|
Citation |
- Permanent Link:
- https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00026438/00001
Material Information
- Title:
- Soils, geology, and water control in the Everglades region /
- Creator:
- Jones, Lewis A
- Place of Publication:
- Gainesville, Fla
- Publisher:
- University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
- Publication Date:
- 1948
- Copyright Date:
- 1948
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 168 p. : ill., charts, maps ; 23 cm. +
Subjects
- Subjects / Keywords:
- Soils -- Florida -- Everglades ( lcsh )
Geological surveys -- Florida -- Everglades ( lcsh ) Climate -- Everglades (Fla.) ( lcsh )
- Genre:
- bibliography ( marcgt )
Notes
- Additional Physical Form:
- Electronic reproduction of copy from George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida also available.
- General Note:
- Cover title.
- General Note:
- "In cooperation with U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, H.H. Bennett, chief"--T.p.
- Statement of Responsibility:
- prepared under direction of Lewis A. Jones.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- University of Florida
- Holding Location:
- University of Florida
- Rights Management:
- All applicable rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.
- Resource Identifier:
- AEN6170 ( NOTIS )
024508742 ( AlephBibNum ) 01727563 ( OCLC )
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Full Text |
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE
H. If. Beruett, Chief
FLORIDA
EVERGLADES REGION
GENERALIZED LAND CONDITIONS
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Harold Mowry. Director
LEGEND
LAND SUITED FOR CULTIVATION:
II PRODUCTIVE LAND REQUIRING SPECIAL TREATMENT
FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION.
L Peat and muck soils deep peat of the custard-apple land and
willow-and-elder land.
I Sandy soils dark colored sands, or sandy hammocks.
I I Marls and calcareous soils depth at least 24 inches.
III PRODUCTIVE LAND REQUIRING INTENSIVE TREATMENT
FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION.
Peat and muck soils deep peat of the sawgrass plains.
SSandy soils moderately good.
LAND SUITED FOR LIMITED CULTIVATION:
IV LAND OF LIMITED PRODUCTIVITY SUITED ONLY TO
SPECIAL CROPS OR SEASONAL USAGE.
I Z Peat and muck soils depth less than 60 inches over limestone.
Sandy soils light colored, poor natural drainage, low fertility.
SMarls and calcareous soils depth less than 24 inches.
I Rockdale rock land.
LAND NOT SUITED FOR CULTIVATION:
V LAND SUITED FOR GRAZING OR TIMBER, PRINCIPALLY.
Sandy soils loose sands, or hardpan soils.
VIII LAND SUITED ONLY FOR WILDLIFE OR RECREATION,
UNDER EXISTING CONDITIONS.
Peat and muck soils loose peat, subject to extreme shrinkage
if drained.
Marls-saline.
Wet rock land, marshes, swamp, and made land.
0 5 in 20 Miles
LI YL..-
T-45-S I
DF
CA~cs
26-30'
T-46-S
8grs~n
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T-56-S
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25*30..- '_
I- .OCIT FLOIDA 1
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ERE
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T-39-S
- 2700'
T-40-S
T-41-S
T-42-S
26*45'
T-43-S
T-44-S
T45-S
26*30'
T-46-S
T-47-S
T-48-S
-26'15'
T-49-S
T-50-S
T-51-S
-26*00'
T-52-S
T-53-S
- 25*45'
T-54-S
T-55-S
T-56-S
-25*30'
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T-58-S
T-59-S
- 25'15'
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+
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1141
FLORIDA
EVERGLADES REGION
DISTRICTS ORGANIZED FOR WATER CONTROL
I. 'PICI{TMENT O' F AI(;IC(ITi'NIl;
1II (;,ONc H\VATION SERVICE
1 1 11... ... .. 1 i,;i f
UNIVERSITY OF FLOID)A
A(GRICULTUAl,. EXPERI HMENT STATION
Harold .Mowry. Director
DISTRICTS
1 Baker Haul-over
2 Biscayne
3 Brown
4 Citrus Center
5 Clewiston
6 Dade
7 Dade County Water Cons.
8 Diston Island
9 Eagle Bay
10 East Beach
11 East Marsh
12 East Shore
18 Hollywood Reclamation
19 Indian Prairie
20 Istokpoga
21 Lake Worth
22 Little River
23 Loxahatchee
24 Napoleon B.Broward
25 Naranja
26 Newhall
27 Old Plantation Water Control
28 Pahokee
29 Pelican Lake
13 Ft.Lauderdale-Middle River 30 Ritta
14 Gladeview
15 Goulds
16 Hicpochee
17 Highland Glades
31 Southern
32 South Florida Conservancy
33 South Shore
34 Sugarland
LEGEND
Boundary of Everglades Drainage District
Boundary of Everglades
Other Drainage Districts Boundaries
District Pumping Plant
20 Mile
'9 '9 '0 '- on o n
n _' '. T 0 "' 0' t f O L
T37s HIGHLANDS COLTNT7 1 -
27-15-1 i.. ST LUCIE COUNTY 2
I t vghto cEItI .i.T
T-38-S R\
SGL |COUNTY N '
- r ,------ L- .
I ..
1 I SEMINLE / R'FIN rl
_UIJDI \ /f} GOMEZ \
T-39-S I GRANT
I I
j nALL(IndLantownIN
27'OO / I
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03
Sr. .LOC .. l i : I i
LOCX
T-42-S "
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. .- .--- L. CS I r,_,,,-- /, i I
T-48-S i l CYPRESS .
I SEMINOLE INDIAN
RESERVATION VL,-A Fort n T \
T-44-S OLEI N .
. -
I I
T-45-S lI
.. . i. k __I I : ..
26"3o, I HENRY COUNTY i iJi
C O CLL IE R ( ; q N r Y i f^ I CA M % .1f
T-46-SI IB A M C 1
T-4-S I .
STATf. II i
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ii
- I
T-55-S -
-I
II
L- ,
T-56-S
T-57-S
2530' -
T-58-S
T-59-S
2515' -
T-60-S
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- -- --- -------
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--- .- - - --.-.. .. Iill i '- F I AD' OpRI CANAL'
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T-39-S
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T-41-S
T-42-S
T.43.S
I 44.S
T.45 S
T 46
T 47 S
T 48 S
T 49 S
T SO S
TI51 S
T 52 S
T.53 S
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T 56 S
T 5' S
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T 59 5
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i1
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRIC'UITURI:H
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVE ICE
H. H. Beninett, Chtief
FLORIDA
EVERGLADES REGION
WATER CONTROL
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Harold Mowry. Director
w
Os
CN
T-42-S I rton
r[eFL_
T-48-S
26'15' -
T-49-S
LEGEND
Boundary of Everglades Drainage District
T-50-S
Boundary of Everglades
Boundary of Water-Conservation Areas
Boundary of Areas to be Drained Lakeward
Boundary of Areas to be Drained Oceanward
Ground Surface Elevations
Contours
Canals
Canals to be Enlarged
Proposed Canals
Proposed Pumping Plants
Proposed Water-Control Structures
T-51-S
26"00' -
T-52-S
T-53-S
T-54-S
25'45'
T-55-S
T-56-S
Proposed Levees ,
DATUM IS MEAN SEA LEVEL
CONTOUR INTERVAL 1 FOOT
Note: The contours are approximate and omit innumerable hummocks and
depressions of small or undetermined area. They are based on leveling along
lines in many places several miles apart. Surveys were made mostly in 1940-42.
Drained peat soils are subject to continued subsidence.
? n ,j r -I
-I ", -. ,T ,
SIGHL\NDS 7 i L NTY
--I L.-.. F ST LLT E COlNTY
S 1- r. UECHOBEE C
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1 3 13,
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LAKE OKEECHOBEE --- -
\ .,,, E s,.. \ln _.Y t \ ,
T-41-S / -
....------- LAK OKEECHOBEE :
SCALOOSAh 4 T C ii
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1 I 4 I ON l CA ,AL
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_ _l ^^ ^ s-:-1 51 J -L'I!,
R ESERV ION I ,t ---
She lind I I
I SEMINLE QNSEVATION AREA
----_------- --- -- ----
-0
S__OCOUNTY __, .r
IATE OT I A14
II'NDIAN j A \ I Port Everglades
SDADE-BROARD CO TIES
MANS - I ,/,-, . / T
- --- W--
sril [ 1
,------ -- ----
o___
ADE 0 TY
03
pST MA
25'30" I ) St
--- MONROE -- COUNTY--- -- -O---
T-58-S I -
--------- - -- ----- ..------- .....----
T-59-S
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%LgORIDA
uJ J ----- --::: ,, ... ---- _ ,j LU, ,
en.
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Ln
c9
or a
hN
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r a r E0
T-43-S
T-44-S
T-45-S
26'30 -
T-46-S
T-47-S
o o
-- -I--
T.37.S
T-38-S
T-39-S
-27'00'
T-40-S
T-41-S I
T-42-S
- 2645'
T-43-S
T-44-S
T-45-S
-26-30'
T-46-S
T-47-S
T-48-S
- 26'15'
T-49-S
T-50-S
T-51-S
- 26'00'
T-52-S
T-53-S
-25"45'
T-54-S
T-55-S
T-56-S
25'30'
T-57-S
T-58-S
T-59-S
25'15'
T-60-S
T-61-S
S
0 5
I Miles
h7 -- F f- -"20
- I --- -- ---
2 f
r:4-)A 4 A/ -1."T
FLORIDA
EVERGLADES DRAINAGE DISTRICT
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PHYSICAL LAND CONDITIONS
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE
H. H. Bennett, Chief
INDEX
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Tarldi Mnwrv ni r onr
Insert Sheet No. I Insert Sheet No. 1 1 2 insert Sheet No. 2
l LL Lu LuJ L w
T-37-SI ~ _- IT'37.S
27*30'
27*15'
27*00'
3
C
OKEECHOBEE
; / EAGLE
I BAY
do f
01
ST LUCIE
MARTIN
"^ 5
I^SL
'p^
I COUNTY
i i I-- ",
T-39-S
~YW] 2w1~2rtzzzr~
-4--------# E Lw I J- \ -U...... .1 ________
PL.
GLADES COUNTY
HENDRYN COUNTY
LAKE OKEECHOBEE
Insert Sheet No. 4
A
MARTIN
LM BE4
co"
S GCO
E CO
T-40-S
10
L- 41-S
- 'ln lrr' -laD 1 (l ~ r e~ I ~ --c- II* L+--~ ill~ n a ________
Y
I
-AI
T-43-SI CLEWISTON RITTA L
1 -- -EST- /
ISI TT
L AD D IS S AND l
BELLEGLADE W
IPALM
--I B EA CH
T-44-SI LAKE
HOG WORTH
Insert Sheet No. 12 112 RE 1 14S 15 T44S
T45-SI 115 1 T.45.S
-- ----- T--
T-46-S L
I
T-47-S "- n
I
HENDRY
COLLIER-
T-49S I
I
T.50.-S '22
SEMINOLE
T-51-S INDIAN
RESERVATION
- --
INDIAN RE
SBIG I
SEMINOL
RESE]
LITTLE
CYPRESS
SWAMP
-
l]8s
NATION FENCE STATE
RESS
INDIAN
TION
COUNTY
COUNTY
SEMINOLE
3
SINDIAN
-S------N -
101 9 1
]R1pq NRV ~%%
19
PALM BEACH
BROWARD
24------ -
24%
-.------ --- ----
COUNTY
015-
I -'--
121
CANAL
T-46-S
T-47-S
POMPANO
-T-49-S
OT T 26
LAUDERDBAIE 'Poert Everglades
T-50-S
HOLLYWOOI
h, I T
BROWARD ___ COUNTY_
T-52-S DADE
MORO 'COUNTY
MNE A
!s coI i ,|i T- s .
T-54-S1 MOALM
I 54S T-
-------- t-|-- -
I __
4w57 S:3 1_____S 31
T 53-S
T-T-53-
-E -- ------ ----------- -
T54SBEAHT7.--
25'15.
--- --- ---
o
361 ---
T-59-S
LU
tUesL- n
It
en
37,
C-,
-1
_________ I 1-I-
HOMESTEADD I
38 58-S
.1,
\ 94
\ ^ 0^~
(11) m Q c9
25'15
SOIL coeseevOniOO sceviuc WASHINGTON 0 C
SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE WASHINGTON
I 562 JULY 1946
30 Miles
Roads: Surfaced
Dirt
Railroads -t--
Canals
Reservations - -
County Lines
Township nes : Surveyed
Unsurve ye-sd - -
Prolect Boundary
Insert Sheet No. 7
I
I-
T-38-S
T-39
T-39-S
T-40-SI
7I
T41-S N
- -----
26'45-
26I30'
27'00'
26'15'
~a"~~
I
------ ----r~ --uU~
~
I Ik% I7;p 1 1 117 a
1
m r
'a-
fill- -
l I I -_ ; l
I
I I
,I rr I I r
T-48.s
I I
i I ; 1L II R Y
"`
. i i i 7=;2#c
l i I I
I
r ~------( 1
w
_C COUNTY
S'-- Ch-NTY
SEMINOLE
INDIAN
R* ESERVATIONj
Li-t
--^& 4e'
In\
1
i
I
J I
'Hi
IIGI
10
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 145
TABLE 11.-SUGGESTED USES FOR THE LAND NOT SUITABLE FOR
CULTIVATION.
Land-Capability Soil Group Suggestions for
Class Use and Management
V. Not suitable Al. Gandy peat, on Not accessible for grazing.
for cultiva- islands in the Recommended for forests and
tion, but ridge-and- wildlife. Useful for camp
suitable for slough section; sites.
grazing or Istokpoga peat.
woodland
B2. Leon fine sand, Recommended for range land
a hardpan soil. utilizing native grasses, or for
improved and fertilized pas-
tures. Suitable for carpet,
Pensacola Bahia, and common
Bahia grasses. Complete fer-
tilizer and copper sulfate
needed for maximum produc-
tion. Expenditures for water
control probably not justified.
C1. Light gray Useful for range land. Ex-
nearly white, penditures for fertilizers or for
loose, fine water control are not recom-
sands. mended.
VIII. Not suitable Al. Loxahatchee Useful for wildlife. Some areas
for cultiva- peat, tidal of Loxahatchee peat are use-
tion, grazing, marsh, and ful for water storage.
or forestry mangrove
swamp.
A2. Salty marl. Affected by sea water. Not
suitable for cultivation or
grazing.
D1. Wet rockland, Suitable for wildlife and recre-
tidal marsh, ational areas.
mangrove
swamp, beach,
and miscel-
laneous land.
only 57,208 acres, but it is good muck or peaty muck and it is
utilized intensively.
Class II Muck Land.-The organic soils in class II are Okeecho-
bee muck, called custard-apple land because of the original vege-
tation, and Okeelanta peaty muck, which is called willow-and-
elder land. If there is less than a 5-foot layer of muck over
limestone, however, these soils are class IV rather than class II.
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 33
fresh-water beds record times when sea-level was below the
present level and fresh-water lakes and marshes occupied the
area; and the brackish-water beds may represent either times
of rising or falling sea levels when the water in the area was
neither salt nor fresh but was a mixture of the two.
The Fort Thompson formation has been described and tenta-
tively correlated by Parker and Cooke (29, p. 40) with other
formations, and with the glacial and interglacial stages of the
Pleistocene.
The limestone beds of the Fort Thompson are usually extreme-
ly dense and hard with comparatively few solution holes pierc-
ing them. Intercalated gray calcareous mud or marl layers, in
addition to the dense hard limestone layers, help to make the
Fort Thompson formation generally relatively impermeable so
that water does not pass through it easily. Some portions of
the formation contain greater amounts of shell or coarser sand
than others, and where this occurs local zones of fair to even
high permeability occur.
Pamlico Formation.-The Pamlico formation (see Fig. 11) is
chiefly composed of gray-white to carbonaceous quartz sand
locally consolidated to sandstone. It mantles the underlyinz
rocks of southern Florida along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
about to the latitude of Miami but does not generally extend far
out into the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression; inland it
extends up to about 25 feet above mean sea level, the altitude
of the Pamlico seashore. Locally the sand of the Pamlico forma-
tion is heaped up into beach ridges and dunes at altitudes higher
than 25 feet.
The Pamlico formation is usually of low to medium permeabil-,
ity. Where clean and well sorted, the permeability is high, but
ordinarily the sorting is poor and the interstices between larger
sand grains are filled with smaller ones, or silt and/or organic
materials are intermixed with the sand in some places, so as to
reduce greatly the permeability.
Talbot and Penholoway Formations.-The Talbot and Penholo-
way formations are conformable marine terrace deposits whose
differentiation is based mainly on the location of their respective
shore lines, namely, 42 and 70 feet above present sea level. These
formations unconformably overlie the Caloosahatchee marl and
are likewise separated by a stratigraphic break from the Pam-
lico formation, which fringes around the Talbot.
TABLE 3.-AVERAGE AND EXTREME MONTHLY AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS.-(Continued.)
(Compiled from U. S. Weather Bureau Data, Except for Canal Point and Shawano.)
Canal Point (1923-1946) Hypoluxo (1918-1946)
Greatest Least Greatest Least
Average on on Average on on
SRecord Record __ Record Record
Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches
January ............................. 1.82 6.21 0.12 2.71 9.47 0.43
February ..................... 1.96 5.69 0.04 2.46 6.01 0.27
March ........... .......... 2.82. 6.36 0.03 3.60 7.07 0.00
April ............. ............... 3.14 9.25 0.00 4.32 17.87 0.10
May ...... ......- ......... 4.20 10.60 0.76 4.60 12.70 0.67
June ........... .............. 8.29 16.96 0.49 6.78 14.52 0.52
July -.............................. 8.41 14.62 3.33 5.54 16.40 0.14
August ........... .......... 7.28 14.13 1.85 5.68 13.42 0.74
September ................. 8.18 16.45 3.40 7.92 16.68 1.93
October ............... ........... 4.29 18.14 0.77 7.66 22.31 2.11
November ....................... 2.40 25.09 0.30 3.35 8.13 0.25
December .......................... 1.27 4.62 0.09 2.27 8.59 0.57
Annual .............................. ] 54.06 70.23 36.44 56.89 71.64 34.90
June- Oct. ........ .............. 36.45 48.88 18.56 33.58 48.12 18.73
Moore Haven (1918-1946) Okeechobee (1918-1946)
January ..............-..- 1.58 5.73 0.11 1.69 5.72 0.00
February .................... ..... 1.76 4.97 0.12 1.96 6.58 0.07
March ............... .......... 2.40 5.90 0.03 2.44 6.49 0.30 c
April ............................... 3.09 6.92 0.21 3.51 11.63 0.00
May ............................ 4.44 11.70 0.35 3.88 8.48 0.90
June ............................ 7.44 17.85 1.20 7.22 13.35 1.28
July ....... ................. 7.76 16.13 2.68 6.56 12.82 2.94
August ............ .....- .......- 7.18 15.71 2.39 6.28 20.70 1.27
September -...................... 7.17 14.93 1.08 6.86 16.86 0.08
October ......... ...... ... ... 3.75 13.39 0.03 4.59 15.50 0.30
November ................... 1.58 5.47 0.07 1.72 8.27 0.00
December .-........-.........--- 0.90 3.91 0.07 1.59 4.59 0.00
Annual -.......-...........-.. .49.05 78.48 33.67 48.30 71.11 31.58
June Oct .................... 33.30 51.77 21.22 31.50 50.74 16.27
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 131
Holloway Dike.-This old embankment should be reinforced
and extended to the full distance between Hillsboro and North
New River Canals and be built according to, the specifications
given for rock levee. It should have a, top. width of 24 feet
sloping uniformly from elevation 16.0 at Hillsboro Canal to 15.0
at North New River Canal. All materials for building this levee
should be taken from the east side. The borrow pit should be
made a continuous channel for drainage and irrigation, and a
control built in it south of Cypress Creek Canal to divert irriga-
tion flow into that canal.
The estimate of cost, without deducting for the existing
levee, is:
Excavation-
250,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ............ ... ............- ..... ..... $187,500
120,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .............................. ..... 12,000
Control structure-included in estimate for Cypress Creek Canal
$199,500
Incidentals .......... ............. ............... 20,500
$220,000
South New River Canal.-The cost of the improvements rec-
ommended for this canal is as follows:
Dam and water control in South Branch of New River ......................$65,000
Dam at Road 25 .........-.................... -- ---- ................ ............. 10,000
Enlargement of spillway and bridge openings, Fifteen-Mile
Dike and Flamingo Road .... ........... ....................... 7,000
$82,500
Incidentals ............................. ........... .......... ... 8,500
$91,000
Cypress Creek Canal.-Computations for this canal are based
upon maximum flow line elevations of 11.0 at Holloway Dike,
8.0 at State Road 7, and 3.0 at U. S. Highway 1. In the following
estimate, deduction has been made for the volume of the existing
channel.
Excavation--
1,000,000 cu. yds. of unclassified material. @ $0.30 ....... ......$300,000
Control structure at FEC RR. ...................-...... .......... 30,000
Control in Holloway Dike borrow pit ................. .... ...... ..... 20,000
$350,000
Incidentals ................ ...................... 35,000
$385,000
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 111
about 10 miles from the north end of the canal, in the vicinity
of Big Mound, will divide the flow between St. Lucie and West
Palm Beach Canals in times of heavy runoff. It will have gates
to pass irrigation flow from the St. Lucie.
To lessen the demand of Allapattah Canal upon the capacity
of West Palm Beach Canal, the new Hungryland Canal is
planned, to discharge into Loxahatchee River near Jupiter about
5 miles beyond Everglades Drainage District boundary. A canal
is proposed also in Loxahatchee Marsh to drain that area into
Hungryland Canal and to bring irrigation water from Alla-
pattah Canal. A levee along this Loxahatchee Canal would pre-
vent overflow upon lands to the eastward. A water control is
planned at each end of this canal, and one in the Hungryland just
below Loxahatchee Canal. This arrangement of canals and con-
trols will provide irrigation for lands in the Marsh and for a
limited area on Hungryland Canal, and will go far toward solving
the problem of maintaining an adequate water supply for West
Palm,Beach.
Sand Cut Area.-About 32 square miles of muck and peat soils
north of the area tributary to West Palm Beach Canal will be
drained directly into Lake Okeechobee by 2 new canals, Upper
Sand Cut and Lower Sand Cut. This area would be protected
against surface flow from the northeast by the Allapattah Levee
and Canal, already described. A pumping plant would be
required at the outlet of each of these ditches, for drainage and
for irrigation.
Hillsboro Canal Area.-The area to be drained by Hillsboro
Canal includes that tributary to Cross Canal west of the bend and
that tributary to Bolles Canal east of a control to be constructed
approximately 51/4 miles west of the Hillsboro. About 47 square
miles, mostly north of Cross and upper Hillsboro Canals, will be
drained through the latter into Lake Okeechobee when flow
southeastward is not desired. A pumping plant will be required
near the lake (possibly as far away as the lock at Belle Glade),
for drainage and for irrigation. One water-control structure will
be required between Cross and Bolles Canals, and another just
below the Bolles, to manage the flow. Levees will be necessary
on both sides of the canal, except where the embankment of Road
No. 80 is maintained to serve as such.
About 88 square miles of agricultural peat soil, including that
along the eastern end of Bolles Canal, are tributary to Hillsboro
114 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Canal, or both, as circumstances might determine. When this
area has been fully developed, a control and pumping plant may
be needed at the lower boundary of the agricultural land.
West of North New River Canal 2 new drainage canals are pro-
posed to serve agricultural soils in Palm Beach and Hendry
counties. Canal B would drain 90 square miles adjacent to the
North New River Canal area and discharge upon the surface of
non-agricultural soils in Broward County about midway between
North New River and Miami Canals. Levees will be needed on
both sides of Canal B, for maximum drainage flow must be carried
1 to 2 feet above the ground surface. This canal will be connected
to Bolles Canal at the control between North New River and
Miami Canals, to obtain water for irrigation. Complete develop-
ment of the tributary lands may require for this canal, also, a
control and pumping plant at the lower boundary.
Canal C is proposed to serve approximately 130 square miles
of agricultural soils on both sides of the Palm Beach-Hendry
County line. Canal C is planned to discharge with Sand Prairie
Canal upon non-agricultural lands in northwest Broward County.
Irrigation water for the tributary lands will be obtained from
Miami Canal at its intersection with Bolles Canal. This will
necessitate enlargement of the Miami for 2 miles south of the
Bolles. As with Canals B and,A, levees on both sides will be
required through the agricultural area and a drainage pumping
plant and control structure for irrigation may ultimately be
needed at the southern boundary of the land to be cultivated.
South New River Canal Area.-The area to be drained by
South New River Canal and Dania Cut-off is approximately 76
square miles, lying between North New River Canal and about
11/4 miles south of South New River Canal, and extending east-
ward from State Road 25 to the boundary of Everglades Drain-
age District.
Road 25 maintained as a continuous embankment to its estab-
lished grade will provide protection against surface flow from the
west for all this area and the lands on the south to the Miami
Canal. The road is constructed over very permeable rock (Miami
oolite) and there may be considerable seepage through the rock
under the road during periods of high water. If the seepage
proves excessive it will be necessary to construct a ditch along
the east side of the road to intercept the water. A dam should
136 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
growing in winter instead of summer. Although the winter
temperatures are high enough for these crops to grow without
injury except in unusual years, the crops are growing under the
short days of winter rather than the long days of the usual
summer growing season, and their behavior, therefore, is differ-
ent in many respects. Furthermore, the soils in and adjacent to
the Everglades are for the most part peats, marls, or fine sands,
all of which require heavy and sometimes- unusual fertilization
for successful growth of crops. Most of the soils need water
control, for drainage or irrigation or both. New pests, crop
diseases, and weeds may call for special methods of prevention or
treatment. Farmers or prospective farmers are urged to discuss
these problems with the county agricultural extension agent or
to communicate with the State Agricultural Experiment Station.
The main station at Gainesville can supply certain information
and copies of bulletins. Management of the peat soils is being
studied intensively at the Everglades Station near Belle Glade,
and that of the rocklands and marls at the Sub-tropical Station
near Homestead.
In the entire area covered by the data in this bulletin, Ever-
glades Drainage District and the mainland eastward south of
Palm Beach, there are 1,736,944 acres of land suitable for regular
cultivation, as far as the land itself is concerned. As is pointed
out elsewhere, however, existing water-control facilities are not
adequate for regulation of the water table on all the land suit-
able for cultivation, and especially are not adequate for sufficient-
ly rapid removal of all the water that accumulates after heavy
rains. The prospective farmer should investigate water control
in addition to looking into the cropping possibilities and limita-
tions that are shown by or can be read from the land-capability
maps and the discussions in this chapter.
General Requirenents for Water Control on Farm Lands
Drainage is absolutely necessary for cultivation of the peat
and muck soils, group Al, and the naturally wet mineral soils of
groups A2 and A3. Too much drainage, however, causes ruinous
shrinkage and subsidence in the peats and makes the sands and
marls .undependable for crop production. Each farm, therefore,
needs a complete system of water control, to provide for drainage
in wet weather and irrigation during the dry season of each
year. Irrigation throughout the district, except on the rocklands,
120 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Control structures-
Above Lateral A ..................... ................. 30,000
Below Cross Canal ............................. ........... ........ 45,000
Below Allapattah Ditch ....................................- 70,000
Repairs to lock at West Palm Beach ............................... 20,000
$1,846,000
Incidentals ....................................................... 184,000
$2,030,000
Allapattah Levee and Canal.-It is important that this levee
be constructed of mineral soil; therefore it should be located on
the edge of the sandy lands. The canal is the borrow pit for the
levee, which should be made a continuous channel to carry away
the surface flow intercepted by the levee. The canal has been
designed of capacity equal to the computed runoff, which will
require excavation greater than needed to build the levee.
The total area to be tributary to Allapattah Canal is 120 square
miles. The control in the vicinity of Big Mound, approximately
"on range line 38/39, will cause the water from 25 square miles to
be drained northwestward into St. Lucie Canal when that is
desired, while the water from the other 95 square miles is drained
southeastward into West Palm Beach Canal. The control gates
will pass water in either direction.
The levee has been designed with a top width of 24 feet and
3 to 1 side slopes to serve as a roadway. The top elevation should
be 26.0 feet from St. Lucie Canal to the control structure, and
should have a uniform grade from 26.0 feet at the control to 23.0
feet at Loxahatchee Canal. From the Loxahatchee to the West
Palm Beach there should be levees on both sides of Allapattah
Canal, but only one need be 24 feet in top width.
In addition to the control near Big Mound, a control will be
required in Allapattah Canal at the junction with the St. Lucie,
that will discharge 600 c.f.s. with flow line at elevations of 19.0
on the south side and 16.0 on the north. It should be designed
to hold a stage of 20.0 on the south side. A third control will be
required in this canal, at its junction with West Palm Beach
Canal, that will discharge 1,500 c.f.s. with flow lines at 13.0 feet
on the north and 11.0 feet on the south. It should be constructed
to hold a stage of 16.5 feet on the north side.
These proposed controls will make a limited supply of irriga-
tion water available to the sand lands tributary to the canal; but
steps will have to be taken to reduce seepage losses from the
canal if any large area of sand land is to be irrigated, and addi-
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 11
Everglades, and aid was requested of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture. The Office of Experiment Stations of that
Department undertook the preparation of a report and plan of
drainage for the Everglades. Field parties spent the winters of
1906-07 and 1907-08 in determining topographic and soil charac-
teristics of the 'Glades. The report was released in 1909, out-
lining a plan of drainage in general similar to that existing today.
Impetus given the actual drainage program by Governor
Broward's administration resulted in the launching of two large
dredges in 1906 and the letting of contracts for constructing two
more in 1908.
Land sales that followed the settlement of litigation regard-
ing title to the Everglades land provided a million-dollar fund
with which to carry on the drainage program. Further assurance
that funds would be available resulted from agreements between
the Trustees and corporate and individual owners of large tracts,
that suits to enjoin collection of the 5-cent acreage tax would
be dismissed, and thereafter the owners would pay all drainage
taxes. The appointment of a chief drainage engineer of the
State was followed by the letting of a dredging contract which
increased the number of dredges from four to eight and greatly
increased the rate of excavation.
Active drainage operations were reflected in an increase in
the number of Everglades land owners from about a dozen in
1909 to 15,000 in 1911, The price of State lands advanced from
$2 per acre in 1909 to $15 in 1910. This activity in land markets
increased the demand for even more rapid progress in the recla-
mation work. Responding to this demand, the legislature in
1913 enacted laws levying acreage taxes based on benefits, and
authorized the Everglades Drainage District to issue bonds sup-
ported by anticipated proceeds of the acreage tax.
By 1912 it had become apparent that the canals planned
would be insufficient to control Lake Okeechobee or drain the
. lands and that more adequate plans should be made. An Ever-
glades Engineering Commission (Isham Randolph, chairman)
was employed to make the necessary studies, and in October
of 1913 reported engineering recommendations that have served
as the basic plan for all subsequent drainage work by the Dis-
trict. The report stated, in part: "The existing works and con-
ditions of land ownership and settlement seem now to be such
as necessitates an earnest effort to reclaim in one continuous
project and with the greatest possible expeditibn, all the lands
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 53
L. Y w 4 A Y w y
an an a a; & & & & a a a an
HIG ANDS C KEECHOBEE ST LUCIE CO T-37-
"MARTIN CO
GLADES Ss T-39-S
COUNTY r s
LAKE T-40-S
OKEECHOBEE L ____
S -r-41-s
T-42-S
WEST
._ 0* jMPALM T-43-s
-1 \SA ALM BEACH CANAL BEACH
R T-44-S
M AC COU T-4-
HENODRY T-45-S
COUNTY T
'1 T-47-S
M- OI *-. BEC 5(
SBN-- --C ----* T-49-S
so FORT
COLLIER o R LAUDERDALE T-50-S
COUNTY T-51-S
M IA M I "
SBEACH r T-53-S
CANAL mi BEACH
T-54-S
T-55-S
ADE T-56-s
COUNTY T-57-S
DATUM IS MEAN SEA LEVEL T-6-
q I 0 0 10 20MILES
T-61-S
Fig. 15.--Approximate contours on the rock surface under the organic
soils in the Everglades Region.
60 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Cultivated areas of the marl land were examined closely and
borings were made in or near every field. Undeveloped areas of
this soil were reached by lines no more than 2 or 3 miles apart,
along which borings were made to find out the nature and depth
of the marl.
Information shown on the maps of the 15 eastern townships
of Collier County was taken from the soil survey of Collier
County, Florida, which was made by Florida Agricultural Exper-
iment Station and the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and
AgriculturalEngineering.
Soils and Their Capability
The soils in the main Everglades are primarily the peats and
mucks. The high Rockdale rockland, which is suitable for groves,
occupies the ridge or rim that extends southwestward from
Miami. East and west of the Everglades and of Lake Okeecho-
bee there are sandy soils that range from the deep, white,
drouthy, very rapidly permeable sands on the east coast to the
gray or grayish-brown sandy soils, located mostly in the western
part of the district, which are wet and are underlain by sandy
clay. In all, there were described and mapped 64 different
organic and mineralsoils in the area covered by the survey, each
having distinct characteristics that make it different from the
others. These soils are members of 31 different soil series and 8
miscellaneous land types.
For many practical purposes, and especially for studying and
classifying the capability of the land for different uses, these
soils may be considered in 8 groups. The organic soils, for
example, make up 1 group because they have many characteris-
tics in common and are distinctly different from the marls and
the sandy soils. The different peats and mucks, however, have
different capabilities for farming. The marls and calcareous
sandy soils make up a second group; other sandy soils are divided
into 4 groups according to the nature of the sand, the distinctive
features brought about by variations in the water table, and
the presence of layers in the soil that retard the movement of
water. The rocklands suitable for orchards and groves con-
stitute the seventh group of soils, and the miscellaneous swamps,
marshes, and wet rockland are the eighth group. The names of
the soil groups, their relative degree of wetness, and the symbols
used to designate them throughout this bulletin are:
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 55
The middle and rear axles were driven from a secondary drive
shaft through 2 transmission gear sets connected in series. This
gave several speeds of travel, ranging from 1/2 to 25 miles per
hour; the lowest was often necessary to avoid bogging down in
soft, slippery soil. Each driven axle of the 'glades buggy was
suspended separately so that it could adjust to very uneven
ground surface independently of the others, to avoid straining
the frame.
A vehicle available during the latter part of the survey was
the amphibious "weasel" (Fig. 19), designed during the War for
use in Navy operations. It was specially useful in surveying
areas of soft soils with interspersed ponds and water channels
too deep for non-floating vehicles. It could travel on hard roads
at speeds up to 25 miles per hour.
The Soil-Conservation Survey
The soil-conservation surveyors studied and mapped the land
conditions. They covered all the area within the Everglades
region as defined on page 5. The extent of the survey is shown
in Figure 2. They located and marked on the maps the boundar-
ies of the soil conditions that influence the use and management
of the land: In the organic soils, the nature of the peat or muck,
Fig. 17.-The "air boat" will navigate water too shal'ow or too filled with
vegetation for use of submerged propeller and rudder.
n ..: .. ^ ^, .. ^ ^ ^ ^ <,
:^~^ SW 6 :: .l
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 43
No part of the mainland of Florida is free from frosts, al-
though several frost-free years may occur in succession. Be-
cause truck crops are grown almost entirely during the winter
for shipment to Northern markets, the frosts that occur may
cause severe and costly damage. The frost hazard is somewhat
greater on the peat soils than on the sandy soils. Tempera-
tures of 32 F. or less were recorded at Belle Glade in 13 of the
22 years from July 1924 to June 1946, and at Miami in 8 of the
50 years through 1945. Killing frosts, however, occurred during
the fall months in 11 of the 22 years at Belle Glade and 4 of the
48 years at Miami, and in the early months of 14 years at Belle
Glade and 13 years at Miami. The earliest frosts recorded in
the fall were on November 16, 1940, at Belle Glade, and on Nov-
ember 21, 1914, at Miami; the latest in the spring were on April
29, 1928, at Belle Glade and on March 18, 1915, at Miami. The
coldest temperatures recorded on virgin sawgrass peat land were
9" F. on March 14, 1932, at Shawano, about 14 miles southeast of
Belle Glade, and 13 in December 1934 near Twenty-Mile Bend in
West Palm Beach Canal. Recorded observations indicate that
minimum temperatures are about 5" higher on cultivated peat
soils than on virgin peat.
Sunshine, Wind, and Humidity
The sunshine at Miami is 67 percent of the possible on an
annual basis, ranging from 62 percent in June to 74 percent in
March and April. The frequent showers during the rainy season
ordinarily obscure the sun for only short periods of time,
Relative humidity in the peat areas is very high; records at
Belle Glade show it usually to be nearly 100 percent from sunset
to about 9 a. m. Winds are generally from the east. Their
movement is greatest during the winter and spring, and at Belle
Glade has averaged about 4,700 miles per year.
Rainfall
Rainfall in the Everglades region is extremely variable from
year to year, and from place to place in any year. On the aver-
age, the rainfall on the coast is several inches'more than around
Lake Okeechobee. The figures for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and
Hypoluxo in Table 3 average 58.10 inches per year, whereas those
for Canal Point, Okeechobee, and Moore Haven average 50.47
inches. Southeast of the lake, as represented by Belle Glade and
160 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
March or April with an application of a 4-7-5 or 4-8-8 mixture.
The latter is repeated in June or July and followed in October
with an application of either a 4-8-5, 4-8-8, or 3-8-8 formula.
The amount of fertilizer required is often roughly estimated at
about 1 pound of the mixture to each foot of the diameter of
tree spread. From 25 to 40 percent of the nitrogen in these mix-
tures is derived from organic sources, the phosphoric acid is
derived from superphosphate, and the potash from either muriate
or sulfate of potash or both.
It is the practice to fertilize papayas heavily and frequently,
and poultry manure and stable manure are used freely by some
growers. When mixtures are used the formulas are generally
4-7-5 or 4-8-5 applied every 30 days in amounts varying with
the size of the plant from 1 to 21/2 pounds per hill. This may
total 4 or 5 tons per acre per year on a bearing plantation.
Other tree fruits, are fertilized in various ways, depending
upon the opinion of individual growers, but in general they
receive at least 3 applications per year of 1 of the regular mix-
tures used on citrus or avocados.
Management of Sandy Land
Sandy soils occur on the ridge along the eastern coast and in
large areas in the northern, northeastern, and northwestern parts
of the Everglades region. There are 4 groups of sandy soils:
Wet sandy soils, gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy
soils, gray imperfectly drained sands that have hardpan subsoils,
and excessively drained, incoherent sands. The wet sandy soils
make up 1,158,036 acres, about 21/2 times the acreage of the
other 3 groups. Only 66,500 acres of the wet sandy soils (group
A3) and 1,857 acres of the dark gray imperfectly drained sandy
soils (group B1) are class II land.
Class II Sandy Land.-The wet, dark-colored sandy soils that
fall in class II are located chiefly in the coastal section north of
Fort Lauderdale. There are also some scattered areas east, north,
and west of Lake Okeechobee. The soil type is Delray fine sand.
Crops were grown at the time of the survey on 3,312 acres of it.
This land is well suited for growing tomatoes, peppers, beans,
eggplant, and other truck crops. It is also good for develop-
ment of improved pastures. Drainage is necessary. As on the
marls and peats, drainage should include pumping facilities for
raising the water table during dry weather as well as for lower-
ing it when the land is wet.
8 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
inch equals approximately 8 miles. Of the large-scale map, only
1 sheet is distributed with each copy of this bulletin, but per-
sons interested in any particular small area may obtain the sheet
covering that area by request to the Agricultural Experiment
Station at Gainesville. Full sets of the sheets have been placed
for reference in the principal libraries in the State.
History of the Everglades Drainage District
The Everglades Drainage District includes approximately 41/
million acres of land, most of the southeastern portion of the
Florida peninsula. Formerly the flood area of the Lake Okee-
chobee reservoir and its tributary Kissimmee-Caloosahatchee
drainage basin, this region now includes an important food-pro-
ducing section. The vast area of peat is the largest known body
of organic soils in the world.
Early Spanish, French, and English explorers and early col-
onists of Florida made little if any attempt to penetrate the in-
ner portion of this region, being content to settle along the sea
coast and make sporadic expeditions into the outer edge of the
Everglades. When Florida was acquired by the United States in
1821 the inner Everglades was a region of mystery to the white
man and remained so until United States troops entered it in the
Seminole Indian War of 1835-1842. This war focused attention
of people of the territory of Florida upon the Everglades region
and gave impetus to later plans for its development.
On September 28, 1850, Congress passed the "Swamp Lands
Act" granting inundated lands to the states of their location.
By this act the Everglades region passed from Federal into State
control. The following January the Florida legislature passed
an act to secure the lands thus granted to the State by Congress.
By Act of January 6, 1855, these lands and the unsold lands
granted to the State in 1845 were placed under control of a board
of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, who were re-
quired to use any funds obtained from sale of the lands for re-
claiming and improving them as provided for in the Congres-
sional Act of 1850.
Until 1879 the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund
and the executives of the various administrations adhered strict-
ly to the terms of the grant by Congress and the subsequent acts
of the State legislature providing for their administration, sale,
and improvement. After Governor Drew's veto of the first at-
tempted railroad land grant in 1879 the legislature forestalled
Q- --Om -1
01 1 N 4 O 0
8A -
40 S
-10
"" -- -
-70
0, N
HAWTHORN FORMATION UNDERLAIN BY TAMPA,
S-eO0 SUJWANIEE, OCALA, AND ASSOCIATED FORMATIONS
C 90
SCALE IN MILES
-110 *I s .. M
01 OQUATERNARY, LAE FLIRT MARL
Op "QUATERNARY, PAMLICO FORMATION
,QUATERNARY MIAMI OOLITE
Ok QUATERNARY, KEY LARGO LIMESTONE Y
P. *PLIOCENE, TAMIAMI FORMATION
MH MIOCENE. HAWTHORN FORMATION
"Fig. 9.-Geologic cross-section through the Everglades across Dade County along Tamiami Trail.
*Pig. 9.--Geologic cross-section through the Everglades across Dade County along Tamiami Trail.
156 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
and prevailing climatic conditions and are grown semi-commer-
cially or as home garden fruits. This group includes canistel,
yellow-sapote, white-sapote, sapodilla, carambola, loquat, tam-
arind, bignay, Mexican limes and several Annonas, among others.
Some of these are being studied intensively at the Sub-Tropical
Experiment Station because they show definite promise of be-
coming commercially important in the future.
Preparation of land for planting on the Miami rock ridge is
essentially the same for all crops. At the northern end of the
ridge sand often overlies the rock to a depth which permits plant-
ing without disturbing the rock. Farther south the oolite crops
out over the surface so that there is no tillable soil except in pot-
holes. Trees in the early groves were planted in deep sand or in
the potholes, and frequently without removing the stumps left
after logging off the pine forest. Later, straight rows were
obtained by digging shallow holes in the rock where the trees
were to be planted and filling in with surface soil; and still later,
dynamite was used to make the holes. The usual practice after
dynamiting was to remove the large fragments of rock and fill
the hole with a mixture of manure compost and surface soil.
The modern method is to clear and scarify the land with heavy
power machinery (Fig. 25). Dynamiting holes where the trees
SFig. 25.-Preparation of Rockdale rockland in the redland district
for planting trees. The tractor equipped with angle-dozer is clearing off
the scarified topsoil in preparation for plowing out ditches for tree rows.
(Photograph by Geo. D. Ruehle.)
Al.j
Ak^liBIH^
94 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
lands are drained and irrigated by pumping into and out of the
canal.
Bolles Canal.-This drain, of only moderate size, joins Hills-
boro Canal about 1 mile south of Cross Canal and extends west-
ward 20 miles to the Hendry County line. From its eastern
end to about 3 miles west of North New River Canal it passes
through an intensively developed area of truck farms.
Connection with Hillsboro Canal is through small, obstructed
culverts that pass only a small quantity of water. The connec-
tions with North New River and Miami Canals are open and
uncontrolled. Flow in Bolles Canal is mostly to North New River
Canal, from both east and west, but occasionally when the latter
is at high stage the flow is from it in either or both directions.
Overflow of the farms along both sides of Bolles Canal is pre-
vented by dikes built by the farm owners, who drain and irrigate
by pumping into and from the canal.
South New River Canal.-This canal at first connected Miami
Canal with South Branch of New River, but subsequently was
given direct connection with tidewater by construction of Dania
Cut-off. Nothing has been done, however, to obstruct flow
through this South Branch into South New River Canal from
North New River Canal, in which water usually is flowing at
higher elevation. The total length from Miami Canal to Intra-
coastal Waterway is approximately 281/2 miles. The eastern
portion drains an area considerably developed for citrus orchards
and dairying, but along the western. portion the land is
unimproved range.
The connection between Miami Canal and South New River
Canal is open, but flow through the latter is practically prevented
by an earth-fill dam a half-mile east of Road 25. Through this
dam is a small culvert with gate, but the culvert is set too high
to drain the lands west of the dam. Four miles farther east, at
Fifteen-Mile Dike, is another dam which has a stop-log spillway
that is operated to control flow eastward. Near Davie is a
lock-and-spillway structure of Everglades Drainage District
which, though in usable condition, is seldom operated except in
periods of drought. At the head of Dania Cut-off is a generating
plant of Florida Power and Light Company, which takes cooling
water from South Branch of New River. Except during high
flow from the Everglades this water is returned to South Branch
about one-third mile from North New River Canal. In Dania
84 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
county. It has authority to control water levels in fresh-water
streams and reservoirs, with funds provided by taxation. About
1,961 of its total 2,054 square miles lies within the Everglades
Drainage District, and it embraces approximately 482 square
miles in other drainage districts and subdistricts.
The boundaries of these various districts organized for water
control are shown on 1 of the accompanying maps and their
areas in Table 5.
Existing Water-Control Works
The major works constructed for control of water in the region
considered in this report are: (1) The levees built by the War
Department along the south, east, and north shores of Lake
Okeechobee; (2) the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Canals for
regulation of lake levels, now operated by the War Department;
and (3) the canals excavated by Everglades Drainage District to
remove excess water from the lands in the district. In addition
there are the tributary ditches, dikes, and pumping plants
installed by the sub-districts and overlapping independent dis-
tricts, as well as ditches, dikes, and pumping plants installed by
individual landowners.
The principal canals of Everglades Drainage District are the
West Palm Beach, the Hillsboro, the North New River, and the
Miami, connecting the east and south shores of Lake Okeechobee
with the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of West Palm Beach,
Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, respectively. Con-
necting the upper reaches of these 4 are Cross and Bolles Canals.
South New River Canal gives Miami Canal another connection
with the Atlantic, just below Fort Lauderdale. Across the full
width of the District in the latitude of Miami is Tamiami Canal.
Lesser drains of Everglades Drainage District are Cpyress
Creek, Snake Creek, and Snapper Creek Canals discharging into
Atlantic Ocean at Pompano and north and south of Miami, and
Indian Prairie Canal draining the northwest corner of the Dis-
trict into Lake Okeechobee. These canals are not adequately
performing the service expected of them, partly because ground
subsidence has decreased their capacities, partly because water
hyacinth (Fig. 21, p. 89) and other obstructions to flow have
not been removed, and, particularly concerning Miami, Hillsboro,
and West Palm Beach Canals, because they never were excavated
to the designed depths.
102 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
. Rainfall.-Data concerning normal and excessive precipitation
in the Everglades Region have been given. (See pp. 43 to 46.)
However, neither the normal nor the extreme amounts or rates of
rainfall determine the quantities for which water-control works
should provide. Ditches and pumps designed for the runoff from
only normal precipitation will be inadequate to prevent frequent
and severe losses, whereas works designed for the maximum
recorded runoff or storm will be more costly than would be justi.
fled by the additional protection obtained over what some lower
expenditure would provide. The rate and duration of the storm
or runoff .for which drainage works should be designed to be
economically effective depend upon the frequency with which
such storm occurs in the season that drainage is needed and the
length of time that crops will tolerate inadequate drainage.
The number of days on which rains of 2 inches or more have
been recorded at several stations in the Everglades region are
shown in Table 7, classified by amount of precipitation and by
month of occurrence. The table indicates that at the interior
stations of Moore Haven, Okeechobee, Canal Point, Belle Glade,
and Shawano more days of heavy rain occur in June and Septem-
ber than in any other months, while at the East Coast stations of
Hypoluxo and Fort Lauderdale there are more in October than
in any other month. The Miami record, however, shows the
largest numbers of storms in June and May. The average num-
ber of days having 2 inches or more of rain has been 3 to 4 per
year at the interior stations and 5 to 6 per year at the coast
stations. The data in the table are suggestive, but no formula
has yet been developed for calculating drainage requirements
from rainfall and other hydrologic data.
Design Rates Used.-The available physiographic and hydro-
logic data relating to the Everglades region do not furnish an
acceptable basis for computing the capacities of the drainage
works that will prove most economical. The Engineering Board
of Review (22) developed and used the formula:
Q = 69.1 + 9.6
VM
in which Q = runoff in cubic feet per second per square mile of
dainage area, and
M drainage area in square miles.
96 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
at Flamingo Road and discharge into the upper end of Biscayne
Bay near Fulford. The channel now is closed by a dam 1 mile
from the connection with South New River Canal, and another
dam about 6 miles below diverts flow from the channel above into
canals constructed by local agencies, which empty into Biscayne
Bay and Miami Canal. The lands tributary in Everglades Drain-
age District are mostly used for pasture or grazing; the highest
value of those nearer the coast is for urban and suburban
development.
Snapper Creek Canal heads in Tamiami Canal at the east line
of Range 39 and empties into Biscayne Bay about 5 miles south
of Coconut Grove. Occasional small farms border on the canal
above the coastal strip of residential development. The lower
end of the canal is narrow and choked with aquatic growth, and
apparently there is little flow through it.
Works of Sub-Drainage Districts and Comparable Enterprises.
-Table 5 (p. 82) shows that 13 of the subdistricts have installed
drainage pumping plants having a total rated capacity of
2,486,000 gallons per minute. As has been stated, many of these
plants also pump irrigation water in dry seasons.
In practically all areas utilization of the land for crops requires,
in addition to the district works, farm drains and pumping plants
that must be provided by the landowners at private expense.
There are no figures as to the extent of private drainage develop-
ment. Some of the land ownerships outside the subdistricts are
larger than many of those districts, and a few such have installed
pumping plants of 200,000 gallons per minute or greater capacity.
North, west, and south of Miami is a net-work of drainage
canals constructed by subdistricts or private developments, tribu-
tary to Biscayne Bay or to Miami and Tamiami Canals. Very
little of the land is farmed and the canals are of benefit to little
more than the urban sections near the Bay.
In the Homestead-Florida City area are a number of so-called
"ocean level" drainage canals which discharge into lower Bis-
cayne Bay. These aid in removing surface water but draw much
water from the oolite rock into which they cut, and in times
of low ground water they admit ocean water as far as Florida
City. In the lower portions, crops sometimes are injured by high
ground water. Much of the land between the ridge and the ocean
is too saline for crops. The intrusion of salt into the ground
water in eastern Dade County is threatening the permanent
24 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA.-(Continued.)
Approxi-
mate
Age Formation Character Thickness
in Feet
commonly filled with white quartz
sand. One of most highly per-
meable formations ever investi-
gated by the U. S. Geological
Pliocene Survey.
Caloosa- Light to dark colored sand, silty, 30-50
hatchee and clayey marine shell marl with
marl beds of shell, sand, or clay occur-
ring locally. Permeability gener-
ally very low.
Hawthorn Green sand, sandy marl, silt marl, 400-500
formation clay marl, shell marl, and lime-
stone. Green coloring character-
izes these marine sediments.
Permeability generally very low.
Miocene Carries limited amounts of poor
quality artesian water under low
pressure head.
Tampa White to gray marine limestone, 250-350
limestone calcareous marl, and thin beds of
sand and shell. Water is carried
in the limestone and shell beds but
not in the marl. Yields highly
mineralized artesian water.
Suwannee White marine limestone and minor 200-300
Oligocene quantities of reported "green
shale." Yields highly mineralized
artesian water.
Ocala White to tan marine limestone, 200-300
Eocene limestone highly foraminiferal. Cherty in
(Jackson upper portion. Very highly per-
group) meable but water is highly min-
Seralized.
Eocene and Undifferentiated calcareous, gypsi- 12,000
Cretaceous ferous, anhydritic and halitic
materials.
portance lies in the fact that it acts as a seal to the artesian
aquifers below, and prevents water of the overlying formations
from penetrating through to the artesian formations.
Overlying the Hawthorn are younger formations ranging in
age from Pliocene through Recent. These younger formations
generally carry water under unconfined conditiofis-that is, with
a free upper surface, the water table-and are usually recharged
locally in contra-distinction to the artesian aquifers which are
generally recharged in their outcrop area far removed from the
Everglades.
In this report the main concern is with those geologic forma-
tions (mappable rock units) that lie at or near the surface of
52 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
tions were determined in 1940-42. The map is believed, how-
ever, to show fairly the general topography of the area and to
serve reliably for planning water-control and water-conserva-
tion measures in the region.
Approximate contours on the surface of the rock underlying
the organic soils are shown in Figure 15. The data obtained
show the rock surface to be very uneven, but are not in sufficient
amount to warrant an attempt to map more than the general
configuration, as shown. The information has been used in
estimating the amounts of rock excavation required for the
water-control works recommended in a later chapter. A pros-
pective farmer doubtless can use the map of physical land con-
ditions more satisfactorily in getting information as to soil depth
on tracts in which he may be interested.
Special Transportation Used
Because there were few roads suitable for commercial types of
motor vehicles, special means had to be used to transport the sur-
vey crews and their equipment over the greater portion of the
area surveyed. About 15 miles of line were run by walking,
where no other means of travel was possible, but the continuous
wading knee deep or deeper through the soft peat and cutting
through the dense growth of sawgrass was very exhausting,
and the lack of drinking water added to the hardship.
In the area.of organic soils, field parties of the topographic
survey and the soil-conservation survey traveled together for
most economical use of the special transportation equipment.
Elsewhere, for the most part, better progress was obtained by
parties working independently.
On the coastal ridge and the northern sand prairies, ordinary
pick-up trucks served to transport men and equipment, frequently
with oversize tires for better traction on loose ground. "Con-
verted" pick-up trucks were used in the southern and western
parts of the Region, where the sandy lands are interspersed with
sloughs, hammocks, rock outcrops, and wide stretches of saw-
palmetto. These vehicles were ordinary 1/2-ton trucks with a
wide platform body, a heavy-duty rear end, a second transmis-
sion added in series with the first, and additional tires to give
extra bearing and traction.
On the sawgrass plains, where the most serious obstacles were
scattered clumps of myrtle and occasional "'gator holes," the
40 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
old tidal runways are especially noticeable between Fort Lauder-
dale and Miami. Shallower tidal channels are found elsewhere
on the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. Of considerable present-day
economic value are those between South Miami and Homestead,
floored with gray marl soils (of Recent age), used principally for
winter truck farming.
Wisconsin Glacial Stage.-Wisconsin time may be sub-divided
into an early glacial sub-stage, the Iowan; a mid-Wisconsin in-
terglacial sub-stage; and a late Wisconsin unnamed glacial sub-
stage.
During the Iowan glacial sub-stage the sea fell below its pres-
ent level, and once again southern Florida became a land area.
The Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression gradually became
an immense fresh-water marsh and lake area in which local sandy
carbonaceous deposits were laid down. Discharge from the Lake
Okeechobee-Everglades depression was mainly through the old
tidal channels between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and in some
instances these channels were cut entirely through the oolite into
the underlying Tamiami formation. Conditions were favorable
for solvent activity in the limestone, and a network of solution
holes in the oolite began to develop. Further solution develop-
ment in the calcareous rocks of the Tamiami formation helped
make it more and more highly permeable as the horizontal pas-
sages to the lowered sea level became enlarged. Dune building
probably occurred along the Atlantic Coastal Ridge; also along
the southwest Gulf coast where the Ten Thousand Islands now
are found.
At the close of the Iowan, the sea level began to rise again
as the early Wisconsin glaciers melted back, and slowly rose to
25 feet above the present level. The principal topographic effects
of this change in sea level were the development of a marine ter-
race with its inner margin at the 25-foot shore-line, and the
mantling of the older rocks bordering the Everglades as far
south as the latitude of Coral Gables with quartz sand of the
Pamlico formation. The Devil's Garden and northern Big
Cypress Swamp area became sand-mantled at this time, and the
old tidal inlets through the Atlantic Coastal Ridge were choked
with sand; solution holes and caverns were sand-filled; a strip of
sand was built into a smooth floor between the deeper parts of
the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression and the Atlantic
Coastal Ridge; and above the shoreline, beach-ridges and dunes
were built in many places.
108 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
lishment of conservation areas in certain large sections of non-
agricultural lands to conserve water, maintain wildlife habitats,
and reduce fire hazards in undeveloped organic soils. Measures
for combating salt intrusion along the lower east coast are con-
sidered. The requirements for water control in the marl and
rockland soils of the Homestead area are yet to be determined
by research now in progress.
Under the plan presented herein, about 220 square miles would
be drained into Lake Okeechobee through West Palm Beach,
Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals during periods of
heavy or prolonged runoff. This would be accomplished by con-
trol structures in these and in Cross and Bolles Canals, with which
the direction and quantity of flow of drainage and of irrigation
water could be regulated. Pumping plants are planned at the
lake ends of Hillsboro and North New River Canals. The other
agricultural lands along the present canals would be given outlet
through them to the ocean. New canals are proposed for areas
that would be served more economically by them than by existing
works. The districts and tracts now drained into the lake would
not be affected by the works proposed. The boundaries of the
areas to be drained to the lake and to the ocean by each canal
and the locations of new or enlarged construction are shown on
the map of water-control measures recommended. More detailed
descriptions of the plans for particular sections of the region are
given herewith; estimates of the work involved and the cost
follow.
Water-Conservation Areas.-The establishment of 3 water-
conservation areas is recommended on lands classified as non-
agricultural and now largely in public ownership. These have
been designated as: (1) Palm Beach County area, in Hillsboro
Marsh west of State Road No. 7 between West Palm Beach and
Hillsboro Canals; (2) Broward County area, north and east of
North New River Canal in the vicinity of Twenty-Mile Bend and
Twenty-Six-Mile Bend; (3) Dade-Broward Counties area, extend-
ing north from Tamiami Canal and east from near the Collier
County line to beyond South New River and Miami Canals.
Development of the first of these as a wildlife habitat and
recreation area has been proposed. Retention of water on that
and on the Broward County area at times of extended precipita-
tion has been planned herein, to relieve the lower reaches of
Hillsboro and North New River Canals in times of stress for
56 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
its depth, and the kind and depth of underlying material; and
in the sandy soils and marls, the texture of surface soil, amount
of organic matter, apparent permeability, and thickness of each
soil layer. The surface slope of the mineral soils was mapped
wherever it was found to be enough to affect the use or manage-
ment of the land. The surveyors also showed the land used for
farm crops and groves, and the cover of the undeveloped land
and of the pastures.
The survey of the land was accompanied, as has been stated,
by studies of the underlying rocks, the ground-water relation-
ships, and the altitude and slope of the land surface. The facts
obtained about the soil and these other features permit a fairly
exact determination of the land that is suitable for farming and
of that best suited for other uses.
Map of Physical Land Conditions
The map of physical land conditions (in 38 sheets made to
accompany this bulletin) shows soil types, depth of the organic
soils and marls, slope of the sandy soils and rocklands, and the
land use or cover, by means of brown symbols and boundary lines.
The first part of each 3-part symbol is a number which desig-
nates the soil type. Numbers up to 63 designate peat or muck
Fig. 18.-A 'glades buggy, designed for transport in the
hammock-and-glades area.
138 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
soils, allowance should be made for the subsidence that will
occur.
The main laterals are usually spaced a half mile apart, on sec-
tion and half-section lines. Farm ditches are at right angles to
the laterals, spaced from 660 to. 1,320 feet apart. The closest
spacing is needed for truck crops. In this way the farm usually
is divided into fields of 40 or 80 acres and drainage units of 20
or 40 acres. Mole drains-spaced 12 to 15 feet apart and located
30 inches below the surface are valuable in the organic soils
for increasing drainage into the ditches.
Ditch banks should have a 1/2 to 1 side slope in the organic
soils and a somewhat flatter slope in the mineral soils. The
total runoff which the ditches can carry should about equal the
capacity of the pumps. Where the land is practically level 3
inches fall per mile is commonly used in calculating the ditch
size. When water is to be drawn more than 2 or 3 miles to
pumps, it may be well to design the ditches for a lesser slope.
The pumps should be of design suited to the head to be pumped
against, and in draining peat soils consideration should be given
to probable future subsidence.
Ditches must be cleaned regularly, as the warm climate
encourages rapid growth of hyacinths and other plants in the
ditches and Para grass along the banks; and also because a soft,
soupy sludge collects rapidly in the ditch bottoms. Ditch banks
should be leveled and sodded to prevent the growth of weeds and
Para grass, and aquatic growths and sludge deposits should be
removed periodically.
Dikes must be built around areas where the runoff from
adjacent lands is liable to prove a menace. The material for
these dikes usually should be taken from outside the area being
protected, that pressure of water outside may be less likely to
cause the embankment to slip into the borrow pit. For like
reason, drainage ditches ordinarily should be located at a distance
from dikes. A dike with a settled height of 3 to 4 feet, a bottom
width of 12 to 15 feet, and with 1 to 1 side slopes will usually be
ample. Before the dike is constructed it is desirable to dig and
back-fill a puddled trench about the width of a dragline bucket
and 4 to 5 feet deep beneath the dike to assure a bond between
materials and also retard seepage, especially where shrinkage
cracks are prevalent in peats. Sodding the peat dikes will often
reduce maintenance costs by retarding cracking and subsidence,
by preventing the loss of soil by wind erosion, and by preventing
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 77
the surface, which permits irrigation by pumping from shallow
wells. On the higher-lying Rockdale rock land there are thin,
patchy deposits of fine sand mixed in some places with reddish
clay. These deposits may be on the surface or in the cavities.
They hold enough moisture and plant nutrients to permit the
growth of forest cover, or of planted orchards of avocado, citrus,
or other fruits. Before trees are set out the land must be scarified
or holes must be blasted in which to set them. Tomatoes are
grown successfully on a few areas that have been suitably pre-
pared. Because these forms of limited cultivation are entirely
feasible, these rock lands are in land-capability class IV. Rock-
dale rock land is suitable for this kind of cultivation because it
contains the thin deposits of sandy or mixed clay material 'and
the water table is usually a few feet below the ground surface.
The Rockdale fine sand-limestone complex occupies 71,070 acres,
and the fine sandy loam-limestone complex occupies 93,342 acres.
Miscellaneous Lands.-The miscellaneous lands not suitable for
any cultivation make up 353,964 acres. Alluvial soils undiffer-
entiated are wet, swampy lands along the streams in the north-
western part of the district. Coastal beach is mostly sand
deposits. Made land has been filled in, and is mostly former
swamp or lagoons. Mines, pits, and dumps is the general desig-
nation given to old quarries and other places that have been
excavated. Swamps are mapped in the fresh-water areas, and
mangrove swamps occur along the coast just above salt water.
The low-lying rock land is different from the Rockdale rock land
previously described. It is low, wet, and not suitable for any
cultivation. All the land types in this group are class VIII land.
Water Conditions in the Everglades Region
Sources and Quality of Water
The water in the Everglades region comes mostly from pre-
cipitation within the region, which averages about 54 inches
per year (see Table 3), and that upon Lake Okeechobee drainage
basin (Fig. 3) which averages about 51 inches. The quantity of
flow into the region through sub-surface aquifers is negligible
so far as it will affect the general plan of water control. How-
ever, in the lower Everglades, and in some places even in the
upper 'Glades, ditches or wells penetrating the underlying rock
may release sufficient flow to increase materially the amount of
pumping required for drainage.
