Evergladesdestiny

I love the Glades! I love the land, the people, the pace of time, the food, and the culture. Each community has its own identity, feel, way, and history. Sure, the

area has its problems, but even with its problems all of the Glades people share a pride and a connection to the land that is more often associated with the “fly over states” than with Palm Beach County. This is because the entire area’s focus is on agriculture, and historically the entire Glades region represents America’s last frontier. One must remember America’s “Wild West” was long-settled when the towns in the Everglades were just being conceived. As a result of the combination of these facts, the people of the Glades are very attuned to the environment and don’t quit trying to improve their way of life.

Bean Fair, Belle Glade, 1938. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

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The Glades area, 1947 Standard Oil Road Map. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

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Have you ever wondered where the term the “Glades” came from? It doesn’t appear on any maps. Which communities are included in the area depends on whom you ask and from where that person came. For example, people on the coasts will not always include Moorehaven or Clewiston in the “Glades” communities. Yet most people in the western communities would include them. In short, the term refers to a collection of communities that are located in the area of the former Everglades concentrated around Lake Okeechobee. Historically, these communities were referred to collectively as the “Everglades Towns” or “those towns in the Everglades.” These names were shortened to “the Glades” sometime in the late 1940s. However, in the earliest part of the 20th century you were more likely to hear the term “Sawgrass Towns” when referring to the western communities. The earliest developments were Okeelanta and Glades Crest/ Gladescrest. These two towns were literally surveyed, platted, and cut out of the sawgrass marshes south of Lake Okeechobee.

To understand the Everglades- all of the Everglades- one must accept the fact that the area is a mosaic of diverse and dynamic ecotones that

are greatly affected by environmental conditions. This diversity is not a recent phenomenon. When the area is viewed in a geological time frame, the area that encompasses today’s Everglades has been everything from ocean floor to a shoreline, to a massive grassy plain, to a swamp, to today’s mixture of farmland and wetlands. Humans have likely occupied the area that is/was the Everglades for the last 12,000 years. Starting in the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), the area was a mosaic of pine flatwoods and grasslands. Paleontologically, it is known that during this time the area was home to mammoths, mastodons, horses, bison, and deer. Then, during the Holocene (about 8,000 years ago), the area slowly changed from the grassy plain into the “drowned” grassy quagmire the early explorers named the Everglades. One fact is a constant: as long as humans have lived in the area, they have tried to change it to suit their needs.

The communities in the northern Everglades were founded and developed under the paradigm of manifest destiny. Under this doctrine, the population had a duty to expand and, when required, bend nature to its will. Case in point, the swamps, sloughs, and lakes of the

Everglades needed to be controlled to benefit humanity. What becomes clear is that the history of the Glades area is so intertwined with its environment that one cannot be understood without taking into account the other. Simply put, the history of the northern Everglades, including Lake Okeechobee, is punctuated by economic boom and bust cycles that are the result of early settlers impacting the ecology of the area. Several major economic booms have occurred in the northern Everglades region. These are the efforts in draining Lake Okeechobee, commercial hunting and fishing, and commercial agriculture. These boom periods were followed by five ecological busts. These were the draining of Lake Okeechobee and surrounding landscape, the introduction of water hyacinths, the over exploitation of various animal species, the deforestation and removal of native vegetation, and the canalizing of the surrounding lands culminating with the impoundment of Lake Okeechobee.

The initial economic boom for the northern everglades occurred during the 1890s with Hamilton Disston’s plans to drain the “excess” water from the area. The focus of this effort was centered on Lake Okeechobee. Disston and his

Hamilton Diston.Background photograph of a dredge in the Everglades. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

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Plowing the endless crop fields in the Glades, ca. 1950s. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

partners poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into all sectors of the region’s blossoming economies. They canalized rivers, removed timber, promoted land sales (their lands), and as a result the railroad barons of the day brought rail lines into the region. In the end what Disston accomplished was lowering Lake Okeechobee by four feet and losing millions. Lowering Lake Okeechobee was the first major ecological change directly attributable to the actions of humans in the Everglades. No solid scientific data exists to show exactly how this affected the area but there was clearly habitat loss for aquatic animalsand plants which in turn led to the expansion of grasses.

