Narrative of a Cruise to Lake Okeechobee 



DKSCHIPTION OF A LAND OK "PKAT.- WIIKKK TIIKKK IS NKITHKR SOIL 



NOR ROCK. EVEN TOWNS BEING BUILT ON THE TREMBLING SPON(iE 



OF VEGETATION.— NEED FOR GOVERNMENT PROTECTION 



OF SELECTED AREAS HEFOIM-: THE FLOI^A OF THIS 



REGION, NOWHERE DCPLICATED IN OUR 



COUNTRY, CEASES To EXIST 



By .1 Oil N K r X K H L S M A L L 



Head CiirMloi- nf tin' Musfiiiris ,'iii<l I I.Tl.ariuiii nf the Nm \i,yk l'..itinii<'iil Canicii 



Til \'] words "Everoladcs !'■ "Okfc- 

 ehobco !" "Big Cypress !" carry 

 great fascination, particularly 

 to the naturalist. Until recent years 

 the regions represented by Iliese names 

 held many mysteries in tlieir nn^'x- 

 plored depths. Some of the mysteries 

 have yielded, while others remain to ])v 

 solved. 



In continuation of a botanical ex- 

 ploration of southern Florida, I set out 

 May 5, 1917, on a collecting trip to the 

 Lake Okeechobee region in the Ever- 

 glades. Wonderful changes have taken 

 place in southern Florida within the 

 last decade or two. Previous to that 

 time anything in tlie way of modern 

 transportation was wanting. What was 

 then a matter of weeks is now a matter 

 of hours. I had returned to Miami 

 May 4 from a collecting trip to Big- 

 Pine Key and Key West, a distance in 

 latitude of nearly one hundred miles, 

 and the night of May 5 found me in 

 the Everglades nearly one hundred 

 miles farther north. Our party left 

 Buena Vista early in the forenoon, on 

 board the "Barbee," generously fitted 

 out by Mr. Charles Dcering. Aljoard 

 were Paul Matthaus, captain: Victor 

 Soar, horticulturist: Charles T. Simp- 

 son, conchologist ; Leban lietiiel, ciew 

 and cook; and the writer. This classi- 

 fication, however, did not hold good at 

 all times. It was a very democratic 

 party: sometimes all members were of- 

 ficers, at other times they Avere all crew. 

 We were forced to go to Lake Okee- 



ciiohee liy way of Fort Lauderdale, as 

 I lie Miami Camil was still securely 

 blocked by politics and finance. (See 

 map, page 68G.) All went well until 

 we entered New River Sound, a very 

 beautiful spot in the inland waterway 

 — but also a place where the unexpected 

 always seems to happen. As we were 

 about to pass from the sound into Lake 

 Mabel, a severe electric storm accom- 

 panied by drenching rain and high 

 wind suddenly broke upon us. We 

 groped about until the close proximity 

 of a bolt of lightning and an overpow- 

 ering quantity of ozone brought us to 

 our senses and we decided to throw 

 over an anchor and wait. 



After the storm passed, we proceeded 

 into Lake Mabel, passed Fort Lauder- 

 dale, and went up to the source of New 

 River at the rim of the Everglades and 

 entered the North New River Canal. 

 The water in the canal was excep- 

 tionally low owing to the prolonged 

 drought. While entering the first lock 

 the keel of the "Barbee"' caught on the 

 concrete sill amidships and there we 

 hung, so nicely balanced that we were 

 unable to move the boat forward or 

 backward. We had to wait until the 

 water rose sufficiently to float us, — per- 

 chance some boat ahead of us had gone 

 through a lock many miles nearer the 

 lake, or the tide may have risen. 



Our real troubles, however, were only 

 beginning. Again the low water and 

 an imperfectly divdged channel de- 

 layed us. Pjcfore proceeding far we 



