Some burned off the sawgrass

Some burned off the sawgrass or other vegetation only to discover that the underlying peat continued to burn. Animals and tractors used for plowing got mired in the muck and were useless. When the muck dried, it turned to a fine black powder and created dust storms.^[38] Settlers encountered rodents, skinks, and biting insects, and faced dangers from mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and alligators.  DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard Though at first crops sprouted quickly and lushly, they just as quickly wilted and died, seemingly without reason.^[39] It was discovered later that the peat and muck lacked copper and other trace elements. The USDA released a pamphlet in 1915 that declared land along the New River Canal would be too costly to keep drained and fertilized; people in Ft. Lauderdale responded by collecting all of the pamphlets and burning them.^[40] SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard With the increasing population in towns near the Everglades came hunting opportunities. Even decades earlier, Harriet Beecher Stowe had been horrified at the hunting by visitors, and she wrote the first conservation publication for Florida in 1877: "[t]he decks of boats are crowded with men, whose only feeling amid our magnificent forests, seems to be a wild desire to shoot something and who fire at every living thing on shore."^[41]  Lenovo 45N2141 laptop keyboard Otters and raccoons were the most widely hunted for their skins. Otter pelts could fetch between $8 and $15 each. Raccoons, more plentiful, only warranted 75 cents each in 1915. Hunting often went unchecked; on one trip, a Lake Okeechobee hunter killed 250 alligators and 172 otters. Wading birds were a particular target. Their feathers were used in women's hats from the late 19th century until the 1920s. HP Pavilion dv6-2133ee laptop keyboard In 1886, five million birds were estimated to have been killed for their feathers.^[43] They were usually shot in the spring, when their feathers were colored for mating and nesting. Aigrettes, as the plumes were called in the millinery business, sold in 1915 for $32 an ounce, also the price of gold.^[42] Millinery was a $17-million-a-year industry^[44] HP COMPAQ NX6320 laptop keyboard that motivated plume harvesters to lie in wait at the nests of egretsand other large birds during the nesting season, shoot the parents with small-bore rifles, and leave the chicks to starve.^[42] Many hunters refused to participate after watching the gruesome results of a plume hunt.^[42][45] Still, plumes from Everglades wading birds could be found in Havana, New York City, London, and Paris. ASUS X85S laptop keyboard A dealer in New York paid at least 60 hunters to provide him with "almost anything that wore feathers, but particularly the Herons, Spoonbills, and showy birds". Hunters could collect plumes from a hundred birds on a good day.^[46] Plume harvesting became a dangerous business. The Audubon Society became concerned with the amount of hunting being done in rookeries in the mangrove forests. ASUS X53S laptop keyboard In 1902, they hired a warden, Guy Bradley, to watch the rookeries around Cuthbert Lake. Bradley had lived inFlamingo within the Everglades, and was murdered in 1905 by one of his neighbors after he tried to prevent him from hunting.^[47]Protection of birds was the reason for establishing the first wildlife refuge when President Theodore Roosevelt set Pelican Island as a sanctuary in 1903.  LENOVO AEQA1STU010 laptop keyboard In the 1920s, after birds were protected and alligators hunted nearly to extinction, Prohibition created a living for those willing to smuggle alcohol into the U.S. from Cuba. Rum-runners used the vast Everglades as a hiding spot: there were never enough law enforcement officers to patrol it.^[48] The advent of the fishing industry, the arrival of the railroad,  Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard and the discovery of the benefits of adding copper to Okeechobee muck soon created unprecedented numbers of residents in new towns like Moore Haven, Clewiston, and Belle Glade. By 1921, 2,000 people lived in 16 new towns around Lake Okeechobee.^[3] Sugarcane became the primary crop grown in south Florida and it began to be mass-produced. COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU laptop keyboard Miami experienced a second real estate boom that earned a developer in Coral Gables $150 million and saw undeveloped land north of Miami sell for $30,600 an acre.^[49] Miami became cosmopolitan and experienced a renaissance of architecture and culture. Hollywood movie stars vacationed in the area and industrialists built lavish homes. Miami's population multiplied fivefold, and Ft. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard Lauderdale and Palm Beach grew many times over as well. In 1925, Miami newspapers published editions weighing over 7 pounds (3.2 kg), most of it real estate advertising.^[50] Waterfront property was the most highly valued. Mangrove trees were cut down and replaced with palm trees to improve the view. Acres of south Florida slash pine were taken down, some for lumber, but the wood was found to be dense and it split apart when nails were driven into it. HP Mini 110-3519la laptop keyboard It was also termite-resistant, but homes were needed quickly. Most of the pine forests in Dade County were cleared for development. The canals proposed by Wright were unsuccessful in making the lands south of Lake Okeechobee fulfill the promises made by real estate developers to local farmers. The winter of 1922 was unseasonably wet and the region was underwater. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard The town of Moore Haven received 46 inches (1,200 mm) of rain in six weeks in 1924.^[52]Engineers were pressured to regulate the water flow, not only for farmers but also for commercial fishers, who often requested conflicting water levels in the lake. Fred Elliot, who was in charge of building the canals after James Wright retired, commented: "A man on one side of the canal wants it raised for his particular use and a man on the other side wants it lowered for his particular use".SONY VAIO VGN-CS17G/R laptop keyboard The 1920s brought several favorable conditions that helped the land and population boom, one of which was an absence of any severe storms. The last severe hurricane, in 1906, had struck the Florida Keys. Many homes were constructed hastily and poorly as a result of this lull in storms.