Historic Timeline
In 1921, the Florida Everglades drainage caused massive growth in Southern Florida. Rumors spread throughout this time that new promising cities such as Miami Beach and Naples would come a bout in the South. In 1923, financial difficulties threatened the construction of a road that would connect the west and east coast of Florida. A group of Trail Blazers decided to protest and travel across this unfinished road with various transportation vehicles, which took ten days. In 1924, the floods caused loss of crops, which forced farmers to abandon their farms. In 1926, 13,000 homes were destroyed and 400 people killed. In 1928, the completion of the trail led to a boom in tourism for Florida. The Everglades used to span from Lake Okeechobee in central Florida all the way down to Florida Bay. Now, only 25% of the historic Everglades remains, which is being protected by the National Park Service. (7)
The Everglades Today
The Everglades National Park is 1,509,000 acres, and is the biggest wilderness area that is still present east of the Mississippi River. Today, this National Park is less than 50% of what previously existed of this ecosystem before all the drainage plans occurred. There are over 30 protected species that live inside the park, such as the american crocodile, snail kite, sea turtles, florida panther, and indian manatee (10).
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