Florida

Canal History

Florida has many canals, but most are non-navigable and built to drain wet lands. However, with its Atlantic and Gulf coasts, there has always been a goal to build a canal across the state as a shortcut. Currently, the 1937 154-mile-long Okeechobee Waterway connects Fort Myers on the Gulf to Strart on the Atlantic. The canal is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It has 5 locks that are 250 long and 50 feet wide, offering a depth of 10 feet. The waterway is a mix of manmade channels and natural bodies of water such as Lake Okeechobee. The navigation is part of the Intracoastal waterway.

Throughout history, there has been a desire to create a cross state waterway in the northern area of the state to act as a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Gulf. This waterway was to be a mix of manmade channels connecting natural bodies of water. The 100-mile-long Cross Florida Barge Canal had it beginnings in the 1930s, but in reality, work didn’t begin in earnest until the the 1960s. The route was to link the St. John’s River near Palatka on the east to Inglis on the west. The locks were to be 600 feet long and 84 feet wide, with a depth of 12 feet. The project was canceled in 1971, after about a third of it was completed. St. John’s and the Inglis locks were put into use, forming a water connection into the interior regions of the state. The Inglis Lock was taken out of use in 1999, leaving the St. John’s Lock as the last operational structure from the building effort. However as the route of the canal had been purchased, the state used it for the Cross Florida Greenway.

As can be seen in the Canal Data pages, there have been attempts to improve some of the drainage canals for navigation, such as the Miami Canal that ran between lake Harbor on Lake Okeechobee and the Atlantic near Miami. Locks were built and it was used, but not to any great extent. See the Canal Index Pages below for a list of these.

Canal Groups and Organizations

There are no statewide canal groups.

Major Repositories and Archives

State Archives of Florida has many resources to aid your waterways study.

Florida Memory is a project of the State Archives.

The Florida Historical Society is located in Cocoa. Here they have the Library of Florida History. They do offer online searching and some of their items have been digitized.

CANAL INDEX PAGES

The “canal index” project is an on-going project of the ACS to document canal sites. Most of the information is from the 1970-1990 time period, however new pages are being added. Feel free to contribute to this project by submitting a form.

Note: Canals in blue and underlined have index sheets which are accessible by double clicking on the hyperlink.

• Apalachicola, Chattahohoochee & Flint Rivers
• Brunswick Altamaha Canal (Georgia)
• Canaveral Canal
  • Apopka Beauclair Canal
  • Dora Canal
  • Haines Creek Canal
  • Kyle Young Canal
  • Moss Bluff Lock & Dam and Kyle – Young Canal Canals upstream of the Silver River on the Ocklawaha River and Chain of Lakes  (see also Cross Florida Barge Canal below)
• Chiquita Lock – (Cape Harbor Lock) Cape Coral
• Chipola Canal
• Cross Florida Barge Canal (never completed)
• Map of the Cross Florida Barge Canal
  •  Buckman Lock  (Atlantic end of canal – originally called St. Johns Lock – active)
  •  Eureka Lock (Dam never completed)
  •  Inglis Lock (Gulf end of canal – lock closed)
  •  Kirkpatrick Dam  (Rodman Dam) (object of removal campaign)
• Gulf Waterway
• Okeechobee Waterway
  • Map of Lake Okeechobee Locks
  • Belle Glade Lock
  • Bulkhead Ridge Lock
  • Canal Point Lock
  • Clewiston Lock
  • Early LaBelle to Lake Okeechobee Canal
  • Fisheating Creek Lock
  • Henry Creek Lock
  • J & S Park Lock
  • Lake Harbor Lock
  • Port Mayaca Lock
  • New Port Mayaca Lock
  • St. Lucie Canal
  • South Bay Lock
  • Taylor Creek Lock
• Orange State Canal
• Port Charlotte Lock
• South Florida Canals
  • Bolles Canal
  • Florida Map and Index
  • Harney Pond Canal
  • Hillsboro Canal
  • Indian Prarie Canal
  • Kissimmee River (C-38 Canal)
  • Miami Canal
  • Mid-Florida Map
  • North New River Canal
  • South New River Canal
  • South Port Canal (C-35 Canal)
  • Tamiami Canal
  • Wacissa Aucilla Canal
  • West Palm Beach Canal
• Wysong Lock & Dam – Withlacoochee River, Carlson, FL 

Please note that these are the actual pages done in the early 1970s.  Changes have occurred since and there are some inaccuracies in the information on the pages.

Revised 04/29/2022