The making of a 1st-mate, Day 23 of America’s Great Loop

It is day 23 of at least 365 on America’s Great Loop. At this point, with bruised arms and sore elbows, I am a bonafide first-mate and have learned to take orders. Every day, I assist my captain. I check diesel levels, I peer intently through binoculars looking for Intracoastal triangles, announce distant shoaling, man the lines, drop the fenders, and sometimes even take the wheel. I have accepted my fate ~ I am not in charge.

However, Captian Ed and I have re-bonded through my acceptance of this simple but profound concept, one I never did accept in the 20 years of our marriage. I’ve decided it’s OK for now. 🙂

Life has changed. Every day chores like doing laundry, fixing a leaky sink, or vacuuming have become endearing. Kind of like being in college again. Serious decisions have given way to listening and discussion. We are becoming a team. How long this new peace-pact will last, I am not certain. But on our 55 foot trawler, “Finito,”we live day by day; it’s slow and beautiful.

Happy at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club after successfully backing into a slip.

The low country of the Carolina coast is defined by marshlands and the American history of the Deep South. These marshes fed the riches of cotton, indigo and rice plantations. The Gullah culture of former slaves resonates, though the area is now covered with golf courses and subdivisions.

Emancipation Oak, southern states, Beaufort, SC.

The marshes themselves are habitat to hundreds of aquatic organisms, birds, and animal species. Connected to countless river estuaries, they are the nursery to the sea. Polluted stormwater, groundwater contamination, and developmental habitat destruction have negatively affected some areas. To the untrained eye, like mine, it looks relatively healthy. Of course, turn of the century dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway created our “Great Loop” roadway.

The American Great Loopers Cruisers Association shows the path of the “great loop.”

Since my last post Ed and I have traveled from Hilton Head to Port Royal; Port Royal to Charleston; Charleston to Georgetown; Georgetown to Myrtle Beach; Myrtle Beach to Southport; Southport to Wrightsville; and Wrightsville to Swansboro.

My uncle reminded me that my Henderson ancestors traveled up North Carolina’s Cape Fear River where they settled near Campbelton, the same Scottish settlement name as the town they’d left in the 1770s. I picture them taking a ferry through the reed filled marshes, or a cypress black river, the tides washing away the hardships of the old-world and bringing hope for life anew.

Boro Low County Kitchen, Cape Fear River, Swansboro, NC.

13 days in on America’s Great Loop

American Great Loop Cruisers Association

Ed and I are 13 days in on America’s Great Loop. 300 miles of 5600. I have stopped wearing makeup. I’ve worn the same clothes for at least 10 days. I’ve taken three showers. I’ve washed my hair twice. I’ve gotten pretty good at “manning” the lines and pulling up or putting down the giant fenders. I’m sleeping better than I ever recall. So far, it’s been an absolutely amazing and challenging trip.

I am the first mate. That means that I have to do what the captain, my husband Ed, tells me to. This is challenging. And we have had a few heated discussions. We have with us our 12 year old Belgium Shepherd, Luna, and our 3 year old cat, Okee. They are great company and Okee is definitely now a therapy cat.

We use headphones when docking. They are called “marriage savers.” Fernandina, Amelia Island.

This boat trip is supposed to last about one year. Ed retired, and I was not reconfirmed by the Senate for the South Florida Water Management District governing board, nor reappointed by the Governor. Thus, this long journey seemed a perfect thing to do. Time for Ed and I to spend some quality time together. As we all know, “time is of the essence.”

So far, our trip has been Stuart to Vero, Vero to Titusville, Titusville to Ponce Inlet, Ponce Inlet to Saint Augustine, Saint Augustine to Fernandina, Fernandina to Jekyll Island, Jekyll Island to Sunbury, and Sunbury to Isle of Hope. Today we are headed to Beaufort, South Carolina, hopefully, weather is to arrive and last for two or three days.

“Wow these crab traps are close together aren’t they?” Sorry we’re approaching Savannah. We just went past Thunderbolt Marina and these crab traps are like, oh my gosh, they’re like you have to weave through them!

The wildlife has been wonderful. My favorite so far are the white pelicans sitting marsh side in groups of 25 or so. They have the second largest wingspan of any bird in North America 9-10 feet. Only the California Condor’s is larger.

White Pelicans have been in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

The trees too have also been an inspiration. Oaks, slash pines, red cedar, and magnolia. Their births holding the rings of hundreds of years. I look up into their highest branches ridiculously trying to capture their spirt within the rectangle of my iPhone.

I’ve been trying to learn about water issues and I have. Most in Georgia are caused by industrial point source pollution and none have been as tragic as the 100 year destruction of the St. Lucie River. Discharges from Lake Okeechobee should be considered point source pollution too.

The serpentine waterways of north Florida and especially Georgia have been just mind boggling . The tide is like a slow breath through the marsh purifying and renewing the ecosystem – oysters, crabs, frogs, alligators, mink, otter and many species of fish. The highest tidal range has been 8 feet!

Lover’s Oak, Brunswick, GA. Over 300 years old 🌳

I’m hoping that this peregrination teaches me something about myself, my marriage, and the history and environmental issues of our great country. Then when I return home, I know I will be renewed.

But I am paying attention.

I noticed yesterday that Governor DeSantis came to a Cove Road Walgreens to sign off on a shoplifting legislative bill with harsher penalties for those who steal. I was surprised he didn’t also mention Martin County’s recent “Lost Spring” due to discharges from Lake Okeechobee. That was stealing too. While I’m on the subject, there was not a peep from Senator Gayle Harrell, or Representatives Overdorf or Snyder about the Lake O discharges either. I suppose Tallahassee leadership has asked that “we just not talk about it.” God forbid…

The Lost Towering Pine Forests of St. Lucie

Gigantic old-growth slash pines, with all the glory to be called “longleaf pine,” stood right here in the St. Lucie River region of Stuart, Palm, City, Indiantown, Jensen, and Hobe Sound. Eagles built massive nests in their crowns. Fox squirrels as large as cats leapt through their branches. Black bears stopped to scratch their backs against wide and furrowed bark. Stealthy panthers and long-legged bobcats silently crept over pine needles in search of turkeys, deer, and wild hog. The endless knocking of the red-cockaded woodpecker echoed throughout until humankind’s insatiable demand for lumber and turpentine brought these forests down.

“Towering pines near Stuart, the Hearste Track. Mills start cutting soon.” Florida Photographic Concern, ca. 1923, courtesy of Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg.

My mother, historian Sandra Thurlow, recently has been amazed by her friend Tootsie’s Facebook pictures! I am sharing more today. In her research, mom also found a column of the late Ernie Lyons, award winning Stuart News editor and writer from 1931-1975. His words pulled from the dust give new life to what once was all around us-something once so wonderful that we don’t even know existed anymore – the great pine forests. As a certified tree hugger, with a tear in my eye, I share Tootsie’s local historic Hill photos together with mom’s discovery of Ernie Lyon’s column. Together they tell the story of our lost forests, a story we must never forget.

“In Johnston & McNeil’s pine forest of one hundred and thirty square miles of fine trees, near Stuart, Fla. Others own still larger adjoining holdings, amount them being the Southern States Land & Timber Company.” The remarkable photographs in this post were taken by Florida Photographic Concern, of Ft. Pierce, Florida ca. 1923. They were shared courtesy of Mrs. Bette J. Tootsie Kindberg a friend of my mothers. These photographs were among many included in planning and selling the idea of Stuart’s Deepwater Harbor that I wrote of in my last blog post.

“Some of the seven thousand barrels of resin at Johnston & McNeil’s turpentine camp, sixteen miles south of Stuart, near the great St. Lucie Control Canal .”

“Another view of Johnston & McNeil’s resin, at camp near Stuart, Fla.”

“Johnston… “ These virgin slash pine forests were under storied by palmetto and wire grass creating a wildlife sanctuary of food and protection.

According to “The Atlas of Florida,” 1992: “Pines, especially long leaf and slash, accounted for three-fourths of the state’s original 25-30 million acres of forests.

A fox squirrel, courtesy of Dr, Gary Goforth.

Historic Hill Photos Planning 1923 “Stuart Deepwater Harbor”

“Manatee Pocket,” Port Salerno, just inside the St. Lucie Inlet and adjacent to Sewall’s Point turning basin. Courtesy of Stuart High School graduate Mrs. Tootsie Haggard Kindberg who shared her rare Hill Florida Photographic Concern historic photographs taken in the early 1920s.

Original document for U.S. Government explaining photographs to be used to secure creation of Stuart’s “deepwater harbor” signed in 1923 by Stanley Kitching, Stuart Commercial Club. This document is transcribed above by Sandra Thurlow.

It is sobering to study history. So many of our region’s early dreams, desires, and economics were tied to the St. Lucie Canal (1916-1924) and also building a gigantic deep water harbor, “Port Stuart,” just inside the St. Lucie Inlet that would have been located in the region of Sewall’s Point and Salerno’s Manatee Pocket. Because of local resident, Mrs. Tootsie Kindberg, who shared her rare Hill Florida Photographic Concern collection, we now have major insight into this era.

For context, in a January 11, 1923 Stuart News article entitled “For All Florida,” Stanley Kitching, president of the Stuart Commercial Club, speaks of the importance of sharing these photographs. Kitching argues the photographs prove need to the U.S. Government for a port to help extract the untaped riches of the St. Lucie region- as this deep water port or harbor would be connected not only to the St. Lucie Canal, but also to Lake Okeechobee.

In support of her friend Tootsie, my mother historian Sandra Thurlow has transcribed a Stuart Messenger article written on January 18, 1923. It is a documentation of the meeting with the U.S. government about funding the deepwater harbor. The attendee read like a “who’s who list.” Although this dream did not materialize in full, thankfully, it must be studied.