126 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Miami Canal for 2 miles southward from the Bolles is planned
to be a part of Canal C when that drain is constructed, and the
proposed improvement there is included in the estimates for
Canal C. The long central portion of the Miami Canal, for 50
miles north of its intersection with Krome Avenue Extension, is
not used in the water-control plan suggested for the upper Ever-
glades. Below Krome Avenue Extension, Miami Canal has suffi-
cient capacity to its outlet to drain the area tributary to it, pro-'
vided the channel is kept clear of debris and vegetal growth.
The cost of the improvements proposed for Miami Canal is
estimated as follows:
Excavation and levees, Lake Okeechobee to Bolles Canal-
360,000 cu. yds. of. rock @ $0.75 ................ ................. .. $270,000
300,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ..---.....-----..... ..... .............. 30,000
Control at Bolles Canal ......... ..................-.... -....... 40,000
$340,000
Incidentals ...... --......... ......... ...-- ----- .-- 35,000
$375,000
Cross Canal.-Cross Canal provides a drainage outlet for the
area along its course and furnishes a means of delivering irriga-
tion water in either direction between West Palm Beacl Canal
and Hillsboro Canal. The old dam near West Palm Beach Canal
would be removed. High-water flow both for drainage and for
irrigation has been computed as elevation 14.5 at each end. The
proposed control at about the west line of Section 3, Township
44, Range 38, will permit regulation of the flow in either direction.
A rock levee suitable for a secondary road (12-foot top width)
should be constructed along the north, side of the canal, with a
top elevation of 20.0 from Hillsboro Canal to the control, and
with a uniform grade from the control to 18.5 at West Palm
Beach Canal. The embankment of Road 80 will serve as a levee
along the south side of the canal.
The estimated cost of the proposed improvements is as follows:
Levee embankment (to be excavated from canal)--
220,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .-... ..........- .... -... ... ... ...$175,000
150,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .................... .. ... ............. 15,000
Control structure ........................... ..... ....- .... .. 20,000
$200,000
Incidentals ....... ---..............-.. --... .. ........ .... --- ........ 20,000
$220,000
10 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
the Everglades and of the other lands in the Internal Improve-
ment Fund. The numerous grants were so conflicting that by
1901 various railroad companies demanded hearings to settle
questions of priority of title under the acts. A sale by the
Trustees of 100,000 acres claimed by the companies resulted in
a suit to recover the land or the proceeds of the sale. After an
investigation of the whole history of the Internal Improvement
Fund, the Trustees published the disposition and status of all
lands granted to Florida under the Act of 1850. The Trustees
further asserted their superior title to the lands in the Fund, and
declared they would defend the title for the purpose of per-
forming the trust of drainage and reclamation. Litigation fol-
lowed, beginning in 1902. A test case resulted in an order, issued
May 2, 1907, expressly authorizing and empowering the Trustees
to sell or otherwise dispose of said lands for the purpose of using
the proceeds for drainage and reclamation.
The present drainage program in the Everglades may be said
to have begun during the administration of Governor Jennings
(1901-1905). Not only had the Trustees of the Internal Im-
provement Fund determined to issue no further deeds by virtue
of legislative land grants, but surveys were undertaken to de-
termine the feasibility of reclaiming the Everglades. "Data were
compiled on topography, rainfall, watershed, and the character
and fertility of the soils. In 1903 a patent was issued by the
General Land Office to the State of Florida for the lands granted
by the Act of Congress in 1850, and the Commissioner of Agricul-
ture prepared a map of the Everglades region by extending the
lines of previous surveys on the east and west. This map was
adopted as official by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement
Fund in January, 1905.
To provide funds for the Everglades drainage project, addi-
tional to those obtained from sale of the lands, the Legislature
in May, 1905, created a Board of Drainage Commissioners auth-
orized to establish drainage districts and levy on the lands there
in drainage taxes not exceeding 10 cents per acre per year. This
act was declared unconstitutional by the United States Court,
but one approved in May 1907 defining the Everglades Drainage
District and levying a tax of 5 cents per acre per year was
sustained.
Litigation following the enactment of the 1905 drainage law
emphasized the State's lack of sufficient technical information
for determining the feasibility and practicability of draining the
32 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
prominently developed, it forms the backbone of the Atlantic
Coastal Ridge, and is a fair to excellent aquifer, depending upon
the lithologic composition.
Miami Oolite.-The Atlantic Coastal Ridge south of Boca
Raton is composed of Miami oolite to an average depth of about
20 feet. The oolite overlies the Tamiami formation; it under-
lies the Bay of Florida and forms the land surface in the lower
Florida Keys, Big Pine Key to and including Key West.
The formation is highly permeable in a vertical direction due
to the tremendous development of vertical solution holes, or
"chimneys" as locally they are often called. (See Figure 11.)
In a horizontal direction the permeability is greatly reduced, but
even so the formation transmits large quantities of water.
Fort Thompson Formation.-Occupying the Lake Okeechobee-
Everglades depression is the Fort Thompson formation, a series
of alternating beds of limestone, shells, sand, and marl of marine,
brackish, and fresh-water origin. (See Figure 12.) The marine
beds represent times when the area was flooded by the sea; the
Fig. 12.-Typical exposure of the Fort Thompson formation at the type
locality on Caloosahatchee River 1%3 miles east of LaBelle, Florida. The
hard, dense, fresh-water limestone layers stand out as ledges due to removal
by solution and erosion of the soft marl and shell beds between. (Photo by
Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.)
-^^^^^^jaf~j^8
TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued)
Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native Land-Capa-
Soil Material Over IThrough Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class
SurfaceI Soil Soil
Acres Percent pH Percent
50 Everglades peaty Black, finely Brown, fibrous Limestone Poor Fair 6.0-6.5 85-90 Sawgrass III-Al.
ihuck 34,990 .7 fibrous, well elty peat. Depth
51 Everglades peaty decomposed or- classes 1
muck over shallow Inic material, and 2 of soil
sand 7,717 .2 mewhat 50 are class
53 Everglades peaty mucky, IV-A1.
muck over deep 6-18 inches.
sand 2,195 *
60 Gandy peat 7,301 .2 Reddish brown Limestone Fair Fair Bay, V--A1.
61 Gandy peat over fibrous woody myrtle,
sand or marl 11,964 .2 peat, some- ferns.
what granu-
lar when dry,
36-96 in.
62 Brighton peat 22,681 .5 Brown, fibrous Light brown, Sandy or Poor Fair 4.0-5.0 85-95 Sawgrass III-A1.
felty peat, fibrous sand clay
24-96 in. felty peat.
63 Istokpoga peat 292 Light brown or Fine sand Very Very 4.0 or White and V-A1.
brown fibrous poor poor less red bay,
woody peat, few cypress,
3-17 feet. and under-
Cultivated areas growth of
are dark brown. briars.
Total, group Al 1,922,539 40.8
A2. Wet marls and cal- Gray or dark Gray or light Plastic, com- Poor Poor 7.0-8.5 10-15 Sawgrass IV-A2.
careous sandy soils gray heavy silt gray heavy pact light
70 Flamingo marl 2,187 loam or silty silty clay loam, gray or
clay loam marl, 5 in.; very greenish
7 inches. compact and marl over
plastic, 20 in. limestone
"*Less than 0.05 percent.
92 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
and south bank of North New River Canal from South Bay to
Fort Lauderdale gives protection from canal overflow to all lands
on that side, except as permitted or induced through controlled
openings. Along the east and north side of the canal from
the county line to the control structure at Davie is a continuous
levee, through which are the controlled openings at Twenty-Six-
Mile Bend (mentioned above) and 1 without control at Holloway
Canal on range line 40/41. The cultivated lands on the east
side of the upper reach are protected from canal overflow by
dikes built by individual farm owners.
Bolles Canal crosses North New River Canal at Okeelanta, 6
miles south of the lake, and brings water from both east and
west. South Branch of New River connects South New River
Canal with North New River Canal below the control structure
in the latter at Davie. The cultivated lands along the upper
reaches of North New River Canal are both drained and irrigated
by pumping into and out of the canal, as are the cultivated lands
on the north side of the canal at the coastal ridge. The farms
south of the lower reaches of this canal pump from it for irriga-
tion but obtain drainage southward by gravity into South New
River Canal.
In periods of considerable rainfall when Lake Okeechobee is at
low stage, runoff pumped from the tributary lands and flow from
Bolles Canal fill the upper reaches of North New River Canal so
full that there is flow toward the lake as well as southward
toward the ocean. In the 7-year period 1940 to 1946 there was
such northward flow at South Bay for 4 percent of the time,
ranging from none to 46 days per year. Whether part of this
passes down Hillsboro Canal instead of into the lake depends upon
the stage of the former. (See p. 89.)
Miami Canal.-This westernmost of the large canals for drain-
ing the Everglades extends southward from Lake Harbor and
then southeastward to discharge into the canalized channel of
Miami River approximately 85 miles from the hurricane gate
and about 5 miles from Biscayne Bay. Except for the belt of
lands in sugarcane along Lake Okeechobee and some pasture
lands south of the Broward-Dade County line the area traversed
by this canal is undeveloped peat soil of which the greater part
is too shallow for economic agricultural development. Miami
Canal intersects Bolles Canal 71/2 miles from the hurricane gate
and connects with South New River Canal about 10 miles by
channel north of the Broward-Dade County line.
122 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
bank should be formed by placing the material excavated from
the canal in a continuous embankment, with the top at a uniform
elevation of 23.0. This material and that excavated in digging
the lower 4 miles of Allapattah Canal will be sufficient to make
a highway from West Palm Beach Canal to the Everglades Drain-
age District boundary. Openings through the levee, required
for drainage of lands to the east, should be protected by struc-
tures that will keep canal flood waters from overflowing upon
those lands and will prevent erosion of the canal bank and
channel.
The control at the south end of this canal should have capacity
to admit 600 c.f.s. at flow-line elevation 16.0 and be able to
maintain a water elevation of 17.5 in the canal. The control at
the north end should have capacity to handle a flow of 1,200 c.f.s.
at elevation 14.5 and be able to maintain an elevation of 15.0
in the canal during periods of low flow.
The estimated costs are as follows:
SCanal excavation-
1,800,000 cu. yds. of unclassified materials @ $0.20 ................$360,000
2 controls @ $20,000 each ........................ ... ................ 40,000
$400,000
Incidentals ............... .... .. .. ...... .. ........ ......... 40,000
$440,000
Sand Cut Canals.-Upper Sand Cut Canal is planned to pro-
vide drainage and irrigation to 22 square miles of land with ele-
vations ranging from 17 to 20 feet, and Lower Sand Cut Canal
to 10 square miles lying between the 14- and 17-foot contours.
Upper Sand Cut Canal is to have its outlet in the existing quin-
tuple culvert in the Lake Okeechobee levee located in Section 11,
Township 41 S., Range 37 E. From there it extends east for 2
miles; thence southeasterly throughout the length of the area
to the southwest corner of Section 35, Township 41 S, Range
38 E.; thence east 1 mile. It is designed to discharge a run-off
of 535 c.f.s. with a hydraulic slope, produced by pumping, of
elevation 15.5 at the pumping plant and 17.5 at the southeast
corner of Section 35.
The estimated cost of the canal is as follows:
Canal excavation-
80,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .......... ............. ....$- 60,000
400,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ...................................---- 40,000
166 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Drainage district officials, county and city officials, transportation com-
panies, and many private corporations and individuals supplied physical
data, particularly survey data of certain portions, and other information
important for understanding the water and agricultural problems of the
region.
Bibliography
For those who care to pursue further the subjects of structure, strati-
graphy, and ground water of the Everglades region, the following selected
bibliography will be of interest. Most of these references are cited also
in the text.
1. BALDWIN, MARK, and H. W. HAWKER. Soil survey of the Fort Lauder-
dale area, Florida. Field Operations of the Bur. of Soils, 1915.
U. S. D. A. 1919.
2. BROWN, RUSSELL H. Water levels and artesian pressure in south-
eastern Florida, 1942. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 945,
pp. 10-48. 1944.
3. BROWN, RUSSELL H., and GARALD G. PARKER. Salt water encroach-
ment in limestone at Silver Bluff, Miami, Florida. Econ. Geol.
40:(4) : 235-262. 1945.
4. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Personal communication. October 17, 1944.
5. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Outline of the geologic history of peninsular
Florida. Fla. Acad. Sci. Proc. 4: 87-105. 1939.
6. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Deep test well in the Everglades. Bul. Am.
Asso. Petrol Geol. 23:(11): 1713-1714. 1939.
7. CLAYTON, B. S., J. R. NELLER, and R. V. ALLISON. Water control in
the peat and muck soils of the Florida Everglades. Fla. Agr. Exp.
Sta. Bul. 378. 1942.
8. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Tentative ages of Pleistocene shore lines. Wash.
Acad. Sci. Jour. 25: 331-333. 1935.
9. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Geology of Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. 20th Ann.
Rept., Fig. 12. 1939.
10. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Scenery of Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. Bul. 17. 1939.
11. COOKE, C. WYTHE, and STUART MOSSOM. Geology of Florida. Fla.
Geol. Surv. 20th Ann. Rept. 1929.
12. CROSS, W. P. Water levels and artesian pressure in southeastern
Florida, 1940. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 907, pp.
26-34. 1942.
13. CROSS, W. P. Water levels and artesian pressure in Florida, 1941.
U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 937, pp. 19-27. 1943.
14. CROSS, W. P., and S. K. LOVE. Ground water in southeastern Florida.
Am. Water Wks. Assn. Jour. 34: (4) : 490-504. 1942.
15. CRoss, W. P., and H. H. COOPER, JR. Water levels and artesian pres-
sure in Florida, 1939. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 886,
pp. 64-68. 1940.
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 159
desirable to apply 500 to 1,000 pounds per acre of superphos-
phate to the land to establish quickly a cover crop or a stand of
weeds. Vegetable crops on new land also respond to high phos-
phate fertilization. Fifield and Wolfe (19) in 1937, on the basis
of experiments made at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station,
recommended that the equivalent of a formula analyzing 4 per-
cent nitrogen, 14 percent phosphoric acid, 5 or 6 percent potash,
and containing 150 pounds of manganese sulfate per ton, be
applied to tomatoes on newly cropped land.
As a general practice a formula analyzing 4 or 5 percent nitro-
gen, 7 to 9 percent phosphoric acid, and 3 to 5 percent potash is
used for growing young trees during the first 2 or 3 years after
planting. The mixture is applied every 30 to 60 days during the
first year and every 60 days during the second and third years.
Usually 40 to 50 percent of the nitrogen in this formula is derived
from organic sources. As the trees come into bearing the prac-
tice varies somewhat with the different types of fruit. Bearing
avocado trees require larger amounts of fertilizer than citrus
fruits, especially more nitrogen, and it is important that a con-
tinuous supply of this element be furnished. Wolfe and Lynch
(41) in 1940 reported increased production from applying 1 to 3
pounds of sulfate of ammonia or nitrate of soda-potash per tree
3 times a year at points halfway between the regular applications
of a 4-5-5 formula in which half the nitrogen was derived from
natural organic sources. The amount of the regular mixture
usually included per application approximated twice as many
pounds per tree as the age of the tree in years.
Bearing lime trees usually are fertilized every 60 days with
4-7-5 or 4-8-8 formulas for a total of 6 applications during the
year, the amount per application varying with the size of the
trees. An 8-year-old tree usually receives about 10 pounds at
each application. Some growers start in late winter with an
application of a readily soluble top-dressing such as an 8-0-8 or
15-0-14 fertilizer and follow it in 30 days with the regular mix-
ture, which is repeated every 60 days until 5 applications of low-
analysis fertilizer are made. Another variation in practice is to
alternate the regular mixture with applications of readily soluble
forms of nitrogen such as ammonium sulfate for a total of 6
fertilizer applications per year.
Bearing grapefruit and orange trees in well-kept groves usually
receive in January from 1 to 3 pounds of ammonium sulfate or
a soluble top-dressing (8-0-8 or 15-0-14), which is followed in
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 127
Bolles Canal.-The proposed controls in Bolles Canal are to be
at about the west line of section 28, Township 44, Range 37, and
the west line of Section 32, Township 44, Range 36. They would
be arranged to permit flow of water in either direction, as desired,
and to divert water.for irrigation southward into the new Canals
A and B. The old culvert at Hillsboro Canal would be removed.
Bolles Canal should be deepened to a uniform bottom elevation
of 2.6 from Hillsboro Canal to Miami Canal, and widened suffi-
ciently to provide the required capacity. Maximum water ele-
vations are computed as 16.5 at Miami Canal and 16.8 at the west
control. Between the west control and the east control, maximum
water elevations for drainage are computed as 13.0 at the con-
trols and 12.0 at North New River Canal Between the east con-
trol and Hillsboro Canal the computed maximum elevations are
15.5 at the control and 15.0 at Hillsboro Canal.
The excavation required in the canal will be sufficient to build
a levee on each side, with top elevations of 19.0 from Hillsboro
Canal to the west control and 21.0 from there to Miami Canal.
West of Miami Canal, the Bolles is to be enlarged and deepened
to the southwest corner of Section 31, Township 44, Range 35,
where it now ends, and extended about 51/4 miles as shown on
the water-control map to the northwest corner of section 22,
Range 44, Township 34. Maximum water elevations are com-
puted as 16.5 at Miami Canal and 17.8 at the end of the ditch as
extended. A levee of 12-foot top width should be constructed on
each side of the ditch, to elevation 21.0 at Miami Canal and 21.8
at the upper end.
The cost of the work recommended is estimated as follows:
East of Miami Canal
Excavation-
625,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 -............... .............-- $468,750
325,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ......... ......--.... 32,500
Control (2 @ $40,000 each) ........- ......................... 80,000
$581,250
West of Miami Canal
Canal excavation-
235,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................-- ........--$176,250
425,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............. ........ 42,500
218,750 218,750
$800,000
Incidentals .............. ............. ... ......... 80,000
Total .................... ....................-....$880,000
162 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
the best of the excessively drained loose, incoherent sands in
group C1.
The wet sandy soils that fall in class III are gray or dark gray
in color. Some of them contain enough organic matter to be
called mucky fine sands. The soils are Charlotte fine sand, Davie
mucky fine sand, and Pompano fine sand, of which the last is by
far the most extensive. They lie for the most part at elevations
intermediate between the organic soils and the better drained
sandy soils.
Water control is essential on this land, for drainage before
any crop can be grown and for maintaining the water table for
irrigation during dry periods. Overdrainage is serious, however,
and check dams should be built to prevent excessive drainage
and permit irrigation. Where water of good quality is available
the soils will produce good crops of peppers, eggplant, beans,
tomatoes, and other truck crops.
Crop residues, weeds, and green-manure crops should be turned
under or disked into the soil, to add to the organic matter.
Complete fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potas-
sium are needed for maximum production, and the minor ele-
ments also need to be supplied. Beans and eggplant ordinarily
are fertilized heavily with as much as 1,500 pounds of a com-
plete fertilizer such as 5-7-5. Peppers receive heavier applica-
tions plus a side-dressing of organic nitrogen, if it is available,
or of nitrate of soda. New pastures should have 20 to 30 pounds
per acre of copper sulfate before any fertilizer is applied, then
200 to 300 pounds of 5-8-8 or similar fertilizer each year.
Citrus crops on these soils need a complete fertilizer and
special attention to correction of deficiencies of phosphorus as
well as of copper and the other minor elements. The mucky fine
sands west of Fort Lauderdale are used to a large extent for
citrus and for improved pasture.
The gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils that
contain enough clay to give the subsoil some water-holding
capacity are in soil group B1. All of them except La Belle fine
sandy loam are in land-capability class III. The soils are Brow-
ard fine sand, Felda loamy fine sand, Palmdale fine sand and
loamy fine sand, and Sunniland loamy fine sand. Crops were
grown on 6 percent of these soils at the time of the survey.
These soils hold water better than the loose sands but should
have irrigation during dry periods for successful production of
citrus and also of truck crops. Some drainage also is required
46 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Shawano, the average has been 55.58 inches. Measurements in
the interior of the Glades are not available.
The heaviest rainfall within 24 hours in the Everglades region
probably was 21.92 inches occurring at the United States Cane
Breeding Station at Canal Point on November 6 and 7, 1932.
Nearly all of this fell in 8 hours, between 11 p. m. and 7 a. m.
The rainfall at Belle Glade in this storm was 10.90 inches. Un-
usual rains at Miami include 6.10 inches in 175 minutes in 1909
and 7.48 inches in 155 minutes in 1926.
The five months of June to October ordinarily make up the
rainy season, and furnish two-thirds of the yearly rainfall. (See
Table 3.) The months of heaviest precipitation are June and
September at most of the inland -stations, and October on the
East Coast. Damaging floods may occur during wet periods
when crops are in the ground, because it is not economical to
provide ditches and canals large enough to handle the extreme
run-off from the occasional heavy rains. The relatively dry
months of November to May include most of the season in which
truck crops are produced. During the winter and spring, periods
of drought lasting 2 or 3 months are not uncommon; at Belle
Glade only 1 inch of rain fell in the 4 months of December 1938
to March 1939, inclusive. Consequently, irrigation is necessary
for growing most crops.
Vegetation7
Each of the 6 natural subdivisions shown in Figure 2 has a
distinctive native vegetation.
The sawgrass plains include all the territory bounded by the
Miami Canal, West Palm Beach Canal, and the coastal ridge ex-
cept the Hillsboro Marsh section of ridge-and-slough land. The
dominant native vegetation is sawgrass, a sedge which attains
The scientific names of most of the plants mentioned in this chapter
are listed herewith. They are not intended to be a complete catalog of the
vegetation. For a thorough discussion of vegetation in southern Florida,
including the Everglades, see: Davis, John H., The Natural Features of
Southern Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv., Geol. Bul. 25. 1943.
Trees and Shrubs.-Red bay, Persea borbonia (L.) Pax.; sweet bay,
Magnolia virginiana (L.); custard apple, Annona glabra (L.); cypress,
Taxodium distichum (L.) L. C. Rich; southern elderberry, Sambucus simp-
sonii Rehder; strangler fig, Ficus aurea (Nutt.); gallberry, Ilex glabra
(L.) A. Gray; gumbo limbo, Bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg.; dahoon holly,
Ilex cassine (L.); black mangrove, Avicennic nitida (Jacq.); red mangrove,
Rhizophora mangle (L.); white mangrove (buttonwood), Laguncularia
racemosa Gaertn f.; wax myrtle, Myrica cerifera (L.); live oak, Quercus
virginiana (Mill.); scrub oak, several Quercus spp.; cabbage palm, Sabal
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 163
to remove excess water during wet weather. Irrigation is
accomplished by regulating the water in the farm ditches.
Establishment of water-control systems depends on suitable
outlets for drainage and on a source of water suitable for
irrigation.
Productivity can be maintained only if the soils receive fre-
quent green-manure crops and crop residues and preferably
applications of manure to help maintain the organic matter.
They also require complete fertilizers and additions of the minor
elements. If these practices are followed and water is con-
trolled they can be used successfully for citrus, truck crops, and
pastures. Citrus fruits can be grown by applying a complete fer-
tilizer 4 to 6 times per year at the rate of 1 or 2 pounds for each
foot in diameter of the crown of the tree. Truck crops should
be fertilized with a complete fertilizer in 3 to 4 applications.
This may need to be supplemented by additional side-dressings
of nitrogen. Minor elements should be applied in the sprays or
dusts for both citrus and truck crops. Pastures should receive
25 to 35 pounds of copper sulfate in advance of the fertilizer and
every 2 or 3 years thereafter and should be fertilized each year
with 200 to 300 pounds per acre of complete fertilizer such as
5-7-5 or 5-8-8. The high cost of clearing the native saw palmetto
limits rather effectively the development of pastures on this
land.
The excessively drained incoherent sandy soil in land-capability
class III is Palm Beach fine sand. It occupies 6,685 acres, largely
bordering Lake Okeechobee on the east, north, and northwest.
Only 143 acres were in crops when the survey was made. Owing
to its location, much of it in the vicinity of Pahokee and Port
Mayaca is used as building sites. Farther north it is used
largely for range land. If water for irrigation is available and
enough fertilizer and organic matter are applied it will produce
excellent citrus and truck crops. Truck crops should have a
complete fertilizer, the amount depending on the crop. Minor
elements should be applied as sprays or dusts. Large amounts of
organic matter are needed and green-manure crops, crop residues,
and weeds should be worked into the soil.
Class IV Sandy Land.-Wet sandy soils amounting to 594,193
acres are class IV land, suitable for some cultivation but subject
to very serious limitations. They are located in places where
water control is difficult. Only 15,191 acres, or less than 2 per-
cent, were used for crops when the survey was made.
TABLE 9.-EXTENT OF LAND-CAPABILITY CLASSES AND SOIL GROUPS.
Poorly Drained Soils Imperfectly Drained Soils Excessively Miscellaneous
Drained Soils Land Types
Al A2 A3 B1 B2 C1 C2 D1
Gray or Dark
Land-Capability Wet MLarls Gray Imper- Gray Imper- Wet Total
Class Peat and Cal- Wet fectly Drained fectly Drained Inco- Rockland, Rockland,
and careous Sandy Sandy Soils Sand with herent Sandy Marshes,
Muck Sandy Soils with Subsoils Brown Sands and Clay Swamps,
Soils Containing Hardpan Phases and Made
Some Clay Subsoil Land
Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres
II. Suitable for culti-
vation with
simple prac-
tices .-.........-.. 57,208 140,423 66,500 1,857 0 0 0 0 265,988
III. Suitable for
cultivation with
intensive prac-
tices ................ 645,829 0 497,343 321,099 0 6,685 0 0 1,470,956
IV. Suited for only
limited cultiva-
tion .------..... 469,148 556,494 594,193 0 0 0 164,412 0 11,784,247
V. Not suitable for
cultivation but
suitable for
grazing .........-.... 19,557 0 0 0 33,674 78,574 0 0 131,805
VIII. Not suitable for
cultivation,
grazing, or
forestry ............ 730,797 53,537 0 0 0 0 0 353,964 1,138,298
Entire Region .... 1,922,539 750,454 1,158,036 322,956 33,674 85,259 164,412 353,964 4,791,294
54 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
crawler-type tractor with long cleats on the tracks (Fig. 16) was
used to transport men and equipment and to break line ahead
of the surveyors. The wooden cleats gave 2 to 3 times the bear-
ing surface of the regular tracks. A 4- by 10-foot sled was
pulled behind to flatten the vegetation between the tractor tracks.
There were instances of one of these tractors bogging down in a
'gator hole, and each necessitated weeks of effort to extricate
the machine.
Over the saturated to water-covered peat of the ridge-and-
slough areas, except south of Highway 94, the "air-boat" (Fig.
17) was the only practicable means of travel. The water was
generally too shallow for a boat with submerged propeller or
rudder, and the peat was very soft, from a few inches to more
than 10 feet deep; but there were numerous ponds or lakes of
considerable depth. These boats were square-nosed, flat-bot-
tomed craft about 6x16 feet, driven by airplane engine and pro-
peller mounted over the after part and guided by a large rudder
in the propeller blast.
The most satisfactory means of transport in the hammock-
and-glades area, and in all the territory south of Tamiami Trail,
was a "'glades buggy" (Fig. 18) with 3 axles mounting 12 tires.
Fig. 16.-A tractor with long cleats on the tracks, transporting camp and
surveying equipment over Everglades peat.
f
S,
BIf^^^^M^H^ny-^^f~
74 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
reach to a depth of 8 feet or more. This soil has agricultural
possibilities but drainage is difficult and there is much danger of
contamination by salt water. It is classified as class IV land.
It occupies 2,187 acres of the area covered by the field survey,
but lies south of the boundary of the Everglades Drainage
District.
Four sandy soils contain considerable lime and for many
practical purposes may be grouped with the marls. Copeland
fine sandy loam occupies 2,350 acres in Collier and Monroe coun-
ties. It is a dark gray, almost black soil with a brownish gray
fine sandy clay subsoil which rests on limestone. Only the
shallow phase occurs in the area surveyed. It is class IV land.
The other 3 calcareous sandy soils are in the northern part of
the district. Parkwood fine sandy loam is a gray or dark gray
fine sand with mottled sandy subsoil underlain by marl. Manatee
fine sandy loam has a surface soil that is nearly black and a light
gray, heavy, sandy clay subsoil which rests on marl. Keri fine
sand is a gray or brownish gray soil over light gray marl sub-
soil. All 3 of these soils are class II land.
Wet Sandy Soils.-The wet sandy soils occupy 1,158,036 acres,
nearly one-fourth of the area covered by the survey. They are
too wet for cultivation without artificial water control for drain-
age and irrigation. The most desirable of these soils for culti-
vation is the dark-colored Delray fine sand. It has a surface soil
12 to 30 inches thick of dark gray to black fine sand. The sub-
soil is light gray or yellow fine sand. Some areas are underlain
by limestone at a depth of less than 40 inches. There are 66,500
acres of this soil. It is class II land.
Wet sandy soils suitable for cultivation occupy nearly half a
million acres. More than half of this area, or 318,985' acres, is
Pompano fine sand. It is a gray or brownish gray fine sand with
a subsoil of light gray or nearly white fine sand. Usually there
is a layer of bluish gray fine sandy clay at a depth of about 40
inches, which may rest on limestone. Charlotte fine sand
resembles Pompano fine sand in its surface layers but is under-
lain by fine sand. It occupies 13,390 acres. These 2 soils are
class III land.
Davie fine sand is gray or a light gray soil underlain by light
colored, nearly white sandy subsoil. Usually there is limestone
at less than 4 feet. It is class IV land, suitable at the best for
somewhat limited cultivation. It occupies 79,565 acres, of which
about 8 percent is the shallow phase. The Davie mucky fine sand,
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 139
rank growths of weeds which are an added fire hazard. The
need for farm roads should be 'kept in mind when laying out the
water-control system; but use of peat dikes for roadways flattens
and lowers them and makes them more subject to erosion by
wind.
A system of check dams should be provided to control water
stages and prevent excessive drainage from the system. The
most desirable water stage during the growing season is from
11/2 to 2 feet below the surface, but it varies greatly according
to the soil type and crops grown. Check dams should be designed
so as to permit flooding and holding water on the area when
the land is fallow.
Land-Capability Classes
The land-capability classification is a simple grouping of land
conditions. Each soil mapped in the Everglades region was
studied carefully by technical men of the Everglades Project
and of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. These men
considered the possible uses of each soil and the treatment that
it needs to produce good crops. They also looked at the perma-
nent limitations, such as the need for water control. They
decided that 5 of the 8 land-capability classes that are recognized
on a national scale include all the soils in this area. The acre-
ages of the land-capability classes and soil groups are given in
Table 9.
Class I land occurs elsewhere in Florida but not here. It is
very good land that can be cultivated safely with ordinary good-
farming methods. It is level or nearly so, and easily worked.
In this area the best peat and muck soils are subject to shrink-
age and require very careful water control, and therefore are in
class II. In the same class are the best of the marls and sandy
soils because they, too, need water management and careful
fertilization.
Class II land is good land that can be cultivated safely with
easily applied practices. Water control and fertilization are the
biggest needs of the class II land in this area. It includes the
most favorable areas of 4 groups of soils: The peats and mucks,
the marls, the wet sandy soils, and a small acreage of the dark
gray imperfectly drained sandy soils. Three percent of the peat
and muck soils, 19 percent of the wet marls and calcareous sandy
soils, and less than 5 percent of the sandy soils are class II land.
38 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
fresh-water limestone and marl (26 and 31). In the following
passages the correlations made are tentative and to be regarded
as a basis for a working hypothesis.
Nebraskan Glacial Stage.-The effect of this time on the topog-
raphy of southern Florida was largely to continue the erosion
and solution effects started in the late Pliocene. The Floridian
Plateau may have been slightly tilted westward at the beginning
of this epoch, and major stream development probably was to-
ward the Gulf of Mexico. No recognizable terrestrial or marine
deposits are credited to Nebraskan time in southern Florida.
Aftonian Interglacial Stage.-During the Aftonian nearly all
of Florida was beneath the sea (9), and southern Florida was,
at the time the sea reached its highest level, covered by water
deeper than 250 feet. Nearest land was a group of small islands
in Polk County, which could not have yielded much sediment to
the ocean currents. The sea bottom, floored with Pliocene sedi-
ments, remained nearly bare. Local patches of marine shells at
the base of the Fort Thompson formation on the Caloosahatchee
River may be of Aftonian age.
Kansan Glacial Stage.-With the formation of glaciers during
Kansas time, sea level again dropped below its present level.
Again land conditions existed where previously there had been
a marine environment. Fresh water lakes and marshes developed
in southern Florida, and in these bodies of fresh water thin
sheets of marl and limestone containing the shells of fresh-water
mollusks were deposited. Much of these deposits were probably
removed in the succeeding interglacial stage.
Yarmouth Interglacial Stage.-With the melting of ice sheets
during the Yarmouth interglacial stage, the ocean level once
more rose and southern Florida was flooded by salt water. The
sea rose to 215 feet above present mean sea level, halted long
enough to produce a shore line at that level, then fell to 170
feet, where it remained to the close of this stage. Sources of
sediment were again remote, and in the Everglades only a thin
marine shell marl and calcareous sandstone of the Fort Thomp-
son formation are referred to Yarmouth time. If the deposit was
once thicker, erosion and solution removed much of it before the
succeeding deposit was laid down. Along the Atlantic coast it is
probable that the lower portions of the Anastasia formation
were being built up and the basal portions of the Key Largo
limestone were growing as a coral reef.
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 109
drainage service to agricultural lands above. The stored water,
except the portion evaporated directly or used by plants, would
be available subsequently for irrigation supply to coastal lands.
It is possible that, if Fort Lauderdale's municipal water supply is
threatened either by depletion or by salt intrusion from the
ocean, water stored in the Broward County area may be useful
in preventing or delaying deterioration. Canal A is planned
to discharge into the Broward County area. To hold water on
this area and protect the lands on the east against overflow,
construction of Holloway Dike has been planned along range
line 40/41 from North New River Canal to Hillsboro Canal. The
protected lands to the east would find drainage outlet through
Cypress Creek Canal, and through other canals which empty
into Middle and New Rivers and into North New River Canal
below the lock at Davie. Work on this dike was under way early
in 1947.
Water stored upon the Dade-Broward counties area doubtless
would be helpful, by seeping through the very permeable rock
and raising the ground water table, in augmenting the water
supply and combating salt intrustion both in Miami's well field and
in the agricultural lands around Homestead and Florida City.
Definite supply to this area has not been planned, but any flow in
the middle section of Miami Canal would enter it and so would
a large part of the water spilled westward from North New River
Canal at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend. An appreciable part of the dis-
charge from Sand Prairie Canal, Canal C, and Canal B doubtless
would find its way into the area by overland flow and seepage
through the subsurface rock.
Outlet structures should be provided to permit and control
flow from these water-conservation areas when extended periods
of extraordinary precipitation might overtax the safe storage
capacity of the reservoirs or when the stored water is needed
for irrigation. The outlet structure for the Palm Beach County
area would be placed in the north levee of Hillsboro Canal some-
where east of Elbow Bend. The control for the Broward County
area would be located in the north levee of North New River
Canal, near Holloway Dike. It may be found expedient to con-
trol discharge from the Dade-Broward counties area by several
structures, all discharging through the embankment of U. S.
Highway 94 at low places west of State Road 27.
West Palm Beach Canal Area.-The area to be served by West
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 93
Near Lake Okeechobee is a lock-and-spillway structure of
Everglades Drainage District, which is always open and needs
repair but could be made usable. In digging this canal rock was
excavated only between Miami and a half mile above the con-
nection with South New River Canal. For 25 miles or more
north of that point Miami Canal is only 2 to 4 feet deep. A rock
dam was built in the canal where rock excavation was discon-
tinued, but it has been breached and now offers comparatively
little obstruction to flow. Near the Broward-Dade County line
is an earth dam, which was built to prevent flooding of low lands
about 61/2 miles below in the vicinity of Pennsuco but also helps
to hold water in the wild lands above. Through this dam are 5
large sluices having gates which were opened in dry seasons that
the fresh-water flow might check salt water advancing up the
canal toward the well field from which the city of Miami pumps
its water supply. A dam installed at 36th Street by the Miami
Water Department was an effective barrier against upstream
flow of the salty water until it failed in 1947. It was immediately
replaced with a temporary dam of steel sheet piling.
Practically all the drainage from lands in Palm Beach County
tributary to Miami Canal is discharged into Lake Okeechobee,
and there is relatively little flow from the lake into this canal.
The capacity of the canal is not sufficient to prevent overflow of
the adjoining lands. In Broward County surface water flows
southward or southwesterly across this canal, following old
natural drainage lines; the shallow channel is clogged with water
hyacinth and is of no service for drainage. Between State Road
25 and Hialeah the land is frequently inundated in wet seasons
and is excessively drained in dry seasons. The cultivated lands
bordering the upper section of Miami Canal are drained by pump-
ing into Lake Okeechobee or into the canal north of the lock at
Lake Harbor, and are irrigated by the same pumps and the
drainage'ditches.
Cross Canal.-This connection between Hillsboro Canal and
West Palm Beach Canal is 13 miles long, and for most of its
length is bordered by farms devoted principally to growing truck.
Near the eastern end is a dam put in by Everglades Drainage
District, for the purpose of holding water in Cross Canal in order
to maintain a high water table in the lands along Cross and Hills-
boro Canals. The grade of Cross Canal is very slight, to the
east, and usually the water flows eastward, but occasionally the
flow is westward into Hillsboro Canal. The bordering cultivated
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 121
tional structures and pumping plants will have to be installed.
No estimate of the cost of this work has been made.
The cost of Allapattah. Levee and Canal is estimated as
follows:
Ditch excavation deposited as levee-
5,000,000 cubic yards of unclassified material @ $0.20 ...-.......$1,000,000
Control structures-
At St. Lucie Canal ........--............----- ---- --------.. 25,000
Near Big Mound --...------.................. --....... ----- 15,000
At West Palm Beach Canal .........---------- -----------. 35,000
$1,075,000
Incidentals ..............----- ....---- ----- -----------. 125,000
Total estimated cost ................. .........--....-- --...----$1,200,000
Hungryland Canal.-This canal starts at the northwest corner
of Section 2, Township 42, Range 39; runs east on the township
line for 10 miles and thence northeasterly about 51/2 miles to
the boundary of Everglades Drainage District at the northeast
corner of Section 19, Township 41, Range 42; and then extends
north and northeasterly about 5 miles to its outlet in Loxahat-
chee River. It will give outlet drainage to 82 square miles of
sandy lands in addition to the area drained by Loxahatchee Canal.
"A part of this area otherwise would drain to Allapattah Canal.
"A control should be installed at the boundary of Everglades
Drainage District, below Loxahatchee Canal, that will permit a
discharge of 2,000 c.f.s. at a flow-line elevation of 14.5 feet during
flood discharge. The control should be able to hold a water stage
of 16.0 feet on the District side, to provide water for a limited
amount of irrigation along the lower reaches of the canal.
The estimated cost of Hungryland Canal is as follows:
Channel excavation-
3,000,000 cu. yds. of unclassified material @ $0.20 ..................$600,000
Control structure-
At boundary of Everglades Drainage District ...---...................... 20,000
$620,000
Incidentals .......-........---......--- -------.. -- 60,000
$680,000
Loxahatchee Canal.-This canal, 11.2 miles long, will discharge
the runoff from 62 square miles of peaty and sandy soils into
Hungryland Canal and supply the Marsh area with irrigation
water from West Palm Beach Canal. The levee along the east
150 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
marl is at least 2 feet deep. Shallow areas of these soils and all
the Ochopee marl are class IV land, suitable for some cultivation
but subject to serious limitations. The limitations of the shallow
marl are mostly in connection with water control. All the marls
must have drainage and water control if they are to be cultivated.
None of these in this area is in class I or class III. The salty
marl affected by tide water is class VIII land.
Class II Marl Land.-Most of the marls suitable for cultivation
range in height above the sea from about 8 feet near the rock
ridge to 1 or 2 feet near the shore lines. They are naturally
poorly drained; they become waterlogged or even flooded during
the months of the wet season, and occasionally also when wet
spells occur during the growing season. They may become too
dry, however, during the winter growing season, and for this
reason two-way water control is needed. Surface drains usually
are effective for removing water, but pumping may be required.
Fields should be diked to keep out water coming from other land.
Ditches cut into the rock are not recommended, because it is both
porous and water-bearing. A 4-inch layer of marl should be left
in the bottom of the ditch over the rock. Proper drainage, and
irrigation when needed, make up an acute and in many places a
still unsolved problem on these soils.
The marls are naturally highly alkaline in reaction. They are
used almost exclusively for production of winter vegetables,
especially tomatoes, early potatoes, and beans. Tomatoes in
recent years have been grown on from 10,000 to 17,000 acres in
this locality. The acreage of potatoes has ranged from 5,000 to
7,500 and that of snap beans from 2,000 to 6,500. Probably the
acreage of beans has reached its.peak, at least for several years,
because of the occurrence in, epidemic form of watery soft rot,
which is a serious soil-borne, fungous disease.
Other vegetable crops adapted to the soil and prevailing
climatic conditions and produced in considerable quantities include
cabbage and other cole crops, squashes, eggplant, peppers, carrots,
beets, turnips, peas, English peas, sweetpotatoes, and bunching
onions. Still others are grown in quantities to satisfy local
market demands but are not adapted to large-scale commercial
production. These include corn as roasting ears, lettuce, lima
beans, cucumbers, celery, and radishes. Strawberries thrive on
marl soils and production is increasing.
Marl soils are utilized also to grow such crops as sorghum,
and to a lesser extent millet, corn, peas, and soy beans as hay or
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 13
Trustee funds derived from land sales led to a default on January
1, 1931, in the payments scheduled against the outstanding
bonded indebtedness. All construction work by the District
ceased and almost all maintenance work was deferred. By 1940
owners of District bonds were suing to force payment of those
obligations. They had obtained a tax levy of 15 million dollars
on the 1940 roll, but most land-owners refused to pay. Taxes
were delinquent to the extent of nearly 25 million dollars and
practically every landholder's title had been forfeited by reason
of non-payment.
The Drainage District, in debt for nearly 20 million dollars,
made several unsuccessful attempts to refinance its indebtedness.
However, in 1941 the legislature authorized the District to issue
refinancing bonds, which the Reconstruction Finance Corpora-
tion agreed to buy. The same legislative act permitted land-
owners to regain current status of their taxes by payment of
1 or 2 years' installments of the delinquency. Further, the re-
funding bonds were to be supported by a revised tax structure
which decreased the annual burden of acreage taxes from
$2,000,000 to $600,000. By the latter part of 1943 the total
indebtedness of Everglades Drainage District had been reduced
to approximately $5,300,000 and most of the owners had regained
title to their lands by payment of the 1941 compromise of taxes.
The Okeechobee Flood-control District was created by the
Legislature in 1929 and charged with responsibility for providing
or obtaining works and improvements necessary for flood control
and navigation in the Caloosahatchee, Lake Okeechobee, and
Everglades areas. It includes all of Everglades Drainage Dis-
trict and all of Martin, Okeechobee, Glades, Lee, Hendry, Collier,
and Monroe counties except the Florida Keys. Under Con-
gressional authorizatiof of 1930, the Corps of Engineers, United
States Army, constructed levees along the shores of Lake Okee-
chobee and improved Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal,
to control floods in Lake Okeechobee and to provide a navigable
channel from Stuart to Fort Myers. The work was practically
completed in 1936. Maintenance of the works and control of
Lake levels are under the control of the Corps of Engineers.
Because frequent fires were destroying considerable acreages
of soil and vegetation, especially in the drained peat along the
drainage canals, the legislature in 1939 created the Everglades
Fire Control District. This agency was made co-extensive with
TABLE 3.-AVERAGE AND EXTREME MONTHLY AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS.
(Compiled from U. S. Weather Bureau Data, Except for Canal Point and Shawano.)
___Belle Glade (1924-1946)*. Miami (1896-1946)*
Greatest Least Rain 0.01 Greatest Least Rain 0.01
Average on on Inch Average on on Inch
IRecord Record or More Record Record or More
Inches Inches Inches Days Inches Inches Inches Days
January .......... 7.70 5.39 0.11 6 2.32 7.93 0.00 8
February ....... 1.63 5.55 0.03 6 1.91 5.91 0.00 7
March ... ..-. 3.20 7.10 0.33 7 2.37 9.74 0.00 7
April .............. 3.33 6.90 0.01 7 3.42 13.62 0.23 7
May ............ 4.56 9.38 1.08 10 6.68 18.66 0.32 12
June ...........-.. 9.89 24.11 0.59 16 7.14 25.34 0.07 13
July .........-...- 7.66 13.05 3.05 17 5.28 15.22 0.48 15.
August ....... 8.15 16.38 2.65 17 6.13 15.05 0.66 15
September .... 8.52 19.04 3.58 16 8.56 19.70 2.08 18
October .....-.... 4.50 15.84 0.49 11 8.60 27.86 0.18 16
November .... 2.25 12.36 0.15 6 3.15 17.72 0.23 10
December .... 1.34 6.47 0.12 6 1.85 12.08 0.00 8
Annual ....... 56.73 66.14 40.99 125 57.41 79.42 24.20 135
June Oct. ....-. 38.72 49.26 26.15 77 35.71 65.60 15.17 77
Shawano (1926-1946) Fort Lauderdale (1918-1946)**
January ........ 1.88 7.37 0.24 2.74 9.04 0.00
February ....... 1.47 4.73 0.03 2.00 5.06 0.00
March ......... 3.15 7.69 0.23 2.89 12.21 0.07
April ............ 3.02 7.28 0.00 3.91 10.51 0.02
May ............. 4.87 11.70 1.59 5.82 14.49 0.06 c.
June ...... ......... 8.18 17.72 1.20 7.44 24.24 1.49
July ...--....... 8.16 14.10 2.06 6.14 14.01 1.48
August ......- 7.58 14.66 2.00 6.26 14.88 1.36
September ....-. 8.52 16.48 3.12 8.26 16.35 2.29
October ..... ... 4.25 11.30 0.77 8.91 32.10 1.51
November 2--... 2.00 5.64 0.10 3.44 10.20 0.11
December ...... 1.36 3.82 0.15 __ 2.20 8.57 0.17
Annual ............ 54.44 75.11 36.49 60.01 82.56 41.05
June Oct. .... 39.69 52.38 23.67 37.01 58.63 21.42
For Belle Glade, 22 years, July to June; for all other stations, calen ar years, inclusive.
"** Records made at Davie prior to 1924.
132 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Holloway Canals.-The cost of the improvement of old Hollo-
way Canal and its main branch, in -the southern part of the
Cypress Creek Canal area, is estimated as follows:
Excavation-
500,000 cu. yds. of sand @ $0.20 ........ .......... ..-.............. ..$100,000
2 controls @ $15,000 ............................ ---.--...- .........30,000
$130,000
Incidentals ... ......................... .. ........... 15,000
$145,000
Water-Control Structures in Eastern Dade County.-The
Krome Avenue extension should have an elevation of not less
than 12.0 at the Tamiami Trail and a uniform grade to meet the
elevation of Road 25 where they join. The material for building
the embankment should all be taken from the east side. A wide
berm should be left and the borrow pit should be constructed
as a drainage canal with outlets into both the Miami and Tamiami,
Canals. The proposed road will be underlain by the exceedingly
porous Miami oolite and the borrow pit canal will intercept the
seepage under the roadway and conduct it to Miami and Tamiami
canals. It is possible that the flow under the roadway will be so
great as to require special methods of control. Such work would
probably be expensive but available data are not sufficient for
estimating the probable cost.
It is estimated that the excavation of approximately 780,000
cubic yards of muck and 1,600,000 cubic yards of rock will be
involved in constructing the proposed road. However, it is
assumed that the. highway would be a part of the State road
system and not charged to the water-control project. Therefore,
its cost is not included in these estimates. The control structures
recommended where the road crosses the Tamiami canal and the
Miami canal are considered a part of the water control project
and their estimated cost is included he rei n,
The large control structure, in Miami River will comprise 2
navigation locks and gates for controlling water stages above and
preventing salt intrusion. One lock is to be about 50 by 300 feet
"in plan, for large commercial vessels and tows, the other about
18 by 60 feet to provide passage for smaller vessels and pleasure
craft. The locks in Biscayne, Coral Gables, and Little River
Canals are to be about 18 by 60 feet.
The estimated cost of the control structures proposed is as
follows:
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 105
12 60-
BELLE GLADE
to- JULY 1924- JUNE 1946 50
8- 40
o I
4 20
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Yer
12 10
0 30
Jon. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Yeor
Fig. 22-Comparison of average monthly and annual rainfall and60
MIAMI
evaporatio JAN. 1896-DEC. 1945 from Table 3,
8 40
I I
"r--30
o0
Jon. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Year
H RAINFALL EVAPORATION (85% of loss from U.S. Weather Bureau
open pan)
Fig. 22.-Comparison of average monthly and annual rainfall and
evaporation at Belle Glade and at Miami. (Rainfall amounts from Table 3,
evaporation from Table 8.)
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 161
Truck crops generally receive a .fertilizer containing phos-
phate and potash, such as 0-8-8, 0-8-10, or 0-8-16, with additional
minor elements applied in the sprays or dusts. Pastures should
have 200 to 300 pounds of a fertilizer such as 0-8-8 every year,
with 20 to 30 pounds of copper sulfate the first year and every
third year thereafter. The croplands should receive organic
matter regularly in the form of green-manure crops, which can
be mixed with the soil by plowing, disking, or gyrotilling.
The hammock land in the northwestern part of the survey is
also class II land. It is La Belle loamy fine sand of group B1, a
soil naturally somewhat better drained than the wet sandy soils
of group A3. The total area in the Everglades Region is only
1,857 acres, and none of it was used for crops at the time of the
survey. The greater part is covered with hammock vegetation,
which furnishes shade for the cattle that graze on the surround-
ing range land. The cost of clearing it for cropping use is
rather high.
Some of the hammock land outside the region is being used
for truck crops and citrus is grown on some areas near La
Belle and Denaud. This is excellent productive land but needs
additions of organic matter through cover crops and regular
systematic fertilizing. Citrus fruits need a complete fertilizer
such as 5-8-8 or 5-7-5 applied 4 to 6 times per year, each tree
receiving each time a pound of fertilizer for each foot of diameter
of its crown. Minor elements, as zinc and copper, are needed
and can usually be applied in the spraying and dusting
operations.
Truck crops on these soils need moderate to heavy applications
of complete fertilizer. They also need the minor elements, which
as a rule can be added to the sprays and dusts. Pastures need
complete fertilizer and copper sulfate at the time they are
started-about 200 to 300 pounds of a 5-8-8 or a similar formula
-and every year. The application of copper sulfate should be
20 to 40 pounds every year or two.
Class III Sandy Land.-Class III land is suitable for regular
cultivation to a fairly wide range of crops. Its use is limited by
some of the soil properties, however, or it requires more intensive
or careful management than is necessary on class II land. It
includes 497,343 acres of the wet sandy soils of group A3, 321,099
acres of the gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils
of group B1, and 6,685 acres of Palm Beach fine sand which is
TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued)
Water Movement Reaction
Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -- of Organic Native Land-Capa-
Soil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class
I Surface Soil Soil
Acres Percent pH Percent
C. Excessively drained
soils
Cl. Incoherent sands Light gray or Loose white fine Limestone Poor -Good Low, Pine and V-Cl
96 Dade fine sand 29,707 0.6 almost white sand; a thin except palmetto.
fine sand, brownish yellow on ham- On ham-
6-8 inches. layer above the mocks mocks pine,
rock, which where live oak,
occurs within it is vines,
36 inches of low to ferns.
the surface. medium
97 Palm Beach fine Brown or dark Light brown or Fine sand Good Good 7.0-8.0 Medium Sea grapes, III-Cl
sand 6,685 .1 brown fine brownish yellow coconut
sand, 10-20 fine sand 40-50 palm, cab-
inches. inches, under- bage palm.
lain by yellow
fine sand.
98 St. Lucie fine Grayish white Incoherent white Sand Good Exces- Low or Pine, pal- V-C1
sand 48,867 1.0 loose fine sand sand, very sive very metto,
containing a deep. low scrub oak.
few woody
fragments.
Total, group C1 85,259 1.7
C2. Rockland, sandy and
clay phases
99 Rockdale fine
sand-limestone Deposits of fine Porous Exces- Exces- 7.0-8.0 Low Pine, pal- IV-C2
complex 71,070 1.5 sand on surface limestone sive sive metto,
or in cavities (oolite) native
of porous grasses.
limestone.
100 Rockdale fine Deposits of red- Porous Exces- Exces- 7.0-8.0 Low Pine, pal- IV-C2
sandy loam- dish clay or limestone sive sive metto,
limestone mixture of sand (oolite) native
complex 93,342 1.9 and clay on grasses.
surface or in
cavities of
porous lime-
stone.
Total, group C2 164,412 3.4
Less than 0.05 percent.
Contents Page
Scope of Investigation and Report .....-................--- ..---- .--....--. 6
History of the Everglades Drainage District ..........---.........------......----- 8
Area Surveyed ..--.----------... ----------------------- 15
Agriculture ---------------.-...... ..-.-- ------------... ---- 18
Geology and Ground Water of the Everglades Region --..----....... ...-------.. 21
The Floridian Plateau ---.. .......... ............ ........ ---....... .... 21
Structure, Stratigraphy, and Ground Water --..----.. --.............----......--------- 21
Pliocene Rocks ...............-------- ----------------------- 26
Caloosahatchee Marl ................---...-----------------... 26
Tamiami Formation .........................----..------ -------------- 28
Pleistocene Rocks .-.... .... .......... ..---- ----------------.... 30
Anastasia Formation ............----.......---............. ----------- 31
Miami Oolite ............ ----........... --... ------- -------------- 32
Fort Thompson Formation ----------- ----------------32
Pamlico Formation ..--- ---. ------------------------ --------- 33
Talbot and Penholoway Formations ..---....-..........--.. --.------- 33
Latest Pleistocene and Recent Rocks ---.....---..---......--... ---------- 34
Lake Flirt Marl .....---................- -----..---..............--..------ 34
Organic Soils .................................. ---- --... ------ ---------........ 35
Topographic Development .. .......----.---..---...------------------ 35
Geologic History ...-........-.--- -------.. -----.---.............----- 36
Pliocene Epoch ..................-- ..----.. ....---- ---------- 36
Pleistocene Epoch --------...-......---.... ----------------- 36
Nebraskan glacial stage; Aftonian interglacial stage; Kansan
glacial stage; Yarmouth interglacial stage; Illinoian
glacial stage; Sangamon interglacial stage; Wisconsin
glacial stage ......-.....-----...-....... ----------.. 38
Recent Epoch --------------------- -------------- 41
Climate ---.--......-.....----.-. ---------. -------------- 42
Temperatures ---------------------.. ..... ..--------------- 42
Sunshine, Wind, and Humidity --. .....-.........-----...... ------. 43
Rainfall ....-------------.------------..---..... ... 44
Vegetation .....-......-..- .---......-----------.-------.---. 46
Topographic Survey -------------.. --------..--- --.- 49
The Base Map .-..----.......-------....---------- --...... 50
Leveling --------------------------....----------------- 50
Special Transportation Used ...................--------- ----..---.-- 52
The Soil Conservation Survey ....-...--....-..- --...---------- -------. 55
Map of Physical Land Conditions ...-.. .----...-------...----- ------- 56
Survey Methods .-.--.....-- ... ---------- .. ---------- ------58
Soils and Their Capability ................--------- ------.------ 60
Peat and Muck Soils ......................-- ---------------------- 61
Marls and Calcareous Sandy Soils .......------- -- ..... ...-.... 73
Wet Sandy Soils ....----------....-....... ....----- ------ 74
Gray or Dark Gray Imperfectly Drained Sandy Soils with Sub-
soils Containing Some Clay ........................ ----- --------- 75
Gray Imperfectly Drained Sand with Brown Hardpan Subsoil.... 76
Excessively Drained Incoherent Sands ...------- ...-------.------ 76
Excessively Drained Rocklands, Sandy and Clay Phases ............ 76
Miscellaneous Lands ..... .......................---------- 77
Water Conditions in the Everglades Region .........--........... ---------- 77
Sources and Quality of Water ............. ----------..- 77
Subsidence of Organic Soils .-.-- --.------- --------------. 79
Organizations for Water Control ----- -----.. --------------- 81
Existing Water-Control Works .-...............---------..-------- 84
Lake Okeechobee .......----- --..-- ----- --- ------..---------85
Caloosahatchee River ..-....-- .......-..--- ..---- ----------- 85
St. Luicie Canal ................ --..........---- -- ----------- 86
West Palm Beach Canal ........-......... ------- ------------. 86
Hillsboro Canal ...------- ----.............. ------------------- 88
North New River Canal ..............------------ --- ---------------- 91
Miami Canal ..........-....---....... -----.------.---.-------.- 92
Cross Canal ................. ....------- -- ----- -- ------------ 93
Bolles Canal ..--....... ------.----- -------..------...... 94
South New River Canal ..-- ........--..... .... -----.......... 94
Tamiami Canal .............-...... ..........-. ......----.------ ------ ---------.. 95
Uncontrolled Canals of Everglades Drainage District ............... 95
Works of Sub-Drainage Districts and Comparable Enterprises.... 96
128 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Canal A.-Canal A would be 25 miles long from Bolles Canal to
where it discharges upon the surface of non-agricultural land in
Section 26, Township 47, Range 39, just below the Palm Beach-
Broward County line. Rock levees would be required on both
sides of this canal for 22 miles to the lower boundary of the
agricultural soils. Muck should be excavated to the underlying
rock for a distance of at least 21/ miles beyond the end of the
levees. Excess of costly rock excavation has been avoided by
designing a wide, shallow channel that cuts into the rock only
at the sides and for only as much material as is needed for the
levees. The ditch and levees have been designed for a flow line
of elevation 17.0 at Bolles Canal and 15.0 at the end of the levees.
The cost of Canal A is estimated as follows:
Excavation for canal and levees-
800,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .......................................... 600,000
3,900,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ................-...........-- ........... 390,000
Control at Bolles Canal-included in cost of that canal
$ 990,000
Incidentals .......... --........................... 110,000
$1,100,000
Canal B.-Canal B is planned about 221/2 miles long. It would
extend southward from the west control in Bolles Canal for about
5 miles, thence southeasterly parallel to North New River Canal
to the southeast corner of Section 8, Township 47, Range 37,
thence south for about 3 miles to beyond the Palm Beach-
Broward County line. Rock levees would be required on both
sides, with top elevation 21.0 at the Bolles and 19.0 at 1 mile north
of the county line, where the levees would end. The canal would
be continued for another 2 miles, excavating only the peat on
top of the rock, to afford opportunity for the water to discharge
over ground surface along the canal. The canal has been designed
with the flow line at elevation 17.0 at Bolles Canal and 15.0 at
the end of the levees 1 mile north of the county line. Excess of
costly rock excavation has been avoided by designing a wide
shallow channel that cuts into the rock only at the sides for
enough material to build the levees.
The estimate of cost of Canal B is as follows:
Excavation for canal and levees-
750,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .................. ..........................$562,500
3,200,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............................ ........... ... 320,000
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 15
the Drainage District and was provided with $75,000 per year
for control and suppression of fires within its boundaries.
The dry period of 1938-39 made generally apparent, both to
agricultural interests in the Everglades Drainage District and
to municipalities of the southern East Coast, that conservation
and control of water in the area is highly important for preser-
vation of the organic soils, for irrigation of farm crops, and for
replenishment of subsurface storage from which municipal sup-
plies are pumped. In compliance with requests from these and
other interests, in 1939 the U. S. Geological Survey began in-
tensive investigation of the water resources of southeastern
Florida (see pages 21-42), and the Soil Conservation Service
undertook surveys for determining land-use capabilities in the
Everglades Drainage District and the water-control measures
necessary for developing those. capabilities. Both agencies are
continuing their investigations as this report is written (1947).
Area Surveyed
The area covered by surveys of the Soil Conservation Service
consists of the Everglades Drainage District and the lands be-
tween that District and the coast in Dade and Broward counties
and in Palm Beach County south of West Palm Beach Canal.
Figure 2 is a sketch map of the area showing its principal physio-
graphic divisions.
The region commonly known as the Everglades is a nearly
flat, shallow, more or less oblong basin which extends from Lake
Okeechobee to the southern tip of the State. This basin is bor-
dered by the slightly higher sandy coastal ridge on the east, the
Miami rock rim on the southeast, sand prairies on the north and
northwest, and Big Cypress Swamp on the west. The flat sandy
prairie extends a few miles south of the northeastern corner of
Collier County. The main part of the Everglades slopes 2 or 3
inches to the mile toward the south or southeast, but south of
Tamiami Trail the slope is to the southwest. (See accompany-
ing map of water-control measures recommended.)
The main part of the Everglades is made up of the sawgrass
plains and the ridge-and-slough country, areas 1 and 2 in Figure
2. (The sawgrass plains include the custard-apple, willow-and-
elder, and hammock-sawgrass sub-areas.) West of the southern
portion of the Everglades is the hammock-and-glades section,
area 3, consisting mostly of Big Cypress Swamp in Collier and
Monroe counties. The sandy lands of the east, north, and west
TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued)
I Water Movement Reaction
Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying of Organic Native Land-Capa-
Soil I Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class
___| Surface 1Soil Soil
Acres Percent pH Percent
92 Palmdale fine Gray or gray- Compact grayish Marl over Good Poor 5.5-6.5 Low Cabbage III-B1
sand 13,263 .3 ish brown, yellow sandy limestone to palm,
93 Palmdale loamy 8-12 inches, clay, 8-12 medium some
fine sand 7,781 .2 rrading into inches thick live oak.
lighter colored and 20-30
sand. inches beneath
the surface.
Lighter tex-
tured material
below.
94 Sunniland loamy Light gray or Yellowish gray Marl over Poor Fair 5.5-7.0 Medium Pine, pal- III-Bl
fine sand 93,906 2.0 gray fine sand or light gray limestone metto,
or loamy fine fine sand, some cab-
sand, 8-10 mottled with bage palm.
inches yellow, under-
lain by mottled
yellow, light
gray, and brown
fine sandy clay.
Limestone or
marl usually
36-40 inches
beneath the
surface.
Total, group B1 322,956 6.7
B2. Gray sand with brown Gray fine sand, Light gray, al- Limestone Poor Poor 4.5-5.5 Low Pine, pal- V-B2
hardpan subsoil containing most white fine to metto,
95 Leon fine sand 33,674 0.7 enough organic sand. At 12 medium gallberry,
matter to give inches or more native
a "salt and beneath the sur- grasses.
pepper" ap- face, a very
pearence. dark brown
layer, 6-10
inches thick,
that is imper-
vious and har-
dens on drying.
It is underlain
by light yellow-
ish gray, almost
white fine sand.
Total, group B2 33,674 0.7
72 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
is possible and the land-capability class is III. Heavy applica-
tions of phosphate and potash, and light applications of certain
elements such as copper, manganese, and zinc, usually in the
sulfate form, are needed in addition to water control for success-
ful crop production. Because of these limitations, which are
estimated on the whole to be a little more severe than those
affecting the Okeechobee muck and Okeelanta peaty muck, the
Everglades peat is placed in land-capability class III. Areas
having less than 5 feet of peat over limestone are not suitable
for regular cultivation, because of subsisdence and the difficulty
of water control. They are in land-capability class IV. There
are 401,900 acres of Everglades peat more than 5 feet deep,
464,947 acres of the shallow peat over limestone, and 179,520
acres of the same kind of peat of various depths over sand or
marl. Northeast of the West Palm Beach Canal from Lake
Okeechobee to Twenty-Mile Bend is an old slough in which the
peat was originally formed partly from water plants and was
more loose than the Everglades peat. However, as a result of
partial drainage for many years, it has become compacted and
can scarcely be distinguished from the typical Everglades peat.
