CHAPTER VI 



THe Everglades 



IT is quite probable that the creation of the 

 Everglades was one of the last acts in the 

 completion of the land now forming the State 

 of Florida; in fact the process of construction 

 appears still to be actively going on. It is esti- 

 mated that the region contains about 5000 square 

 miles, but the latest investigations slightly reduce 

 this figure. It about equals the area of Connec- 

 ticut though its borders are so vague and uncertain 

 that no survey could precisely determine its limits. 

 Samuel Sanford, who has carefully studied the 

 geology of South Florida, says: "A difference of 

 two feet in water level means the difference be- 

 tween shallow lake and dry land for hundreds of 

 square miles." 



The popular idea of the "The Glades" (so the 

 Floridians generally call them) as a great basin is 

 erroneous. At the south shore of Lake Okeecho- 



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