THE DRAINAGE OF THE EVER- 

 GLADES 



BY 



DR. JOHN GIFFORD 



A PROPOS of the Steenerson bill 

 *" for the reclamation of swamp- 

 lands, I believe, although I have no 

 statistics at hand, that the area of good 

 land under cultivation in the United 

 States which has been reclaimed by 

 drainage, equals or exceeds that re- 

 claimed by irrigation ; and the same 

 applies to the amount of land still un- 

 reclaimed. Our largest swamp areas 

 are still wildernesses because their 

 very vastness renders reclamation by 

 private enterprise impossible. It is, 

 however, undoubtedly quite as much 

 the function of the federal government 

 to remove water from land in the east 

 as it is to put water on the land in the 

 west. 



The vast swamp area known as the 

 Everglades in the part of Florida 

 which is tropical is of such size that 

 private enterprise cannot handle it and 

 it is doubtful even if the State of Flor- 

 ida is equal to it. It is a project of 

 such magnitude that in order to be 

 done properly, federal aid is necessary. 

 It is a pet project of the present Gov- 

 ernor of Florida and the work of re- 

 clamation has actually been begun both 

 by the State and the Florida East 

 Coast Railroad. These operations, 

 however, compared with what there is 

 to do are like the merest nibblings on 

 the edge of an enormous cheese. The 

 reclamation of the Everglades deserves 

 attention from federal authorities, 

 firstly, because a large part of it is still 

 unsurveyed federal land, and, secondly, 

 because it is capable of producing a 

 great variety of crops at a time of the 

 year when they cannot be produced 

 elsewhere in the United States. Al- 

 most every year an enormous quantity 

 of winter vegetables is produced on 

 the edge of the Everglades. The rain- 

 fall was exceptional this year, how- 



ever, so that glade crops were impos- 

 sible. The excessive and unusual 

 amount of water has rendered trips 

 by canoe into the Everglades possible 

 this winter. 



The writer with a party of friends 

 took advantage of this opportunity to 

 visit Seminole village on one of the 

 islands in the Everglades. 



The Everglades are, in part at least, 

 surrounded by a rocky rim. This rim 

 is mostly limestone rock. Here and 

 there streams break through the rim, 

 and thus the region is drained. In dry 

 times the flow from the streams and 

 the evaporation are sufficient to keep a 

 large zone on the edge of the Ever- 

 glades comparatively dry and fit for 

 cultivation. In the saucer-like de- 

 pression within the rocky rim there 

 are immense springs which are fed 

 from some inexhaustible source far up 

 the country. When excessive precipi- 

 tation is added to this spring supply 

 the rocky water courses flowing into 

 the sea are unable to carry off the 

 water and the water-table which is 

 ordinarily close to the surface is raised 

 so far above it that navigation with 

 a canoe is comparatively easy. One 

 can follow for miles the trail of the 

 Seminole canoes through the saw- 

 grass. 



The rocky, pine-covered land occa- 

 sionally juts into the marshes like fin- 

 gers, and vice versa long slender minor 

 glades run into the pine land. 



Here and there throughout the 

 Everglades are islands which are en- 

 tirely different from the pine land. On 

 these islands the Seminole Indian lives 

 and cultivates his crops. In the 

 marshes he hunts alligators and other 

 wild animals. The islands are rocky 

 just like the pine land rim, in fact the 

 whole of the Everglade region is un- 