The same thing is true of the peat in the Allapattah Flats.
Brighton peat is acid, brown, fibrous felty peat from 2 to 8
feet in thickness, underlain by lighter brown peat. The native
vegetation was sawgrass and it differs from Everglades peat by
having an acid reaction. It is class III land. The total acreage
is 22,681 acres, and on 9,678 acres the peat is less than 5 feet deep
over the underlying sand.
Gandy peat is reddish brown, fibrous, woody peat, which
becomes somewhat granular upon drying. It occurs on islands
in areas of the loose Loxahatchee peat. The islands probably
started to develop as floating masses of vegetation in the marsh
and eventually became anchored and stabilized and covered with
woody vegetation of myrtle and bay. They lie perhaps a foot
higher than the surrounding Loxahatchee peat. The islands
are not easily accessible for grazing or for harvesting of wood.
They are shown on the map as class V land.
Istokpoga peat is light brown or brown fibrous, woody, acid
peat. It occupies 292 acres in Highlands County.
Loxahatchee peat is brown, spongy, fibrous peat, composed
of remains of lilies, water grasses, and other water plants. It
loses more than three-fourths of its volume on drying. Ordinar-
ily it is covered with water most of the year. The area north-
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 149
tures. Para grass is easily established and is commonly used.
However, the more frost-resistant grasses such as St. Augustine
and Coastal Bermuda are a little more satisfactory. A fertilizer
high in phosphate and potash, such as 0-8-12 or 0-12-24, is recom-
mended to insure ample amounts of bone-building phosphorus
in the grass. Applications are needed every 2 years. The Ever-
glades peat is well supplied with calcium and magnesium, but the
Brighton peat will be benefited by liming.
Class IV Peat and Muck Land.-Peats less than 5 feet deep
over limestone are too shallow to permit good water control. If
they are suitably located they can be used for certain crops during
dry periods of dry years when the water table is naturally low.
They occupy 469,148 acres, located for the most part south of the
Palm Beach-Broward County line. Only 4,499 acres were used
for crops at the time of the survey. If crops are grown despite
the hazards of water control, the management and fertilizing
practices are about the same as those described for the similar
types of deeper peat in class III-A1. The land can be used for
grazing whenever the water table is low enough, but it is not
recommended that any expenditure be made for pasture improve-
ment.
Class V Peat Land.-Gandy peat is a fibrous peat on the islands
in the ridge-and-slough section. It occupies 19,557 acres. It is
not accessible for crops or grazing but produces some timber
and is good wildlife land. It is used to a considerable extent
by hunters and trappers for camp sites. Istokpoga peat is acid,
woody, and fibrous. It produces some cypress trees.
Class VIII Peat Land.-Loxahatchee peat is a loose, fluffy
peat that occurs in the Hillsboro Marsh and throughout the
ridge-and-slough section. This peat shrinks three-fourths or
more of its volume on drying and is not recommended for any
cultivation. It makes up 730,797 acres. Some of it is. utilized
for water storage areas. These wet lands are excellent for fish,
birds, alligators, and other wildlife.
Management of Marl Soils
The marls lie mostly in southern Dade County, primarily
between the rockland ridges and the coast. The total area of
marls and calcareous sandy soils is 750,454 acres. Of these, the
deep Perrine marl and Hialeah mucky marl are suitable for
regular cultivation. These soils are class II land, provided the
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 85
Nearly all land in the Everglades Region that can profitably
be put into cultivated crops requires artificial drainage and also
irrigation for maximum production. Most of the unused sandy
lands and of the peat soils too shallow for agricultural develop-
ment likewise are in most years too wet at some seasons and too
dry at others for use all year as grazing land. Many of the
pumping plants are so arranged that, though they are used
mostly for drainage, in dry periods they can pump water from
the main canals into the laterals to be distributed for irrigating
the farm lands.
Lake Okeechobee.-One levee of the War Department extends
along the south side of Fisheating Creek and the south and east
sides of Lake Okeechobee from near the west district boundary
to high ground at St. Lucie Canal, about 68 miles. This protects
the cultivated lands along the shore against overflow by lake
waters, except those on Kreamer, Torry, and Ritta Islands near
the southeast shore of the lake. The other levee, about 15 miles
in length including some 6 miles along the east side of Kissimmee
River, protects the town of Okeechobee. Construction of these
levees and the appurtenant works was authorized by Congress in
1929 and was practically completed in 1936. The top elevation of
these levees ranges from 32.6 to 34.6 feet above mean sea level,
which is 4.4 to 6.4 feet above the highest waves recorded in the
lake in the 1928 hurricane.
In these levees are 6 hurricane gates which permit drainage
and boat passage into and out from the lake. They are closed
when extreme storm tides are forecast. They extend full height
'of the levee, and are designed to be held partly open as desired
to regulate flow through them; but normally they remain wide
open, except the 1 at Moore Haven, and lake levels are regu-
lated by other works. These gates are located at Moore Haven,
Clewiston, Lake Harbor, South Bay, Canal Point, and Okeechobee.
Lake levels are maintained by the War Department as nearly as
possible between elevations 12.6 and 15.6 m.s.l., by discharging
through Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal those waters
that cannot be stored safely in the lake. Maintenance of depth
for navigation through Caloosahatchee River, the lake, and St.
Lucie Canal is one of the objectives in this regulation.
Caloosahatchee River.-The old drainage canal giving outlet
to Lake Okeechobee westward through Lake Hicpochee and
Caloosahatchee River was enlarged and provided with new con-
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 119
20.0 at the control and 18.3 at Cross Canal. This levee should
be connected with the embankment of State Road 80 running
eastward from Twenty-Mile Bend. The excavation of material
to build the levee will give the canal increased capacity.
Between Cross Canal and the lock at West Palm Beach a large
amount of sand will need to be excavated, as well as considerable
rock, other hard material, and peat, to obtain a channel of
capacity sufficient for draining the lands tributary below the
above-mentioned control. The areas to be drained, including 54
square miles on Cross Canal, are 135 square miles at Twenty-
Mile Bend, 229 square miles at Range Line Canal, 324 square
miles at the junction with Allapattah Canal, 345 square miles at
State Road 809, and 370 square miles at the lock. The levee to
be built on the south side of West Palm Beach Canal would be
connected with the embankment of State Road 80 running west-
ward from Twenty-Mile Bend. The required enlargement of the
canal will furnish material for this levee. Maximum water stages
in this reach are estimated at 14.3 at Cross Canal, 11.3 at the
junction with Allapattah Canal, and 8.5 at the lock. The 2 con-
trols in this reach must be of such construction that when fully
open they will offer minimum obstruction to the flow in the
canal. The coastal lock-and-spillway at West Palm Beach has
sufficient capacity to pass the estimated flood flow of 5,000 c.f.s.
at elevation of 8.5 because of the fall available between the
structure and Lake Worth.
It is possible that when the tributary lands have been well
developed a pumping plant will be needed at Lake Okeechobee
to lift irrigation water into the canal during low lake stages. And
as the muck land subsides through the years a pumping plant
may be required there for drainage during high lake stages.
The cost of such a pumping plant is not included in the estimates
here.
The improvements planned for West Palm Beach Canal are
estimated to cost as follows:
From Lake Okeechobee to first control-
Levee embankment, 220,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .............$ 165,000
120,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ... ...........-...--...--- 12,000
From first control to Cross Canal-
Levee embankment, 160,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ............-- .. 120,000
100,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .......................- ............... 10,000
From Cross Canal to lock at West Palm Beach-
Channel enlargement, 5,800,000 cu. yds. of sand @ $0.20 ...... 1,160,000
260,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .---..---..........-- ----.--.. 195,000
190,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............ ..................... 19,000
88 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
as far as Big Mound Canal. High water in the upper reach of
the canal also causes flow around the end of the highway
embankment at Twenty-Mile Bend to inundate pasture lands
east of that point. During the 7 years 1940 to 1946, flow at Canal
Point was into the lake rather than from it for 24 to 113 days
each year, amounting to 19 percent of the total time. In dry
periods water is admitted from the lake into West Palm Beach
Canal for irrigation. However, to avoid injury to truck crops
on low land near West Palm Beach, the water at the lower con-
trol structure must be held during the cropping season at eleva-
tion 8.0 or below. Therefore, when flow from the lake is per-
mitted in quantity for watering the sugarcane lands in that
vicinity, a great deal is wasted into the ocean.
Hillsboro Canal.-From Hurricane Gate No. 4 in the extreme
south corner of Lake Okeechobee, Hillsboro Canal extends south-
eastward by a series of straight reaches to the Atlantic coast
near Deerfield Beach. The last few miles follow the canalized
tidal reaches of Hillsboro River into the Intracoastal Waterway.
The total length is 51 miles.
Throughout the greater portion of its length, Hillsboro Canal
passes through soils of muck and peat, but from 2 or 3 miles
west of State Road No. 7 it passes through the sandy soils of the
coastal ridge. The area of truck farming near the lake extends
down Hillsboro Canal for about 17 miles, and the bordering lands
through the coastal ridge are developed agriculturally, but the
long middle portion of the canal traverses an area entirely
undeveloped.
Near Belle Glade is an old lock-and-control structure of Ever-
glades Drainage District, now unused and in disrepair. Only
the hurricane gate can be used to regulate flow from the lake
into this canal. Near Deerfield Beach is another lock-and-control
of the District, which is used to maintain water elevations in
the lower reaches of the canal. Above Elbow Bend, which is 11
miles above State Road 7, about 13 miles of the channel is of
shallow depth because it was not excavated into the rock as
designed. In this length a dense growth of hyacinths has been
accumulating for a number of years. (See Fig. 21.) Conse-
quently there is little flow from the upper to the lower reach
of the canal.
Along the west side of this canal, as far as the cultivated lands
extend from the lake, is a highway which serves as a levee that
ordinarily prevents overflow from the canal upon the farms west
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 103
This formula provides 1 inch runoff depth per 24 hours from 16
square miles, 3/ inch from 43 square miles, and 1/2 inch from 322
square miles. It has been used in preparing the water-control
plans presented herein for the organic soils. Three-fourths of
the rates computed by this formula have been used for some
ditches to receive flow from only sand prairies in the northeastern
and western parts of the Region.
Irrigation Requirements
Evaporation and Transpiration.-In a study of the water re-
quirements of crops at Everglades Experiment Station, records
have been made of the amounts of water evaporated and trans-
pired by certain plants growing in tanks of peat soil (7, pp. 27-35).
Effort was made to approximate field conditions in placement of
the soil in the tanks and in shelter from excessive exposure to
wind and sunlight. In each tank the water table was held at a
nearly constant depth by adding and withdrawing water as nec-
essary. The average amounts evaporated and transpired from
those tanks through 1943 are shown by months in Table 8, com-
pared with the evaporation from standard Weather Bureau
open pan.
The evaporation and transpiration from the tanks of sugar-
cane averaged 49.0 inches per year, which is 76 percent of the
TABLE 8.-AVERAGE EVAPORATION AND TRANSPIRATION FROM TANKS OF
SOIL AND VEGETATION AND PROM OPEN PAN OF WATER AT EVERGLADES
EXPERIMENT STATION, BELLE GLADE, FLORIDA, 1934 TO 1943.
Cane Standard
Month Sugarcane Sawgrass Bare Soil Trash Open Pan
(10 Years) (7 Years) (4 Years) (6 Years) (20 Years)
Inches Inches Inches' Inches Inches
January ....--.. 1.24 3.69 1.86 0.46 3.53
February ...... 1.28 3.40 2.28 .57 4.13
March .........- i 1.74 4.69 3.04 .69 5.74
April ................ 2.91 6.19 4.06 .67 6.59
May ................ 3.89 8.15 3.93 .67 7.30
June ................. 5.18 7.56 4.30 1.75 6.30
July .................. 6.98 8.18 4.71 1.55 6.71
August ......... 6.78 7.44 4.71 1.37 6.29
September ...... 5.47 6.22 4.35 1.27 5.48
October ........... 6.08 5.95 3.08 0.92 5.20
November ........ 4.39 3.76 2.00 .58 3.90
December ...... 3.08 3.09 1.70 .72 3.26
Year .........--. 49.02 68.32 40.02 11.22 64.43
TABLE 5.-DRAINAGE AND OTHER DISTRICTS FOR WATER CONTROL IN THE EVERGLADES REGION.-(Continued.)
District County Area Pumping Plants Outlet
(Approx.) Number Capacity
Sq. Mile Gals p. Min.
Lake Worth ...... Palm Beach ......... 207 5 156,000 West Palm Beach and Hills-
boro Canals
Little River .....--- ... .-----..------ Dade ......................-....- *6 ......... Biscayne Bay
Loxahatchee---. Palm Beach .............. 11 1 50,000 West Palm Beach Canal
Napoleon B. Broward ---....... Broward .................... 183...... North New River Canal,
South New River Canal,
and New River
Naranja .........----------- Dade ......-----....- .----...- 9 -. Military Outfall Canal a
Newhall ...---- ---- ...... Glades .....--............. 10 Caloosahatchee River
Old Plantation ................... Broward ........................ 15 3 220,000 North New River Canal
Pahokee .- Palm Beach ................ 22 2 300,000 West Palm Beach Canal
Pelican Lake .....-----.... --..--. Palm Beach ...----..-....... 14 4 165,000 West Palm Beach Canal
Ritta .. ---. ... --- .....- --. ---.... Palm Beach ...--...----- 15 ... Miami Canal C
Southern ......------...........- ....--- Dade .....................----.. 284 -. Tamiami and Snapper Creek
Canals
South Florida Conservancy .......... Hendry and Palm Beach 51 6 584,000 Lake Okeechobee
South Shore -.........--------..-.--- Palm Beach ................. 7 1 72,000 Lake Okeechobee
Sugarland .......------...............-...-. Hendry and Glades .... 67 1 180,000 Lake Hiepochee
There is overlapping of 5 square miles among these 4 districts.
"** Citrus Center Drainage District includes a few square miles additional outside the region. C
t Concerning overlapping, see text page 81.
I Concerning overlapping, see text page 81. OC
Istokpoga IDrainage District includes also a greater area outside the region.
00
CO
b
TABLE 5.-DRAINAGE AND OTHER DISTRICTS FOR WATER CONTROL IN THE EVERGLADES REGION.
District County Area Pumping Plants Outlets
(Approx.) Numberj Capacity_____
Sq. Mile Gals p. Min.
Baker Haul-over ........----- ..-....-... Dade ...--..-..............-........ *12 Biscayne Bay
Biscayne ..---..--.. ---............. ..... .. -.. Dade .--..... -- --...... .. .... *13 ........ Biscayne and Little River
Canals
Brown ..... ..... -............. Palm Beach .--..--.. -----128 4 172,000 Hillsboro Canal
Citrus Center (part) --......-..-----.. Glades ..............-. **39 .... Caloosahatchee River
Clewiston ..-------------...... -...-...... Hendry ..-..................-.... 6 2 78,000 Lake Okeechobee
Dade ...--.......-.......---.....--- ......... Dade and Broward ... *173 .... ... Miami, Biscayne, and Little
River Canals
Dade County Water Conservation Dade ......................--- .... 2,054 ... ............ Biscayne Bay and Card
Sound
Diston Island ...--------..... -------- .. Glades and Hendry ....- 31 2 260,000 Lake Okeechobee
Eagle Bay ---..--.....-.. ...--.....-...-... Okeechobee .........-...... 4 ........ Lake Okeechobee
East Beach -.. ....-....................... Palm Beach ..........------ 10 1 60,000 Lake Okeechobee Q
East Marsh ...--........-.......------........ Broward .....----..-..... 3 .. ........ Dania Cut-off
East Shore -------.. ------......-........ Palm Beach ......--.. 13 1 189,000 Lake Okeechobee
Everglades ------............................. (Eleven counties) .....-. 7,150 .... ............ Atlantic Ocean and Caloosa-
hatchee River "
Ft. Lauderdale-Middle River .... Broward ...--.....-------------- 7 Middle River
Gladeview -..--.. ------.......... -----------. Palm Beach .............. 19 -. --- Cross Canal Q
Goulds ......-- ................. ............ .. Dade ........ ------------------..... 5 ..... Goulds Canal .
Hiepochee -... ........--..------........... .. Hendry ....................-....... 16 ..... Caloosahatchee River
Highland Glades ....-....-............... .. Palm Beach .-...............- 30 ...... Cross Canal
Hollywood Reclamation -.......-.... Broward ....-.... .............. 58 Snake Creek Canal
Indian Prairie --...--... -----........ Highlands and Glades.. 98 Harney Pond Canal
Istokpoga (part) -... .......... .. Highlands ...................... 72 Indian Prairie Canal
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 113
for diverting canal flow upon. the non-agricultural lands on either
side. It thus will increase the supply to the water-conservation
areas and reduce waste into the ocean.
Miami Canal Area.-The proposed plan would drain 77 square
miles to Lake Okeechobee through Miami Canal. Most of this
drainage would come from Bolles Canal, for which a westward
extension is proposed to serve a considerable area of organic soils
in Hendry County. Levees will be necessary on both sides of the
Miami between Bolles Canal and the Lake, to maintain a flow
line high enough to obtain gravity outlet when the lake is at
high stage. A proposed control at the intersection of the Miami
and the Bolles will hold high water level in the channel north-
ward when necessary and pass irrigation water from the lake
eastward and westward in the Bolles and southward in the Miami
as desired. When the lands to be served by proposed Canals B
and C are largely developed a pumping plant near Lake Okeecho-
bee may be required to provide the necessary quantity of irriga-
tion water for them and the lands tributary to Bolles Canal.
Protection of the lands in Hendry County against surface flow
from the higher, sandy area to the west is to be obtained by an
intercepting canal and levee, designated herein Sand Prairie, that
would be located approximately along the boundary between the
organic and the sandy soils. This ditch would discharge upon
the ground surface in the area of non-agricultural soils in the
northwest corner of Broward County. The water not evaporated
or used by plants would find its way into the Dade-Broward
counties water-conservation area. To lessen the load upon Sand
Prairie Canal, construction of Devil's Garden Canal farther west
is proposed. It would discharge into Caloosahatchee River below
Lake Hicpochee.
New Areas South of Bolles Canal.-Between the areas in Palm
Beach County to be drained oceanward by Hillsboro and North
New River Canals are about 103 square miles of agricultural
soils. To serve this land, new Canal A is proposed. It would dis-
charge upon the ground surface just below the Palm Beach-
Broward County line. Levees would be required through the
length of the agricultural soils, to carry the flow line above
ground surface. Canal A would be connected to the Bolles .at
the control dividing drainage flow between the Hillsboro and
the North New River. Irrigation water for this area would be
obtained through the Bolles from Hillsboro or North New River
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 141
Class III land is moderately good and can be cultivated safely
with intensive treatments. The principal needs are for water
control and very intensive fertilizing. The class includes large
acreages of Everglades peat, of the wet sandy soils, and of the
gray or dark gray sandy soils.
Since there is no land of class I, classes II and III include
all the land suitable for regular cultivation.
Class IV land is only fairly good for cultivation. Most of it is
best suited for pasture. The Rockdale rocklands, which are suit-
able for growing fruits but not for ordinary crops, are in class
IV. The shallow marls are in the same class, because they can
be used for crops only if the water table remains low throughout
the growing season.
Class V land is suited for grazing or forestry with slight or
no limitations. It is not suitable for cultivation. Gandy peat,
which occurs on islands in areas of Loxahatchee peat, is the
organic soil in this land-capability class. Leon fine sand, a soil
with hardpan subsoil, and the deep, loose sands make up the
sandy lands of class V.
Classes VI and VII do not occur in this area. They are not
suited for cultivation, but can be used for grazing or forestry
with minor limitations in the case of class VI and major limita-
tions in class VII.
Class VIII land is suited only for wildlife or recreation. As
far as could be determined in the analysis of this survey, the
extremely loose Loxahatchee peat, which is subject to extreme
shrinkage, is class VIII land. So also are the saline marls, the
low-lying, wet rocklands, and the tidal marshes, beaches, made
land, and certain miscellaneous land.
Recommendations for use and management of the different
types of land are given in the pages that follow. These recom-
mendations are summarized in Tables 10 and 11.
Management of Peat and Muck Soils
Peat and muck soils occupy 1,922,539 acres, mostly within the
main part of the Everglades. Scattered areas of organic soils also
occur in old channels between the Everglades and the eastern
coast and in the territory west and northwest of Lake Okeecho-
bee. The survey showed 703,037 acres of peat and muck suitable
for cultivation, which are shown on the maps as class II and class
III land. The acreage of class II muck land is relatively small,
TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued)
Water Movement Reaction
Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying of Organic Native Land-Capa-
Soil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class
I Surface Soil Soil |
Acres Percent pH Percent
71 Hialeah mucky Black oxidized Gray or light Limestone Poor Poor 6.0-7.0 10-15 Sawgrass II-A2.
marl 12,026 .3 organic ma- gray fine
terial, 2-6 sand.
inches and light
gray marl, 4-8
in.; or the lay-
ers in reverse
order.
72 Ochopee marl 7,169 .1 Gray or light Marl; lenses of Limestone Poor Poor 7.1-8.5 10-15 Sawgrass, IV-A2
72S Ochopee marl, brownish gray fine sand in the some
shallow phase 372,774 7.8 marl fine sandy marl. cypress.
73 Ochopee fine
sandy marl 623 *
73S Ochopee fine
sandy marl,
shallow phase 8,677 .2
74 Perrine marl 39,690 .8 Light brown or Lighter colored Limestone Poor Poor 7.0-8.5 15-18 Sawgrass, II-A2;
74S Perrine marl, brownish gray marl. myrtle, shallow
shallow phase 66,592 1.4 friable silt loam bay, some phase,
74V Perrine marl, marl. Tidal cypress. IV-A2;
very shallow phase is tidal phase
phase 81,754 1.7 affected by VIII-A2.
74X Perrine marl, salt water.
shallow phase
(peat substratum) 14,368 .3
74T Perrine marl,
tidal phase 53,537 1.1
74P Perrine marl
(peat substratum) 61,429 1.3
75 Copeland fine sandy Dark gray to Brownish gray Moderately Imper- Imper- 6.0-7.0 Medium Cabbage pal- IV-A2
loam, shallow almost black fine sandy clay. hard lime- feet feet metto, few
phase 2,350 loamy fine stone to to pine and
sand. poor poor oak.
76 Keri fine sand 2,977 .1 Gray or brown- Light gray Sand Poor Poor 7.5-8.5 Medium Grasses, II-A2
ish gray fine marl. cabbage
sand, 6-12 palm.
inches
Less than 0.05 percent.
158 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
the trees is likely to be small. Vegetable crops grown on the
rockland are generally planted in the fall, when there usually is
sufficient moisture in the soil to grow the crops to maturity. The
practice of irrigating bearing trees during protracted dry periods
is steadily increasing. Water for irrigation is obtained by pump-
ing from shallow wells drilled to depths of 15 to 20 feet into
the lime rock.
All crops on rockland soil are grown with a minimum of culti-
vation. Hand hoeing is practiced around young trees and ground
crops to keep down undesirable weeds. In groves the weeds or
cover crops between the tree rows are mowed by power machinery
several times during the year, mainly to conserve moisture dur-
ing dry periods and when necessary to reduce fire hazards and
facilitate spraying and fertilizing the trees or harvesting the
fruit. The mowed material is allowed to lie or is gathered under
the trees to mulch the root zone. In some of the older groves
where the land was not cleared of pine stumps mowing machin-
ery cannot be used without danger of considerable breakage. In
these groves the weed growth is usually dragged down with light
scarifying machinery. It is recognized that considerable damage
to small tree roots attends this practice, and it is done mainly to
reduce fire hazard and conserve moisture during the dry periods.
Fertilizer practices of growers of avocados, citrus fruits, and
papayas vary considerably. There is still insufficient research
work completed to standardize the fertilization of these crops,
and there is no experimental basis whatever for establishing fer-
tilizing practices for many of the minor tree crops. Neverthe-
less, experimental tests performed to date with various fertilizers
and minor elements on avocados, limes, and papayas have yielded
data which have given the growers a practical knowledge of the
general nutritional requirements of these crops and as a result
fertilizer practice is steadily becoming less haphazard.
As a general practice, fertilizers are broadcast by hand on
the surface of the soil covering the root zone and no attempt
is made to mix the materials,with the soil. Heavy applications
are made from 3 to 12 times during the year, depending on the
requirements of individual crops. It is often necessary to sup-
plement the N, P, and K fertilizers with zinc, copper, manganese,
or magnesium. The zinc and copper are generally effective only
when applied as a spray, whereas the manganese and magnesium
are usually applied with the fertilizer. The low organic matter
and high free lime content of the freshly scarified soil make it
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 125
9.7 at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, and 5.3 at Davie lock, with the
control at Bolles Canal closed and the controls at Twenty-Six-Mile
Bend, Holloway Dike, and Davie lock fully open. The levee on the
east side should have top elevations of 19.0 at Bolles Canal, 17.0
at the county line, and 15.0 at Holloway Dike. It should be
built according to specifications given for rock levees from the
Bolles to the county line. From the county line to the coastal
ridge the present spoil bank will serve as a levee with some
building up of the smaller cross-sections. Roads 25 and 84 will
serve as a levee on the west and south side of the canal.
The existing control at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend should be
replaced by a new structure that will offer minimum obstruc-
tion to flow and have greater capacity than the present spillways
for diverting water to the non-agricultural lands on either side
of the canal. The remains of old dams in the canal should be
removed. The existing control at Holloway Dike will hold water
for irrigation and minimize over-drainage of lands to the west
in times of low flow.
The cost of improvements planned for the North New River
Canal is estimated as follows:
Pumping plant at Hillsboro Canal (450,000 g.p.m.) ......................$ 400,000
Excavation and levees north of Bolles Canal-
190,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................................. ......... 142,000
100,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .................. ................. 10,000
65,000 cu. yds. of rock, hauled @ $0.35 ................................ 23,000
Excavation and levee, Bolles Canal to county line-
360,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................ ............ .... 270,000
240,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ........... .................. 24,000
Making levee of spoil bank from county line to Holloway Dike .... 50,000
Control-
At Bolles Canal .......................................................................... 30,000
At Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, including spillways ....................... 50,000
Repairs to lock structure at Davie ................................... 21,000
$1,020,000
Incidentals .................-- .... .....- ..... .............- 105,000
$1,125,000
Miami Canal.-The levees to be built on both sides of Miami
Canal from Bolles Canal to Lake Okeechobee should have a top
elevation of 21.0. The bottom of the canal for the entire distance
should be dug to elevation 2.6. The computed flow elevation is
15.6 at the lake and 16.5 at Bolles Canal. The control at the
Bolles should be constructed to prevent drainage southward, or
to pass irrigation water east and west into Bolles Canal and
south to Canal C, as desired.
50 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
tions of the area. The different maps and surveys were based on
different controls, both for planimetric and for topographic meas-
urement. Moreover, many changes had occurred since those
maps were made, especially in land surface elevations as a re-
sult of subsidence of organic soils following drainage and culti-
vation. It was necessary, therefore, that the Soil Conservation
Service make a survey of the whole region as a basis for its land-
capability classification and water-control studies.
The Base Map
As control for making the base map, the positions of the U. S.
Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation and traverse stations
were platted by coordinates, according to transverse Mercator
projection, using meridian 81" from Greenwich as base, on a
scale of 1 inch equals 2 miles. The stations platted were those
along the east coast and across the Everglades Drainage Dis-
trict at the south shore of Lake Okeechobee and along U. S.
Highway 94. The southeast corner of Hendry County was located
by third-order closed traverse circuit from the Coast and Geo-
detic Survey station at Clewiston, checked by a line from Town-
ship 46, Range 42 to Immokalee some 20 miles to the west.
State Road Department location traverses, Soil Conservation
Service traverses, and land lines platted by the General Land
Office were adjusted between the control points mentioned
above. Several hundred land corners were found during the
survey. The border of the Everglades shown on the accompany-
ing maps is the boundry between the organic and the mineral
soils (between the vast body of peat and the sand, marl, and
rockland soils) as determined by the soil-conservation survey.
Leveling
The datum plane for elevations used in this bulletin is mean
sea level as determined by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Level circuits of the survey by the Soil Conservation Service
were closed on Coast and Geodetic Survey bench marks of their
first-order level line along the east coast and their second-order
level lines west from Miami and West Palm Beach. Elevations
referred to this datum are approximately 1.44 feet less than
those referred to Okeechobee datum which has been commonly
used in drainage surveys in this area.
Secondary base levels were run from South Bay to Fort
Lauderdale along State Roads 25 and 84 (new numbering),
134 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
required for West Palm Beach Canal, installing a water control
in Cross Canal, and constructing the Allapattah Levee and Canal
to keep runoff from the sand lands from flooding the organic
soils. The service areas of Hillsboro, North New River, and
Miami Canals can each be developed separately, provided the
related work on Bolles Canal is included. Likewise Canals A and
B can be constructed and their service areas developed seperately,
providing the necessary work to obtain irrigation water through
Bolles Canal is included. To develop the service area outlined
for Canal C it will be necessary, in addition to excavating the
canal and building the levees along it, to construct Sand Prairie
Levee and Canal and Devils Garden Canal in order to protect the
area from runoff from the higher lands to the west.
The surface elevation of the organic soils in the Everglades is
not static. When those soils are drained for cultivation, sub-
sidence occurs and can be expected to continue. (See p. 79.)
For that reason it is believed uneconomical to develop peat soil
for cropping if it is less than 5 feet deep.
In developing the plans for water control, advantage has been
taken of existing drainage improvements, and channels have been
designed with water carried as high as practicable under existing
conditions. This has been done to reduce the cost of the improve-
ments required. The plans proposed should give satisfactory
drainage and irrigation for a number of years to the areas classi-
fied as suited for agriculture.
High stages in outlet canals will cause seepage that may
prohibit cultivation for 200 feet or more on each side. As sub-
sidence continues, seepage will increase and it probably will
become necessary sometime to lower the flow lines in the upper
reaches of West Palm Beach and Miami Canals by installing
pumping plants in those canals at Lake Okeechobee. Later, as
the ground surface continues to subside, it probably will be
necessary to install additional pumping plants in West Palm
Beach Canal below its junction with Cross Canal, in Hillsboro
Canal at the edge of the agricultural land north of Elbow Bend,
and in North New River Canal near the Palm Beach-Broward
County line. The probable ultimate need of pumping plants at
the lower ends of Canals A, B, and C has been stated previously.
However, it is believed that the need for such improvements
will not develop for a considerable period of years and it does
not seem advisable to include them in plans recommended for
immediate consideration. If these pumping plants were con-
20 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
ports are given in Table 1. For the counties that lie partly
within the region, figures are given for the entire county and
also for the part.
The most intensively cultivated area is that bordering the lake
from Moore Haven at Caloosahatchee River through Clewiston
and Belle Glade to Port IMayaca at St. Lucie Canal, with ex-
tensions down North New River, Hillsboro, and West Palm Beach
Canals. Truck crops grown on the peat and muck in the vicinity
of the lake are chiefly snap beans and celery, although cabbage,
tomatoes, peppers, and many other crops are grown. Sugarcane
occupies a large acreage east and west of Clewiston and near
Pahokee. Several fields of lemon grass are grown near Clewis-
ton. Formerly a great deal of sugarcane was grown on the sandy
soils, but at present it is grown chiefly on the peat. Because
of the expensive installations needed for control of the water,
and the suitability of the land for use of tillage machinery, the
tendency is for development of large farms that comprise from
160 to several thousand acres.
Along the eastern boundary of the District, from West Palm
Beach to North New River Canal, is a cultivated band of vary-
ing width, practically continuous except between Hillsboro and
Cypress Creek Canals. The portion north of Hillsboro Canal is
also in Lake Worth Drainage District. Citrus groves are located
chiefly on the mucky sands in the vicinity of Davie and on the
Miami rock rim. The marl lands east of the coastal ridge at
Dania are used intensively for growing tomatoes, and those south-
east of the rock rim for tomatoes, potatoes, and other truck.
These crops are planted in the fall and harvested for market in
winter. The rockland southwest of Miami is used to some extent
for avocados, limes, oranges, grapefruit, mangos, and a wide
variety of sub-tropical fruits of less importance.
Some lands have been improved for pasture, or are being used
for pasture after improvement for more intensive use, along
Caloosahatchee River, around the head of Indian Prairie Canal,
on the mid-section of West Palm Beach Canal, and west of the
coastal ridge between North New River and Snake Creek Canals.
Much of the sandy pine and palmetto land and also a great 'deal
of the wet peat land is used for seasonal grazing. There are
some dairy farms, but beef cattle are grown for the most part.
The principal grazing areas within the drainage district are in
Hendry, Glades, Highlands, Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, and
northern Palm Beach counties.
148 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
enough during the growing season to permit the crop to develop
but high enough to prevent avoidable oxidation and subsidence
of the peat. The best water table conditions for different crops
have not been fully worked out, but experiments are in progress
and farmers should inquire of the Everglades Experiment Sta-
tion. Diking of the fields and flood-fallowing during the summer
are highly desirable practices for control of wireworms and
nematodes as well as for conservation of the peat. Mole drain-
age and occasional gyrotilling help to improve permeability of
the soil.
Applications of copper sulfate are absolutely necessary to bring
new areas of Everglades peat into production. The other minor
elements, especially zinc and manganese, are needed even more
urgently than on the muck land of class II. Celery ordinarily
needs a small amount of borax, which is frequently applied in
the fertilizer but is also used as a spray.
Nitrogen usually is not needed in the fertilizers, although a
small amount may be beneficial on truck crops during periods of
cold, wet weather (25). Potash requirements are high, as the
peat is deficient in this element. Applications of manganese
sulfate are especially needed on the burned-over areas, the
amount depending on the degree of alkalinity that has been pro-
duced. Most of the minor elements, as zinc, boron, and manga-
nese, can be applied most conveniently in the sprays or dusts
used on the truck crops.
Where beans are grown the fertilizer used frequently is of an
analysis high in phosphate, as 0-14-10. Cabbage are given a fer-
tilizer higher in potash, such as 0-12-16, or the fertilizer may be
omitted if the immediately preceding crop has been heavily fer-
tilized. Potatoes may receive a mixture high in potash, as
0-8-24, and celery heavy applications of a similar formula. Lime
is needed for most crops other than potatoes on the Brighton
peat. The amount needed on each field should be determined from
soil tests.
Before the Everglades peat is used for sugarcane it should be
used for truck crops or for grass a few years. Fertilizer require-
ments for cane are about same as on the Okeechobee muck,
namely about 200 pounds of muriate of potash or its equivalent
along with copper, zinc, and manganese sulfates the first year,
and 200 pounds of potash annually as long as the cane is
harvested.
In recent years some of this land has been used for cattle pas-
16 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
"A LK+' .- ORLANDO
LO' ORANGE
LAE
I
L f
a
c AINES
CITY ( ~~
1Ar WNt4-A MELBOURN
OPOL SCEdLA
AINDIAN
RIVER
DESOTO I |
PV L
Si ~ RTIN
JUCA LAKEPORT LAKE
R '\ PAo, L t O0 K EECHOB
CHARLOTTE GLAD ANAL
MO
HAVE HOKE
--z-- "PAL
P 3.AOOSAHATCa Aa BELLE CLEWIST BBEACH
SEA80ARD IR LLE CROSS CANA
HENDRY Eo
LEE I
Fig 3.-Drainage area of Lake Okeechobee.
112 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Canal between Cross Canal and 5 miles above Elbow Bend. Chan-
nel enlargement and levees are planned to carry the runoff from
this area, and from 50 square miles of mostly sandy soils in
Ranges 41 and 42, to Hillsboro River and the ocean. Through
the agricultural areas the levees will confine the flood flows to
the canal. Through the non-agricultural area the levees will
serve a double purpose in holding water in the conservation area
and in keeping it out of the canal while the capacity is needed
for draining the cultivated lands. A control in the eastern part
of Range 39 is planned to prevent over-drainage of agricultural
lands above in times of low canal flow.
North New River Canal Area.-About 44 square miles are to
be drained by North New River Canal into Lake Okeechobee,
through the outlet of Hillsboro Canal. About half of this area
will contribute through Bolles Canal between the control prev-
iously mentioned, to be built 3 miles to the east, and another
proposed about 31/2 miles west of North New River Canal. A con-
trol would be provided just south of the Bolles, and a pumping
plant for drainage and irragation will be needed at the junction
with the Hillsboro or elsewhere north of the lock at South Bay.
Channel improvement will be necessary in this section of the
canal, and levees on both sides except where Road No. 25 provides
the needed embankment.
The agricultural lands to be drained by North New River Canal
south of Bolles Canal comprise approximately 86 square miles
of peat soil within 2 to 3 miles on either side, down to the Palm
Beach-Broward County line. These lands will be irrigated by
water from Lake Okeechobee. The agricultural lands on the
south in Ranges 40 and 41 will be irrigated from North New River
Canal, although they are drained into South New River Canal.
A levee is planned along the east and north side of North New
River Canal from Bolles Canal to the Broward County line to
prevent overflow from the canal. Repair of the existing spoil
bank from the county line to the lock at Davie will serve a like
purpose above Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, and will keep out surface
flow from Broward County water-conservation area. The em-
bankment of Road No. 25 provides the levee required on the west
and south side of the canal.
A new control structure planned at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend will
offer less obstruction than the existing structure to flow in the
canal, and will have greater capacity than the present spillways
14 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Co 9. 9_ 9 _
C N T-37-
4aa WEs
S L PALM T-43-S
l.--i 1~- rS.; ^ ^t jAe BEACH
Ss T T-44-S
COU PALMBEAC
LAKEHENDRY I .T4-S
a A T-46-S
S, \sour ew 1\ T -ILAUDERDALE T-50-s
COUNTY I T-54-S
T-45-S
"- 2.-Pyi ----sio-s of the Id L -
MIA I EACH T-54-S
ST-54-S
DAOE 5r-s
COUNTYI l c
7u T-56-S
T-55-S
DADEL T-55-s
6
T -59-S
4 1) 0 0 0 20 MILES
Fig. 2.-Physiographic divisions of the Everglades Region. la, saw-
grass plains; Ib, custard-apple; le, willow-and-elder; Id, hammock-saw-
grass; 2, ridge-and-slough; 3, hammock-and-glades; 4a, coastal ridge and
sand prairies; 4b, sandy lands, hammock-and-slough; 5, Miami rock rim;
6, coastal marsh.
78 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Lake Okeechobee receives the surface flow from some 4,700
square miles lying to the west and north, about three-fourths of
which drains through Kissimmee River. (The divides are very
poorly defined in many places, being so flat that there may be
drainage flow across them in either direction according to the
distribution of recent rainfall.) Before drainage of the Ever-
glades was begun the only outlet for flood waters from the lake
was by overflow along the southern shore, which occurred at
lake elevation of about 20 feet above mean sea level. The low
portion of the lake rim now has subsided to about elevation 15.
Levees and control works constructed and operated by the War
Department hold the lake level generally between elevations 12.6
and 15.6.
The indications concerning ground water were obtained by
wells drilled by U. S. Geological Survey and Soil Conservation
Service at the locations shown in Figure 14. Beside each Con-
servation Service well into the surface rock, a small well was put
down through the muck to the ground-water table. In each
instance the water level in the drilled well stood at the same ele-
vation as the ground water in the muck, except once in a diked
area while pumping held the water table below the level of water
just outside in Hillsboro Canal. Evidently the water in the soil
and that in the rock are one body. It has been explained herein
(p. 22) that artesian flow from deep strata recharged in distant
areas is prevented by the Hawthorne formation.
The surface and soil waters of the Everglades, including Lake
Okeechobee, are readily usable for domestic needs and irrigation
of crops. The waters in the permeable Miami and Tamiami for-
mations underlying the lower and middle Everglades likewise are
sweet and potable, and are drawn upon for municipal and
industrial supplies along the lower East Coast. These forma-
tions are recharged locally from precipitation within the region.
The water yielded by the occasional solution holes and lenses of
permeable material in the Fort Thompson formation under the
upper Everglades, however, is usually so highly charged with
minerals that it cannot be used for household purposes or
irrigation.
There are indications of an isolated area of fairly permeable
rocks underlying about half of Lake Okeechobee and nearby
lands to the south and east, perhaps 25 feet thick and encountered
at a depth of 12 to 30 feet. The water from this section con-
tains as much as 4,000 to 5,000 parts per million of total solids,
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 129
Control at Bolles Canal-included in cost of that canal
"$882,500
Incidentals ........... .. .... .. ......... --------. .... 92,500
$975,000
Canal C.-Canal C would start at the control in Miami Canal
at its intersection with Bolles Canal and extend down the course
of Miami Canal and the old Disston Canal to a point 1 mile east
of the west boundary of Palm Beach County, and then south
parallel to that county line to about 3 miles south of the Palm
Beach-Broward County line. The total length of the canal
would be about 221/2 miles. Rock levees on both sides of Canal
C would be required from Bolles Canal to the boundary of the
agricultural lands, approximately 1 mile north of the Broward
County line and 4 miles above the end of the canal. These levees
should be constructed with top elevation 20.5 at the Bolles and
18:5 at their lower end. The canal has been designed with flow-
line elevation 16.5 at the Bolles and 14.5 at the junction with
Sand Prairie Canal. To avoid unnecessary excavation of rock,
a wide channel is planned that cuts into the rock only at each side
for just enough of that material to build the levee.
The estimated cost of Canal C is as follows:
Excavation for canal and levees-
600,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .-...................-------- 450,000
5,000,000 cu. yds. of peat @ $0.10 .................. .....- 500,000
Control structure at Bolles Canal-included in estimate for that
canal
$ 950,000
Incidentals ...... ......-.. ...... ...... ---... .. 100,000
$1,050,000
Sand Prairie Levee and Canal.-Sand Prairie Levee is of
primary importance in development of the organic soils along
the west edge of the Everglades by protecting them against the
runoff from the mineral soils lying to the west. Sand Prairie
Canal is important to the sand lands because it will furnish outlet
for the flood waters that otherwise would be impounded by the
levee.
The levee begins at the levee of Sugarland Drainage District
at the southwest corner of Section 1, Township 44, Range 33, and
from there to the southeast corner of Section 34, Township 47,
Range 34, follows approximately the line between the mineral
and the organic soils. From the latter point it will extend south-
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 157
are to go is still practiced if the scarifying is shallow, but in
recent years blasting has been discarded by some growers.
Instead, the rock is plowed out down the tree rows with power-
ful scarifiers to depths of 16 to 20 inches (Fig. 26). When the
field is leveled there is ample depth of loose material in the tree
rows to plant without blasting and 6 to 8 inches depth between
the rows to allow spread of lateral roots. This method of land
preparation for groves costs less than blasting plus shallow
scarifying.
After scarifying, trees or vegetable crops may be planted at
once, although the abundance of free lime in freshly scarified
soil makes it desirable to prepare the land at least one year in
advance of planting trees and to establish a cover crop as soon
as possible to increase the organic content of the soil. Crotalaria
and white sweet clover thrive on the rockland soils and are
planted as cover crops, but many growers rely upon natural weed
growth for ground cover.
The best times for planting trees are during the spring months
from April to early June and in the fall during September and
October. Temperatures are favorable for starting growth during
these periods and the amount of watering necessary to establish
Fig. 26.-Preparation of Rockdale rockland in the redland district
for planting trees without dynamiting. The rock is broken up to depths
of 16 to 20 inches, where the trees will be established. (Photograph by
Geo. D. Ruehle.)
.4
Sn-
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 73
west of West Palm Beach is the source of water for that city.
Although cultivation or grazing might be possible for a few
years if this loose peat could be drained, drainage is not recom-
mended because of the extreme shrinkage and settling that will
occur. It is classified as class VIII land, not suitable for any
cultivation. The areas contain numerous water holes in which
fish, frogs, ducks, and other game are abundant. Their most
productive use is for water storage and for wildlife.
Marls and Calcareous Sandy Soils.-The marls most suitable
for cultivation lie in broad areas south of the rockland in south-
ern Dade County. Some narrow bands occupy channels in the
rockland between Miami and Homestead and there are other
smaller scattered areas. Perrine marl is a light brown or brown-
ish gray friable silt loam which contains from 10 to about 15 per-
cent organic matter. The mineral part is almost pure marl. If
the marl is more than 24 inches deep it is class II land, suitable
for cultivation if it receives the necessary special treatments.
There are 101,119 acres of this land, about two-thirds of which
is underlain by a peat substratum. The shallow Perrine marl, 12
to 24 inches deep, and also the very shallow phase of the same
soil, are class IV land. They occupy 162,714 acres. An additional
area of Perrine marl amounting to 53,537 acres is affected by
salt water along the coast. It is not suitable for cultivation and
is shown on the maps as class VIII land.
Hialeah mucky marl has a surface layer of a few inches of
muck over light gray marl, or this order may be reversed. It
may consist of layers of muck and marl. Usually the subsoil is
sandy. There.are 12,026 acres of this soil, mostly in Dade
County with small acreages in Broward and Glades counties. It
is class II land.
Ochopee marl occupies 389,243 acres, primarily in Collier and
Monroe counties. All of it is class IV land. It is too low and
shallow for good drainage and could be cultivated only in years
when the water table is low. It affords some grazing in dry
seasons. The surface soil is gray or light brownish gray marl,
and the subsoil is marl containing lenses of fine sand. Ochopee
fine sandy marl contains considerable sand in the surface soil.
Ninety-eight percent of the Ochopee marls are shallow and con-
sist of less than 24 inches of marl over the limestone.
Flamingo marl lies 3 or 4 feet above sea level in the southern
part of Dade County. It is dark gray heavy silt loam or silty clay
loam, over compact, plastic silty clay loam subsoil, which may
6 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
The War Department has constructed flood-control works that
prevent overflow from Lake Okeechobee, but the canals dug by
the Drainage District have not been adequate. Nevertheless, by
1939 probably 125,000 acres had been developed for cropland
through construction of supplemental drainage and irrigation
works by sub-districts and privately. The greater portion of this
acreage is near Lake Okeechobee, the other along the Atlantic
coast.
Subsidence of the land surface following drainage has in-
creased the cost of development and indicated that the peaty
soils can be farmed profitably for only a limited time. Drainage
of undeveloped peat has permitted destruction of soil by uncon-
trolled fires.
As the canals operate, at times drainage for some of the
farm lands involves flooding of others, or drainage for some in-
volves drought for others. Water needed for irrigation is wasted.
Moreover, it appears that extensive and indiscriminate drain-
age threatens injury to the water supply for municipalities along
the coast, by reducing the quantity of fresh water available and
by permitting sea water to enter the cities' wells.
This conflict of interest in the extent and management of
drainage, and increase in knowledge that not all of the Ever-
glades is suited for permanent cropping created desire for a
thorough investigation of the land and water resources of this
area.
Scope of Investigation and Report
Studies relating to water control for agricultural lands in
the Everglades region of Florida have been carried on contin-
uously since 1933 under cooperative agreements between the
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Florida
and the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering2 and the Soil Con-
servation Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The
Everglades Project of the Soil Conservation Service was set up
in 1939 under specific appropriation of $75,000 by Congress (in
Public Act No. 159, 76th Congress) for research and demonstra-
tion work in soil conservation in the Everglades region. This
bulletin is a report on that project.
The investigations undertaken include a topographic survey,
When the activities of Bureau of Agricultural Engineering were divided
among other bureaus of the 'Department in 1939, the divisions of Drainage
Investigations and Irrigation Investigations were transferred to the Soil
Conservation Service.
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 17
portions of the District (area 4) have a hammock-and-slough
phase in the northwestern and northeastern corners. The Miami
rock rim, area 5, is a low ridge from 5 to 15 miles wide which ex-
tends about 60 miles southwest from Miami. Southeast and
south of it is the coastal marsh, area 6.
Lake Okeechobee receives the runoff from Kissimmee River
and several smaller streams (see Fig. 3) which have a combined
drainage area of about 5,000 square miles. The area of the lake
itself is 725 square miles at elevation 15.5 feet above mean sea
level.4 Before reclamation of any of the Everglades or nearby
swamp lands, the surface of Lake Okeechobee stood in ordinary
years between 18 and 20 feet above the sea. It did not have
any well-defined outlet, but at high water overflowed much of
the southern rim. The water then flowed slowly through the
Everglades, and what was not evaporated or used by plants
passed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. This
natural drainage was changed greatly by the canals, the first of
which was completed early in 1883 to connect the lake with the
Caloosahatchee River. The shores of the lake are now diked
for flood control as well as for regulation of the water level, and
the water is maintained as nearly as possible between elevations
12.6 and 15.6 m.s.l. (feet above mean sea level) by the Corps of
Engineers, U. S. Army. The main outlets through which water
is discharged are St. Lucie Canal and Caloosahatchee River.
Canals are shown in Figure 2 and on the larger maps. Most
of the canals are primarily for drainage, as described in the sec-
tions on water conditions and water control. The cross-state
waterway from Fort Myers to Stuart, which is part of the flood-
control project, connects Lake Okeechobee with the Gulf by way
of Caloosahatchee River and with the Atlantic Ocean by way of
St. Lucie Canal. The lower ends of the drainage canals are
used by pleasure and small commercial craft.
The highest portion of Everglades Drainage District is north
of Lake Okeechobee. South of the Lake, the highest ground is
a sandy ridge in Hendry County which reaches elevation 30
m.s.l. (mean sea level) at one point on the west boundary of the
District. The greatest elevations found in the northern 'Glades
were 18 to 19 feet near the boundaries between the peat and the
sandy lands north of West Palm Beach Canal and in Hendry
County. In undeveloped peat some 6 to 10 miles south of the
SU. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey datum. See page 50.
118 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
Therefore, the levees in areas of organic soil are designed to be
built to 4 feet above the maximum water elevation expected, to
allow for 2 feet subsidence of the foundation. To reduce seepage
under the embankment a puddle trench should be excavated down
to rock along the center line of the levee site, to be refilled with
the excavated peat before the rock fill is placed.
Water-Conservation Areas.-The outlet structures for these
areas may be pipe or box culverts or spillway structures, but
provided with means of regulating the flow through or over
them. The outlet for the Palm Beach County area and that for
the Broward County area should each have capacity to pass at
least 1,000 cubic feet per second under a static head of 2.0 feet.
The outlet or outlets for the Dade-Broward counties area should
have capacity to pass at least 2,500 cubic feet per second under
0.5 foot of head. The cost of these is estimated as follows:
Outlet controls-
Palm Beach County area .......-...-... ..- -............--..- .$ 20,000
Broward County area ........-..-......... ...........- ..... 20,000
Dade-Broward County area .....- ......... .........- .... 75,000
$115,000
Incidentals .. ---. ---- ------ ---......--------.. 12,000
$127,000
West Palm Beach Canal.-The levee along the north side of
West Palm Beach Canal has been designed with a Uniform top
elevation of 21.0 m.s.l. from.Lake Okeechobee to the proposed
control at about the north line of township 43, a distance of
approximately 10.3 miles. The material should be excavated
from the existing channel, which would give this section of the
canal ample capacity for the drainage and irrigation water it
would be required to carry. Subsidence of the peat foundation
may sometime make it necessary to raise State Road 716 to
keep it effective in protecting agricultural lands south of the
canal.
From the above proposed control to Cross Canal, the channel
of West Palm Beach Canal without enlargement would be
sufficient for drainage and irrigation with a flow line about 2 feet
above present ground surface. Computed high-water stages are:
for drainage, 16.0 at the control and 14.3 at Cross Canal; for
irrigation, 15.0 at the control and 14.7 at the Cross Canal. The
levee along the north side of the canal should be constructed and
Road 716 on the south side. be maintained with top elevations
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 9
any veto of later railroad land-grant acts by making such grants
subject to the Trust and to the provisions of the Act of January
6, 1855. Of the 15 million acres granted to the railroad com-
panies by the legislature between 1879 and 1900 to encourage
construction of railroads, upward of 8 million acres were swamp
and overflowed lands conveyed by the Trustees.
New difficulties were encountered by the Trustees in the
reconstruction period after 1865. The maturing of large obliga-
tions which the Fund could not pay caused the management of
the Fund to be placed temporarily in the hands of the United
States Court. The sale of 4 million acres of swamp and over-
flowed land to Hamilton Disston during the first term of Gov-
ernor Bloxham, beginning in 1881, permitted the Trustees to
regain control of the Fund by applying the proceeds of the sale
to the Fund's debts.
The contract between the Trustees and Hamilton Disston and
others (Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Com-
pany) was the first major attempt toward drainage of the Ever-
glades. Disston and his associates agreed to drain and reclaim
all overflow lands belonging to the State south of Township 23
and east of Peace Creek, and in payment the Trustees agreed to
convey alternate sections of all lands so reclaimed, provided the
lands reclaimed were not less than 200,000 acres. The lands
covered by the contract were more than 9 million acres.
Drainage operations were begun near Kissimmee and were
continued for some years in that area. Questions concerning
those operations resulted in legislative authorization in accord-
ance with which the Governor in 1885 appointed a committee
to investigate. The committee reported that only about 80,000
acres had been reclaimed, and that the canals had not lowered
Lake Okeechobee and Kissimmee River. As a result, the Disston
contract was revised in 1888, restricting drainage operations to
the Kissimmee Valley and deeding to the company one acre of
land for each 25 cents expended on the reclamation project.
The total results of the Disston contract to the Everglades
area were the digging of Three-Mile Canal connecting Caloosa-
hatchee River with Lake Okeechobee, and another canal ex-
tending southward from Lake Okeechobee and discharging upon
the ground surface in the 'Glades. All drainage operations under
the Disston contract ceased about 1889.
Statutory grants of swamp and overflowed lands to transpor-
tation companies and others had by 1900 disposed of most of
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 107
some near the lower east coast being comparable with clean
gravel in this respect (16). Wells in the Miami area have a high
yield with little draw-down, and seepage from the rock into lower
reaches of Miami Canal has been measured as great as 100 cubic
feet per second per mile of canal.8 There is no seal of marl over
the rock in that area, but along the coastal ridge are sandy sub-
soils that considerably retard the upward flow from the rock.
Experience indicates that over such permeable, water-bearing
material, diking and pumping would be impracticable because
water would flow under the dikes in quantities far larger than
it would be feasible to pump. The organic soils in the lower
Everglades, however, have been classed as non-agricultural.
(See pp. 72-73.)
Control Works Planned
Millions .of dollars have been expended by Everglades Drain-
age District in constructing the 4 main drainage canals from
Lake Okeechobee to the ocean. These have given direction to
agricultural development in the district and have been supple-
mented by extensive drainage and irrigation works installed by
subdistricts and private landowners. It is desirable to utilize the
existing works as far as practicable.
Only 1 of the main drainage canals, the North New River, ever
has been dug to the originally designed depth, and that not
until 1939. But if all were enlarged to the originally planned
dimensions, none would have capacity enough in periods of
heavy rainfall to drain more than a part of the tributary lands
that are suitable for agriculture, even with runoff from non-
agricultural lands kept out. It is believed practicable to improve
most of the present canals so they will adequately serve the agri-
cultural lands lying within a few miles on each side and to con-
struct additional canals for the -lands at greater distance that
are to be cultivated.
General Plan of Improvements.-Presented here is a general
plan of primary water-control improvements for the organic soils
east and south of Lake Okeechobee that are classed as agricul-
tural, except those now drained directly into the lake, and for a
part of the agricultural sandy soils of the coastal ridge. Major
development in the coastal section evidently will be residential
rather than agricultural. Recommendation is made for estab-
SU. S. Geological Survey. Unpublished data.
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 35
of old Lake Flirt east of Fort Thompson on the Caloosahatchee
River. There the formation ranges in thickness up to 6 feet.
(See Figure 13.)
The Lake Flirt marl is widely distributed under the organic
soils of the Everglades, and in places is consolidated into a hard
limestone (as along Cross and Hillsboro Canals) just under the
muck. Usually, however, it is a soft, grayish-white calcareous
mud rich with leached shells of fresh-water gastropods, especial-
ly of the genera Helisoma and Ameria. The marl is not uniform-
ly distributed; it often pinches or lenses out into peat or muck.
Generally it is quite impermeable, acting as a seal that prevents
movement of water through it. Where present it is an important
aid in controlling water levels, especially above the highly per-
meable Miami oolite and the Tamiami formation.
Organic Soils.-The peats and mucks of the Everglades, formed
in Recent time, are treated fully elsewhere in this bulletin. (See
pp. 61 and 141.)
Topographic Development
The general aspect of southern Florida's topographic expres-
sion is one of extreme flatness, yet there is considerable diver-
sification. Along the Florida east coast the Atlantic Coastal
Ridge extends as a strip of higher land between the ocean and
the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression. North of this de-
pression, which is some 40 miles wide and 100 miles long, is a
series of higher land, Pleistocene marine terraces, scalloped by
streams such as Kissimmee River and Fisheating Creek. To the
west of the depression is the higher land of Big Cypress Swamp
and Devil's Garden. Along parts of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
are quiescent dunes; in fact many of the Ten Thousand Islands
of the lower west coast are drowned sand dunes. And filling in
most of the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression to a monot-
onously flat level are the organic peat and muck soils that today
are undergoing an important change in topographic expression.
(See p. 79.)
Most of this topographic development was achieved during
the Pleistocene, or Great Ice Age, but some of the Pliocene rocks
still are exposed at the surface. The development of the rocks,
soils, and topographic expression may be traced from the
Pliocene epoch.
34 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
The surficial deposits consist of poorly sorted gray to white
quartz sand of various degrees of fineness and angularity. Below
the surface the sands are gray to orange, tan, and brown. In
some places the sands have been cemented to produce friable to
hard sandstones.
Old bars, inner lagoons, and beach ridges are still prominent
in many places on the surface of these formations. These in-
herited shore line features today exert primary control on sur-
face drainage, and are responsible for the existence of most of
the sloughs, swales, and "islands" of the Kissimmee River drain-
age basin and similar areas.
Not a great deal is known about the transmissibility of these
formations. They absorb rainfall readily and yield water to
many shallow small-diameter wells finished with sand-points.
The few exploratory test wells put down through these sands
indicate that the quantity of ground water moving through the
formations toward Lake Okeechobee is relatively small.
Latest Pleistocene and Recent Rocks
Lake Flirt Marl.-The Lake Flirt marl of late Wisconsin and
Recent age has its thickest and typical development in the basin
Fig. 13.-Typical view of the Lake Flirt marl at the type locality about
one-half mile east of the dismantled U.S.E.D. Lock No. 3 on Caloosahatchee
River. Note that carbonaceous sand and/or peat and muck layers are inter-
calated with the marl beds. Laterally marl may grade into muck, peat,
or carbonaceous sand, and vice versa. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.)
^IBI^^ll^T 3^~
i K --
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 39
Illinoian Glacial Stage.-As the climate cooled during the
Illinoian glacial stage and the vast ice sheets spread, sea level
again dropped below the present level. Once more fresh-water
lakes and marshes appeared on the broad flat top of the Floridian
Plateau, and streams began cutting across the newly-emerged sea
bottom to the edge of the continental shelf. The present Lake
Okeechobee-Everglades depression had not assumed its modern
shape, but the area had been low ever since the Pliocene sea
withdrew, and the accumulation of the basal Anastasia forma-
tion to the east tended to produce a basin; consequently, the
Everglades area became a vast marshy lowland with shallow
lakes scattered in its deeper portions. In these lower areas a
fresh-water marl and limestone, in places 4 feet thick, was de-
posited. Solution and erosion were active wherever moving water
could attack the rocks, especially on the higher land areas along
the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
Sangamon Interglacial Stage.-Melting of the glaciers formed
during Illinoian time slowly restored sea level to 100 feet above
"the present level, where it remained for some time before falling
to 70 feet, then to 42 feet. It probably was mainly during the
early and late parts of the Sangamon, when sea level ranged be-
tween -20 feet and +20 feet with reference to present sea level,
that much of southern Florida's present-day topography assumed
its major outlines. Along the Atlantic coast the Miami oolite and
Anastasia formations were laid down as part of a marine bar,
just about at the level of the sea during those times. In many
places wind-blown and wave-tossed sand or oolitic material was
heaped up above high tide level, while behind the bar, in the
broad expanse of the present-day Everglades-Lake Okeechobee
depression, a shoal existed in which oolite (Miami oolite) was
deposited to the south, and in the north mollusk shells were con-
centrated in a wide and comparatively thick layer that today
makes up the Coffee Mill Hammock marl member of the Fort
Thompson formation.
The growth of the bar built up by Anastasia and Miami de-
posits was concomitant with that of the upper part of the Key
Largo limestone coral reef, and together largely built up the
topographic basin which today encloses the Lake Okeechobee
Everglades depression. Tidal currents scoured in and out
through lower parts of the bar, even as they do between the
Florida Keys today, and left spillways that subsequently be-
came used by fresh-water drainage from the Everglades. These
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 137
is carried out mostly by regulating the water level in farm
ditches rather than by sprinkling or by other methods of apply-
ing water on the surface of the land. The rocklands are irrigated
by portable pumps that draw water from shallow wells.
Drainage by gravity is not rapid enough to be adequate on the
peat soils and the low-lying mineral soils that are now in cultiva-
tion. Pumps are required to remove the water during wet periods
and to maintain the level in the canals and laterals during dry
periods when it would otherwise fall too low.
Developers of land should ascertain whether there will be
enough outlet capacity to handle the runoff from their land before
they spend any money for improvements. Ordinarily it is not
practicable to install pumps and outlets that will dispose of the
maximum rainfall, and it appears to be good farm management
to plan on losing a crop about once in 5 to 10 years. Larger
facilities could be built but their higher cost would have to be
balanced against the value of the additional crops saved. The
drainage system should be arranged so at least part of the farm
can be drained adequately during any storm, by locating dikes
and putting in gates with which runoff from other parts can be
delayed when that is desired. In this way the crops on at least
part of the farm can be saved.
On the sandy mineral soils it is important, for most crops, that
the developer ascertain that there is an adequate source of irriga-
tion water. Irrigation of such soils by pumping from wells into
the farm ditches usually will not be practicable, because the water
will percolate downward rather than spread laterally through
the root zone.
The general opinion among growers is that facilities to remove
2 or 3 inches of water in 24 hours should be available on truck
farms. Such removal should be possible over the entire farm,
and preferably over an area of several square miles. For sugar-
cane or pasture such quick removal is not necessary and 1 inch
in 24 hours is probably sufficient. At the rate of 12,000 gallons
per minute, a pump will remove about 1 inch in 24 hours from 1
square mile. Because the lift is about 3 feet, on the average, and
seldom more than 5 feet, low-lift screw-type pumps are generally
the most economical. Reversible installations commonly are
needed in order that water may be pumped from the outlet canal
into the drainage ditches for irrigation during the dry periods.
Whenever pumps are installed to drain and irrigate the organic
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 71
and in the nature of the underlying material. The organic
material may rest directly on the limestone or on an intermediate
layer of sand or marl. These differences, especially depth of
the organic material and nature of the immediately underlying
layer, determine the capability of the land for farming and other
uses, subject of course to establishment of adequate water
control.
Okeechobee muck is a nearly black mixture of organic material
and.fine mineral soil that may be as much as 4 feet deep, under-
lain by brown fibrous peat. Deeper alternations of peat and
muck layers may be present. It occupies the belt of custard-
apple land along the southeastern margin of Lake Okeechobee,
mostly south of Pahokee. The area is 32,108 acres, and all but a
few acres of it is at least 5 feet deep over limestone. There may
be a thin layer of marl directly on the limestone. It is excellent
land when drained, irrigated, and fertilized and is placed in
land-capability class II.
