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75.21001434326172 85 WikiText2 |
19700 140 years after its first settlement , Maryland joined twelve other British colonies along the Atlantic coast in declaring their independence from British rule and the right to freedom of religion for all citizens in the new United States . |
35.792205810546875 40 WikiText2 |
19701 = Draining and development of the Everglades = |
350.55364990234375 8 WikiText2 |
19702 The history of draining and development of the Everglades dates back to the 19th century . During the Second Seminole War beginning in 1836 , the United States military 's mission was to seek out Seminole people in the Everglades and capture or kill them . Those missions gave the military the opportunity to map ... |
21.74006462097168 139 WikiText2 |
19703 A pattern of political and financial motivation , and a lack of understanding of the geography and ecology of the Everglades have plagued the history of drainage projects . The Everglades are a part of a massive watershed that originates near Orlando and drains into Lake Okeechobee , a vast and shallow lake . As... |
33.60581970214844 213 WikiText2 |
19704 During his 1904 campaign to be elected governor , Napoleon Bonaparte Broward promised to drain the Everglades , and his later projects were more effective than Disston 's . Broward 's promises sparked a land boom facilitated by blatant errors in an engineer 's report , pressure from real estate developers , and ... |
90.67721557617188 94 WikiText2 |
19705 Severe hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 caused catastrophic damage and flooding from Lake Okeechobee that prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build a dike around the lake . Further floods in 1947 prompted an unprecedented construction of canals throughout southern Florida . Following another population boom after... |
32.63630294799805 122 WikiText2 |
19706 = = Exploration = = |
1054.1773681640625 5 WikiText2 |
19707 American involvement in the Everglades began during the Second Seminole War ( 1836 – 42 ) , a costly and very unpopular conflict . The United States spent between $ 30 million and $ 40 million and lost between 1 @,@ 500 and 3 @,@ 000 lives . The U.S. military drove the Seminoles into the Everglades and were char... |
36.84396743774414 218 WikiText2 |
19708 Opinion about the value of Florida to the Union was mixed : some thought it a useless land of swamps and horrible animals , while others thought it a gift from God for national prosperity . In 1838 comments in The Army and Navy Chronicle supported future development of southern Florida : |
85.56358337402344 52 WikiText2 |
19709 [ The ] climate [ is ] most delightful ; but , from want of actual observation , [ it ] could not speak so confidently of the soil , although , from the appearance of the surrounding vegetation , a portion of it , at least , must be rich . Whenever the aborigines shall be forced from their fastnesses , as eventu... |
50.037601470947266 166 WikiText2 |
19710 The military penetration of southern Florida offered the opportunity to map a poorly understood part of the country . As late as 1823 , official reports doubted the existence of a large inland lake , until the military met the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in 1837 . To avenge repeated surprise attac... |
43.236759185791016 183 WikiText2 |
19711 The final blame for the military stalemate was determined to lie not in military preparation , supplies , leadership , or superior tactics by the Seminoles , but in Florida 's impenetrable terrain . An army surgeon wrote : " It is in fact a most hideous region to live in , a perfect paradise for Indians , alliga... |
66.3678207397461 214 WikiText2 |
19712 In 1897 , an explorer named Hugh Willoughby spent eight days canoeing with a party from the mouth of the Harney River to the Miami River . He wrote about his observations and sent them back to the New Orleans Times @-@ Democrat . Willoughby described the water as healthy and wholesome , with numerous springs , a... |
44.07322311401367 158 WikiText2 |
19713 = = Drainage = = |
519.6748657226562 5 WikiText2 |
19714 As early as 1837 , a visitor to the Everglades suggested the value of the land without the water : |
73.13624572753906 20 WikiText2 |
19715 Could it be drained by deepening the natural outlets ? Would it not open to cultivation immense tracts of rich vegetable soil ? Could the waterpower , obtained by draining , be improved to any useful purpose ? Would such draining render the country unhealthy ? ... Many queries like these passed through our minds... |
104.39063262939453 116 WikiText2 |
19716 Territorial representative David Levy proposed a resolution that was passed in Congress in 1842 : " that the Secretary of War be directed to place before this House such information as can be obtained in relation to the practicability and probable expense of draining the everglades of Florida . " From this direc... |