I want to thank Mrs. Tootsie Haggard Kindberg who shared her family’s historic photos that were the inspiration for this post. Please look through them and read the article! Looking backwards, we can more clearly navigate what lies before us. To have these photographs all in one place in a very scattered world is a gift. Thank you Mrs. Kindberg!

My mother wrote: “Bette then Betty Haggard (R) was in the tenth grade in your dad’s 1954 Stuart High yearbook.”

Stuart Messenger, January 18,1923. Article transcribed below by Sandra Thurlow.

ENGINEERS HEAR PROOF OF THE NEED OF INLET OPENING

“100 Year Anniversary of the St. Lucie Canal,” a pamphlet

Although it is nothing to celebrate, it is important to know that this year is the 100 year anniversary of the St. Lucie Canal…

I had a goal last year, and that goal was to start writing a book on the history of the St. Luice Canal. I was very fortunate to have plenty of support with materials from the Jacksonville Army Corp of Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, Dr. Gary Goforth, my mother, historian Sandra Thurlow, and my brother Todd Thurlow, author of the eyeonlakeo website. I started with a series of blog posts in 2023 that helped me get oriented.

By June 19, 2023, after over four years of dedicated service, I had not been reconfirmed by the Senate or reappointed by the Governor to the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District. As usual, I had spoken up and ruffled feathers; this time in my opposition to Senate Bill 2508. I was crushed but proud not to have been intimidated by power, or to have conformed to something less than what I believed in. I left with my soul intact as an outspoken and passionate advocate for the St. Lucie River, for that and for my service I am grateful.

During that difficult time of transition, my mother, as she has done multiple times in my life, provided opportunity and direction. “Jacqui I am going to write a book on the history of Palm City, would you co-author with me?” I was stunned as I knew nothing about Palm City except it was a cow pasture when I was a kid, but I did know something about the St. Lucie Canal and C-23 Canals that have absolutely shaped Palm City. Mom and I have been working for almost a year now and the book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, will be published by the end of 2024. So, I never wrote my book on the history of the St. Lucie Canal, but I was able to participate in something much more valuable, working together and learning from my amazing mother.

About a month ago, I put together this general information pamphlet entitled “100 Year Anniversary of the St. Lucie Canal.” Yes, it has been 100 years!

This light pamphlet is coming in handy, perhaps even more than a book, during this 2024 round of Lake Okeechobee discharges. I know we are all saddened by the continued degradation of our waters. The way I look at it is that environmental issues are cultural issues taking centuries to change. We are and have been part of that change. Never be discouraged when you are on the right side of history! ~Copies are available at the Stuart Heritage Museum or just call me at 772-486-3818.

L.O. Discharge Aerial Update 3-4-24

Yesterday, March 4, 2024 around 11:00am, my husband Ed flew Captain’s for Clean Water videographer Noah Miller over the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. Noah and his community, on the west coast of South Florida, share in the adversity of Lake Okeechobee discharges. The Caloosahatchee is our sister river and has been for 100 years.

This year heavy discharges to the St. Lucie began February 17, 2024. There was a reprieve for four days, and then the discharges started again on Saturday, March 2nd. Thus these aerials were taken only two days after the estuary had a four day break from her killer. He let her catch her breath, and then it began again…

Today salinity is only 4.4 at the Roosevelt Bridge as documented by my brother Todd’s website eyeonlakeo!

Today, I am sharing some of the photographs that Ed took. There were 92 and I have paired them down; however, in many cases, especially the bare seagrass meadows, I have included multiple shots. I was also struck by the composition of the lands: Sewall’s Point, Hell’s Gate, Hutchinson Island, Stuart, Rocky Point, Jensen, Rio, Palm City, the St. Lucie Inlet State Park and the St. Lucie Inlet. A puzzle sculpted by time. Such a magnificent place! With the marriage of temperate and tropic zones, this area was once considered “the most bio-diverse estuary in North America,” as documented by famous fish scientists like Dr. Grant Gilmore. But over the years, especially since 2013, the St. Lucie has been ravaged by wretchedly dark polluted water from Lake Okeechobee and cyanobacteria known commonly as “toxic algae.”

When things seems hopeless or decades away, what can one do?

Continue to shine the light…

~Noah Miller of Captains for Clean Water takes video as Ed pilots the plane, a Van’s RV. ~Bird Island, below, sits off Sewall’s Point, with over 17 threatened/endangered species. This is nesting time but there is little food to feed the chicks.

Below are ACOE discharge release schedules. Discharges are determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with the South Florida Water Management District that acts as the “local sponsor” of the Central and South Florida Project both agencies manage. Years ago, there was little awareness or care about the destruction of the environment, but today we know better. The waste of fresh water into the ocean, the absolute carnage caused to the St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, fish, benthic creatures, oysters, birds, mammals depending on food from it, not to mention the slow death caused to our near shore reefs–today this kind of water management is unacceptable. Try as we may for something better, we are not achieving it fast enough to leave future generations here anything but an empty cornucopia.

Palm City’s Once Wonderful Sailfish Lodge

~ A tidbit from our upcoming book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida, Sandra Thurlow & Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

**Sailfish Lodge, Palm City, Florida, ca. 1950, was located on today’s 34th Street. (Thurlow Ruhnke Collection)**

Its brochure read: “Off the Highway and out of town. Sailfish Lodge. No train noises. No Highway traffic roar. Across the bridge from Stuart’s shopping area, railroad, bus station and theatre. At our club dock, you may obtain boats for river fishing. By the week. By the month. For a joyous season. Vacation in comfort.”

Sailfish Lodge was built by Linwood Simmons. It stood on 26 acres acquired in 1946. The acreage included 300 feet of waterfront with a view over Palm City Bay looking to the Palm City Bridge.

Cottages were built in 1946 and the lodge itself in 1948. The lodge was two story and measured 35 by 155 feet featuring a gigantic fireplace. Visiting sportsmen were offered access to both fresh and saltwater fishing and hunters were provided with a woods buggy and guides.

It was a family affair and just about everything they needed was right there. Pine trees on the property even supplied the building lumber. The Simmons family operated the lodge for 20 years. It was beloved and popular. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons grew old, and their children grew up on this fabulous Palm City property.

By 1969, Mrs. Simmons passed and Mr. Simmons later moved to Winter Haven; the property was sold.

In today’s world where “Brightline trains abound and traffic roars louder with every new commissioner-approved development,” the Sailfish Lodge reminds us of a quieter time, a joyous time, when Martin County’s woods and rivers were unspoiled and everything else seemed so very far away…

Sailfish Lodge looked out over Palm City Bay and the Palm City Bridge, 1951. (Thurlow Ricou Collection)

~Thank you to friend, Brian Sullivan, who shared the historic Sailfish Lodge publicity pamphlet inspiring this post.

Beautiful Weather – Hideous Water

It is absolutely beautiful outside. There is not a cloud in the sky, humidity is low, the temperature is perfect, and for all the wading birds and fishes “spring has sprung.” They are excitedly searching for food, but there is little to be found. In the past week, salinity has dropped like a rock and a swift current of filth is pushing towards the St. Luice Inlet.

Boating? Are you kidding? I guess you can, but don’t let your kids swim in the water. Dive the nearshore reefs? I don’t think so!

These aerial photographs were taken just eight days after Lake Okeechobee discharges began into the St. Lucie River. The Army Corps of Engineers with the agreement of their local sponsor, the South Florida Water Management District, endorsed the high level discharges though S-80 to begin on 2-17-24.

Today’s photos were taken yesterday, 2-25-24, around 4pm, by Ed Lippisch and Jay Knobel. I am sharing all photographs for purposes of reference and documentation. The fight goes on as it has for 100 years. Shine the light.

Video

~FOLLOW ON Todd Thurlow’s website eyeonlakeo that now shows SALINITY.

~ACOE’s schedule to be repeated unless changed and reassessed each week. I am also including their announcement given to the people on Valentine’s Day.

Palm City’s “Man’s Man,” John S. Danforth

~ A tidbit from our upcoming book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida, by Sandra Thurlow & Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

One of early Palm City’s most interesting characters is John S. Danforth. He was a true “man’s man,” kind of like Ernest Hemingway. Danforth was a writer, a hunter, an avid outdoorsman, and really an entrepreneur. Today, there remains a creek, among other landmarks still holding his name.

According to my mother, John Danforth started modestly with a floating cabin that eventually became one of the earliest hunting lodges in the country, “Camp Caribou.” It added to his reputation as a “knowledgeable and charismatic sportsman’s host and guide.” This success led him to leave Maine in 1892 and with his friends bring a “floating hotel” to the shores of the St. Luice River where Palm City would be born.

The floating hotel in Maine as photographed before its journey to the St. Lucie River. Thurlow collection.

Dansforth chose to came to the St. Lucie region for its wildlife, “endless” hunting, and other opportunities lying within an untouched wilderness of slash pine forests, palmetto, river, slough and ponds; a perfect habitat for deer, bears, panthers, turkeys, hogs, raccoons, flying squirrels, birds, small fur-bearing mammals, fish and critters of all kinds!

This 1912 Florida Photographic Concern photo of the pinewoods of Palm City Farms was taken 20 years after John Danforth first came to the area in 1892. West of the St. Lucie River was a remote wilderness full of wildlife.

Danforth made friends with the Seminole Indians especially famous Tom Tiger, leader of the Gopher Clan. They hunted the region of the St. Luice as well as going deeper into the lower Everglades. Danforth wrote about these experiences in widely distributed hunting magazines. He wrote because he loved it and to attract others to this St. Lucie/Palm City paradise and gateway to Lake Okeechobee and the inner Everglades.

