The Civil War Period
During
the Civil War (1861 - 1865) the only military actions fought on Florida soil
were limited to north Florida, most notably a siege action on the Confederate
fortification at Fort Pickins, on Santa Rosa Island, protecting Pensacola, the
old Capitol of Spanish West Florida. On the Atlantic seaboard the only viable
means of resupplying the Confederacy was from Europe and the Bahamas, through
the southern ports controlled by the Confederacy - Norfolk, Charleston,
Savannah, and St. Augustine. A major foreign port through which the Confederates
received war materials was Nassau, on New Providence Island in the
British, Bahamas. These much needed strategic supplies were transported on
small, swift Confederate or British Blockade-runners, which sailed through the
New Providence Channel into the Straits between the Bahama Banks and the Florida
peninsula. The blockade-runners then sailed north to ports on the east coast or
proceeded south through the Straits of Florida to Confederate-controlled ports
on the Gulf of Mexico (Anderson: 37).
It
was to the interception and capture of these blockade-runners that Union naval
forces were directed in Florida coastal waters. In June 1863, Mr. S. C. Hawley,
the United States Consul at Nassau reported that between March 10, and June 1,
of that year, 28 blockade-runners had sailed from Nassau Harbor in attempts to
run the Federal blockade. Of that number, eight were intercepted and the
remaining others were believed to have made it safely into southern ports. Naval
historians have computed the average life expectancy of a blockade-runner to be
about four and one half voyages. That seems to have been a fair estimate for the
period; however, it is known that many of these vessels were captured or
destroyed on their first attempt to run the blockade (Anderson, 1989).
The
Federal strategy used in intercepting blockade-runners heading north was to
intercept these vessels as they sailed out of the New Providence Channel into
the Bahama Channel. Another point of interception was off Cape Canaveral, where
vessels sailing north could maneuver out into the wider Atlantic. The nearest
navigable inlet for shallow draft vessels on the route north was Mosquito Inlet
(now Ponce de Leon Inlet) north of Cape Canaveral. To support confederate
activities on the central coast of Florida Brigadier General James Trapier,
Commander of Confederate forces in Florida placed a battery of two cannons at
the mouth of Mosquito Inlet supported by two companies of the Third Florida
Infantry. The only other inlet capable of sheltering small blockade-runners was
Indian River Inlet at Fort Pierce. Federal navel forces controlled the southern
littoral of Florida with fortifications that controlled the Straits of Florida
at Key West and at Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. On the Gulf Coast,
Federal forces maintained a naval presence from fortifications at the mouth of
Tampa Bay (Levy, 1984).
Records
show that a number of blockade-runners were intercepted in the Bahama Channel.
Federal warships patrolling the channel intercepted the British schooner
Adeline, loaded with military supplies, off Cape Canaveral in November, 1861. By
the end of hostilities, a number of other vessels were intercepted between the
New Providence Channel, and the Cape - the Volante, the Racer, and the Spunky,
all British flagged (Anderson, 1989).
The
only permanent settlers south of Mosquito Inlet, at New Smyrna, at the onset of
the Civil War were the lighthouse keepers at Jupiter and Cape Florida and a
small residential community at Fort Dallas, on the Miami River. Southern
sympathizers quickly disabled the lights at Cape Canaveral, Jupiter, and Key
Biscayne in a largely futile effort to impact Federal naval traffic in the
Bahama Channel (Dubose, 1980).
The Late
Nineteenth Century
After
the Civil War and up until the Spanish-American War in 1898, the central and
lower east coast of Florida remained an area of slow development. Outside of the
return of lighthouse
After
the Civil War the Indians began to move back to the Pine Island Ridge, southwest
of the New River. James W. Covington in - The
Seminoles of Florida describes the site:
“One
large center of Seminole settlement was at Pine Island at the headwaters of the
New River in present-day Broward County. Pine Island, which had been a refuge
for the Seminoles during the Second Seminole War, probably served as a Mikasuki
ceremonial center for the Green Corn, Hunting, and Snake Dances. A visitor to
the Pine Island complex described it as a cluster of twenty - five to thirty
huts on the edge of a grove of pine trees containing at least three clan camps -
Panther, Big Town, and bird. Agricultural fields were located on nearby islands.
Communications with traders and other bands was by cypress dugout canoes, some
equipped with sails. With the drainage of the Everglades and the influx of white
settlers into the area, the problem of feeding such a large population caused
the Seminoles to leave Pine Island by 1910 (Covington, 1993).”