^[54] However, on September 18, 1926, a storm that became known as the 1926 Miami Hurricane struck with winds over 140 miles per hour (230 km/h), TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5357 laptop keyboard and caused massive devastation. The storm surge was as high as 15 feet (4.6 m) in some places. Henry Flagler's opulent Royal Palm Hotel was destroyed along with many other hotels and buildings. Most people who died did so when they ran out into the street in disbelief while the eye of the hurricane passed over, not knowing the wind was coming in from the other direction. SONY N860-7676-T101 laptop keyboard "The lull lasted 35 minutes, and during that time the streets of the city became crowded with people", wrote Richard Gray, the local weather chief. "As a result, many lives were lost during the second phase of the storm."^[55] In Miami alone, 115 people were counted dead—although the true figure may have been as high as 175, because death totals were racially segregated.^[54] More than 25,000 people were homeless in the city.DELL E141395 laptop keyboard The town of Moore Haven, bordering Lake Okeechobee, was hardest hit. A levee built of muck collapsed, drowning almost 400 of the town's entire 1,200 residents.^[56] The tops of Lake Okeechobee levees were only 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) above the lake itself and the engineers were aware of the danger. Two days before the hurricane, an engineer predicted, "[i]f we have a blow, even a gale, Moore Haven is going under water". HP 518965-001 laptop keyboard The engineer lost his wife and daughter in the flood. The City of Miami responded to the hurricane by downplaying its effects and turning down aid. The Miami Herald declared two weeks after the storm that almost everything in the city had returned to normal. The governor supported the efforts to minimize the appearance of the destruction by refusing to call a special legislative session to appropriate emergency funds for relief. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard As a result, the American Red Cross was able to collect only $3 million of $5 million needed.^[54] The 1926 hurricane effectively ended the land boom in Miami, despite the attempts at hiding the effects. It also forced drainage commissioners to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the canals. A $20 million plan to build a dike around Lake Okeechobee, to be paid by property taxes, was turned down after a skeptical constituency sued to stop it;^[58] LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard more than $14 million had been spent on canals and they were ineffective in taking away excess water or delivering it when needed. The weather was unremarkable for two years. In 1928, construction was completed on the Tamiami Trail, named because it was the only road spanning between Tampa and Miami.  DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard The builders attempted to construct the road several times before they blasted the muck down to the limestone, filled it with rock and paved over it.^[60] Hard rains in the summer caused Lake Okeechobee to rise several feet; this was noticed by a local newspaper editor who demanded it be lowered. However, on September 16, 1928 came a massive storm, now known as the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. HP Mini 1151NR laptop keyboard Thousands drowned when Lake Okeechobee breached its levees; the range of estimates of the dead spanned from 1,770 (according to the Red Cross) to 3,000 or more.^[61] Many were swept away and never recovered.^[54][62] The majority of the dead were black migrant workers who had recently settled in or near Belle Glade. The catastrophe made national news, and although the governor again refused aid,  SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard after he toured the area and counted 126 bodies still unburied or uncollected a week after the storm, he activated the National Guard to assist in the cleanup,^[54] and declared in a telegram: "Without exaggeration, the situation in the storm area beggars description". The focus of government agencies quickly shifted to the control of floods rather than drainage. HP Pavilion DV7-3078nr laptop keyboard The Okeechobee Flood Control District, financed by both state and federal funds, was created in 1929. President Herbert Hoover toured the towns affected by the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and, an engineer himself, ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to assist the communities surrounding the lake.^[64] Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan Between 1930 and 1937, a dike 66 miles (106 km) long was built around the southern edge of the lake, and a shorter one around the northern edge. It was 34 feet (10 m) tall and 3.5 feet (1.1 m) thick on the lake side, 3 feet (0.91 m) thick on the top, and 2 feet (0.61 m) thick toward land. Control of the Hoover Dike and the waters of Lake Okeechobee were delegated to federal powers: SONY Vaio VPC-EB3E1R/BQ CPU Fan the United States declared legal limits of the lake to be 14 feet (4.3 m) and 17 feet (5.2 m).^[12] A massive canal 80 feet (24 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep was also dug through the Caloosahatchee River; when the lake rose too high, the excess water left through the canal to the Gulf of Mexico. Exotic trees were planted along the north shore levee:Australian pines, Australian oaks, willows, and bamboo.^[12] Dell Precision M4500 CPU Fan More than $20 million was spent on the entire project. Sugarcane production soared after the dike and canal were built. The populations of the small towns surrounding the lake jumped from 3,000 to 9,000 after World War II. The effects of the Hoover Dike were seen immediately. An extended drought occurred in the 1930s, and with the wall preventing water leaving Lake Okeechobee and canals and ditches removing other water, the Everglades became parched. HP G71-340US CPU Fan Peat turned to dust, and salty ocean water entered Miami's wells. When the city brought in an expert to investigate, he discovered that the water in the Everglades was the area's groundwater—here, it appeared on the surface. Draining the Everglades removed this groundwater, which was replaced by ocean water seeping into the area's wells.