51.79330062866211 235 WikiText2 |
19717 Nevertheless , Smith returned a report to the Secretary of the Treasury asking for $ 500 @,@ 000 to do the job . The report is the first published study on the topic of the Everglades , and concluded with the statement : |
70.4786376953125 45 WikiText2 |
19718 The Ever Glades are now suitable only for the haunt of noxious vermin or the resort of pestilent reptiles . The statesman whose exertions shall cause the millions of acres they contain , now worse than worthless , to teem with the products of agricultural industry ; that man who thus adds to the resources of his... |
73.82435607910156 86 WikiText2 |
19719 Smith suggested cutting through the rim of the Everglades ( known today as the Atlantic Coastal Ridge ) , connecting the heads of rivers to the coastline so that 4 feet ( 1 @.@ 2 m ) of water would be drained from the area . The result , Smith hoped , would yield farmland suitable for corn , sugar , rice , cotto... |
74.03915405273438 70 WikiText2 |
19720 In 1850 Congress passed a law that gave several states wetlands within their state boundaries . The Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act ensured that the state would be responsible for funding the attempts at developing wetlands into farmlands . Florida quickly formed a committee to consolidate grants to pay for such ... |
67.99335479736328 78 WikiText2 |
19721 = = = Hamilton Disston 's canals = = = |
488.6348876953125 10 WikiText2 |
19722 After the Civil War , an agency named the Internal Improvement Fund ( IIF ) , charged with using grant money to improve Florida 's infrastructure through canals , rail lines , and roads , was eager to be rid of the debt incurred by the Civil War . IIF trustees found a Pennsylvania real estate developer named Ham... |
39.891117095947266 207 WikiText2 |
19723 Disston 's engineers focused on Lake Okeechobee as well . As one colleague put it , " Okeechobee is the point to attack " ; the canals were to be " equal or greater than the inflow from the Kissimmee valley , which is the source of all the evil . " Disston sponsored the digging of a canal 11 miles ( 18 km ) long... |
41.0645637512207 139 WikiText2 |
19724 Though Disston 's canals did not drain , his purchase primed the economy of Florida . It made news and attracted tourists and land buyers alike . Within four years property values doubled , and the population increased significantly . One newcomer was the inventor Thomas Edison , who bought a home in Fort Myers ... |
74.8142318725586 129 WikiText2 |
19725 = = = Henry Flagler 's railroads = = = |
264.85919189453125 10 WikiText2 |
19726 Due to Disston 's purchase , the IIF was able to sponsor railroad projects , and the opportunity presented itself when oil tycoon Henry Flagler became enchanted with St. Augustine during a vacation . He built the opulent Ponce de León Hotel in St. Augustine in 1888 , and began buying land and building rail lines... |
59.46186828613281 137 WikiText2 |
19727 The winter of 1894 – 1895 produced a bitter frost that killed citrus trees as far south as Palm Beach . Miami resident Julia Tuttle sent Flagler a pristine orange blossom and an invitation to visit Miami , to persuade him to build the railroad farther south . Although he had earlier turned her down several times... |
50.287010192871094 129 WikiText2 |
19728 = = = Broward 's " Empire of the Everglades " = = = |
100.57715606689453 14 WikiText2 |
19729 Despite the sale of 4 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 acres ( 16 @,@ 000 km2 ) to Disston and the skyrocketing price of land , by the turn of the 20th century the IIF was bankrupt due to mismanagement . Legal battles ensued between the State of Florida and the railroad owners about who owned the rights to sell reclaimed land in... |
44.78403854370117 232 WikiText2 |
19730 Broward asked James O. Wright — an engineer on loan to the State of Florida from the USDA 's Bureau of Drainage Investigations — to draw up plans for drainage in 1906 . Two dredges were built by 1908 , but had cut only 6 miles ( 9 @.@ 7 km ) of canals . The project quickly ran out of money , so Broward sold real... |
54.48847198486328 259 WikiText2 |
19731 Wright 's initial report concluded that drainage would not be difficult . Building canals would be more cost effective than constructing a dike around Lake Okeechobee . The soil would be fertile after drainage , the climate would not be adversely affected , and the enormous lake would be able to irrigate farmlan... |
29.89230728149414 231 WikiText2 |
19732 Though a few voices expressed skepticism of the report 's conclusions — notably Frank Stoneman , the editor of the Miami News @-@ Record ( the forerunner of The Miami Herald ) — the report was hailed as impeccable , coming from a branch of the U.S. government . In 1912 Florida appointed Wright to oversee the dra... |
