Ditch of Dreams
The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future
Steven Noll author David Tegeder author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University Press of Florida
Published:30th Sep '15
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
For centuries, men dreamed of cutting a canal across the Florida peninsula. Intended to reduce shipping times, it was championed in the early twentieth century as a way to make the mostly rural state a center of national commerce and trade.
Rejected by the Army Corps of Engineers as ""not worthy,"" the project received continued support from Florida legislators. Federal funding was eventually allocated and work began in the 1930s, but the canal quickly became a lightning rod for controversy.
Steven Noll and David Tegeder trace the twists and turns of the project through the years, drawing on a wealth of archival and primary sources. Far from being a simplistic morality tale of good environmentalists versus evil canal developers, the story of the Cross Florida Barge Canal is a complex one of competing interests amid the changing political landscape of modern Florida.
Thanks to the unprecedented success of environmental citizen activists, construction was halted in 1971, though it took another twenty years for the project to be canceled. Though the land intended for the canal was deeded to the state and converted into the Cross Florida Greenway, certain aspects of the dispute - including the fate of Rodman Reservoir - have yet to be resolved.
ISBN: 9780813061733
Dimensions: 233mm x 154mm x 22mm
Weight: 589g
352 pages