Even though as an avid animal lover it breaks my heart, I am going to include Danforth’s article that will be in my mother and my upcoming book because it is important documentation. It is entitled “Two Christmas Hunts.” It is written about Danforth’s hunting experience with the goal to kill a panther as led by Tom Tiger. The article appeared in “Shooting and Fishing” No. 9 on December 14, 1899 and is a testament to those times. A time when South Florida, including Palm city was a wildlife wilderness.

~John Danforth is buried beside his loving wife, Sarah, in Fernhill Cemetery, Highway 76, Stuart, Florida.

Valentine’s Day Discharge Announcement

Yesterday, on Valentine’s Day, the estuaries did not receive sweet news. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, working to manage water together with their local sponsor, the South Florida Water Management District, announced that they will begin significant discharges (1800+/- cfs) from Lake Okeechobee (16.37 ft.) beginning Saturday, 2-17-24.

The aerials below taken by my husband, Ed Lippisch, on 2-14-24 around noon, 30 minutes before high tide, can serve as a baseline for comparison as our waters decline.

Presently, there is no representation on the South Florida Water Management District governing board as far as a traditional sitting Martin County representative. Appointed in 2019 by Governor DeSantis, I was removed in June 2023, really due to the power of the President of the Senate and those influencing her, for comments I made at a governing board meeting in February of 2022 in response to Senate Bill 2508, a bill undermining the District, water control, and the EAA Reservoir. In the the following months, I was not reappointed, as I could have been, by Governor DeSantis, nor was anyone else. Thus the seat sits open at this critical time. I believe I was removed not just because of my comments, but because of my knowledge and my record for speaking the truth. By a long and cruel silence we are being punished.

I will continue to advocate with the pen and with my voice for the St. Lucie River as I have since 2008 when I first became a Town of Sewall’s Point Commissioner and began to learn the dark history of Florida’s water policy. I want to thank the thousands of people and the many organizations who have helped in this battle. We must continue to “shine the light” and change water policy for the better as we have done and will continue to do. As we know, it’s a long and rocky ride.

~Jacqui

A not very full C-44 Reservoir, Indiantown, FL

2-14-24 SLR/IRL at St. Luice Inlet. Ed Lippisch.

A few of the ACOE Periodic Scientist Call slides 2-14-24 that I screenshot

Palm City’s 1914 Post Office, “You’ve got mail!”

~ A tidbit from our upcoming book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida, by Sandra Thurlow & Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

Palm City Post Office in the slash pine wilderness, c. 1914. Thurlow/Ricou Collection.

“You’ve got mail.”

In Palm City, in 1914, no one would have imagined email, texts, or cell phones. “Mail” meant a handwritten letter inside an envelope, one that may have been sent from very far away. One from a dear family member or an old friend. One about business opportunities. Having a post office was very important.

George Washington Jones signed the application for the Palm City Post Office on April 14, 1914. It was located inside his general merchandise store near Palmetto Street that later became Martin Downs Boulevard. Mr. Jones was postmaster, a very prestigious and important position in the growing community.

George Washington stamp, 1914. U.S. Post Office

It has been said that: “The history of the post office is the story of America.” Palm City’s post office played a chief role in bringing more people to the area. Letters from settlers shared information encouraging others to join them in Chillingworth’s remote Palm City Farms. One could call the post office, the “social media” of the day.

Palm City Post Office on the St. Lucie River with arriving horse and carriage, waving of American flag, but no post office sign. c. 1914. Thurlow Collection.

In this plat map from the 1920s it shows the location of the post office marked by a red dot. The St. Luice River and rudimentary bridge would be located to the east. Today we take such things for granted, but not in those days of yesteryear. The Palm City Post Office was a key place, a place where people came to get the “news of the day” or a “letter from a friend.”‘ Now we just look at our cell phones. Personally, I think I would rather sit, gossip, and wait on the porch at the old post office!

Plat map of Palm City, c. 1920s. Red dot denotes location of the Palm City Post Office between Palmetto Road and 1st Street. Today Palmetto Road is Martin Downs Blvd. and the street numbers have been changed. Thurlow Collection.

Marketing Palm City Farms, father/developer C. C. Chillingworth

~ A tidbit from our upcoming book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, Florida, by Sandra Thurlow & Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

~Charles Curtis Chillingworth, 1868-1936, was born in Liverpool, New York and passed away in West Palm Beach, Florida. Pictured below at 45 years old, second from left, front row.

Alligator Smith aside, it is Charles Curtis Chillingworth “distinguished pioneer, citizen, attorney and developer,” who must be recognized as the “father/founder” of Palm City and Palm City Farms. In the early 1900s western Palm City Farms was sold in ten acre plots with a small bonus lot in what was termed Palm City on the St. Lucie. Today I am going to share a bit about Chillingworth the man, and how his development was marketed.

In my reading, I came to especially like Chillingworth because his autobiography notes his appreciation of nature, including the beauty of Florida’s iconic cabbage palm trees.

“As I remember of it, I left Atlanta one evening about the middle of October, 1891, and reached Jacksonville the following morning. Later that day I took a train on the old Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad, now the Atlantic Coast Line, which runs on the west side of the St. Johns River. I changed cars at Enterprise Junction for Titusville. That evening with the sun in the west just before sunset, I saw the first cabbage palmetto trees I ever saw in my life, and they made a great impression on me….”

So how did he come to develop Palm City Farms?

Chillingworth a young, hard working lawyer, eventually learned about lands west of the St. Luice River and wanted a part of development himself.

As he put it:

“In 1909 a real estate boom sprung up in South Florida, especially in the purchase of sale of large tracts of land.”

After much back and forth, Chillingworth took title to at least 12,000 acres from the Florida Coast Line Canal & Transportation Company. He then opened the Palm Beach Land Company in Stuart in 1911, because at that time what became Martin County lie in Palm Beach County, and Stuart had a small downtown area.

Chillingworth’s land office sold Palm City Farms. Historic Society of Martin County.

Chillingworth explains who helped him market the lands giving insight into those times:

“I took with me Miss Reilly, who had been my stenographer in New York during that summer. She was a most faithful and efficient helper and I made her Assistant Secretary of the new Company…”

Years later after Chillingworth’s death, Miss Reilly, now married as “Patsy Reilly McCord,” wrote a 1964 piece for the Stuart News about how Palm City Farms and Palm City on the St. Lucie were marketed. It is fascinating to read her account. Then, like now, it was not just the natural resources of the land, but of course also the beauty of the St. Lucie River that “sold” newcomers.

“Patsy Reilly McCord” was C.C. Chillingworth’s’ Assistant Secretary – here photographed in a beautiful Palm City Farms’ grapefruit grove, c. 1915. She helped organize trips for prospective buyers to see the beauty of the area to sell Palm City Farms and Palm City on the St. Lucie. Martin Digital History.

Patsy (Reilly) McCord wrote::

“The sale of land progressed, and in order to entertain the prospective purchasers, the Palm City Land Company purchased boats and automobiles and mule teams and large comfortable covered wagons for use in displaying the wonders of the rivers, ocean and plantations. The Palm Beach land Company took care of all prospective buyers by entertaining them and paying all expenses of their visit, while here, consisting of boat trips to the inlet, trips out the North and South Forks as well as wagon trips to different points of interest in the county, winding up with a trip to Palm Beach.

In those days, the waters of the St. Lucie were salty, (the inlet had been opened in 1892 and the St. Lucie Canal was not completed until 1924) and at night the water was so full of phosphorus the millions of fish looked like millions of streaks of lighting darting through the water. It was a wonderful sight in those days to be on the river in the darkness.”

WOW! It must have been beautiful!

The maps below will help you see the location of Palm City Farms and Palm City. I hope you enjoyed today’s “tidbit.”

Google maps with Palm City Farms subdivision overlay. Todd Thurlow

My mother’s color coding of township/range map of Palm City Farms – pink. The Hanson Grant is in blue.

Chillingworth offered a lot in Palm City on the St. Lucie to those who bought ten acres further west in Palm City Farms. Note location of St. Lucie River for reference – 1911 plat map.

Expresso-Turquoise Waters

Eye in the Sky…

Eye on Lake O…

~Expresso and turquoise waters converge near the St. Luice Inlet and the confluence of St. Lucie River/ Indian River Lagoon, as seen on February 1, 2024. Even with no major discharges from Lake Okeechobee since 2018, dark waters from rain runoff and area canals remain apparent.

When I asked Ed to take more varied shots of St. Luice, he said this is difficult due to being in a restricted air space during takeoff and landing. Also, unlike days of past, there are many airplanes and jets coming in and out of Witham Field.

Lake O is currently at 16.30 feet and we are experiencing a “strong El Nino” which means “rain.”

Maybe I’ll go up with Ed soon and try for some long range photographs. I have only been up in the Vans RV once, last June, and brought my barf bag! It was actually a wonderful flight.

~Aerials were taken 2-1-24 at approximately 12:30pm by Ed Lippisch.

~Images below are complements of South Florida System Update, Department of Environmental Protection, 1-31-24.

~Lake O

Blue Green Algae: South Florida System Update 01-31-2024

Prediction/El Nino conditions 1 and 3 months

El Nino means continued rain during Florida’s “dry season.”

~SFWMD Rainfall data and link

Palm City’s Real Founding Father, “Alligator Smith”

One of the earliest photographs of “Palm City,” along the St. Lucie River. Florida Photographic Concern, 1912-1913. Thurlow Collection.

