Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Prophet of the Glades: Ernest Coe and the Fight for Everglades National Park Chris Wilhelm Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES PROPHET OF THE GLADES: ERNEST COE AND THE FIGHT FOR EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK By CHRIS WILHELM A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Chris Wilhelm defended on March 24, 2010. __________________________________ Fritz Davis Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________________ Anthony Stallins University Representative __________________________________ Ron Doel Committee Member __________________________________ Jennifer Koslow Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My family, especially my parents Margann and Jim Wilhelm, deserve enormous thanks. I can only imagine what went through their minds when their oldest son told them he was going to study history for a living. Despite this impractical decision, they have been extremely supportive, both emotionally and at times, financially. Aimee Griffith was present in my life for most of my graduate school career. She was frequently the emotional crutch I leaned upon when I studied for my comprehensive exams and when I faced the daunting task of writing the first words of this dissertation. Beth Woodward helped me in the final months of this project, often reading and critiquing the manuscript and offering encouragement. Although she was unable to oversee this dissertation, I owe Elna Green an enormous debt of gratitude. For five years Elna was my advisor at FSU, and my development as an historian, thinker, and writer bears her indelible mark. She was always available when I needed assistance, but was never overbearing or too involved in my own work. Elna gave me the exact amount of guidance and independence that I needed from an advisor. Fritz Davis graciously stepped in to guide this dissertation to its conclusion shortly after I began writing. He was enthusiastic about my topic, supportive of my ideas, and gave me much needed criticism at key points throughout this process. Ron Doel also read some early versions of this manuscript and served on the dissertation committee. Tony Stallins and Jen Koslow also served on this committee and their criticisms of this manuscript benefited me immensely. I would also like to thank Jack Davis, who lent me research materials and discussed the Everglades with me over a lunch break while I was conducted research at University of Florida. Angie Martinez, Scott Shubitz, and Angie Tomlison proofread early chapters and Cindy Ermus and Abe 'Froman' Gibson patiently listened to me babble away about the Everglades on more than one occasion. I would also like to thank some individuals at various archives and libraries who enabled the research that went into this dissertation possible. Nancy Korber at the Fairchild Tropical Garden Archives; Caroline Harzewski, and Koichi Tasa at University of Miami's Richter Library; David T. Jones at The Kampong; Bonnie Grysko, Dawn Hugh, and Nancy Russell at the South iii Florida Collection Management Center at Everglades National Park; Marian, Boyd, Josh Youngblood, and Holly at the Florida State Archives; James Cusick and Flo Turcotte at P.K. Younge Library at University of Florida; and Reggie at Strozier Library at FSU. I also received two generous research grants without which this study could not have been completed. The Cecilia L. Johnson Grant for Visiting Graduate Scholars allowed me conduct extensive research at P.K. Younge Library at the University of Florida, and the Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt Institute provided me with funds to conduct research at the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York. Much of this dissertation was written at two local Tallahassee establishments: All Saints Cafe and Fermentation Lounge. I would like to thank my All Saints family members; Isaiah Ley, Aaron Ley, Alisha Feldman, Meghan Scherwitzki, Adam Bunn, Philip Bufkin, James Tompkins, Lauren Harris, Kyle Woodward, Ouikut Dion, Arnold Francisco, Chelsea Fox, Samson Roeber, Daniel Kavanagh, Mike Rosen, Rachel Kaufman, and Dave, and the bartenders at Fermentation Lounge; Rachel Davenport, Tyler Owen, Trevor Bond, Forest Lee, and Melissa Franklin. Some very old and very good friends also deserve mention here. Marton Cavani and Alison Garcia-Monde gave me a couch to sleep on while in Washington D.C. Another very old friend, Fabian Khan, who works in Everglades National Park, was enthusiastically supportive of my work, and not only showed me around the Daniel Beard Center, where I conducted historical research, but also humored my ramblings about my own research and patiently answered my own questions about his work and the state of the park today. Thanks are due to Jack Tyndall, the manuscript clearance advisor at FSU. Jack's professionalism, courteousness and positivity made dealing with the bureaucratic aspects of this dissertation a pleasure rather than a chore. Chris Pignatelli and Anne Kosar in the FSU history department also made the university's bureaucracy navigable to this student, whose head was usually somewhere in the Everglades. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................10 1. THE IDENTITY OF THE EVERGLADES ..............................................................................25 2. ERNEST COE AND THE EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK ASSOCIATION ...................83 3. TOURISM IN THE EVERGLADES.......................................................................................102 4. PARK POLITICS .....................................................................................................................127 5. DEVELOPMENT AND WILDERNESS IN EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK ................157 6. THE EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK COMMISSION ....................................................192 7. BOUNDARIES AND CONTROVERSY ................................................................................212 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................245 APPENDIX: IMAGES ................................................................................................................254 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................261 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................273 v TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 Ernest Coe's map of development in Everglades National Park .............217 Figure 2 Map Key for Figure 1..............................................................................218 Figure 3 Daniel Beard............................................................................................219 Figure 4 National Park Service officials on their 1930 trip into the Everglades................................................................................................220 Figure 5 Dade County Izaak Walton League's Map...............................................221 Figure 6 Ernest Coe on Cape Sable……………………………………….......….222 Figure 7 Ernest Coe................................................................................................223 vi ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the creation of Everglades National Park and specifically focuses on the actions of Ernest Coe, the primary historical actor in this narrative. It places this fight in its larger historical context and examines the relationship between the fight for the park and the emergence of modern environmentalism. This park was the first established for ecological reasons and was the first that explicitly protected an area as a wilderness. Both ecology and a concern for wilderness were major elements of modern environmentalism. This study also focuses on how park advocates perceived nature in general and the Everglades specifically and on how these perceptions of nature affected the social and political aspects of the park’s creation. vii INTRODUCTION Geological features were central to the identity of America's first national parks. Parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon were created to preserve features like mountaintops, canyons, and valleys. These stunning geological monuments were tourist attractions, and contributed to the creation of America's cultural identity. These parks were created to preserve scenery for the benefit of humans, and were not part of an impulse to preserve ecosystems,