Okeelanta peaty muck is found on the willow-and-elder land
which borders the Okeechobee muck on the south and east. It
consists of 6 to 18 inches of finely fibrous, well decomposed
organic matter over a layer of black plastic muck which contains
15 to 35 percent of mineral material, and resembles Okeechobee
muck. There are 25,127 acres of Okeelanta peaty muck on which
the peat and muck layers are at least 5 feet deep. This land
belongs to land-capability class II. The 1,000 acres less than 5
feet deep are in class IV.
Everglades peaty muck contains somewhat less mineral matter
than Okeelanta peaty muck, or from 10 to 15 percent. As a
rule it does not have the subsurface layer of black plastic muck
and the surface layer rests on brown, fibrous felty peat, although
some of it grades toward Okeelanta peaty muck. The total
extent is 34,990 acres, of which 31,816 acres are more than 5 feet
deep. There are 9,912 acres of Everglades peaty muck under-
lain by sand. This land is suitable for cultivation and is in land-
capability class III.
Everglades peat, the soil of the broad sawgrass plains, is the
most extensive organic soil. The upper 6 to 18 inches is nearly
black, finely fibrous peat which contains from 8 to 15 percent
mineral matter. The subsoil is brown, fibrous peat which rests
on the underlying rock, sand, or marl. It has been formed
mostly from sawgrass material. If the peat is more than 5 feet
deep, or is shallower but underlain by marl or sand, cultivation
Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 19
vested in the 95 counties that lie partly or wholly within the
Everglades region amounted to $41,805,438. Cropland harvested
in these same counties was 195,711 acres, and within the pre-
cincts that lie almost wholly within the District amounted to
152,975 acres. These figures and others from the Census re-
TABLE 1.-NUMBER AND ACREAGE OF FARMS, ACREAGE OF CROPLAND HAR-
VESTED, NUMBER OF CATTLE AND CALVES, AND VALUE OF CROPS IN THE
COUNTIES AND PRECINCTS IN THE EVERGLADES REGION, CENSUS OF 1945.
(FROM U. S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.)
County* and Land in Cropland Cattle Value of
Precincts Farms Farms Harvested and All Crops
SCalves Sold**
Number Acres Acres Number Dollars
Broward ......... 1,104 108,111 24,816 17,601 5,729,708
Dade ................. 1,159 77,631 22,602 16,472 7,445,757
Glades ................. 127 79,121 3,855 21,427 246,870
Prec. 1, 3, 4, 6,
7, 8, 9, 10 & 18 95 62,542 3,658 18,033 234,200
Hendry .............. 117 362,252 26,390 24,847 3,258,463
Prec. 1 and 2.. 21 155,087 25,158 7,501 3,106,400
Highlands .......... 609 503,478 15,305 62,495 5,165,741
Prec. 8 ...... 7 343,473 56 38,560 18,900
Martin .............. 263 175,682 5,916 14,442 1,213,880
Prec. 7 and 8.. 59 122,238 3,623 10,154 743,600
Okeechobee ....... 210 264,742 426 29,715 38,880
Prec. 4, 6,
and 7 ............ 87 160,179 197 16,143 18,000
Palm Beach ....-... 1,139 278,090 72,623 17,400 13,883,650
St. Lucie ...... ---- 549 292,306 23,778 14,063 4,822,489
Prec. 3 ..... 13 44,512 242 2,000 49,100
Total, 9 complete
counties .......-..- 5,277 2,141,413 195,711 218,462 41,805,438
Total of counties
or precints in
Everglades
Region ........... 3,684 1,351,863 152,975 143,864 31,229,315
There is practically no agriculture in the portions of Collier and Monroe counties
within, the Everglades Region.
** County figures are from the Bureau of the Census; values for precincts have been
computed therefrom as proportional to acreage of cropland harvested.
SCollier and Monroe counties not included because there is practically
no agriculture in the portions in the Everglades Region.
TABLE 10.-PRINCIPAL USES AND TREATMENTS RECOMMENDED FOR EACH CLASS OF LAND SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION.-(Continued.)
Water Control and
Land-Capability Soil Group Suitable Crops Fertilizer and Soil Other Engineering Notes
Glass Amendments Needed* Needs*
IV. Suitable for only Al. Shallow peat and Too shallow for satis- If used for crops, fer- Satisfactory water con-
limited cultiva- peaty muck. factory water con- tilizer needs are simi- trol is difficult, and
tion. trol. Crops can be lar to those of Class use for crops or pas-
grown only in dry III-A1. ture is possible only
years. Suitable during dry periods.
chiefly for grazing,
also only in dry
years.
A2. Shallow or heavy If water control can Heavy applications of Usually shallow ditches
marls. be established, suit- complete fertilizer, for removal of surface
able for truck crops Minor elements, water are fairly
as tomatoes, peppers, effective.
eggplant, beans and
potatoes.
A3. Poorly drained Suitable for truck Heavy fertilization and Water control is neces-
acid white fine crops and citrus if use of minor elements sary on crop land and
sands, water control feas- for crops, along with desirable for greater
ible. Best adapted liberal green-manure production on pas-
to pastures, crops. For pastures, tures.
complete fertilizer
and copper sulfate at
first and phosphate
every year after grass
is established.
C2. Rockdale Rock- Primarily, subtropical Trees need frequent Irrigation by pumping
lands, fruits, as avocados, applications of com- from shallow wells is
limes, mangos, plete fertilizer and needed during the dry
papayas, and others, also minor elements season each year.
Suitable for many in suitable form.
citrus fruits. Some
tomatoes and other
truck crops where
the soil material is
deep enough.
In general only; see text for more details.
|
Full Text |
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HISTORIC NOTE The publications in this collection do not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. These texts represent the historic publishing record of the Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences and should be used only to trace the historic work of the Institute and its staff. Current IFAS research may be found on the Electronic Data Information Source (EDIS) site maintained by the Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Copyright 2005, Board of Trustees, University of Florida
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Bulletin 442 March, 1948 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION HAROLD MOWRY, Director GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA in cooperation with UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE H. H. BENNETT, Chief Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades Region Prepared under the direction of LEWIS A. JONES, Chief, Division of Drainage and Water Control, Soil Conservation Service Single copies free to Florida residents upon request to AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA
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Contents Page Scope of Investigation and Report .....-................--..---.--....--. 6 History of the Everglades Drainage District ..........---.........------......----8 Area Surveyed ..--.----------... ----------------------15 Agriculture ---------------.-...... ..-.-------------... ---18 Geology and Ground Water of the Everglades Region --..----....... ...-------.. 21 The Floridian Plateau ---.. .......... ............ ........ ---....... .... 21 Structure, Stratigraphy, and Ground Water --..----.. --.............----......--------21 Pliocene Rocks ...............-----------------------------26 Caloosahatchee Marl ................---...-----------------... 26 Tamiami Formation .........................----..------------------28 Pleistocene Rocks .-.... ..... .......... ..-------------------.... 30 Anastasia Formation ............----.......---............. ----------31 Miami Oolite ............ ----........... --... -------------------32 Fort Thompson Formation --------------------------32 Pamlico Formation ..-----. -------------------------------33 Talbot and Penholoway Formations ..---....-..........--.. --.------33 Latest Pleistocene and Recent Rocks ---.....---..---......--... ---------34 Lake Flirt Marl .....---................-----..---..............--..-----34 Organic Soils .................................. -----... --------------........ 35 Topographic Development .. .......----.---..---...-----------------35 Geologic History ...-........-.---------.. -----.---.............----36 Pliocene Epoch ..................-..----.. ....------------36 Pleistocene Epoch --------...-......---.... ----------------36 Nebraskan glacial stage; Aftonian interglacial stage; Kansan glacial stage; Yarmouth interglacial stage; Illinoian glacial stage; Sangamon interglacial stage; Wisconsin glacial stage ......-.....-----...-....... ----------.. 38 Recent Epoch ----------------------------------41 Climate ---.--......-.....----.-. ---------. -------------42 Temperatures ---------------------.. ..... ..--------------42 Sunshine, Wind, and Humidity --. .....-.........-----...... ------. 43 Rainfall ....-------------.------------..---..... ... 44 Vegetation .....-......-...---......-----------.-------.---. 46 Topographic Survey -------------.. --------..----.49 The Base Map .-..----.......-------....-----------...... 50 Leveling --------------------------....----------------50 Special Transportation Used ...................------------..---.-52 The Soil Conservation Survey ....-...--....-..--...----------------. 55 Map of Physical Land Conditions ...-.. .----...-------...----------56 Survey Methods .-.--.....-... ---------.. ---------------58 Soils and Their Capability ................--------------.-----60 Peat and Muck Soils ......................----------------------61 Marls and Calcareous Sandy Soils .......-------..... ...-.... 73 Wet Sandy Soils ....----------....-....... ....---------74 Gray or Dark Gray Imperfectly Drained Sandy Soils with Subsoils Containing Some Clay ........................ ------------75 Gray Imperfectly Drained Sand with Brown Hardpan Subsoil.... 76 Excessively Drained Incoherent Sands ...-------....-------.-----76 Excessively Drained Rocklands, Sandy and Clay Phases ............ 76 Miscellaneous Lands ..... .......................----------77 Water Conditions in the Everglades Region .........--........... ---------77 Sources and Quality of Water ............. ----------..77 Subsidence of Organic Soils .-.---.--------------------. 79 Organizations for Water Control ---------.. --------------81 Existing Water-Control Works .-...............---------..-------84 Lake Okeechobee .......------..-------------..---------85 Caloosahatchee River ..-....-.......-..--..-------------85 St. Luicie Canal ................ --..........--------------86 West Palm Beach Canal ........-......... .------------------. 86 Hillsboro Canal ...----------.............. ------------------88 North New River Canal ..............----------------------------91 Miami Canal ..........-....---....... -----.------.---.-------.92 Cross Canal ................. ....-----------------------93 Bolles Canal ..--....... -------.-----------..------...... 94 South New River Canal ..-........--..... ..... -----.......... 94 Tamiami Canal .............-...... ..........-. ......----.-------------------.. 95 Uncontrolled Canals of Everglades Drainage District ............... 95 Works of Sub-Drainage Districts and Comparable Enterprises.... 96
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Page Water-Control Recommendations .-............................---------97 Objective .......... .....-.----.----. ---97-----------Surface Runoff ................ ......--...-.--..-.-------. ----98 Measured Runoff ......---.....-..-....--...-..---....-.. ------.... 98 Rainfall ............--............-------...--....-............---------... .102 Design Rates Used ..................................... ................... -102 Irrigation Requirements ............ ------... .... ...........-----103 Evaporation and Transpiration ................... -..-...-------..103 Pumping Experience .. --..........-----....-.... .....-.----.--104 Relation of Rock Structure to Water Control ..........-..--.......... ..-.---106 Control Works Planned ................................---.. .-----............... 107 General Plan of Improvements .....-................--.---........-.......-.. 107 Water-Conservation Areas ................--... -----....................-108 West Palm Beach Canal Area ................-.... .......-----..........-...-..109 Sand Cut Area ..................-----------.....---...... ...................... 111 Hillsboro Canal Area .............................-----..........-. 111 North New River Canal Area ...----.................-.. ...................-..... 112 Miami Canal Area ..............-..-------.............. -----113 New Areas South of Bolles Canal ............................. -------......... 113 South New River Canal Area .---.......-....-....---.--...........----....... 114 Cypress Creek Canal Area ...--...-..-..-.......---.. ................-----115 Eastern Dade County ........................-----------........ .---116 Construction Estimates .......... .------....-------...................-...----116 Basis of Hydraulic Calculations .......--........-----.......--..............--117 Ditch and Levee Specifications ................ ...............-------........ 117 SW ater-Conservation Areas ......... ---............. -............................... 118 West Palm Beach Canal ...........--.... ..---.-............. ........--. 118 Allapattah Levee and Canal ...................... ......... ...................... 120 Hungryland Canal ................... .......... ............................ 121 Loxahatchee Canal ..............---....------..... .........-........--121 Sand Cut Canals .................... -...... ...... ... ............... ...... 122 Hillsboro Canal ........... ........................... ...... .................. 123 North New River Canal ............................. ...... ...................... 124 M iam i Canal ...............---.......................... ............. ...................... 125 Cross Canal ........-.........---.......................... .............. ..........--------....... 126 Bolles Canal ....................... ............----.................... .....---..127 Canal A ............................................-.................................................. 128 Canal B .......-............................................................................. ........ 128 Canal C ....-...........................................-------................. .....-....... .129 Sand Prairie Levee and Canal ..........--.......--................ ..........-............ 129 Devils Garden Canal ........................................ ......... ..................... 130 Holloway Dike ....-................... ............ ............ .................... .131 South New River Canal .......................... ..........--.................... 131 Cypress Creek Canal ................ ............ ......... ..... ..................... 131 Holloway Canals ................................... .... .................... ............... 132 Water-Control Structures in Eastern Dade County ........................ 132 Cost Summary -...--...........-............---........-....................-...-.................-..... 133 Maintenance of Water-Control Works ............................................................ 135 Recommendations for Land Use and Management ................................... 135 General Requirements for Water Control on Farm Lands ................ 136 Land-Capability Classes ---........................... -..............................-..... ....... 139 Management of Peat and Muck soils ........................................ .. 141 Class II M uck Land ............................................................................ 145 Class III Peat and Muck Land ................................ ....................... 147 Class IV Peat and Muck Land .................................... ---................-.149 Class V Peat Land ..........---.......--.-............................. 149 Class VIII Peat Land ..................-..... -...........-.................... 149 M anagement of Marl Soils ...................... .. ....................... ..... 149 Class II M arl Land .......................---... ........................................... 150 Class IV Marl Land --..........------......... .... ......................................... 152 Management of Rocklands (Class IV) ......................-.................-.... 152 Management of Sandy Land .-......-....----...... ................................... 160 Class II Sandy Land ....................................-..... .................................. 160 Class III Sandy Land ............................................................. ...... .. 161 Class IV Sandy Land .................-........-...................... -........--------163 Class V Sandy Land ....................................................... ....................... 164 W oodland M anagement ....-.... -..................................-.............................. -164 Land Not Suitable for Cultivation, Grazing, or Forestry .................... 165 Bibliography ......------....... .................... ---...............-........... .............................. 166
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Personnel This report has been prepared under cooperative agreement between the Agricultural Experiment Station, of the University of Florida, and the Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, with informal cooperation of staff members of the Geological Survey, U. S. Department of the Interior, and of the Everglades Drainage District. The officials and technologists who have had responsible part in planning and conducting the investigations, analyzing the data, and formulating the conclusions presented herein, comprise the following: Agricultural Experiment Station R. V. Allison, Vice-Director in Charge, Everglades Experiment Station G. D. Ruehle, Vice-Director in Charge, Subtropical Experiment Station J. R. Neller, Soils Chemist J. R. Henderson, Soil Technologist Soil Conservation Service Lewis A. Jones, Chief, Division of Drainage and Water Control Roger D. Marsden, Head, Farm Drainage Section J. G. Steele, Head, Surveys Analysis Section C. Kay Davis, Project Supervisor, Everglades Project 1 B. S. Clayton, Drainage Engineer John C. Stephens, Drainage Engineer M. H. Gallatin, Soil Scientist Albert R. Stephens, Drainage Engineer 1 U. S. Geological Survey George E. Ferguson, Hydraulic Engineer Garald G. Parker, Geologist in Charge, Miami, Fla. Everglades Drainage District W. Turner Wallis, Engineer and General Manager 1 Lamar Johnson, Engineer SResigned.
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Introduction The Everglades region, as discussed in this bulletin, comprises some 7,500 square miles of land encircling Lake Okeechobee and extending southward to the end of the Florida Peninsula (Fig. 1). It consists of the Everglades Drainage District and the land eastward thereof between West Palm Beach and Miami. Its principal physiographic feature is the Everglades proper, a vast, almost level plain of muck and peat soil extending southward from the lake for nearly 100 miles. .J -4 J& FLORIDA SCALE IN MILES MIAM 0 40 '80 Fig. 1.-Location of the Everglades Region in Florida. Effort to drain those organic soils and develop them for agriculture has been continuous through 4 decades, but the cost of the canals was greater than the undeveloped land could pay, and settlers to make the land into farms could not be found. Funds were exhausted and construction was 'discontinued before the canals were completed.
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6 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station The War Department has constructed flood-control works that prevent overflow from Lake Okeechobee, but the canals dug by the Drainage District have not been adequate. Nevertheless, by 1939 probably 125,000 acres had been developed for cropland through construction of supplemental drainage and irrigation works by sub-districts and privately. The greater portion of this acreage is near Lake Okeechobee, the other along the Atlantic coast. Subsidence of the land surface following drainage has increased the cost of development and indicated that the peaty soils can be farmed profitably for only a limited time. Drainage of undeveloped peat has permitted destruction of soil by uncontrolled fires. As the canals operate, at times drainage for some of the farm lands involves flooding of others, or drainage for some involves drought for others. Water needed for irrigation is wasted. Moreover, it appears that extensive and indiscriminate drainage threatens injury to the water supply for municipalities along the coast, by reducing the quantity of fresh water available and by permitting sea water to enter the cities' wells. This conflict of interest in the extent and management of drainage, and increase in knowledge that not all of the Everglades is suited for permanent cropping created desire for a thorough investigation of the land and water resources of this area. Scope of Investigation and Report Studies relating to water control for agricultural lands in the Everglades region of Florida have been carried on continuously since 1933 under cooperative agreements between the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Florida and the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering2 and the Soil Conservation Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The Everglades Project of the Soil Conservation Service was set up in 1939 under specific appropriation of $75,000 by Congress (in Public Act No. 159, 76th Congress) for research and demonstration work in soil conservation in the Everglades region. This bulletin is a report on that project. The investigations undertaken include a topographic survey, " When the activities of Bureau of Agricultural Engineering were divided among other bureaus of the 'Department in 1939, the divisions of Drainage Investigations and Irrigation Investigations were transferred to the Soil Conservation Service.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 7 a soil conservation survey to determine the various types of land in the Everglades Drainage District and their capabilities, subsurface investigations of rock structure and ground water as related to control of water in the soil, and studies of the requirements of the Everglades soils with respect to drainage and irrigation and the effects of water control on the soil. The topographic survey had not been conpleted when this report was prepared, because of extended war service by a number of the engineers of the project staff. The subsurface investigations were made in collaboration with scientists of the U. S. Geological Survey. The soil names used were correlated by the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. All activities of the project have been conducted under cooperative agreements between the Agricultural Experiment Station and Soil Conservation Service. The results of the research are presented herein only as they affect the use capabilities of the various land types and the water-control measures discussed. This report presents (1) a brief history of the efforts by the State of Florida to develop the Everglades; (2) descriptions of the physical, agricultural, and climatic conditions of the area; (3) information on the rock formations and geologic history of the region; (4) descriptions of the various land types (soil, slope, substratum conditions), together with a classification of their use capability; (5) a statement of the extent, character, and effectiveness of the water-control works that have been provided by Everglades Drainage District; (6) a tentative plan of water-control improvement for the organic soils of agricultural value south and east of Lake Okeechobee; and (7) recommendations concerning crops and farming practices for the different types of land. Five maps too large for printing as text illustrations are used to show the details of land capability, topography, and watercontrol recommendations. These are issued as accompanying maps. One shows the physical land conditions, including soil types, depths of the peat and marl soils, and capability of the various land types for cropping and other uses. This is on a scale of 1 inch equals 1 mile and is printed in 38 sheets. An index to this map, a generalized land-capability map, a map showing the drainage districts and other organizations for water control in the region, and a map showing recommended water-control improvements are printed in 1 sheet each on a scale of 1
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8 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station inch equals approximately 8 miles. Of the large-scale map, only 1 sheet is distributed with each copy of this bulletin, but persons interested in any particular small area may obtain the sheet covering that area by request to the Agricultural Experiment Station at Gainesville. Full sets of the sheets have been placed for reference in the principal libraries in the State. History of the Everglades Drainage District The Everglades Drainage District includes approximately 41/½ million acres of land, most of the southeastern portion of the Florida peninsula. Formerly the flood area of the Lake Okeechobee reservoir and its tributary Kissimmee-Caloosahatchee drainage basin, this region now includes an important food-producing section. The vast area of peat is the largest known body of organic soils in the world. Early Spanish, French, and English explorers and early colonists of Florida made little if any attempt to penetrate the inner portion of this region, being content to settle along the sea coast and make sporadic expeditions into the outer edge of the Everglades. When Florida was acquired by the United States in 1821 the inner Everglades was a region of mystery to the white man and remained so until United States troops entered it in the Seminole Indian War of 1835-1842. This war focused attention of people of the territory of Florida upon the Everglades region and gave impetus to later plans for its development. On September 28, 1850, Congress passed the "Swamp Lands Act" granting inundated lands to the states of their location. By this act the Everglades region passed from Federal into State control. The following January the Florida legislature passed an act to secure the lands thus granted to the State by Congress. By Act of January 6, 1855, these lands and the unsold lands granted to the State in 1845 were placed under control of a board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund, who were required to use any funds obtained from sale of the lands for reclaiming and improving them as provided for in the Congressional Act of 1850. Until 1879 the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund and the executives of the various administrations adhered strictly to the terms of the grant by Congress and the subsequent acts of the State legislature providing for their administration, sale, and improvement. After Governor Drew's veto of the first attempted railroad land grant in 1879 the legislature forestalled
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 9 any veto of later railroad land-grant acts by making such grants subject to the Trust and to the provisions of the Act of January 6, 1855. Of the 15 million acres granted to the railroad companies by the legislature between 1879 and 1900 to encourage construction of railroads, upward of 8 million acres were swamp and overflowed lands conveyed by the Trustees. New difficulties were encountered by the Trustees in the reconstruction period after 1865. The maturing of large obligations which the Fund could not pay caused the management of the Fund to be placed temporarily in the hands of the United States Court. The sale of 4 million acres of swamp and overflowed land to Hamilton Disston during the first term of Governor Bloxham, beginning in 1881, permitted the Trustees to regain control of the Fund by applying the proceeds of the sale to the Fund's debts. The contract between the Trustees and Hamilton Disston and others (Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company) was the first major attempt toward drainage of the Everglades. Disston and his associates agreed to drain and reclaim all overflow lands belonging to the State south of Township 23 and east of Peace Creek, and in payment the Trustees agreed to convey alternate sections of all lands so reclaimed, provided the lands reclaimed were not less than 200,000 acres. The lands covered by the contract were more than 9 million acres. Drainage operations were begun near Kissimmee and were continued for some years in that area. Questions concerning those operations resulted in legislative authorization in accordance with which the Governor in 1885 appointed a committee to investigate. The committee reported that only about 80,000 acres had been reclaimed, and that the canals had not lowered Lake Okeechobee and Kissimmee River. As a result, the Disston contract was revised in 1888, restricting drainage operations to the Kissimmee Valley and deeding to the company one acre of land for each 25 cents expended on the reclamation project. The total results of the Disston contract to the Everglades area were the digging of Three-Mile Canal connecting Caloosahatchee River with Lake Okeechobee, and another canal extending southward from Lake Okeechobee and discharging upon the ground surface in the 'Glades. All drainage operations under the Disston contract ceased about 1889. Statutory grants of swamp and overflowed lands to transportation companies and others had by 1900 disposed of most of
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10 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the Everglades and of the other lands in the Internal Improvement Fund. The numerous grants were so conflicting that by 1901 various railroad companies demanded hearings to settle questions of priority of title under the acts. A sale by the Trustees of 100,000 acres claimed by the companies resulted in a suit to recover the land or the proceeds of the sale. After an investigation of the whole history of the Internal Improvement Fund, the Trustees published the disposition and status of all lands granted to Florida under the Act of 1850. The Trustees further asserted their superior title to the lands in the Fund, and declared they would defend the title for the purpose of performing the trust of drainage and reclamation. Litigation followed, beginning in 1902. A test case resulted in an order, issued May 2, 1907, expressly authorizing and empowering the Trustees to sell or otherwise dispose of said lands for the purpose of using the proceeds for drainage and reclamation. The present drainage program in the Everglades may be said to have begun during the administration of Governor Jennings (1901-1905). Not only had the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund determined to issue no further deeds by virtue of legislative land grants, but surveys were undertaken to determine the feasibility of reclaiming the Everglades. "Data were compiled on topography, rainfall, watershed, and the character and fertility of the soils. In 1903 a patent was issued by the General Land Office to the State of Florida for the lands granted by the Act of Congress in 1850, and the Commissioner of Agriculture prepared a map of the Everglades region by extending the lines of previous surveys on the east and west. This map was adopted as official by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund in January, 1905. To provide funds for the Everglades drainage project, additional to those obtained from sale of the lands, the Legislature in May, 1905, created a Board of Drainage Commissioners authorized to establish drainage districts and levy on the lands there in drainage taxes not exceeding 10 cents per acre per year. This act was declared unconstitutional by the United States Court, but one approved in May 1907 defining the Everglades Drainage District and levying a tax of 5 cents per acre per year was sustained. Litigation following the enactment of the 1905 drainage law emphasized the State's lack of sufficient technical information for determining the feasibility and practicability of draining the
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 11 Everglades, and aid was requested of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Office of Experiment Stations of that Department undertook the preparation of a report and plan of drainage for the Everglades. Field parties spent the winters of 1906-07 and 1907-08 in determining topographic and soil characteristics of the 'Glades. The report was released in 1909, outlining a plan of drainage in general similar to that existing today. Impetus given the actual drainage program by Governor Broward's administration resulted in the launching of two large dredges in 1906 and the letting of contracts for constructing two more in 1908. Land sales that followed the settlement of litigation regarding title to the Everglades land provided a million-dollar fund with which to carry on the drainage program. Further assurance that funds would be available resulted from agreements between the Trustees and corporate and individual owners of large tracts, that suits to enjoin collection of the 5-cent acreage tax would be dismissed, and thereafter the owners would pay all drainage taxes. The appointment of a chief drainage engineer of the State was followed by the letting of a dredging contract which increased the number of dredges from four to eight and greatly increased the rate of excavation. Active drainage operations were reflected in an increase in the number of Everglades land owners from about a dozen in 1909 to 15,000 in 1911, The price of State lands advanced from $2 per acre in 1909 to $15 in 1910. This activity in land markets increased the demand for even more rapid progress in the reclamation work. Responding to this demand, the legislature in 1913 enacted laws levying acreage taxes based on benefits, and authorized the Everglades Drainage District to issue bonds supported by anticipated proceeds of the acreage tax. By 1912 it had become apparent that the canals planned would be insufficient to control Lake Okeechobee or drain the .lands and that more adequate plans should be made. An Everglades Engineering Commission (Isham Randolph, chairman) was employed to make the necessary studies, and in October of 1913 reported engineering recommendations that have served as the basic plan for all subsequent drainage work by the District. The report stated, in part: "The existing works and conditions of land ownership and settlement seem now to be such as necessitates an earnest effort to reclaim in one continuous project and with the greatest possible expeditibn, all the lands
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12 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station south and southeast of Lake Okeechobee between Miami Canal, the proposed West Palm Beach Canal and the eastern boundary of the Drainage District." It recommended construction of St. Lucie Canal for controlling the lake, and arterial canals as the primary drainage for the land. A soil survey along North New River Canal was made in 1915 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The report (1)3 pointed out problems likely to arise when organic soils are drained, stated that control of water levels in the canals would be necessary for agricultural use of the land, doubted the value of the soils over much of the area, and questioned that the prevailing high prices'for the land were justified by its productivity. Locally, the report was exceedingly unpopular. A decade later discovery was made that application of very small quantities of certain metallic elements, in addition to. the usually indicated fertilizers and to water control, would make the peat soils productive of commercially valuable crops. Dissatisfaction with progress in reclamation and development led to the appointment in 1927 of an Engineering Board of Review (Anson Marston, chairman) to re-examine the plans of the District. This Board recommended progressive drainage of the area, conforming as closely as possible to the progress of development and use of the land. It planned additional lakecontrol and drainage works, including levees along the drainage canals to keep them from being overtaxed by surface flow from undeveloped land. It recognized the effects of soil subsidence upon the design and operation of drainage works. The recommendations, however, have not been put into effect. The 18-year period 1913 to 1931 saw excavation of 440 miles of canals, construction of 47 miles of levees, and building of 16 locks and dams, at a total cost of approximately 18 million dollars. Funds for this work were provided by the sale of bonds, direct application of taxes, and advances from the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund. The Trustees' policy of purchasing all tax certificates sold for non-payment of taxes by private owners assured collection of the taxes levied and did much to stabilize the financial condition of the District. Collapse of the extremely speculative land boom of 1925, the disastrous hurricanes of 1926 and 1928, the general national economic condition of the late 'twenties, and the depletion of " Italic figures in parentheses refer to Bibliography in the back of this bulletin.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 13 Trustee funds derived from land sales led to a default on January 1, 1931, in the payments scheduled against the outstanding bonded indebtedness. All construction work by the District ceased and almost all maintenance work was deferred. By 1940 owners of District bonds were suing to force payment of those obligations. They had obtained a tax levy of 15 million dollars on the 1940 roll, but most land-owners refused to pay. Taxes were delinquent to the extent of nearly 25 million dollars and practically every landholder's title had been forfeited by reason of non-payment. The Drainage District, in debt for nearly 20 million dollars, made several unsuccessful attempts to refinance its indebtedness. However, in 1941 the legislature authorized the District to issue refinancing bonds, which the Reconstruction Finance Corporation agreed to buy. The same legislative act permitted landowners to regain current status of their taxes by payment of 1 or 2 years' installments of the delinquency. Further, the refunding bonds were to be supported by a revised tax structure which decreased the annual burden of acreage taxes from $2,000,000 to $600,000. By the latter part of 1943 the total indebtedness of Everglades Drainage District had been reduced to approximately $5,300,000 and most of the owners had regained title to their lands by payment of the 1941 compromise of taxes. The Okeechobee Flood-control District was created by the Legislature in 1929 and charged with responsibility for providing or obtaining works and improvements necessary for flood control and navigation in the Caloosahatchee, Lake Okeechobee, and Everglades areas. It includes all of Everglades Drainage District and all of Martin, Okeechobee, Glades, Lee, Hendry, Collier, and Monroe counties except the Florida Keys. Under Congressional authorizatiof of 1930, the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, constructed levees along the shores of Lake Okeechobee and improved Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal, to control floods in Lake Okeechobee and to provide a navigable channel from Stuart to Fort Myers. The work was practically completed in 1936. Maintenance of the works and control of Lake levels are under the control of the Corps of Engineers. Because frequent fires were destroying considerable acreages of soil and vegetation, especially in the drained peat along the drainage canals, the legislature in 1939 created the Everglades Fire Control District. This agency was made co-extensive with
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14 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station -, Co -9. , 9_ -9 _ C N T-374aa WEs S L PALM T-43-S l.--i 1~rS.;·^ » ^t« jAe » BEACH Ss T T-44-S COU PALMBEAC LAKEHENDRY I .T4-S a A T-46-S S, \sour ew 1\ T -ILAUDERDALE T-50-s COUNTY I T-54-S T-45-S "2.-Pyi ----sio-s of the Id L MIA I EACH T-54-S ST-54-S DAOE _ 5r-s COUNTYI l c 7u T-56-S T-55-S DADEL T-55-s 6 T -59-S 4 1) 0 0 0 20 MILES Fig. 2.-Physiographic divisions of the Everglades Region. la, sawgrass plains; Ib, custard-apple; le, willow-and-elder; Id, hammock-sawgrass; 2, ridge-and-slough; 3, hammock-and-glades; 4a, coastal ridge and sand prairies; 4b, sandy lands, hammock-and-slough; 5, Miami rock rim; 6, coastal marsh.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 15 the Drainage District and was provided with $75,000 per year for control and suppression of fires within its boundaries. The dry period of 1938-39 made generally apparent, both to agricultural interests in the Everglades Drainage District and to municipalities of the southern East Coast, that conservation and control of water in the area is highly important for preservation of the organic soils, for irrigation of farm crops, and for replenishment of subsurface storage from which municipal supplies are pumped. In compliance with requests from these and other interests, in 1939 the U. S. Geological Survey began intensive investigation of the water resources of southeastern Florida (see pages 21-42), and the Soil Conservation Service undertook surveys for determining land-use capabilities in the Everglades Drainage District and the water-control measures necessary for developing those. capabilities. Both agencies are continuing their investigations as this report is written (1947). Area Surveyed The area covered by surveys of the Soil Conservation Service consists of the Everglades Drainage District and the lands between that District and the coast in Dade and Broward counties and in Palm Beach County south of West Palm Beach Canal. Figure 2 is a sketch map of the area showing its principal physiographic divisions. The region commonly known as the Everglades is a nearly flat, shallow, more or less oblong basin which extends from Lake Okeechobee to the southern tip of the State. This basin is bordered by the slightly higher sandy coastal ridge on the east, the Miami rock rim on the southeast, sand prairies on the north and northwest, and Big Cypress Swamp on the west. The flat sandy prairie extends a few miles south of the northeastern corner of Collier County. The main part of the Everglades slopes 2 or 3 inches to the mile toward the south or southeast, but south of Tamiami Trail the slope is to the southwest. (See accompanying map of water-control measures recommended.) The main part of the Everglades is made up of the sawgrass plains and the ridge-and-slough country, areas 1 and 2 in Figure 2. (The sawgrass plains include the custard-apple, willow-andelder, and hammock-sawgrass sub-areas.) West of the southern portion of the Everglades is the hammock-and-glades section, area 3, consisting mostly of Big Cypress Swamp in Collier and Monroe counties. The sandy lands of the east, north, and west
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16 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station "A LK+' .ORLANDO LO' ORANGE LAE I L f a .c AINES CITY ( ~~ 1Ar WNt4-A MELBOURN OPOL SCEdLA AINDIAN RIVER DESOTO I | PV L Si ~ RTIN JUCA LAKEPORT LAKE R '\ PAo, L t O0 K EECHOB CHARLOTTE GLAD ANAL MO HAVE HOKE ---z-"PAL P 3.AOOSAHATCa Aa BELLE CLEWIST BBEACH SEA80ARD IR LLE CROSS CANA HENDRY Eo LEE I Fig 3.-Drainage area of Lake Okeechobee.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 17 portions of the District (area 4) have a hammock-and-slough phase in the northwestern and northeastern corners. The Miami rock rim, area 5, is a low ridge from 5 to 15 miles wide which extends about 60 miles southwest from Miami. Southeast and south of it is the coastal marsh, area 6. Lake Okeechobee receives the runoff from Kissimmee River and several smaller streams (see Fig. 3) which have a combined drainage area of about 5,000 square miles. The area of the lake itself is 725 square miles at elevation 15.5 feet above mean sea level.4 Before reclamation of any of the Everglades or nearby swamp lands, the surface of Lake Okeechobee stood in ordinary years between 18 and 20 feet above the sea. It did not have any well-defined outlet, but at high water overflowed much of the southern rim. The water then flowed slowly through the Everglades, and what was not evaporated or used by plants passed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. This natural drainage was changed greatly by the canals, the first of which was completed early in 1883 to connect the lake with the Caloosahatchee River. The shores of the lake are now diked for flood control as well as for regulation of the water level, and the water is maintained as nearly as possible between elevations 12.6 and 15.6 m.s.l. (feet above mean sea level) by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army. The main outlets through which water is discharged are St. Lucie Canal and Caloosahatchee River. Canals are shown in Figure 2 and on the larger maps. Most of the canals are primarily for drainage, as described in the sections on water conditions and water control. The cross-state waterway from Fort Myers to Stuart, which is part of the floodcontrol project, connects Lake Okeechobee with the Gulf by way of Caloosahatchee River and with the Atlantic Ocean by way of St. Lucie Canal. The lower ends of the drainage canals are used by pleasure and small commercial craft. The highest portion of Everglades Drainage District is north of Lake Okeechobee. South of the Lake, the highest ground is a sandy ridge in Hendry County which reaches elevation 30 m.s.l. (mean sea level) at one point on the west boundary of the District. The greatest elevations found in the northern 'Glades were 18 to 19 feet near the boundaries between the peat and the sandy lands north of West Palm Beach Canal and in Hendry County. In undeveloped peat some 6 to 10 miles south of the SU. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey datum. See page 50.
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18 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station lake, elevations of 15 to 16 feet were separated by subsisdence valleys along the drainage canals. Along Tamiami Canal the ground elevations were 6 to 7 feet in the 'Glades, and slightly higher at the west line of Dade County. The rock rim across the south end of the District is 5 to 15 feet and more above sea level. The largest cities in or near the Dainage District are Miami, with a population in 1940 of 172,172; West Palm Beach, 33,693; Miami Beach, 28,012; and Fort Lauderdale, 17,996. Smaller cities along the coast are Lake Worth, Hollywood, Pompano, Delray Beach, and Dania. In the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee, Pahokee has a population of 4,766, Belle Glade 3,806, Canal Point 3,131 (in the entire precinct), Okeechobee 1,658, Clewiston 1,338, and Moore Haven 831, according to the 1940 Census. The population of Homestead in the same year was 3,154. Good paved highways connect all the cities and towns. United States Highway 1 extends through the coastal cities to Homestead and the key islands. Tamiami Trail (U. S. Highway 94) extends west from Miami across the Everglades and the Big Cypress and north to Fort Myers and Tampa. Highways connect the towns around the Lake with West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, and points to the north. A new highway along the North New River Canal, completed in 1941, makes this part of the Everglades easily accessible and, with connecting roads, affords direct transportation from the Lake region to Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The Florida East Coast, Atlantic Coast Line, and Seaboard railways furnish rapid passenger and freight service to Northern cities. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach are shipping and receiving ports for water-borne freight. Miami is an important terminal for domestic and overseas airlines. Agriculture The growing of truck crops on a commercial scale was begun in the coastal section about the time the Florida East Coast Railway built its line from West Palm Beach to Miami in 1896. Numerous settlers came between 1910 and 1915, and again between 1920 and 1926. Although the main canals were constructed prior to 1915, most of the cultivated land in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee was developed after 1920. Development was rapid about this time. In 1944 the value of all crops har-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 19 vested in the 95 counties that lie partly or wholly within the Everglades region amounted to $41,805,438. Cropland harvested in these same counties was 195,711 acres, and within the precincts that lie almost wholly within the District amounted to 152,975 acres. These figures and others from the Census reTABLE 1.-NUMBER AND ACREAGE OF FARMS, ACREAGE OF CROPLAND HARVESTED, NUMBER OF CATTLE AND CALVES, AND VALUE OF CROPS IN THE COUNTIES AND PRECINCTS IN THE EVERGLADES REGION, CENSUS OF 1945. (FROM U. S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.) County* and Land in Cropland Cattle Value of Precincts Farms Farms Harvested and All Crops SCalves Sold** Number Acres Acres Number Dollars Broward ......... 1,104 108,111 24,816 17,601 5,729,708 Dade ................. 1,159 77,631 22,602 16,472 7,445,757 Glades ................. 127 79,121 3,855 21,427 246,870 Prec. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 18 95 62,542 3,658 18,033 234,200 Hendry .............. 117 362,252 26,390 24,847 3,258,463 Prec. 1 and 2.. 21 155,087 25,158 7,501 3,106,400 Highlands .......... 609 503,478 15,305 62,495 5,165,741 Prec. 8 ...... 7 343,473 56 38,560 18,900 Martin .............. 263 175,682 5,916 14,442 1,213,880 Prec. 7 and 8.. 59 122,238 3,623 10,154 743,600 Okeechobee ....... 210 264,742 426 29,715 38,880 Prec. 4, 6, and 7 ............ 87 160,179 197 16,143 18,000 Palm Beach ....-... 1,139 278,090 72,623 17,400 13,883,650 St. Lucie ...... ---549 292,306 23,778 14,063 4,822,489 Prec. 3 ..... 13 44,512 242 2,000 49,100 Total, 9 complete counties .......-...5,277 2,141,413 195,711 218,462 41,805,438 Total of counties or precints in Everglades Region ........... 3,684 1,351,863 152,975 143,864 31,229,315 * There is practically no agriculture in the portions of Collier and Monroe counties within, the Everglades Region. ** County figures are from the Bureau of the Census; values for precincts have been computed therefrom as proportional to acreage of cropland harvested. SCollier and Monroe counties not included because there is practically no agriculture in the portions in the Everglades Region.
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20 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station ports are given in Table 1. For the counties that lie partly within the region, figures are given for the entire county and also for the part. The most intensively cultivated area is that bordering the lake from Moore Haven at Caloosahatchee River through Clewiston and Belle Glade to Port IMayaca at St. Lucie Canal, with extensions down North New River, Hillsboro, and West Palm Beach Canals. Truck crops grown on the peat and muck in the vicinity of the lake are chiefly snap beans and celery, although cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and many other crops are grown. Sugarcane occupies a large acreage east and west of Clewiston and near Pahokee. Several fields of lemon grass are grown near Clewiston. Formerly a great deal of sugarcane was grown on the sandy soils, but at present it is grown chiefly on the peat. Because of the expensive installations needed for control of the water, and the suitability of the land for use of tillage machinery, the tendency is for development of large farms that comprise from 160 to several thousand acres. Along the eastern boundary of the District, from West Palm Beach to North New River Canal, is a cultivated band of varying width, practically continuous except between Hillsboro and Cypress Creek Canals. The portion north of Hillsboro Canal is also in Lake Worth Drainage District. Citrus groves are located chiefly on the mucky sands in the vicinity of Davie and on the Miami rock rim. The marl lands east of the coastal ridge at Dania are used intensively for growing tomatoes, and those southeast of the rock rim for tomatoes, potatoes, and other truck. These crops are planted in the fall and harvested for market in winter. The rockland southwest of Miami is used to some extent for avocados, limes, oranges, grapefruit, mangos, and a wide variety of sub-tropical fruits of less importance. Some lands have been improved for pasture, or are being used for pasture after improvement for more intensive use, along Caloosahatchee River, around the head of Indian Prairie Canal, on the mid-section of West Palm Beach Canal, and west of the coastal ridge between North New River and Snake Creek Canals. Much of the sandy pine and palmetto land and also a great 'deal of the wet peat land is used for seasonal grazing. There are some dairy farms, but beef cattle are grown for the most part. The principal grazing areas within the drainage district are in Hendry, Glades, Highlands, Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, and northern Palm Beach counties.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 21 Geology and Ground Water of the Everglades Region6 As a result of salt-water contamination of the Miami municipal well field in 1939, the U. S. Geological Survey began an intensive investigation of water resources of southeastern Florida in the fall of that year. Half the cost of this investigation was borne by the U. S. Geological Survey and half by Dade County and the cities of Miami, Miami Beach, and Coral Gables. Most of the work has centered in eastern Dade County but geologic and hydrologic studies led to remote parts of the hinterland, including the Everglades and parts of the Big Cypress Swamp. In carrying out this research, 89 exploratory test wells were drilled in southeastern Florida (see Fig. 14). Of these, 30 were installed jointly by the U. S. Geological Survey and the Soil Conservation Service. Most of the rest were either put down by the U. S. Geological Survey or under its direct supervision by the Army, Navy, Farm Security Administration, or Defense Plants Corporation. The wells ranged in depth from 50 feet to 812 feet. Largely from studies of the samples of rook, water, fossils, and related data gathered during the exploratory test-well drilling and pumping, and from geologic field studies carried out over a period of more than 4 years, supplementing the investigations of earlier workers in the geology of southern Florida (29, pp. 113-115), the following geologic and groundwater relationships have been worked out. The Floridian Plateau Florida is the sub-aerial portion of a vast table-land bounded by steeply pitching sides on the east, south, and west, and largely covered by marine waters. Vaughan (40) named it the Floridian Plateau. Structure, Stratigraphy, and Ground Water A recently drilled deep exploratory test well in the Big Cypress area near Sunniland, Florida, penetrated 13,493 (4) feet below " Of many persons who have contributed to the investigations reported in this section, special acknowledgment is made to the following: 0. E. Meinzer, V. T. Stringfield, C. Wythe Cook, W. P. Cross, S. K. Love, and N. D. Hoy, of U. S. Geological Survey; Alexander Orr, Jr., former Mayor of Miami; W. A. Glass, Director, Miami Board of Water and Sewers; Herman Gunter, Director, Florida Geological Survey; A. P. Black, Consulting Engineer, Gainesville; Malcolm Pirnie, Consulting Engineer, New York; and City Managers A. B. Curry of Miami, Claude A. Renshaw of Miami Beach, and George N. Shaw of Coral Gables.
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22 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the surface without reaching the basement complex of metamorphic and igneous rocks which is believed to underlie this part of the State as it does the northern portion (5). From top to bottom the rocks penetrated are of marine origin (6) and except for the thin Fort Thompson formation of the Everglades area (29, pp. 72-74), all Florida's building has been accomplished under the influence of a marine environment (see Fig. 4, chart of geologic formations on page 23, and Bibliography.) <4 I 4 "3 -° Y O^ ^ ° , ., -FORTTHOMPSON FM MIAMI OOLITE 0 FO N -60' UNDIFFERENTIATED EOCENEOC LIMESTONESD E ENE, -~300 MILES Fig. 4.-Generalized geologic cross-section, Ocala to Florida City. The structure and stratigraphy of Florida are such that the formations at or near the surface in the northern part of the State are deeply buried under the Everglades Drainage District, and whereas in the areas of their outcrop these formations usually carry potable ground water, their ground water here is saline, sulfurous, corrosive, and unfit for human use. In the southern part of the State, except on the Florida keys, these formations carry ground water under artesian pressure sufficient to cause the water to flow wherever the land surface is less than 40 feet above mean sea level. Overlying the artesian water-bearing formations isothe Hawthorn formation of Miocene age that acts as an aquiclude (38) ; for although it carries water in limited quantities in parts of the formation that are more permeable than others, its chief im-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 23 GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA. Approximate Age Formation Character Thickness _in Feet Everglades Fresh water peats and mucks rang0-8 Recent and organic soils ing in color from black to brown, latest and in texture from fibrous to plasPleistocene tic. Permeability generally low. Lake Flirt Fresh-water grayish-white cal0-6 marl careous mud locally consolidated to hard limestone. Relatively impermeable. Fort Alternate beds of marine, brack0-16 Thompson ish, and fresh-water limestone, formation marl, and shells. Permeability usually very low. Anastasia Light-colored marine limestone, 0-60 calcareous sandstone, sand, and coquina. Permeability ranges from low to high. Miami oolite Creamy-white oolitic limestone, 0-40 cross-bedded to massive and/or stratified. Perforated with numerous vertical solution holes. Pleistocene Yields water to shallow wells. Key Largo Light-colored coral reef rock, very 0-60 limestone open and permeable. Does not occur at surface on Florida mainland. Pamlico Marine terrace quartz sand with 0-50 minor amount of shells and shell fragments. Light-colored except where stained by organic coating on sand grains or where cemented by iron oxide. Permeability ranges from low to high, depending on mechanical composition. Generally occurs up to 25 feet above sea level. Talbot Marine terrace sand usually com0-40 formation posed of quartz grains ranging in color from light to dark, depending on impurities. Permeability ranges from low to medium. Generally outcrops between 25 and 42 feet above mean sea level. Penholoway Marine terrace sand usually com0-40 formation posed of quartz grains ranging in color from light to dark, depending on impurities, Permeability ranges from low to medium. Generally outcrops between 42 and 70 feet above mean sea level. Tamiami Light-colored marine sandy lime0-200 Pliocene formation stone, calcareous sandstone, and beds and pockets of quartz sand. Formation is perforated with a maze of solution holes and caverns
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24 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA.-(Continued.) Approximate Age Formation Character Thickness in Feet commonly filled with white quartz sand. One of most highly permeable formations ever investigated by the U. S. Geological Pliocene Survey. CaloosaLight to dark colored sand, silty, 30-50 hatchee and clayey marine shell marl with marl beds of shell, sand, or clay occurring locally. Permeability generally very low. Hawthorn Green sand, sandy marl, silt marl, 400-500 formation clay marl, shell marl, and limestone. Green coloring characterizes these marine sediments. Permeability generally very low. Miocene Carries limited amounts of poor quality artesian water under low pressure head. Tampa White to gray marine limestone, 250-350 limestone calcareous marl, and thin beds of sand and shell. Water is carried in the limestone and shell beds but not in the marl. Yields highly mineralized artesian water. Suwannee White marine limestone and minor 200-300 Oligocene quantities of reported "green shale." Yields highly mineralized artesian water. Ocala White to tan marine limestone, 200-300 Eocene limestone highly foraminiferal. Cherty in (Jackson upper portion. Very highly pergroup) meable but water is highly minSeralized. Eocene and Undifferentiated calcareous, gypsi12,000 Cretaceous ferous, anhydritic and halitic materials. portance lies in the fact that it acts as a seal to the artesian aquifers below, and prevents water of the overlying formations from penetrating through to the artesian formations. Overlying the Hawthorn are younger formations ranging in age from Pliocene through Recent. These younger formations generally carry water under unconfined conditiofis-that is, with a free upper surface, the water table-and are usually recharged locally in contra-distinction to the artesian aquifers which are generally recharged in their outcrop area far removed from the Everglades. In this report the main concern is with those geologic formations (mappable rock units) that lie at or near the surface of
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 25 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 0HI D 0 .LUCE H 37 " o .o A SE o y ,ama 39 PORT 40 LKO L.A K E NuPTr ob OKEEGHOSE5E E 41 P 42 ......... .43 AO -A44 H EBN DER 45 _.. .. 47 __ *' 48 A ITA N B 0 ..A R ATO SA U MEALES 50 C 0 L E OLLYWOoD 51 4 4 54 EXPLANATION P 1AMCI FORMATION. 574 Fig.0t 58 ANASTASIA FaRRATION. 59 FoAT THMPMSon FORMATION. TALBOT FORMATIAN. 60 PENNOLOWAy FORMATION, ASCALE IN MILES FORATIoN. o -e og24 so Fig. 5.-Geologic map of the Everglades Region.
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26 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the land. These include: the Caloosahatchee marl and Tamiami formation of Pliocene age; the Anastasia formation, Miami oolite, Fort Thompson formation, and Pamlico formation of Pleistocene age; and the Lake Flirt marl and the organic soils of the Everglades of latest Pleistocene and Recent ages. (See Figure 5.) Pliocene Rocks Caloosahatchee Marl.-The Caloosahatchee marl consists essentially of sandy, silty, or clayey shell marl, clay marl, clay, and beds of sand. (See Figure 6.) It is a littoral and neritic deposit that ranges in thickness from 30 to 50 feet over the greater part of its distribution. On the western side of Florida the Caloosahatchee marl grades into or interfingers with the Buckingham marl, and to the south, in the latitude of Fort Lauderdale, the Caloosahatchee marl grades into and interfingers with the Tamiami formation (29, p. 2). On the eastern side of Florida the Caloosahatchee marl grades into the Tamiami forFig. 6.-Details in the Caloosahatchee marl. Site is right bank of Caloosahatchee River about 350 yards east of bridge at LaBelle, Florida. A bed of greenish marly clay is here overlain by sandy shell marl. When dry, the clay checks as seen here. It is practically impermeable. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.)
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 27 * Va IV AOS I 409 &IVr 330 03 C s C-A. 7 EBI-A 1 7 '0 1 ") 9Wf(HUUi M$ S l___^i!________________i_______________".^V ' I f N 0 g I/ A / !/ . /8sewsr Irn A/ .-,/\ / ,=I Ii ; . // I A81CI A~SN l j \ / I .I-C _.S04S.__ ? ___ ___________ __________________ 0_ OCOOACS If I j3 7..0 611-9 o oa'o ae Io =I / 16-1 i1,^' ti "S i i' i o aI ;, 0CC-C V1V93A10 M3N * I \ /.i I 0 5 N ' OI Ill ~l ! iI ' /IA.J I 9 llt \1 <," , 1/A •V "i3 0 5 I C^ -LI I 0 C) 00)) 1 j II 'l IF I a £ !c £ \V S« « i \ i a i T "+I , N I I A, " A 0 I £ II 0 _ < II S A \ £ ^; .B NIIO H [* ' | 1 I ] ""000 0 0 .a IIj ) 1> i 5. a 0I. I Ic:q s ~ O 1 = ^ 1^ J 5 0 ' Id UJ V> < r, ^«»™ NI IN~ BY I' £' * : 3 ''SS J! Is x 4 S S ' -S 'M 01 03aa~d3U J.33d N1 Hid30
PAGE 29
28 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station mation under the Atlantic Coastal Ridge between Delray Beach and West Palm Beach. The permeability varies with the lithologic composition, but as a whole the coefficient of permeability is relatively low; indeed, some wells ending in the Caloosahatchee yield no water. Where the formation is more permeable, and near the coast, the water is apt to be potable but hard. Inland, around Lake Okeechobee and the upper part of the Everglades, the water is hard and in some places so highly mineralized as to be unfit for human consumption. These variously mineralized bodies of water near the lake are probably the result of Pleistocene invasions by the sea during the interglacial stages and of subsequent partial flushings or dilutions by fresh percolating ground water during glacial stages, and of the various chemical reactions, mainly of the base-exchange variety, that have taken place and may bu still going on. Tamiami Formation.-The Tamiami formation interfingers with the Caloosahatchee marl, so might be considered a facies of the Caloosahatchee. (See Figure 7.) The Tamiami is wedgeshaped in cross-section, thin toward the interior and thick toward the coast, ranging from about 10 to over 200 feet in thickness. It is composed principally of light-colored sandy limestone, Fig. 8.-Typical view of the Tamiami formation as exposed along Tamiami Canal in Big Cypress Swamp about 55 miles west of Miami. Note the solution holes. This formation is among the most highly permeable ever investigated by the U. S. Geological Survey. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.)
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Q--Om -1 01 1 N 4 O 0 8A 40 S -10 "" --70 0, N -HAWTHORN FORMATION UNDERLAIN BY TAMPA, S-eO0 SUJWANIEE, OCALA, AND ASSOCIATED FORMATIONS C 90 SCALE IN MILES -110 *I s .. M 01 OQUATERNARY, LAE FLIRT MARL Op "QUATERNARY, PAMLICO FORMATION .,QUATERNARY MIAMI OOLITE Ok QUATERNARY, KEY LARGO LIMESTONE Y P. *PLIOCENE, TAMIAMI FORMATION MH -MIOCENE. HAWTHORN FORMATION "Fig. 9.-Geologic cross-section through the Everglades across Dade County along Tamiami Trail. *Pig. 9.--Geologic cross-section through the Everglades across Dade County along Tamiami Trail.
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30 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station calcareous sandstone, and beds and pockets of quartz sand. (See Figure 8.) The permeability is exceedingly high, in places ranking with clean, well-sorted gravel. The Tamiami underlies the southern portion of the Everglades from about the latitude of Fort Lauderdale. It underlies the Atlantic Coastal Ridge at least as far north as Delray Beach, and possibly almost to West Palm Beach, where it interfingers with or grades into the Caloosahatchee marl. It lies at the surface in the southern part of the Big Cypress, but is very thin there. (See Figure 9.) Pleistocene Rocks The Pleistocene rocks consist of several formations which are of especial interest because they compose so large a part of the surface of southern Florida and because they record the influence of the glacial climate of Pleistocene times in the building of this area. These formations include the Anastasia formation, Miami oolite, Fort Thompson formation, Pamlico formaFig. 10.-Typical view of the Anastasia formation as exposed along Fort Myers Beach road about 0.25 mile west of U. S. Highway 94 (Tamiami Trail). The Anastasia here is a sandy, shelly limestone riddled with solution holes largely filled by latest Pleistocene sand and marine shells. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.)
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 31 tion, and Talbot and Penholoway formations. The Key Largo limestone, a dead coral reef, and the higher sandy terrace deposits are not discussed in this report because they are largely outside the boundaries of the Everglades region. Anastasia Formation.-The Anastasia formation is well developed along the east coast of Florida as far south as Boca Raton, where it grades into the Miami oolite. On the west coast of Florida (see Fig. 10) it is very thin and has only a limited development. Between the coastal regions, in the Everglades, it merges with the marine members of the Fort Thompson formation. The Anastasia formation is composed chiefly of sandy, shelly limestone, coquina, shells, and sand with local carbonaceous silty or clayey deposits that represent old salt marsh and mangrove swamps. Its thickness ranges from a feather edge to about 60 feet. Along the east coast of Florida, where the Anastasia is most Fig. 11.-Typical exposure of the Miami oolite overlain by the Pamlico formation. Site is a borrow pit on the west side of U. S. Highway No. 1 at the north side of Fort Lauderdale. Note the solution holes in the oolite (the 6-year old boy gives scale). The sand of the Pamlico formation not only mantles the oolite but usually fills the solution holes. (Photo by Garald G. Parker U.S.G.S.) 'AHBRB^B^^^^^^^^^^^^^B"^^. ^B^„'^^^^^.-s^^^BB^^^^^
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32 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station prominently developed, it forms the backbone of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, and is a fair to excellent aquifer, depending upon the lithologic composition. Miami Oolite.-The Atlantic Coastal Ridge south of Boca Raton is composed of Miami oolite to an average depth of about 20 feet. The oolite overlies the Tamiami formation; it underlies the Bay of Florida and forms the land surface in the lower Florida Keys, Big Pine Key to and including Key West. The formation is highly permeable in a vertical direction due to the tremendous development of vertical solution holes, or "chimneys" as locally they are often called. (See Figure 11.) In a horizontal direction the permeability is greatly reduced, but even so the formation transmits large quantities of water. Fort Thompson Formation.-Occupying the Lake OkeechobeeEverglades depression is the Fort Thompson formation, a series of alternating beds of limestone, shells, sand, and marl of marine, brackish, and fresh-water origin. (See Figure 12.) The marine beds represent times when the area was flooded by the sea; the Fig. 12.-Typical exposure of the Fort Thompson formation at the type locality on Caloosahatchee River 1%3 miles east of LaBelle, Florida. The hard, dense, fresh-water limestone layers stand out as ledges due to removal by solution and erosion of the soft marl and shell beds between. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.) -^^^^^^jaf~j§^8
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 33 fresh-water beds record times when sea-level was below the present level and fresh-water lakes and marshes occupied the area; and the brackish-water beds may represent either times of rising or falling sea levels when the water in the area was neither salt nor fresh but was a mixture of the two. The Fort Thompson formation has been described and tentatively correlated by Parker and Cooke (29, p. 40) with other formations, and with the glacial and interglacial stages of the Pleistocene. The limestone beds of the Fort Thompson are usually extremely dense and hard with comparatively few solution holes piercing them. Intercalated gray calcareous mud or marl layers, in addition to the dense hard limestone layers, help to make the Fort Thompson formation generally relatively impermeable so that water does not pass through it easily. Some portions of the formation contain greater amounts of shell or coarser sand than others, and where this occurs local zones of fair to even high permeability occur. Pamlico Formation.-The Pamlico formation (see Fig. 11) is chiefly composed of gray-white to carbonaceous quartz sand locally consolidated to sandstone. It mantles the underlyinz rocks of southern Florida along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts about to the latitude of Miami but does not generally extend far out into the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression; inland it extends up to about 25 feet above mean sea level, the altitude of the Pamlico seashore. Locally the sand of the Pamlico formation is heaped up into beach ridges and dunes at altitudes higher than 25 feet. The Pamlico formation is usually of low to medium permeabil-, ity. Where clean and well sorted, the permeability is high, but ordinarily the sorting is poor and the interstices between larger sand grains are filled with smaller ones, or silt and/or organic materials are intermixed with the sand in some places, so as to reduce greatly the permeability. Talbot and Penholoway Formations.-The Talbot and Penholoway formations are conformable marine terrace deposits whose differentiation is based mainly on the location of their respective shore lines, namely, 42 and 70 feet above present sea level. These formations unconformably overlie the Caloosahatchee marl and are likewise separated by a stratigraphic break from the Pamlico formation, which fringes around the Talbot.
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34 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station The surficial deposits consist of poorly sorted gray to white quartz sand of various degrees of fineness and angularity. Below the surface the sands are gray to orange, tan, and brown. In some places the sands have been cemented to produce friable to hard sandstones. Old bars, inner lagoons, and beach ridges are still prominent in many places on the surface of these formations. These inherited shore line features today exert primary control on surface drainage, and are responsible for the existence of most of the sloughs, swales, and "islands" of the Kissimmee River drainage basin and similar areas. Not a great deal is known about the transmissibility of these formations. They absorb rainfall readily and yield water to many shallow small-diameter wells finished with sand-points. The few exploratory test wells put down through these sands indicate that the quantity of ground water moving through the formations toward Lake Okeechobee is relatively small. Latest Pleistocene and Recent Rocks Lake Flirt Marl.-The Lake Flirt marl of late Wisconsin and Recent age has its thickest and typical development in the basin Fig. 13.-Typical view of the Lake Flirt marl at the type locality about one-half mile east of the dismantled U.S.E.D. Lock No. 3 on Caloosahatchee River. Note that carbonaceous sand and/or peat and muck layers are intercalated with the marl beds. Laterally marl may grade into muck, peat, or carbonaceous sand, and vice versa. (Photo by Garald G. Parker, U.S.G.S.) ^IBI^^ll^T 3^~ iK --
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 35 of old Lake Flirt east of Fort Thompson on the Caloosahatchee River. There the formation ranges in thickness up to 6 feet. (See Figure 13.) The Lake Flirt marl is widely distributed under the organic soils of the Everglades, and in places is consolidated into a hard limestone (as along Cross and Hillsboro Canals) just under the muck. Usually, however, it is a soft, grayish-white calcareous mud rich with leached shells of fresh-water gastropods, especially of the genera Helisoma and Ameria. The marl is not uniformly distributed; it often pinches or lenses out into peat or muck. Generally it is quite impermeable, acting as a seal that prevents movement of water through it. Where present it is an important aid in controlling water levels, especially above the highly permeable Miami oolite and the Tamiami formation. Organic Soils.-The peats and mucks of the Everglades, formed in Recent time, are treated fully elsewhere in this bulletin. (See pp. 61 and 141.) Topographic Development The general aspect of southern Florida's topographic expression is one of extreme flatness, yet there is considerable diversification. Along the Florida east coast the Atlantic Coastal Ridge extends as a strip of higher land between the ocean and the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression. North of this depression, which is some 40 miles wide and 100 miles long, is a series of higher land, Pleistocene marine terraces, scalloped by streams such as Kissimmee River and Fisheating Creek. To the west of the depression is the higher land of Big Cypress Swamp and Devil's Garden. Along parts of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are quiescent dunes; in fact many of the Ten Thousand Islands of the lower west coast are drowned sand dunes. And filling in most of the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression to a monotonously flat level are the organic peat and muck soils that today are undergoing an important change in topographic expression. (See p. 79.) Most of this topographic development was achieved during the Pleistocene, or Great Ice Age, but some of the Pliocene rocks still are exposed at the surface. The development of the rocks, soils, and topographic expression may be traced from the Pliocene epoch.
