'75


 4 Hamilton Disston to drain a large area of lands bordering
 Lake Okeechobee and including part of the glades. This
 company, known generally as "The Okeechobee Drainage
 Company," or the "Disston Drainage Company," had
 numerous surveys and levels made by its engineers. In
 1880-2 a line of levels was made by General Gilmore,
 under direction of the U. S. Senate, to discover a^5rac-
 tical route for a ship canal across the peninsula of Florida.
 These and other surveys by Col. Chas. Hopkins, Maj. Wirtz,
 '.w.V ?W V. P. Keller, J. W. Newman and others, established the alti-
 -r~j4 .tude of Lake Okeechobee, "the head of the glades," at 21 to
 v.4 23 feet above tide level, the difference in levels being ac-
 ; 'i 0-counted for by the different seasons at which, the surveys
 Ilvv.'a were made. A reconnaissance under Col. Hopkins was made
 during 1883, from Lake Okeechobee to Shark river; another
 expedition under Jas. E. Ingraham across the glades in 1892,
 occupying 22 days in crossing. The reports of these and
 others confirm the early reports by the officers of the U. S..
 Army and Navy, quoted as to character of soil, depth of
 water, and extreme fertility of the region, the report of Col.
 Jas. M. Kreamer, chief engineer of the Okeechobee Drainage
 Company, made in 1886, accompanied by detailed maps and
 profiles, states: "As before noted, the surface of this soil is
 at times exposed, and it is only during or subsequent to a
 heavy rainy season that it is possible to penetrate with a light
 skiff, and then advantage must be taken of the natural drains
 of this vast area. If there was an absence of the dense saw
 / rass.,no difficulty would be experienced in traversing this
 county in any direction. A four-foot reduction of the sur-
 face of the waters of this region would be sufficient for the
 purpose of cultivation, etc."
 S"The surface of the country is generally unbroken by
 ponds or sloughs, and, due to natural causes, is becoming
 more and more elevated, and consists of one vast expanse of
 rich soil which nature has been storing up for ages. There
 is a marked difference of the characteristics of the lower Ev-
 I erglades. It is made up of numerous rich islands with saw
7 grass borders, separated by sloughs, which later afford ave-


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