HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF 12 SOUTHWEST WATERWAYS The Boating Geography of Before Coastal Development O ne must r eturn to the late 19th cen- Lemon Bay tury to visualiz e the pre–development con- (Volume 1) dition of the waterways in Southwest Pea’s Creek The Myakka Florida fr om Placida H arbor to Mar co Is- "Cut—Off" () land and the Caloosahatchee. This region in- River cluded three separate inland bays, a r each along the shore, and a riv er Punta Boca Nueva Gorda system (Map 1): (Little Gasparilla • O n the north, Gasparilla Sound to San Carlos Bay, 45 miles along the Gulf shoreline, including elbow-shaped G Pass) asparilla Sound Charlotte H arbor, P ine Island Sound, and Metlochat Gasparilla Sound (Matlacha Pass); Pass • In the middle, , 17 miles long, fr om Ester o (Matanzas) Pass (Ft. Myers Beach) through channels of Surv ey ors C r eek (Imperial Riv er) to W iggins Bay, the mouth of the Cocohatchee and Wiggins Pass; • Gulf of Mexico, a 13-mile r each south fr om Wiggins Pass to G ordon Pass; Gasparilla • To the south, Naples Bay to Marco and Caxambas, an Island inside waterway stretching 25 miles long; Devilfish Cayo • Caloosahatchee, fr om the riv er’s mouth in San Carlos Key Bay, upstream and eastward, for 84 miles to the river’s GasparillaPelau Sound to Charlotte Harbor source in the sawgrass region of . Boca Grande San Carlos Bay (45 miles) La Costa Island

Lake

Lake

Okeechobee

Hikpochee

Pine Boca Island Captiva () Pine Metlochat Sound Pine Island (Matlacha Island Sound Pass) Sound (15 miles)

Buck Island Captiva Island Sword Boca Point Ciega Caloosahatchee (Blind A River (Adjoining Map) Pass) Lake Flirt

B Punta Rosa San Carlos Bay (Rassa) Estero Bay S (La Belle) a Ft. Thompson n (17 miles) i be l Is land Mullock Creek Estero Estero Island Estero (Matanzas) (Ft. Myers Beach) Bay Estero Pass Creek (River)

Denaud Big Carlos Pass Ostego

Bay (61 miles) 2.5 Big Auger Hole Hickory 0 Pass Surveyors

2.5 5.0 Little Creek Hickory (Imperial Miles River) Bay The Corkscrew Little Hickory Wiggins Island Bay Wiggins Coco- Pass hatchee River Clam Pass

Doctors Pass Wiggins Pass to Gordon Pass (13 miles) 2.5 5.0

Miles Naples 0

Naples

Bay 2.5

Gordon

Pass r

Dollar e v Ft. Myers

i

Bay R

e

Entire Region e

h

c

t

a

Charlotte h a

s ’s

Rookery o o

iv l

Harbor ee R er a h C hatc Bay osa lo Creek Ca Hendry

Pine Estero Island Bay Marco Sound Big Marco Pass Naples—Caxambas (25 miles) Marco Caxambas A Island B Marco Island Caxambas

Pass Coon

Key San Carlos Bay Pass (Adjoining Map) Horr Island’s Map 1. Boating regions in the pre–development era. 13 14