In my previous blog post announcing my mother’s and my upcoming book, A Pictorial History of Palm City, I told the story of Palm City’s very interesting early homesteader, Alligator Smith. Today I will share another tidbit – how Palm City’s creation is connected to Smith, and how his 1891 “state of intoxication and drowning” in the St. Luice River inadvertently led to C.C. Chillingworth becoming the known founding father of Palm City Farms in 1911.

In 1891 C.C. Chillingworth was a young lawyer at Robbins and Graham soon to be working in Juno, the county seat of Dade County.

Chillingworth’s second case was civil in the United States Land Office. In those days thousands of acres of land were open for homestead-entry but one had to reside on the land for two years. It was Chillingworth’s job to prove that William M. Smith, locally known along the St. Luice as “Alligator Smith,” had “not abandoned” his 160 acre homestead, on the west side of the river. By law, a six month abandonment caused the homestead to revert back to the federal government.

An antique post card reads,” A Florida Native.” ca 1910.

Obituary of Alligator Smith, Tropical Sun 1891.

Jewelry made from alligator teeth, c. 1880s, Thurlow Collection.

Chillingworth’s autobiography written in his later years states:

“We were engaged about a week in taking testimony at Pottsdam, now known as Stuart and I had been unable to prove that Smith had been spending any time on the homestead during six months. Smith was drunk and fell overboard from a boat in the St. Lucie River on July 4, 1891. However when I began to check on the testimony and prepare a brief for the Register of the U.S. Land Office at Gainesville, Florida, I discovered that Smith had died just one day less than six months after he made entry.”

Smith seemed to have lost his homestead by one day!

The case was appealed to the General Land Office in Wahington D.C. and to the Secretary of the Interior, but in the end Chillingworth prevailed. According to my mother, the Bureau of Land Management documented that a Mr. George Mulligan ended up with Alligator Smith’s former homestead. How, we will never know!

These “coveted and valuable lands” located on the west side of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River are connected to today’s Palm City Farms developed in 1911 by none other that C. C. Chillingworth. Chillingworth’s familiarly with the lands of Alligator Smith inspired Chillingworth to develop Palm City Farms twenty years later. Without Alligator Smith, there would be no Palm City. I think we can say, Alligator Smith is Palm City’s real founding father!

Chillingworth offered a lot in Palm City to those who bought ten acres further west in Palm City Farms. Note location of St. Lucie River for reference – 1911 plat map.

Me modeling alligator hat holder and pin jewelry carefully arranged by my mother.

Palm City’s First Homesteader, Alligator Smith

“And the Palm Tree Nodded to the Mirror in the Jungle.” Ormond, Florida. Stereoscope c. late 1800s, Thurlow collection.

Over the past year, I have been doing something wonderful. I have been working on a book about Palm City, Florida, with my mother, Sandra Henderson Thurlow to be entitled A Pictorial History of Palm City. We are having it proofed and edited now; it will be published sometime in late 2024. In the meanwhile, I am going to share some tidbits.

Have you ever wondered who was the first modern character of Palm City? He was a trapper. An alligator hunter who more than likely, over time, killed thousands of alligators selling their teeth of fine ivory to make jewelry. The trapper’s name? Of course, Alligator Smith!

Apparently, Alligator Smith was very well liked and fraternized with the likes of now famous names of our area such as Bessey, Stypmann and Krueger. However, my mother and I had different feelings towards Alligator Smith. I was really not fond of him and felt like “he got what he had coming to him,” when he died on July 4th, 1891 in a state of intoxication, falling off his boat, Magic, and drowning in the St. Luice River off of Sewall’s Point.

Mom saw him as a suvivalist. My thoughts? Perhaps after killing so many alligators on a river once named “Halpatiokee” which means “alligator waters” in a native tongue,“ the spirit of the river may have decided to take Alligator Smith home.

His real name was “William Smith” and he was working to obtain his homestead from the federal government at today’s Pendarvis Cove. As you’ll learn in the next post, “his lands” inadvertently seeded the creation of “Palm City.”

Stereoscopes became popular around 1850; today, they are considered the first step towards “virtual reality.”

“And the Palm Tree Nodded to the Mirror in the Jungle.” Ormond, Florida. Stereoscope c. late 1800s, Thurlow collection.

El Nino, Lake Okeechobee, and the St. Lucie River

1-10-24, St. Lucie Inlet region, Ed Lippisch

El Nino has not given us many sunny Florida days this winter; however, there have been a few. These aerials taken by my husband Ed Lippisch on January 10, 2024, around noon are an example of a rare sunny day. As mentioned in my last post, Lake Okeechobee has not been discharged to the St. Luice River heavily since 2018. Today, on 1-13-23, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Okeechobee is sitting at 16.06 feet. You can see from the 2024 chart below how the lake is creeping up since the new year. The 2023 chart below it, reveals numbers sometimes over 16 feet as well. There are a number of things causing uncertainly regarding lake operations. But on January 16th, 2024 the ACOE Periodic Scientist Call will occur. At this time we will get a clue of the fate of the St. Lucie. Hopefully nothing will change. Until then, you can go to eyeonlakeo.com and watch the numbers in close to real time while you email your favorite elected official.

~ACOE

~All aerials below were taken 1-10-23, Ed Lippisch

~St. Lucie Inlet with rain plume

~Looking west over Hutchinson Island, Sewall’s Point and Stuart. Just off of south Sewall’s Point is the confluence of the St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

~St. Luice Inlet State Park (L) and Sailfish Point (R) on Hutchinson Island. Note lack of seagrass beds. There were once 700 acres of lush grasses in this area. Also called the Sailfish Flats

A strong El Nino 2023/2024 means higher than average rainfall for Florida.

“The Fishing Grounds of Presidents,” Martin Digital History

In case you haven’t heard about Martin Digital History, I’d like to share a bit of it today. Part of the library system, its “mission is to encourage the appreciation of Martin County’s unique history by collaborating with community members and local organizations to collect, present, and interpret relevant digital content.”

Some of the first cultural documents digitized at the encouragement of historian Sandra Thurlow were the old Martin County Chamber of Commerce Fishing Guides. I know many of my readers will appreciate these historic documents!

Here is a page from the 1935 fishing guide noting the St. Lucie River was “the Fishing Grounds of Presidents.” Pretty amazing all things considered today!

5 presidents who fished the St. Luice River.

A list of fish and the artwork of the 1935 cover note fish that are still found in the area but in much lesser quantities.

Click here to see a pdf. version of the 1935 Fishing Guide’s Entire Document.

Click here to see the Fishing Guide of 1935 and other Collections

I hope this is just the beginning of your learning about Martin Digital History!

It’s a Beautiful New Year

On December 31st, the eve of 2024, Ed photographed our region. On a bright sunny day after the settling of heavy El Nino rains, the camera revealed a world of beauty. Stubborn water quality problems and lack of seagrass habitat for wildlife persist but we are thankful for policy shifts that since 2019, have spared the St. Luice River major damaging, toxic discharges from Lake Okeechobee, and it shows.

El Nino’s guaranteed rains through spring, an entrenched legislative culture of protections for agriculture and development, and a lake sitting today at 15.97 will make this blue beauty difficult to hold.

But for today, it is a beautiful new year. Happy 2024 to everyone and may we continue to to speak out at any cost and may we continue to shine the light. J &E

~The St. Lucie River Indian River Lagoon

~Hell’s Gate, Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island where darker estuary waters collide with the incoming ocean

~St. Lucie Inlet at today’s Sailfish Point, Hutchinson Island

~Boats fishing over the reef off of Peck’s Lake in the blue and beautiful Atlantic Ocean. It is widely reported that only 3% of reefs have survived warming, pollution, and other stressors.

~Manatee Pocket bottom right -looking towards St. Lucie Inlet

~Rocky Point and St. Lucie Inlet State Park south of inlet. The once 700 acres of seagrass mostly bare. Like a plant in one’s yard it is dormant in winter but should not be absent

~The C-23 Canal divides St. Luice and Marin counties discharging into the St. Lucie River and is highly polluted from agriculture and development’s runoff. Reservoirs and stormwater treatment areas are underway by the ACOE and hoped to be completed by 2032.

Seeing Pollution in Clear Color – Water Data Maps

https://eyeonlakeo.com, Todd Thurlow’s Water Data Maps are easy to read!

Basin Management Action Plans and Total Maximum Daily Loads – the process by which the state of Florida is approaching cleaning up our polluted waters- is not working. Why?

“Until the public is able to understand how all of this stuff works, we’re never going to have accountability,” said Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, SFWMD Governing Board member 2019-2023. ~Article TCPalm “Florida’s BMAPs are Failing”

Literacy. It is the key to all things. Being able to read and understand allows one to SEE for oneself what works and what is broken. The Florida BMAP public process is broken. BMAP reports on “improving waterways” are painfully complicated and pollution is increasing not lessening. When the state legislature does not meet its goals dependent on the Department of Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Agriculture, politicians simply push deadlines into the future because BMAPs read like a foreign language and thus accountability by the public is impossible.

Now that will change.

Todd Thurlow, Eye on Lake O, has created “Water Data Maps” that are readable and easily show pollution levels so we can SEE the nitrogen and phosphorus killing our waterways and where it is coming from. We don’t need 15 years. We don’t need 30 years. We can see it today, for action today! Please explore the website and I will be writing more on this in the near future.

Go to: WATER DATA MAPS

Data Maps Quick Start Guide

Links to State of Florida’s Statewide Annual Reports

Lake O

St. Lucie River

Caloosahatchee River

Indian River Lagoon Joy for the Holidays

This past week, Ed and I took “Finito” from Stuart to anchor-out in Melbourne in the Indian River Lagoon. From foggy to bright blue skies, to hundreds of diving sea birds and thousands of bobbing ducks, this area once plagued by some of the worst algae blooms and loss of wildlife appears to be recovering. But good days during winter are not enough and we did not see one manatee. There is a long way to go and all is contingent on the state really getting on top of water quality issues which I plan to write a lot more about next year.

