1915 - A Vision for our Chain of Lakes

This month, we look back to 1915 when a small group of determined residents had a vision of connecting many of our lakes by canals. The group organized as the Twenty Lakes Boat Club. At the time, some of the lakes had small “runs” or swampy places that connected them. This club wanted to create canals there.

The fledgling citrus industry had made a healthy comeback from the freezes of the mid-1890s. Roads of the day were sand or clay and used to haul the crops to the rail line between Lake Alfred and Bartow. The automobile was a luxury, and it would be several more years before the growers could afford trucks.

Therefore, a team of mules would pull a wagon loaded with ten to fifteen field crates of fruit. The crates weighed from 900 to 1400 pounds and proved difficult to move. Some believe the canal concept may have been an idea the growers thought would provide a better means of transportation.

The Florence Villa Fruit Company was the major stockholder in the boat club. While the idea may have been to haul the crops to market using the lakes, others speculate the fruit company may have acted as much from a civic interest. Other investors included: H. A Miller, Lorenz & Lorenz, E. C. Linger, H. Warehausen, H. W. Ambrose, Worden & Son, M. Engleson, L. P. Gum, Mercantile Co., H. E. Miller, R. Starr, J. Snively, C. L. Turner, and H. E. Cornell.

The month the charter was signed, the club had an engineer plat a proposed course for boats to traverse the south, west, and northern perimeters of Winter Haven and beyond, all the way from Lake Winterset to Dundee.

The lakes originally targeted included Winterset, Eloise, Lulu, Shipp, May, Howard, Cannon, Idylewild, Hartridge, Conine, Rochelle, Haines, Smart, Fannie, Buckeye, and Hamilton. The original corporation had no intention of changing lake levels and instead was anticipating a system of locks. Of the original twenty lakes to be connected, all but Buckeye eventually became a part of what today is known as the upper

and lower chains, comprising a total of 25 lakes. These are separated by U.S. 17 between Hartridge and Conine where a lock now exists. (The Twenty Lakes Club did not accomplish the entire task before its demise.) The club’s cash balance in April 1916 was $265.05. By April 1917, the balance had grown

to $9,689.91 by the sale of stock to 69 people or businesses. The last meeting of the Twenty Lakes Boat Course Club was held on April 23, 1917. Two weeks earlier, there had been a meeting to discuss the problem of damage to the canals from speeding boats - a problem that persists today. The demise of

the club is thought to have involved the group having created responsibilities larger than their budget could maintain.

No further progress was made on the canal system until May 20, 1919, when the Winter Haven Lake Region Boat Course District was established by an act of the Florida Legislature. Taxing power was granted by referendum (78 for and 49 against) in a special election on July 7 that same year.

By September 1919, an engineering company was authorized by the “Canal Commission” to dredge and clean canals. At the time, there were no seawalls used in the system. Early commissioners served as stump pullers, free boat towers, insecticide sprayers, and any other tasks that may have been required.

FACTS ABOUT OUR CHAIN OF LAKES:

Some say there are fourteen lakes in the chain ... some say sixteen. What’s correct? If you count Little Lake Eloise and Little Lake Winterset, there are sixteen lakes in the southern or “upper” chain.

Before canals were constructed, as much as 75 percent more land was covered with water than now. The Dundee Marsh between Winter Haven and Dundee (adjacent to what is now Cypresswood) was strictly marsh and wet 99 percent of the time. A crossing route through the marsh to Waverly was known as Buffalo Ford.

Harry Miller (a charter canal commissioner) noted that when he came here in 1912 (before any canals) he tied his rowboat to an oak tree at the foot of Central Avenue on Lake Howard. To go to Lake Eloise, he could row and push his boat through weeds and grass in the shallows (or runs) between Lakes Howard, May, Shipp, Lulu, and Eloise.

Based upon water marks found on Cypress trees, water levels at the turn of the century were four to five feet higher than we see today.

Official records show a July 16, 1915 notation regarding landowners paid in stock for canal rights. Names included: Apple, Wolf, and Garrard. These are believed to have been in the Winterset area.

Acreages of some of the lakes in the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes:

Cannon (336)

Conine (236)

Eloise (1,160)

Fannie (829)

Haines (716)

Hamilton (2162)

Hartridge (434)

Howard (628)

Idylwild (102)

Lulu (301)

May (44)

Rochelle (578)

Shipp (283)

Smart (275)

Winterset (548)

Length of our canals (feet):

Jessie-Idylwild 135

Idylwild-Hartridge 810

Idylwild-Cannon 1,200

Cannon-Mirror 320

Mirror-Spring 120

Cannon-Howard 590

Howard-May 420

May-Shipp 975

Shipp-Lulu 2,260

Lulu-Roy 1,760

Lulu-Eloise 265

Eloise-Summit 400

Eloise-Winterset 1,525

Water Level (as determined by Southwest Florida Water Management District):

Maximum desirable level 131.50

High water mark 133.19

100 year flood 133.40

10 year warning 132.60

Minimum flood 131.98

Maximum operational 132.00

Minimum level 129.70

Extreme low management 129.20

Portions of this information are contained in a book compiled by Kenneth Recker and

Marcia Ford.