The
Seminole people like their pre-Columbian forbears, were a maritime people
utilizing not only the coastal and internal waterway system, but were also
capable of open water, ocean voyages. The observation by Covington that some
Seminole canoes were equipped with sails reflects the same observation made by
the Spanish in the sixteenth century. The ability of the Calusa to reach Cuba by
sailing canoe, and the Keys Indians ability to sail from Key West to the
southwest Florida Coast, is an historical precursor to the fact that in the
nineteenth century Seminoles made voyages across the Florida Current to Andros,
the largest of the Bahama Islands, where they assimilated with the African
population descended from the original slaves and pre-Columbian Bahama natives
(Covington, 1993).
In
keeping with this cultural legacy, the Seminoles at Pine Island availed
themselves of the rich marine resources that thrived in the estuary at the mouth
of the New River. According to Covington:
“Hunting
occupied much of the time of the men. One band residing along the New River
hunted the manatees that lived in great numbers near the mouth of the river.
Approaching the sea animals in their canoes the Seminoles harpooned the manatees
as they rose to the surface for air. When harpooned the animal sank; when he
rose to the surface again, the Seminoles shot him in the head and towed him to
shore. The Seminoles were fond of the flesh, which resembled coarse beef; any
surplus meat was sold to the whites. Alligators were fire hunted, dazzled by the
light of a burning torch and, while in a state of bewilderment shot by a
Seminole standing in a canoe, speared, and towed to the canoe. When hunting
deer, the Seminoles divided into parties of two or three men and their families,
and moved west onto the elevated hammocks. The deer meat not sold to the whites
was smoked and dried for future consumption. Every spring the Seminoles set the
dry grass and trees on fire so that new growth would attract the deer and
turkeys. (Covington, 1993)”.
The beginning of re-settlement at the New River began in the
1870’s may be attributed in part to the rich natural landscape and the
abundant natural resources of the coastal estuary system, as well as to abundant
game in the Everglades wetlands. By 1870, the population of Fort Dallas and
southern Dade County numbered only 85 persons. New River, then in north Dade had
far fewer inhabitants, only about a dozen (Hobby, 1992). One impetus to local
growth was a Federal program, which constructed five life-saving stations on the
east coast, designated Houses of Refuge. Constructed as an aid to shipwreck
victims, the decision to build the Houses of Refuge reinforces the fact that,
long after the age of the Spanish treasure fleets, in the modern era of steam
and propeller driven vessels, the “Florida Reef” was still considered a
serious hazard to shipping. The term Florida Reef included not only the fringing
Florida Keys reef system, but also the entire east cost of the peninsula. A
chart included in Gerard de Brahms navigation rutter, The Atlantic Pilot of 1791 illustrates the shipping route north past
the keys (the Martiers) into the Bahama Channel, and the continued flow of the
Florida Current - Gulf Stream north. Note on this chart the reversed positions
of Hillsboro Inlet and Grenville Inlet, which is actually Jupiter Inlet. The two
forks of the New River are shown, but no inlet at the historic New River, called
Rio Nuevo by Romans.
The Houses of Refuge were built 25 miles apart. The Fort Lauderdale facility was Life Saving Station #4, the last station to be constructed. The facility opened on April 24, 1876, on the ocean in the tract now known as Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, approximately four miles north of New River Inlet. In 1891 the wooden house was physically moved down the beach to the site of the last military stockade designated Fort Lauderdale. The Florida Life Saving Stations not only served as sanctuary for shipwreck victims, but also became reference points for small vessels sailing the littoral current south. The stations also served as way stations for the mail carriers that walked the beaches delivering mail from Fort Pierce to Miami. One such carrier, known as the “Barefoot Mailman,” disappeared while swimming the swift-flowing Hillsboro Inlet, the victim of alligator attack or drowning (George, 1988).
Turn of the Century
In
1893 a trader - entrepreneur, Frank Stranahan established a small store at
Tarpon Bend on the New River, The area where the first New River community had
been built and where the second Fort Lauderdale stockade had been constructed.
