A Bit of History
Cross Florida Barge Canal
1935
Surprisingly, Florida wasn’t done with canals when a 110 years later in 1935 construction of a cross Florida barge canal started when President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized $5 million in funding for the project. A year later, with only a small portion of the canal started, the project was shut down after determining the project never got authorization from Congress. Three decades later in 1963 with support from President Kennedy, funds were allocated and the project started again with President Johnson setting off explosives to start construction. The route chosen connected the Ocklawaha River to the Withlacoochee River. It was said the canal would serve "to promote the national defense and to promptly facilitate and protect the transport of materials and supplies needful to the Military Establishment." With the work being done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, bridges and locks were built, portions of canals dug, and the one of the most beautiful and scenic rivers, the Ocklawaha was dredged and straightened. In 1971 an injunction was granted to halt construction on environmental grounds and a few days later President Nixon signed an executive order suspending further work on the Barge Canal. When halted, the project was one-third complete and approximately $74 million had been spent and the Ocklawaha forever changed. Defenders of the Environment continue to push for the preservation and restoration of the Ocklawaha River to its original natural state.
With ever increasing size of container cargo ships, the canal as was being built would have been too small for many ships and would have become impractical before it was even finished.