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36 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Geologic History Pliocene Epoch.-During much of Pliocene time southern Florida was a sea bottom covered by warm, shallow water that teemed with marine life. The shore line probably extended southward through Lake County to Sebring, circled westward through Arcadia and Sarasota, then northward across the Gulf toward Tallahassee. On land and in deltas the Alachua formation and the Bone Valley gravel accumulated, while off shore in the shallow waters the shell beds, calcareous sandstone and sandy limestone, and calcareous clay of the Caloosahatchee marl, Buckingham marl, and Tamiami formation were being deposited. The accumulation of these materials left a moderately flat surface in the central and upper Everglades area when the Pliocene sea withdrew, a surface that generally sloped gently to the east from the longitude of the Big Cypress-Devil's Garden area to the Atlantic Coastal Ridge where the slope steepened toward the east. (See Figure 14.) Near the close of the Pliocene, due to uplift of the Floridian Plateau, this old sea bottom became a land surface over which strange animals roamed, a lush vegetation flourished, many lakes existed, and rivers and minor streams wended their ways to the sea. No deep gorges were carved in this surface, though it is probable that the larger present-day streams originated during this interval and began to cut their valleys across the now submerged portion of the Floridian Plateau as far as the edge of the continental shelf. Pleistocene Epoch.-The Pleistocene epoch is sometimes known as the Great Ice Age. It was during this time that thick continental glaciers occupied immense land areas in both northern and southern hemispheres. The formation of these glaciers required huge quantities of water whose ultimate source was the ocean. As a result of the formation of continental glaciers, the ocean level fell. Between times of glaciation there were warm intervals called inter-glacial stages, during which much of the ice melted away and the water returned to ocean basins, refilling them and causing the sea level to rise again. There were 5 prolonged periods of low sea level, during each of which the shore line lay offshore from its present location, and sub-aerial erosion and subterranean solution became active. Fresh-water lakes and marshes accupied the Lake OkeechobeeEverglades depression. These times of low sea level appear to
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 37 correspond to the Nebraskan, Kansan, and Illinoian glacial stages, and two sub-stages of the Wisconsin distinguished as the Iowan (early Wisconsin) and the post-Iowan (late Wisconsin) (8). In glaciated regions they are represented by glacial drift, moraines, and other ice-borne and water-borne debris. In Florida they are indicated by erosion surfaces, solution holes, soil zones, and "so " 31 1321 3 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 -I S38 ' \ L A K E -7 ' 42 0 45 SU.S..S. WELL PeI AS INICATES U.SS-S.CS WELL; PREFIX S INDICATES 0 s ALTITUDE REFERRED TO .S.L, USC. a G-S, S DATU CONTOUR INTERVAL FIVE FEET.46 A E49 Fig. 14.-Map of Everglades Drainage District showing contours on51 the Pliocene surface.52 i% z E54 EXPLANATION o ' 56 5 0 INoICATES TEST WELL LOCATIONS ' OGsl f WELL NUMBER LETTER PREFIX G INDICATES .2U.SGS,S.C S WELL; PREFIX S INDICATES 0 58 A PRIVATE WELL. ,// ( ' ALTITUDE REFERRED TO M.S.L., UýSC. a G.S. 59 DATUM. CONTOUR INTERVAL FIVE FEET. .. SCALE IN MILES 60 Fig. 14.-Map of Everglades Drainage District showing contours on the Pliocene surface.
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38 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station fresh-water limestone and marl (26 and 31). In the following passages the correlations made are tentative and to be regarded as a basis for a working hypothesis. Nebraskan Glacial Stage.-The effect of this time on the topography of southern Florida was largely to continue the erosion and solution effects started in the late Pliocene. The Floridian Plateau may have been slightly tilted westward at the beginning of this epoch, and major stream development probably was toward the Gulf of Mexico. No recognizable terrestrial or marine deposits are credited to Nebraskan time in southern Florida. Aftonian Interglacial Stage.-During the Aftonian nearly all of Florida was beneath the sea (9), and southern Florida was, at the time the sea reached its highest level, covered by water deeper than 250 feet. Nearest land was a group of small islands in Polk County, which could not have yielded much sediment to the ocean currents. The sea bottom, floored with Pliocene sediments, remained nearly bare. Local patches of marine shells at the base of the Fort Thompson formation on the Caloosahatchee River may be of Aftonian age. Kansan Glacial Stage.-With the formation of glaciers during Kansas time, sea level again dropped below its present level. Again land conditions existed where previously there had been a marine environment. Fresh water lakes and marshes developed in southern Florida, and in these bodies of fresh water thin sheets of marl and limestone containing the shells of fresh-water mollusks were deposited. Much of these deposits were probably removed in the succeeding interglacial stage. Yarmouth Interglacial Stage.-With the melting of ice sheets during the Yarmouth interglacial stage, the ocean level once more rose and southern Florida was flooded by salt water. The sea rose to 215 feet above present mean sea level, halted long enough to produce a shore line at that level, then fell to 170 feet, where it remained to the close of this stage. Sources of sediment were again remote, and in the Everglades only a thin marine shell marl and calcareous sandstone of the Fort Thompson formation are referred to Yarmouth time. If the deposit was once thicker, erosion and solution removed much of it before the succeeding deposit was laid down. Along the Atlantic coast it is probable that the lower portions of the Anastasia formation were being built up and the basal portions of the Key Largo limestone were growing as a coral reef.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 39 Illinoian Glacial Stage.-As the climate cooled during the Illinoian glacial stage and the vast ice sheets spread, sea level again dropped below the present level. Once more fresh-water lakes and marshes appeared on the broad flat top of the Floridian Plateau, and streams began cutting across the newly-emerged sea bottom to the edge of the continental shelf. The present Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression had not assumed its modern shape, but the area had been low ever since the Pliocene sea withdrew, and the accumulation of the basal Anastasia formation to the east tended to produce a basin; consequently, the Everglades area became a vast marshy lowland with shallow lakes scattered in its deeper portions. In these lower areas a fresh-water marl and limestone, in places 4 feet thick, was deposited. Solution and erosion were active wherever moving water could attack the rocks, especially on the higher land areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Sangamon Interglacial Stage.-Melting of the glaciers formed during Illinoian time slowly restored sea level to 100 feet above "the present level, where it remained for some time before falling to 70 feet, then to 42 feet. It probably was mainly during the early and late parts of the Sangamon, when sea level ranged between -20 feet and +20 feet with reference to present sea level, that much of southern Florida's present-day topography assumed its major outlines. Along the Atlantic coast the Miami oolite and Anastasia formations were laid down as part of a marine bar, just about at the level of the sea during those times. In many places wind-blown and wave-tossed sand or oolitic material was heaped up above high tide level, while behind the bar, in the broad expanse of the present-day Everglades-Lake Okeechobee depression, a shoal existed in which oolite (Miami oolite) was deposited to the south, and in the north mollusk shells were concentrated in a wide and comparatively thick layer that today makes up the Coffee Mill Hammock marl member of the Fort Thompson formation. The growth of the bar built up by Anastasia and Miami deposits was concomitant with that of the upper part of the Key Largo limestone coral reef, and together largely built up the topographic basin which today encloses the Lake Okeechobee Everglades depression. Tidal currents scoured in and out through lower parts of the bar, even as they do between the Florida Keys today, and left spillways that subsequently became used by fresh-water drainage from the Everglades. These
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40 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station old tidal runways are especially noticeable between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. Shallower tidal channels are found elsewhere on the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. Of considerable present-day economic value are those between South Miami and Homestead, floored with gray marl soils (of Recent age), used principally for winter truck farming. Wisconsin Glacial Stage.-Wisconsin time may be sub-divided into an early glacial sub-stage, the Iowan; a mid-Wisconsin interglacial sub-stage; and a late Wisconsin unnamed glacial substage. During the Iowan glacial sub-stage the sea fell below its present level, and once again southern Florida became a land area. The Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression gradually became an immense fresh-water marsh and lake area in which local sandy carbonaceous deposits were laid down. Discharge from the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression was mainly through the old tidal channels between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and in some instances these channels were cut entirely through the oolite into the underlying Tamiami formation. Conditions were favorable for solvent activity in the limestone, and a network of solution holes in the oolite began to develop. Further solution development in the calcareous rocks of the Tamiami formation helped make it more and more highly permeable as the horizontal passages to the lowered sea level became enlarged. Dune building probably occurred along the Atlantic Coastal Ridge; also along the southwest Gulf coast where the Ten Thousand Islands now are found. At the close of the Iowan, the sea level began to rise again as the early Wisconsin glaciers melted back, and slowly rose to 25 feet above the present level. The principal topographic effects of this change in sea level were the development of a marine terrace with its inner margin at the 25-foot shore-line, and the mantling of the older rocks bordering the Everglades as far south as the latitude of Coral Gables with quartz sand of the Pamlico formation. The Devil's Garden and northern Big Cypress Swamp area became sand-mantled at this time, and the old tidal inlets through the Atlantic Coastal Ridge were choked with sand; solution holes and caverns were sand-filled; a strip of sand was built into a smooth floor between the deeper parts of the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression and the Atlantic Coastal Ridge; and above the shoreline, beach-ridges and dunes were built in many places.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 41 This mid-Wisconsin invasion of southern Florida by the sea saturated the underlying rocks with salt water, adding to that which remained from previous inundations. Some of this salt water still remains in rocks of the Fort Thompson and Caloosahatchee formations in the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression, modified by dilution with fresh water and by chemical reactions, mainly of the base-exchange variety, with the enclosing rocks. With the formation of the glacial sheets in late Wisconsin time the ocean once more fell below present sea level, and as it receded heaped up the sand of the Pamlico formation into a series of beach ridges that are today especially noticeable in St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach counties. These beach ridges and intervening lagoons today exert primary control on surficial drainage, and impose a trellis-like drainage pattern on the area affected. As the sea fell it halted long enough at 5 feet above present mean sea level to develop a notch at Miami in a low seacliff called Silver Bluff. The Miami wave-cut bench formed by this 5-foot stand of the sea is plainly traceable from Miami to and beyond Fort Lauderdale. U. S. Highway No. 1 follows the old shore line for many miles in Dade and Broward counties. When the ocean had once more fallen below present sea level the old tidal runways through the Atlantic Coastal Ridge to the Lake Okeechobee-Everglades depression were again used by discharging fresh water streams, which at least partially re-excavated these sand-choked channels. Solution became active again, and along the coast in many places dune building became very prominent. In the marshes behind the coastal ridge the basal portions of the Lake Flirt marl and of the peat and muck of the Everglades were laid down. Recent Epoch.-Pleistocene time came to a close as the late Wisconsin glaciers melted back and the sea slowly rose to its present level. The lower ends of such rivers as the Caloosahatchee, Miami, New, Hillsboro, Jupiter, St. Lucie, St. Johns, etc., became flooded and created the estuaries now used as harbors. Lake Worth, Hobe Sound, Indian River, and all of the other saltwater lagoons behind the present-day off-shore bar came into being, and at the same time Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, Barnes Sound, Card Sound, etc., assumed their identity. The numerous sand dunes that had been formed along the southwest Gulf coast were wholly or partially inundated, thus giving origin to the
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42 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Ten Thousand Islands. In this manner Florida's shores finally assumed their modern outlines. Climate Temperatures The climate of southern Florida generally is described as subtropical. Temperatures are neither extremely hot in summer nor cold in winter, owing to the influence of the ocean and the Gulf. The highest temperature ever recorded by the Weather Bureau at Miami is 96° F; the lowest is 27°. The mean annual temperature at Miami is 75°, and th3 monthly average temperatures range from 680 in January and February to 82° in July and August. At Evergiades Experiment Station at Belle Glade, about 4 miles east of the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee, the mean annual temperature from 1924 to 1946 was 72° F. July and August are, the warmest months, each with an average of 80' for the 22-year period; January and February are the coldest, each with an average of 64°. The highest and the lowest temperatures ever recorded at the Experiment Station are 100° and 240. The average and extreme temperatures for these stations are shown by months in Table 2. TABLE 2.-MEAN MONTHLY AND ANNUAL TEMPERATURES AND EXTREME TEMPERATURES RECORDED AT BELLE GLADE AND MIAMI. (Compiled from U. S. Weather Bureau data.) Be'le Glade i Miami (July 1924 to June 1946)1 (Jan. 1896 to Dec. 1946) Month MaxiMini Month MaxiMiniMean mum mum Mean mum mum Reached Reached Reached Reached January 64 89 24 January 68 85 29 February 64 92 28 February 68 88 27 March 66 93 27 March 70 92 34 April 70 95 33 April 74 93 45 May 74 96 44 May 77 94 50 June 78 97 54 June 80 94 61 July 80 100 62 July 82 96 66 August 80 99 64. August 82 96 60 September 79 98 60 September 81 95 62 October 75 94 40 October 78 93 52 November 68 89 32 November 73 88 36 December 65 89 25 December 69 91 39 Annual 72 100 24 Annual 75 96 27 JuneOct. 79 100 40 JuneOct. 81 96 52
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 43 No part of the mainland of Florida is free from frosts, although several frost-free years may occur in succession. Because truck crops are grown almost entirely during the winter for shipment to Northern markets, the frosts that occur may cause severe and costly damage. The frost hazard is somewhat greater on the peat soils than on the sandy soils. Temperatures of 32° F. or less were recorded at Belle Glade in 13 of the 22 years from July 1924 to June 1946, and at Miami in 8 of the 50 years through 1945. Killing frosts, however, occurred during the fall months in 11 of the 22 years at Belle Glade and 4 of the 48 years at Miami, and in the early months of 14 years at Belle Glade and 13 years at Miami. The earliest frosts recorded in the fall were on November 16, 1940, at Belle Glade, and on November 21, 1914, at Miami; the latest in the spring were on April 29, 1928, at Belle Glade and on March 18, 1915, at Miami. The coldest temperatures recorded on virgin sawgrass peat land were 9" F. on March 14, 1932, at Shawano, about 14 miles southeast of Belle Glade, and 13° in December 1934 near Twenty-Mile Bend in West Palm Beach Canal. Recorded observations indicate that minimum temperatures are about 5" higher on cultivated peat soils than on virgin peat. Sunshine, Wind, and Humidity The sunshine at Miami is 67 percent of the possible on an annual basis, ranging from 62 percent in June to 74 percent in March and April. The frequent showers during the rainy season ordinarily obscure the sun for only short periods of time, Relative humidity in the peat areas is very high; records at Belle Glade show it usually to be nearly 100 percent from sunset to about 9 a. m. Winds are generally from the east. Their movement is greatest during the winter and spring, and at Belle Glade has averaged about 4,700 miles per year. Rainfall Rainfall in the Everglades region is extremely variable from year to year, and from place to place in any year. On the average, the rainfall on the coast is several inches'more than around Lake Okeechobee. The figures for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Hypoluxo in Table 3 average 58.10 inches per year, whereas those for Canal Point, Okeechobee, and Moore Haven average 50.47 inches. Southeast of the lake, as represented by Belle Glade and
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TABLE 3.-AVERAGE AND EXTREME MONTHLY AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS. (Compiled from U. S. Weather Bureau Data, Except for Canal Point and Shawano.) ___Belle Glade (1924-1946)*. Miami (1896-1946)* Greatest Least Rain 0.01 Greatest Least Rain 0.01 Average on on Inch Average on on Inch IRecord Record or More Record Record or More Inches Inches Inches Days Inches Inches Inches Days January .......... 7.70 5.39 0.11 6 2.32 7.93 0.00 8 February ....... 1.63 5.55 0.03 6 1.91 5.91 0.00 7 March ... ..-. 3.20 7.10 0.33 7 2.37 9.74 0.00 7 April .............. 3.33 6.90 0.01 7 3.42 13.62 0.23 7 May ............ 4.56 9.38 1.08 10 6.68 18.66 0.32 12 June ...........-.. 9.89 24.11 0.59 16 7.14 25.34 0.07 13 July .........-....7.66 13.05 3.05 17 5.28 15.22 0.48 15. August ....... .8.15 16.38 2.65 17 6.13 15.05 0.66 15 September .... 8.52 19.04 3.58 16 8.56 19.70 2.08 18 October .....-.... 4.50 15.84 0.49 11 8.60 27.86 0.18 16 November .... 2.25 12.36 0.15 6 3.15 17.72 0.23 10 December .... 1.34 6.47 0.12 6 1.85 12.08 0.00 8 Annual ....... 56.73 66.14 40.99 125 57.41 79.42 24.20 135 June -Oct. ....-. 38.72 49.26 26.15 77 35.71 65.60 15.17 77 Shawano (1926-1946) Fort Lauderdale (1918-1946)** January ........ 1.88 7.37 0.24 2.74 9.04 0.00 February ....... 1.47 4.73 0.03 2.00 5.06 0.00 March ......... 3.15 7.69 0.23 2.89 12.21 0.07 April ............ 3.02 7.28 0.00 3.91 10.51 0.02 May ............. 4.87 11.70 1.59 5.82 14.49 0.06 c. June ...... ......... 8.18 17.72 1.20 7.44 24.24 1.49 July ...--....... 8.16 14.10 2.06 6.14 14.01 1.48 August ......7.58 14.66 2.00 6.26 14.88 1.36 September ....-. 8.52 16.48 3.12 8.26 16.35 2.29 October ..... ... 4.25 11.30 0.77 8.91 32.10 1.51 November 2--... 2.00 5.64 0.10 3.44 10.20 0.11 December ...... 1.36 3.82 0.15 __ 2.20 8.57 0.17 Annual ............ 54.44 75.11 36.49 60.01 82.56 41.05 June -Oct. .... .39.69 52.38 23.67 37.01 58.63 21.42 * For Belle Glade, 22 years, July to June; for all other stations, calen ar years, inclusive. "** Records made at Davie prior to 1924.
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TABLE 3.-AVERAGE AND EXTREME MONTHLY AND ANNUAL PRECIPITATIONS.-(Continued.) (Compiled from U. S. Weather Bureau Data, Except for Canal Point and Shawano.) Canal Point (1923-1946) Hypoluxo (1918-1946) Greatest Least Greatest Least Average on on Average on on SRecord Record __ Record Record Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches January ............................. 1.82 6.21 0.12 2.71 9.47 0.43 February ..................... 1.96 5.69 0.04 2.46 6.01 0.27 March ........... .......... 2.82. 6.36 0.03 3.60 7.07 0.00 April ............. ............... 3.14 9.25 0.00 4.32 17.87 0.10 May ...... ............... 4.20 10.60 0.76 4.60 12.70 0.67 June ........... .............. .8.29 16.96 0.49 ' 6.78 14.52 0.52 July -.............................. 8.41 14.62 3.33 5.54 16.40 0.14 August ........... .......... 7.28 14.13 1.85 5.68 13.42 0.74 September .................. 8.18 16.45 3.40 7.92 • 16.68 1.93 October ............... ........... 4.29 18.14 0.77 7.66 22.31 2.11 November ....................... 2.40 25.09 0.30 3.35 8.13 0.25 December .......................... 1.27 4.62 0.09 2.27 8.59 0.57 Annual .............................. ] 54.06 70.23 36.44 56.89 71.64 34.90 JuneOct. ........ .............. .36.45 48.88 18.56 33.58 48.12 18.73 Moore Haven (1918-1946) Okeechobee (1918-1946) January ..............-..1.58 5.73 0.11 1.69 5.72 0.00 February ......................... 1.76 4.97 0.12 1.96 6.58 0.07 March ............... .......... 2.40 5.90 0.03 2.44 6.49 0.30 c April ............................... 3.09 6.92 0.21 3.51 11.63 0.00 May ............................ 4.44 11.70 0.35 3.88 8.48 0.90 June ............................ 7.44 17.85 1.20 7.22 13.35 1.28 July ....... ................. 7.76 16.13 2.68 6.56 12.82 2.94 August ............ ............-7.18 15.71 2.39 6.28 20.70 1.27 September -...................... 7.17 14.93 1.08 6.86 16.86 0.08 October ......... ...... ... -... 3.75 13.39 0.03 4.59 15.50 0.30 November ................... 1.58 5.47 0.07 1.72 8.27 0.00 December .-........-.........--.0.90 3.91 0.07 1.59 4.59 0.00 Annual -.......-...........-.. .49.05 .78.48 33.67 48.30 71.11 31.58 June -Oct .................... 33.30 51.77 21.22 31.50 50.74 16.27
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46 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Shawano, the average has been 55.58 inches. Measurements in the interior of the Glades are not available. The heaviest rainfall within 24 hours in the Everglades region probably was 21.92 inches occurring at the United States Cane Breeding Station at Canal Point on November 6 and 7, 1932. Nearly all of this fell in 8 hours, between 11 p. m. and 7 a. m. The rainfall at Belle Glade in this storm was 10.90 inches. Unusual rains at Miami include 6.10 inches in 175 minutes in 1909 and 7.48 inches in 155 minutes in 1926. The five months of June to October ordinarily make up the rainy season, and furnish two-thirds of the yearly rainfall. (See Table 3.) The months of heaviest precipitation are June and September at most of the inland -stations, and October on the East Coast. Damaging floods may occur during wet periods when crops are in the ground, because it is not economical to provide ditches and canals large enough to handle the extreme run-off from the occasional heavy rains. The relatively dry months of November to May include most of the season in which truck crops are produced. During the winter and spring, periods of drought lasting 2 or 3 months are not uncommon; at Belle Glade only 1 inch of rain fell in the 4 months of December 1938 to March 1939, inclusive. Consequently, irrigation is necessary for growing most crops. Vegetation7 Each of the 6 natural subdivisions shown in Figure 2 has a distinctive native vegetation. The sawgrass plains include all the territory bounded by the Miami Canal, West Palm Beach Canal, and the coastal ridge except the Hillsboro Marsh section of ridge-and-slough land. The dominant native vegetation is sawgrass, a sedge which attains The scientific names of most of the plants mentioned in this chapter are listed herewith. They are not intended to be a complete catalog of the vegetation. For a thorough discussion of vegetation in southern Florida, including the Everglades, see: Davis, John H., The Natural Features of Southern Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv., Geol. Bul. 25. 1943. Trees and Shrubs.-Red bay, Persea borbonia (L.) Pax.; sweet bay, Magnolia virginiana (L.); custard apple, Annona glabra (L.); cypress, Taxodium distichum (L.) L. C. Rich; southern elderberry, Sambucus simpsonii Rehder; strangler fig, Ficus aurea (Nutt.); gallberry, Ilex glabra (L.) A. Gray; gumbo limbo, Bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg.; dahoon holly, Ilex cassine (L.); black mangrove, Avicennic nitida (Jacq.); red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle (L.); white mangrove (buttonwood), Laguncularia racemosa Gaertn f.; wax myrtle, Myrica cerifera (L.); live oak, Quercus virginiana (Mill.); scrub oak, several Quercus spp.; cabbage palm, Sabal
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"Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 47 a height of 8 feet or more on the deep peat. In the southern part of this area, however, it may be less than 3 feet high on the very shallow peat or porous limestone. Since the land has been Sdrained or burned over many plants have come in, such as marsh ferns, royal fern, smartweed, pigweed, goldenrod, and castor bean. Bordering the lake on the southeast, and extending back in a strip from 1 to 4 miles wide, were the original forests of custard apple and associated plants. Virtually all of these forests have been cleared, because the Okeechobee muck on which they grew is excellent land. Farther back, south of the custard-apple land, was the zone of willow-and-elder land which had somewhat the same range in width. This is also good farm land and most of it has been cleared. Usually between the sawgrass plains and the ridge-and-slough areas there is a transitional zone in which there is a great variety of shrubs, mostly dominated by wax-myrtle, and many marsh herbs intermixed with sawgrass, arrowhead, and cattails in the wettest areas. Occasionally dotting the landscape of the sawgrass plains are the old "'gator holes" which have willows growing around the edges, and arrowhead and cattails in the middle around the water hole. Many clumps of wax myrtle have come in on the undeveloped sawgrass land since the canals were dug. Sawgrass was the principal native vegetation in the Istokpoga area in the northwestern part of the Everglades Region, and in the Allapattah Flats in the northern and northeastern parts, as well as on the main sawgrass plains of the Everglades. The ridge-and-slough area occurs in 2 sections-the Hillsboro Marsh section, mostly north of Hillsboro Canal and immediately west of the coastal ridge, and a larger section west of Miami Canal and the rock rim in a body more than 100 miles long and palmetto (Walt.) Todd; saw palmetto, Serenoa repens (Bartr.) Small; swamp pine, Pinus elliotti Engelm.; slash pine, Pinus caribaea Morelet; long-leaf pine, Pinus palustris Morelet; rosemary, Ceratiola ericoides Michx.; tamarind, Lysiloma; willow, Salix spp., especially Salix amphiba Small. Grasses, Ferns, Herbs, and Water Plants.-Arrowhead, Sagittaria lancifolia (L.); bladderworts, Urticularia; bonnets, Nuphar; cattail, Typha latifolia (L.); cinnamon fern, Osmunda cinnamomea (L.); swamp fern, Blechnum serrulatum L. C. Rich; beard grass, Andropogon hirtiflorus (Nees) Kunth; broom grass, Andropogon virginicus (L.); needle grass, Eleocharis cellulosa Torr.; poverty grass, Aristida afinis (Schult.) Kunth; sawgrass, Mariscus jamaicensis (Crantz) Britton; switch grass, Aristida patula Chapm. and A. virgata Trin.; wiregrass, Aristida stricta Michx.
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48 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station from 5 to 20 miles wide, shaped somewhat like a flattened "V" pointing eastward toward Miami. Each of these sections contains thousands of small oval islands interspersed with sloughs and small ponds or lakes. The sloughs are filled with water most of the time and contain aquatic plants, especially the bladderworts, coontail moss, spider lily, bonnets, and several water or slough grasses that bend in the current. The islands are mostly of the bay-head type on which the vegetation is mainly red bay, sweet bay, wax myrtle, and dahoon holly, with an undergrowth that includes royal, cinnamon, and common swamp ferns. Sawgrass usually grows along the edge. These islands in early stages of their formation are floating masses of sawgrass and tree grasses. As the organic remains form a slightly higher island, the next succession is usually wax myrtle, and this is followed by bays and ferns. Usually about the time the trees begin to grow their roots penetrate to the bottom of the slough, and the island becomes anchored. These islands are usually oval in shape, widest on the upstream and tapering toward the lower end. The pattern that is developed therefore appears to indicate the direction in which water flowed in the past. In Hillsboro Marsh the islands point southeasterly; in the west section, north of Tamiami Trail (U. S. Highway 94) they point southeasterly, and south of the Trail they point southwesterly toward Shark River. The hammock-and-glades section extends north, west, and south from the vicinity of Forty-Mile Bend on Tamiami Trail (distance from Miami),. The topographical arrangement of sloughs and islands is very much like that described for the ridge-and-slough section. The sloughs, however, are marl glades in which there is a layer of 2 to 14 inches of marl overlying the rock, and the hammocks are built up on the weathered and partly leached, honeycombed oolitic limestone. The hammocks are 6 to 18 inches higher than the surrounding glades. Vegetation on them varies considerably, from a nearly pure stand of cabbage palm to a mixture of live oak, cabbage palm, gumbo limbo, wild citrus, and tamarind trees, with many vines and ferns. The intervening glades north of Tamiami Trail usually are covered with pond cypress and some sawgrass and wax myrtle. South of the Trail the vegetation of the open glades is mainly a sparse growth of sawgrass and poverty grass, with arrowhead, cattails, myrtle, and willows around the open water holes or sloughs. The sandy coastal ridge, which is several miles wide and a few
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 49 feet high, borders the Everglades on the east from Miami northward. On these sandy soils the native vegetation is scattered pines, numerous low-growing saw palmettos, scrub oak, rosemary, and a number of smaller plants. On the west side north of Collier County and north and east of Lake Okeechobee, the sandy land is chiefly low and flat with an irregular pattern of poorly drained areas, hammocks on which the soil is fairly well drained, and intermediate areas that are imperfectly drained. The poorly drained areas are usually open prairies of switch grass and other native grasses, with cattails, arrowhead, and other water plants in the ponds. The hammocks have luxuriant vegetation that may be mostly cabbage palm or live oak, or mixtures of them with wild tamarind, figs, vines, and ferns. On the imperfectly drained land, which makes up a large part of the flatwoods, the vegetation is mainly saw palmetto and pine, with wiregrass, broom grass, and gallberry. The rock rim west and southwest of Miami consists mainly of porous oolite, with here and there a thin cover of sand or a pocket of clay. The part bordering the sawgrass and ridge-and-slough areas is only slightly higher than the Everglades proper. On this part the vegetation is mostly sparse sawgrass, switch grass, and beard grass; there are a few bay heads on which are wax myrtle and other trees or shrubs. The higher part of the rim, along the southeastern boundary, is covered with Cuban pine, palmetto, wiregrass, and switch grass. Some of the hammocks in this part have a dense cover of live oak, palms, and many other tropical or subtropical trees, and a luxuriant growth of vines and ferns. The coastal marshes, between the rock rim and the coast, have over most of their area a native cover of sparse sawgrass and needle grass. In the southern part, myrtle and bay grow along the drainage ways. In the tidal swamps there are mangrove forests, chiefly red mangrove in the eastern part and black mangrove near the southern tip of the State. The cover on the brackish marl in the southern part of the area is mainly low shrubs and grasses, with some cabbage palm, native mahogany, and buttonwood. Topographic Survey The maps covering the Everglades region available in 1940 were compilations from the incomplete survey by General Land Office and from unrelated local surveys of relatively small por-
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50 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station tions of the area. The different maps and surveys were based on different controls, both for planimetric and for topographic measurement. Moreover, many changes had occurred since those maps were made, especially in land surface elevations as a result of subsidence of organic soils following drainage and cultivation. It was necessary, therefore, that the Soil Conservation Service make a survey of the whole region as a basis for its landcapability classification and water-control studies. The Base Map As control for making the base map, the positions of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey triangulation and traverse stations were platted by coordinates, according to transverse Mercator projection, using meridian 81" from Greenwich as base, on a scale of 1 inch equals 2 miles. The stations platted were those along the east coast and across the Everglades Drainage District at the south shore of Lake Okeechobee and along U. S. Highway 94. The southeast corner of Hendry County was located by third-order closed traverse circuit from the Coast and Geodetic Survey station at Clewiston, checked by a line from Township 46, Range 42 to Immokalee some 20 miles to the west. State Road Department location traverses, Soil Conservation Service traverses, and land lines platted by the General Land Office were adjusted between the control points mentioned above. Several hundred land corners were found during the survey. The border of the Everglades shown on the accompanying maps is the boundry between the organic and the mineral soils (between the vast body of peat and the sand, marl, and rockland soils) as determined by the soil-conservation survey. Leveling The datum plane for elevations used in this bulletin is mean sea level as determined by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Level circuits of the survey by the Soil Conservation Service were closed on Coast and Geodetic Survey bench marks of their first-order level line along the east coast and their second-order level lines west from Miami and West Palm Beach. Elevations referred to this datum are approximately 1.44 feet less than those referred to Okeechobee datum which has been commonly used in drainage surveys in this area. Secondary base levels were run from South Bay to Fort Lauderdale along State Roads 25 and 84 (new numbering),
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 51 checking on bench marks of the State Road Department set at about 21/2-mile intervals. A similar line was run down the west side of the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee to Tamiami Canal, setting bench marks from which to run topography lines west of Miami Canal. Another base level line was run east from Belle Glade to State Road 7 and then south to Fort Lauderdale. These lines were tied at each end to bench marks of Coast and Geodetic Survey. Topography lines generally followed land lines, but departed therefrom where specially difficult terrain was encountered or where lines more easily traversed along highways, railroads, or embankments would furnish as usable data. In the soft, wet areas of the ridge-and-slough and hammock-and-glades divisions (see Fig. 2), and over most of the land south of Tamiami Canal, it was necessary to follow random courses, which were tied as frequently as possible to located land corners. Land-surface elevations were determined to 0.1 foot at 330-foot intervals, and depths of the peat. soil were measured by probings at intervals of 660 feet. Approximately 2,000 miles of levels were run by Soil Conservation Service engineers. Some 440 miles were base levels for control. Of the approximately 1,560 miles of topography levels, about 440 were run over the sawgrass plains in Palm Beach County, 240 over the sand prairies and hammock-and-glades land between Caloosahatchee River and Tamiami Canal, 420 in the hammock-sawgrass and ridge-and-slough land 'between West Palm Beach Canal and Tamiami Canal, 160 south of Tamiami Canal, and 300 in the sandy area west, north, and east of Lake Okeechobee. These lines were supplemented by data supplied by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, by engineers of drainage subdistricts in the vicinity of the lake, by the West Palm Beach Water Company, and by the Seaboard Railroad. The results of the leveling are shown on the map of watercontrol recommendations, by contours over the main body of organic soils and some bordering mineral soils, and by occasional representative figures in the northern part of the region. Locations of the contours must be recognized as only approximate, for in some of the least accessible parts of the central and southern Everglades and in the Big Cypress section the survey lines were 6 miles or more apart, and in some places there may have been appreciable subsidence of the peat surface since the eleva-
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52 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station tions were determined in 1940-42. The map is believed, however, to show fairly the general topography of the area and to serve reliably for planning water-control and water-conservation measures in the region. Approximate contours on the surface of the rock underlying the organic soils are shown in Figure 15. The data obtained show the rock surface to be very uneven, but are not in sufficient amount to warrant an attempt to map more than the general configuration, as shown. The information has been used in estimating the amounts of rock excavation required for the water-control works recommended in a later chapter. A prospective farmer doubtless can use the map of physical land conditions more satisfactorily in getting information as to soil depth on tracts in which he may be interested. Special Transportation Used Because there were few roads suitable for commercial types of motor vehicles, special means had to be used to transport the survey crews and their equipment over the greater portion of the area surveyed. About 15 miles of line were run by walking, where no other means of travel was possible, but the continuous wading knee deep or deeper through the soft peat and cutting through the dense growth of sawgrass was very exhausting, and the lack of drinking water added to the hardship. In the area.of organic soils, field parties of the topographic survey and the soil-conservation survey traveled together for most economical use of the special transportation equipment. Elsewhere, for the most part, better progress was obtained by parties working independently. On the coastal ridge and the northern sand prairies, ordinary pick-up trucks served to transport men and equipment, frequently with oversize tires for better traction on loose ground. "Converted" pick-up trucks were used in the southern and western parts of the Region, where the sandy lands are interspersed with sloughs, hammocks, rock outcrops, and wide stretches of sawpalmetto. These vehicles were ordinary 1/2-ton trucks with a wide platform body, a heavy-duty rear end, a second transmission added in series with the first, and additional tires to give extra bearing and traction. On the sawgrass plains, where the most serious obstacles were scattered clumps of myrtle and occasional "'gator holes," the
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 53 L. Y w 4 A Y w y an an a a; & & & & a a a an HIG ANDS C KEECHOBEE ST LUCIE CO T-37"MARTIN CO GLADES Ss T-39-S COUNTY r s LAKE T-40-S OKEECHOBEE L ____ S _ -r-41-s T-42-S WEST ._ 0* jMPALM T-43-s -1 \SA ALM BEACH CANAL BEACH R T-44-S M AC COU T-4HENODRY T-45-S COUNTY T '1 T-47-S MOI *-. BEC 5( SBN---C ----* " T-49-S so FORT COLLIER o R LAUDERDALE T-50-S COUNTY -T-51-S M IA M I " SBEACH r T-53-S CANAL mi BEACH T-54-S T-55-S ADE T-56-s COUNTY T-57-S DATUM IS MEAN SEA LEVEL T-6q I 0 0 10 20MILES T-61-S Fig. 15.--Approximate contours on the rock surface under the organic soils in the Everglades Region.
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54 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station crawler-type tractor with long cleats on the tracks (Fig. 16) was used to transport men and equipment and to break line ahead of the surveyors. The wooden cleats gave 2 to 3 times the bearing surface of the regular tracks. A 4by 10-foot sled was pulled behind to flatten the vegetation between the tractor tracks. There were instances of one of these tractors bogging down in a 'gator hole, and each necessitated weeks of effort to extricate the machine. Over the saturated to water-covered peat of the ridge-andslough areas, except south of Highway 94, the "air-boat" (Fig. 17) was the only practicable means of travel. The water was generally too shallow for a boat with submerged propeller or rudder, and the peat was very soft, from a few inches to more than 10 feet deep; but there were numerous ponds or lakes of considerable depth. These boats were square-nosed, flat-bottomed craft about 6x16 feet, driven by airplane engine and propeller mounted over the after part and guided by a large rudder in the propeller blast. The most satisfactory means of transport in the hammockand-glades area, and in all the territory south of Tamiami Trail, was a "'glades buggy" (Fig. 18) with 3 axles mounting 12 tires. Fig. 16.-A tractor with long cleats on the tracks, transporting camp and surveying equipment over Everglades peat. f S, BIf^^^^M^H^ny-^^f~™
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 55 The middle and rear axles were driven from a secondary drive shaft through 2 transmission gear sets connected in series. This gave several speeds of travel, ranging from 1/2 to 25 miles per hour; the lowest was often necessary to avoid bogging down in soft, slippery soil. Each driven axle of the 'glades buggy was suspended separately so that it could adjust to very uneven ground surface independently of the others, to avoid straining the frame. A vehicle available during the latter part of the survey was the amphibious "weasel" (Fig. 19), designed during the War for use in Navy operations. It was specially useful in surveying areas of soft soils with interspersed ponds and water channels too deep for non-floating vehicles. It could travel on hard roads at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. The Soil-Conservation Survey The soil-conservation surveyors studied and mapped the land conditions. They covered all the area within the Everglades region as defined on page 5. The extent of the survey is shown in Figure 2. They located and marked on the maps the boundaries of the soil conditions that influence the use and management of the land: In the organic soils, the nature of the peat or muck, Fig. 17.-The "air boat" will navigate water too shal'ow or too filled with vegetation for use of submerged propeller and rudder. n ·..: .. ^ ...^, ... ^ ^ .^ , , ^ .<, :^~^ SW 6 :: ·.l
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56 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station its depth, and the kind and depth of underlying material; and in the sandy soils and marls, the texture of surface soil, amount of organic matter, apparent permeability, and thickness of each soil layer. The surface slope of the mineral soils was mapped wherever it was found to be enough to affect the use or management of the land. The surveyors also showed the land used for farm crops and groves, and the cover of the undeveloped land and of the pastures. The survey of the land was accompanied, as has been stated, by studies of the underlying rocks, the ground-water relationships, and the altitude and slope of the land surface. The facts obtained about the soil and these other features permit a fairly exact determination of the land that is suitable for farming and of that best suited for other uses. Map of Physical Land Conditions The map of physical land conditions (in 38 sheets made to accompany this bulletin) shows soil types, depth of the organic soils and marls, slope of the sandy soils and rocklands, and the land use or cover, by means of brown symbols and boundary lines. The first part of each 3-part symbol is a number which designates the soil type. Numbers up to 63 designate peat or muck Fig. 18.-A 'glades buggy, designed for transport in the hammock-and-glades area.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 57 soils; those from 70 to 74 the marls; and those from 75 to 98 sandy soils. Numbers higher than 98 identify the rocklands and miscellaneous land types such as swamps and made land. The second symbol shows depth of the soil material. Depth classes of the peats and mucks are: 1, less that 36 inches; 2, 36 to 60 inches; 3, 60 to 96 inches; and 4, 96 inches or more. Each of these symbols designates depth of the organic layers to the underlying limestone, marl, or sand. On areas of the marl soils, symbols indicating depth to the underlying limestone are: 1, less than 12 inches; 2, 12 to 24 inches; and 3, 24 inches or more. On areas of the sandy soils, rockland, and miscellaneous soils the second of the 3 symbols is a slope symbol; A slopes are less than 2 percent, B slopes are between 2 and 5 percent. The third part of each symbol is a letter or group of letters to designate land use of the cropland and urban areas and the kind of cover on pastures and undeveloped lands. These symbols are: L, cropland; LG, groves; H, urban or industrial uses; X, idle land; P, pasture or range grasses; S, sawgrass; XP, saw palmetto; FB, myrtle and bay; FC, cypress; FH, hammock vegetation, cabbage palm and hardwoods; FP, pines and saw palmetto; FM, mangrove; and M, mixed grasses and water plants. SColors on the map show the capability of land for farming and other uses. Altogether (throughout the country) there are 8 Fig. 19.-The amphibious "weasel" in service. I-H6 „4
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58 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station land-capability classes. Class I land does not occur in the Everglades region. Where it does occur it is nearly level, productive land which can be farmed without any particular limitations. All land covered by the Everglades survey must be farmed subject to the limitations of water control and special fertilizing needs. The land most suitable for cultivation is therefore in class II, shown on the map .by yellow. Class III land, shown in red, is also suitable for cultivation and for growing a wide variety of crops, although its use or productivity is more limited or the corrective measures must be more intensive than on class II land. Land of class IV, shown in blue, is suitable at best for certain forms of limited cultivation. The rocklands, for example, are suitable for fruit trees and some tomatoes, but not for other crops. The shallow peat and peaty muck can be used for crops only during dry years because water control is difficult. The white, poorly drained sands need very heavy fertilizing and also water control if they are to be used for crops. All of these are called class IV. The class IV peats and sandy lands are ordinarily better used for grazing than for cultivation. Class V land, shown in green, is suitable only for grazing or timber production. Classes VI and VII do not occur in the Everglades region. Class VIII land, shown in purple, is too wet or otherwise unsuitable for any cultivation or grazing or for productive woodland. Much of it, however, is good for wildlife or for water storage. Cropping and pasture uses of land throughout the Everglades region depend on necessary control of runoff and of water table as well as on the nature of the soils. Descriptions of the soils and their land-capability classification are given in this chapter. The most suitable crops for the different types of land and some suggestions for use and management of the land are given on pages 135 to 165. More specific information for use of the different kinds of land, especially as to cropping methods and fertilizers, will be made available from time to time by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. The general pattern of soils and land-capability classes in the whole area surveyed is shown by the map of generalized land conditions. Concerning distribution of the larger map, see page 7. Survey Methods The field survey was made on aerial photographs having a scale of 1:40,000, which is about 11/2 inches to the mile. The mapping
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 59 has been reduced for publication to a scale of 1 inch to the mile. Methods of transportation used to reach different parts of the Everglades have been described elsewhere. For economy in use of the special vehicles over most of the organic soils, the data relating to soils and to topography of these lands were obtained by specialists of both kinds working in the same party. The intensity of coverage varied greatly, according to nature of the land, existing use, and probable capability for use. In the areas of peat and muck soils, the land now cultivated was investigated in every field where necessary, to locate the significent boundaries. On the open sawgrass plains, east-west lines were run every 6 miles and supplementary north-south lines were run wherever additional information appeared to be necessary. Soundings to determine the depth of peat were taken along these lines by probing to the underlying limestone or marl every 330 feet in the early part of the survey. Later, these soundings were made every 660 feet. Borings into the peat and marl were made with a 2-inch auger every half mile. The samples obtained were examined and were preserved for further observation and analysis wherever the material differed appreciably from that obtained in nearby borings. Holes were dug at each mile post if water was not on the surface, in order to obtain the depth to the water table. More detailed information on the water table was obtained later, as described in the section on water control (pp. 106 and 107). On the sawgrass plains, where the aerial photographs lack distinguishing features, distances were chained in order to determine locations accurately. The ridge-and-slough sections were examined at intervals close enough to find the significant boundaries in nature and depth of the peat. Locations of islands could be sketched readily from the photographs. Definite lines were not followed in this mapping, but the locations were identified on the aerial photographs. The hammock-and-glades country was crossed by lines about every 6 miles. The sandy mineral soils were surveyed by driving every road and trail and by covering the intervening land on foot, making numerous stops to bore into the soil and examine the different soil layers. In this way the different soils were identified and mapped. Special attention was given to locating the boundaries that would influence the use and management of the land. About the same methods were used in surveying the rockland.
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60 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Cultivated areas of the marl land were examined closely and borings were made in or near every field. Undeveloped areas of this soil were reached by lines no more than 2 or 3 miles apart, along which borings were made to find out the nature and depth of the marl. Information shown on the maps of the 15 eastern townships of Collier County was taken from the soil survey of Collier County, Florida, which was made by Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and AgriculturalEngineering. Soils and Their Capability The soils in the main Everglades are primarily the peats and mucks. The high Rockdale rockland, which is suitable for groves, occupies the ridge or rim that extends southwestward from Miami. East and west of the Everglades and of Lake Okeechobee there are sandy soils that range from the deep, white, drouthy, very rapidly permeable sands on the east coast to the gray or grayish-brown sandy soils, located mostly in the western part of the district, which are wet and are underlain by sandy clay. In all, there were described and mapped 64 different organic and mineralsoils in the area covered by the survey, each having distinct characteristics that make it different from the others. These soils are members of 31 different soil series and 8 miscellaneous land types. For many practical purposes, and especially for studying and classifying the capability of the land for different uses, these soils may be considered in 8 groups. The organic soils, for example, make up 1 group because they have many characteristics in common and are distinctly different from the marls and the sandy soils. The different peats and mucks, however, have different capabilities for farming. The marls and calcareous sandy soils make up a second group; other sandy soils are divided into 4 groups according to the nature of the sand, the distinctive features brought about by variations in the water table, and the presence of layers in the soil that retard the movement of water. The rocklands suitable for orchards and groves constitute the seventh group of soils, and the miscellaneous swamps, marshes, and wet rockland are the eighth group. The names of the soil groups, their relative degree of wetness, and the symbols used to designate them throughout this bulletin are:
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 61 A. Poorly drained (wet) soils Al Peat and muck A2 Wet marls and calcareous sandy soils A3 Wet sandy soils B. Imperfectly drained soils B1 Gray or dark sandy soils with subsoils containing some clay B2 Gray sand with brown hardpan subsoil C. Excessively drained soils C1 Incoherent sands C2 Rockland, sandy and clay phases D. Miscellaneous lands D1 Wet rockland, marshes, swamps, and made land Descriptions of the soils are given in Table 4 and the principal characteristics of each are presented in the following pages. Suggestions for use and management of the soils are given in the final chapter of this bulletin. Peat and Muck Soils.-The peat and muck soils have been formed from partly decayed plant materials. They make up 40 percent of the land covered by the survey. They are designated in this report as soil group Al, and make up subclasses designated as Al in land-capability classes II, III, IV, V, and VIII. None of the organic soils is in land-capability class I, because they are subject to subsisdence whenever they are drained, and they cannot be farmed without special practices for drainage, water control, and correction or maintenance of soil fertility. Farmers not already acquainted with the Everglades are urged to read this bulletin and the publications of the Everglades Experiment Station and also to talk with the county agent or with one or more farm operators before they undertake to produce crops on the peat land. The peat and muck soils that are suitable for cultivation can be made highly, productive, but the management of such land requires special attention to the questions of water control, fertilizers, and plant diseases and pests. Special deficiencies in copper, manganese, zinc, boron, or other elements may require correction in addition to the usual fertilizer needs. All the peat and muck soils are dark brown to nearly black in color. They were formed in marshes or swamps by the partial decay of plant materials, with some admixture of mineral soil in the case of the muck. Peat consists of 65 percent or more of plant remains, with relatively little mineral matter. Muck contains 25 to 65 percent of organic matter mixed with sand, silt, and clay (17). Peaty muck in this region is usually a thin layer Sof peat over muck. The peat and muck soils differ from each other in the kind of plant material that they contain, in depth,
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILTY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE. Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class Surface Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent A. Poorly drained (wet) soils Al. Peat and muck Black, finely Light, felty, Limestone Poor Fair 5.5-6.5 85-92 Sawgrass III-Al. 10 Everglades peat 866,847 18.1 fibrous, well fibrous brown Depth 11 Everglades peat decomposed orpeat. classes 1 over shallow ganic material, and 2 of soil marl 29,497 .6 6-18 inches. 10 are class 12 Everglades peat IV-Al. over shallow sand 108,327 2.3 14 Everglades peat over deep sand 41,696 .9 20 Okeechobee muck 30,742 .7 Dark gray to Brown, felty, Limestone Poor Poor 5.2-6.8 30-65 Custard II-A1. 21 Okeechobee muck black mixture fibrous peat. apple over shallow of decomposed sand 1,366 * organic matter and mineral material, 6 in. to 4 ft. 30 Okeelanta peaty Dark gray to Black, plastic Limestone Poor Fair 5.5-6.8 65-85 Sawgrass, II-Al; muck 26,127 .5 black finely muck, 2-12 willow and shallow fibrous, well inches, underelder, over decomposed orlain by brown limestone, ganic layer, fibrous peat. IV-A1. 6-18 inches. 40 Loxahatchee peat 505,825 10.6 Black, finely Soft, felty or Limestone Poor Fair 5.0-6.5 92-96 Pond and VIII-A1. 41 Loxahatchee peat fibrous spongy spongy brown spider lilies, over shallow peat, 1 or 2 fibrous peat. water sand 57,904 1.2 inches, grass. 42 Loxahatchee peat over shallow marl 151,046 3.2 43 Loxahatchee peat over deep sand 16,022 .3 * Less tharn 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material Over IThrough Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class SurfaceI Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent 50 Everglades peaty Black, finely Brown, fibrous Limestone Poor Fair 6.0-6.5 85-90 Sawgrass III-Al. ihuck 34,990 .7 fibrous, well elty peat. Depth 51 Everglades peaty decomposed orclasses 1 muck over shallow Inic material, and 2 of soil sand 7,717 .2 mewhat 50 are class 53 Everglades peaty mucky, IV-A1. muck over deep 6-18 inches. sand 2,195 * 60 Gandy peat 7,301 .2 Reddish brown Limestone Fair Fair Bay, V--A1. 61 Gandy peat over fibrous woody myrtle, sand or marl 11,964 .2 peat, someferns. what granular when dry, 36-96 in. 62 Brighton peat 22,681 .5 Brown, fibrous Light brown, Sandy or Poor Fair 4.0-5.0 85-95 Sawgrass III-A1. felty peat, fibrous sand clay 24-96 in. felty peat. 63 Istokpoga peat 292 * Light brown or Fine sand Very Very 4.0 or White and V-A1. brown fibrous poor poor less red bay, woody peat, few cypress, 3-17 feet. and underCultivated areas growth of are dark brown. briars. Total, group Al 1,922,539 40.8 A2. Wet marls and calGray or dark Gray or light Plastic, comPoor Poor 7.0-8.5 10-15 Sawgrass IV-A2. careous sandy soils gray heavy silt gray heavy pact light 70 Flamingo marl 2,187 * loam or silty silty clay loam, gray or clay loam marl, 5 in.; very greenish 7 inches. compact and marl over plastic, 20 in. limestone "*Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class I Surface Soil Soil | Acres Percent pH Percent 71 Hialeah mucky Black oxidized Gray or light Limestone Poor Poor 6.0-7.0 10-15 Sawgrass II-A2. marl 12,026 .3 organic magray fine terial, 2-6 sand. inches and light gray marl, 4-8 in.; or the layers in reverse order. 72 Ochopee marl 7,169 .1 Gray or light Marl; lenses of Limestone Poor Poor 7.1-8.5 10-15 Sawgrass, IV-A2 72S Ochopee marl, brownish gray fine sand in the some shallow phase 372,774 7.8 marl fine sandy marl. cypress. 73 Ochopee fine sandy marl 623 * 73S Ochopee fine sandy marl, shallow phase 8,677 .2 74 Perrine marl 39,690 .8 Light brown or Lighter colored Limestone Poor Poor 7.0-8.5 15-18 Sawgrass, II-A2; 74S Perrine marl, brownish gray marl. myrtle, shallow shallow phase 66,592 1.4 friable silt loam bay, some phase, 74V Perrine marl, marl. Tidal cypress. IV-A2; very shallow phase is tidal phase phase 81,754 1.7 affected by VIII-A2. 74X Perrine marl, salt water. shallow phase (peat substratum) 14,368 .3 74T Perrine marl, tidal phase 53,537 1.1 74P Perrine marl (peat substratum) 61,429 1.3 75 Copeland fine sandy Dark gray to Brownish gray Moderately ImperImper6.0-7.0 Medium Cabbage palIV-A2 loam, shallow almost black fine sandy clay. hard limefeet feet metto, few phase 2,350 * loamy fine stone to to pine and sand. poor poor oak. 76 Keri fine sand 2,977 .1 Gray or brownLight gray Sand Poor Poor 7.5-8.5 Medium Grasses, II-A2 ish gray fine marl. cabbage sand, 6-12 palm. inches * Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Water Movement Reaction Land-CapaSoil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native bility Class Soil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation Surface Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent 77 Manatee fine Black fine Light gray fine Marl or soft Very Very 6.0-7.0 Medium Grasses II-A2 sandy loam 6,770 .1 sandy loam 8 sandy clay. limestone poor poor to 20 inches. 78 Parkwood fine Dark gray or Mottled yellow Marl over Poor Poor 5.5-7.0 High Water oak, II-A2 sandy loam 17,531 .4 black fine and gray fine limestone to live oak, sand, 9-16 sand, 12-14 medium cabbage inches. inches. palm. Total, group A2 750,454 15,7 A3. Wet sandy soils Light gray, Incoherent white Limestone Poor Good 5.5-6.7 Very Mainly IV-A2 80 Arzell fine sand 169,119 3.5 nearly white fine sand, 50-60 low water loose fine inches. grasses, sand, 2-3 some inches. cypress and myrtle. ---------------------------: _______ __ ___ ____ _____________________________ m rtle ____ 81 Charlotte fine Grayish brown Yellowish brown Poor Good 5.5-6.5 Medium Cypress and III-A3 sand 13,390 .3 or light or brownish to marsh brown fine yellow fine low vegetation. sand, 8-10 sand, 16-18 in.; inches, gradgrades into ing into white loose lighter colored fine sand. sand, 4-6 inches. 82 Davie fine sand 73,321 1.5 Gray or light Light gray fine Limestone Poor Good 5.5-6.5 Low Switch grass IV-A3 82S Davie fine sand, gray fine sand, 28-30 to and other shallow phase 6,244 .1 sand. inches, lower medium grasses. part almost white; a brown, yellowish brown, or black layer just above the rock, 36-40 inches beneath surface. * Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OP THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) [ Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material I Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class S_ Surface Soil Soil Acres Percent PH Percent 83 Davie mucky fine Dark gray mixSame as for Limestone Poor Good 5.5-6.5 MediumSawgrass III-AS sand 159,324 3.3 ture of well Davie fine to and myrtle. 83S Davie mucky fine oxidized organic sand (82). high sand, shallow matter and fine phase 5,644 .1 sand. 84 Delray fine sand 66,500 1.4 Dark gray or Light gray or Limestone Poor Fair 5.0-6.5 Medium Cypress, II-A3 black fine sand, grayish yellow to water 12-30 inches. fine sand. high grasses, marsh vegetation. 85 Immokalee fine Gray or dark Lighter colored Limestone Poor Fair 5.3-7.0 Low Pine, palIV-A3 sand 345,509 7.2 gray fine sand, fine or very fine to metto, gall. 8 inches. sand, 28-32 medium berry, native inches, lower grasses. part almost white. Underlain by black stained layer, 4-6 inches, usually over rock but which may be over white fine sand. 86 Pompano fine Gray or brownLight gray, Limestone Poor Good 5.0-7.0 Low Switch grass, III-A3 sand 318,985 6.7 ish gray fine nearly white to cypress. sand, 6-8 fine sand, 36 medium inches; grades inches or more; into light gray usually a heavy fine sand. blue clay about 40 inches beneath the surface. Total, group A3 1,158,086 24.1 * Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material .Over IThrough Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class II Surface Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent B. Imperfectly drained soils B1. Gray or dark gray sandy soils with subsoils containing some clay 87 Broward fine sand 114,919 2.4 87S Broward fine sand, Livht gray or Yellowish or Limestone Poor Fair 5.5-6.7 Low Pine, palIII-B1 shallow phase 45,467 .9 brownish gray grayish yellow to metto, 88 Broward fine fine sand. fine sand, unmedium scattered sandy loam 14,541 .3 derlain by cabbage 89 Broward-Ochopee brown or yelpalm, complex 24,488 .5 lowish brown native fine sand or fine grasses. sandy clay. Rock at 20 inches in the shallow phase. 90 Felda loamy fine Brownish gray Yellowish gray Marl or Poor Fair 4.5-6.5 Low Pine, palIII-B1 sand 6,734 .1 or light gray fine sand limestone to metto, loamy fine splotched with medium some native sand, 10-12 yellow and yelgrasses. inches. lowish brown, 12-30 inches; light gray or weak yellow friable fine sandy clay. 91 LaBelle loamy Gray, dark Light gray or Marl over Good Poor 5.5-6.5 Low Cabbage II-B1 fine sand 1,857 * gray, or brownlight brownish limestone to palm, ish gray fine gray fine sand, medium some sand, 8-10 about 10 inches; live oak. inches. a black layer of organic matter, sand and clay, about 10 inches; gray or grayish brown fine sand, 10-14 inches. * Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) I Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil I Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class ___| _ Surface 1Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent 92 Palmdale fine Gray or grayCompact grayish Marl over Good Poor 5.5-6.5 Low Cabbage III-B1 sand 13,263 .3 ish brown, yellow sandy limestone to palm, 93 Palmdale loamy 8-12 inches, clay, 8-12 medium some fine sand 7,781 .2 rrading into inches thick live oak. lighter colored and 20-30 sand. inches beneath the surface. Lighter textured material below. 94 Sunniland loamy Light gray or Yellowish gray Marl over Poor Fair 5.5-7.0 Medium Pine, palIII-Bl fine sand 93,906 2.0 gray fine sand or light gray limestone metto, or loamy fine fine sand, some cabsand, 8-10 mottled with bage palm. inches yellow, underlain by mottled yellow, light gray, and brown fine sandy clay. Limestone or marl usually 36-40 inches beneath the surface. Total, group B1 322,956 6.7 B2. Gray sand with brown Gray fine sand, Light gray, alLimestone Poor Poor 4.5-5.5 Low Pine, palV-B2 hardpan subsoil containing most white fine to metto, 95 Leon fine sand 33,674 0.7 enough organic sand. At 12 medium gallberry, matter to give inches or more native a "salt and beneath the surgrasses. pepper" apface, a very pearence. dark brown layer, 6-10 inches thick, that is impervious and hardens on drying. It is underlain by light yellowish gray, almost white fine sand. Total, group B2 33,674 0.7
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Water Movement Reaction Soil Group or Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying -of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material Over Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class I Surface Soil Soil Acres Percent pH Percent C. Excessively drained soils Cl. Incoherent sands Light gray or Loose white fine Limestone Poor -Good Low, Pine and V-Cl 96 Dade fine sand 29,707 0.6 almost white sand; a thin except palmetto. fine sand, brownish yellow on hamOn ham6-8 inches. layer above the mocks mocks pine, rock, which where live oak, occurs within it is vines, 36 inches of low to ferns. the surface. medium 97 Palm Beach fine Brown or dark Light brown or Fine sand Good Good 7.0-8.0 Medium Sea grapes, III-Cl sand 6,685 .1 brown fine brownish yellow coconut sand, 10-20 fine sand 40-50 palm, cabinches. inches, underbage palm. lain by yellow fine sand. 98 St. Lucie fine Grayish white Incoherent white Sand Good ExcesLow or Pine, palV-C1 sand 48,867 1.0 loose fine sand sand, very sive very metto, containing a deep. low scrub oak. few woody fragments. Total, group C1 85,259 1.7 C2. Rockland, sandy and clay phases 99 Rockdale fine sand-limestone Deposits of fine Porous ExcesExces7.0-8.0 Low Pine, palIV-C2 complex 71,070 1.5 sand on surface limestone sive sive metto, or in cavities (oolite) native of porous grasses. limestone. 100 Rockdale fine Deposits of redPorous ExcesExces7.0-8.0 Low Pine, palIV-C2 sandy loamdish clay or limestone sive sive metto, limestone mixture of sand (oolite) native complex 93,342 1.9 and clay on grasses. surface or in cavities of porous limestone. Total, group C2 164,412 3.4 * Less than 0.05 percent.
