EIGHTEEN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE. KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1949
Army Engineers Hope To Make 'Green Hell' Of Everglades Safe Area
Tallahassee, Fla.—(U.R.)—Army engineers have set out to tame the Everglades, a treacherous, broad river of grass and jungle stretching 100 miles through south Florida.
Conversion of the green bell of this Florida jungle into an area safe from disastrous floods, muck fires and drought is part of a program which will cost $208 million. But the complete program will do more than make the Everglades more habitable.
The engineers' battle with the Everglades is the continuation of a century-old effort by the people of Florida to control that broad 40-mile-wide river of grass.
It will also prevent floods and drought over an area of 15,570 square miles in central and southern Florida, a region comprising one fourth of the state and larger than the combined areas of three New England states.
Unique characteristics of geography are what makes the job of controlling the water in southern and central Florida so difficult.
The region is divided into five drainage areas, of which the Everglades is one.
Nature has broken these large areas into smaller basins. From the standpoint of water control, all the parts are dependent, one on the other, separated only by indistinguishable flat divides of land.
The Corps of Engineers has made an intensive study of the peculiarities of earth as an eye toward taking advantage of every break nature offers them.
By doing that, they have reached a compromise between two patterns of life; the Everglades of the Seminole and the canoe, and the Everglades of the farmer and the tractor.
The plan to let the water follow its ancient drainage courses will accomplish the first objective of the program. The second objective will be attained by building a gigantic system of flood control works which will hold a certain amount of water in natural reservoirs, during periods of heavy rainfall, to be released in time of drought for the benefit of the urban farm, and wildlife population of the entire region.
Thus the project is designed to combat drought as well as flood.
Previous projects have been concerned only with an excess amount of water and, consequently, contributed to drought conditions.
In times of drought, the muck-land oxidizes—that is, chemically changes to a harmless gas that disappears in the air. It is a burning process. An average of six feet of rich Everglades muck was destroyed that way from 1914 to 1943.
In addition, the dry muck burns in the same manner as forest fires. That was what happened in 1949. Thousands of acres of muck went up
as acrid suffocating smoke and cast a stifling pall over the cities and towns.
During that time canals dried up, Gold Coast cities went on short water rations. Salt sea water invaded the land.
Even more devastating are the frequent floods.
Col. A. G. Matthews, chief engineer of the Florida division of water survey and research, estimated the damage of the flood in the fall of 1947 at $50 million.
After a summer of extremely heavy rainfall, two hurricanes poured additional tons of water on the region. Seven feet of water covered 2,400 square miles of the Everglades alone.
All of south Florida was a vast sheet of water. Roads and bridges were out. Farmland dikes and levees were destroyed. Thousands of cattle starved or drowned. Thousands of farms did not produce in 1947-48.
Urban areas along the Gold Coast still were inundated in midwinter. One-third of Ft. Lauderdale including the business district, was under water for weeks. In all, 20 coastal cities were damaged by high water.
Floridians feel that the Corps of Engineers' plan to dike, levee, dam, and canalize the entire area from Kissimmee to below the Tamiami Trail is the answer.
It has been endorsed by virtually every civic group, newspaper, and public official in the state. The state legislature gave unanimous approval to the program.
The Army engineers estimate that completion of the project will mean an annual addition of about $25 million in agricultural, business and tax returns.
There are many who feel that figure is far too conservative. Matthews, for instance, predicts the project will bring an additional $100 million annual return to farmers.
Merry
Christmas
The season of glad cheer and good fellowship is with us once again and everywhere we go we see as well as hear and feel this wonderful spirit! We see it in the gaily adorned shop windows...the colorfully lighted trees...and on the smiling faces of the people about us. We hear it in the well-wishing greetings of friend to friend..stranger to stranger...in the church bells resounding magnificently through our community.We feel it in our every activity—be it home or business.And we extend it also in our own sincere heartfelt wishes to you our friends—that this may be a truly memorable Christmas and a happy, happy New Year!
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