One of the major drainage problems of the United States of America concerns the Everglades watershed of the peninsula of Florida. This watershed extends one hundred miles southward from Lake Okeechobee in a shallow valley, thirty-five to fifty miles wide, to the Gulf of Mexico. The area of the Everglades, about four thousand square miles of land and water, is approximately the same size as the state of Connecticut. Within the last century a considerable part of the Everglades has been drained of surplus waters and brought into agricultural and commercial production.

The drainage and reclamation of the Florida Everglades has proven to be an enormous undertaking fraught with many difficulties. This transition from a primeval morass has consumed many years of tedious effort. The attempt to tell the history of the Everglades, of which reclamation is the central theme, is an ambitious one. The story of the background and handling of these problems of drainage and reclamation, a number of which remain unsolved, is narrated in this volume.

This study was begun in 1939 at the University of North Carolina. The author is indebted to Professor Fletcher M. Green of that institution, under whose direction the study was made, for his excellent advice and steady encouragement as the work progressed. The author is indebted to the following persons for suggestions and assistance: Harry S. Winters, James M. Leake, Julien C. Yonge, Rembert W. Patrick, Ancil N. Payne, and Paul L. Hanna. Dr. Robert V. Allison provided a great deal of aid through his constant stimulation, and also his valuable comment on the manuscript and its preparation. Mr. Lawrence E. Will allowed the use of his father's collection of letters and manuscripts, without which much of the colorful picture would have been lost. Mr. John Newhouse aided in many ways, but particularly with the loan of his unpublished reminiscences. Senator Claude Pepper assisted in securing for the author's use certain published reports of congressional hearings which otherwise would have been unobtainable. The staffs of the following libraries and offices were most accomodating in making the resources of their institutions and offices available: The Albertson Public Library of Orlando, Florida, the Board of Commissioners of the Everglades Drainage District, the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund of Florida, the Everglades News, the Florida Times-Union, the University of Florida Library, the University of North Carolina Library, and the Rollins College Library.

The author gratefully acknowledges the help and patience of his wife, Lois Adrienne Dovell, without which this study would not have been possible.