Today, as we approach Christmas, I share to inspire joy. Ed and I are wishing everyone hope, peace, and joy for the holidays along the Indian River Lagoon and everywhere!

Approaching the beautiful waters of Ft. Pierce

Cobb’s General Store, since 188!, Ft. Pierce

“No pedestrians allowed?” Isn’t this a sidewalk? Near Melbourne Harbour Marina

Sign on door read “No dogs allowed,” Luna seemed miffed! Melbourne Harbor Marina 🙂

Cormorants on the Melbourne Causeway Bridge

Man fishing with wood storks nearby, Eau Gallie

Strange looking drone in Eau Gallie River!

Funny little crab amongst thousands of minnows being chased by Lookdowns – a fish I’d never heard of. Ft Pierce City Marina

Home of artist Bean Backus, Ave. C Ft. Pierce

Brightline is a new, colorful addition to in the area, and a controversial one too

Ed in front of Sunrise Theatre, Ft. Pierce

Beached sailboat mouth of Banana River and northern IRL

Banana River very interesting to finally see

There were thousands of bobbing little black and white ducks, Melbourne Causeway

The joy of a spectacular sunset, Melbourne, IRL

Luna goes for a ride!

Bottlenosed dolphins were jumping on both sides of “Finito” south of Ft. Pierce! An incredible way to head home! I am sure they were saying: “Happy Holidays and thanks for protecting the IRL!”

Deviation for Water Conservation Areas – will this recipe help the St. Lucie?

Little water has been sent south from Lake Okeechobee as the EAA runoff is prioritized and, when rainy, the WCA are filled up like overflowing bowls. The SFWMD aims to “send water south” from Lake O, but it can’t unless there is capacity, and there rarely is…

Yesterday the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they will be allowing a deviation in operations for the Water Conservation Areas. You may recall my recent posts about the high water levels in the manmade, levied water conservation areas and the dangers to wildlife and tree islands and the fact that when they are “full” it is not possible to “send water south” to the Everglades National Park from Lake Okeechobee….

~NRP report

-which means that if the Lake is filling up the St. Lucie River is closer to being discharged to. Today according to the South Florida Water Management District the lake sits at 16.01 feet. If indeed the present strong El Nino unleashes torrents of rain this winter, as it already did on November 15, 2023, or even if not, and the ACOE wants to “plan” by sending non- toxic algae lake water to the estuaries before summer, we are hosed.

Why? Because the system was built that way. It was built to favor some and hurt others, to protect the Everglades Agricultural Area and South Florida from flooding by draining Lake Okeechobee into the St. Luice and Calooshahatchee.

OK. A lot of issues were accepted from the late 1800s through 1948 when the Central and Southern Florida Plan was built. That does not mean it is acceptable today. There are options that would greatly improve the situation, like having everyone including the EAA sugar lands hold water on their lands instead of using the lake like a pond at a homeowner’s association to irrigate their lawn! This is 2024 almost!

It is appreciated that the ACOE is allowing a deviation for the Water Conservation Areas and of course the animals and tree islands must be helped too. But we must realize this it is not enough to save the the St. Lucie River that is almost dead as it is. No false hope.

It’s time for a new recipe!

We are Thankful to Share A View From Above, by Jacqui & Ed

Thanksgiving is approaching and it is time to reflect. Ed and I are grateful. We are grateful to be able to document the successes and setbacks of the Central Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP from the air. We are thankful to have pilot friends like Dr. Scott Kuhns and professional pilot Dave Stone join us – they have been fellow River Warriors for ten years! The photos we share today do not show perfection but they do show determination. All photographs were taken on November 19th 2023 between 2 and 4pm. It is our story, all of our story, as shown from above.

Pilot Dave Stone of Ft. Meyers is a long time River Warrior. He is pictured here with his newly built and painted Vans RV at LaBelle Municipal Airport. (Photo Ed Lippisch)

The following seven photos are of the C-43 Reservoir part of CERP. The SFWMD had a few hiccups due to the contractor and Covid but is now “back on track.” This reservoir will be gigantic. According to the ACOE it is located on 10,700 acres of former farmland in Hendry County, Florida, west of Labelle, the Caloosahatchee River West Basin Storage (C-43) Reservoir will hold approximately 170,000 acre-feet of water, with the maximum depth ranging from 15 feet to 25 feet. To compare, the C-44 Reservoir in Martin County is on 3000 acres and should hold 15 feet too.

C-43 RESERVOIR

The ACOE Integrated Delivery Schedule, its calendar for everything, for 2023, is aiming for 2028 to complete the building of the C-23 Reservoir.

IDS_DRAFT_090123_FOR PRINTING

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

C-44 RESERVOIR

S-308 at Port Mayaca is attached to the C-44 Canal, the canal the C-44 Reservoir is built to to clean before water through reservoir and storm water treatment area before it is released to the St. Lucie River.

ST. LUICE RIVER/IRL

The confluence of the St. Lucie River Indian River Lagoon meets at the St. Lucie Inlet built by hand by locals in 1892. Note erosion of Jupiter Island south.

October and November bring King Tides flushing out the inlet area and pushing back dark runoff and canal waters.

The Atlantic Ocean has been rough and is stirred up.

A southeastern look over the peninsula of Sewall’s Point clearly reveals the importance of tidal flow. The north and south forks and even the main do not get this extensive flushing. Due to discharges events in 2013, 2016 and 2018 seagrass loss has been significant. The goal is for the building of reservoirs and STAs of CERP to halt the damage, for that we are thankful.

Come Hear Merritt Matheson Speak About Martin County Forever!

Thursday, November 16, at the Rivers Coalition meeting held at the Stuart City Commission Chambers, 121 SW Flagler Avenue, 11am, Merritt Matheson will present. Matheson, from the famous Matheson family, was once a commissioner for the City of Stuart himself. Now serving on the Indian River Keeper Board of Directors and the Rivers Coalition, he is continuing his good work as a face for MARTIN COUNTY FOREVER.

You may have heard of it?

If not, I’ll share a bit of what I have learned to wet your whistle, and I encourage everyone to attend the meeting in person or Zoom. (For Zoom mail Info@RiversCoalition.org or call 772-225-6849)

Check out these links:

Facbook MCForever

Website MCForever

Digital Brochure

We all know the county is rapidly being developed. It’s hard to watch.

If Martin County Forever gets supported by the Martin County Commission to go on the the ballot for voters to decide whether to support land acquisition, Martin County Forever can offset that loss. Martin County has already done a great job acquiring lands in the past. I think people will support Martin County Forever as it will only be about land acquisition. As the land so the water…

According to Martin County Forever literature, over 116,000 acres have been identified on the Martin County Land Acquisition Map (above). In years past, with community support, about 61% or (71,000) acres were acquired, leaving approximately 46,000 acres left that can still be acquired. Target areas include Blueways, the Indian River Lagoon watershed, Loxa-Lucie and Pal-Mar. These are beautiful areas that need to be saved and could become part of a so needed east coast wildlife corridor. The only lands for consideration are those eligible for state funding to match due to previous designations.

I commend Merritt for his conservation work and for never, never, never giving up! I hope you can join him.

All slides and photographs courtesy of the MC Forever website and FB page.

“A View From Above” by Jacqui & Ed Lippisch

C-23 Canal separates Martin and St. Lucie counties as does an ideology.

Citrus Boulevard runs through what will become Newfield.

An interesting look at some remaining natural features.

Cobblestone cradled into I95, a concept once frowned upon and now popular.

The C-44 Reservoir in Indiantown holding 7 feet of water rather than 15 due to seepage issues.

C-44 Canal and S-308 at Port Mayaca, w/Lake Okeechobee algae free in cooler weather and standing at 16.20 feet.

Sugar fields surround Lake Okeechobee and in recent years are increasing in Martin County.

St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon – looking north over St. Lucie Inlet Park on Jupiter Island.

A slender plume exits the St. Lucie Inlet, from rain and runoff of C-23/24 and the surrounding basin, but no Lake O water.

Seagrass beds between Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island were ravaged in 2013, 2016, and 2018 due to Lake O releases and have been slowly coming back but with microaglae coating them. The once 700 acres is much lessened.

Looking over Rocky Point to the St. Lucie Inlet. Rocky Point has one of the few parks that displays native vegetation, “Maggy’s Hammock Park.”

Sewall’s Point was said to be “the most beautiful of all” in the topological survey description of this region in 1883. Most of the native jungle like vegetation and topography that inspired this title has been removed for today’s taste in development. You can see what was like in 1883 or near to it if you visit “Maggy’s Hammock Park” in Rocky Point. A treasure!

The Dolphins are Jumping but no False Hope!

Ed and I just got off a seven day journey on “Finito.” We traveled along the Indian River Lagoon from Stuart to Cape Canaveral and only turned around due to a fuel leak that was heroically brought to our attention our eighty pound Belgium Shepherd, Luna.

Luna although a bit crippled walked to the front to bark and alert us to the smell of gas in the salon. Ed and I were upstairs in the pilot house.

The Lagoon has been through hell the past decade, especially in regards to algae blooms that began around 2010 and peaked in 2013. Over 90 percent of seagrasses in the 156 mile lagoon died off in those and the following years and FWC still reports issues including fish kills. I believe that the lagoon is improving in spite of continued difficulties. Just the past few days the water quality the length of the lagoon looked appealing and there were dolphins jumping in our wake the entire trip! Dozens of them, all along the way! These clever animals will always find a fish, in spite of crappy water, but nonetheless, their presence was inspiring.

