Feb. ii, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
209 
From 1840 to 1857 frequent incursions by de¬ 
tachments of the regular army under compe¬ 
tent officers were made. But they were mainly 
looking for Seminoles rather than seeking to 
extend our geographical knowledge. Neverthe¬ 
less, the reports and sketch-maps, having been 
preserved, present curious information. Cap¬ 
tain Dawson, in 1855, with sixty-three non-com¬ 
missioned officers and men, with the help of a 
half-breed guide, started from the eastern side 
of the Glades. When waterleads failed the 
boats were forced along by poling, wading and 
pushing. Often the grass was cut away in 
front and the men were more or less cut by the 
sharp-toothed edges of the blades. Progress 
grew slower each day. Long detours had to 
be made to avoid the heaviest grass belts. The 
low water added to their difficulties; they had 
to sleep at night in the canoes. 
Finally, the grass barrier grow¬ 
ing denser, Dawson had to turn 
back. The utmost point reached 
was four miles east of Prophet’s 
Landing, a spot near the western 
edge of the Glades. The log of 
the journey shows that while 
traveling 120 miles by trail, the 
direct distance accomplished was 
a trifle over fifty miles. 
Prior to this Buckingham Smith, 
with a detachment under a naval 
lieutenant, entered the Glades by 
the south fork of the Miami 
River, in September, 1847, when 
the water was high. With a light 
bateau of only five-inch draft 
they succeeded in going westward 
two days. Then the heavy grass 
growth caused them to change 
their course to north-northwest. 
Five days later they reached 
Prophet s Island, somewhat east 
of Prophet’s Landing. This was 
not far from the point afterward 
gained by Dawson. The Smith 
party saw that, owing to the 
density of the sawgrass, further 
progress was impracticable, even 
with the advantage of high 
water. But Mr. Smith explored 
many islands large and small 
in the Glades, finding on some 
several days they laboriously struggled through 
a dense tangle of sawgrass, scrub willow, wild 
myrtle and custard apple, and on the 15th thev 
came upon the sawgrass proper. They set fire 
to the grass, and the water being only four 
inches deep, literally blazed a trail; still progress 
was veiy slow. Few or no islands were seen, 
but on Nov. 28 deeper water was found, and an 
island on which they spent two days repairing 
the boats and in resting. From there they ad¬ 
vanced more easily, and on Dec. 6 finally 
reached the head of Shark River, which they 
descended to the Gulf. A passing coasting 
schooner took them back to Punta Rassa, which 
they reached Dec. 11, fifty-one days after their 
departure. 
1892, another party, headed by 
then president of the South 
On March 21, 
J. E. Ingraham 
who’s afraid? 
Photograph by Perry D. Frazer. 
broken pottery and many bones, but nothing 
to indicate that the early inhabitants were other 
than Indians. Leaving Prophet’s Island on 
Sept. 17, they succeeded in reaching Fort Dal¬ 
las, now Miami City, late the next day, having 
returned by the route they had broken through 
before. In recent years other expeditions have 
been attempted. 
In TS83 Major A. P. Williams, who had al¬ 
ready undertaken expeditions in Southern Flor¬ 
ida, was sent by the New Orleans Times-Dem- 
ocrat to explore the Everglades. Besides sev¬ 
eral white men, the party included six negro 
oarsmen. Starting from Punta Rassa on the 
west coast on Oct. 21, they set out up the 
Galoosahatchee River, reaching Lake Okee¬ 
chobee on Nov. 1. They had two large canoes, 
one or more smaller ones, and carried supplies 
or sixty days. Coasting the southern shore of 
the lake for three days, they selected a likely 
opening into the Glades, and on Nov. 10 left 
m lake, but without a guide, it appeared. For 
Florida railway, entered the Glades at Fort 
Shackelford, on the extreme western edge, with 
two cypress skiffs and two canvas boats. They 
headed southeast, right across the center of the 
region, under a theory then potent that a pla¬ 
teau of land or a body of open water would be 
encountered. From five miles a day their 
progress grew slower until, four days after 
starting, they had to leave one of the skiffs be¬ 
hind, owing to the constantly increasing density 
and height of sawgrass. Leaders and hands all 
worked and tugged alike, often waist deep in 
water and muck, cutting away the fierce grass 
to make room for the boats; pushing, shoving, 
poling. At times portages had to be made 
across intervening islands. They slept at night, 
either in the boats, or by piling cut sawgrass 
on that which was growing. At times they 
camped on small islands in their route. Pro¬ 
visions were running short; the men began to 
give out one by one, and they were in actual 
danger. They dared not go back; the risk 
was too great. More impedimenta were 
thrown aside. Distant Indian fires were seen, 
for they were nearing Miami, and finally 
they saw an old Seminole who reluctantly 
agreed to guide an advance party out to the 
head of the Miami River. Finally, on April 7, 
all hands, greatly exhausted after their seven¬ 
'll 1 days struggles, found themselves at Mi¬ 
ami, then much smaller than now. This expe¬ 
dition demonstrated that there is no open water 
or large plateau in the interior of the Glades. 
In 1897 Lieutenant Willoughby, of the Naval 
Reserve, entered the Glades by the River Har¬ 
ney, northwest of Cape Sable and near the 
Shark River, where Major Williams came out. 
Willoughby had only one man and each had a 
light, portable canoe. With two months’ pro¬ 
visions they started northeastward, poling, 
pushing, cutting the sawgrass and 
camping at night on tiny islets 
that were often oozy with water. 
After six days they found they 
cou d not penetrate the heavy 
sawgrass east of them, and re¬ 
traced their steps until a course 
was found around the southern 
edge of this unconquerable ex¬ 
panse of Grasswater. After a 
toilsome trip of fifteen days they 
succeeded in reaching Miami. 
All these expeditions showed 
the insuperable obstacles con¬ 
fronting the white man in that 
uncharted plain of shallow 
water and barbed-wire grass, de¬ 
void of intelligible landmarks and 
in large areas totally impene¬ 
trable. Even the islands all 
looked very much alike, except 
in point of size, and instead of 
helpful guides were so numerous 
as to be confusing. Also the in¬ 
finitely tortuous movement of 
water in the Glades was confus¬ 
ing. The oozy, miry bottom, now 
a fathom or more deep and again 
but a few inches, and the ever 
present peril from moccasins and 
other venomous water snakes was 
trying. All who ventured into 
this pathless grass sea had 
emerged only after incessant toil, 
hardship and real risk of life. 
Since then a few tentative trips have been 
made from various points, but none has ma¬ 
terially added to our knowledge. It is generally 
conceded that all this Southern water-wild is a 
vast though shallow depression, underlaid and 
rimmed with limestone formations. Time has 
covered it with a mantle of sand, on which the 
detrition of ages has produced a soil alternately 
dry or water-bogged. This was added to by the 
constant rotting of vegetation for perhaps 
thousands of years. Countless lakes and pot¬ 
holes are scattered over the area, culminating 
in Okeechobee and the lake country northward; 
and in the south in the shallower waters wherein 
the sawgrass and low, island hummocks have 
covered the surface though not obliterating the 
nature of the watery foundation, so to speak. 
The area of this southermost part, including the 
Glades, is probably forty leagues from north to 
south and from twenty to twenty-five east and 
west. Around this basin is a coastal rim of 
