Florida Barge Canal

  • My Dad in Front of Derelict Bridge Support, Santos, Florida

    My Dad in Front of Derelict Bridge Support, Santos, Florida

  • Eureka Lock Seen from Lake Ocklawaha

    Eureka Lock Seen from Lake Ocklawaha

  • Ocklawaha River, Fort McCoy, Florida

    Ocklawaha River, Fort McCoy, Florida

  • Eureka Dam, Completed and Never Operated.

    Eureka Dam, Completed and Never Operated.

  • Eureka Dam and Lock Site, Managed by the EPA.

    Eureka Dam and Lock Site, Managed by the EPA.

  • Glen Outside of Laundromat, Starke, Florida

    Glen Outside of Laundromat, Starke, Florida

  • Controlled Burn Along Canal Right of Way, Rodman Reservoir

    Controlled Burn Along Canal Right of Way, Rodman Reservoir

  • Derelict Pylons Built for Canal, Eureka, Florida.

    Derelict Pylons Built for Canal, Eureka, Florida.

  • Kirkpatrick Dam Flood Gate

    Kirkpatrick Dam Flood Gate

  • Depth Markers, Eureka Lock.

    Depth Markers, Eureka Lock.

  • Swinging Rope Along the Withlacoochee River. Inglis, Florida

    Swinging Rope Along the Withlacoochee River. Inglis, Florida

  • Highway 98 Bridge Over Completed Canal. Inglis, Florida.

    Highway 98 Bridge Over Completed Canal. Inglis, Florida.

  • Inglis Lock, Inglis Florida

    Inglis Lock, Inglis Florida

  • Vandalized and Stripped Engine House, Eureka Lock

    Vandalized and Stripped Engine House, Eureka Lock

  • State Highway 40. Inglis, Florida

    State Highway 40. Inglis, Florida

  • Highway 16, Green Cove Springs, Florida

    Highway 16, Green Cove Springs, Florida

  • Sam from Minnesota Fishing at Kirkpatrick Dam

    Sam from Minnesota Fishing at Kirkpatrick Dam

  • Burnt Saw Palmetto, Kirkpatrick Dam.

    Burnt Saw Palmetto, Kirkpatrick Dam.

  • Bridge Expansion Joint, Palatka, Florida

    Bridge Expansion Joint, Palatka, Florida

  • Bridge Support at Abandoned Canal Site. Santos, Florida.

    Bridge Support at Abandoned Canal Site. Santos, Florida.

  • Didactic Panel, Santos, Florida.

    Didactic Panel, Santos, Florida.

  • Local Fishing Along Tributary of Inglis Lock

    Local Fishing Along Tributary of Inglis Lock

  • River Bank at Completed Canal Portion. Inglis, Florida.

    River Bank at Completed Canal Portion. Inglis, Florida.

  • Highway 19, Palatka, Florida

    Highway 19, Palatka, Florida

  • Litter Under the Bridge, Eureka Florida.

    Litter Under the Bridge, Eureka Florida.

  • Santos Trailhead, Santos, Florida

    Santos Trailhead, Santos, Florida

  • Flyover Bridge for Cancelled Canal Section, Fort McCoy, Florida

    Flyover Bridge for Cancelled Canal Section, Fort McCoy, Florida

  • Derelict Lock at Eureka, Florida

    Derelict Lock at Eureka, Florida

  • Local Swimming Hole with Aluminum Ladder

    Local Swimming Hole with Aluminum Ladder

  • Construction Workers Footprint, Eureka Dam

    Construction Workers Footprint, Eureka Dam

  • Eureka Dam Flood Gate

    Eureka Dam Flood Gate

  • Palmetto, Eureka Dam

    Palmetto, Eureka Dam

  • Depth Marker at Lake Ocklawaha

    Depth Marker at Lake Ocklawaha

  • Eureka Dam Flood Gate

    Eureka Dam Flood Gate

  • Bank Along the Ocklawaha River

    Bank Along the Ocklawaha River

  • Land Saved From Flooding Along the Ocklawaha River.

    Land Saved From Flooding Along the Ocklawaha River.

The Florida Barge Canal: Water, Progress, and a Slow Death

“this canal is a bad decision but I have committed myself to it and must go ahead.” -Senator Duncan Fletcher

The Florida Barge Canal is one of the largest and most expensive failed public works project in United States history. Over 80 years after construction began and at 30% completion, the complex system of canals, dams, locks, reservoirs, and greenways have become landscapes unto themselves.

Since the earliest Spanish explorers hacked trails through palmetto brush, various colonial administrators and imperial governors dreamt of safe passage between the Atlantic and gulf coast of Florida. In 1935, progressive politics and New Deal era funding initiated the long awaited trans-Florida canal. Although railway lines ran throughout Florida, a canal would add to the existing infrastructure and modernize the swampy landscape, bringing industry to the burgeoning towns in central Florida. The right of way necessary for the canal route required clearing and flooding thousands of acres and even the displacement of an entire town, called Santos. The townspeople, black share-croppers descended from freed slaves, were coaxed into selling their land to the state for pennies on the dollar.

Throughout the canal’s history, both promoters and dissenters used the ideas of, progress, sustainability, and local interests to champion their cause. After only a year of rapid construction, one-third of the canal route was completed. Afterwards came years of protests, underfunding, and congressional acts which brought the canal to an ambiguous slowdown. In 1971, President Richard Nixon cancelled the project, which marked the success of environmentalist who alerted Floridians to the risk of salinization of Florida’s the aquifer, the backbone of the state’s economy.

Environmental issues and sustainability efforts are often characterized by two distinctive and opposite arguments; building or not building. However, the infrastructure sites left by the canal project have developed their own eco-systems and environments, and conservationists and environmentalist at odds over which environment deserves to stay. Attempts to demolish the sites and bring pre-canal landscapes back have people facing tough questions; Which landscape is original, more important, and what’s the right thing to do?