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TABLE 4.-AREA, CHARACTER, AND CAPABILITY CLASS OF THE SOILS, BY SOIL GROUP AND TYPE.-(Continued) Water Movement Reaction Soil Group and Type Area Surface Subsoil Underlying --of Organic Native Land-CapaSoil Material Over )Through Surface Matter Vegetation bility Class Surface I Soil ] Soil Acres Percent pH Percent D. Miscellaneous lands D1. Wet rockland, marshes, swamps, and made Sland 101 Alluvial soils, undifferentiated Wet alluvial Usually VIII-D1 (poorly drained) 8,562 0.2 soils, along marsh Kissimmee vegetation. River. 102 Coastal beach 3,687 .1 Sand and shells VIII-D1 worked over by waves. 103 Made land 10,746 .2 Material hauled VIII-D1 in for filling low areas, or dredged from canals. 104 Mangrove swamps Swamps affected Mangrove VIII-D1 (undifferby tide water. entiated soil materials) 73,070 1.5 105 Mines, pits, and Quarries, dumps, VIII-DI1 dumps 3,573 .1 spoil banks, levees, and pits. 106 Rockland 165,005 3.4 Light gray Sparse VIII-D1 honeycombed sawgrass. limestone. Water at or near the surface. Peaty material or marl in some of the cavities. 107 Swamps (undifferFresh water Mixed VIII-Di entiated soil swamps. swamp materials) 89,321 1.9 vegetation. Total, group D1 353,964 7.4 'Total area surveyed 4,791,294 100.0
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 71 and in the nature of the underlying material. The organic material may rest directly on the limestone or on an intermediate layer of sand or marl. These differences, especially depth of the organic material and nature of the immediately underlying layer, determine the capability of the land for farming and other uses, subject of course to establishment of adequate water control. Okeechobee muck is a nearly black mixture of organic material and.fine mineral soil that may be as much as 4 feet deep, underlain by brown fibrous peat. Deeper alternations of peat and muck layers may be present. It occupies the belt of custardapple land along the southeastern margin of Lake Okeechobee, mostly south of Pahokee. The area is 32,108 acres, and all but a few acres of it is at least 5 feet deep over limestone. There may be a thin layer of marl directly on the limestone. It is excellent land when drained, irrigated, and fertilized and is placed in land-capability class II. Okeelanta peaty muck is found on the willow-and-elder land which borders the Okeechobee muck on the south and east. It consists of 6 to 18 inches of finely fibrous, well decomposed organic matter over a layer of black plastic muck which contains 15 to 35 percent of mineral material, and resembles Okeechobee muck. There are 25,127 acres of Okeelanta peaty muck on which the peat and muck layers are at least 5 feet deep. This land belongs to land-capability class II. The 1,000 acres less than 5 feet deep are in class IV. Everglades peaty muck contains somewhat less mineral matter than Okeelanta peaty muck, or from 10 to 15 percent. As a rule it does not have the subsurface layer of black plastic muck and the surface layer rests on brown, fibrous felty peat, although some of it grades toward Okeelanta peaty muck. The total extent is 34,990 acres, of which 31,816 acres are more than 5 feet deep. There are 9,912 acres of Everglades peaty muck underlain by sand. This land is suitable for cultivation and is in landcapability class III. Everglades peat, the soil of the broad sawgrass plains, is the most extensive organic soil. The upper 6 to 18 inches is nearly black, finely fibrous peat which contains from 8 to 15 percent mineral matter. The subsoil is brown, fibrous peat which rests on the underlying rock, sand, or marl. It has been formed mostly from sawgrass material. If the peat is more than 5 feet deep, or is shallower but underlain by marl or sand, cultivation
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72 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station is possible and the land-capability class is III. Heavy applications of phosphate and potash, and light applications of certain elements such as copper, manganese, and zinc, usually in the sulfate form, are needed in addition to water control for successful crop production. Because of these limitations, which are estimated on the whole to be a little more severe than those affecting the Okeechobee muck and Okeelanta peaty muck, the Everglades peat is placed in land-capability class III. Areas having less than 5 feet of peat over limestone are not suitable for regular cultivation, because of subsisdence and the difficulty of water control. They are in land-capability class IV. There are 401,900 acres of Everglades peat more than 5 feet deep, 464,947 acres of the shallow peat over limestone, and 179,520 acres of the same kind of peat of various depths over sand or marl. Northeast of the West Palm Beach Canal from Lake Okeechobee to Twenty-Mile Bend is an old slough in which the peat was originally formed partly from water plants and was more loose than the Everglades peat. However, as a result of partial drainage for many years, it has become compacted and can scarcely be distinguished from the typical Everglades peat. The same thing is true of the peat in the Allapattah Flats. Brighton peat is acid, brown, fibrous felty peat from 2 to 8 feet in thickness, underlain by lighter brown peat. The native vegetation was sawgrass and it differs from Everglades peat by having an acid reaction. It is class III land. The total acreage is 22,681 acres, and on 9,678 acres the peat is less than 5 feet deep over the underlying sand. Gandy peat is reddish brown, fibrous, woody peat, which becomes somewhat granular upon drying. It occurs on islands in areas of the loose Loxahatchee peat. The islands probably started to develop as floating masses of vegetation in the marsh and eventually became anchored and stabilized and covered with woody vegetation of myrtle and bay. They lie perhaps a foot higher than the surrounding Loxahatchee peat. The islands are not easily accessible for grazing or for harvesting of wood. They are shown on the map as class V land. Istokpoga peat is light brown or brown fibrous, woody, acid peat. It occupies 292 acres in Highlands County. Loxahatchee peat is brown, spongy, fibrous peat, composed of remains of lilies, water grasses, and other water plants. It loses more than three-fourths of its volume on drying. Ordinarily it is covered with water most of the year. The area north-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 73 west of West Palm Beach is the source of water for that city. Although cultivation or grazing might be possible for a few years if this loose peat could be drained, drainage is not recommended because of the extreme shrinkage and settling that will occur. It is classified as class VIII land, not suitable for any cultivation. The areas contain numerous water holes in which fish, frogs, ducks, and other game are abundant. Their most productive use is for water storage and for wildlife. Marls and Calcareous Sandy Soils.-The marls most suitable for cultivation lie in broad areas south of the rockland in southern Dade County. Some narrow bands occupy channels in the rockland between Miami and Homestead and there are other smaller scattered areas. Perrine marl is a light brown or brownish gray friable silt loam which contains from 10 to about 15 percent organic matter. The mineral part is almost pure marl. If the marl is more than 24 inches deep it is class II land, suitable for cultivation if it receives the necessary special treatments. There are 101,119 acres of this land, about two-thirds of which is underlain by a peat substratum. The shallow Perrine marl, 12 to 24 inches deep, and also the very shallow phase of the same soil, are class IV land. They occupy 162,714 acres. An additional area of Perrine marl amounting to 53,537 acres is affected by salt water along the coast. It is not suitable for cultivation and is shown on the maps as class VIII land. Hialeah mucky marl has a surface layer of a few inches of muck over light gray marl, or this order may be reversed. It may consist of layers of muck and marl. Usually the subsoil is sandy. There.are 12,026 acres of this soil, mostly in Dade County with small acreages in Broward and Glades counties. It is class II land. Ochopee marl occupies 389,243 acres, primarily in Collier and Monroe counties. All of it is class IV land. It is too low and shallow for good drainage and could be cultivated only in years when the water table is low. It affords some grazing in dry seasons. The surface soil is gray or light brownish gray marl, and the subsoil is marl containing lenses of fine sand. Ochopee fine sandy marl contains considerable sand in the surface soil. Ninety-eight percent of the Ochopee marls are shallow and consist of less than 24 inches of marl over the limestone. Flamingo marl lies 3 or 4 feet above sea level in the southern part of Dade County. It is dark gray heavy silt loam or silty clay loam, over compact, plastic silty clay loam subsoil, which may
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74 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station reach to a depth of 8 feet or more. This soil has agricultural possibilities but drainage is difficult and there is much danger of contamination by salt water. It is classified as class IV land. It occupies 2,187 acres of the area covered by the field survey, but lies south of the boundary of the Everglades Drainage District. Four sandy soils contain considerable lime and for many practical purposes may be grouped with the marls. Copeland fine sandy loam occupies 2,350 acres in Collier and Monroe counties. It is a dark gray, almost black soil with a brownish gray fine sandy clay subsoil which rests on limestone. Only the shallow phase occurs in the area surveyed. It is class IV land. The other 3 calcareous sandy soils are in the northern part of the district. Parkwood fine sandy loam is a gray or dark gray fine sand with mottled sandy subsoil underlain by marl. Manatee fine sandy loam has a surface soil that is nearly black and a light gray, heavy, sandy clay subsoil which rests on marl. Keri fine sand is a gray or brownish gray soil over light gray marl subsoil. All 3 of these soils are class II land. Wet Sandy Soils.-The wet sandy soils occupy 1,158,036 acres, nearly one-fourth of the area covered by the survey. They are too wet for cultivation without artificial water control for drainage and irrigation. The most desirable of these soils for cultivation is the dark-colored Delray fine sand. It has a surface soil 12 to 30 inches thick of dark gray to black fine sand. The subsoil is light gray or yellow fine sand. Some areas are underlain by limestone at a depth of less than 40 inches. There are 66,500 acres of this soil. It is class II land. Wet sandy soils suitable for cultivation occupy nearly half a million acres. More than half of this area, or 318,985' acres, is Pompano fine sand. It is a gray or brownish gray fine sand with a subsoil of light gray or nearly white fine sand. Usually there is a layer of bluish gray fine sandy clay at a depth of about 40 inches, which may rest on limestone. Charlotte fine sand resembles Pompano fine sand in its surface layers but is underlain by fine sand. It occupies 13,390 acres. These 2 soils are class III land. Davie fine sand is gray or a light gray soil underlain by light colored, nearly white sandy subsoil. Usually there is limestone at less than 4 feet. It is class IV land, suitable at the best for somewhat limited cultivation. It occupies 79,565 acres, of which about 8 percent is the shallow phase. The Davie mucky fine sand,
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 75 which contains considerable organic matter and is dark gray to black in the surface layer, is a slightly better soil and is classified as class III land. There are 164,968 acres of it, of which 5,644 acres are the shallow phase. Immokalee fine sand is a gray or dark gray soil underlain by lighter colored fine sand. The subsoil is almost white. A blackstained layer 4 to 6 inches thick occurs about 36 to 40 inches beneath the surface. This dark layer may rest on limestone or on white sand. This soil occupies 345,509 acres in the northern counties of the drainage district. It is class IV land. Arzell fine sand, also class IV land, is a light gray, nearly white soil, underlain by white fine sand. It occurs mainly on the edges of the numerous ponds in Palm Beach, Hendry, and Glades counties. It occupies 169,119 acres. Both the Arzell and Immokalee soils can be used for truck crops and for citrus in those locations where the water table can be controlled. They must have heavy fertilization that includes the minor elements. Gray or Dark Gray Imperfectly Drained Sandy Soils With Subsoils Containing Some Clay.-The soils of group B1 are somewhat better drained than the wet sandy soils but have wet subsoils part of the year. One of them, La Belle loamy fine sand, holds enough moisture in the subsoil that it is classified as class II land. It has a gray, dark gray, or dark brownish gray surface soil and light gray or brownish gray upper subsoil over a 10-inch black layer containing organic matter, sand, and clay. It occurs in scattered areas primarily in Glades County and occupies only 1,857 acres. All the other soils in this group are class III land, suitable for cultivation but requiring intensive management. Broward fine sand occupies 114,919 acres, and there are 45,467 acres of the shallow phase of the same soil. Broward fine sandy loam occupies 14,541 acres. The Broward soils are light brown or light grayish brown and they have grayish yellow or yellowish brown subsoils resting on limestone. All the soils in this group contain just enough clay in the subsoil to give them some waterholding capacity and make them better soils than the excessively drained sands. The Broward-Ochopee complex, a mixture of Broward fine sand and Ochopee marl, occupies 24,488 acres. Palmdale fine sand and loamy fine sand are gray or grayish brown soils with grayish-yellow sandy clay in'the subsoils which contain considerable marl or rest on marl. They occupy 13,263 and 7,781 acres, respectively.
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76 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Sunniland loamy fine sand is a light gray or gray soil with light gray upper subsoil. The lower subsoil is yellow and gray mottled calcareous fine sandy clay. There are 93,906 acres of it. Felda loamy fine sand differs from Sunniland loamy fine sand because it is located on slightly lower positions. It occupies 6,734 acres. Gray Imperfectly Drained Sand With Brown Hardpan Subsoil. -Leon fine sand is such a distinctive soil that it must be placed in a group by itself. It has a gray surface soil that contains enough organic matter to give it a pepper-and-salt appearance. The upper subsoil is light gray, nearly white fine sand. The distinguishing feature is the very dark brown or nearly black hardpan which occurs at depths of 12 to 24 inches. The hardpan is resistant to an auger or pick and relatively impervious to water or plant roots. It crumbles readily when first exposed but hardens on exposure to air. Leon fine sand occupies 33,674 acres. It is class V land, not recommended for any cultivation. With suitable treatments it makes fair pasture. Excessively Drained Incoherent Sands.-Excessively drained sandy soils are located on the coastal ridge and in the northern counties of the region. The 3 soils in the group occupy 85,259 acres. The one that has enough water-holding capacity to be in class III land is Palm Beach fine sand, of which there are 6,685 acres. Palm Beach fine sand is brown or dark brown to a depth of 10 to 20 inches. Under this the subsoil is light brown or brownish yellow fine sand containing variable quantities of shells. It is suitable for truck crops and citrus fruits but needs irrigation during the dry seasons. Dade fine sand is a light gray or white fine sand underlain by loose white fine sand. Limestone rock occurs about 3 feet beneath the surface. There are 29,707 acres of this soil. St. Lucie fine sand is grayish white loose fine sand and its subsoil is very deep, white fine sand which reaches to depths of 4 feet or more. Neither of these soils is recommended for any cultivation. They are in land-capability class V, suitable for native ranges and woodland. It is not likely that seeding of pastures would be worth while. Excessively Drained Rocklands, Sandy and Clay Phases.-The rockland areas consist of porous limestone known as Miami oolite. The rock is full of holes and cavities, so that water runs through it freely. The water table is only a few feet beneath
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 77 the surface, which permits irrigation by pumping from shallow wells. On the higher-lying Rockdale rock land there are thin, patchy deposits of fine sand mixed in some places with reddish clay. These deposits may be on the surface or in the cavities. They hold enough moisture and plant nutrients to permit the growth of forest cover, or of planted orchards of avocado, citrus, or other fruits. Before trees are set out the land must be scarified or holes must be blasted in which to set them. Tomatoes are grown successfully on a few areas that have been suitably prepared. Because these forms of limited cultivation are entirely feasible, these rock lands are in land-capability class IV. Rockdale rock land is suitable for this kind of cultivation because it contains the thin deposits of sandy or mixed clay material 'and the water table is usually a few feet below the ground surface. The Rockdale fine sand-limestone complex occupies 71,070 acres, and the fine sandy loam-limestone complex occupies 93,342 acres. Miscellaneous Lands.-The miscellaneous lands not suitable for any cultivation make up 353,964 acres. Alluvial soils undifferentiated are wet, swampy lands along the streams in the northwestern part of the district. Coastal beach is mostly sand deposits. Made land has been filled in, and is mostly former swamp or lagoons. Mines, pits, and dumps is the general designation given to old quarries and other places that have been excavated. Swamps are mapped in the fresh-water areas, and mangrove swamps occur along the coast just above salt water. The low-lying rock land is different from the Rockdale rock land previously described. It is low, wet, and not suitable for any cultivation. All the land types in this group are class VIII land. Water Conditions in the Everglades Region Sources and Quality of Water The water in the Everglades region comes mostly from precipitation within the region, which averages about 54 inches per year (see Table 3), and that upon Lake Okeechobee drainage basin (Fig. 3) which averages about 51 inches. The quantity of flow into the region through sub-surface aquifers is negligible so far as it will affect the general plan of water control. However, in the lower Everglades, and in some places even in the upper 'Glades, ditches or wells penetrating the underlying rock may release sufficient flow to increase materially the amount of pumping required for drainage.
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78 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Lake Okeechobee receives the surface flow from some 4,700 square miles lying to the west and north, about three-fourths of which drains through Kissimmee River. (The divides are very poorly defined in many places, being so flat that there may be drainage flow across them in either direction according to the distribution of recent rainfall.) Before drainage of the Everglades was begun the only outlet for flood waters from the lake was by overflow along the southern shore, which occurred at lake elevation of about 20 feet above mean sea level. The low portion of the lake rim now has subsided to about elevation 15. Levees and control works constructed and operated by the War Department hold the lake level generally between elevations 12.6 and 15.6. The indications concerning ground water were obtained by wells drilled by U. S. Geological Survey and Soil Conservation Service at the locations shown in Figure 14. Beside each Conservation Service well into the surface rock, a small well was put down through the muck to the ground-water table. In each instance the water level in the drilled well stood at the same elevation as the ground water in the muck, except once in a diked area while pumping held the water table below the level of water just outside in Hillsboro Canal. Evidently the water in the soil and that in the rock are one body. It has been explained herein (p. 22) that artesian flow from deep strata recharged in distant areas is prevented by the Hawthorne formation. The surface and soil waters of the Everglades, including Lake Okeechobee, are readily usable for domestic needs and irrigation of crops. The waters in the permeable Miami and Tamiami formations underlying the lower and middle Everglades likewise are sweet and potable, and are drawn upon for municipal and industrial supplies along the lower East Coast. These formations are recharged locally from precipitation within the region. The water yielded by the occasional solution holes and lenses of permeable material in the Fort Thompson formation under the upper Everglades, however, is usually so highly charged with minerals that it cannot be used for household purposes or irrigation. There are indications of an isolated area of fairly permeable rocks underlying about half of Lake Okeechobee and nearby lands to the south and east, perhaps 25 feet thick and encountered at a depth of 12 to 30 feet. The water from this section contains as much as 4,000 to 5,000 parts per million of total solids,
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 79 chlorides running as high as 1,500 and sulphates 500 parts per million. Subsidence of Organic Soils Everglades sawgrass peat in its natural, saturated condition weighs about 63 to 65 pounds per cubic foot. When thoroughly dried in an oven, it loses about two-thirds in volume (7, p. 11) and three-fourths or more in weight (20). Cultivation further compacts the surface layer. Natural oxidation of the organic matter slowly destroys the soil (24). More disastrous locally are the fires that occasionally get started in the dry soil and burn for weeks or months until put out by heavy rains. Most of the deep peat now cultivated in the northern Everglades has subsided as much as 5 feet since drainage was begun about 30 years ago, and in a few small areas the subsidence has been as much as 6 feet. When virgin peat or muck is brought into use the rate of subsidence is rapid at first but decreases with time. The rate appears to be closely proportional to the depth of water table. Figure 20 shows subsidence that has occured near large outlet canals in the northern Everglades, in deep peat soil which has been in cultivation during recent years. The curve of lowering ground surface has been determined from canal profiles made before the canals were excavated and from subsequent periodic leveling on the same lines. Up to 1926 drainage in this area was mostly by gravity ditches, but since then pumping for drainage has become general. The virgin land in this area will not subside as fast when cultivated as is shown in Figure 20, because the topsoil has been changed somewhat by initial subsidence. Recent observations indicate that when virgin land within a few miles of the large canals is further drained and brought into cultivation the subsidence loss will approximate 1 foot after 5 years of use and 1.5 to 1.8 feet after 10 years. The peat lands in the northern Everglades that have been cultivated for 10 years or more are now subsiding at about 1 inch per year. The custard-apple muck along the southeastern shore of Lake Okeechobee (Ib, Fig. 2) contains a much higher percentage of mineral matter than the peat soil and appears to subside at about half the rate. The effect of drainage upon the land elevations along the main canals is apparent in examination of the contours on the watercontrol map. The contours along the upper portions of Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals show elevations bordering
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80 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station those drains 2 feet and more lower than the ground elevations between them. The higher ground between these canals is as much as 3 feet lower now than originally, as a result of the canals lowering the water table. II -18.86 (Elev. M.S.L.)-------------------0-Aug. 1913 10 10~0 Ma 1-----------------------------------------------------2I 7.06_M. " 1916 _L -_ 2 6.36 Apr. 1918 S.71 Jun. 1921 3 7-------------------4 5 -14.06 Feb. 1933 C, 7 ga Mor. 1938 , 6 S 0 5 Drainage pumps 13.13 Apr1943 5 ' ~installed Apr.1942 ---"" 12.43 S4 ------------------Dec.19467 3 2 0 1 I i 1 1 I t I I I I I I 1 I I I I I..I tI I O 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Years since initial drainage Fig. 20.-Subsidence of surface of deep peat soil with drainage and cultivation, near Okeelanta. Before 1942, drainage was by gravity only. There was some burning of the soil between 1921 and 1933. Most of the area was cultivated intermittently for 1 to 3 years prior to 1922, but not later until the drainage pumps were installed and cultivation resumed. The relation of subsidence to depth of water table is well shown by the record from 3 years of experiments at Everglades Experiment Station, on plots of Everglades peat soil in which the water table was maintained at pre-determined depths. That record is summarized as follows: Average Depth of Average Annual Water Table. (Feet) Subsidence (Feet) 1.0 0.03 1.5 .06 2.0 .08 2.5 .11 3.0 .14
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 81 The plots had been cultivated for several years prior to beginning the experiments. During the 3-year period equal areas in each plot were planted to sugarcane, vegetables, and forage crops, and the subsidence shown is the average for the whole plot. The figures seem to indicate that there is very little loss in the surface half-foot and in the soil below that there is a loss proportional to its depth above the water table. The total amount of subsidence in the northern Everglades since drainage began does not appear to have been affected materially by the kind of crop grown. Moreover, virgin land drained by pumping has subsided nearly as much as cultivated lands nearby, although the topsoil has not been compacted as in the cultivated fields. Apparently oxidation proceeds faster before the soil is disturbed than after the surface is compacted. Evidently it is desirable to avoid draining peat soil until it is wanted for use. In planning reclamation of peat lands the probable rate of subsidence should be considered carefully. The loss in elevation will decrease the depth of ditches and the height of levees built of the material, thereby decreasing the capacity of the drains and the protection against overflow. It is likely to increase the pumping lift for drainage and to cause greater seepage from undrained marsh lands. Continuing subsidence will limit the period of years during which the land may be cultivated profitably. Organizations For Water Control The Everglades Drainage District was first legally established in 1907 (see page 10), and redefined by legislative act of June 6, 1913 (ch. 6456). Its 7,150 square miles comprise 951/2 percent of the Everglades region discussed in this bulletin. It has undertaken only to provide the main outlet drains for included lands. Sub-drainage districts wholly or partly within the Everglades Drainage District were authorized by act of June 7, 1919 (ch. 7866). Other drainage districts have been formed under general drainage laws of the State. Approximately 1,387 square miles in the Everglades Drainage District and 157 square miles outside that district have been organized in 33 subdistricts and independent drainage districts, to obtain additional works for drainage, flood protection, and irrigation. Dade County Water Conservation District, organized under chapter 22935 of the legislative acts of 1945, embraces the whole
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b TABLE 5.-DRAINAGE AND OTHER DISTRICTS FOR WATER CONTROL IN THE EVERGLADES REGION. District County Area Pumping Plants Outlets (Approx.) Numberj Capacity_____ Sq. Mile Gals p. Min. Baker Haul-over ........----..-....-... Dade ...--..-..............-........ *12 Biscayne Bay Biscayne ..---..--.. ---............. ..... .. -.. Dade .--..... ---...... .. .... *13 ........ .Biscayne and Little River Canals Brown ..... ..... -............. .Palm Beach .--..--.. -----128 4 172,000 Hillsboro Canal Citrus Center (part) --......-..-----.. Glades ..............-. **39 .... Caloosahatchee River Clewiston ..-------------...... -...-...... Hendry ..-..................-.... 6 2 78,000 Lake Okeechobee Dade ...--.......-.......---.....--......... Dade and Broward ... *173 .... ... Miami, Biscayne, and Little River Canals Dade County Water Conservation Dade ......................--.... 2,054 ... ............ Biscayne Bay and Card Sound Diston Island ...--------..... -------.. Glades and Hendry ....31 2 260,000 Lake Okeechobee Eagle Bay ---..--.....-.. ...--.....-...-... Okeechobee .........-...... 4 ........ Lake Okeechobee East Beach -.. ....-....................... Palm Beach ..........------10 1 60,000 Lake Okeechobee Q East Marsh ...--........-.......------........ Broward .....----..-..... 3 .. ........ Dania Cut-off East Shore -------.. ------......-........ Palm Beach ......--.. 13 1 189,000 Lake Okeechobee Everglades .------............................. (Eleven counties) .....-. 7,150 .... ............ Atlantic Ocean and Caloosahatchee River " Ft. Lauderdale-Middle River .... Broward ...--.....-------------7 Middle River Gladeview -..--.. ------.......... -----------. Palm Beach .............. 19 -. --Cross Canal Q Goulds ......-................. ............ ... Dade ........ ------------------..... 5 ..... Goulds Canal . Hiepochee -... -........--..------........... .. Hendry ....................-....... 16 ..... Caloosahatchee River Highland Glades ....-....-............... .. Palm Beach .-...............30 ...... .Cross Canal Hollywood Reclamation -.......-.... -Broward ....-.... .............. 58 Snake Creek Canal Indian Prairie --...--... -----........ .Highlands and Glades.. 98 Harney Pond Canal Istokpoga (part) -... .......... .. Highlands ...................... §72 Indian Prairie Canal
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TABLE 5.-DRAINAGE AND OTHER DISTRICTS FOR WATER CONTROL IN THE EVERGLADES REGION.-(Continued.) District County Area Pumping Plants Outlet (Approx.) Number Capacity Sq. Mile Gals p. Min. Lake Worth ...... Palm Beach ......... 207 5 156,000 West Palm Beach and Hillsboro Canals Little River .....--... .-----..-----Dade ......................-....-.*6 ......... Biscayne Bay Loxahatchee---. Palm Beach .............. 11 1 50,000 West Palm Beach Canal Napoleon B. Broward ---....... Broward .................... 183...... North New River Canal, South New River Canal, and New River Naranja .........----------Dade ......-----....-.----...9 -. Military Outfall Canal a Newhall ...------...... Glades .....--............. 10 Caloosahatchee River Old Plantation ................... .Broward ........................ 15 3 220,000 North New River Canal Pahokee .Palm Beach ................ 22 2 300,000 West Palm Beach Canal Pelican Lake .....-----.... --..--. Palm Beach ...----..-....... 14 4 165,000 West Palm Beach Canal Ritta .. ---. ... --.....--. ---.... Palm Beach ...--...----15 ... Miami Canal C Southern ......------...............--Dade .....................----.. 284 -. Tamiami and Snapper Creek Canals South Florida Conservancy .......... Hendry and Palm Beach 51 6 584,000 Lake Okeechobee South Shore -.........--------..-.--Palm Beach ................. 7 1 72,000 Lake Okeechobee Sugarland .......------...............-...-. Hendry and Glades .... 67 1 180,000 Lake Hiepochee * There is overlapping of 5 square miles among these 4 districts. "** Citrus Center Drainage District includes a few square miles additional outside the region. C t Concerning overlapping, see text page 81. I Concerning overlapping, see text page 81. OC § Istokpoga IDrainage District includes also a greater area outside the region. 00 CO
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84 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station county. It has authority to control water levels in fresh-water streams and reservoirs, with funds provided by taxation. About 1,961 of its total 2,054 square miles lies within the Everglades Drainage District, and it embraces approximately 482 square miles in other drainage districts and subdistricts. The boundaries of these various districts organized for water control are shown on 1 of the accompanying maps and their areas in Table 5. Existing Water-Control Works The major works constructed for control of water in the region considered in this report are: (1) The levees built by the War Department along the south, east, and north shores of Lake Okeechobee; (2) the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Canals for regulation of lake levels, now operated by the War Department; and (3) the canals excavated by Everglades Drainage District to remove excess water from the lands in the district. In addition there are the tributary ditches, dikes, and pumping plants installed by the sub-districts and overlapping independent districts, as well as ditches, dikes, and pumping plants installed by individual landowners. The principal canals of Everglades Drainage District are the West Palm Beach, the Hillsboro, the North New River, and the Miami, connecting the east and south shores of Lake Okeechobee with the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of West Palm Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami, respectively. Connecting the upper reaches of these 4 are Cross and Bolles Canals. South New River Canal gives Miami Canal another connection with the Atlantic, just below Fort Lauderdale. Across the full width of the District in the latitude of Miami is Tamiami Canal. Lesser drains of Everglades Drainage District are Cpyress Creek, Snake Creek, and Snapper Creek Canals discharging into Atlantic Ocean at Pompano and north and south of Miami, and Indian Prairie Canal draining the northwest corner of the District into Lake Okeechobee. These canals are not adequately performing the service expected of them, partly because ground subsidence has decreased their capacities, partly because water hyacinth (Fig. 21, p. 89) and other obstructions to flow have not been removed, and, particularly concerning Miami, Hillsboro, and West Palm Beach Canals, because they never were excavated to the designed depths.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 85 Nearly all land in the Everglades Region that can profitably be put into cultivated crops requires artificial drainage and also irrigation for maximum production. Most of the unused sandy lands and of the peat soils too shallow for agricultural development likewise are in most years too wet at some seasons and too dry at others for use all year as grazing land. Many of the pumping plants are so arranged that, though they are used mostly for drainage, in dry periods they can pump water from the main canals into the laterals to be distributed for irrigating the farm lands. Lake Okeechobee.-One levee of the War Department extends along the south side of Fisheating Creek and the south and east sides of Lake Okeechobee from near the west district boundary to high ground at St. Lucie Canal, about 68 miles. This protects the cultivated lands along the shore against overflow by lake waters, except those on Kreamer, Torry, and Ritta Islands near the southeast shore of the lake. The other levee, about 15 miles in length including some 6 miles along the east side of Kissimmee River, protects the town of Okeechobee. Construction of these levees and the appurtenant works was authorized by Congress in 1929 and was practically completed in 1936. The top elevation of these levees ranges from 32.6 to 34.6 feet above mean sea level, which is 4.4 to 6.4 feet above the highest waves recorded in the lake in the 1928 hurricane. In these levees are 6 hurricane gates which permit drainage and boat passage into and out from the lake. They are closed when extreme storm tides are forecast. They extend full height 'of the levee, and are designed to be held partly open as desired to regulate flow through them; but normally they remain wide open, except the 1 at Moore Haven, and lake levels are regulated by other works. These gates are located at Moore Haven, Clewiston, Lake Harbor, South Bay, Canal Point, and Okeechobee. Lake levels are maintained by the War Department as nearly as possible between elevations 12.6 and 15.6 m.s.l., by discharging through Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal those waters that cannot be stored safely in the lake. Maintenance of depth for navigation through Caloosahatchee River, the lake, and St. Lucie Canal is one of the objectives in this regulation. Caloosahatchee River.-The old drainage canal giving outlet to Lake Okeechobee westward through Lake Hicpochee and Caloosahatchee River was enlarged and provided with new con-
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86 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station trol works by the War Department under the Congressional authorization of 1929. Integral with the hurricane-gate structure at Moore Haven is a lock for passing boats to and from the river, and about 20 miles from the lake is the Ortona lock which also is operated by the War Department. The channel has a capacity of 2,500 cubic feet per second with the lake at elevation 15.6. The Moore Haven lock is used in controlling lake levels; the Ortona spillway is used to maintain water depth for navigation in the channel above it, and incidentally holds ground water in the lands along that reach. During rainy seasons the pasture lands along Caloosahatchee River within Everglades Drainage District are inundated by surface flow from higher lands lying to the north and to the south, but little harm results. Except for truck farming in the vicinity of Moore Haven, lands once cultivated along Caloosahatchee River in Everglades Drainage District now are used mainly for raising cattle. During dry seasons the ground water moves so readily through the loose top soil that the land is excessively drained. St. Lucie Canal.-This waterway extends northeasterly for about 24 miles from Port Mayaca on the east shore of Lake Okeechobee and discharges into St. Lucie River just beyond Everglades Drainage District boundary about 6 miles south of Stuart. Originally constructed by the District for controlling the elevation of the lake, it was taken over and improved and now is operated by the War Department under the 1929 authorization. Most of the land tributary to this canal is used for grazing cattle, although citrus and truck are being grown at Port Mayaca, and truck near Indian Town. Near the lake is an old lock-and-spillway, now unused, constructed by Everglades Drainage District before the War Department took control. Where the canal discharges into St. Lucie River is a new lock and dam which the War Department constructed and uses in controlling the elevation of the lake. The canal has a capacity of about 5,000 cubic feet per second at lake elevation 15.6; it does not overflow its banks. Tributary drains enter through concrete overfalls with fixed spillways, to prevent erosion of canal and ditches. The farm lands at Port Mayaca and at Indian Town have gravity drainage and are irrigated by pumping out of the canal. West Palm Beach Canal.-From Canal Point on Lake Okeechobee, West Palm Beach Canal extends southeastward and then
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 87 eastward and discharges into Lake Worth at the south limit of West Palm Beach. Its total length is 42 miles, with TwentyMile Bend a few miles west of the mid-point. The western half of the canal, to about 3 miles east of TwentyMile Bend, lies within the area of organic soils. East of this the land is mostly high enough that the canal water remains below ground level. For some 10 miles from Lake Okeechobee, the lands along West Palm Beach Canal are used for growing sugarcane and truck crops, in Pelican Lake and Pahokee Drainage Districts. At Loxahatchee is an acreage of citrus and eastward from State Road 7 truck lands border the canal. Near the lake is a lock-and-control structure of Everglades Drainage District, by which canal flow from the lake is regulated except when the hurricane gate is closed. At West Palm Beach is another lock-and-control. Sand bars and shoals in the lower reaches and a section of the canal but partly excavated near Road No. 7 impede flow. From the Lake to Twenty-Mile Bend, Road 716 forms a levee along the south side of West Palm Beach Canal and cultivated lands on the north side are protected from canal overflow by dikes built by farm owners. East of TwentyMile Bend, State Road 85 forms an embankment along the north side of the canal and the spoil bank is nearly continuous on the south side. Cross Canal, which connects with Hillsboro Canal to the west, joins West Palm Beach Canal at Twenty-Mile Bend. Between "this point and the lake, Big Mound Canal and Laterals A and B bring in large amounts of water from the sandy flatwoods area to the north. Range Line Canal of Lake Worth Drainage District connects with West Palm Beach Canal about midway between Twenty-Mile Bend and the coast, and other drains of that district connect farther east. Large quantities of water are pumped into the upper section of West Palm Beach Canal by Pelican Lake and Pahokee Drainage Districts, and lesser amounts by Loxahatchee District and by farmers along the lower reach of the canal. Most of the drainage pumps are arranged also to pump from the canal, when desired, into the drainage ditches for irrigation. Lake Worth Drainage District pumps water for irrigation from West Palm Beach Canal into its drains. In periods of heavy precipitation, pumping by the subdistricts near the lake and inflow from Big Mound Canal and Laterals A and B frequently raise the water in West Palm Beach Canal above lake level. At such times flow may be toward the lake from
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88 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station as far as Big Mound Canal. High water in the upper reach of the canal also causes flow around the end of the highway embankment at Twenty-Mile Bend to inundate pasture lands east of that point. During the 7 years 1940 to 1946, flow at Canal Point was into the lake rather than from it for 24 to 113 days each year, amounting to 19 percent of the total time. In dry periods water is admitted from the lake into West Palm Beach Canal for irrigation. However, to avoid injury to truck crops on low land near West Palm Beach, the water at the lower control structure must be held during the cropping season at elevation 8.0 or below. Therefore, when flow from the lake is permitted in quantity for watering the sugarcane lands in that vicinity, a great deal is wasted into the ocean. Hillsboro Canal.-From Hurricane Gate No. 4 in the extreme south corner of Lake Okeechobee, Hillsboro Canal extends southeastward by a series of straight reaches to the Atlantic coast near Deerfield Beach. The last few miles follow the canalized tidal reaches of Hillsboro River into the Intracoastal Waterway. The total length is 51 miles. Throughout the greater portion of its length, Hillsboro Canal passes through soils of muck and peat, but from 2 or 3 miles west of State Road No. 7 it passes through the sandy soils of the coastal ridge. The area of truck farming near the lake extends down Hillsboro Canal for about 17 miles, and the bordering lands through the coastal ridge are developed agriculturally, but the long middle portion of the canal traverses an area entirely undeveloped. Near Belle Glade is an old lock-and-control structure of Everglades Drainage District, now unused and in disrepair. Only the hurricane gate can be used to regulate flow from the lake into this canal. Near Deerfield Beach is another lock-and-control of the District, which is used to maintain water elevations in the lower reaches of the canal. Above Elbow Bend, which is 11 miles above State Road 7, about 13 miles of the channel is of shallow depth because it was not excavated into the rock as designed. In this length a dense growth of hyacinths has been accumulating for a number of years. (See Fig. 21.) Consequently there is little flow from the upper to the lower reach of the canal. Along the west side of this canal, as far as the cultivated lands extend from the lake, is a highway which serves as a levee that ordinarily prevents overflow from the canal upon the farms west
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 89 of the road. The farms on the east side of the canal are protected from canal overflow by dikes constructed by each owner for his own land. From 3/4 mile east of Elbow Bend to State Road 7 the spoil banks form nearly continuous dikes. Fig. 21.-Hillsboro Canal choked with water hyacinth, east of Elbow Bend Road on waste bank was made for use of the survey parties. (Photograph courtesy East Coast Air Service.) Hillsboro Canal has several important tributaries. At SixMile Bend, about 91/2 miles from the lake, a junction with Cross Canal provides connection with West Palm Beach Canal to the east. Cross Canal, however, carries water from the Hillsboro more often than to it. About a mile downstream from Six-Mile Bend, junction is made with Bolles Canal which extends westward and connects with both North River and Miami Canals. Flow into Bolles Canal from the Hillsboro is slight, however, and flow contrariwise is even less. Range Line Canal joins the Hillsboro about 5 miles west of the lock-and-control structure near Deerfield Beach; other ditches of Lake Worth Drainage District make junction eastward thereof.
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90 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station All the farm lands along the upper reaches of Hillsboro Canal are drained by pumping into it, through controlled connections through the road embankment or the farm dikes. All are irrigated at times by pumping from the same canal. Lake Worth Drainage District has gravity drainage into the Hillsboro as into West Palm Beach Canal, but in the drains are structures to control outflow, and there are pumps arranged to lift water for irrigation from the canals into the drainage laterals which distribute it to the farms. In seasons of prolonged rains pumping from the cultivated lands often raises the water in upper Hillsboro Canal above Lake Okeechobee level, so that flow is toward rather than away from the lake. Whether relief is obtained through Cross and Bolles Canals depends upon the water stages in West Palm Beach and North New River Canals, which do not have obstructions comparable to the restricted mid-section of the Hillsboro. During the 7 years 1940 to 1946 flow at Belle Glade was toward the lake for 13 to 85 days each year, totaling 15 percent of the entire period. Because Hillsboro and North New River Canals are joined near the lake levee, water in the upper reaches of either canal can pass into or out of the other or into or out of the lake, depending upon hydraulic gradients and the management of the control structures. In periods of low runoff from the lands along the upper reaches of Hillsboro Canal the lower reaches carry a considerable flow from Hillsboro Marsh which lies north of the canal and west of Road No. 7. Water in this usually inundated area flows southerly along shallow meandering channels and passes into Hillsboro Canal through 3 gaps in the spoil bank. Controls have been built in these gaps to delay this flow, so that canal capacity will be available during the rainy season for draining the farm lands below. Retention of water in the Marsh aids in preserving the soil and wildlife there, and in providing irrigation water for lands in the coastal area. Surface runoff from grazing lands on the south is admitted to the canal east of Elbow Bend through uncontrolled openings in the spoil bank, made by the cattle owners. In dry periods the control near Deerfield Beach is closed to hold water in the lower canal reaches for irrigation; but even with this done, difficulty often is experienced in maintaining an adequate irrigation supply because so little flow from the lake
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 91 can pass through the restricted and obstructed middle section of the canal. North New River Canal.-This is the only waterway through. the southern Everglades that permits passage of appreciable quantities of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean. It heads in Hillsboro Canal a few hundred feet east of the hurricane gate near South Bay, and extends southeasterly through 4 straight reaches of 6 to 25 miles each to enter, about 5 miles southwest of Fort Lauderdale, the canalized channel of New River which it follows through the coastal ridge and Fort Lauderdale to the ocean. From the lake to New River the length is 58 miles. Except for some 6 miles from its junction with New River, North New River Canal traverses the muck and peat soils of the sawgrass plains. For all but 2 miles at the upper end the channel is excavated 5 to 10 feet into the underlying rock. The truckfarming area bordering the lake extends down this canal for a dozen miles from South Bay; for about an equal distance from the coast, truck farms and citrus orchards are interspersed among pasture and grazing lands. A lock-and-control structure of Everglades Drainage District at South Bay, 21/2 miles from the end of the canal, ordinarily is used for regulating canal flow from the lake. Another lock-andcontrol structure of the District, located about 3 miles from the junction of the canal with New River, near Davie, is used to control water stages in the lower reaches of the canal. At Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, 20 miles upstream from the Davie control, is a dam of the District with stop-log spillway used for controlling water elevations in the channel above and for diverting water through similar outlet structures onto low lands to the east and west. Another dam of the same type has been built recently in this canal near range line 40/41, to give better control for conserving water on the undeveloped lands to the west and protecting farm lands to the east against flood flows in the canal. Dams with stop-log gates were built in the canal at the Palm Beach-Broward County line and about 10 miles above, by Soil Conservation Service and Everglades Fire Control District, to be used in connection with low dikes extending both east and west at these locations for spreading water over the unused land to prevent or reduce fires in the peat. The logs have been removed and the dams abandoned. The embankment of State Roads 25 and 84 along the west
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92 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and south bank of North New River Canal from South Bay to Fort Lauderdale gives protection from canal overflow to all lands on that side, except as permitted or induced through controlled openings. Along the east and north side of the canal from the county line to the control structure at Davie is a continuous levee, through which are the controlled openings at Twenty-SixMile Bend (mentioned above) and 1 without control at Holloway Canal on range line 40/41. The cultivated lands on the east side of the upper reach are protected from canal overflow by dikes built by individual farm owners. Bolles Canal crosses North New River Canal at Okeelanta, 6 miles south of the lake, and brings water from both east and west. South Branch of New River connects South New River Canal with North New River Canal below the control structure in the latter at Davie. The cultivated lands along the upper reaches of North New River Canal are both drained and irrigated by pumping into and out of the canal, as are the cultivated lands on the north side of the canal at the coastal ridge. The farms south of the lower reaches of this canal pump from it for irrigation but obtain drainage southward by gravity into South New River Canal. In periods of considerable rainfall when Lake Okeechobee is at low stage, runoff pumped from the tributary lands and flow from Bolles Canal fill the upper reaches of North New River Canal so full that there is flow toward the lake as well as southward toward the ocean. In the 7-year period 1940 to 1946 there was such northward flow at South Bay for 4 percent of the time, ranging from none to 46 days per year. Whether part of this passes down Hillsboro Canal instead of into the lake depends upon the stage of the former. (See p. 89.) Miami Canal.-This westernmost of the large canals for draining the Everglades extends southward from Lake Harbor and then southeastward to discharge into the canalized channel of Miami River approximately 85 miles from the hurricane gate and about 5 miles from Biscayne Bay. Except for the belt of lands in sugarcane along Lake Okeechobee and some pasture lands south of the Broward-Dade County line the area traversed by this canal is undeveloped peat soil of which the greater part is too shallow for economic agricultural development. Miami Canal intersects Bolles Canal 71/2 miles from the hurricane gate and connects with South New River Canal about 10 miles by channel north of the Broward-Dade County line.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 93 Near Lake Okeechobee is a lock-and-spillway structure of Everglades Drainage District, which is always open and needs repair but could be made usable. In digging this canal rock was excavated only between Miami and a half mile above the connection with South New River Canal. For 25 miles or more north of that point Miami Canal is only 2 to 4 feet deep. A rock dam was built in the canal where rock excavation was discontinued, but it has been breached and now offers comparatively little obstruction to flow. Near the Broward-Dade County line is an earth dam, which was built to prevent flooding of low lands about 61/2 miles below in the vicinity of Pennsuco but also helps to hold water in the wild lands above. Through this dam are 5 large sluices having gates which were opened in dry seasons that the fresh-water flow might check salt water advancing up the canal toward the well field from which the city of Miami pumps its water supply. A dam installed at 36th Street by the Miami Water Department was an effective barrier against upstream flow of the salty water until it failed in 1947. It was immediately replaced with a temporary dam of steel sheet piling. Practically all the drainage from lands in Palm Beach County tributary to Miami Canal is discharged into Lake Okeechobee, and there is relatively little flow from the lake into this canal. The capacity of the canal is not sufficient to prevent overflow of the adjoining lands. In Broward County surface water flows southward or southwesterly across this canal, following old natural drainage lines; the shallow channel is clogged with water hyacinth and is of no service for drainage. Between State Road 25 and Hialeah the land is frequently inundated in wet seasons and is excessively drained in dry seasons. The cultivated lands bordering the upper section of Miami Canal are drained by pumping into Lake Okeechobee or into the canal north of the lock at Lake Harbor, and are irrigated by the same pumps and the drainage'ditches. Cross Canal.-This connection between Hillsboro Canal and West Palm Beach Canal is 13 miles long, and for most of its length is bordered by farms devoted principally to growing truck. Near the eastern end is a dam put in by Everglades Drainage District, for the purpose of holding water in Cross Canal in order to maintain a high water table in the lands along Cross and Hillsboro Canals. The grade of Cross Canal is very slight, to the east, and usually the water flows eastward, but occasionally the flow is westward into Hillsboro Canal. The bordering cultivated
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94 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station lands are drained and irrigated by pumping into and out of the canal. Bolles Canal.-This drain, of only moderate size, joins Hillsboro Canal about 1 mile south of Cross Canal and extends westward 20 miles to the Hendry County line. From its eastern end to about 3 miles west of North New River Canal it passes through an intensively developed area of truck farms. Connection with Hillsboro Canal is through small, obstructed culverts that pass only a small quantity of water. The connections with North New River and Miami Canals are open and uncontrolled. Flow in Bolles Canal is mostly to North New River Canal, from both east and west, but occasionally when the latter is at high stage the flow is from it in either or both directions. Overflow of the farms along both sides of Bolles Canal is prevented by dikes built by the farm owners, who drain and irrigate by pumping into and from the canal. South New River Canal.-This canal at first connected Miami Canal with South Branch of New River, but subsequently was given direct connection with tidewater by construction of Dania Cut-off. Nothing has been done, however, to obstruct flow through this South Branch into South New River Canal from North New River Canal, in which water usually is flowing at higher elevation. The total length from Miami Canal to Intracoastal Waterway is approximately 281/2 miles. The eastern portion drains an area considerably developed for citrus orchards and dairying, but along the western. portion the land is unimproved range. The connection between Miami Canal and South New River Canal is open, but flow through the latter is practically prevented by an earth-fill dam a half-mile east of Road 25. Through this dam is a small culvert with gate, but the culvert is set too high to drain the lands west of the dam. Four miles farther east, at Fifteen-Mile Dike, is another dam which has a stop-log spillway that is operated to control flow eastward. Near Davie is a lock-and-spillway structure of Everglades Drainage District which, though in usable condition, is seldom operated except in periods of drought. At the head of Dania Cut-off is a generating plant of Florida Power and Light Company, which takes cooling water from South Branch of New River. Except during high flow from the Everglades this water is returned to South Branch about one-third mile from North New River Canal. In Dania
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 95 Cut-off the company built a dam of steel lift panels, which now is closed only when needed to hold fresh water to the west and keep out salt water from the east. Along South New River Canal west from Flamingo Road (about 1 mile west of range line 40/41), openings in the spoil banks permit runoff of surface water into the canal from both north and south. On each side of the canal from Flamingo Road to the lock at Davie is a highway on an embankment that serves as a dike to keep out most surface water except as the drainage ditches discharge into the canal through culverts under the roads. Most of the culverts are provided with stop-log gates to restrict drainage from the land in dry seasons. Tamiami Canal.-Very little drainage is provided by Tamiami Canal. West from within Coral Gables all across Dade County the ground is practically level, and undeveloped except for a few small farms scattered along the eastern portion of the canal. Two miles east of range line 38/39 is an earth dam with a spillway over which there is a small flow eastward in wet seasons. From this dam the flow is into Miami River and Biscayne Bay without control. Both east and west of the dam occasional lateral drains from both north and south discharge into the canal without control. U. S. Highway 94 forms a dike along the south side of the canal. West of the dam in Range 39 are many trestles through which at times overflow from the canal escapes southward. Uncontrolled Canals of Everglades Drainage District.-Indian Prairie Canal drains the northwest corner of the district into Lake Okeechobee. It heads in the edge of a sawgrass marsh that lies mostly in Highlands County. Its upper portion is bordered by improved pasture land but most of its length lies through unimproved range. In the canal are no artificial controls but the channel is obstructed by sand tramped in by stock. It overflows in wet seasons. Cypress Creek Canal, about 15 miles long, flows directly eastward into the Intracoastal Waterway at Pompano. The area drained is largely devoted to truck crops. Flow in the canal is obstructed by sand bars and dense growths of water hyacinth, and many farmers have built checks in the canal to prevent overdrainage. The farms are privately diked and are both drained and irrigated by pumping into and out of the canal. Snake Creek Canal was dug to head in South New River Canal
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96 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station at Flamingo Road and discharge into the upper end of Biscayne Bay near Fulford. The channel now is closed by a dam 1 mile from the connection with South New River Canal, and another dam about 6 miles below diverts flow from the channel above into canals constructed by local agencies, which empty into Biscayne Bay and Miami Canal. The lands tributary in Everglades Drainage District are mostly used for pasture or grazing; the highest value of those nearer the coast is for urban and suburban development. Snapper Creek Canal heads in Tamiami Canal at the east line of Range 39 and empties into Biscayne Bay about 5 miles south of Coconut Grove. Occasional small farms border on the canal above the coastal strip of residential development. The lower end of the canal is narrow and choked with aquatic growth, and apparently there is little flow through it. Works of Sub-Drainage Districts and Comparable Enterprises. -Table 5 (p. 82) shows that 13 of the subdistricts have installed drainage pumping plants having a total rated capacity of 2,486,000 gallons per minute. As has been stated, many of these plants also pump irrigation water in dry seasons. In practically all areas utilization of the land for crops requires, in addition to the district works, farm drains and pumping plants that must be provided by the landowners at private expense. There are no figures as to the extent of private drainage development. Some of the land ownerships outside the subdistricts are larger than many of those districts, and a few such have installed pumping plants of 200,000 gallons per minute or greater capacity. North, west, and south of Miami is a net-work of drainage canals constructed by subdistricts or private developments, tributary to Biscayne Bay or to Miami and Tamiami Canals. Very little of the land is farmed and the canals are of benefit to little more than the urban sections near the Bay. In the Homestead-Florida City area are a number of so-called "ocean level" drainage canals which discharge into lower Biscayne Bay. These aid in removing surface water but draw much water from the oolite rock into which they cut, and in times of low ground water they admit ocean water as far as Florida City. In the lower portions, crops sometimes are injured by high ground water. Much of the land between the ridge and the ocean is too saline for crops. The intrusion of salt into the ground water in eastern Dade County is threatening the permanent
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 97 usability of irrigation-water supplies for agricultural areas and of municipal water supplies for urban areas. Dade County Water Conservation District is constructing water-control works in the major drainage canals. The structures are designed to check landward flow of salt water and to hold fresh water in and on the higher lands that it may be used for irrigation, for preserving wildlife and recreational values, for mitigating soil destruction by fires and natural oxidation, and for augmenting ground-water supplies. Water Control Recommendations Objective The object of water control for the Everglades Region is to conserve the organic soils by minimizing subsidence and reducing fire hazards; and at the same time to provide for all agricultural soils adequate drainage during wet periods and water for irrigation during dry periods. Records show that uncontrolled drainage during the past 30 years has lowered the surface of the organic soils suitable for agriculture by 3 to 6 feet. This lowering of the land surface has substantially reduced the capacity of the drainage canals and has materially increased the difficulty of obtaining gravity outlet drainage. For lands in cultivation, removal of excess water is necessary in seasons of heavy rainfall and artificial supply is necessary in dry periods. Unused organic soils suitable for cropping should be kept saturated in order to avoid subsidence and loss by oxidation and fires. For most of the lands suitable only for grazing cattle, drainage and irrigation are not economically feasible under usual conditions, and water-control plans for any of these should consider carefully what injury proposed works might cause to other lands of equal or greater value. Some lands not suitable for either crops or cattle might be made to serve agriculture by storing water for irrigation, or by temporarily holding runoff to relieve overtaxed drainage canals in periods of heavy rainfall. The map of generalized land conditions shows the agricultural lands to comprise, in general, the deeper organic soils of the sawgrass plains in Palm Beach County and the marl and sandy soils of the coastal rim. The organic soils classified as agricultural amount to about 700,000 acres, of which probably a fourth was used for crops in 1946. A considerable acreage of this is drained
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98 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station by pumping directly into Lake Okeechobee, the rest by pumping into the drainage canals. In wet seasons the 9anals are inaquate for removing this water and the flow they receive from unused lands. To drain these lands it will be necessary to increase the capacity of these canals, provide additional canals, or delay runoff from part of the area now tributary. It would be beneficial to the undeveloped agricultural land to hold water upon it until it is wanted for cropping. On most of the extensive area of non-agricultural peat soils, comprising the ridge-and-slough lands and the hammock phase of the sawgrass plains (Fig. 2), storage or retention of water would promote increase in wildlife and in recreational use. A small fraction of the hammock-sawgrass area is being used for dry-season grazing, otherwise these lands are producing nothing of agricultural value. Water held upon the central and northern portions of the non-agricultural peat lands would be available for irrigation on and near the coastal rim and for recharging the well fields from which Miami and Fort Lauderdale obtain their municipal supplies (30). Surface Runoff SMeasured Runoff.-Continuous records of water stage and discharge have been collected by U. S. Geological Survey since late in 1939, near both the lake and the coastal ends of West Palm Beach, Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals; near the coastal ends of Boynton, Cypress Creek, South New River, and Tamiami Canals; and at the openings through U. S. Highway 94 west of Miami where water flows southward. The records from the upper ends of the 4 major canals measure both the flow from the Everglades into the lake and thatfrom the lake into the Everglades. The total net runoff from the area during the 5 years for which records have been compiled, and the corresponding rainfall, are shown by months in Table 6. The measurements show that for 1940 to 1944 the annual runoff from approximately, 3,900 square miles in that portion of Everglades Drainage District south of the Okeechobee-St. Lucie divide, west of the Atlantic coastal ridge, and north of Tamiami Canal has averaged 2,130,00(aacre-feet, equivalent to 10.23 inches depth and 19.6 percent of the rainfall. The range in annual runoff for the 5 years has been, in amount from 3,814,000 to 848,500 acre-feet, in depth from 18.3 to 4.1 inches, and in percentage of rainfall from 30.1 to 9.6; the maximum figures relate to 1941:
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toý TABLE 6.-RUNOFF FROM EVERGLADES AREA SOUTH AND EAST OF LAKE OKEECHOBEE. (Data from U. S. Geological Survey) Month 1940 1941 194194943 1944 Mean ___ Runoff Rainfall Runoff Rainfall Runoff Rainfall I Runoff Rainfall | Runoff Rainfall Runoff I Rainfall Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches Inches, Inches Inches Inches Jan ...... 0.40 2.86 1.57 5.00 0.80 2.68 0.13 1.08 0.28 0.86 0.64 2.50 Feb. ..... .56 2.93 1.66 4.51 .43 2.32 .07 .69 .05 .05 .55 2.10 Mar ...... .42 4.26 1.30 4.14 .53 3.89 .03 .97 .04 2.24 .46 3.10 April ..35 1.52 1.60 6.21 1.36 5.19 .03 2.78 .03 1.70 .67 3.48 May ...... .02 3.40 .85 1.93 .71 5.79 .11 6.04 .08 5.74 .35 4.58 June ..... .82 9.93 .61 7.78 3.35 13.56 .17 6.06 .11 3.79 1.01 8.22 July ... .55 6.35 2.82 11.12 1.90 3.15 .58 8.55 .13 8.31 1.20 7.50 Aug. .. 1.25 8.58 1.82 3.86 1.03 4.73 .61 7.17 .68 7.92 1.08 6.45 Sept. 2.61 10.32 2.04 8.58 1.54 5:66 1.12 7.54 .59 4.51 1.58 7.32 5 Oct ...... 1.70 2.47 2.22 4.02 .84 1.65 1.06 4.86 1.23 6.95 1.41 3.99 Nov ...... 1.18 .55 1.18 2.74 .36 .86 .53 2.74 .64 .23 .78 1.42 Dec. ..... .93 4.34 .64 1.04 .22 2.17 .49 .41 .22 .34 .50 1.66 Annual .10.79 57.51 18.31 60.93 13.07 51.65 4.93 48.89 4.08 42.64 10.23 52.32 7 June-Oct. 6.93 37.65 9.51 35.36 8.66 28.75 3.54 34.18 2.74 31.48 6.28 33.48 _____--___-_-__-_---___--___--_____--________--___-___------------__ -CO
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-1 g. w I'D 00 Co m0 C))1,a 0 0 I00O1. 00Lo C -o • 0 C 0 00 I--a w0 CP, C op-. oo I June 1 a o S !to ' o r o o -e g" c o July " SJanOct. C Nov. 0 s Si-I-' De ---00---£--2 ------Total I -0 M .(( May o i-A CC April 2 w ----3--5 ---------w l 0a [ -" -i ?0 June t, 1Ž0I-l00 I. 070 CTO -I'D 00 C, MA C 4, 1-' tŽ[Ž)0 Z, % N3 to Co 7 en CC--3 -m -Cl z 0 , C> 0 -_ _ ___-o _ __ (D__ m _ 0 iC iS -o Aug. oi Sp n0 ------------_ ------------" ------------------S 3 C9 -N 0 o i to m 00-o Total0 00 C-0 07 m 0-1P 0L C---ODW t-C 00 ! CAO00 CC ,10 (O tmI m Nia W ' r o O1 ,~~~I-~ 00 -2 -'001 1Ž0 00 .. * , .ov ____ -_ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "4 -D 0 10 tO 1 -r________ 107 C.Dc -2 -"0 -'07 B. 0I'0 '.3 oa 00 0oo P,100Žz000 I. -ID -07 0 0 0 0
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 101 TABLE 7.-NUMBER OF DAYS REPORTING RAINFALL OF 2 INCHES OR MORE, BY DEPTH OF RAINFALL AND MONTH OF OCCURRENCE.-(Continued.) Rainfall .^ I a Inches 4 | | S | 0 ) 0 Hypoluxo, 1918-1946 (29 years) 2-3 2 4 7 7 12 15 6 6 8 17 5 4 93 3-4 2 1 4 1 1 4 2 3 6 4 1 29 4-5 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 10 5-6 1 3 2 1 7 6-7 1 2 1 1 5 7-8 1 1 2 12-13 1 11 Total 0 4 1 40 _ 14 14 20 11 11 16 27 10 5 147 Ft. Lauderdale, 1918-1946 (29 years) 2-3 6 3 5 5 10 12 9 12 15 15 5 2 99 3-4 1 1 1 5 1 1 2 4 7 4 27 4-5 2 1 1 2 1 5 2 14 5-6 2 2 1 2 2 9 6-7 1 1 1 1 4 7-8 1 1 8-9 1 2 3 9-10 1 1 Total 9 3 10 8 20 17 10 15 22 31 11 2 158 Miami, 1912-1946 (35 years) 2-3 2 1 3 5 10 22 7 7 13 5 7 2 84 3-4 1 2 2 9 1 2 3 4 9 1 34 4-5 1 1 6 1 1 4 1 15 5-6 4 3 1 1 9 6-7 2 1 1 4 7-8 1 1 2 1 1 6 8-9 1 1 1 3 9-10 1 1 10-11 2 2 14-15 __ _ 1 1 Total 2 2 7 9 29 30 9 13 23 21 11 3 159 the minimum to 1944. Records of runoff for each of the canal measuring stations referred to above have been published in U. S. Geological Survey's water-supply papers, but physiographical data have not yet been obtained for determining drainage divides within the area. Therefore the discharge measurements for individual canals cannot be used for calculating runoff rates in relation to area drained.
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102 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station .Rainfall.-Data concerning normal and excessive precipitation in the Everglades Region have been given. (See pp. 43 to 46.) However, neither the normal nor the extreme amounts or rates of rainfall determine the quantities for which water-control works should provide. Ditches and pumps designed for the runoff from only normal precipitation will be inadequate to prevent frequent and severe losses, whereas works designed for the maximum recorded runoff or storm will be more costly than would be justi. fled by the additional protection obtained over what some lower expenditure would provide. The rate and duration of the storm or runoff .for which drainage works should be designed to be economically effective depend upon the frequency with which such storm occurs in the season that drainage is needed and the length of time that crops will tolerate inadequate drainage. The number of days on which rains of 2 inches or more have been recorded at several stations in the Everglades region are shown in Table 7, classified by amount of precipitation and by month of occurrence. The table indicates that at the interior stations of Moore Haven, Okeechobee, Canal Point, Belle Glade, and Shawano more days of heavy rain occur in June and September than in any other months, while at the East Coast stations of Hypoluxo and Fort Lauderdale there are more in October than in any other month. The Miami record, however, shows the largest numbers of storms in June and May. The average number of days having 2 inches or more of rain has been 3 to 4 per year at the interior stations and 5 to 6 per year at the coast stations. The data in the table are suggestive, but no formula has yet been developed for calculating drainage requirements from rainfall and other hydrologic data. Design Rates Used.-The available physiographic and hydrologic data relating to the Everglades region do not furnish an acceptable basis for computing the capacities of the drainage works that will prove most economical. The Engineering Board of Review (22) developed and used the formula: Q = 69.1 + 9.6 VM in which Q = runoff in cubic feet per second per square mile of dainage area, and M drainage area in square miles.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 103 This formula provides 1 inch runoff depth per 24 hours from 16 square miles, 3/ inch from 43 square miles, and 1/2 inch from 322 square miles. It has been used in preparing the water-control plans presented herein for the organic soils. Three-fourths of the rates computed by this formula have been used for some ditches to receive flow from only sand prairies in the northeastern and western parts of the Region. Irrigation Requirements Evaporation and Transpiration.-In a study of the water requirements of crops at Everglades Experiment Station, records have been made of the amounts of water evaporated and transpired by certain plants growing in tanks of peat soil (7, pp. 27-35). Effort was made to approximate field conditions in placement of the soil in the tanks and in shelter from excessive exposure to wind and sunlight. In each tank the water table was held at a nearly constant depth by adding and withdrawing water as necessary. The average amounts evaporated and transpired from those tanks through 1943 are shown by months in Table 8, compared with the evaporation from standard Weather Bureau open pan. The evaporation and transpiration from the tanks of sugarcane averaged 49.0 inches per year, which is 76 percent of the TABLE 8.-AVERAGE EVAPORATION AND TRANSPIRATION FROM TANKS OF SOIL AND VEGETATION AND PROM OPEN PAN OF WATER AT EVERGLADES EXPERIMENT STATION, BELLE GLADE, FLORIDA, 1934 TO 1943. Cane Standard Month Sugarcane Sawgrass Bare Soil Trash Open Pan (10 Years) (7 Years) (4 Years) (6 Years) (20 Years) Inches Inches Inches' Inches Inches January ....--.. 1.24 3.69 1.86 0.46 3.53 February ...... 1.28 3.40 2.28 .57 4.13 March .........i 1.74 4.69 3.04 .69 5.74 April ................ 2.91 6.19 4.06 .67 6.59 May ................ 3.89 8.15 3.93 .67 7.30 June ................. 5.18 7.56 4.30 1.75 6.30 July .................. 6.98 8.18 4.71 1.55 6.71 August ......... 6.78 7.44 4.71 1.37 6.29 September ...... 5.47 6.22 4.35 1.27 5.48 October ........... 6.08 5.95 3.08 0.92 5.20 November ........ 4.39 3.76 2.00 .58 3.90 December ...... 3.08 3.09 1.70 .72 3.26 Year .........--. 49.02 68.32 40.02 11.22 64.43
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104 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station evaporation from the open pan and 86 percent of the mean rainfall at Belle Glade. The average depth of the water table in these tanks was about 1.5 feet, which approximates field conditions. The tank of sawgrass lost an average of 68.3 inches per year by evaporation and transpiration, which exceeded the open-pan evaporation by 13 percent and the normal rainfall by 20 percent. The water table in this tank was held ordinarily between depths of 1.0 and 1.5 feet, whereas in virgin areas it may vary from ground surface to 4 feet below. The stand of sawgrass was large and clean the first year, but weeds and ferns increased to give a mixture more like the natural vegetation. Evaporation from bare soil is shown by the table to have been 40.0 inches per year, and from soil covered with several inches depth of cane trash only 11.6 inches. These amounts are respectively 62 and 18 percent of the evaporation fiom the open pan and 71 and 20 percent of the normal rainfall. In considering need for irrigation it is of interest to compare the average rainfall and evaporation. Figure 22 makes such comparison for Belle Glade and Miami. Evaporation is plotted as 85 percent of the measured amounts, because experiments have indicated that to be approximately the ratio of loss from the Weather Bureau pan to the loss from a large body of open water. It will be noted that usually, at both places, annual precipitation exceeds evaporation by only 2 inches or less; rainfall equals .or exceeds evaporation in only 5 months of the year; and during the winter and spring months of November to May rainfall is less than evaporation by 1 to more than 2 inches at Belle Glade and by 1/2 to 21/2 inches at Miami. Pumping Experience.-Although practically all cultivated land in Everglades Drainage District is irrigated in dry seasons by pumping into the drainage ditches, there are few data available to show the amounts of water pumped for irrigation. It is known, however, that in the extremely dry year 1938 pumping unit No. 2 of East Pahokee Drainage District pumped 1.16 feet of water into the area served (7, 'p. 44), although the average for 1933 to 1938 was 0.30 foot per year. The record for the pumping plant at Everglades Experiment Station for the same 6 years shows an average of 0.65 foot per year (7, page 47). The concensus of farm operators, engineers, and research workers in agriculture in the Everglades Region seems to be that
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 105 12 , 60BELLE GLADE toJULY 1924JUNE 1946 50 8-40 o I 4 --20 Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Yer 12 10 0 30 Jon. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Yeor Fig. 22-Comparison of average monthly and annual rainfall and60 MIAMI evaporatio JAN. 1896-DEC. 1945 from Table 3, 8 40 I I "r--30 o0 Jon. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Year H RAINFALL EVAPORATION (85% of loss from U.S. Weather Bureau open pan) Fig. 22.-Comparison of average monthly and annual rainfall and evaporation at Belle Glade and at Miami. (Rainfall amounts from Table 3, evaporation from Table 8.)
