The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-06-01
WILL COST NINE MILLION.


quotes Mr.. v. P. Keller, the civil en-
gineer, as saying that the scheme will
cost ss.OOO.OOO.
NMr Chas. A. Choate, head of the bu-
reau. says:
Among the numerous affidavits filed
in the drainage tax litigation in the
federal court is a very comprehensive
one by Mr. v. P. Keller, mentioned
in the pamphlet answering Governor
Broward's Open Letter. and contain
ing the most complete exposition yet
given of the obstacles to be overcome
in effecting the drainage and reclaim
alton Of the everglades. Mr.. Keller
Is civil engineer and mechanical en-
gineer by profession, a graduate of
the Nautical school of Lititz, has had
extended practical experience in min
ing, railroad and drainage engineering
work, was for several years assistant
engineer, under the late James NJ.
Kreamer, chief engineer of the Allan
tic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okee-
chobee Land Company, and resided
at Kissimmee for a period of about
fourteen years. He thus became excep-
tionally and professionally familiar
with all of the physical conditions
existing in and near the everglades,
a part of his duties for at least twelve
h0in no of nd
classification of every species of in
formatinon concerning that entire re-
gion, with special view to its drain
age and reclamation. Having also Sc
cured all available information con-
corning the plans or intentions of the
speaks with absolute unimpeachable
professional authority concerning the
same.
"Mr. Keller has made careful esti-
mates of what it would require to re-
claim the only portion of the ever
glades which he regards as worth re-
claiming, viz: What is known as the
big sawgrass," lying near and on the
south and southeast of Lake Okee-
chobee; which he insists must be done
so as to control the water of the lake
by means of a levee about eighty miles
in length, with a system Of canals (for
irrigation as well as drainage) travers-
ing the Big Sawgrass; and he esti-
mates the cost of the levee at $1.038,-
1877, and the cost of the canal system
at $S.774,39O making a total of
$9,813,177. The portion thus reclaimed
belongs to the state, and is now COW
cred by almost impenetrable growth
of sawgrass from FIVE to fifteen feet
in height, the bed of muck on which
| it grows being from II to 16 feet in
depth above the rock bottom. Beyond
this. to the southwark. is the vast
level plain of the Lower Glades," only
four or five feet above the sea level
and largely affected by the tides from
the Atlantic. with muck surface vary
ing in depth from one to three feet
above the rock foundation.
Concerning the drainage proposed
] by the drainage commissioners, Mr..
Keller says: IF the plans described
dIC SdLAiCu Oul' the IcCldHIdIlOn VI Tic
everglades will not be accomplished,
but the glades will be ruined as an
agricultural proposition With refer
ence to the proposed drainage, in de-
TAIL Mr.. Keller also says:
IAN ocean canal from Lake Okee-
chobee, starting at a point about
twelve miles south of Pelican bay, to
New river on the east coast, would be
ffty-two miles in length. This route
was surveyed by me in the summer
of 1892. and the estimates showed that
there would be four million cubic
yards of rock to be removed at the
south end, the remainder being muck
Samples of this rock were sent to nu-
merOus dredge builders, but | have
never heard the result 1 doubt, how
ever, that the reports were favorable,
as the rock is so hard that it will
batter the pole of an AK If struck
with it, This route was also rejected
on the ground of expense. Without
having data at hand, 1 should judge
the cost of this canal would approx
mate $2,5OO OOO
And this is the canal which the
drainage board proposed to begin
work on, and for which the trustees
of the !. l. fund have been building
dredges at Fort Lauderdale."
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