Historically, south Florida was a giant marsh fed by rainfall. During the rainy wet season, sheets of water would move down the state (starting from central Florida's Upper Chain of Lakes) -- through what was then the great expanse of the Everglades. Because the land was so flat, water could flow from lake to lake, spill over natural river channels and spread into floodplains.
There were no barriers or canals to direct or control the path of water. In the aftermath of large storms, water could stand for weeks and months. When few people lived here, that wasn't a problem. But with the extensive development that started in the early 1900s, nature's extremes paired with uncontrolled water flows left devastating damage and disease in its wake. During the drier months of winter and spring, Florida had its own version of the dust bowl days -- cows went thirsty and crops withered on parched land.
Through the years, engineers and water managers attempted to control the water, to make this water state more hospitable for people. For more than a century, from 1850 to 1950, the solution was to incrementally dredge and drain the "swamp," something which few had learned to value. But in the 1920s and then late 1940s, after years of severe hurricanes, then drought, then more deadly storms, Florida asked the federal government for a master plan to tame nature's excesses.
Yesterday & Today
Everglades Tomorrow