The Seminoles’ need for supplies, powder, shot, axes and cooking kettles-
offered a ready market for Stranahan’s trade goods. This opportunity to trade
for the rich natural bounty hunted by the Glades Indians led to the
establishment of a series of trading posts, many near the sites where Seminole
War forts had stood. In addition to the Stranahan store, other earlier trading
posts had been established by George W. Storter at Evergaldes City, Benn Hogg at
Fort Pierce, Ben Hill Doster at West Palm Beach and Jupiter, William Brickill,
on the Miami River, and Ted Smallwood at Chokoloskee (Covington, 1993). The
precursor to these trading posts were the small coastal vessels that during the
Seminole Wars slipped into the bays and rivers of south Florida, illegally
trading firearms, powder, ammunition, and liquor to the Indians for animal
skins, bird plumes, and wild game.
The
hunting and fishing activities of the early settlers was highly specialized.
Covington has described the trade arrangements between the Seminoles and turn of
the century traders like Frank Stranahan.
“The
traders had developed a system that worked well to the benefit of both
themselves and the Seminoles. The trader advanced a sum from $10 to $25 to each
Seminole to purchase enough supplies for a hunt. When the Seminoles returned
from the field, the trader paid cash for the hides, and the hunter settled all
or part of the amount owed. Then Seminoles knew the price of the hides, and when
they felt they were being taken advantage of, they went to another store.
Because they refused to accept shoddy merchandise, they purchased only the best
products available. When hunting was poor, some traders advanced credit from
$350 to $800 to each Seminole, with his personal honor as security. Should a
Seminole die with substantial debts, the trader marked the account closed and
made no effort to collect the money from his family. The leader of the clan
usually came first into the store to trade, followed by the other men, women,
and children. While they moved behind the counters and made their selections,
limited conversation was made with the proprietor. After the desired articles
were gathered, the Seminole men and the storekeeper began to bargain for the
proper amount of venison, meat, and skins to be exchanged for each item from the
white world (Covington, 1993)).”
The Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse
By
the middle of the nineteenth century three lighthouses were operational on
Florida’s southern peninsula: Ponce Lighthouse at Mosquito Inlet, Jupiter
Light on the north shore of Jupiter Inlet, and the Cape Florida lighthouse at
the southern tip of Key Biscayne. In 1885 the U.S. Lighthouse board had
recommended the construction of a light at what was then called Hillsboro Point.
The open steel framework upon which the housing for the lighthouse rests had
originally been constructed for use at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. When the
exposition closed, the structure was purchased by the federal government and
installed at Hillsboro Inlet in 1907. The open steel girders were considered
preferable to the enclosed cylindrical, brick lighthouse structure due to the
ability of the open system to withstand severe buffeting in a hurricane. The
1907 Hillsboro Light was lit by oil; in 1931 the system was converted to
electricity. The present 137 foot tall structure produces 370,000 candlepower,
and under optimal conditions is visible at the distance of 28 miles (Caldwell,
1996).
The
Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse was the last landfall lighthouse constructed in
Florida and an important modern addition to the Inlet’s history. The wreck of
the Spanish vessel Gil Blas lies to the north, and several other historic era
shipwrecks are known to lie in the general vicinity of the Inlet (see shipwreck
list). One Barefoot Mailman, James Hamilton, kept a boat at the inlet and as
legend has it the theft of this boat caused him to attempt to swim the Inlet,
and his subsequent drowning. In the era of the late 1920s and 1930s, the area
around the Inlet was still sparsely inhabited. The relative privacy of the area
and convenient location between the growing towns of Fort Lauderdale and West
Palm Beach made the Inlet attractive to bootleggers who could run illegal
alcohol from Bahama Island ports into the many coves and waterways on the
Intracoastal (Caldwell, 1996). After World War II, the popularity of the
Lighthouse Point community area and Hillsboro Inlet continued to attract
residents and pleasure boat owners. The marine infrastructure available at the
Inlet provides pleasure boaters an alternative to the busy facilities at Port
Everglades and Fort Lauderdale.
The Era of Modern Development
At
the turn of the century following the war with Spain, the tourist industry began
to expand south from the Georgia Sea Islands to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and
Daytona Beach. Until the construction of Flagler’s railroad in the
middle1890’s, visitors to Florida either arrived on coastal steamers or
shallow draft sailing vessels that put in at small intracoastal ports at
Titusville, Melbourne, Vero Beach, Ft. Pierce, Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Ft.
Lauderdale, and Miami.
