Ditch of Dreams
Ditch of Dreams
The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future
Traces the long standing effort to build a canal across Florida
"Offers timeless lessons about pork-barrel politics and the power of citizen-environmentalism. Most important, it reminds us that today’s economic coup may well be tomorrow's environmental crisis."—Cynthia Barnett, author of Mirage
"Ties the exploitation of the Ocklawaha to Florida history across nearly two centuries. Moreover, they bring to life the personalities of canal supporters and detractors, including such dynamic individuals as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Claude Pepper, and Marjorie Harris Carr."—Frederick Rowe Davis, author of The Man Who Saved Sea Turtles
For centuries, men dreamed of cutting a canal across the Florida peninsula, despite the enormous technological and financial challenges of doing so. Heedless of environmental concerns, groups of water transportation advocates consistently lobbied the federal government to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a project intended to place Florida at the very center of American commerce and prosperity.
Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, Steven Noll and David Tegeder trace the twists and turns of the project through the years. The story of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, crucial to twentieth-century Florida history, is complex, featuring competing interests amidst the changing political landscape of modern Florida. Ditch of Dreams reveals much about the clashing visions of progress, economic growth, and environmental preservation in the fragile ecosystem of Florida, while exploring the tangled web of politics, influence, and power in the Sunshine State.
The history of the canal is not just a story of Florida’s past, but a compelling lesson for its future.
Highly recommended.’—Choice
Tells the story of the transformation of twentieth-century American liberalism, the fracturing of the New Deal coalition, and the birth of the environmental movement.’—New Books in American Studies
Reveals as much about modern-day Florida as it does the state’s past—particularly when it comes to competing visions of progress, growth, preservation, and the use of political power to achieve those goals.’—Florida Trend
Reads like an epic, a tale spanning centuries and filled with avarice, courage, determination, hubris, and a heroine out of central casting. Steven Noll and David Tegeder leave no stone unturned in their outstanding rendering of this most peculiar episode of Florida’s often-shameful environmental history.’—Tampa Bay History
Noll and Tegeder do an excellent job of placing the canal within the context of local, state, and national politics.’—Journal of Southern History
Touches every era and most great figures of Florida politics.’—Daytona Beach News-Journal
A compelling narrative of the competing visions for Florida’s future, offering subtle insights into the contemporary politics of land use, federalism, pork-barrel politics, and the evolution of environmentalism.’—Enterprise and Society
Steven Noll, master lecturer in history at the University of Florida, is the author of Feeble-Minded in Our Midst and editor of Mental Retardation in America. David Tegeder is professor of history and chairperson of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Santa Fe College.
