146 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL

water head, sea water may encroach 88 feet nearer the surface. The average
fresh-water table along the route of the proposed canal, in the Ocala limestone
area, is now between 40 and 50 feet above sea level, though in places it is
as much as 75 feet above sea level How far will salt water come up in the
lower parts of the Ocala limestone if its fresh-water tables in Marion and
adjoining counties are lowered 10 or more feet? Enough, possibly, to con-
taminate with salt every artesian well Irrigating the rich celery fields of Semi-
nole and Sarasota Counties and the prized citrus-fruit groves of the Indian
River country.
 It is Imposslble to estimate the potential damage to Florida water supplies in
 the building of a cross-State sea-level ship canal without a thorough geological
 study of the entire State, which would cost untold thousands and take years to
 make. Herman Gunter, our State geologist, who is certainly our foremost
 authority on this subject, says: "I do -not see how a sea-level canal across
 Florida could other than most seriously affect the ground-water level and also
 offer potential danger to the quality. A canal across Florida Justifies most
 thorough, comprehensive, and complete study. To construct it without such
 detailed knowledge may lead to costly error and permanent regret."
 Reliable reports from Washington say that $25,000,000 of the President's
 $4,800,00,000 relief Budget has been earmarked and will be appropriated soon
 for the first year's work on this canal. The last legislature authorized counties
 along the route of the canal to bond themselves to acquire the lands for its
 right-of-way and exempted these lands from taxes. Jacksonville and Ocala
 advocates of the project are shouting that good times will soon be here for them
 again, and they already are advertising real estate in anticipation of the great
 Influx of workers who will dig the ditch.
 For every million dollars that the Federal Government appropriates for the
 building of this canal, let it set aside 10 million to indemnify the people of
 Florida for the destruction of their water supplies. If the Governor of this
 State recognizes his obligation to guard the welfare of its people, he will call
 out the National Guard if necessary to prevent the turning of a single spade of
 dirt for this canal.
 MaJ. Gen. R. M. Markham, Chief of the United States Army Engineers,
 recently said that "any possible damage to agriculture beyond the right-of-way
 to be secured for the canal would be negligible, and that any damage to water
 supply would be small and would consist only in lowering the level of nearby
 wells." That statement was contained in a letter to Gen. Charles P. Sum-
 merall, president of the National Gulf-Atlantle Ship Canal Association, and it
 was made public at Jacksonville to counteract the publicity of a resolution
 adopted at a meeting of 125 enraged 8eminole County farmers and businessmen,
 who believe this canal may ruin them.
 In expressing this opinion, General Markham is supported by the report of a
 special board of two Army and two Public Works engineers, appointed by the
 President to review the findings of a special board of Army engineers in their
 economic and engineering surveys of the proposed canal. In recommending, on
 June 28, 194, that a sea-level canal was preferable to the lock canal considered
 by the Army engineers, the President's special board of review had this to say
 about water supply:
 "Any possible damage to agriculture beyond the limits of the right-of-way to
 be secured would be negligible, due to the fact that the water table is now from
 80 to 70 feet below the ground along the route of the canal and for miles on
 either side of it. The damage to water supply would be small and would con-
 sist in only lowering levels in nearby wells. The possibility of salting the water
 at a high level would be eliminated."
 In those brief words two Army and two Public Works engineers in Wash-
 ington, who probably never saw a Florida lime pit or sinkhole, try to make
 us believe there is no water-supply problem in building a salt-water canaL
 And the advocates of the canal have set up these four gentlemen as the final
 authority on this great question. They are telling the people of Florida, whose
 welfare depends upon the conservation of their fresh water and the preserva-
tion of its quality, that they have nothing to worry about. Why, the con-
clusion of these four engineers that construction of a canal on a sea-level route
would eliminate the salting of water by a lock canal on higher levels is an
admission that the saline sea waters will seep through the sides of the canal
and into the Ocala limestone. We know where this contaminated water will
eventually fnd Its way-to the wells in all parts of Florida which draw their
supply from this Important water-bearing rock formation.