^[66] In 1939, 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of Everglades burned, and the black clouds of peat and sawgrass fires hung over Miami. Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7016 CPU Fan Underground peat fires burned roots of trees and plants without burning the plants in some places.^[67]Scientists who took soil samples before draining had not taken into account that the organic composition of peat and muck in the Everglades was mixed with bacteria that added little to the process of decomposition underwater because they were not mixed with oxygen. HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx CPU Fan As soon as the water was drained and oxygen mixed with the soil, the bacteria began to break down the soil. In some places, homes had to be moved on to stilts and 8 feet (2.4 m) of topsoil was lost. Conservationists concerned about the Everglades have been a vocal minority ever since Miami was a young city. HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan South Florida's first and perhaps most enthusiastic naturalist was Charles Torrey Simpson, who retired from the Smithsonian Institution to Miami in 1905 when he was 53. Nicknamed "the Sage of Biscayne Bay", Simpson wrote several books about tropical plant life around Miami. His backyard contained a tropical hardwood hammock, which he estimated he showed to about 50,000 people.  HP Envy 17 Series CPU Fan Though he tended to avoid controversy regarding development, in Ornamental Gardening in Florida he wrote, "Mankind everywhere has an insane desire to waste and destroy the good and beautiful things this nature has lavished upon him".^[69] Although the idea of protecting a portion of the Everglades arose in 1905, a crystallized effort was formed in 1928 when Miami landscape designer Ernest F. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Coe established the Everglades Tropical National Park Association. It had enough support to be declared a national park by Congress in 1934, but there was not enough money during the Great Depression to buy the proposed 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) for the park. It took another 13 years for it to be dedicated on December 6, 1947. ^[70] HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan One month before the dedication of the park, the former editor of The Miami Herald and freelance writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas published her first book, The Everglades: River of Grass. After researching the region for five years, she described the history and ecology of the south of Florida in great detail, characterizing the Everglades as a river instead of a stagnant swamp.^[15] HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Douglas later wrote, "My colleague Art Marshall said that with [the words "River of Grass"] I changed everybody's knowledge and educated the world as to what the Everglades meant".^[71] The last chapter was titled "The Eleventh Hour" and warned that the Everglades were approaching death, although the course could be reversed.^[72] Its first printing sold out a month after its release. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Coinciding with the dedication of Everglades National Park, 1947 in south Florida saw two hurricanes and a wet season responsible for 100 inches (250 cm) of rain, ending the decade-long drought. Although there were no human casualties, cattle and deer were drowned and standing water was left in suburban areas for months. Agricultural interests lost about $59 million.  HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan The embattled head of the Everglades Drainage District carried a gun for protection after being threatened. In 1948 Congress approved the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes (C&SF) and consolidated the Everglades Drainage District and the Okeechobee Flood Control District under this.^[74] The C&SF used four methods in flood management: HP 493001-001 CPU Fan levees, water storage areas, canal improvements, and large pumps to assist gravity. Between 1952 and 1954 in cooperation with the state of Florida it built a levee 100 miles (160 km) long between the eastern Everglades and suburbs from Palm Beach to Homestead, and blocked the flow of water into populated areas.^[75] Between 1954 and 1963 it divided the Everglades into basins. Toshiba BFB0605HA CPU Fan In the northern Everglades were Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) bordering to the south of Lake Okeechobee. In the southern Everglades was Everglades National Park. Levees and pumping stations bordered each WCA, which released water in drier times and removed it and pumped it to the ocean or Gulf of Mexico in times of flood. HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan The WCAs took up about 37 percent of the original Everglades.^[76] During the 1950s and 1960s the South Florida metropolitan area grew four times as fast as the rest of the nation. Between 1940 and 1965, 6 million people moved to south Florida: 1,000 people moved to Miami every week.^[77] Urban development between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s quadrupled. Much of the water reclaimed from the Everglades was sent to newly developed areas.^[78] Toshiba Satellite A110-101 CPU Fan With metropolitan growth came urban problems associated with rapid expansion: traffic jams; school overcrowding; crime; overloaded sewage treatment plants; and, for the first time in south Florida's urban history, water shortages in times of drought.^[79] The C&SF constructed over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of canals, and hundreds of pumping stations and levees within three decades. HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan It produced a film, Waters of Destiny, characterized by author Michael Grunwald as propaganda, that likened nature to a villainous, shrieking force of rage and declared the C&SF's mission was to tame nature and make the Everglades useful.^[80] Everglades National Park management and Marjory Stoneman Douglas initially supported the C&SF, as it promised to maintain the Everglades and manage the water responsibly. HP 535442-001 CPU Fan