continued… There was a large exhibit on the agriculture industry. Clewiston was dubbed “America’s Sweetest Town” because it is home to The United States Sugar Company, Florida’s largest producer. Here was a model of the plant.

In 1925, a group of investors bought a giant tract of land to create a sugarcane plantation. Interestingly enough, the principal investor also owned a company that produced Celotex boards, which were made from the fibrous remains of sugarcane after the sugar was processed out. Sugarcane became the predominant crop in the Clewiston area and Southern Sugar Company was the largest employer and property owner. One of their biggest early challenges was drainage. They dug canals to help the water go away and planted trees to help absorb the water that stayed. They bought a defunct sugar mill from another part of Florida and moved it to Clewiston. The mill opened in January 1929. Nine months later, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression set in. In 1930, they went bankrupt and were planning to halt production. One of the creditors and major shareholders, Charles Stewart Mott, stepped in to save the operation. He formed US Sugar and bought out Southern Sugar a few months later.

continued… The next exhibit was on the early inhabitants of the Kissimmee River Valley and Lake Okeechobee areas. The Kissimmee River Valley, which began just south of Orlando, was the primary source of water to Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee was the second largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states. It covered 730 square miles, 467,000 acres, and was only 9 – 12 feet deep (3 – 4 meters). It was 30 miles long (north to south) and 33 miles wide (east to west). Many of its shallow, grassy areas were similar to the Everglades. The lake was the centerpiece for the South Florida’s Water Management District’s network of canals and water storage. And as we learned yesterday, the lake directly fed the Everglades.

The prehistoric people of Southern Florida were called the Mayaimi people. The group that lived In the Kissmissmee River Valley and Lake Okeechobee were a distinct subculture that have been named the Belle Glade people. Lots and lots of structures and artifacts have been found. There was a display with pottery, tools and decorations, as well as a canoe. Some of the tools were made of materials that were not found in the Kissmissmee River Valley and Lake Okeechobee area, but were indigenous to other parts of Florida, indicating that trade lines existed amongst the various sub-tribes.

Interestingly enough, Florida has over 400 ancient dugout canoes, which was the highest concentration in the world. They range in age from 500 to nearly 7,000 years old. Per the sign, Florida’s soil was wet and boggy, so wood decayed slowly. If a wooden canoe got stuck in muck without oxygen, it didn’t deteriorate. The old canoes were usually found during times of drought, when the low water levels exposed the mud.

The next exhibit was about the Spanish invasion. It was apparently common for Spanish ships sailing from Central/South America to wreck in the shallow waters of Florida. The gold, silver and other treasured they had stolen would wash up onshore. Quite bit of Spanish treasure has been found in the Kissmissmee River Valley, Lake Okeechobee area, and the Everglades. There were stories of people finding gold in strange places — one guy was digging his tires out of the mud and another family was pulling up plants and gold was attached to the roots. It was believed the indigenous people made trips to the coast, found the treasures scattered along the shore, and took them back to their homes. Here was a model of a Spanish Galleon, which was the main type of ship utilized during the era when Spain ruled Florida.