44.355621337890625 162 WikiText2 |
19733 Governor Broward ran for the U.S. Senate in 1908 but lost . Broward and his predecessor , William Jennings , were paid by Richard Bolles to tour the state to promote drainage . Broward was elected to the Senate in 1910 , but died before he could take office . He was eulogized across Florida for his leadership an... |
43.40958023071289 202 WikiText2 |
19734 = = Boom and plume harvesting = = |
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19735 Real estate companies continued to advertise and sell land along newly dug canals . In April 1912 — the end of the dry season — reporters from all over the U.S. were given a tour of what had recently been drained , and they returned to their papers and raved about the progress . Land developers sold 20 @,@ 000 l... |
56.81309127807617 303 WikiText2 |
19736 With the increasing population in towns near the Everglades came hunting opportunities . Even decades earlier , Harriet Beecher Stowe had been horrified at the hunting by visitors , and she wrote the first conservation publication for Florida in 1877 : " [ t ] he decks of boats are crowded with men , whose only ... |
59.434288024902344 139 WikiText2 |
19737 Wading birds were a particular target . Their feathers were used in women 's hats from the late 19th century until the 1920s . In 1886 , five million birds were estimated to have been killed for their feathers . They were usually shot in the spring , when their feathers were colored for mating and nesting . Aigr... |
56.93391036987305 226 WikiText2 |
19738 Plume harvesting became a dangerous business . The Audubon Society became concerned with the amount of hunting being done in rookeries in the mangrove forests . In 1902 , they hired a warden , Guy Bradley , to watch the rookeries around Cuthbert Lake . Bradley had lived in Flamingo within the Everglades , and wa... |
43.94810485839844 98 WikiText2 |
19739 In the 1920s , after birds were protected and alligators hunted nearly to extinction , Prohibition created a living for those willing to smuggle alcohol into the U.S. from Cuba . Rum @-@ runners used the vast Everglades as a hiding spot : there were never enough law enforcement officers to patrol it . The advent... |
55.90935516357422 329 WikiText2 |
19740 = = Hurricanes = = |
1151.838623046875 5 WikiText2 |
19741 The canals proposed by Wright were unsuccessful in making the lands south of Lake Okeechobee fulfill the promises made by real estate developers to local farmers . The winter of 1922 was unseasonably wet and the region was underwater . The town of Moore Haven received 46 inches ( 1 @,@ 200 mm ) of rain in six we... |
41.86135482788086 143 WikiText2 |
19742 = = = 1926 Miami Hurricane = = = |
488.63092041015625 9 WikiText2 |
19743 The 1920s brought several favorable conditions that helped the land and population boom , one of which was an absence of any severe storms . The last severe hurricane , in 1906 , had struck the Florida Keys . Many homes were constructed hastily and poorly as a result of this lull in storms . However , on Septemb... |
32.6112174987793 369 WikiText2 |
19744 The City of Miami responded to the hurricane by downplaying its effects and turning down aid . The Miami Herald declared two weeks after the storm that almost everything in the city had returned to normal . The governor supported the efforts to minimize the appearance of the destruction by refusing to call a spe... |
38.16111755371094 179 WikiText2 |
19745 = = = 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane = = = |
199.6258544921875 9 WikiText2 |
19746 The weather was unremarkable for two years . In 1928 , construction was completed on the Tamiami Trail , named because it was the only road spanning between Tampa and Miami . The builders attempted to construct the road several times before they blasted the muck down to the limestone , filled it with rock and pa... |
39.270957946777344 237 WikiText2 |
19747 = = = Herbert Hoover Dike = = = |
302.2680358886719 9 WikiText2 |
19748 The focus of government agencies quickly shifted to the control of floods rather than drainage . The Okeechobee Flood Control District , financed by both state and federal funds , was created in 1929 . President Herbert Hoover toured the towns affected by the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and , an engineer himself ,... |
22.425424575805664 210 WikiText2 |
19749 A massive canal 80 feet ( 24 m ) wide and 6 feet ( 1 @.@ 8 m ) deep was also dug through the Caloosahatchee River ; when the lake rose too high , the excess water left through the canal to the Gulf of Mexico . Exotic trees were planted along the north shore levee : Australian pines , Australian oaks , willows , ... |
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