Earlier,
in the “Robber Baron” era of the 1870’s and1880’s, millionaire
industrialists built opulent mansions which they called “cottages” on
islands like Jekyll, and Sea Islands in South Georgia, or on Amelia Island north
of Jacksonville. Glorified hunting and fishing camps, these turn-of-the-century
homes served as staging areas for expeditions along the eastern seaboard. Large
lushly outfitted vessels were constructed and adapted by these millionaires for travel
and extended stays in shallow access coastal ports. One such vessel was the
“Cayman,” owned by the tobacco millionaire Pierre L. Lorrillard.
The
Cayman was a shallow draft stern wheeler, 120 feet long, with magnificent cabins,
sitting rooms, baths, a dining room, and an art gallery. A tender accompanied
the Cayman, transporting supplies, horses, a carriage, hunting dogs, and was
equipped with accommodations for crew and servants. The Cayman made several
voyages along the east coast from south Georgia to the River at New Smyrna,
where she had negotiated the unimproved Mosquito Inlet that often averaged less
than six feet depth. In 1903 the Cayman caught fire while berthed at New Smyrna,
and burned to the waterline (Luther, 1990).
By
the mid 1890’s the population base, and development infrastructure had
advanced to the degree that in 1895, Henry Flagler agreed to extend his railroad
south from Palm Beach to the north bank of the New River. The railway south from
Jacksonville followed the coastal ridge along which the first military roads had
been constructed during the Second Seminole War. Before the extension of the
railroad south to Miami later that year the continuing journey south to Arch
Creek, on Biscayne Bay, was by horse and wagon on the road, now improved, that had
been initially completed by Captain Abner Doubleday. From Arch Creek, the trip up
Biscayne Bay to the Miami River was continued by boat by an extension of the
Doubleday road that terminated at Lemon City, or Little River section, on the
north bank of the Miami River (George, 1988).
The
draining of the Everglades began in 1906. Two dredges, named the Everglades and
the Okeechobee, were constructed on the New River at Sailboat Bend, earlier
known as Tarpon Bend. The scheme to drain a substantial portion of the
Everglades wetlands system and open new land to farming and development was the
brainchild of Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward. A native of South
Carolina, Broward had, over his career, been a tugboat captain, commercial
fisherman and gunrunner to Cuba prior to the Spanish American War; he began his
political career as Sheriff of Duval County. Elected Governor of Florida in
1906, Broward County’s namesake began his massive Everglades Drainage Project
from Fort Lauderdale with the extension by dredging of the north fork of the New
River northwest to Lake Okeechobee. The completion of this waterway allowed
produce to be barged south from the agricultural region around the lake to the
railroad and small port of Fort Lauderdale. The south fork of the New River was
dredged west to the Miami Canal, which ran from Lake Okeechobee south to the
Miami River, which had also been extensively dredged (George, 1988,
Hobby, 1992).
Soon
two dredged waterways were open, connecting Lake Okeechobee to both the east and
west coasts of the peninsula. For a time the Caloosahatchee Steamship Company
offered passenger service from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers. The route ran via
the North New River Canal, then across Lake Okeechobee and down the
Caloosahatchee River to Fort Myers. In the mid 1920’s the cross-state waterway
system began to silt up; and with no funds to support maintenance dredging, the
cross-state passenger service ended on Christmas Day, 1926 (Hobby, 1992).
By
World War I, it was obvious that the continued growth of Broward County,
although enhanced since the arrival of the railroad, would rapidly accelerate
through the construction of a port facility that would admit deep-water vessels.
The New River Inlet could only admit shallow draft coastal sailing craft and
paddle- wheel driven steamboats suited for waterway and intracoastal travel.
Such vessels could only venture into the Atlantic on calm days for short trips
to inlets north and south.
In
1923, W.W. Fineren, a pioneer coastal engineer, toured both the east and west
coasts of Florida inspecting inlet stabilization projects that were just getting
under way. Fineren was an early advocate of jetties, and writes: “It
has been found practically impossible to keep the bar channels open in these
locations by dredging alone, and recourse to expensive jettying is necessary.
The very first requisite for a successful channel across the bar is a system of
two parallel jetties of large first cost and heavy expenditure for maintenance
(Fineren, 1923).” Fineren makes the observation, true to this day
that: “Jupiter
Inlet and Indian River Inlet, without jetties are entirely blocked, and every
other inlet without jetties is gradually shoaling.”
