Like Rats in a Trap
THE EVERGLADES, some times designated in geographies as terra incognita, or unknown land, is a vast territory of extremely fertile country covering an area of 4,000 square miles (2,560,000 acres) south of Lake Okeechobee, which, next to Lake Michigan, is the largest body of fresh water wholly within the United States.
Some twenty years ago the State of Florida set machinery in motion to drain this region by cutting a number of canals from tide water into the lake. The problem of drainage was considered simple from an engineering viewpoint, since it is a well accepted principle that water runs down hill. The level of the lake was nearly 22 feet above sea level, and the original project was to lower the level four feet, this being deemed sufficient at the time to keep the lake from overflowing. This would have reduced the level to about 18 feet. Though drainage operations progressed slowly, being hampered by the lack of sufficient funds to push the work more rapidly, they attracted nation-wide attention. The superlative fertility of the
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MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF MOORE HAVEN, THE EVERGLADES TOWN WHICH WAS SWEPT AWAY WHEN THE DIKE AROUND THE LAKE BROKE.