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106 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the amount of water to be provided for irrigation in the region should be 1 foot depth per year, and that this amount should be available in the 4 or 5 months of January to April or May. This amount will not be wanted, however, at a uniform rate throughout the irrigation season. For the water-control works planned herein the minimum capacities of canals under irrigating conditions have been calculated to supply 0.16 inch per day, or 4.30 cubic feet per second per square mile. Relation of Rock Structure to Water Control The effectiveness and cost of measures for controlling surface and soil waters may be largely determined by the structure of the underlying rock and the depth and kind of overlying materials. Where a permeable substratum near the ground surface carries a large flow of water, dikes and ditches may be of little use for protecting and draining the soil above. The rock formations underlying the Everglades already have been described (pp. 35 to 42) and the extent of the different upper formations have been mapped (Fig. 5). The northern portion of the Everglades is underlain by the relatively impermeable Fort Thompson formation, through which generally water will pass too slowly to interfere with control measures in or on the overlying strata. The southern portion of the Everglades is underlain at shallow depth by the extremely permeable Miami oolite, containing large solution holes through which water can flow in such quantities as to make ineffective any retarding structures built over it, if flow into or out of the oolite from or to the areas to be controlled is not prevented. Under the western edge of the Everglades in Broward and Dade counties the surface layer of rock is Tamiami sandstone which also is highly permeable. The rock under all the organic soils in Palm Beach County is covered by a layer of impermeable marl from a few inches to 2 feet thick. Drainage of peat and muck soils by diking and pumping has been successful in the area classed as agricultural, because the rock is relatively tight and even 2 or 3 inches of the marl greatly reduces the rate of seepage upward. It has been found (7, pp. 17-19) that seepage horizontally through raw fibrous peat is very slow, although vertically it is rapid. Southward from about the middle of Broward County the rocks underlying the organic soils generally are highly permeable,
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 107 some near the lower east coast being comparable with clean gravel in this respect (16). Wells in the Miami area have a high yield with little draw-down, and seepage from the rock into lower reaches of Miami Canal has been measured as great as 100 cubic feet per second per mile of canal.8 There is no seal of marl over the rock in that area, but along the coastal ridge are sandy subsoils that considerably retard the upward flow from the rock. Experience indicates that over such permeable, water-bearing material, diking and pumping would be impracticable because water would flow under the dikes in quantities far larger than it would be feasible to pump. The organic soils in the lower Everglades, however, have been classed as non-agricultural. (See pp. 72-73.) Control Works Planned Millions .of dollars have been expended by Everglades Drainage District in constructing the 4 main drainage canals from Lake Okeechobee to the ocean. These have given direction to agricultural development in the district and have been supplemented by extensive drainage and irrigation works installed by subdistricts and private landowners. It is desirable to utilize the existing works as far as practicable. Only 1 of the main drainage canals, the North New River, ever has been dug to the originally designed depth, and that not until 1939. But if all were enlarged to the originally planned dimensions, none would have capacity enough in periods of heavy rainfall to drain more than a part of the tributary lands that are suitable for agriculture, even with runoff from nonagricultural lands kept out. It is believed practicable to improve most of the present canals so they will adequately serve the agricultural lands lying within a few miles on each side and to construct additional canals for the -lands at greater distance that are to be cultivated. General Plan of Improvements.-Presented here is a general plan of primary water-control improvements for the organic soils east and south of Lake Okeechobee that are classed as agricultural, except those now drained directly into the lake, and for a part of the agricultural sandy soils of the coastal ridge. Major development in the coastal section evidently will be residential rather than agricultural. Recommendation is made for estabSU. S. Geological Survey. Unpublished data.
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108 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station lishment of conservation areas in certain large sections of nonagricultural lands to conserve water, maintain wildlife habitats, and reduce fire hazards in undeveloped organic soils. Measures for combating salt intrusion along the lower east coast are considered. The requirements for water control in the marl and rockland soils of the Homestead area are yet to be determined by research now in progress. Under the plan presented herein, about 220 square miles would be drained into Lake Okeechobee through West Palm Beach, Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals during periods of heavy or prolonged runoff. This would be accomplished by control structures in these and in Cross and Bolles Canals, with which the direction and quantity of flow of drainage and of irrigation water could be regulated. Pumping plants are planned at the lake ends of Hillsboro and North New River Canals. The other agricultural lands along the present canals would be given outlet through them to the ocean. New canals are proposed for areas that would be served more economically by them than by existing works. The districts and tracts now drained into the lake would not be affected by the works proposed. The boundaries of the areas to be drained to the lake and to the ocean by each canal and the locations of new or enlarged construction are shown on the map of water-control measures recommended. More detailed descriptions of the plans for particular sections of the region are given herewith; estimates of the work involved and the cost follow. Water-Conservation Areas.-The establishment of 3 waterconservation areas is recommended on lands classified as nonagricultural and now largely in public ownership. These have been designated as: (1) Palm Beach County area, in Hillsboro Marsh west of State Road No. 7 between West Palm Beach and Hillsboro Canals; (2) Broward County area, north and east of North New River Canal in the vicinity of Twenty-Mile Bend and Twenty-Six-Mile Bend; (3) Dade-Broward Counties area, extending north from Tamiami Canal and east from near the Collier County line to beyond South New River and Miami Canals. Development of the first of these as a wildlife habitat and recreation area has been proposed. Retention of water on that and on the Broward County area at times of extended precipitation has been planned herein, to relieve the lower reaches of Hillsboro and North New River Canals in times of stress for
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 109 drainage service to agricultural lands above. The stored water, except the portion evaporated directly or used by plants, would be available subsequently for irrigation supply to coastal lands. It is possible that, if Fort Lauderdale's municipal water supply is threatened either by depletion or by salt intrusion from the ocean, water stored in the Broward County area may be useful in preventing or delaying deterioration. Canal A is planned to discharge into the Broward County area. To hold water on this area and protect the lands on the east against overflow, construction of Holloway Dike has been planned along range line 40/41 from North New River Canal to Hillsboro Canal. The protected lands to the east would find drainage outlet through Cypress Creek Canal, and through other canals which empty into Middle and New Rivers and into North New River Canal below the lock at Davie. Work on this dike was under way early in 1947. Water stored upon the Dade-Broward counties area doubtless would be helpful, by seeping through the very permeable rock and raising the ground water table, in augmenting the water supply and combating salt intrustion both in Miami's well field and in the agricultural lands around Homestead and Florida City. Definite supply to this area has not been planned, but any flow in the middle section of Miami Canal would enter it and so would a large part of the water spilled westward from North New River Canal at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend. An appreciable part of the discharge from Sand Prairie Canal, Canal C, and Canal B doubtless would find its way into the area by overland flow and seepage through the subsurface rock. Outlet structures should be provided to permit and control flow from these water-conservation areas when extended periods of extraordinary precipitation might overtax the safe storage capacity of the reservoirs or when the stored water is needed for irrigation. The outlet structure for the Palm Beach County area would be placed in the north levee of Hillsboro Canal somewhere east of Elbow Bend. The control for the Broward County area would be located in the north levee of North New River Canal, near Holloway Dike. It may be found expedient to control discharge from the Dade-Broward counties area by several structures, all discharging through the embankment of U. S. Highway 94 at low places west of State Road 27. West Palm Beach Canal Area.-The area to be served by West
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110 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Palm Beach Canal comprises the muck and peat soils on. both sides of it between Canal Point and Twenty-Mile Bend and along the east 9 miles of Cross Canal, and a band of sandy lands 5 to 8 miles wide through the coastal ridge. Areas of 38 square miles south of Cross Canal and 16 square miles on the north are expected to be drained through that canal into the West Palm Beach. A control in West Palm Beach Canal about 10 miles east of Lake Okeechobee, between Laterals A and B, will divert the flow from 52 square miles into the lake during periods of heavy or protracted runoff, or will permit flow oceanward when that is desired. A control near Twenty-Mile Bend will regulate flow of irrigation water from West Palm Beach Canal into Cross Canal. Another control east of Allapattah Canal will prevent overdrainage of lands west of it; will divert water to Loxahatchee Canal for irrigating tributary lands and for augmenting the West Palm Beach water supply, and will prevent waste of water into Lake Worth as now occurs because of low canal stages required for drainage of lands near West Palm Beach lock. To protect bordering lands against flood elevations in West Palm Beach Canal, a levee will be needed along the north bank from the lake to Cross Canal and along the south bank from Cross Canal eastward about 5 miles. A levee along the north side of Cross Canal also is planned. State Roads 716 and 80 will protect the low lands on the. other sides of these canals. A control at the bend in Cross Canal will mark the separation of areas between West Palm Beach and Hillsboro Canals. It will be operated to permit flow in either direction as desired. The peat and muck lands north of West Palm Beach Canal are to be protected against surface flow from the sand area to the northeast by the proposed Allapattah Levee and Canal which will extend from St. Lucie Canal near Port Mayaca to West Palm Beach Canal east of State Road No. 7. Allapattah Levee is of primary importance in development of the muck lands; Allapattah Canal is important to the sand lands because it will furnish outlet for the flood waters that otherwise would be impounded by the levee. Northwest of Twenty-Mile Bend the levee will follow approximately the boundary between the peat and the sand; east of the Bend it will parallel West Palm Beach Canal at a distance of 4 miles. The levee is planned with a top width of 24 feet, that it may be used as a highway. A control
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 111 about 10 miles from the north end of the canal, in the vicinity of Big Mound, will divide the flow between St. Lucie and West Palm Beach Canals in times of heavy runoff. It will have gates to pass irrigation flow from the St. Lucie. To lessen the demand of Allapattah Canal upon the capacity of West Palm Beach Canal, the new Hungryland Canal is planned, to discharge into Loxahatchee River near Jupiter about 5 miles beyond Everglades Drainage District boundary. A canal is proposed also in Loxahatchee Marsh to drain that area into Hungryland Canal and to bring irrigation water from Allapattah Canal. A levee along this Loxahatchee Canal would prevent overflow upon lands to the eastward. A water control is planned at each end of this canal, and one in the Hungryland just below Loxahatchee Canal. This arrangement of canals and controls will provide irrigation for lands in the Marsh and for a limited area on Hungryland Canal, and will go far toward solving the problem of maintaining an adequate water supply for West Palm,Beach. Sand Cut Area.-About 32 square miles of muck and peat soils north of the area tributary to West Palm Beach Canal will be drained directly into Lake Okeechobee by 2 new canals, Upper Sand Cut and Lower Sand Cut. This area would be protected against surface flow from the northeast by the Allapattah Levee and Canal, already described. A pumping plant would be required at the outlet of each of these ditches, for drainage and for irrigation. Hillsboro Canal Area.-The area to be drained by Hillsboro Canal includes that tributary to Cross Canal west of the bend and that tributary to Bolles Canal east of a control to be constructed approximately 51/4 miles west of the Hillsboro. About 47 square miles, mostly north of Cross and upper Hillsboro Canals, will be drained through the latter into Lake Okeechobee when flow southeastward is not desired. A pumping plant will be required near the lake (possibly as far away as the lock at Belle Glade), for drainage and for irrigation. One water-control structure will be required between Cross and Bolles Canals, and another just below the Bolles, to manage the flow. Levees will be necessary on both sides of the canal, except where the embankment of Road No. 80 is maintained to serve as such. About 88 square miles of agricultural peat soil, including that along the eastern end of Bolles Canal, are tributary to Hillsboro
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112 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Canal between Cross Canal and 5 miles above Elbow Bend. Channel enlargement and levees are planned to carry the runoff from this area, and from 50 square miles of mostly sandy soils in Ranges 41 and 42, to Hillsboro River and the ocean. Through the agricultural areas the levees will confine the flood flows to the canal. Through the non-agricultural area the levees will serve a double purpose in holding water in the conservation area and in keeping it out of the canal while the capacity is needed for draining the cultivated lands. A control in the eastern part of Range 39 is planned to prevent over-drainage of agricultural lands above in times of low canal flow. North New River Canal Area.-About 44 square miles are to be drained by North New River Canal into Lake Okeechobee, through the outlet of Hillsboro Canal. About half of this area will contribute through Bolles Canal between the control previously mentioned, to be built 3½ miles to the east, and another proposed about 31/2 miles west of North New River Canal. A control would be provided just south of the Bolles, and a pumping plant for drainage and irragation will be needed at the junction with the Hillsboro or elsewhere north of the lock at South Bay. Channel improvement will be necessary in this section of the canal, and levees on both sides except where Road No. 25 provides the needed embankment. The agricultural lands to be drained by North New River Canal south of Bolles Canal comprise approximately 86 square miles of peat soil within 2 to 3 miles on either side, down to the Palm Beach-Broward County line. These lands will be irrigated by water from Lake Okeechobee. The agricultural lands on the south in Ranges 40 and 41 will be irrigated from North New River Canal, although they are drained into South New River Canal. A levee is planned along the east and north side of North New River Canal from Bolles Canal to the Broward County line to prevent overflow from the canal. Repair of the existing spoil bank from the county line to the lock at Davie will serve a like purpose above Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, and will keep out surface flow from Broward County water-conservation area. The embankment of Road No. 25 provides the levee required on the west and south side of the canal. A new control structure planned at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend will offer less obstruction than the existing structure to flow in the canal, and will have greater capacity than the present spillways
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 113 for diverting canal flow upon. the non-agricultural lands on either side. It thus will increase the supply to the water-conservation areas and reduce waste into the ocean. Miami Canal Area.-The proposed plan would drain 77 square miles to Lake Okeechobee through Miami Canal. Most of this drainage would come from Bolles Canal, for which a westward extension is proposed to serve a considerable area of organic soils in Hendry County. Levees will be necessary on both sides of the Miami between Bolles Canal and the Lake, to maintain a flow line high enough to obtain gravity outlet when the lake is at high stage. A proposed control at the intersection of the Miami and the Bolles will hold high water level in the channel northward when necessary and pass irrigation water from the lake eastward and westward in the Bolles and southward in the Miami as desired. When the lands to be served by proposed Canals B and C are largely developed a pumping plant near Lake Okeechobee may be required to provide the necessary quantity of irrigation water for them and the lands tributary to Bolles Canal. Protection of the lands in Hendry County against surface flow from the higher, sandy area to the west is to be obtained by an intercepting canal and levee, designated herein Sand Prairie, that would be located approximately along the boundary between the organic and the sandy soils. This ditch would discharge upon the ground surface in the area of non-agricultural soils in the northwest corner of Broward County. The water not evaporated or used by plants would find its way into the Dade-Broward counties water-conservation area. To lessen the load upon Sand Prairie Canal, construction of Devil's Garden Canal farther west is proposed. It would discharge into Caloosahatchee River below Lake Hicpochee. New Areas South of Bolles Canal.-Between the areas in Palm Beach County to be drained oceanward by Hillsboro and North New River Canals are about 103 square miles of agricultural soils. To serve this land, new Canal A is proposed. It would discharge upon the ground surface just below the Palm BeachBroward County line. Levees would be required through the length of the agricultural soils, to carry the flow line above ground surface. Canal A would be connected to the Bolles .at the control dividing drainage flow between the Hillsboro and the North New River. Irrigation water for this area would be obtained through the Bolles from Hillsboro or North New River
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114 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Canal, or both, as circumstances might determine. When this area has been fully developed, a control and pumping plant may be needed at the lower boundary of the agricultural land. West of North New River Canal 2 new drainage canals are proposed to serve agricultural soils in Palm Beach and Hendry counties. Canal B would drain 90 square miles adjacent to the North New River Canal area and discharge upon the surface of non-agricultural soils in Broward County about midway between North New River and Miami Canals. Levees will be needed on both sides of Canal B, for maximum drainage flow must be carried 1 to 2 feet above the ground surface. This canal will be connected to Bolles Canal at the control between North New River and Miami Canals, to obtain water for irrigation. Complete development of the tributary lands may require for this canal, also, a control and pumping plant at the lower boundary. Canal C is proposed to serve approximately 130 square miles of agricultural soils on both sides of the Palm Beach-Hendry County line. Canal C is planned to discharge with Sand Prairie Canal upon non-agricultural lands in northwest Broward County. Irrigation water for the tributary lands will be obtained from Miami Canal at its intersection with Bolles Canal. This will necessitate enlargement of the Miami for 2 miles south of the Bolles. As with Canals B and,A, levees on both sides will be required through the agricultural area and a drainage pumping plant and control structure for irrigation may ultimately be needed at the southern boundary of the land to be cultivated. South New River Canal Area.-The area to be drained by South New River Canal and Dania Cut-off is approximately 76 square miles, lying between North New River Canal and about 11/4 miles south of South New River Canal, and extending eastward from State Road 25 to the boundary of Everglades Drainage District. Road 25 maintained as a continuous embankment to its established grade will provide protection against surface flow from the west for all this area and the lands on the south to the Miami Canal. The road is constructed over very permeable rock (Miami oolite) and there may be considerable seepage through the rock under the road during periods of high water. If the seepage proves excessive it will be necessary to construct a ditch along the east side of the road to intercept the water. A dam should
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 115 be constructed in South New River Canal at Road 25 to replace the existing dam a half-mile east. The channel of South New River Canal will have capacity for the runoff from the tributary lands if it is cleared of water hyacinth and other vegetal growth and if the constrictions at Fifteen-Mile Dike and Flamingo Road (Snake Creek Canal) are removed. However, better drainage of these lands cannot be obtained unless flow from North New River Canal into South New River is controlled or prevented. The improvements recommended for South New River Canal consist of a dam-and-watercontrol structure across South Branch of New River between the North and South New River Canals; enlargement of the spillway and bridge openings at Fifteen-Mile Dike and Flamingo Road; and a dam at State Road 25. The construction of a ditch along the east side of Road 25 is not recommended until its need has been demonstrated after the other proposed improvements have been constructed. Cypress Creek Canal Area.-East of the Broward County Water Conservation Area, between the Hillsboro Canal area and the North New River Canal area, are about 150 square miles that is largely agricultural land, although an appreciable portion is urban or residential. About 65 square miles of this is or might be drained by Cypress Creek Canal into the Intracoastal Waterway near Pompano. The southern portion can be drained through the Holloway canals that discharge into North New River Canal, New River, and Middle River. It is proposed to enlarge and improve Cypress Creek Canal throughout its length from Holloway Dike to the Intracoastal Waterway, about 121/2 miles. A control will be required near the Florida East Coast Railroad to prevent overdrainage of the lands westward thereof and to prevent waste of irrigation water which will be obtained from Hillsboro Canal through the borrow pit of Holloway Dike or through the ditch along Road 7. A control would be built in the borrow pit just south of Cypress Creek Canal to manage the irrigation flow. For the southern part of the area improvement of an additional 121/2 miles of Holloway canals is planned. These canals discharge into North Branch of New River and into North New River Canal just below the lock at Davie. Two control structures are proposed, 1 near the outlet of each ditch. Irrigation water for the tributary lands presumably would be obtained by pumping from North New River Canal.
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116 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Eastern Dade County.-It is recommended that the proposed highway located as an extension of Krome Avenue along range line 38/39 be constructed to serve as a levee along the east line of the Dade County Water Conservation Area, to protect the land to the east against overflow by high water. The road would follow the range line from the Tamiami Trail to the northwest corner of Section 31, Township 52, Range 39, and thence run northeastward to Road 25 near the center of section 10 of the same township. It would be joined to the embankments of the Tamiami Trail and State Road 25, and control structures would be installed where the road crosses Miami and Tamiami Canals to prevent or permit flow into the protected area to the east. To prevent inflow of salt water through the drainage canals to the lands near Miami and southward, and to maintain a high ground-water table to counter-balance the pressure of ocean level, it is recommended that water-control structures be built in all canals discharging into Biscayne Bay or Card Sound. These controls are to be placed as near as practicable to the outlets of the canals. They will be designed to hold water on the upstream side during dry periods as high as drainage requirements will permit, and to have ample capacity for passing the flood flows during wet seasons. The largest of these control structures is to be built in Miami River just below where Tamiami Canal enters. It thus will control water stages above in both these waterways, and keep salt water out. It is to include 2 locks, of different sizes, for passing large and small water craft. The controls in Biscayne, Little River, and Coral Gables Canals also are to include locks of moderate size. In South Fork Miami River and in Mowry.Canal, head-water control and salinity control cannot be combined economically. Therefore 2 structures will be required in each of these waterways, one near the coast and the other near the higher tributary lands. Salinity controls are planned also in Snake Creek, Snapper Creek, Goulds, Military, North, Florida City, and Model Land Canals. Dade County Conservation District is engaged in carrying out the above recommendations for this area. Construction Estimates.-In considering the figures that follow for work and cost of the proposed water-control improvements, it should be borne in mind that they are based upon meager physical data, especially in the areas where new works are to be located. Also, there are no data for comparable work and
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 117 conditions to show prices for labor and materials if the work were to be done immediately, and considerable variation in such prices is likely as labor and materials become more readily available. It is believed, however, that the estimates are sufficient for determining the practicability and economy of the work proposed. Basis of Hydraulic Calculations.-The runoff rates used in designing the drains are based upon the formula developed by the Engineering Board of Review. (See page 102.) The capacities of canals and ditches proposed herein have been calculated with the Manning formula for flow in open channels: 1.486 2/3 1/ Q = -AR S n in which, Q = flow in cubic feet per second (c.f.s.), A = cross-section of stream in square feet, R = hydraulic radius in feet, S = slope of water surface in feet per foot, and n = coefficient of retardance. The value used for "n" was generally 0.030, which for the channel sections and water slopes planned is practically equivalent to 0.035 in the Kutter formula. For unusually rough and irregular channels, 0.035 was used. Ditch and Levee Specifications.-Side slopes for ditches and canals have been estimated as 1 to 1 (1 horizonal to 1 vertical) in rock and in peat excavation, and 2 to 1 in sand. Levees of peat become dry and are subject to injury or destruction by fires. Therefore rock levees are planned except in. the areas of sandy soils. The rock is to be taken from the canal section. To prevent seepage through the rock levees it is proposed that peat soil be mixed with the rock in the ratio of 2 to 3. The earthwork computations herein provide for rock equal to three-fourths the required levee section and peat equal to onehalf that section. Side slopes of 1/ to 1 have been used for rock levees, 3 to 1 for sand levees. Top width of the levees is to be 12 feet, except as stated in the estimates that follow. This is wide enough to serve as a farm road. In a few cases a 24-foot top width has been designed to serve as a highway. The rock embankment will compact the peat soil under it, and drainage will cause subsidence under the levee as elsewhere.
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118 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Therefore, the levees in areas of organic soil are designed to be built to 4 feet above the maximum water elevation expected, to allow for 2 feet subsidence of the foundation. To reduce seepage under the embankment a puddle trench should be excavated down to rock along the center line of the levee site, to be refilled with the excavated peat before the rock fill is placed. Water-Conservation Areas.-The outlet structures for these areas may be pipe or box culverts or spillway structures, but provided with means of regulating the flow through or over them. The outlet for the Palm Beach County area and that for the Broward County area should each have capacity to pass at least 1,000 cubic feet per second under a static head of 2.0 feet. The outlet or outlets for the Dade-Broward counties area should have capacity to pass at least 2,500 cubic feet per second under 0.5 foot of head. The cost of these is estimated as follows: Outlet controlsPalm Beach County area .......-...-... ..-............--...$ 20,000 Broward County area ........-..-......... ...........-..... 20,000 Dade-Broward County area .............. ............. 75,000 $115,000 Incidentals .. ---. -----------......--------.. .12,000 $127,000 West Palm Beach Canal.-The levee along the north side of West Palm Beach Canal has been designed with a Uniform top elevation of 21.0 m.s.l. from.Lake Okeechobee to the proposed control at about the north line of township 43, a distance of approximately 10.3 miles. The material should be excavated from the existing channel, which would give this section of the canal ample capacity for the drainage and irrigation water it would be required to carry. Subsidence of the peat foundation may sometime make it necessary to raise State Road 716 to keep it effective in protecting agricultural lands south of the canal. From the above proposed control to Cross Canal, the channel of West Palm Beach Canal without enlargement would be sufficient for drainage and irrigation with a flow line about 2 feet above present ground surface. Computed high-water stages are: for drainage, 16.0 at the control and 14.3 at Cross Canal; for irrigation, 15.0 at the control and 14.7 at the Cross Canal. The levee along the north side of the canal should be constructed and Road 716 on the south side. be maintained with top elevations
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 119 20.0 at the control and 18.3 at Cross Canal. This levee should be connected with the embankment of State Road 80 running eastward from Twenty-Mile Bend. The excavation of material to build the levee will give the canal increased capacity. Between Cross Canal and the lock at West Palm Beach a large amount of sand will need to be excavated, as well as considerable rock, other hard material, and peat, to obtain a channel of capacity sufficient for draining the lands tributary below the above-mentioned control. The areas to be drained, including 54 square miles on Cross Canal, are 135 square miles at TwentyMile Bend, 229 square miles at Range Line Canal, 324 square miles at the junction with Allapattah Canal, 345 square miles at State Road 809, and 370 square miles at the lock. The levee to be built on the south side of West Palm Beach Canal would be connected with the embankment of State Road 80 running westward from Twenty-Mile Bend. The required enlargement of the canal will furnish material for this levee. Maximum water stages in this reach are estimated at 14.3 at Cross Canal, 11.3 at the junction with Allapattah Canal, and 8.5 at the lock. The 2 controls in this reach must be of such construction that when fully open they will offer minimum obstruction to the flow in the canal. The coastal lock-and-spillway at West Palm Beach has sufficient capacity to pass the estimated flood flow of 5,000 c.f.s. at elevation of 8.5 because of the fall available between the structure and Lake Worth. It is possible that when the tributary lands have been well developed a pumping plant will be needed at Lake Okeechobee to lift irrigation water into the canal during low lake stages. And as the muck land subsides through the years a pumping plant may be required there for drainage during high lake stages. The cost of such a pumping plant is not included in the estimates here. The improvements planned for West Palm Beach Canal are estimated to cost as follows: From Lake Okeechobee to first controlLevee embankment, 220,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .............$ 165,000 120,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ... ...........-...--...--.12,000 From first control to Cross CanalLevee embankment, 160,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ............-.. 120,000 100,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ...................................... 10,000 From Cross Canal to lock at West Palm BeachChannel enlargement, 5,800,000 cu. yds. of sand @ $0.20 ...... 1,160,000 260,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .---..---..........------.--.. 195,000 190,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............ ..................... 19,000
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120 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Control structuresAbove Lateral A ..................... .................. 30,000 Below Cross Canal ............................. ........... ........ 45,000 Below Allapattah Ditch .....................................70,000 Repairs to lock at West Palm Beach ............................... 20,000 $1,846,000 Incidentals ....................................................... 184,000 $2,030,000 Allapattah Levee and Canal.-It is important that this levee be constructed of mineral soil; therefore it should be located on the edge of the sandy lands. The canal is the borrow pit for the levee, which should be made a continuous channel to carry away the surface flow intercepted by the levee. The canal has been designed of capacity equal to the computed runoff, which will require excavation greater than needed to build the levee. The total area to be tributary to Allapattah Canal is 120 square miles. The control in the vicinity of Big Mound, approximately "on range line 38/39, will cause the water from 25 square miles to be drained northwestward into St. Lucie Canal when that is desired, while the water from the other 95 square miles is drained southeastward into West Palm Beach Canal. The control gates will pass water in either direction. The levee has been designed with a top width of 24 feet and 3 to 1 side slopes to serve as a roadway. The top elevation should be 26.0 feet from St. Lucie Canal to the control structure, and should have a uniform grade from 26.0 feet at the control to 23.0 feet at Loxahatchee Canal. From the Loxahatchee to the West Palm Beach there should be levees on both sides of Allapattah Canal, but only one need be 24 feet in top width. In addition to the control near Big Mound, a control will be required in Allapattah Canal at the junction with the St. Lucie, that will discharge 600 c.f.s. with flow line at elevations of 19.0 on the south side and 16.0 on the north. It should be designed to hold a stage of 20.0 on the south side. A third control will be required in this canal, at its junction with West Palm Beach Canal, that will discharge 1,500 c.f.s. with flow lines at 13.0 feet on the north and 11.0 feet on the south. It should be constructed to hold a stage of 16.5 feet on the north side. These proposed controls will make a limited supply of irrigation water available to the sand lands tributary to the canal; but steps will have to be taken to reduce seepage losses from the canal if any large area of sand land is to be irrigated, and addi-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 121 tional structures and pumping plants will have to be installed. No estimate of the cost of this work has been made. The cost of Allapattah. Levee and Canal is estimated as follows: Ditch excavation deposited as levee5,000,000 cubic yards of unclassified material @ $0.20 ...-.......$1,000,000 Control structuresAt St. Lucie Canal ........--............---------------.. 25,000 Near Big Mound --...------.................. --....... ----15,000 At West Palm Beach Canal .........--------------------. .35,000 $1,075,000 Incidentals ..............----....------------------. 125,000 Total estimated cost ................. .........--....---...----$1,200,000 Hungryland Canal.-This canal starts at the northwest corner of Section 2, Township 42, Range 39; runs east on the township line for 10 miles and thence northeasterly about 51/2 miles to the boundary of Everglades Drainage District at the northeast corner of Section 19, Township 41, Range 42; and then extends north and northeasterly about 5 miles to its outlet in Loxahatchee River. It will give outlet drainage to 82 square miles of sandy lands in addition to the area drained by Loxahatchee Canal. "A part of this area otherwise would drain to Allapattah Canal. "A control should be installed at the boundary of Everglades Drainage District, below Loxahatchee Canal, that will permit a discharge of 2,000 c.f.s. at a flow-line elevation of 14.5 feet during flood discharge. The control should be able to hold a water stage of 16.0 feet on the District side, to provide water for a limited amount of irrigation along the lower reaches of the canal. The estimated cost of Hungryland Canal is as follows: Channel excavation3,000,000 cu. yds. of unclassified material @ $0.20 ..................$600,000 Control structureAt boundary of Everglades Drainage District ...---...................... 20,000 $620,000 Incidentals .......-........---......---------.. -60,000 $680,000 Loxahatchee Canal.-This canal, 11.2 miles long, will discharge the runoff from 62 square miles of peaty and sandy soils into Hungryland Canal and supply the Marsh area with irrigation water from West Palm Beach Canal. The levee along the east
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122 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station bank should be formed by placing the material excavated from the canal in a continuous embankment, with the top at a uniform elevation of 23.0. This material and that excavated in digging the lower 4 miles of Allapattah Canal will be sufficient to make a highway from West Palm Beach Canal to the Everglades Drainage District boundary. Openings through the levee, required for drainage of lands to the east, should be protected by structures that will keep canal flood waters from overflowing upon those lands and will prevent erosion of the canal bank and channel. The control at the south end of this canal should have capacity to admit 600 c.f.s. at flow-line elevation 16.0 and be able to maintain a water elevation of 17.5 in the canal. The control at the north end should have capacity to handle a flow of 1,200 c.f.s. at elevation 14.5 and be able to maintain an elevation of 15.0 in the canal during periods of low flow. The estimated costs are as follows: SCanal excavation1,800,000 cu. yds. of unclassified materials @ $0.20 ................$360,000 2 controls @ $20,000 each ........................ ... ................ 40,000 $400,000 Incidentals ............... .... .. .. ....... .. ........ ......... 40,000 $440,000 Sand Cut Canals.-Upper Sand Cut Canal is planned to provide drainage and irrigation to 22 square miles of land with elevations ranging from 17 to 20 feet, and Lower Sand Cut Canal to 10 square miles lying between the 14and 17-foot contours. Upper Sand Cut Canal is to have its outlet in the existing quintuple culvert in the Lake Okeechobee levee located in Section 11, Township 41 S., Range 37 E. From there it extends east for 2 miles; thence southeasterly throughout the length of the area to the southwest corner of Section 35, Township 41 S, Range 38 E.; thence east 1 mile. It is designed to discharge a run-off of 535 c.f.s. with a hydraulic slope, produced by pumping, of elevation 15.5 at the pumping plant and 17.5 at the southeast corner of Section 35. The estimated cost of the canal is as follows: Canal excavation80,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .......... ............. -....$60,000 400,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ...................................----40,000
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 123 Pumping plant250,000 gallons per minute capacity ...-..--.....-.... ..--...........-----150,000 $250,000 Incidentals .........-.....-.. ...............-.--------25,000 $275,000 Lower Sand Cut Canal is to have its outlet in the existing culvert in the Lake Okeechobee levee located between Sections 14 and 23, Township 41 S., Range 37 E.; from whence it extends east 1 mile; thence southeast, following the old State Dike borrow ditch to the south line of Section 33, Township 41, Range 38; thence east to the southeast corner of that section. The canal is designed to carry 315 c.f.s with a hydraulic grade, produced by pumping, of elevation 14.0 at the outlet and 15.5 at the upper end. The estimated cost of the canal is as follows: Canal excavation55,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ............... --........... --........ ......$ 41,250 200,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .----................................... ..... 20,000 Pumping plant150,000 gallons per minute capacity ............. ... .............. .. 100,000 $161,250 Incidentals .................... ............ .... ........-----... -18,750 $180,000 Hillsboro Canal.-The levees required on Hillsboro Canal north of Cross Canal, on both sides from the lake to Belle Glade and on the north side from Belle Glade to Cross Canal, should be constructed with a top elevation of 20.0. The drainage flow line is computed as of elevation 12.0 at the lake and 14.5 at Cross Canal; the irrigation flow line as 17.0 at the lake and 15.0 at Cross Canal. The lock sill at Chosen must be lowered or the entire structure be removed. The pumping plant should have a capacity of about 450,000 gallons per minute and be arranged to pump from the lake for irrigation as well as toward the lake for drainage. The drainage flow line south of Cross Canal is planned to have elevation 15.0 at Bolles Canal and 5.8 at the lock at Deerfield Beach. From Cross Canal to Range Line Canal the spoil excavated in enlarging Hillsboro Canal will be deposited in continuous levees on either side. The top of the levees should be of uniform grade
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124 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station from elevation 20.0 at Cross Canal to elevation 17.0 at Range Line Canal. Required canal capacity will necessitate sufficient excavation, through most of the distance, to construct levees with 24-foot top width. Above Shawano the existing road will reduce the excavation required for levees. A few controlled outlets should be provided in the north levee to permit drainage of the Hillsboro Marsh when desired. The cost of the improvements proposed for the Hillsboro Canal is estimated as follows: Levees between Lake and Cross Canal135,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ........ ...................... ..$ 101,000 90,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .................... ............ 9,000 Earthwork below Cross Canal1,590,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................ ..................... 1,193,000 230,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............... .......................... 23,000 1,123,000 cu. yds. sand and spoil @ $0.30 .......................... 337,000 Pumping at Lake Okeeehobee (450,000 g.p.m.) ----..-----..........--400,000 Water-control structures (3) ....................................--.90,000 Outlets through levee, for Hillsboro Marsh ..:............................. 30,000 $2,183,000 Incidentals ....... -......... ............................. 217,000 $2,400,000 North New River Canal.-The levees to be built along North New River Canal north of Bolles Canal should be built to top elevation 19.0. The drainage flow-line elevations in this reach have been calculated at 12.0 at Bolles Canal and 11.4 at the Hillsboro, the irrigation 'levations at 15.8 at the Hillsboro and 15.0 at the Bolles. The pumping plant should have a capacity of at least 450,000 gallons per minute. From Hillsboro Canal to the lock at South Bay, North New River Canal should be deepened to elevation 2.6 which is the elevation of the sill of the hurricane gate in the lake levee. A stretch of high canal bottom about 2 miles south of the lock likewise should be deepened to elevation 2.6. The rock to be excavated north of the lock will be plenty for building all of the levees north of the proposed control below Bolles Canal, and hauling will be cheaper than additional excavation south of the lock. From Bolles Canal to the lock at Davie, North New River Canal should be cleared of all obstructions and provided with levees that will hold a flow line 1 to 2 feet higher than present ground surface through a large part of the distance. Maximum water elevations have been computed as 15.0 at the control south of Bolles Canal, 12.1 at the Palm Beach-Broward County line,
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 125 9.7 at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, and 5.3 at Davie lock, with the control at Bolles Canal closed and the controls at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, Holloway Dike, and Davie lock fully open. The levee on the east side should have top elevations of 19.0 at Bolles Canal, 17.0 at the county line, and 15.0 at Holloway Dike. It should be built according to specifications given for rock levees from the Bolles to the county line. From the county line to the coastal ridge the present spoil bank will serve as a levee with some building up of the smaller cross-sections. Roads 25 and 84 will serve as a levee on the west and south side of the canal. The existing control at Twenty-Six-Mile Bend should be replaced by a new structure that will offer minimum obstruction to flow and have greater capacity than the present spillways for diverting water to the non-agricultural lands on either side of the canal. The remains of old dams in the canal should be removed. The existing control at Holloway Dike will hold water for irrigation and minimize over-drainage of lands to the west in times of low flow. The cost of improvements planned for the North New River Canal is estimated as follows: Pumping plant at Hillsboro Canal (450,000 g.p.m.) ......................$ 400,000 Excavation and levees north of Bolles Canal190,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................................. ......... 142,000 100,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .................. ................. 10,000 65,000 cu. yds. of rock, hauled @ $0.35 ................................ 23,000 Excavation and levee, Bolles Canal to county line360,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................ ............ .... 270,000 240,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ........... .................. 24,000 Making levee of spoil bank from county line to Holloway Dike .... 50,000 ControlAt Bolles Canal .......................................................................... 30,000 At Twenty-Six-Mile Bend, including spillways ....................... 50,000 Repairs to lock structure at Davie ................................... 21,000 $1,020,000 Incidentals .................---.... .......... .............105,000 $1,125,000 Miami Canal.-The levees to be built on both sides of Miami Canal from Bolles Canal to Lake Okeechobee should have a top elevation of 21.0. The bottom of the canal for the entire distance should be dug to elevation 2.6. The computed flow elevation is 15.6 at the lake and 16.5 at Bolles Canal. The control at the Bolles should be constructed to prevent drainage southward, or to pass irrigation water east and west into Bolles Canal and south to Canal C, as desired.
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126 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Miami Canal for 2 miles southward from the Bolles is planned to be a part of Canal C when that drain is constructed, and the proposed improvement there is included in the estimates for Canal C. The long central portion of the Miami Canal, for 50 miles north of its intersection with Krome Avenue Extension, is not used in the water-control plan suggested for the upper Everglades. Below Krome Avenue Extension, Miami Canal has sufficient capacity to its outlet to drain the area tributary to it, pro-' vided the channel is kept clear of debris and vegetal growth. The cost of the improvements proposed for Miami Canal is estimated as follows: Excavation and levees, Lake Okeechobee to Bolles Canal360,000 cu. yds. of. rock @ $0.75 ................ ................. .. $270,000 300,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ..---.....-----..... ..... .............. 30,000 Control at Bolles Canal ......... ..................-.... -....... 40,000 $340,000 Incidentals ...... --......... ......... ...-----.-35,000 $375,000 Cross Canal.-Cross Canal provides a drainage outlet for the area along its course and furnishes a means of delivering irrigation water in either direction between West Palm Beacl Canal and Hillsboro Canal. The old dam near West Palm Beach Canal would be removed. High-water flow both for drainage and for irrigation has been computed as elevation 14.5 at each end. The proposed control at about the west line of Section 3, Township 44, Range 38, will permit regulation of the flow in either direction. A rock levee suitable for a secondary road (12-foot top width) should be constructed along the north, side of the canal, with a top elevation of 20.0 from Hillsboro Canal to the control, and with a uniform grade from the control to 18.5 at West Palm Beach Canal. The embankment of Road 80 will serve as a levee along the south side of the canal. The estimated cost of the proposed improvements is as follows: Levee embankment (to be excavated from canal)-220,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .-... .............. -... ... ... ...$175,000 150,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .................... .. ... ............. .15,000 Control structure ........................... ..... ....-.... .. .20,000 $200,000 Incidentals ....... ----..............-.. --... .. ........ .... --........ 20,000 $220,000
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 127 Bolles Canal.-The proposed controls in Bolles Canal are to be at about the west line of section 28, Township 44, Range 37, and the west line of Section 32, Township 44, Range 36. They would be arranged to permit flow of water in either direction, as desired, and to divert water.for irrigation southward into the new Canals A and B. The old culvert at Hillsboro Canal would be removed. Bolles Canal should be deepened to a uniform bottom elevation of 2.6 from Hillsboro Canal to Miami Canal, and widened sufficiently to provide the required capacity. Maximum water elevations are computed as 16.5 at Miami Canal and 16.8 at the west control. Between the west control and the east control, maximum water elevations for drainage are computed as 13.0 at the controls and 12.0 at North New River Canal Between the east control and Hillsboro Canal the computed maximum elevations are 15.5 at the control and 15.0 at Hillsboro Canal. The excavation required in the canal will be sufficient to build a levee on each side, with top elevations of 19.0 from Hillsboro Canal to the west control and 21.0 from there to Miami Canal. West of Miami Canal, the Bolles is to be enlarged and deepened to the southwest corner of Section 31, Township 44, Range 35, where it now ends, and extended about 51/4 miles as shown on the water-control map to the northwest corner of section 22, Range 44, Township 34. Maximum water elevations are computed as 16.5 at Miami Canal and 17.8 at the end of the ditch as extended. A levee of 12-foot top width should be constructed on each side of the ditch, to elevation 21.0 at Miami Canal and 21.8 at the upper end. The cost of the work recommended is estimated as follows: East of Miami Canal Excavation625,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 -............... .............-$468,750 325,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ......... .......--.... 32,500 Control (2 @ $40,000 each) ................................. 80,000 $581,250 West of Miami Canal Canal excavation235,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ................-........--$176,250 425,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............. ........ 42,500 218,750 218,750 $800,000 Incidentals .............. ............. ... ......... .80,000 Total .................... ....................-....$880,000
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128 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Canal A.-Canal A would be 25 miles long from Bolles Canal to where it discharges upon the surface of non-agricultural land in Section 26, Township 47, Range 39, just below the Palm BeachBroward County line. Rock levees would be required on both sides of this canal for 22 miles to the lower boundary of the agricultural soils. Muck should be excavated to the underlying rock for a distance of at least 21/½ miles beyond the end of the levees. Excess of costly rock excavation has been avoided by designing a wide, shallow channel that cuts into the rock only at the sides and for only as much material as is needed for the levees. The ditch and levees have been designed for a flow line of elevation 17.0 at Bolles Canal and 15.0 at the end of the levees. The cost of Canal A is estimated as follows: Excavation for canal and levees800,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .......................................... 600,000 3,900,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ................-...........-........... .390,000 Control at Bolles Canal-included in cost of that canal $ 990,000 Incidentals .......... --........................... .110,000 $1,100,000 Canal B.-Canal B is planned about 221/2 miles long. It would extend southward from the west control in Bolles Canal for about 5 miles, thence southeasterly parallel to North New River Canal to the southeast corner of Section 8, Township 47, Range 37, thence south for about 3 miles to beyond the Palm BeachBroward County line. Rock levees would be required on both sides, with top elevation 21.0 at the Bolles and 19.0 at 1 mile north of the county line, where the levees would end. The canal would be continued for another 2 miles, excavating only the peat on top of the rock, to afford opportunity for the water to discharge over ground surface along the canal. The canal has been designed with the flow line at elevation 17.0 at Bolles Canal and 15.0 at the end of the levees 1 mile north of the county line. Excess of costly rock excavation has been avoided by designing a wide shallow channel that cuts into the rock only at the sides for enough material to build the levees. The estimate of cost of Canal B is as follows: Excavation for canal and levees750,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .................. ..........................$562,500 3,200,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 ............................ ........... ... 320,000
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 129 Control at Bolles Canal-included in cost of that canal "$882,500 Incidentals ........... ...... .. ......... --------. .... 92,500 $975,000 Canal C.-Canal C would start at the control in Miami Canal at its intersection with Bolles Canal and extend down the course of Miami Canal and the old Disston Canal to a point 1 mile east of the west boundary of Palm Beach County, and then south parallel to that county line to about 3 miles south of the Palm Beach-Broward County line. The total length of the canal would be about 221/2 miles. Rock levees on both sides of Canal C would be required from Bolles Canal to the boundary of the agricultural lands, approximately 1 mile north of the Broward County line and 4 miles above the end of the canal. These levees should be constructed with top elevation 20.5 at the Bolles and 18:5 at their lower end. The canal has been designed with flowline elevation 16.5 at the Bolles and 14.5 at the junction with Sand Prairie Canal. To avoid unnecessary excavation of rock, a wide channel is planned that cuts into the rock only at each side for just enough of that material to build the levee. The estimated cost of Canal C is as follows: Excavation for canal and levees600,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 .-...................-------450,000 5,000,000 cu. yds. of peat @ $0.10 .................. .....500,000 Control structure at Bolles Canal-included in estimate for that canal $ 950,000 Incidentals ...... ......-.. ...... ...... ---... .. .100,000 $1,050,000 Sand Prairie Levee and Canal.-Sand Prairie Levee is of primary importance in development of the organic soils along the west edge of the Everglades by protecting them against the runoff from the mineral soils lying to the west. Sand Prairie Canal is important to the sand lands because it will furnish outlet for the flood waters that otherwise would be impounded by the levee. The levee begins at the levee of Sugarland Drainage District at the southwest corner of Section 1, Township 44, Range 33, and from there to the southeast corner of Section 34, Township 47, Range 34, follows approximately the line between the mineral and the organic soils. From the latter point it will extend south-
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130 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station easterly to join Canal C in Section 7, Township 48, Range 35. The total length will be approximately 281/½ miles. This levee must be constructed of mineral soils and the borrow pit must be made a continuous ditch that will carry away the runoff from the sand lands. The area that will drain into Sand Prairie Canal as planned totals 165 square miles. The flow line in the canal has been planned at elevation 21.5 at the upper end and 14.5 at the junction with Canal C. It is not considered practicable to furnish irrigation water for the sand lands under this project, and no estimate is included for doing, that. The cost of Sand Prairie Levee and Canal is estimated as follows: Excavation1,200,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 -................................. $ 900,000 1,600,000 cu. yds. of sand @ $0.20 .......................... ....... 320,000 250,000 cu. yds, of peat @ $0.10 ...... ........... ...... .... ........ .... 25,000 $1,245,000 Incidentals ....... ............... ..... ...... ......... 125,000 $1,370,000 Devils Garden Canal.-Devils Garden Canal is planned to intercept the runoff from about 85 square miles of mineral soils that otherwise would enter the upper reaches of Sand Prairie Canal. The canal starts at the southwest corner of Section 31, Township 45, Range 33, and runs north for about 10 miles and then northwesterly to its outlet in Caloosahatchee River. The total length is 21 miles. All material excavated from the canal should be placed along the east side to form a continuous levee that will prevent overflow in that direction. There will be more than sufficient material to make a highway the full length of the canal. The flow line in the canal has been planned at elevation 26.0 at the upper end and 18.5 at Caloosahatchee River. A control structure will be required at the outlet to prevent excessive erosion of the channel. The cost of Devils Garden Canal and Levee is estimated as follows: Excavation for canal and levee2,100,000 cu. yds. of unclassified material @ $0.20 ................$420,000 Control structure at outlet ................... .... ...... ......30,000 $450,000 Incidentals ... ................................. 50,000 $500,000
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 131 Holloway Dike.-This old embankment should be reinforced and extended to the full distance between Hillsboro and North New River Canals and be built according to, the specifications given for rock levee. It should have a, top. width of 24 feet sloping uniformly from elevation 16.0 at Hillsboro Canal to 15.0 at North New River Canal. All materials for building this levee should be taken from the east side. The borrow pit should be made a continuous channel for drainage and irrigation, and a control built in it south of Cypress Creek Canal to divert irrigation flow into that canal. The estimate of cost, without deducting for the existing levee, is: Excavation250,000 cu. yds. of rock @ $0.75 ............ ... ................. ..... $187,500 120,000 cu. yds. of muck @ $0.10 .............................. ..... 12,000 Control structure-included in estimate for Cypress Creek Canal $199,500 Incidentals .......... ............. ................ 20,500 $220,000 South New River Canal.-The cost of the improvements recommended for this canal is as follows: Dam and water control in South Branch of New River ......................$65,000 Dam at Road 25 .........-.................... ----................ ............. 10,000 Enlargement of spillway and bridge openings, Fifteen-Mile Dike and Flamingo Road .... ........... ....................... 7,000 $82,500 Incidentals ............................. ........... .......... ... 8,500 $91,000 Cypress Creek Canal.-Computations for this canal are based upon maximum flow line elevations of 11.0 at Holloway Dike, 8.0 at State Road 7, and 3.0 at U. S. Highway 1. In the following estimate, deduction has been made for the volume of the existing channel. Excavation-1,000,000 cu. yds. of unclassified material. @ $0.30 ....... ......$300,000 Control structure at FEC RR. ...................-...... .......... 30,000 Control in Holloway Dike borrow pit ................. .... ...... ..... 20,000 $350,000 Incidentals ................ ...................... 35,000 $385,000
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132 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Holloway Canals.-The cost of the improvement of old Holloway Canal and its main branch, in -the southern part of the Cypress Creek Canal area, is estimated as follows: Excavation500,000 cu. yds. of sand @ $0.20 ........ .......... ..-.............. ..$100,000 2 controls @ $15,000 ............................ ---.--............30,000 $130,000 Incidentals ... ......................... .. ........... 15,000 $145,000 Water-Control Structures in Eastern Dade County.-The Krome Avenue extension should have an elevation of not less than 12.0 at the Tamiami Trail and a uniform grade to meet the elevation of Road 25 where they join. The material for building the embankment should all be taken from the east side. A wide berm should be left and the borrow pit should be constructed as a drainage canal with outlets into both the Miami and Tamiami, Canals. The proposed road will be underlain by the exceedingly porous Miami oolite and the borrow pit canal will intercept the seepage under the roadway and conduct it to Miami and Tamiami canals. It is possible that the flow under the roadway will be so great as to require special methods of control. Such work would probably be expensive but available data are not sufficient for estimating the probable cost. It is estimated that the excavation of approximately 780,000 cubic yards of muck and 1,600,000 cubic yards of rock will be involved in constructing the proposed road. However, it is assumed that the. highway would be a part of the State road system and not charged to the water-control project. Therefore, its cost is not included in these estimates. The control structures recommended where the road crosses the Tamiami canal and the Miami canal are considered a part of the water control project and their estimated cost is included he rei n, The large control structure, in Miami River will comprise 2 navigation locks and gates for controlling water stages above and preventing salt intrusion. One lock is to be about 50 by 300 feet "in plan, for large commercial vessels and tows, the other about 18 by 60 feet to provide passage for smaller vessels and pleasure craft. The locks in Biscayne, Coral Gables, and Little River Canals are to be about 18 by 60 feet. The estimated cost of the control structures proposed is as follows:
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 133 Krome Avenue Extension, 2 controls ......................................$ 80,000 Miami River, lock and control ............ ................ ........ 800,000 Snake Creek, control ....................................-.... .... .. 25,000 Biscayne Canal, lock and control .............................. ...... 75,000 Little River Canal, lock and control ................................ 75,000 Coral Gables Canal, lock and control .....................--....-...... 75,000 South Fork Miami River, 2 controls "....... ................... 55,000 Snapper Creek Canal, control ........................................ 25,000 Goulds Canal, control ............ ....... ......... ............... .20,000 Mowry Canal, 2 controls ........................ ....... ... ........... 60,000 Military Canal, control ..................... ...............-.... .......... 30,000 North Canal, control ................................ ........... .335,000 Florida City Canal, control ................. ..................... .35,000 Model Land Canal, control ........... ... .................... 1,000 $1,391,000 Incidentals ..................................... ... 139,000 $1,530,000 Cost Summary The estimated cost for all the water-control improvements proposed in the foregoing pages is as follows: W ater-Conservation Areas .......... ........... .... ................................$ 127,000 W est Palm Beach Canal .................................. .... ... ... .2,030,000 Allapattah Levee and Canal ......................... ......-................. .... .1,200,000 Hungryland Canal .................. .......... .... ............................... 680,000 Loxahatchee Canal ..... ............... ... ........... ........ ........ 440,000 Upper Sand Cut Canal ............................................... ........ 275,000 Lower Sand Cut Canal ..-.....--...-.......................-....... 180,000 Hillsboro Canal ................ ................. ... ... ................. ... -... 2,400,000 North New River Canal ........................ .................... ............ 1,125,000 M iam i Canal ................... ....... ........ ...... .................... .............. 375,000 Cross Canal ..................... .... ...... ........ ............... .. ...... ......... ... 220,000 Bolles Canal .....................--...................... .......-880,000 Canal A .. ...................... ............. .. ........... ....... .......... 1,100,000 Canal B .................. ....... .... ....--... ... .. .........975,000 Canal C ............................. ............................. 1,050,000 Sand Prairie Levee and Canal ...... ................... ......................-. ..1,370,000 Devils Garden Canal .................................. .... ....... .....500,000 Holloway Dike .......................... .... ............... 220,000 South New River Canal ........... ............. ................... .....-.... .. 91,000 Cypress Creek Canal ................:..... .................... ............. 385,000 Holloway Canals ..................... 145,000 Water control in eastern Dade County .......................... ... 1,530,000 $17,298,000 It is not necessary to construct all of the improvements outlined above at one time. In fact, it would be advantageous for water control and land use to be developed concurrenly, as nearly as possible, because maintenance expense begins as soon as a work is constructed and must be continued as long as the work is operative. The area of organic soils southeast of Lake Okeechobee can be drained and irrigated by constructing the improvements
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134 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station required for West Palm Beach Canal, installing a water control in Cross Canal, and constructing the Allapattah Levee and Canal to keep runoff from the sand lands from flooding the organic soils. The service areas of Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals can each be developed separately, provided the related work on Bolles Canal is included. Likewise Canals A and B can be constructed and their service areas developed seperately, providing the necessary work to obtain irrigation water through Bolles Canal is included. To develop the service area outlined for Canal C it will be necessary, in addition to excavating the canal and building the levees along it, to construct Sand Prairie Levee and Canal and Devils Garden Canal in order to protect the area from runoff from the higher lands to the west. The surface elevation of the organic soils in the Everglades is not static. When those soils are drained for cultivation, subsidence occurs and can be expected to continue. (See p. 79.) For that reason it is believed uneconomical to develop peat soil for cropping if it is less than 5 feet deep. In developing the plans for water control, advantage has been taken of existing drainage improvements, and channels have been designed with water carried as high as practicable under existing conditions. This has been done to reduce the cost of the improvements required. The plans proposed should give satisfactory drainage and irrigation for a number of years to the areas classified as suited for agriculture. High stages in outlet canals will cause seepage that may prohibit cultivation for 200 feet or more on each side. As subsidence continues, seepage will increase and it probably will become necessary sometime to lower the flow lines in the upper reaches of West Palm Beach and Miami Canals by installing pumping plants in those canals at Lake Okeechobee. Later, as the ground surface continues to subside, it probably will be necessary to install additional pumping plants in West Palm Beach Canal below its junction with Cross Canal, in Hillsboro Canal at the edge of the agricultural land north of Elbow Bend, and in North New River Canal near the Palm Beach-Broward County line. The probable ultimate need of pumping plants at the lower ends of Canals A, B, and C has been stated previously. However, it is believed that the need for such improvements will not develop for a considerable period of years and it does not seem advisable to include them in plans recommended for immediate consideration. If these pumping plants were con-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 135 structed at the present time they would depreciate rapidly and improvements being made in such equipment might make them obsolete before they really are needed. Maintenance of Water-Control Works A sound and effective program for maintaining water-control works, after construction is completed, is essential if the improvements outlined in this report are to operate satisfactorily. Without proper maintenance the works proposed will be of only temporary benefit and the results secured will not be worth their cost. In the Everglades region deterioration of canals and other water-control improvements is especially rapid, due to the humid climate and luxuriant growth of vegetation. Water hyacinths and other vegetation in the water and on the banks, if unchecked, quickly reduce the capacities of waterways. Sediment and debris accumulate at gate structures and, if not removed promptly, prevent operation of the controls. Rust and dirt may make the mechanism of gate structures inoperative and reduce the efficiency of pumping machinery. The use of levees as highways is likely to cause depressions that will reduce their effective height and result in their being overtopped during periods of high water. Effective and economical maintenance can be obtained only through an organization that is properly staffed, equipped, and provided with funds to do the work for the whole region on improvements that are of community benefit. Care in one part of a canal system may be rendered of no avail by neglect in another part. Well-kept ditches and pumps of subdistricts, for example, can be of little value if the outlet canals cannot carry away the water discharged into them. The construction of the improvements proposed in this report is recommended only on the basis that proper provision is made to maintain them effectively after they are installed. Recommendations for Land Use and Management Crop production in southern Florida presents numerous problems, many of which have not yet been fully solved. The experienced farmer who has lived in another part of the country finds that many things here are different. He finds not only different crops such as sugarcane, citrus, and many sub-tropical fruits, but also familiar crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, and snap beans
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136 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station growing in winter instead of summer. Although the winter temperatures are high enough for these crops to grow without injury except in unusual years, the crops are growing under the short days of winter rather than the long days of the usual summer growing season, and their behavior, therefore, is different in many respects. Furthermore, the soils in and adjacent to the Everglades are for the most part peats, marls, or fine sands, all of which require heavy and sometimesunusual fertilization for successful growth of crops. Most of the soils need water control, for drainage or irrigation or both. New pests, crop diseases, and weeds may call for special methods of prevention or treatment. Farmers or prospective farmers are urged to discuss these problems with the county agricultural extension agent or to communicate with the State Agricultural Experiment Station. The main station at Gainesville can supply certain information and copies of bulletins. Management of the peat soils is being studied intensively at the Everglades Station near Belle Glade, and that of the rocklands and marls at the Sub-tropical Station near Homestead. In the entire area covered by the data in this bulletin, Everglades Drainage District and the mainland eastward south of Palm Beach, there are 1,736,944 acres of land suitable for regular cultivation, as far as the land itself is concerned. As is pointed out elsewhere, however, existing water-control facilities are not adequate for regulation of the water table on all the land suitable for cultivation, and especially are not adequate for sufficiently rapid removal of all the water that accumulates after heavy rains. The prospective farmer should investigate water control in addition to looking into the cropping possibilities and limitations that are shown by or can be read from the land-capability maps and the discussions in this chapter. General Requirenents for Water Control on Farm Lands Drainage is absolutely necessary for cultivation of the peat and muck soils, group Al, and the naturally wet mineral soils of groups A2 and A3. Too much drainage, however, causes ruinous shrinkage and subsidence in the peats and makes the sands and marls .undependable for crop production. Each farm, therefore, needs a complete system of water control, to provide for drainage in wet weather and irrigation during the dry season of each year. Irrigation throughout the district, except on the rocklands,
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 137 is carried out mostly by regulating the water level in farm ditches rather than by sprinkling or by other methods of applying water on the surface of the land. The rocklands are irrigated by portable pumps that draw water from shallow wells. Drainage by gravity is not rapid enough to be adequate on the peat soils and the low-lying mineral soils that are now in cultivation. Pumps are required to remove the water during wet periods and to maintain the level in the canals and laterals during dry periods when it would otherwise fall too low. Developers of land should ascertain whether there will be enough outlet capacity to handle the runoff from their land before they spend any money for improvements. Ordinarily it is not practicable to install pumps and outlets that will dispose of the maximum rainfall, and it appears to be good farm management to plan on losing a crop about once in 5 to 10 years. Larger facilities could be built but their higher cost would have to be balanced against the value of the additional crops saved. The drainage system should be arranged so at least part of the farm can be drained adequately during any storm, by locating dikes and putting in gates with which runoff from other parts can be delayed when that is desired. In this way the crops on at least part of the farm can be saved. On the sandy mineral soils it is important, for most crops, that the developer ascertain that there is an adequate source of irrigation water. Irrigation of such soils by pumping from wells into the farm ditches usually will not be practicable, because the water will percolate downward rather than spread laterally through the root zone. The general opinion among growers is that facilities to remove 2 or 3 inches of water in 24 hours should be available on truck farms. Such removal should be possible over the entire farm, and preferably over an area of several square miles. For sugarcane or pasture such quick removal is not necessary and 1 inch in 24 hours is probably sufficient. At the rate of 12,000 gallons per minute, a pump will remove about 1 inch in 24 hours from 1 square mile. Because the lift is about 3 feet, on the average, and seldom more than 5 feet, low-lift screw-type pumps are generally the most economical. Reversible installations commonly are needed in order that water may be pumped from the outlet canal into the drainage ditches for irrigation during the dry periods. Whenever pumps are installed to drain and irrigate the organic
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138 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station soils, allowance should be made for the subsidence that will occur. The main laterals are usually spaced a half mile apart, on section and half-section lines. Farm ditches are at right angles to the laterals, spaced from 660 to. 1,320 feet apart. The closest spacing is needed for truck crops. In this way the farm usually is divided into fields of 40 or 80 acres and drainage units of 20 or 40 acres. Mole drains-spaced 12 to 15 feet apart and located 30 inches below the surface are valuable in the organic soils for increasing drainage into the ditches. Ditch banks should have a 1/2 to 1 side slope in the organic soils and a somewhat flatter slope in the mineral soils. The total runoff which the ditches can carry should about equal the capacity of the pumps. Where the land is practically level 3 inches fall per mile is commonly used in calculating the ditch size. When water is to be drawn more than 2 or 3 miles to pumps, it may be well to design the ditches for a lesser slope. The pumps should be of design suited to the head to be pumped against, and in draining peat soils consideration should be given to probable future subsidence. Ditches must be cleaned regularly, as the warm climate encourages rapid growth of hyacinths and other plants in the ditches and Para grass along the banks; and also because a soft, soupy sludge collects rapidly in the ditch bottoms. Ditch banks should be leveled and sodded to prevent the growth of weeds and Para grass, and aquatic growths and sludge deposits should be removed periodically. Dikes must be built around areas where the runoff from adjacent lands is liable to prove a menace. The material for these dikes usually should be taken from outside the area being protected, that pressure of water outside may be less likely to cause the embankment to slip into the borrow pit. For like reason, drainage ditches ordinarily should be located at a distance from dikes. A dike with a settled height of 3 to 4 feet, a bottom width of 12 to 15 feet, and with 1 to 1 side slopes will usually be ample. Before the dike is constructed it is desirable to dig and back-fill a puddled trench about the width of a dragline bucket and 4 to 5 feet deep beneath the dike to assure a bond between materials and also retard seepage, especially where shrinkage cracks are prevalent in peats. Sodding the peat dikes will often reduce maintenance costs by retarding cracking and subsidence, by preventing the loss of soil by wind erosion, and by preventing
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 139 rank growths of weeds which are an added fire hazard. The need for farm roads should be 'kept in mind when laying out the water-control system; but use of peat dikes for roadways flattens and lowers them and makes them more subject to erosion by wind. A system of check dams should be provided to control water stages and prevent excessive drainage from the system. The most desirable water stage during the growing season is from 11/2 to 2 feet below the surface, but it varies greatly according to the soil type and crops grown. Check dams should be designed so as to permit flooding and holding water on the area when the land is fallow. Land-Capability Classes The land-capability classification is a simple grouping of land conditions. Each soil mapped in the Everglades region was studied carefully by technical men of the Everglades Project and of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. These men considered the possible uses of each soil and the treatment that it needs to produce good crops. They also looked at the permanent limitations, such as the need for water control. They decided that 5 of the 8 land-capability classes that are recognized on a national scale include all the soils in this area. The acreages of the land-capability classes and soil groups are given in Table 9. Class I land occurs elsewhere in Florida but not here. It is very good land that can be cultivated safely with ordinary goodfarming methods. It is level or nearly so, and easily worked. In this area the best peat and muck soils are subject to shrinkage and require very careful water control, and therefore are in class II. In the same class are the best of the marls and sandy soils because they, too, need water management and careful fertilization. Class II land is good land that can be cultivated safely with easily applied practices. Water control and fertilization are the biggest needs of the class II land in this area. It includes the most favorable areas of 4 groups of soils: The peats and mucks, the marls, the wet sandy soils, and a small acreage of the dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils. Three percent of the peat and muck soils, 19 percent of the wet marls and calcareous sandy soils, and less than 5 percent of the sandy soils are class II land.