Natural barriers historically separated these waterways. Nuev a) Pass (3.5-foot depth) in settled weather. The sound, The connections fr om G asparilla S ound and San Carlos 9 miles long, varied in width fr om appro ximately a half B ay w ere impeded: north to Lemon Bay b y “The Cut- mile in the north to 6 miles in the south (including B ull Off,” east to the Caloosahatchee by the river’s delta, and and Turtle Bays), where it connected with Charlotte Har- south fr om S an Carlos Bay to the Gulf of Mexico b y inlet bor. The principal channel south was between Devil Fish shoals. Mariners entering and leaving Estero Bay had to K ey and G asparilla Island (4.5 feet deep). Another shal- run Ester o (Matanzas) Pass and W iggins Pass, as w ell as low er, cr ooked channel ran east betw een Devil Fish K ey negotiate the tortuous, winding channel connecting and Cay o Pelau. Charlotte H arbor, an extensiv e Ester o and Wiggins Bays. Ther e w er e no harbors of ref- embayment with relativ ely uniform depths, opened to the uge, such as present-day Clam P ass and Doctors Pass, south and stretched 10 miles east by 20 miles north. Ves- along the Gulf Coast. Farther south, bey ond the en- sels enter ed the harbor fr om the Gulf through Boca Grande trance at G ordon Pass, the inside passage from Naples Pass, which had a natural depth of 19 feet o v er the bar. B ay to Mar co was str ewn with oyster bars that made East thr ough the harbor, 9-foot depths could be carried to navigation risky ev en for shallow-draft vessels. O n the Punta G orda. Pea’s Cr eek (also called Pease C r eek and, later, Caloosahatchee, waterfalls set the head of navigation at the Pe ace Riv er) emptied into Charlotte Harbor just north- Ft. Thompson (La B elle). Settlers along this coast could east of Punta G o rda. sail along the Gulf shore in good weather, but str ong on- Vessels heading south, either fr om Boca Grande or shor e winds would force them inside, where passage was Charlotte H arbor, coasted down , the especially impeded when seasonal “northers” r educed the 15-mile-long b y 3- to 4-mile-wide passage of water situ- water depths and made many shoals impassable. ated betw een Pine Island and the barrier island chain of Fr om the north, mariners enter ed G asparilla Sound La Costa, Captiv a, and Sanibel Islands. Shoals existed op- through G asparilla Pass (6.5 –foot depth), though shal- posite Boca Captiv a (Captiv a Pass) and Boca Ciega (Blind low-draft coasters sometimes used Little Gasparilla (Boca Pass). In fair w eather, fishing schooners used either pass. Vessels touched at a fishing station on the northeast coast of Captiv a Island. In 1880, Boca Ciega was not “blind ” (closed), but had a 400-foot-wide channel. A side channel v eer ed north betw een B uck and Captiv a Islands, with depths fr om 3 to 6 feet all the way out to the sound. Along the inside passage heading south in P ine Island Sound, and after the shoals opposite , deep water opened into San Carlos Bay, and the channel skirted the east shore of Sanibel Island south to the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous islands fringed Metlochat Sound (Matlacha Pass), separating Pine Island fr om the mainland to the east. The channel thr ough Middle Metlochat was tortuous and impassable for v essels of more than 2 –foot draft. Upper and Low er Metlochat Sound were relativ ely less obstructed by islands and afforded deeper water, accommodating es-v sels drawing 6 to 7 feet. Pine Island and Metlochat Sounds joined at the south in San Carlos Bay. An extensiv e tidal delta at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee shoaled the east portion of San Carlos Bay. Ester o River during the Koreshan settlement era, circa 1900.

Cuban fishing smacks sailing in Charlotte Harbor, 1922. Ester o B ay, which tr ends northw est/southeast and is appro ximately 7 miles long and 2 miles wide at its center, tapers at each end. Mariners entered at the north thr ough Ester o Pass (Matanzas Pass). The bay was bounded on the w est b y Ester o, Big Hickory, and Little Hickory Is- lands. Though Big Carlos Pass r etains its historic position and shape today, the other inlets situated south of it wer e v ery differently shaped in earlier eras. (The Inlet Dynam- ics chapter explains the effects of human interv ention and natural processes on the history of these inlets.) Numer- ous islands of various siz es ar e scattered thr oughout the bay. A long sand bar cov er ed with 6 to 12 inches of water at mean low water restricted v essels at the mouth of Estero C reek. Another sand bar was at the mouth of S urv eyors C reek (I mperial Riv er), with appr o ximately 1 foot of wa- ter at mean low tide. Ester o Bay ended at the Auger Hole, a tortuous distributary channel at the mouth of S urv ey- ors C r eek, a little south of Big Hickory Pass. Vessels tran- siting south had to negotiate this constriction and pass Imperial Riv er, early 1900. into Su rv eyors C reek, then down that cr eek thr ough the Cork Screw, another sharply bending channel of shallow water, before entering Little Hickory Bay, a distance of 4 miles, in order to r each the Cocohatchee and Wiggins Pass. The Gulf shor e south of San Carlos Bay (Ft. Myers Beach) was sparsely populated in predev elopment times. This was especially true of the 13–mile stretch of coast- line between Wiggins and G ordon Pass. Naples Bay could be appr oached thr ough G ordon Pass, but there was only a fish camp at the inlet mouth in the early 1900s. An inside waterway connected this pass to N aples and ex- tended south for 12 miles to Big Marco Pass. The passage was a few hundr ed feet to 1 mile distant fr om the Gulf beach, fr om 40 feet to one-half-mile wide, and from 3 to 10 feet deep. Many transv erse oyster bars, cov er ed by a dense gr o wth of mangr ov es, obstructed the passage. About 3 miles south of Naples was Dollar Bay, a wider section of Coastal view of Mar co Island, early 1900. this waterway, and Rookery Bay, another enlarged sec- tion, lay another 4 miles south. Fishermen used tidal chan- nels to run east of Mar co Island and r ound Coon K ey Pass, a distance of 13 miles, to reach Caxambas.

O range River, early 1900.