The second economic boom came in the form of professional hunters. These hardened souls were the first non-native American peoples to inhabit the Everglades during the historic period. Hunting was unregulated and as a result,

as one species became endangered and, in the worst case, extinct, a replacement was found. This is best exemplified by river otters and raccoons. River otter pelts brought the greatest amount of money but when they became scarce, raccoon pelts increased in value. Plume hunters (bird hunters) in the region earned the most money of all the commercial hunter types, supplying the demand for stuffed dead birds and bird feathers to adorn women’s hats. The removal of these species greatly impacted the environment. Once the predators like otters, raccoons, egrets, and herons were removed from the environment, prey species, primarily fish, dramatically increased. This helped to create the third economic boom.

Commercial catfishing on Lake Okeechobee began around 1900 and became the most profitable of the early economic industries in the northern Everglades. A record 6,500,000 pounds

of catfish were removed from the lake in 1924. Millions of dollars were made annually shipping catfish out of the lake for approximately thirty years. The eventual collapse of this industry was the result of the third ecological impact. The next impact was the result of a combination of factors including the introduction of large seine nets which allowed tons of fish to be caught in a single haul and the dikeing of the southern end of Lake Okeechobee.

In 1925 farmers demanded an earthen dike be constructed around the southern end of the lake to protect their crops from periods of high water. This was constructed of local muck soils and was crudely made. While it leaked badly, it worked well enough to cut off the flow of water to the rivers that existed around the lake. These very rivers served as the breeding grounds and nurseries for many fish species. A lack of breeding grounds combined with overfishing led to an

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economic bust but set the stage for the next economic boom.

With the land “drained,” or at least draining, agricultural efforts were taking off, including cattle ranching. Cattleman Eli Morgan brought water hyacinths from the St. Johns River area to the canals throughout the northern Everglades. His thinking was that these plants would be a food source for the blossoming cattle industry in the region. These plants, while small in size, multiplied quickly and brought all barge and boat travel through the Everglades to a stop. Historic photographs show people standing on the surface of canals being supported by the hyacinths. Until a means of controlling these plants was found, they had a major economic impact on both the interior and coastal communities.

Around 1905-1928 the entire Glades region was being promoted worldwide as the last frontier with the newest, cheapest, and most profitable farmland ever discovered. It became clear farming

was set to far surpass any of the profits made by all the previous economic undertakings combined. During this time two ecological impacts were occurring simultaneously; these were the successful draining of the “excess” water followed by the clearing of the land. With the main drainage canals and thousands of lateral canals excavated, the water could be “controlled.” With the land dry the pond apple forest and the extensive sawgrass plains on the eastern and southern sides of Lake Okeechobee were removed. These two processes resulted in the muck soils desiccating, subsiding, and burning, earning the area the name “The land of a thousands smokes.”

The last ecological impact occurred following the thousands of deaths during the 1926 and 1928 hurricanes. After these storms the federal government constructed the Herbert Hoover Dike. The dike was the last hurdle in overcoming the Everglades. While the dike contained the source of the waters

for the Everglades, it had an unexpected effect in that it isolated the lake from its natural and cultural surroundings. The early pioneers learned the hard way to fear the power of the lake but used the lake and its canals to transport goods to the rest of the world. As the lake was cut off and canals were blocked, towns began to shrink and eventually fail as a result of isolation.

Looking to the future, two more ecological impacts await the former northern Everglades. The first is the depletion of muck soils and the second is large-scale mining. The fact is that the muck soils which have been the economic engines of most of south Florida will eventually become depleted. Land owners in the Glades area are looking for a means to keep their land profitable. To this end, several large-scale rock mines (3,000 acres and up) are planned for the Glades area. Current thinking is the depleted mines can be used to hold excess water from Lake Okeechobee.

Burning bodies in Belle Glade following the 1928 hurricane. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

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Bottom: Harvest time in the Glades, 1920s, courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County; middle: a section of the 1935 Everglades Drainage District map showing part of the Glades, courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County; right: photograph of the Muck Subsidence Meter at the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade, 2011, courtesy Richard A. Marconi.

However, such a gesture is sophomoric at best; after all, how will holding water turn a profit? An alternative idea is to use the former mines to grow exotic algae for use in the production of bio-fuel. Given Florida’s problems with the accidental release of exotic life forms, the risks associated with this latter idea must be carefully evaluated. For example, in 1949 a hurricane dropped unprecedented amounts of rain causing canals in the region to overflow. So much water fell, a sheet flow of water covered the entire region. What would result if a similar scenario released an exotic algae throughout the Everglades and its interconnected canals?