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TABLE 9.-EXTENT OF LAND-CAPABILITY CLASSES AND SOIL GROUPS. Poorly Drained Soils Imperfectly Drained Soils Excessively Miscellaneous Drained Soils Land Types Al A2 A3 B1 B2 C1 C2 D1 Gray or Dark Land-Capability Wet MLarls Gray ImperGray ImperWet Total Class Peat and CalWet fectly Drained fectly Drained IncoRockland, Rockland, and careous Sandy Sandy Soils Sand with herent Sandy Marshes, Muck Sandy Soils with Subsoils Brown Sands and Clay Swamps, Soils Containing Hardpan Phases and Made Some Clay Subsoil Land Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres II. Suitable for cultivation with simple practices .-.........-.. 57,208 140,423 66,500 1,857 0 0 0 0 265,988 III. Suitable for cultivation with intensive practices ................ 645,829 0 497,343 321,099 0 6,685 0 0 1,470,956 IV. Suited for only limited cultivation .------..... .469,148 556,494 594,193 0 0 0 164,412 0 11,784,247 V. Not suitable for cultivation but suitable for grazing .........-.... 19,557 0 0 0 33,674 78,574 0 0 131,805 VIII. Not suitable for cultivation, grazing, or forestry ............ 730,797 53,537 0 0 0 0 0 353,964 1,138,298 Entire Region .... 1,922,539 750,454 1,158,036 322,956 33,674 85,259 164,412 353,964 4,791,294
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 141 Class III land is moderately good and can be cultivated safely with intensive treatments. The principal needs are for water control and very intensive fertilizing. The class includes large acreages of Everglades peat, of the wet sandy soils, and of the gray or dark gray sandy soils. Since there is no land of class I, classes II and III include all the land suitable for regular cultivation. Class IV land is only fairly good for cultivation. Most of it is best suited for pasture. The Rockdale rocklands, which are suitable for growing fruits but not for ordinary crops, are in class IV. The shallow marls are in the same class, because they can be used for crops only if the water table remains low throughout the growing season. Class V land is suited for grazing or forestry with slight or no limitations. It is not suitable for cultivation. Gandy peat, which occurs on islands in areas of Loxahatchee peat, is the organic soil in this land-capability class. Leon fine sand, a soil with hardpan subsoil, and the deep, loose sands make up the sandy lands of class V. Classes VI and VII do not occur in this area. They are not suited for cultivation, but can be used for grazing or forestry with minor limitations in the case of class VI and major limitations in class VII. Class VIII land is suited only for wildlife or recreation. As far as could be determined in the analysis of this survey, the extremely loose Loxahatchee peat, which is subject to extreme shrinkage, is class VIII land. So also are the saline marls, the low-lying, wet rocklands, and the tidal marshes, beaches, made land, and certain miscellaneous land. Recommendations for use and management of the different types of land are given in the pages that follow. These recommendations are summarized in Tables 10 and 11. Management of Peat and Muck Soils Peat and muck soils occupy 1,922,539 acres, mostly within the main part of the Everglades. Scattered areas of organic soils also occur in old channels between the Everglades and the eastern coast and in the territory west and northwest of Lake Okeechobee. The survey showed 703,037 acres of peat and muck suitable for cultivation, which are shown on the maps as class II and class III land. The acreage of class II muck land is relatively small,
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TABLE 10.-PRINCIPAL USES AND TREATMENTS RECOMMENDED FOR EACH CLASS OF LAND SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION. Water Control and Land-Capability Soil Group Suitable Crops Fertilizer and Soil Other Engineering Notes Class Amendments Needed* Needs* II. Suitable for cultiAl. Deep muck and Truck crops, as beans, Phosphate and potash Drainage needed on all Weeds in summer vation with simpeaty muck. The tomatoes, cabbage, on truck crops. Potash cultivated land. Since furnish a greenpie practices, custard-apple peppers, lettuce and on sugarcane. Minor subsidence has been manure crop. land, and willowcelery; sugarcane. elements in fertilizer less on this land than and-elder land. or in sprays or dusts. on peat, irrigation Manganese on recently (control of water in burned areas. Copper canals) may be diffiand zinc on new plantcult. Mole drainage ings of sugarcane. helps water control. Flood fallowing during non-crop (summer) season is recommended. Occasional gyro-tilling will loosen topsoil and improve permeability. A2. Marls and other Tomatoes, potatoes; Heavy applications of Surface drain; pumping Soil management, wet, calcareous other crops as complete fertilizer; may be required. Deep weed control, and sandy soils, squash, peppers, manganese needed for ditches are not effecwater control are beans. all crops, boron, coptive, because underdifficult. Consult per and zinc for some. lying rock is too Experiment permeable. Station. A3. Wet, dark colored Truck crops, as toComplete fertilizer acid sandy soils. matoes, peppers, on all crops and pasbeans; pasture. tures. Bl. Gray fine sand or Citrus; some truck Complete fertilizer on Shallow ditches to reOccurs chiefly on fine sandy loam crops; probably citrus, truck crops, move surface water, scattered hamcontaining a sugarcane, and sugarcane, and new Irrigation may be mocks. layer that reclovers, pastures. Cover and needed for citrus and tains water, green-manure crops: truck crops in dry crop residues. Minor years, especially near elements in sprays the Caloosahatchee and dusts on fruit and canal. vegetables. Copper sulfate on pastures, 20-40 pounds every year or two.
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TABLE 10.-PRINCIPAL USES AND TREATMENTS RECOMMENDED FOR EACH CLASS OF LAND SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION.-(Continued.) Water Control and Land-Capability Soil Group Suitable Crops Fertilizer and Soil Other Engineering Notes Class Amendments Needed* Needs* III. Suitable for culAl. Chiefly EverTruck crops, as beans, Phosphate and potash Water tables must be Brighton peat is tivation with glade peat and peppers, cabbage, on all crops. Some controlled carefully as especially adapted intensive pracpeaty muck on celery, tomatoes, lime on Brighton peat. these peats shrink and for potatoes. tices. the sawgrass potatoes. Zinc, manganese and oxidize rapidly. plains, and copper on new land Brighton peat and occasionally and peaty muck. thereafter. A3. Wet, acid sandy Along the east coast, Heavy applications of Complete water control The mucky fine soils, where temperatures complete fertilizer on needed. sands are adapted are moderate, beans, crops. Complete ferto sugarcane, and peppers, eggplant, tilizer plus copper also citrus fruits. gladioli, some posulfate on pastures. tatoes and citrus. In Cover and greenthe interior, suitable manure crops on cropchiefly for pasture. land. Citrus needs special fertilization. Bl. Gray sandy soils If water control can Heavy application of Some drainage is needed containing a be established, suitcomplete fertilizer for to remove excess moderately perable for all truck citrus and truck crops water in wet weather. meable layer. crops and for citrus. -up to 3,000 pounds Irrigation of citrus Well adapted for per acre for truck, and of truck crops is pastures, with additional side needed during dry dressings of nitrogen. seasons. Complete fertilizer and copper sulfate on pastures. Cl. Palm Beach fine Now chiefly in woodHeavy application of Irrigation is needed sand: Brown. lands and urban complete fertilizer; during dry season. with yellowish areas. Suitable for green-manure crops. brown subsoil, truck crops, as beans, tomatoes, peppers, and for citrus.
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TABLE 10.-PRINCIPAL USES AND TREATMENTS RECOMMENDED FOR EACH CLASS OF LAND SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION.-(Continued.) Water Control and Land-Capability Soil Group Suitable Crops Fertilizer and Soil Other Engineering Notes Glass Amendments Needed* Needs* IV. Suitable for only Al. Shallow peat and Too shallow for satisIf used for crops, ferSatisfactory water conlimited cultivapeaty muck. factory water contilizer needs are simitrol is difficult, and tion. trol. Crops can be lar to those of Class use for crops or pasgrown only in dry III-A1. ture is possible only years. Suitable during dry periods. chiefly for grazing, also only in dry years. A2. Shallow or heavy If water control can Heavy applications of Usually shallow ditches marls. be established, suitcomplete fertilizer, for removal of surface able for truck crops Minor elements, water are fairly as tomatoes, peppers, effective. eggplant, beans and potatoes. A3. Poorly drained Suitable for truck Heavy fertilization and Water control is necesacid white fine crops and citrus if use of minor elements sary on crop land and sands, water control feasfor crops, along with desirable for greater ible. Best adapted liberal green-manure production on pasto pastures, crops. For pastures, tures. complete fertilizer and copper sulfate at first and phosphate every year after grass is established. C2. Rockdale RockPrimarily, subtropical Trees need frequent Irrigation by pumping lands, fruits, as avocados, applications of comfrom shallow wells is limes, mangos, plete fertilizer and needed during the dry papayas, and others, also minor elements season each year. Suitable for many in suitable form. citrus fruits. Some tomatoes and other truck crops where the soil material is deep enough. * In general only; see text for more details.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 145 TABLE 11.-SUGGESTED USES FOR THE LAND NOT SUITABLE FOR CULTIVATION. Land-Capability Soil Group Suggestions for Class Use and Management V. Not suitable Al. Gandy peat, on Not accessible for grazing. for cultivaislands in the Recommended for forests and tion, but ridge-andwildlife. Useful for camp suitable for slough section; sites. grazing or Istokpoga peat. woodland B2. Leon fine sand, Recommended for range land a hardpan soil. utilizing native grasses, or for improved and fertilized pastures. Suitable for carpet, Pensacola Bahia, and common Bahia grasses. Complete fertilizer and copper sulfate needed for maximum production. Expenditures for water control probably not justified. C1. Light gray Useful for range land. Exnearly white, penditures for fertilizers or for loose, fine water control are not recomsands. mended. VIII. Not suitable Al. Loxahatchee Useful for wildlife. Some areas for cultivapeat, tidal of Loxahatchee peat are usetion, grazing, marsh, and ful for water storage. or forestry mangrove swamp. A2. Salty marl. Affected by sea water. Not suitable for cultivation or grazing. D1. Wet rockland, Suitable for wildlife and recretidal marsh, ational areas. mangrove swamp, beach, and miscellaneous land. only 57,208 acres, but it is good muck or peaty muck and it is utilized intensively. Class II Muck Land.-The organic soils in class II are Okeechobee muck, called custard-apple land because of the original vegetation, and Okeelanta peaty muck, which is called willow-andelder land. If there is less than a 5-foot layer of muck over limestone, however, these soils are class IV rather than class II.
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146 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Cultivation was practiced on 82.7 percent of the class II land at the time of the survey. The crops grown include a considerable acreage of sugarcane and truck crops such as beans, tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, lettuce, and celery. Other special crops are being introduced, such as fibre crops, especially ramie, and lemon grass, from which a valuable oil is extracted. Citrus also is grown, but there is only a small acreage of these 3 crops at present. The possibilities for growing fibre crops depend at least in part on the development of suitable methods for harvest and decortication. Water control, for drainage and irrigation, is needed on these as on all the organic soils if they are cultivated. Since their organic matter is already fairly well decomposed and the mineral content is higher than that of the peat soils they are less subject to shrinkage and subsidence. This fact tends to make the land a little higher than the nearby peat areas, the drainage problems a little less difficult, and the irrigation problems a little more difficult. The muck tends to become compact and slowly permeable, however, and for this reason the operations of gyrotilling are especially beneficial. On farms that have adequate dikes and pumping equipment the practice of flood fallowing is followed to some extent and is being adopted by more operators. Shortly after the crops are removed in the spring water is pumped in to saturate or flood the soil and the high level is maintained until time to prepare the land for the next winter's crop. This prevents oxidation of the peat or muck during summer and also helps to control pests such as nematodes and wireworms. Cover crops such as Sesbania which will grow in saturated or near-saturated soil are now available, so that the advantages of summer cover can be had while this practice is being followed. Fertilizing needs vary considerably according to the kind of crops, past treatment of the land, and whether or not the area has been burned. The muck and peaty muck underlain by marl as a rule is not sufficiently acid to need lime. The common practice is to apply several hundred pounds per acre of fertilizer containing phosphate and potash, such as 0-8-8 or 0-8-16, for tomatoes and peppers. Manganese must be supplied for all crops if the land has been made alkaline by recent burning. Usually it is mixed with the fertilizers. Other minor elements, especially copper and zinc, are needed also. Copper is applied usually as the sulfate, and manganese and zinc can be
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 147 handled conveniently in the spray or dusts. Cabbage and lettuce need somewhat less fertilizing than tomatoes. Lettuce requires more fertilizer than cabbage. If cabbage or beans follow a crop that was fertilized heavily they may be grown without any additional application. Celery responds to extremely heavy fertilization-as much as 1,000 to 2,000 pounds per acre of 0-8-24, 0-8-12 or 0-8-16 may be used. It may need small amounts of borax as a spray and soil applications of 6 to 15 pounds per acre in addition to the other minor elements. Sugarcane ordinarily receives 200 pounds of muriate of potash per acre at planting time, plus copper, zinc, and manganese sulfates. Thereafter, it receives 200 pounds muriate of potash per year. Phosphate appears to depress rather than increase the yields and consequently is not applied. Sulfur has been shown to be beneficial. Manganese is especially needed if the land has been made alkaline by fires. Class III Peat and Muck Land.-Peat and muck soils in class III are Everglades peat, Everglades peaty muck, and Brighton peat. The total area is 645,829 acres, of which all but 67,576 acres is Everglades peat. There are 44,895 acres of Everglades peaty muck and 22,681 acres of Brighton peat. These soils can be cultivated regularly but are subject to shrinkage and subsidence. The water table, therefore, should be controlled very carefully. They also need very careful fertilization, and a number of minor elements are absolutely essential. Everglades peat is the principal soil of the sawgrass plains. At the time of the survey only 21,919 acres of the class III peat and muck soils were in cultivation. The entire acreage is physically suitable for cultivation but water control may not be feasible on all of it. These soils lie farther out from Lake Okeechobee than most of the land in class II-A1 and for that reason are more subject to frost. The principal vegetable crops, therefore, are those somewhat frost-resistant, such as cabbage, celery, and the leafy vegetables. Potatoes are grown because the soil is favorable and the tubers, which grow underground, are seldom a total loss even if the tops should be killed by frost. Brighton peat is acid and potatoes on it are less subject to scab than those on Everglades peat. Numerous other vegetables are grown. There is a considerable acreage of sugarcane and some of the land is used for pasture. Strict regulation of the water table is desirable on cultivated areas of Everglades peat-that is, the water table should be low
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148 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station enough during the growing season to permit the crop to develop but high enough to prevent avoidable oxidation and subsidence of the peat. The best water table conditions for different crops have not been fully worked out, but experiments are in progress and farmers should inquire of the Everglades Experiment Station. Diking of the fields and flood-fallowing during the summer are highly desirable practices for control of wireworms and nematodes as well as for conservation of the peat. Mole drainage and occasional gyrotilling help to improve permeability of the soil. Applications of copper sulfate are absolutely necessary to bring new areas of Everglades peat into production. The other minor elements, especially zinc and manganese, are needed even more urgently than on the muck land of class II. Celery ordinarily needs a small amount of borax, which is frequently applied in the fertilizer but is also used as a spray. Nitrogen usually is not needed in the fertilizers, although a small amount may be beneficial on truck crops during periods of cold, wet weather (25). Potash requirements are high, as the peat is deficient in this element. Applications of manganese sulfate are especially needed on the burned-over areas, the amount depending on the degree of alkalinity that has been produced. Most of the minor elements, as zinc, boron, and manganese, can be applied most conveniently in the sprays or dusts used on the truck crops. Where beans are grown the fertilizer used frequently is of an analysis high in phosphate, as 0-14-10. Cabbage are given a fertilizer higher in potash, such as 0-12-16, or the fertilizer may be omitted if the immediately preceding crop has been heavily fertilized. Potatoes may receive a mixture high in potash, as 0-8-24, and celery heavy applications of a similar formula. Lime is needed for most crops other than potatoes on the Brighton peat. The amount needed on each field should be determined from soil tests. Before the Everglades peat is used for sugarcane it should be used for truck crops or for grass a few years. Fertilizer requirements for cane are about same as on the Okeechobee muck, namely about 200 pounds of muriate of potash or its equivalent along with copper, zinc, and manganese sulfates the first year, and 200 pounds of potash annually as long as the cane is harvested. In recent years some of this land has been used for cattle pas-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 149 tures. Para grass is easily established and is commonly used. However, the more frost-resistant grasses such as St. Augustine and Coastal Bermuda are a little more satisfactory. A fertilizer high in phosphate and potash, such as 0-8-12 or 0-12-24, is recommended to insure ample amounts of bone-building phosphorus in the grass. Applications are needed every 2 years. The Everglades peat is well supplied with calcium and magnesium, but the Brighton peat will be benefited by liming. Class IV Peat and Muck Land.-Peats less than 5 feet deep over limestone are too shallow to permit good water control. If they are suitably located they can be used for certain crops during dry periods of dry years when the water table is naturally low. They occupy 469,148 acres, located for the most part south of the Palm Beach-Broward County line. Only 4,499 acres were used for crops at the time of the survey. If crops are grown despite the hazards of water control, the management and fertilizing practices are about the same as those described for the similar types of deeper peat in class III-A1. The land can be used for grazing whenever the water table is low enough, but it is not recommended that any expenditure be made for pasture improvement. Class V Peat Land.-Gandy peat is a fibrous peat on the islands in the ridge-and-slough section. It occupies 19,557 acres. It is not accessible for crops or grazing but produces some timber and is good wildlife land. It is used to a considerable extent by hunters and trappers for camp sites. Istokpoga peat is acid, woody, and fibrous. It produces some cypress trees. Class VIII Peat Land.-Loxahatchee peat is a loose, fluffy peat that occurs in the Hillsboro Marsh and throughout the ridge-and-slough section. This peat shrinks three-fourths or more of its volume on drying and is not recommended for any cultivation. It makes up 730,797 acres. Some of it is. utilized for water storage areas. These wet lands are excellent for fish, birds, alligators, and other wildlife. Management of Marl Soils The marls lie mostly in southern Dade County, primarily between the rockland ridges and the coast. The total area of marls and calcareous sandy soils is 750,454 acres. Of these, the deep Perrine marl and Hialeah mucky marl are suitable for regular cultivation. These soils are class II land, provided the
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150 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station marl is at least 2 feet deep. Shallow areas of these soils and all the Ochopee marl are class IV land, suitable for some cultivation but subject to serious limitations. The limitations of the shallow marl are mostly in connection with water control. All the marls must have drainage and water control if they are to be cultivated. None of these in this area is in class I or class III. The salty marl affected by tide water is class VIII land. Class II Marl Land.-Most of the marls suitable for cultivation range in height above the sea from about 8 feet near the rock ridge to 1 or 2 feet near the shore lines. They are naturally poorly drained; they become waterlogged or even flooded during the months of the wet season, and occasionally also when wet spells occur during the growing season. They may become too dry, however, during the winter growing season, and for this reason two-way water control is needed. Surface drains usually are effective for removing water, but pumping may be required. Fields should be diked to keep out water coming from other land. Ditches cut into the rock are not recommended, because it is both porous and water-bearing. A 4-inch layer of marl should be left in the bottom of the ditch over the rock. Proper drainage, and irrigation when needed, make up an acute and in many places a still unsolved problem on these soils. The marls are naturally highly alkaline in reaction. They are used almost exclusively for production of winter vegetables, especially tomatoes, early potatoes, and beans. Tomatoes in recent years have been grown on from 10,000 to 17,000 acres in this locality. The acreage of potatoes has ranged from 5,000 to 7,500 and that of snap beans from 2,000 to 6,500. Probably the acreage of beans has reached its.peak, at least for several years, because of the occurrence in, epidemic form of watery soft rot, which is a serious soil-borne, fungous disease. Other vegetable crops adapted to the soil and prevailing climatic conditions and produced in considerable quantities include cabbage and other cole crops, squashes, eggplant, peppers, carrots, beets, turnips, peas, English peas, sweetpotatoes, and bunching onions. Still others are grown in quantities to satisfy local market demands but are not adapted to large-scale commercial production. These include corn as roasting ears, lettuce, lima beans, cucumbers, celery, and radishes. Strawberries thrive on marl soils and production is increasing. Marl soils are utilized also to grow such crops as sorghum, and to a lesser extent millet, corn, peas, and soy beans as hay or
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 151 ensilage crops for feeding livestock. Grown commercially to a limited extent also are cut flowers and flowering bulbs. Cassava and the Palay rubber vine proved adapted to marl soils in experimental test plots, but owing to the prevailing highpriced labor probably never will be grown on a commercial scale in this area. The same condition exists with many other exotic plants introduced into southern Florida. Some of these possess medicinal or industrial value in other countries, but their production requires low-priced labor for plantation culture or for exploitation of natural stands. Fertilizers used on tomatoes grown on the marl soils vary in formula from 3 to 4 percent nitrogen, 7 to 9 percent phosphoric acid, and 5 to 8 percent potash. The nitrogen is derived 25 to 40 percent from natural organic sources, the phosphoric acid from superphosphate, and the potash from either sulfate or muriate of potash or both. Rates of application vary from 1,500 to 3,000 pounds per acre, and in addition some growers sidedress with 100 to 200 pounds per acre of nitrate of soda-potash, sulfate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda in some seasons. It has been found beneficial to apply 50 pounds per acre of manganese sulfate with the fertilizer. The first application of fertilizer is usually made the morning after transplanting. A small handful is dropped in the furrow behind the compost in which the plant is set and is then covered with soil. Two to 3 weeks later another and larger handful is dropped behind the first application and covered. At subsequent intervals of 2 or 3 weeks fertilizer applications are made to either side of the row. Some growers split the amount into 5 applications instead of 4. Potato formulas are made from the same ingredients as tomato mixtures but include also 100 pounds of manganese sulfate per ton. Fifield and Wolfe (18) in 1940 concluded from extensive experiments at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station that for mixtures to be applied at rates of 1,500 to 2,000 pounds per acre potato fertilizers should analyze 3 to 4 percent nitrogen, 8 percent phosphoric acid, and 4 or 5 percent potash, with about onethird of the nitrogen derived from natural organic sources. Additional experiments in recent years indicate that the nitrogen in the formula may be reduced to 2 percent on older potato land. All of the fertilizer is applied in bands alongside or slightly below the seed-pieces with the planting machinery. Beans are fertilized with from 800 to 1,200 pounds of a 4-9-3 or 4-7-5 mixture derived from similar ingredients as are used for
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152 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station potato mixtures and with like amounts of manganese sulfate added. This is applied with the seed by the planting machinery. In addition, some growers apply up to 200 pounds per acre of ammonium sulfate as a side-dressing. It is sometimes necessary to spray or dust with additional manganese, particularly on new cropland. Other vegetable crops are grown with similar mixtures, the most common being the 4-7-5 or 4-8-6 formulas containing manganese sulfate. Amounts range from 700 to 1,000 pounds per acre with some exceptions. Sweet potatoes are fertilized with 700 pounds of a 3-8-8 mixture and radishes require about 1,500 pounds per acre of a 4-7-5 mixture. Corn is frequently grown after potatoes without additional fertilizer. Cover crops following potatoes likewise are not fertilized. Some experimental evidence has been obtained that boron in minute quantities will increase yields of cauliflower and broccoli. Potato yields have fairly consistently shown small increases from adding zinc sulfate, borax, or magnesium sulfate to copper sprays which are applied for blight control. The practice of adding zinc sulfate to copper fungicides also has consistently given small increases in yield of tomatoes. Class IV Marl Land.-Marls in class IV are nearly all shallow, with less than 24 inches of marl over rock. Some of them are so impervious that they do not drain easily. Good yields of truck crops can be obtained on the shallow marls whenever the water table remains low enough to permit the crop to grow. Water control is not feasible, however, and crops can be obtained only in dry years. Cultural practices and fertilizers are the same as on the marls of class II. Flamingo marl occupies 2,187 acres. It contains too much salt to grow the ordinary crops, because of intrusion of sea water. If areas of it can be diked so that the water can be pumped out, the salt will leach out in a year or two or can be flushed out in a shorter time if fresh water is available. After this has been done good yields of the truck crops can be obtained as long as the salt is kept out. Management of Rocklands (Class IV) The Rockdale rocklands are suitable for only very limited cultivation, The climate, however, is suitable for a number of subtropical fruits, and if the land is prepared suitably and irrigated
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 153 they can be grown. The 2 types of Rockdale rockland suitable for such use occupy 164,412 acres. Fruits were grown on 10,311 acres and other crops on 1,214 acres at the time of 'the survey. The fine sandy loam-limestone complex often contains a thin layer of reddish clay or sandy clay in some of the rock cavities. These areas are known locally as redlands. The rock ridge extends southward from Miami, curving gradually westward and inland from the coast, ending as a number of rock islands, known as the "Everglades Keys," across the southern part of the Everglades. It is transversely dissected by shallow valleys leading out from the Everglades basin into the low-land wet marl prairie between the ridge and the shore fringed with mangroves. Elevations in places reach slightly above 20 feet but generally range from 9 to 14 feet above sea level. Much of the limestone rock is porous and variously pocked and pitted so that soil materials collect in the cavities and plants are able to take root and grow. The slash pine and the sawpalmetto are the dominant types of native vegetation. The rockland soils are very shallow and are deficient in organic matter and available plant nutrients, but are generally well drained and can be made very productive when properly fertilized. The water table fluctuates greatly. Records at the SubTropical Experiment Station near Homestead, which is about 10.5 feet above sea level, show that during periods of heavy rainfall the water table may occasionally rise to less than 1 foot below ground level and during the dry season may drop to as low as 10 to 11 feet. During extended droughty periods irrigation is essential for maintenance of high production, and during extended rainy periods low areas may become flooded for several days at a time. Because of this, such low areas are unsuited for growing avocados. Frosts occur with sufficient frequency to make the growing of strictly tropical plants impossible without furnishing frost protection. Generally, the portions of the rock ridge close to the sea are less subject to killing frosts than those farther inland. Fruit crops are grown almost exclusively on the cultivated rockland, although during the fall months if there is abundant moisture in the soil following the summer rainy season, small acreages of tomatoes, peppers, okra, and squashes are planted. The most important fruit crops are avocados, citrus, and papayas. The present acreage of avocados is approximately 2,300 and
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154 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station it is increasing steadily (Fig. 23). Production is being increased also by the elimination of unproductive trees, by topworking to more prolific varieties, and by application of research findings which have led to improvement in cultural methods. The Tahiti or Persian lime is the leading citrus fruit from the standpoint of monetary value (Fig. 24). Approximately 2,500 acres of this fruit are now in commercial production and plantings are increasing steadily. At the present time nurseries are finding it difficult to supply the demand for young lime trees. Grapefruit is the leading citrus fruit from the standpoint of acreage in production but is losing favor as a commercial crop because of low net returns to the grower. Approximately 2,500 acres of grapefruit remain in commercial production but from present indications this acreage will slowly but steadily decline. Some grapefruit trees are being topworked to Tahiti limes and some growers are replacing them with avocados or limes. About 2,000 acres of oranges are grown commercially. There has been little expansion in production of oranges in recent years, owing to the low margin of profit attending the culture of this fruit on the soils of the area. Although the quality of oranges produced on these soils is high, the cost of production Fig. 23.-Avocado grove the third year after planting the trees, located on the Rockdale rockland near Homestead, Florida. A desirable ground cover of weeds has become well established. The avocado is well adapted to this locality and acreage is increasing steadily. (Photograph by Geo. D. Ruehle.) r t Ml!• ; i pj S_ SSS---
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 155 is also high in comparison with other citrus-producing sections of Florida. The papaya is a promising fruit well adapted to the area. The total acreage has fluctuated greatly from year to year because of the rapidity with which large plantings can be put in and removed from production. Considerable research, particularly in the fields of insect and disease control and of plant breeding, is still necessary before the papaya industry can be firmly established. The plant is a perennial but commercial growers generally care for the plantations only through the first bearing season, which usually ends 16 to 18 months from seed, and then reestablish their acreage with new plants. The present plantings probably do not exceed 150 acres but the monetary value of the crop in some years may equal that from avocados or limes. Other tree fruits of minor importance which are adapted to the area and are grown commercially include mangos, guavas, lemons, tangelos, tangerines, kumquats, coconuts, and bananas. Of these, mangos and guavas probably will become more important commercially if and when research will solve some of the problems now attending their culture. Coconuts and bananas are too tropical in their requirements to hold forth much hope for expansion and expansion of the others will be kept down as a result of serious competition from other areas. In addition, a large number of fruits are adapted to the soils Fig. 24.-Tahiti lime grove seven months after planting the trees on scarified Rockdale rockland near Homestead, Florida. This fruit is well adapted to commercial production on soils of the Miami rock ridge and the acreage is expanding rapidly. (Photograph by Geo. D. Ruehle.) -r o fi 4t A A -A
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156 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and prevailing climatic conditions and are grown semi-commercially or as home garden fruits. This group includes canistel, yellow-sapote, white-sapote, sapodilla, carambola, loquat, tamarind, bignay, Mexican limes and several Annonas, among others. Some of these are being studied intensively at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station because they show definite promise of becoming commercially important in the future. Preparation of land for planting on the Miami rock ridge is essentially the same for all crops. At the northern end of the ridge sand often overlies the rock to a depth which permits planting without disturbing the rock. Farther south the oolite crops out over the surface so that there is no tillable soil except in potholes. Trees in the early groves were planted in deep sand or in the potholes, and frequently without removing the stumps left after logging off the pine forest. Later, straight rows were obtained by digging shallow holes in the rock where the trees were to be planted and filling in with surface soil; and still later, dynamite was used to make the holes. The usual practice after dynamiting was to remove the large fragments of rock and fill the hole with a mixture of manure compost and surface soil. The modern method is to clear and scarify the land with heavy power machinery (Fig. 25). Dynamiting holes where the trees SFig. 25.-Preparation of Rockdale rockland in the redland district for planting trees. The tractor equipped with angle-dozer is clearing off the scarified topsoil in preparation for plowing out ditches for tree rows. (Photograph by Geo. D. Ruehle.) Al.j Ak^liBIH^
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 157 are to go is still practiced if the scarifying is shallow, but in recent years blasting has been discarded by some growers. Instead, the rock is plowed out down the tree rows with powerful scarifiers to depths of 16 to 20 inches (Fig. 26). When the field is leveled there is ample depth of loose material in the tree rows to plant without blasting and 6 to 8 inches depth between the rows to allow spread of lateral roots. This method of land preparation for groves costs less than blasting plus shallow scarifying. After scarifying, trees or vegetable crops may be planted at once, although the abundance of free lime in freshly scarified soil makes it desirable to prepare the land at least one year in advance of planting trees and to establish a cover crop as soon as possible to increase the organic content of the soil. Crotalaria and white sweet clover thrive on the rockland soils and are planted as cover crops, but many growers rely upon natural weed growth for ground cover. The best times for planting trees are during the spring months from April to early June and in the fall during September and October. Temperatures are favorable for starting growth during these periods and the amount of watering necessary to establish Fig. 26.-Preparation of Rockdale rockland in the redland district for planting trees without dynamiting. The rock is broken up to depths of 16 to 20 inches, where the trees will be established. (Photograph by Geo. D. Ruehle.) .4 Sn-
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158 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the trees is likely to be small. Vegetable crops grown on the rockland are generally planted in the fall, when there usually is sufficient moisture in the soil to grow the crops to maturity. The practice of irrigating bearing trees during protracted dry periods is steadily increasing. Water for irrigation is obtained by pumping from shallow wells drilled to depths of 15 to 20 feet into the lime rock. All crops on rockland soil are grown with a minimum of cultivation. Hand hoeing is practiced around young trees and ground crops to keep down undesirable weeds. In groves the weeds or cover crops between the tree rows are mowed by power machinery several times during the year, mainly to conserve moisture during dry periods and when necessary to reduce fire hazards and facilitate spraying and fertilizing the trees or harvesting the fruit. The mowed material is allowed to lie or is gathered under the trees to mulch the root zone. In some of the older groves where the land was not cleared of pine stumps mowing machinery cannot be used without danger of considerable breakage. In these groves the weed growth is usually dragged down with light scarifying machinery. It is recognized that considerable damage to small tree roots attends this practice, and it is done mainly to reduce fire hazard and conserve moisture during the dry periods. Fertilizer practices of growers of avocados, citrus fruits, and papayas vary considerably. There is still insufficient research work completed to standardize the fertilization of these crops, and there is no experimental basis whatever for establishing fertilizing practices for many of the minor tree crops. Nevertheless, experimental tests performed to date with various fertilizers and minor elements on avocados, limes, and papayas have yielded data which have given the growers a practical knowledge of the general nutritional requirements of these crops and as a result fertilizer practice is steadily becoming less haphazard. As a general practice, fertilizers are broadcast by hand on the surface of the soil covering the root zone and no attempt is made to mix the materials,with the soil. Heavy applications are made from 3 to 12 times during the year, depending on the requirements of individual crops. It is often necessary to supplement the N, P, and K fertilizers with zinc, copper, manganese, or magnesium. The zinc and copper are generally effective only when applied as a spray, whereas the manganese and magnesium are usually applied with the fertilizer. The low organic matter and high free lime content of the freshly scarified soil make it
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 159 desirable to apply 500 to 1,000 pounds per acre of superphosphate to the land to establish quickly a cover crop or a stand of weeds. Vegetable crops on new land also respond to high phosphate fertilization. Fifield and Wolfe (19) in 1937, on the basis of experiments made at the Sub-Tropical Experiment Station, recommended that the equivalent of a formula analyzing 4 percent nitrogen, 14 percent phosphoric acid, 5 or 6 percent potash, and containing 150 pounds of manganese sulfate per ton, be applied to tomatoes on newly cropped land. As a general practice a formula analyzing 4 or 5 percent nitrogen, 7 to 9 percent phosphoric acid, and 3 to 5 percent potash is used for growing young trees during the first 2 or 3 years after planting. The mixture is applied every 30 to 60 days during the first year and every 60 days during the second and third years. Usually 40 to 50 percent of the nitrogen in this formula is derived from organic sources. As the trees come into bearing the practice varies somewhat with the different types of fruit. Bearing avocado trees require larger amounts of fertilizer than citrus fruits, especially more nitrogen, and it is important that a continuous supply of this element be furnished. Wolfe and Lynch (41) in 1940 reported increased production from applying 1 to 3 pounds of sulfate of ammonia or nitrate of soda-potash per tree 3 times a year at points halfway between the regular applications of a 4-5-5 formula in which half the nitrogen was derived from natural organic sources. The amount of the regular mixture usually included per application approximated twice as many pounds per tree as the age of the tree in years. Bearing lime trees usually are fertilized every 60 days with 4-7-5 or 4-8-8 formulas for a total of 6 applications during the year, the amount per application varying with the size of the trees. An 8-year-old tree usually receives about 10 pounds at each application. Some growers start in late winter with an application of a readily soluble top-dressing such as an 8-0-8 or 15-0-14 fertilizer and follow it in 30 days with the regular mixture, which is repeated every 60 days until 5 applications of lowanalysis fertilizer are made. Another variation in practice is to alternate the regular mixture with applications of readily soluble forms of nitrogen such as ammonium sulfate for a total of 6 fertilizer applications per year. Bearing grapefruit and orange trees in well-kept groves usually receive in January from 1 to 3 pounds of ammonium sulfate or a soluble top-dressing (8-0-8 or 15-0-14), which is followed in
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160 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station March or April with an application of a 4-7-5 or 4-8-8 mixture. The latter is repeated in June or July and followed in October with an application of either a 4-8-5, 4-8-8, or 3-8-8 formula. The amount of fertilizer required is often roughly estimated at about 1 pound of the mixture to each foot of the diameter of tree spread. From 25 to 40 percent of the nitrogen in these mixtures is derived from organic sources, the phosphoric acid is derived from superphosphate, and the potash from either muriate or sulfate of potash or both. It is the practice to fertilize papayas heavily and frequently, and poultry manure and stable manure are used freely by some growers. When mixtures are used the formulas are generally 4-7-5 or 4-8-5 applied every 30 days in amounts varying with the size of the plant from 1 to 21/2 pounds per hill. This may total 4 or 5 tons per acre per year on a bearing plantation. Other tree fruits, are fertilized in various ways, depending upon the opinion of individual growers, but in general they receive at least 3 applications per year of 1 of the regular mixtures used on citrus or avocados. Management of Sandy Land Sandy soils occur on the ridge along the eastern coast and in large areas in the northern, northeastern, and northwestern parts of the Everglades region. There are 4 groups of sandy soils: Wet sandy soils, gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils, gray imperfectly drained sands that have hardpan subsoils, and excessively drained, incoherent sands. The wet sandy soils make up 1,158,036 acres, about 21/2 times the acreage of the other 3 groups. Only 66,500 acres of the wet sandy soils (group A3) and 1,857 acres of the dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils (group B1) are class II land. Class II Sandy Land.-The wet, dark-colored sandy soils that fall in class II are located chiefly in the coastal section north of Fort Lauderdale. There are also some scattered areas east, north, and west of Lake Okeechobee. The soil type is Delray fine sand. Crops were grown at the time of the survey on 3,312 acres of it. This land is well suited for growing tomatoes, peppers, beans, eggplant, and other truck crops. It is also good for development of improved pastures. Drainage is necessary. As on the marls and peats, drainage should include pumping facilities for raising the water table during dry weather as well as for lowering it when the land is wet.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 161 Truck crops generally receive a .fertilizer containing phosphate and potash, such as 0-8-8, 0-8-10, or 0-8-16, with additional minor elements applied in the sprays or dusts. Pastures should have 200 to 300 pounds of a fertilizer such as 0-8-8 every year, with 20 to 30 pounds of copper sulfate the first year and every third year thereafter. The croplands should receive organic matter regularly in the form of green-manure crops, which can be mixed with the soil by plowing, disking, or gyrotilling. The hammock land in the northwestern part of the survey is also class II land. It is La Belle loamy fine sand of group B1, a soil naturally somewhat better drained than the wet sandy soils of group A3. The total area in the Everglades Region is only 1,857 acres, and none of it was used for crops at the time of the survey. The greater part is covered with hammock vegetation, which furnishes shade for the cattle that graze on the surrounding range land. The cost of clearing it for cropping use is rather high. Some of the hammock land outside the region is being used for truck crops and citrus is grown on some areas near La Belle and Denaud. This is excellent productive land but needs additions of organic matter through cover crops and regular systematic fertilizing. Citrus fruits need a complete fertilizer such as 5-8-8 or 5-7-5 applied 4 to 6 times per year, each tree receiving each time a pound of fertilizer for each foot of diameter of its crown. Minor elements, as zinc and copper, are needed and can usually be applied in the spraying and dusting operations. Truck crops on these soils need moderate to heavy applications of complete fertilizer. They also need the minor elements, which as a rule can be added to the sprays and dusts. Pastures need complete fertilizer and copper sulfate at the time they are started-about 200 to 300 pounds of a 5-8-8 or a similar formula -and every year. The application of copper sulfate should be 20 to 40 pounds every year or two. Class III Sandy Land.-Class III land is suitable for regular cultivation to a fairly wide range of crops. Its use is limited by some of the soil properties, however, or it requires more intensive or careful management than is necessary on class II land. It includes 497,343 acres of the wet sandy soils of group A3, 321,099 acres of the gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils of group B1, and 6,685 acres of Palm Beach fine sand which is
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162 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station the best of the excessively drained loose, incoherent sands in group C1. The wet sandy soils that fall in class III are gray or dark gray in color. Some of them contain enough organic matter to be called mucky fine sands. The soils are Charlotte fine sand, Davie mucky fine sand, and Pompano fine sand, of which the last is by far the most extensive. They lie for the most part at elevations intermediate between the organic soils and the better drained sandy soils. Water control is essential on this land, for drainage before any crop can be grown and for maintaining the water table for irrigation during dry periods. Overdrainage is serious, however, and check dams should be built to prevent excessive drainage and permit irrigation. Where water of good quality is available the soils will produce good crops of peppers, eggplant, beans, tomatoes, and other truck crops. Crop residues, weeds, and green-manure crops should be turned under or disked into the soil, to add to the organic matter. Complete fertilizers containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are needed for maximum production, and the minor elements also need to be supplied. Beans and eggplant ordinarily are fertilized heavily with as much as 1,500 pounds of a complete fertilizer such as 5-7-5. Peppers receive heavier applications plus a side-dressing of organic nitrogen, if it is available, or of nitrate of soda. New pastures should have 20 to 30 pounds per acre of copper sulfate before any fertilizer is applied, then 200 to 300 pounds of 5-8-8 or similar fertilizer each year. Citrus crops on these soils need a complete fertilizer and special attention to correction of deficiencies of phosphorus as well as of copper and the other minor elements. The mucky fine sands west of Fort Lauderdale are used to a large extent for citrus and for improved pasture. The gray or dark gray imperfectly drained sandy soils that contain enough clay to give the subsoil some water-holding capacity are in soil group B1. All of them except La Belle fine sandy loam are in land-capability class III. The soils are Broward fine sand, Felda loamy fine sand, Palmdale fine sand and loamy fine sand, and Sunniland loamy fine sand. Crops were grown on 6 percent of these soils at the time of the survey. These soils hold water better than the loose sands but should have irrigation during dry periods for successful production of citrus and also of truck crops. Some drainage also is required
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 163 to remove excess water during wet weather. Irrigation is accomplished by regulating the water in the farm ditches. Establishment of water-control systems depends on suitable outlets for drainage and on a source of water suitable for irrigation. Productivity can be maintained only if the soils receive frequent green-manure crops and crop residues and preferably applications of manure to help maintain the organic matter. They also require complete fertilizers and additions of the minor elements. If these practices are followed and water is controlled they can be used successfully for citrus, truck crops, and pastures. Citrus fruits can be grown by applying a complete fertilizer 4 to 6 times per year at the rate of 1 or 2 pounds for each foot in diameter of the crown of the tree. Truck crops should be fertilized with a complete fertilizer in 3 to 4 applications. This may need to be supplemented by additional side-dressings of nitrogen. Minor elements should be applied in the sprays or dusts for both citrus and truck crops. Pastures should receive 25 to 35 pounds of copper sulfate in advance of the fertilizer and every 2 or 3 years thereafter and should be fertilized each year with 200 to 300 pounds per acre of complete fertilizer such as 5-7-5 or 5-8-8. The high cost of clearing the native saw palmetto limits rather effectively the development of pastures on this land. The excessively drained incoherent sandy soil in land-capability class III is Palm Beach fine sand. It occupies 6,685 acres, largely bordering Lake Okeechobee on the east, north, and northwest. Only 143 acres were in crops when the survey was made. Owing to its location, much of it in the vicinity of Pahokee and Port Mayaca is used as building sites. Farther north it is used largely for range land. If water for irrigation is available and enough fertilizer and organic matter are applied it will produce excellent citrus and truck crops. Truck crops should have a complete fertilizer, the amount depending on the crop. Minor elements should be applied as sprays or dusts. Large amounts of organic matter are needed and green-manure crops, crop residues, and weeds should be worked into the soil. Class IV Sandy Land.-Wet sandy soils amounting to 594,193 acres are class IV land, suitable for some cultivation but subject to very serious limitations. They are located in places where water control is difficult. Only 15,191 acres, or less than 2 percent, were used for crops when the survey was made.
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164 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station With fertilization and cultural practices as described for the wet sandy soils of class III, but with heavier applications of fertilizers, some truck crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and squash can be grown. Some citrus groves also are located on this land. It is mainly suited for development of pastures, which should receive 20 to 30 pounds of copper sulfate and 200 to 300 pounds of 4-8-5 or 5-8-8 fertilizer the first year. Then the fertilizer should be applied every year and the copper every 2 or 3 years. After the grasses have been well established an annual application of 200 to 300 pounds of superphosphate may be adequate to maintain the pasture in good, productive condition. Class V Sandy Land.-Class V land is suited for grazing or forestry with slight or no limitations. It is flat or nearly so and not subject to erosion. Two different kinds of sandy land are in this class. Leon fine sand has a layer of hardpan 12 to 24 inches or more beneath the surface, which stops water and roots very effectively. This makes the soil too wet during the rainy season. It occupies 33,674 acres, mostly in Glades and Palm Beach counties. None of it is recommended for cultivation. The native ranges can be improved to some extent for pastures. Water control would be difficult and any expenditure for it probably would not be justified. Several different grasses are suitable for this land, such as Pensacola Bahia, common Bahia, and carpet grass. Complete fertilizer, copper sulfate, and lime will improve the grass and will probably prove to be economical. Most of the excessively drained loose, white, incoherent sands of soil group C1 are also class V land. They are Dade fine sand and St. Lucie fine sand. They do not hold water well enough to be used for crops without irrigation and are too high for practical water control. The area of these 2 soils is 78,574 acres. Native ranges afford some grazing but it is not likely that soil treatments or planted grasses would give enough more grazing to be worth the cost. Good range management, however, should be followed to maintain the most vigorous and productive stand of native grasses that is possible. Woodland Management Woodland management on all classes of land should be aimed toward production of good timber and natural reseeding of cutover areas. Thinning young stands of pine gives a yield of firewood or pulpwood. All woods should be protected from uncon-
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 165 trolled burning and firebreaks should be constructed around the areas set aside for timber production. Whenever trees are cut the limbs and tops should be spread out in a layer not more than 2 feet deep and kept away from the trees that are left. Woodland is a valuable asset as shade for cattle and for wildlife as well as for the timber it produces. Land Not Suitable For Cultivation, Grazing, or Forestry Class VIII land, not suitable for cultivation, grazing, or forestry, is suitable for wildlife and recreation, and in the case of the sandy coastal areas for building sites. It includes the loose Loxahatchee peat of soil group Al, the salty marls of group A2 along the southern coast, and the wet rocklands, marshes, swamps, coastal beach, and made lands of soil group D1. The marshes and swamps are excellent for fish, birds, alligators, and other wildlife. Acknowledgments Throughout the surveys and supplementary investigations of the Everglades Region, the project staff received fullest cooperation of other Federal and State agencies having acquaintance with the area, and of local officials, organizations, and individuals. Only general acknowledgment can be made to most of the great number of those who thus have aided in assembling and interpreting the information on which the recommendations presented herein are based. Mention must be made, however, of a few agencies in addition to those represented in the list of responsible personnel (p. 2) who have contributed basic data for the conclusions reached. The Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, furnished profiles, cross-sections, and alignment maps of West Palm Beach, Hillsboro, North New River, and Miami Canals and drainage-area maps of St. Lucie Canal and Caloosahatchee River, besides other important information. These have been the basis of the hydraulic computations and the earthwork estimates for the recommended water-control works on those channels. Data from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Department of Commerce, provided both horizontal and vertical control for the surveys, and additional land-surface elevations in certain sections of the Region. The U. S. Navy air bases in the Region furnished invaluable assistance to the survey, particularly in reconnaissance and in transportation over difficult areas. Charts of surveys made in portions of the area by the General Land Office, Department of the Interior, were used in the project field work and mapping. Bench-mark elevations along certain highways and cross-section measurements of Cross Canal were obtained from the State Road Department.
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166 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Drainage district officials, county and city officials, transportation companies, and many private corporations and individuals supplied physical data, particularly survey data of certain portions, and other information important for understanding the water and agricultural problems of the region. Bibliography For those who care to pursue further the subjects of structure, stratigraphy, and ground water of the Everglades region, the following selected bibliography will be of interest. Most of these references are cited also in the text. 1. BALDWIN, MARK, and H. W. HAWKER. Soil survey of the Fort Lauderdale area, Florida. Field Operations of the Bur. of Soils, 1915. U. S. D. A. 1919. 2. BROWN, RUSSELL H. Water levels and artesian pressure in southeastern Florida, 1942. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 945, pp. 10-48. 1944. 3. BROWN, RUSSELL H., and GARALD G. PARKER. Salt water encroachment in limestone at Silver Bluff, Miami, Florida. Econ. Geol. 40:(4) : 235-262. 1945. 4. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Personal communication. October 17, 1944. 5. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Outline of the geologic history of peninsular Florida. Fla. Acad. Sci. Proc. 4: 87-105. 1939. 6. CAMPBELL, ROBERT B. Deep test well in the Everglades. Bul. Am. Asso. Petrol Geol. 23:(11): 1713-1714. 1939. 7. CLAYTON, B. S., J. R. NELLER, and R. V. ALLISON. Water control in the peat and muck soils of the Florida Everglades. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 378. 1942. 8. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Tentative ages of Pleistocene shore lines. Wash. Acad. Sci. Jour. 25: 331-333. 1935. 9. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Geology of Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. 20th Ann. Rept., Fig. 12. 1939. 10. COOKE, C. WYTHE. Scenery of Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. Bul. 17. 1939. 11. COOKE, C. WYTHE, and STUART MOSSOM. Geology of Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. 20th Ann. Rept. 1929. 12. CROSS, W. P. Water levels and artesian pressure in southeastern Florida, 1940. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 907, pp. 26-34. 1942. 13. CROSS, W. P. Water levels and artesian pressure in Florida, 1941. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 937, pp. 19-27. 1943. 14. CROSS, W. P., and S. K. LOVE. Ground water in southeastern Florida. Am. Water Wks. Assn. Jour. 34: (4) : 490-504. 1942. 15. CRoss, W. P., and H. H. COOPER, JR. Water levels and artesian pressure in Florida, 1939. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 886, pp. 64-68. 1940.
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Soils, Geology, and Water Control in the Everglades 167 16. CROSS, W. P., S. K. LOVE, G. G. PARKER, and D. S. WALLACE. Progress report on the investigation of water resources in southeastern Florida. U. S. Geol. Survey: p. 12. (Mimeo.) Dec. 1940. 17. DAVIS, R. O. E., and H. H. BENNETT. Grouping of soils on the basis of mechanical analysis. U. S. Dept. Agri., Dept. Circ. 419. 1927. 18. FIFIELD, W. M., and H. S. WOLFE. Fertilizer experiments with potatoes on the marl soils of Dade County. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 352. 1940. 19. FIFIELD, W. M., and H. S. WOLFE. Some fertilizer experiments with tomatoes on the lime-rock "pineland" soils of southern Dade County. Fla. Sub-Trop. Exp. Sta. Mimeo. Rept. No. 3. 1937. 20. KIPP, H. A., and F. F. SHAFER. Investigation of water content of muck soils in Florida, including those of the Everglades. (Mimeo.) March, 1910. 21. LOVE, S. K., and H. A. SWENSON. Chemical character of public water supplies in southeastern Florida. Am. Water Wks. Assn. Jour. 34: (11): 1,624-1,628. 1942. 22. MARSTON, A., S. H. McCRORY, and GEO. B. HILLS. Report of Everglades Engineering Board of Review to the Board of Commissioners of Everglades Drainage District. p. 14. May, 1927. 23. MATSON, G. C., and SAMUEL SANFORD. Geology and ground waters of Florida. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 319. 1913. 24. NELLER, J. R. Oxidation loss of lowmoor peat in fields with different water tables. Soil Sci. 58: 195-204. 1944. 25. NELLER, J. R. Influence of cropping, rainfall and water table on nitrates in Everglades peat. Soil Sci. 57: 275-280. 1944. 26. PARKER, GARALD G. Notes on the geology and ground water of the Everglades in southern Florida. Soil Sci. Soc. of Fla. Proc. V-A: 44-77. 1942. 27. PARKER, GARALD G. Water levels and artesian pressure in Florida, 1943. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 987, pp. 11-43. 1945. 28. PARKER, GARALD G., and others. Progress report on the investigation of water resources in southeastern Florida. Unpublished manuscript in files of U. S. Geol. Surv.; text in vol. I, accompanying illus. in vol. II. 1941. 29. PARKER, G. G., and C. W. COOKE. Late Cenozoic geology of southern Florida, with a discussion of the ground water. Fla. Geol. Surv. Bul. 27. 1944. 30. PARKER, GARALD G., GEORGE E. FERGUSON, and D. KENNETH LOVE. Interim report on the investigations of water resources in southeastern Florida with special reference to the Miami area in Dade County. Fla. Geo. Surv., R. I. no. 4. June, 1944. 31. PARKER, GARALD G., and NEVIN D. HOY. Additional notes on the geology and ground water of southern Florida. Soil Sci. Soc. of Fla. Proc. V-A: 33-55. 1943. 32. RICHARDS, H. G. Marine pleistocene of Florida. Geol. Soc. Am. Bul. 49: 1,267-1,296. 1938.
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168 Florida Agricultural Experiment Station 33. SANFORD, SAMUEL. Topography and geology of Southern Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. 2nd Ann. Rept., pp. 177-231. 1909. 34. SELLARDS, E. H. Geologic section across the Everglades. Fla. Geol. Surv. 12th Ann. Rept., pp. 67-76. 1919. 35. STRINGFIELD, V. T. Ground water in the Lake Okeechobee area, Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. R. I. no. 2, 31 pp., 1 pl. 1933. 36. STRINGFIELD, V. T. Ground water resources of Sarasota County, Florida. Fla. Geol. Surv. 23-24th Ann. Rept., pp. 121-227. 1933. 37. STRINGFIELD, V. T. Artesian water in the Florida peninsula. U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply Paper 773-c. 1936. 38. TOLMAN, C. F. Ground water, pp. 36-37, 557. McGraw-Hill. 1937. 39. U. S. Geological Survey. Unpublished data. 40. VAUGHAN, T. WAYLAND. A contribution to the geologic history of the Floridian Plateau. Carnegie Institute of Wash. Pub. no. 133. 1910. 41. WOLFE, H. S., and S. J. LYNCH. Fertilizer studies with avocados. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. for 1940.
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FLORIDA INDEX EVERGLADES DRAINAGE DISTRICT U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PHYSICAL LAND CONDITIONS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION H. H. Bennett, Chief Harold Mowry, Director 27'30' 27*30' Insert Sheet No. 1 Insert Sheet No. 1 12 Insert Sheet No. 2 04 co -r4. O b d S-OKEECHOBEE 7) COUNTY S\ COUNTY EA ST LUCIE COUNTY -G ST3, COUNTY MARTIN COUNTY T-38-S T-38Insert Sheet No. 7 .5 ' --\ BRIGHTON INDIAN 0 0 T-39S RESER ATIONE T-39-S T-40-S -3940-S ^T-40-S k • _0 MARTIN CO LAKE OKEECHOBEE PALM BEACH CO mli T-41-S cc..T-41-S 7 I Insert Sheet No. 10 11 ,T" .^PAHOKEE , T-42-S, J GLADES I OUNTY-, : I -3-' _ OY,_________ --____. " -I_____ __"_'__ OE___45A_ ___--_,_ 1 ___ ' -P M'ES T4S T-44-SI C LEA LAKE R HOG WORTH Insert Sheet No. 12 12 YPRESS 13 14 S 15 ii" } T.45.S DEVILS ___\__\_ T.5 9 T-45-S BROWAISDCON IVEILEGLDE T-48-S C YPRESS \ ---.. .--.-ST-44-SI LAKM 02 21 15 T-45-S D EVIL G ýD ý Ulu T-45-S PR'S ---------------' ----------T-46S T47-S ' I. --. ----.. ... . IN A Po T0-S-' 1 51 COLLIER__ X -------SOI COSERVATION TS-S n ..C I1DIA_ ___ 0 0 0 M MONROE COUNTY '. II\t -r jII I r -r-eiS -Y -i T-54-S S N ) D I D \ | S, T-45-S S NOLOEE \--"--------s -----e---T-5-INDIAN 24, 25AUDRDA 32 ---. --i 34 Insert----Sheet No. 31 T-51-S EMINGLE|p SRESERVATION OMESTEAD RESERVATION T-51-S ---------------L----L.--\ _ 1 T Y ^8 T-52-S 1 251 J^ .-^ """ ;--^..___ 1 I_ __ KD rt ^ 3i SI -Reservations53MONROECounty Lines COUNTY L--5--------------Unsurveye--P Project Boundary T.59.s| -^.-t---------------S? \Y T-p^ i r \ y <^ ~~ ~' "~ " ~ ~ in ~~10 | 6
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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FLORIDA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE EVERGLADES REGION AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION H. H. Bennett, Chief WATER CONTROL Harold Mowry, Directo -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 S HIGHLANDS COUNTY 66 27-15 OKEECH7BE 28 ST LUCIE COUNTY| 1 27' 27-15'1 OKEECHOBEE 0 iB ---OKEECHOBEE IB COI TY 27 EAGLE I4 BAY P5 A q(S T-38-S COUNTY T-38l .HANSON / GRANT j 2 t ----OBRIGHTON SSEMINOLE ARTIN COUNTY INDIAN 18OMEZ T-39-S RESERVATION, 5RAT / 0Indiantown 2ooJ 2700_ . 2T-00 -S i , o T-40-S T-40-S Lakeport L.OCK LAKE OKEECHOBEE 22345' T-41-S -41-S r i^ iCl ]v S LOCK Citr . 26°30' r M-r ... T-42-S ortona_ 78 .. !AK 1: 0T-42-S Boundary of Water-Conservation Areas y o A t b D Oc T-e1-S -I -, 2600' SOkeelant Stati T-42-S 1EEN I COUNTY T-4P-S MAsdCn C l b E r--i ------Proposed LTve-7es -S Ioun, o.., ....... -'0 '° STATE I .I,T -45 -S G P R E S --, r / --45 DATU SEM LES IEDA I|UNTY WAT_ I 26"' --1526"0 n S c t ---I --_ ~ e Ca lARD COUNT6 €I THE T.T.5-. 25" 5_Ir ' ..-_ _..-I.... .I 25-4*I --. , t , --mI Ben Boundary of Everglades Drainage District ---st--/ , , ,;, e T r e " r ' -_____ -I 'T .9. S T-50-S Boundary of Everglades C T-EN-S ""'"-I -°' S H --b-_,, , /.s R T-51-SL WNT Boundary of Areas to be Drained iceanward D T-VC-S 26'00\• ERVA ON26 Ground Surface Elevations 28 -A_ T-52-S WATER CO ERVATION AR Canals Canals t b rT-nc-S D ", "'----"... ..I---I ; -I i I; ' -T-5*'-S --, , ""-ro f Water-.Con.....tion Ares I" i! ' Can s T. .'e ....--"L "\, " .... ..... ' : -"ur h , ~~~~~ ~ -.--_:_. , :__.___j. . " i-'iI I t iI i-5 --__ , , , .a =,_----d, , , .. i ....-./ i % -" T T. s I. :. , -'.
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U. S. IDEPAKTM'NENT OF AGRICULTURE FLORIDA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE EVERGLADES REGION AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION Il. H. Bennett. Chief DISTRICTS ORGANIZED FOR WATER CONTROL Harold Mowry. Director ; -..__ .---ii ---L HIGHLANDS CO NTY 6 T-37-S -T-37-S 27-15'1 201 OKEECHOBEE / C ST LUCIE COUNTY 27'15 | 3Brilhon OKEECHOBEE CO TY T-38-S GRANT T39S Indiantown 76 27'001 1 2700' T-40-S .T-40-S I ..-. .-LAKE OKEECHOBEE \~ ~ T-41-T-41-S T-42-Son-( -"La \ ke Park 0 T-42-S -cN 'PANA' T-43-S C itr..us..Ce nte 2 Lak Wort h: .___ __ _ _.__ I_____ "L --^ --.---.-. "^ , ^ ^ 1 9 I. CROSS C. .. 4--.r ^ c 6I .-Bk LoxahDtchee --T-44-S Everlades ix Mile Bend \ I / Oketa Experiment Statif in14 I "' > -L T-44-S ____o_ ._ 0 CA A PALM BEACH COUNTt WRT DISTRICTS T-45-s AI yoS ) I. 1 Baker Haul-over 18 Hollywood Reclamation I GARI DE HILLSBORO \ 8DtnsaHENDRY COUNTY _ _ _YPR_ _I_-_-___-_ -' 2 6"302 Biscayne 19 Indian Prairie I I---------------3 Brown 20 Istokpoga > ..--.T-46-SMR 4 Citrus Center 21 Lake Worth 5 Clewiston 22 Little River " I 6 Dade 23 Loxahatchee I T-47-----------rel 7 Dade County Water Cons. 24 Napoleon B.BrowardJ I/d" 6 H e STATE 33 S ot So T Teld 8 Diston Island 25 Naranja T-48-S -BIG CYPRESS L ErcE SEMINOLE INDIAN 9 Eagle Bay 26 Newhall RESERVATION F Fort I \ ' T-48-8 10 East Beach 27 Old Plantation Water Control 26'15'2615 STwenty-Six f 1Mile Bend D CYPRESS CREE1 CsNALs 11 East Marsh 28 Pahokee SEMINOLE ---------12 East Shore 29 Pelican Lake RO RD COUNTY T-49 13 Ft.Lauderdale-Middle River 30 Ritta I " ..-.--14 Gladeview 31 Southern -..---' .-.. .. L T-50-S/ I -.S 15 Goulds 32 South Florida Conservancy c)r.. I .T-50-S I / DA-,_D7 16 Hicpochee 33 South Shore ---TSOUTH-50-SER C^AL SI D LOC 17 Highland Glades 34 Sugarland COLLIER (.)OUINTY I -.-' M T-51-S ' , r, T-51-S 26"00'L I RE R ION -| -26'00' LEGEND ------i ------_. Boundary of Everglades Drainage District ---T-52-S I Boundary of Everglades ----r ck T-52-S Other Drainage Districts Boundaries 6Msr P\\\n -, .r . "F3 e IT-53-S 2545S, I r,, , B.:.,i® I D-, " I:'"" " " 25,45' f25"45' I 1 , "r-T-54-S T-55-S 2" j/ -I -r ' --'_ -',o.:.; , ik .. , 1 T-55-S I -CJ 5 DADE/ 7 COUNTY T-56-S l 1, '1 Dad i County is organized as T si. SDa County Water Conservaon District T-56-S "5 ----^ /-""5 rinet 25 30 -\ i I Station -25 25"30' 'gMONROE---^ COUNTY......../--.OMESTEADD NORTH CANA S <-l .^ 2/1 ™Floria ci, y FLORIDA CITY CANAI T-58-S Royal Palm )\ MODEL LAND \° l T-59-S /( ( a .& ao d 0& a a& d ce : ( O o S.. .. .. .... ........ ......N o rm
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4 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FLORIDA UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE EVERGLADES REGION AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION H. H. Bennett, Chief GENERALIZED LAND CONDITIONS Harold Mowry, Director 0 C L T-37 T-37-S 27":, " EE[BIE .27' 15' SaEEMO COUNTY ;" T-3T-38-S T-439S Sh T-39-S ri T-40S T-4L-S L.4 AKE OKEECHOBEE ,__ __ T 4G1 E41-S I'A .wB= " -T-45-S LOCK "M CK IT-42-S R D RI L LNRQRGSCAT FO UCSFU UTV 26T45N w -s-eo l P Ler l -43-S ' LOCK OC I , , eT-44-S LEGEND T-45-s LAND SUITED FOR CULTIVATION: i ,, 26"30 II -PRODUCTIVE LAND REQUIRING SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION. T 46 S Peat and muck soils -deep peat of the custard-apple land and willow-and-elder land. Sandy soils -dark colored sands, or sandy hammocks. T-47-S Marls and calcareous soils -depth at least 24 inches. D.r. i Vl;i L SEMINOLE INDGT RN "Sandy ss ls sro T-54-S III -PRODUCTIVE LAND REQUIRING INTENSIVE TREATMENT RES ''Y'ON Af, -r ' ' FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION. .... .... .e ...-".. Peat and muck soils -deep peat of the sawgrass plains. T 49 S . B:RO3H 'ARD T-49-S Sandy soils -moderately good. sHE and . i isl LAND SUITED FOR LIMITED CULTIVATION: T5SPo E l ,, , s T-50-S IV -LAND OF LIMITED PRODUCTIVITY SUITED ONLY TO SPECIAL CROPS OR SEASONAL USAGE. SOUT T.5 I S COLL COUNTY C "T"T5 1 Peat and muck soils -depth less than 60 inches over limestone. I R Sandy soils -light colored, poor natural drainage, low fertility. " DA Marls and calcareous soils -depth less than 24 irnches. .. ... . .: .. .. ..... " ", ...4 ... .. . Sandy soils -loose sands, or hardpan soils VII -LAND SUITED ONLY FOR WILDLIFE OR RECREATION, @:.,..i ' UNDER EXtSTING CONDITIONS. T ...P R.x, I ', , • SPeat andmuck soils -loose peat,s s o ls. shrinkage .'". .. .:. Marls-saine. ....""" , S.t;.-,": T-56-S ..... .. ... • .'' -....., =. ., $----.-& .:t :: -,.....::: j.,,' , --" ·~-" .... ',:-" '::::": , ;" , -, .!iT ;t, -.. " ° ..'' ..... ."'-''" ' ""'~~~ ":" "" "'" "":~ ":""''-''i't :g.";:' :' '"":l , , . ... ... .< ., ..... .', ...,. ... .... .. --. . :...~· .I:-: ,.,:. ",.i = '2 ":'.," ..' ' ': "Z.:• •",r ,,,.I _.;, :"".-o ,, . . • ...., =, .. . ..., •· .4; s, • .... : .. .:: ....... = "•: ' "a '.. ,: :" i". :." c.";i a: .a ." . ... "..,a
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