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The Caloosahatchee, early in the 19th centur y, was Lake Flirt, which was 16 miles west of Lake Okeechobee. r ecognized as the key to settling the v ast Okeechobee The Caloosahatchee abov e Ft. My ers was subject to over- B asin. Unlike today, the river did not reach the big lake. flow during the wet seasons. Ther e are numerous record- An extensive shoal (5.5 foot depth), acr oss the mouth ings of 17-foot–high floods at Denaud; these recurring wher e the riv er entered S an Carlos Bay betw een Sword ev ents pr ompted private v entures and gov ernment at- Point and Punta Rosa (Rassa), hamper ed navigation. tempts to r egulate riv er flow for land drainage and Other obstacles included numerous oyster bars along the reclamation. 17-mile reach up to Ft. Myers and a very cr ooked, shal- These were the general conditions that pr evailed be- low (4 feet deep), and long (44 mile) channel fr om Ft. for e changes wer e made, with navigation impr ov ements Myers to the waterfalls at Ft. Thompson (La Belle). The and land drainage the principal goals behind the man- The banks along the riv er’s sour ce was 4 miles upstr eam of Ft. Thompson near made alterations. C aloosahatchee we re lined with rickety docks, sewer outfall pipes and litter before the turn of the century. In 1888, the Ft. My ers Council ordered outhouses on the waterfr ont removed as they were “offensive to the best interest of the community.”

Caloosahatchee shoreline.

Bird’s-ey e view of Punta G orda before seawall. References

Published Reports ______, 1913, “Reports on Preliminary E xami- nation of Lemon Bay, Fla., to Gasparilla Sound,” 63rd U.S. House of Representatives, 1879, “Examination Congr ess, 1st Session, Doc. No. 247, 7 pp. of Caloosahatchee Riv er,” 46th Congress, 2nd Session, D oc. No. 1, Pt. 2, Appendix J., pp. 863–869. ______, 1919, “Reports on Preliminary E xami- nation and Su rv ey of Charlotte H arbor, Fla., With a V i ew ______, 1902, “Improv ement of Rivers and to Securing a Channel of Incr eased D epth Fr om the Gulf Harbors on the West Coast of Florida, South of and In - of Mexico to the To wn of Boca Grande,” 66th Congress, cluding Suwanee Riv er,” 57th Congress, 2nd Session, 1st Session, Doc. No. 113, 13 pp.; map (1:16,000) Pre- D oc. No. 6, Appendix Q, pp. 1217–1237. liminary E xamination, Charlotte H arbor, Florida; map (1:800,000), Vicinity Sketch. ______, 1903, “Report of E xamination of Estero C reek or Riv er, Florida,” 58th Congr ess, 2nd Session, ______,1938, “Naples B ay to G ordon Pass and D oc. No. 175, 4 pp. Big Mar co Pass, Fla., Channel,” 75th Congress, 3rd Ses- sion, Do c. No. 596, 16 pp.; index map (1:128,000), heetS ______, 1903, “R eport of E xamination of 1, in 15 sheets, “Survey Channel Fr om Naples to Big G asparilla Sound and Lemon B ay, Florida, 58th Con- Mar co, Pass, Florida.” gr ess, 2nd Session, D oc. No. 191, 5 pp. U.S. Senate, 1880, “E xamination of Charlotte H ar- ______,1908, “Reports of E xamination and Sur- bor and Peas C reek, Florida,” 46th Congr ess, 3r d Ses- v ey of Ester o Bay, Florida,” 60th Congress, 2nd Session, sion, Ex. Doc. No. 128, 12 pp. D oc. No. 1189, 9 pp.; map, 2 sheets (1:10,000, appro xi- mate), Ester o Ba y, Florida. Unpublished Reports Black, W. M., 1887, “Condition of Caloosahatchee ______, 1913, “Examination and Surv ey of Basin,” letter to Chief of E ngineers, U.S. Army, Wash- Kissimmee and Caloosahatchee Riv ers and Lake ington, D.C., Mar ch 30, 1887, file copy , No. 1155, 2; O keechobee and Tributaries, with a Vi ew to Adopting a pp. 126–129 and 214–217, F ederal Records Center, Plan of Impr ov ement of Said Waters, Which Will Har- Southeast R egion (Atlanta). moniz e as Nearly as May be Practicable W ith the G en- eral Scheme of the State of Florida for the Drainage of Caldw ell, W.H., 1906, “Caximbas B ay Improv e- the Ev erglades,” 63rd Congress, 1st S ession, Doc. No. ments,” letter to Major Francis R. S hunk, 137, 32 pp.; map (1:500,000, appr o ximate), Drainage Engineer Office, Tampa, Florida, May 19, 1906, file copy, Map Kissimmee and Caloosahatchee Riv ers and Lake No. missing, 2 pp.; map of Caximbas Bay, Fla., (1:80,000, O keechobee, Florida. appro ximate), Federal Records Center, Southeast Region (A tlanta).

R ossell, 1885, “Caloosahatchee River,” letter to Brig. Gen. John Newton, Chief of Engineers, Washington, D.C., June 8, 1885, file copy N o. 1155, 2, pp. 23–43, Federal Records Center, S outheast Region (A tlanta).

Books

Tebeau, C.W., 1957, Florida’s Last Fr ontier: The His- tory of Collier County, Univ ersity of Miami Pr ess, Miami, Florida.

Pig butchering on the bank of the Caloosahatchee in 1911.

17