The Push for Drainage and Control

One of the most dramatic transformations in the lake’s history came with large-scale drainage and flood control efforts. Florida’s governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward famously declared his intention to “drain the Everglades,” but the lake was central to that vision.  


Major events included:

• The eastward excavation of the St. Lucie Canal linking the lake to the Atlantic.  


• The construction of the rim canal and levees around the lake’s edge to hold back and manage water.  


• These human interventions reshaped the lake’s flow, its relationship to the Everglades, and the scenery one sees when driving around its rim.

Catastrophe, Levees and the Herbert Hoover Dike

Perhaps the darkest chapter in lake history is the hurricane-driven flooding of 1926 and especially 1928. When the lake’s banks failed, area towns were devastated—thousands perished.  


In direct response, a massive engineering project was launched: the construction of what became the Herbert Hoover Dike, a massive levee encircling the lake, designed to protect surrounding lands.  


The scenic route around the lake often runs atop or beside portions of the dike or rim canal—and visitors today can still view the scale of those structures and appreciate the weight of historical decisions etched into the landscape. shutdown123