CHAPTER VI 

 THe Ever^ades 



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- 



iiS 



