Ditch of Dreams

The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8130-6173-3
Verlag: University Press of Florida

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 590 g

Reihe: Florida History and Culture

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Noll, Steven

Tegeder, David

Über Autor(innen)

Steven Noll is senior lecturer in history at the University of Florida, USA.

David Tegeder is associate professor of history at Santa Fe College, USA.