Even though this was to be the “retirement cruise,” I couldn’t help myself from zooming into a Rivers Coalition meeting on October 26 and was impressed that for the second time in row since I was ditched by the Senate, South Florida Water Management District executive staff and a governing board member drove all the way from West Palm Beach to attend the meeting. Obviously this is done for their self preservation, but still!

The subject of the meeting was “Sending Water South,” and basically the theme, in line with my last blog post, was that the the high water in Water Conservation Areas south of Lake Okeechobee makes sending water south right now “impossible.” Staff said they were draining the WCAs now, the Storm Water Treatment Areas are restored, and they hope to send Lake Okeechobee water south in December. Of course no one mentions this bottleneck is caused by the Everglades Agricultural Area….

I found this possibility about sending water south in December misleading. In fact, it was False hope. Sure there is always a possibility that things will not turn out as science plans, but we should recognize science nonetheless. Especially as the District is based on science has its own scientific weather bureau that is so respected the ACOE relies on its data!

Two days prior to the Rivers Coalition meeting the District hosted a Water Resource Form. During this forum the high probability of above average rainfall December 2023 through February 2024 over the sixteen county South Florida Water Management District was noted. This is due to a weather condition known as El Nino. So back to the Rivers Coalition meeting, what if as science is revealing, we do not have a dry season and it rains over the Water Conservation Areas? Hmmm? Then the SFWMD probably wont be able to send water south in December, or January or February and tree islands and fur-bearing animals will continue to suffer as will we. This may have been mentioned in passing but it was not discussed.

Lake Okeechobee is discharged east and west when determined too high by the ACOE.

I rather be prepared for something that may happen than have my government spoon feed me false hope gliding over serious issues. A scientific agency has the responsibility to share science not hope.

TCPalm Article by Ed Killer

Concerns-Overfull WCAs & Lake O Discharges

Yesterday, I listened to the South Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board meeting via Zoom. The overriding issue, besides the fact the St. Lucie River system’s C-44 Reservoir is not working, Lake O is over 16 feet and discharges could soon be imminent, was “high water in the Water Conservation Areas.”

What are WCAs anyway?

They were built as part of the giant drainage system of Florida that “over did it.”

The Water Conservation Areas were built to hold water because we had over-drained, but now sometimes they get too full…

https://eros.usgs.gov/media-gallery/earthshot/canals-and-levees

In 1947 there was “the great flood,” that destroyed lands and properties in the seventeen counties of the Everglades Drainage District. This led to the U.S. Army Corps building the monstrosity named the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes (C&SFP.) The S.F.W.M.D. is the local sponsor. The two agencies work together.

United States Geological Survey explains:

“Historically, water flowed slowly southward through the Everglades in a wide swath. Record floods in 1947 and 1948 led to the construction of a massive flood control project. It served to prevent flooding and store water during dry periods. It also allowed for further development of the growing urban area on the Atlantic coastal ridge.

The project established three Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), one of which is the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. These areas are delineated in the Landsat images, clearly divided by the levees and canals. Also visible are the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and Everglades Agricultural Area.Another part of the project is the 100-mile-long eastern perimeter levee, a 3- to 6-meter high earthen berm built to prevent flooding of farmland and urban areas. It runs along the eastern edge of the WCAs, marking a clear separation between the WCAs and urban areas such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Coral Springs.

Along with facilitating the further growth of the urban areas of greater Miami, the other upshot of the project was that the natural flow of water was interrupted, changing the hydrology of the region. The gradual sheet flow of freshwater is diminished, and instead sudden pulses of water are delivered by the canals. These sudden releases caused decreases in the numbers of fish species.”

The bottom line is that when there has been significant rain, like now, the WCAs overfill and the fur bearing animals are seriously at risk, unnaturally surrounded by rising water with no access to their habitat. Deer and other mammals have to take refuge on sacred Native American tree islands or on levees. Often, many species are desperately standing together. Friend and foe. All stressed, all scared, and all hungry.

In 1982 there was a so called “mercy-killing” of over 700 deer that were “starving” in the flooded Water Conservation Area 3. There are concerns that this year a similar situation could arise. I recommend watching the SFMWD meeting under section 28 and all public comments and more if you have the time. This is a very serious issue and no way to treat God’s creatures. How we treat humans during Lake O discharge events is bad enough. It is time to undo the past.

Canadian Fire Smoke Over Florida, 10-3-23

A Thurlow family text for the history books…

9:22 am October 3, 2023

Brother Todd: “Did you guys see the sun this morning? I never stop on my morning run but I had to pause to take a picture. It looked like the moon.”

Jacqui: “Yeah, really something. When I drove over the bridge twenty minutes ago on my way from Sewall’s Point to Stuart, I said to myself ‘what is that?’ The sky looked like a huge fog bank coming from west to the east.”

Sister Jenny: “There is some weird haze in the air. Does anyone know what it is? I got an air quality alert on my radar and I saw it last night and this morning.”

Sister-in law Deanna: “My co-worker just said it is the Canadian wildfires.”

Jenny: “Crazy!”

Todd: “Looking at satellite imagery now. Unbelievable stream of smoke. I will try to compile and send.”

Deanna: “The article mentions Central Florida, but wondering is it is stretching more south towards us? Wouldn’t be surprised with all this crazy wind we’ve been having.”

Mom Sandy : “You guys amaze me.”

Todd: “Smoke being sucked down from south of Hudson Bay on September 28. If you zoom in you will see a little read dots Those are thermal anomalies (wildfires being picked up by the satellite.”

Jacqui: “Photo doesn’t do justice. Smoke is all around, more than Stuart. I am in Palm City now. You’d think the fire was burning nearby in Okeechobee, not Canada.”

Please link here to view the video “Canadian Fire Smoke over Florida” 10-3-23, Todd Thurlow or see below if You Tube is displayed.

“If you live in Florida, you may have noticed the smoke in the air on Tuesday morning, October, 3, 2023 This is a two-day loop of 276 GOES-East satellite images, 10-minute intervals from 10/2/2023 @ 9pm to 10/3/2023 @ 8pm. You can see a low pressure system in the northern Atlantic. That system pulls a stream of smoke from the northern Atlantic towards Florida on 10/2/2023. It arrives overnight and is over Florida on the morning of 10/3/2023. The north Atlantic smoke originated from wildfires near Hudson Bay in Canada. You can make the video loop by right-clicking the video and selecting “loop“. ~Todd Thurlow

A Surprise Visit From the S.F.W.M.D.

Drew Bartlett, Executive Director, SFWMD.

Yesterday, I attended the Rivers Coalition meeting. It was a nice surprise to see so many members of the South Florida Water Management District as they were not listed on the agenda. “The District visitors” included Drew Bartlett, Executive Director; Laurence Glenn, Division Director, Water Resources; Sean Cooley, Chief Communications and Public Policy Officer, Office of Communications and Public Engagement; Kathy LaMartina, Regional Representative, Orange, Osceola, Polk, St. Lucie and Martin Counties; and Governing Board Member, Cheryl Meads, At large East Coast, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Cheryl Meads, at large governing Board member SFWMD.

The Rivers Coalition Meeting itself was entitled“Get the Muck Out of Here” and featured Joe Gilo, Lake Okeechobee Restoration Initiative, and Len Lindahl, McVicar Consulting/Diatom Project. Both presentations focused on improving water quaintly in the lake, an essential goal. Very interesting, but the presentations and question/answer sessions were cut short due to time.

Having the South Florida Water Management District as a guest is a rare honor thus they spoke before the planned speakers. Mr. Bartlett shared lake level facts and why water from Lake Okeechobee cannot be sent south when the Water Conservation Areas are already full. He mentioned that the new A-2 Storm Water Treatment Area is meant more for Lake Okeechobee Water. I wasn’t sure why he called it the “A-2” as we all know it as the “EAA STA.” No matter what it’s called, we all know that Mr. Bartlett is a talented executive director.

Mr. Glenn talked about the intricacies of managing the health of the Storm Water Treatment Areas and their legal job to cleanse the runoff water and meet water quality standards for the Everglades Agriculture Area. (Thus their water has priority to go through the storm water treatment areas first – hmmm?”)

Over the course of the meeting, what made the biggest impression on me, was when Drew Bartlett introduced Cheryl Meads as governing board member -“local representative.” Over the course of the past couple of years, Cheryl has moved from Islamorada, in the Florida Keys, where she first lived when appointed to the South Florida Water Management Governing Board, to Martin County and owns other properties in nearby counties. Cheryl and I both served as at-large members living in Martin County.

Although I was reappointed by Governor DeSantis for a second term serving on the South Florida Water Management Governing Board, I was not reconfirmed by the Senate and my term expired on June 19, 2023. Since that time, there has been no representation for “that seat” and we have all been waiting for a new appointment by the Governor. In August, three members were rereappointed: Chair Chancy Goss, Vice-Chair Scott Wagner, and Jay Steinle. It was thought that at that time, “the empty seat” would be filled. It was not.

I have to assume that yesterday’s gesture of Cheryl Meads being introduced by the Executive Director as the “local representative” implies that she is being directed to represent the Treasure Coast. Cheryl is a wonderful and environmentally oriented person as are all of the present governing board members. However, she is not a homegrown, fighting, St. Lucie River Warrior. At large members represent the entire east coast and when covering the “primary outlet” for the destructive discharges of Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie River requires special knowledge and attention. Please share with Cheryl your experiences and concerns. She is your new District voice!

