Today, the Everglades National Park Quarter Coin remembers the discussions of draining Florida’s southern lands.
Discussed as early as 1837, the focus on draining wetlands increased in the late 1840s.
People of the 19th century did not understand the value of the wetlands not only to the wildlife but also to the lands north of the Everglades.
Today, billion-dollar efforts work to return large damaged areas back into the wetlands they once were.
This letter from 1848 discusses their 19th century ideas and mentions one surveyor’s comment from October 2, 1847 regarding the drainage.
From Everglades of the Peninsula of Florida, government documents printed in 1848:
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Letter of Richard M. Young, Commissioner of General Land Office to Robert J. Walker, Secretary of Treasury.
Sir: In reply to your inquiries of this office as to any information in its possession respecting the Everglades in the State of Florida, and the lands in said State, below the line dividing townships 36 and 37, south of the base line in said State, I have the honor to state:
That the name “Everglades ” designates that region of the peninsula of Florida lying south of Lake Okeechobee, and generally covered by water from two to seven feet deep, at least for some months in every year.
That the greater part of the peninsula below this line, between townships 36 and 37, and which it is proposed, by the bill now before the Committee of Public Lands of the Senate, (which bill has been submitted to me by Messrs. Westcott and Cabell of said State;) to be ceded to the State of Florida, being unsurveyed, and there not being any nautical surveys of the western coast below Tampa in this office, an approximate estimate only can be made of the area of the peninsula and keys, including the lands and interior waters south of said line, and excluding the islands and keys south and east of Cape Sable. It is supposed, however, that such area may be stated at about 7,800,000 acres of land and water.
Of this aggregate area, it is estimated that there is always covered with water about 4,300,000 acres.
This estimate includes rivers, lagoons, sounds, and Lake Okeechobee, and other lakes south of said line, that it is not proposed to drain and cannot be drained.
It includes also the swamps and all those portions of country comprising parts of the region called the Everglades; the greater part of which it is not supposed can be reclaimed.
Of the aggregate before stated, it is estimated there are about one million of acres that are only occasionally covered with water, i. e. for some months during and after the rainy seasons in each year; much of which, however, on the eastern and southern margins of the Glades, are represented as valueless until the Glades are drained, in consequence of such annual overflow, and of which also a considerable portion it is not anticipated will ever be made valuable by such draining.
Of the remaining 2,500,000 acres, the quantity of 1,000,000 acres has been surveyed, (about 590,682 into sections and 409,318 by the exterior lines of townships,) mostly of very inferior quality, judging from the small quantity (only 360 acres) sold since a large portion of them were brought into market.
The residue of said lands, being 1,500,000 acres, are represented as poor and valueless generally, and most of them probably not worth the expense of surveying.
No sufficient data, on which to base a correct statement of the quantity of lands within said limits legally subject to patent under the acts for the armed occupation and settlement of Florida, is in this office, but it is considered that sixteen thousand acres will certainly cover all such claims that can be legally established.
Twenty-three thousand and three acres have been granted by special acts of Congress to Doctor H. Perrine and his widow and heirs, within said limits, for the cultivation of tropical fruits and plants, and which grant is allowed by law to be located in separate sections, and the reasonable presumption is, that they have located the choicest lands in that part of the country.
There are, it is believed, several claims under Spanish grants within said limits, amounting to many thousand acres; but inasmuch as they have not all yet been definitely confirmed, and the surveys thereof finally concluded, this office is without certain data whereon to base a precise statement of the aggregate quantity of such claims.
The great Alagon claim covers two-thirds of the entire district proposed to be ceded to the State of Florida, and extends much higher up (north) than the line before specified. This claim is in suit, but it is not supposed there is the slightest danger of the claimants succeeding in such suit.
The project of draining the Everglades, if successful, may perhaps reclaim for cultivation, within the limits of the proposed grant to Florida, about a million of acres of these lands, now covered with water; some continually, and the residue occasionally only.
It cannot be anticipated to reclaim but a part of the Everglades, a part of the Atseenahoofa or Big Cypress swamp, a part of the Halpatiokee swamp, and the skirt of poor lands on the margin of the Glades, covered with water some months of every year, and which is very barren.
Much of the subaqueous lands will still remain inundated; and no one can expect that the parts that are so drained can all be made susceptible of cultivation.
The entire peninsula south of the northern line of the proposed grant to Florida, whether occasionally covered with water or not subject to overflow, is, at this time, utterly worthless to the United States for any purpose whatever.
Colonel Robert Butler, the surveyor general of that State, in his official report, made October 2, 1847, says: “I now ask your attention to the Everglades, which cannot be surveyed without first being drained;” and that officer recommends the cession of a moiety of that region to the State of Florida, for the purpose of having them reclaimed.
Draining the Glades, as suggested, will, it is supposed, still leave large rivers, lakes, ponds, and channels in the Glades filled with water; and, as before observed, many of the lands drained will also remain valueless.
But the results of the proposed work can only be ascertained by actual experiment.
The great depth of Lake Okeechobee forbids the idea of draining it entirely; and, indeed, I learn from Mr. Smith’s report, it is contemplated only to decrease its waters but a few feet, leaving it of sufficient depth to be navigated by vessels that may be able to navigate the canals from said lake to the gulf and to the Atlantic.
As before observed, the lagoons, bays, sounds, and rivers, within the said district, will not be affected by the contemplated work.
The bill before the Committee on Public Lands of the Senate grants to the State of Florida alternate sections of the surveyed lands below said line dividing townships 36 and 37—the nearest township line to the north end of Lake Okeechobee.
In consideration of the fact before adverted to, that the value of these lands, now esteemed of but little amount, will be perhaps enhanced by the proposed improvement to the legal minimum price of the public lands, and, in consideration also of the reclaiming of several hundred thousand acres of bottom land on the banks of the Kissimmee river and its tributaries outside and north of the proposed grant, and the benefit of which will inure solely and directly to the federal treasury, it is deemed that this provision is equitable and just.
In my annual report I had the honor to express my convictions as to the policy of the federal government with respect to all such lands as those proposed to be ceded, situate in any of the States, and I had the honor of advancing the principles I conceived to be sound on that subject, and I am gratified to find that the proposed bill sustains what I then deemed it my duty to say.
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The Everglades National Park Quarter Coin shows with an image of a small portion of the area, circa 1905.