Fineren
had surveyed the unstabilized New River Inlet in 1909 and again in 1913 (Figure
11), describing the dynamics of these unnavigable passages: “Plate #4 (Fineren, 1913) shows New River Inlet, surveyed in 1909 and
again in 1913, showing the progress of the sand drift in the four year period.
In 1909 the three foot channel
passed out between point - A, and the island - B, as shown on the map, with a
secondary outlet between points - B, and - C. In 1913 points - A, and - B, were
found united, except for a narrow passageway, and the underwater shoal had
progressed as far south as point - D, on the map, a distance of 2,000 feet in
the four years (Fineren, 1923).”
The
present Inlet into the Port of Fort Lauderdale was dredged into the widened and
deepened estuary that was formally known as Lake Mable in 1926. The old natural
Inlet described above by engineer Fineren was dredged closed and lies north of
the present port entrance, on Fort Lauderdale Beach. As the port and the present
Intracoastal Waterway system was dredged, the fill was directed to areas west of
the natural barrier island and new land was formed, which became the Fort
Lauderdale neighborhoods of Idlewood and New River Sound (Smith, 1979).
By
World War II, Port Everglades had become a thriving deep-water port. Today the
port is able to accommodate the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II and all but the
largest aircraft carriers. Cargo vessels from around the world utilize the port,
as do the smaller inter-island freighters from the Bahamas. The ports of Palm
Beach, and Port Everglades constitute the major U.S. ports of call for
Bahamian-flagged vessels. The Intracoastal Waterway system and yacht basins like
Bahia Mar make Broward County a year-round mecca for yachts. The Hillsboro Inlet
is able to admit large yachts up to 100 feet; those vessels not able to
negotiate Hillsboro Inlet find easy access through the Port Everglades ship
channel.
Spanish Colonial Trade Routes in Florida Waters
Geographically
situated on the southeast coast of the Florida peninsula, the Broward County
coastal zone was strategically located at about mid point within the historic
route for vessels, departing the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico for ports in
Spain. The Bahama Channel, now the Straits of Florida, ran from the mid Florida Keys for a distance of 300
miles between the Bahama Banks and the Florida east coast. This well defined
non-circuitous route, offered sailing ships a safer alternative than had the Old
Bahama Channel, a route where ship captains had to pick their way through the
low lying cays and shoals of the southern Bahamas.
Ships
using the New Bahama Channel followed a standard navigational formula during
their journey northward. First, there was the short sail from Havana to the
middle Florida Keys, which if made during the hours of darkness would have been
conducted under reduced and heightened visual precautions. Navigators preferred
to make their voyage up the Florida east coast in the Florida Current during the
hours of daylight, keeping well off shore on the Florida side of the Florida
Current - Gulf Stream, in order to avoid the
reef parallel to the keys, and the dangerous Fowey Rocks in deep water
southeast of Key Biscayne. The strategy of shipmasters once the keys were
cleared was to sail with the Florida Current northward parallel to the Florida
Coast making a series of NE - NW tacks within the 3 to 4 knot flow of the prevailing
current. Colonial era mariners preferred to navigate nearer to Florida peninsula
and avoid the shallows of the Bahama Banks, where it was extremely difficult for
lookouts to spot the low relief islands of the Bahama chain.
The Bahama Channel however, offered hazards of its own. Once a vessel or
fleet entered the confines of the channel, it became “boxed” into the
passage until it could maneuver out into the open Atlantic, north of Cape
Canaveral. During a storm none of the inlets or bays on the east coast of
Florida south of the St. Johns River could offer deep enough draft to provide
safe harbor. On the Bahama side of the channel, only the New Providence Channel
offered a route of escape. However, the channel was unmarked and its entrance
could not be easily seen in a storm. Other hazards included the shoals off Cape
Canaveral and the low relief of the Florida east coast south of St. Lucie Inlet
at a point of raised topography the Spanish called the Bleach Yard. South of St.
Lucie were the Blowing Rocks and shell mounds at Jupiter that served as modest
reference points. The Florida Current is about a nautical mile offshore from
Hillsboro Inlet to Palm Beach Inlet. This entire coast is the closest to the
Gulf Stream of anyplace is southeast Florida. There have however, been a large number of shipwrecks in the vicinity of Jupiter
Inlet for reasons unknown. Three
incidents of fleet disasters in the Spanish Colonial era - 1622 - 1715 - 1733 -
demonstrate the hazards of the Florida Current and the confines of the New
Bahama Channel.