Finding II. ~Relevant to Management Determination for the Everglades Agricultural Area, Draft Copy, 1975

**Toxic Lake Okeechobee, June 11, 2023 , Ed Lippisch**

Today I share Finding II. of “Conclusions of the Special Project to Prevent the Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee Relevant to Management Determination for the Everglades Agricultural Area,” Draft Copy, 1975.

This information was gathered by my husband and I at the State Library and Archives of Florida in Tallahassee.

I recently I posted Finding I.

Again, I state how important it is that this historic documentation is not stored in our state archives like something out of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but rather ready and available to the public. Otherwise, history is rewritten by those with most the power and influence.

For instance, today, one will ofter hear in regards to pollution in Lake Okeechobee, –from those working for and in the EAA,– “The Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) doesn’t backpump anymore. Our water is cleaner when it leaves than when it came in.” (basically, we are not responsible for the condition of Lake Okeechobee, others are….)

What is missing in this response is that in spite of its numbers the Everglades Agricultural Area remains responsible for damages that plague Lake Okeechobee TODAY.

If you smoked unfiltered cigarettes from the 1940s through the 1980s and then, because of a law suit, the University of Florida and the South Florida Water Management District helped you create “Best Management Practices” that did a great job cleansing your smoke through giant air filters, (like Storm Water Treatment Areas filter the EAA’s dirty water of nitrogen and phosphorus,) would it be correct to say the damage in your lungs has disappeared?

No. The damage in Lake Okeechobee from backpumping is still there and continues to be built upon. The filthy backpumped water of the past is a major reason for the pathetic condition of Lake Okeechobee today. It is time for the EAA and its masters to take responsibility for this and to stop hiding behind their modern day state sponsored improvements.

~begin text:

“With regard to eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee drainage water from 30 percent of the EAA land area is back pumped into Lake Okeechobee during the wet season. An average of 330,000 acre-feet of water entered the lake annually at Structures S-2 and S-3 from the Miami, Hillsboro and New River Canals . In addition drainage districts and the private interest pump approximately 150,000 acre feet of water into the lake from various locations. The EAA irrigation demands draw an average of 438,000 acre-feet from the lake annually…”

Conclusions of the Special Project to Prevent the Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee Relevant to Management Determination for the Everglades Agricultural Area, Draft Copy, 1975.

Finding II.

Water Backpumped from the Everglades Agricultural Area contributes significantly to the cultural eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee.

The following research evidence is proffered in support of Finding II.

(page 23.) Joyner (1974) found that water pumped from agricultural areas to the southeast is generally the poorest in quality of all water entering Lake Okeechobee….

(page 24.) Brezonik further states: It is clear from the data that Lake Okeechobee presently receives an abundant supply of nutrients. Both nitrogen and phosphorus loading rates or near or above all the (dangerous) levels reported in the scientific literature. (Table 2.) If all backpumping were ceased, the nutrient loading rates would decrease by about 20 percent. This would still leave area loading for nitrogen above the dangerous values, but the volumetric rate would be slightly under the dangerous volumetric rate of Brezonik and Shannon (1971). The photophores loading without backpuming would be lower than all but Vollenweider’s (1968) dangerous rate….

Aerial Update 7-17-23 SLR/IRL

Today I share aerial photographs taken by Ed Lippisch on September 17 around 9:30 am to 10am. The great thing about a photograph is that it speaks for itself! We have avoided a recent tropical storm or a hurricane’s impact on Lake Okeechobee, but the lake remains high at 15.41 feet as reported today by the SFWMD. Stormwater and canals C-23, C-24 continue pollute and discolor the estuary. Remember no fertilizer use during rainy season or if you’re like me EVER! Stay vigilant as hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Your eyes in the sky, J&E

https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2178049/30_Glenn_EcoCond_Report_September2023_Final.pdf

Keep your eye on lake O!

ST. LUCIE RIVER/INDIAN RIVER LAGOON at ST. LUCIE INLET

S-308 at PORT MAYACA, LAKE OKEECHOBEE, and C-44 Canal aka St. Lucie Canal

Studies Based on 1953 Revealed Lake Okeechobee was becoming Dangerously Hyper-Eutrophic

Today I share an excerpt form “Conclusions of the Special Project to Prevent the Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee Relevant to the Management Determination for the Everglades Agricultural Area,” Draft Report, State of Florida 1975. It is important that historical information like this is available to the public. It is mind-boggling that in 2023, seventy years since 1953, the issue of eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee has only worsened. Every year the estuaries are plagued by the threat of discharged toxic algae. Reports like this one lie buried in Florida’s state archives in Tallahassee. Most legislators have probably never read it. What has been done to improve water quality is not enough.

Finding I.

Lake Okeechobee is presently enriched and moderately eutrophic. If the present trend of increasing nutrient loads from the drainage basins is not reversed, the lake could become hyper-eutrophic within the foreseeable future.

The following research evidence is proffered in support of Finding I.

In 1953, Dr. H. T. Odum sampled the phosphorus content of Lake Okeechobee and tributaries to the lake. Although not enough samples were taken to have statistical significance, the values of the samples were well below levels consider to be eutrophic.

In 1953, the lake’s watershed was essentially undeveloped. The fact that the lake had low phosphate values in the water column indicates that the lake was not eutrophic in 1953. Water quality samples taken since 1953 have all shown phosphorus values higher than those taken by Odum. This indicates that present levels of phosphorus in the lake result from man’s drainage and land-use practices in the drainage basins.

Finding II. to follow….

Learning About What Killed Lake Okeechobee and is still killing it

Today I am including notes from: Draft, A Summary of Progress of the Special Project to Prevent the Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee, 1975, inspired by my last post. This draft report eventually led to de-chanalizing a substantial portion of the Kissimmee River, the halting of backpumping by the Everglades Agricultural Area, the beginning of Best Management Practices for Agriculture, and conservation for drinking water.

It must be noted that it was the Central and Southern Florida Plan of 1948, after the great flood of 1947, implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers that channelized the Kissimmee River and created the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). It took me years to understand this. The EAA and its flood protections were created by our federal government. Then acting in lockstep our state government morphed the Everglades Drainage District into the Central and Southern Flood Control District to manage the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District-which included the Everglades Agricultural Area. In 1975, around the time of the Draft publication, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District was been renamed the South Florida Water Management District. The intensions of the Draft were good, but conflicts of interests continue today with management of the EAA, on both the state and federal level.

Think about it.

So once it was decided the Everglades Agricultural Area could no longer back pump into Lake Okeechobee due to the lake’s eutrophication, the EAA’s government sponsored pollution led to the law suit that now requites all Everglades Agricultural Area “runoff” to go through the Storm Water Treatment Areas to be filtered before it gets to the Conservation Areas thus Everglades National Park. “Lake Okeechobee water” on the other hand sits cooking toxic algae in the still sick lake, before it is sent polluted, unfiltered to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and residents of those estuaries have no legal standing.

Hmmm?

The Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee was created and is protected as part of the ACOE and SFWMD’s C&SFP, c. 1948-61.

Begin quotes from text, 1975:

Water back pumped from the Everglades Agricultural Area contributes significantly to the cultural eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee. (pg. 23)

The major causative factors of the present cultural eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee are:

Canalization of the tributary rivers of streams (especially the Kissimmee River).
Backpumping of highly enriched waters from the Agricultural Area, south of th lake , into the lake during the wet season.
Upland drainage practices in the lake’s watershed.
Inadequate nutrient conservation, livestock management, and other agricultural practices in the watershed.
Management and regulation of the lake and its tributaries which diminish their ability to absorb nutrients. (pg. 5)

In view of the fact that the cessation of back pumping would result in a reduction of the lakes present water budget by some 12-14 percent and that water conserving is one of the over-riding management objectives for the South Florida region the committee recommend further that “runoff water from the Everglades Agricultural Area be stored in or near the EAA for subsequent re-use as irrigation water.” This will alleviate the present need to use an average of 350,000 acre feet of water for the lake for irrigation in the EAA and balance the loss of the present 330,000 acre feet contributed to the lake by back pumping. (pg. 10)

Legal and Administrative Aspects of Management have been created and charged with managing various aspect of the region. The present management structure evolved in piecemeal response to growing management problems. Agency responsibilities often overlapped and conflicted and there is no balanced, integrated, or well directed management program for the region. (pg. 11)

Since 1948, the major resource management agency in South Florida has been the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District which was created to manage the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (which includes the EAA.)

Killing Lake Okeechobee~at least since 1971

I recently received some very interesting comments about a post I wrote in 2022 featuring state archived documents. The title? “Summary of Progress, Final Report on the Special Project to Prevent Eutrophication of Lake Okeechobee.” I decided to share the post again in a different way.

Sometimes looking back makes you wonder if you are going forward…

The hand written corrections and typewritten format on the document really bring it home:

Paragraph two: “The lake has been and is being degraded. Poor land and water management practices in the drainage basin threaten to further degrade and destroy the lake’s indispensable values. This was recognized as early as 1971…”

1971?

Milky Atlantic to the C-43 Reservoir and Port Mayaca

Yesterday, September 2, 2023, my husband Ed flew from Stuart to La Belle located along the Caloosahatchee River. I asked him to take some aerials of the C-43 Reservoir that although having some tribulations will one day will be similar, but larger, than the St. Lucie’s C-44 Reservoir. Ed agreed and a took some interesting pictures. Ed also took some aerials of the St. Lucie/Indian River Lagoon that was whipped up and milky looking from eight foot seas pushing sand into the inlet from the Atlantic Ocean.

