac-
teristic American effectiveness. Ham
ilton DisstoD, its moving spirit, who
makes more SAWS and files at Philadcl-
pho than any other man in the world,
has not "stood around" like the great
De Lesseps, saying, Gentlemen, for me
the canal is finished" He has Simply
laid careful plans aud employed com
potent force to carry them out Oh bust
nesslike principles.
The Florida peninsula slopes to the
south. Along the center is strung u
chain of considerable lakes, some en-
tirely isolated, others united by tor
tuous streams. The sou,hermost lake,
Okccchobec, the biggest of all, is also
the largest within the bounds of any one
State. Its waters inuuClatc the mystcri-
Gus Everglades, where the shy Seminole
retreats before the advance of civilza-
ton. During the Seminole war General
al. IN.
GERS learped something of the character
of the country, and occasional exped
tions have brought back stories of its
dreary inaccessibility. But no white
man has ever been able to make his home
there. The upper or northern Ever
glades next south from Okcechobee are
wet Jungle Of dense saw-yrass, popu-
lated by snakes and insects. In the
rainy season. one may paddle up the in
tersecting creeks Snd bayous in light
skif, but in dry weather the soil is en-
posed. The lower Everglades, running
down to the point OF the peninsula, are
also IL saw-grass jungle, but Gu; up by
countless water avenue into thousands OF
islands. Toward tie southern end there
is pcrceptiblc tide, and the Gulf and
Atlantic shores are lined with rockrim
that impounds the waters.
Many people believe this vast territory
utterly useless to man. The drainage
companies are proving that it isn't. Cen
turtles Of decaying vegetation have grad
ually raised the earth level of the Ever
gladcs, storing them with deep layers OF
rich, dark soil tina. makes husbandmcu
green with envy. 4 four foot reduction
Of the water level would make all this
available for cultivation. General Har-
ney in n letter, reported to the United
States Senate, suggested that canals cut
east aud west from Okecchobee and the
glades would give the required reduc-
ton. Mr.. Disston, as the story goes,
after careful examination and consulta-
ton with Colonel James NJ. Krealner, his
engineer, decided that it was also neces-
saty TO diminish the water supply from
the northern lakes that serve as feeders.
These lakes, moreover, -she knew, were
bordercd by marshes worth draining for
their own sake. So he wcnt to tic Leg
islaturc, and III 1881 secured permission
to reclaim all lands below a line dra wn
across the peninsula Il few miles north Of
Kissimmec and east of Peace Creek
which dcbouchcs in Charlotte Harbor.
The tract embraced 100000 acres.
-Four million of these, however, Mr..
Disston was compelled to form sepa-
rate company to buy, to lift State
mortgage.
Then the work began. The lakes, as
they occur southwark on the sopinn
peninsula, are Tohopekaliga, Cypress,
lIatcheenehaw, Kissmmce and Okee-
chobee. The water level follows the
land slope. TohopcSaliga is sixty-four
feet above the sea, Hatcheenehaw sixty,
Kissimmec tifty-nine, and Oiieechobee
only twenty. Canals cut southwark to
Lake Kissimmee and the strengthening OF
the very crooked river that links Lake
Kissimmec and Okeechobec have tharc-
fore relieved the upper lakes by steady
flow, while cuts from Okeechobee south
ward into the Everglades and eastward
to the Caloosahatchc, that emptles into
the Gulf near Pantu Rassu, have lowered
four feet the surface Of that great lake
The piercing Of the rcck-rins on the
coast is expected now to release the
water accumulated Ill the Everglades. In
the north end of the chain lake st OF
Tohopekaliga has been connected with
the northern Atlantic coast by way of the
ST. Johns River, to relieve the pressure
there. So far about cighty-five miles OF
canal arc cut. The trenches vary from
twenty-five 10 105 feet in width, and
hold from six to ten feet of water.
The canal mouths arc protected by
wooden jettics. Spnd-bars form across
them, but are easily removed. The cur
rent is about three miles an hour, and in
the wet season there is water enough for
light-draught navigation. a Mississippi
steamboat in 1871 assembled to Kissim-
nice from the Gulf, IA distance of $50
miles. When Eas- Lake and Tohopc-
kaliga were first united Il think in No
vcmber, 1S44), the difference of level
was six feet six inches. When the dams
were cut, in the presence of crowd of
visitors, the first rush of the waters car
ried away the last vestigc Ct the rubbish
in the canal and secured out the bed be-