Although cliché, the axiom holds true. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat past mistakes. Nowhere has this lesson been more overlooked more often than by “outsiders” trying to turn a profit in the Everglades. In light of the facts presented when examining the history and the future of the Glades area, it becomes necessary to ask, “Did Continued on page 28

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Continued from page 61951.

L&P has volunteered in the community during major disasters such as the Hurricane of 1928 and Hurricane Andrew, the former being particularly devastating to the Glades. Many of the caskets for the victims of that storm were made at L&P, and company trucks were used to transport bodies to the mass

grave at Tamarind and 25th Street.George Lainhart was still president of

the company when he died in 1930 at the age of 84. The founders believed in service and quality products. Although they have long since passed, the company has honored their intentions for generations.

In 2012, after 118 years in business, Lainhart & Potter was purchased by

Marjam Supply Company. Marjam has offices in eleven states including five other Florida cities.

Martha McKenna is a descendant of George W. Lainhart.

Continued from page 13manifest destiny shape the Everglades or did Evergladesdestiny shape the past, present, and future of this amazing region?”

Christian Davenport currently serves as the Palm Beach County Archaeologist and Historic Preservation Officer for Palm Beach County. Since moving toPalm Beach County in 2005, Davenport

was the lead archaeologist investigating/recording 33 new archaeological sites in Lake Okeechobee during the 2007-2009 drought. In 2010-2011, he excavated sand and shell mounds at DuBois Park in Jupiter. Currently Davenport is researching the large ancient Indian earth mounds around Lake Okeechobee. Davenport’s 800-plus page report on the excavations at Lake Okeechobee will soon be completed.

Selected ReferencesInformation for this article was gathered from: The archives of the Lawrence E. Will Museum, Belle Glade, Florida.Will, Lawrence, E. A. Cracker History of Okeechobee. West Palm Beach: Sir Speedy, 2002, fifth printing.______________. Swamp to Sugar Bowl Pioneer Days in Belle Glade. Belle Glade: The Glades Historical Society, 1984, second printing.

Continued from page 18Made in France, the towel is available in limited quantities for $20.

Jan Tuckwood is presentation editor of The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is in charge of the features sections, the entertainment

sections, special projects and the design of the newspaper. The Post’s features sections have won numerous awards, including the J.C. Penney-Missouri award for best feature section. Jan also worked as special sections editor, fashion editor and page designer of The Denver Post and, earlier, page one editor and assistant features editor of The Post.

Ms. Tuckwood edited and co-wrote three history books for The Post –Pioneers in Paradise, West Palm Beach, the First 100 Years, in 1994, Our Century in 2000, and Palm Beach County at 100: Our History, Our Home in 2009. In March 2001, she was named Cox Editor of the Year by Cox Newspapers, the first recipient of that award.

Continued from page 26was hospitalized in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he died on July 31, 1921, at age 65. At his death, Cory had authored at dozens of articles and books and was a gifted ornithologist and golfer.

Frank Chapman, of the American Museum of Natural History, said of Cory, “I have never met a man so gifted as Charles Cory. He had the inherent potentialities as well as the means to win mankind successes in a surprising[ly] widely different fields.” Of his contributions to Palm Beach, one went up in flames and faded into the misty, forgotten past, however, his other contribution, golf, is still played in Palm

Beach on the very grounds Cory once walked. Indeed, Palm Beach County has over 170 golf courses and is known as the “Golf Capital of the World.”

Unfortunately, during my research, I could not find any photographs of the museum and only a few images of Cory. It would be another 57 years before Palm Beach would have another museum, the nationally landmarked Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. Though Cory’s museum is gone, his spirit is still felt in Palm Beach as golfers walk and play on The Breakers golf course.

Richard A. Marconi is Curator of

Education and has been on staff with the Historical Society since 2002. In 2001 he graduated summa cum laude from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. Marconi is co-author of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of American series: West Palm Beach 1893-1950 (2006) and Palm Beach (2009); co-author of Palm Beach County at 100: Our History; Our Home (The Palm Beach Post, 2009); and producer and co-writer of the Historical Society’s documentary “Puddle Jumpers of Lantana: The History of the Civil Air Patrol’s Coastal Patrol 3” (2007).

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