Check out Todd Thurlow’s amazing site, EyeonlakeO, which in “real-time” measures Lake Okeechobee at 15.38 feet, even after Hurricane Idalia. Hurricane season has at least two more months to go, so we are not home free yet. The ACOE and NOAA are vigilant.

We continue to be your eye in the sky! See you next week. J&E

I. C-43 Reservoir under construction, along Caloosahatchee River. 9-2-23, about 10:55 am. EL

II. St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon with strange milky look due to high seas, 9-2-23, about 11:30 am. EL

III. S-308 Port Mayaca, Lake Okeechobee visible blue green algae (cyanobacteria) has lessened with cooler weather, but lake water is terribly polluted and blue-green algae remains just dormant. Presently there is no discharging by the ACOE from Lake O into the SLR/IRL. Runoff from C-23, C-24 and C-25 and area runoff continues. 9-2-23, 11:20am. EL

Not Jimmy Buffett…

I hadn’t even opened my eyes this morning when Ed yelled up the stairs: “Jimmy Buffett died.” I picked up my phone from the floor and there was a text from my brother, from my mother, and from my sister. We went back and forth recalling favorite songs and even a concert. Days of youth in a world so different than today.

I put down the phone.

In disbelief I stared at the wall thinking “Not Jimmy Buffett!” A tear formed in my eye as a flood of memories rose to the surface, especially about my late father.

Middle and high school, days working as a receptionist at his law firm over summer, driving in with him dressed in tie and suit fulfilling the sometimes thankless job of father and provider. We’d get in the car and I just hoped he’d play Jimmy Buffett. It would make us sing. It would make us laugh. It would make us forget. It would make us remember. It bound us as father and daughter and as Floridians.

I’m sure you have a lot of memories connected to Jimmy Buffett too.

Once I saw Jimmy Buffett live, not singing, but giving advice…

Today I repost a blog post from May 15, 2015. It was Ed’s niece Darcy’s University of Miami graduation day. The commencement speaker? None other than Dr. Jimmy Buffett. I hope you’ll enjoy rereading this post as much as I did and the speech at the end? Just like his music, it will make you want to sing along…

Rest in Peace Jimmy, and thank you.

Please click on link below to hear-

JIMMY BUFFETT’S COMMENCEMENT SPEECH UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

Before the Storm, August 27, 2023

These aerials were taken by my husband, Ed Lippisch, on August 27, 2023 around 12:15pm. Other than an operational burp from Lake Okeechobee through C-44, it’s canals C-23 and C-24 which drain Port St. Lucie, Allapattah Flats, as well as our Tidal Basin – that are causing the present discoloration and decline in water quality. On a good note, though impaired, seagrass beds are visible near the Sandbar and algae is no longer seen from 1000 feet at Port Mayaca.

As we enter the primary hurricane season it’s unfortunate the alternative canal through the Everglades Agricultural Area once considered by the ACOE in the 1950s to alleviate the discharges is not in place. If history does indeed repeat itself, we must be prepared for more rain and Lake Okeechobee destruction added to the St. Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.

We must keep our eye on lake O!

Most recent ACOE/SFWMD SLR update, 8-22-23

Rain and runoff plume exiting St. Lucie Inlet Visibile seagrasses and macroalge Sailfish Flats Sewall’s Point between the St. Luice and Indian RiverPeck’s LakeSL Inlet w/ plume

Sailfish Point on Hutchinson Island is next to St. Lucie Inlet S-308 at Port Mayaca C44 Canal aka St. Lucie Canal – no algae visible from 1000 feet

Impact

A picture speaks a 1000 words…

Ed’s RV is having its annual so on August 16, 2023 Ed went up in the SuperCub with Scott Kuhns. It was early morning and lighting limited successful outcome of photographs. Thus I have chosen a just a few, that for me, are impactful in what they say about development and agriculture and our environment. JTL

North River Shores, Martin County, Florida.

Cutting up the western lands, Tradition, St. Lucie County, Florida.

Sugar’s perfect water-control. Martin County, Florida.

Blue-Green algae in St. Lucie Canal (C-44), Martin County, Florida.

S-308 at Port Mayaca, St. Lucie Canal (C-44), Martin County, Florida.

Ed as a passenger over Lake Okeechobee, SuperCub of Scott Kuhns, 2023.

Aerial Update SLR to LO 8-6-23

Ed’s comment when he came home from flight yesterday was “not as bad as last time.”

Today’s aerials were taken 8-6-23 around 1:30pm. One can see blue-green algae, along the eastern shoreline of Lake Okeechobee, but not as much in the C-44 canal.

The St. Lucie River looks a bluer near Sewall’s Point- perhaps thanks to recent full moon tides and less rain runoff. Seagrass meadows covered in increasing a cyanobacteria and macro algae are visible. The seagrass is returning, but not in as good a shape, after massive and longterm Lake O discharges in 2018, 2016, and 2013 and decades of destruction.

Sandbar near St. Lucie Inlet, 8-28-23, FB Mike Yustin

Ed and I continue to be your “eye in the sky” and Todd is helping all of us keep an eyeonlakeo now at 15.30 feet according to the SFWMD. Hurricane season should start ramping up. It is not a good situation. More water should be able to be sent south as God intended.

~Lake O, Rim Canal, and C-44 at Port Mayaca’s S-308

~St. Lucie River-Indian River Lagoon. Sewall’s Point divides these waters.

~Note seagrass beds in next two photos. Once 700 acres now much less and impaired. Good to see it in any case!

Canal system of CSFP SLR/IRL. credit SFWMD

Aerial Update St. Lucie River to Lake O 7-29-23

Northern Lake O algae bloom On Saturday, July 29, 2023, my husband Ed returned from flight with 103 aerial photographs of the St. Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee. When there are so many photographs it is difficult for me to decide which ones to include so I have shared most in gallery format.

The St. Lucie River continues to be darkened by C-23, C-24 and storm water runoff while Lake Okeechobee continues to suffer from cyanobacteria blue-green algae blooms primarily in the north. Ed said there was algae in the middle of the lake but that it was more like a “sheen.” Like gasoline on water.

Ed’s photos show algae on both sides of the St. Luice Canal (C-44), but none at S-80, St. Lucie Locks and Dam, and little visible in the lake -again just a greenish color- at S-308 at Port Mayaca lakeside.

The algae in north Lake Okeechobee is dramatic and looks more clumped than I have witnessed previously. Perhaps wind and rain? Strange…

The only good thing I can say is that the ACOE and SFWMD continue to recommend no discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River. We’ll see about next week.

On July 25, my brother Todd Thurlow eyeonlakeo texted me that S-308 was open at 1656 cubic feet per second but S-80 remained closed. I would imagine this water let in from the Lake Okeechobee was for canal levels or water supply of agriculture. If I were growing crops I would not wish to accept this water as University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences UF IFAS had notes: “Cyanobacterial toxins can accumulate in crop plants, resulting in injury and yield loss; human health may be affected. Impacts of field crop exposure to cyanotoxins in irrigation water are unknown.”

Known or unknown, it can’t be good.

The historic role of agriculture supported by our state and nation is the primary reason the lake is in such awful condition today; this has been documented since 1969. (U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Central and South Florida Flood Control District two year study on chemical and biological conditions of Lake Okeechobee, Beyond the 4th Generation, Lamar Johnson 1974.)

On Saturday, July 29 the South Florida Water Management District recorded the lake level at 15.03 feet. Do not pray for rain…

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

ST. LUCIE RIVER, ST. LUCIE CANAL, S-80, ST. LUCIE LOCKS AND DAM

ST. LUCIE CANAL TO S-308 AT PORT MAYACA AND LAKE OKEECHOBEE, ONE PHOTO BACK IN STUART

Canal systems dumping polluted fresh water into SLR, SFWMD visual.

Original Little Locktender’s House – St. Lucie Canal

Locktender’s house at St. Lucie Canal lock #2 in the Everglades Drainage District. 1913 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.

I love this old photograph. I would think it must have been taken sometime between 1916 and 1925 when the Everglades Drainage District was constructing or repairing, (1924), the St. Lucie Canal. Yes, the lonely little house in the wildlands of a slash pine forest saw the the construction of the canal, the lock and spillway, the first locktenders, some wicked storms like the hurricane of 1928 causing the Army Corps of Engineers by 1930 to take over management of both Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie Canal. In 1937 the canal was rededicated as the “Cross State Canal, or Okeechobee Waterway.” It was deepened and widened for higher discharges and for more yacht traffic. By 1941 the St. Lucie Lock and Spillway was replaced as part of this expansion and the southern banks were drastically cut in the direction of the little locktender’s house. I can imagine the stories this little house would tell! Today we don’t have the little house, but we have the next best thing, my little brother!

Watch Todd tell the remarkable history of replacing the lock and spillway and the location of the original locktender’s house throughout the canal’s changes. Todd brilliantly uses historic aerials and images juxtaposed to Google Maps some shared by my mother Sandra Thurlow.

LINK TO VIDEO: ST. LUCIE LOCKS IN THE 1940s: EXPANSION PLANS AND THE LOCATION OF THE ORIGINAL LOCKTENDER’S HOUSE

References:

~The site plan: “U.S. Engineer Office – Jacksonville, Florida. Sept. 1938… To Accompany Specifications June 27, 1939.

~The aerial photo with the locks under construction is dated 2/23/1940

~On Florida Memory the picture of the little house is titled cited “Locktenders house at St. Lucie Canal lock #2 in the Everglades Drainage District. 1913 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.

~1940 Aerials, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

~Dr. Gary Goforth, 2014 History of the St. Lucie Canal

Early Locks, Thurlow Archives, Courtesy Sandra Henderson Thurlow.

2024 will be the 100 year anniversary of the St. Lucie Canal…