River be dammed: Florida's forgotten river
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- Опубліковано 11 лют 2018
- An examination of the Kirkpatrick (Rodman) Dam and its impacts on the Ocklawaha River in Florida. Produced for River be dammed, a multimedia project investigating the Ocklawaha River and its relationship with the Kirkpatrick Dam. Released in 2014.
Update (11/2019): With fond remembrance and thanks to Robin Lewis and Whitey Markle for their championing of the restoration of the Ocklawaha River. Their efforts and commitment to preserving Florida have sifted through the detritus in the deepest of swamps, flowed through the limestone in the bluest of springs and resonated amongst the blushing canopy of maple, the long-legged islands of pine, and the sprawling, buttressed limbs of oak and resurrection fern above our heads. May the wonder of wild spaces they set their hopes upon continue to inspire and push us all.
Reported, filmed and edited by Matt Keene.
Special thanks to Josh May for title design.
Footage from "Florida's Canal Main Street," and photos of 'crusher-crawler' and 'land clearing' from Florida Memory Archive (www.floridamemory.com).
"Rodman Dam" used with permission of Lonesome Bert & the Skinny Lizards (www.lonesomebert.com).
In the 1950s my grandfather took me fishing on the Ocklawaha. The water was clear and flowing. We even caught blue crabs as well, which probably are not there now, since they migrate into the Atlantic. I hope someday the river can flow naturally again.
Thank you for sharing!
The other mistake was draining the Everglades , people are Florida's waterways greatest destroyers. I have canoed and camped on the Ocklawaha many times and enjoyed every minute and can only imagine what it was like for the Seminoles when they used it. Folks forget that we do not own the land and water , the land and the water owns us.
Thanks for watching! My heartstrings snap everytime i visit the glades. Its a beautiful place that's faced a lot of hardships
Foreign owned sugar beet growers were protected while the Everglades were sacrificed. Politicians lied and habitat died.
We could create such a more harmonious world, knowing what we do today. Instead, we still believe that what we have is the best way.
I'm an 83year old Florida resident. I remember this catastrophe well, an protested it. You wouldn't believe the animals that were drown when the Rodman damn went up. Animals & reptiles stranded in the tops of trees.
It was horrifying to see. One of the most horrifying ( man made) thing I've seen.
So glad to see this out ,for all too see.
I love my state. Please take care of it & an not exploit her...
Little late for Florida not being exploited unfortunately.😔
Thank you for sharing and for watching!
What a great documentary. I live here in Ocala, and these people are speaking truth.
Thank you for watching!
Great content. We need more awareness regarding our waters in Florida. If you’re reading this and are interested please see other videos about the springs and their degradation. Save the springs!
Thank you! For more on the springs related to the Ocklawaha River, check out my other short film "Lost Springs"
I was in junior high school and lived on the backwaters of Dunnellon where the canal was destined to go through. My father was a lifelong naturalist who loved every inch of the waterways that crossed through central Florida to Inglis. He said many times that the politicians would destroy the natural habitat for thousands of birds and other wildlife. At that time, the state of Florida killed the natural grasses that were also a habitat for the fish and birds. Now, the waterways are filled with rotting grasses and silt. The world class fishing is gone forever. The flocks of ducks and coots along with herons are all but gone. Our grandchildren will never know the beauty that was found along the riverbanks in central Florida. What was once crystal-clear water is now murky and almost void of natural life. There is hope however if the people of Florida will take notice and action. Where there is a voice, people can make the changes necessary to make significant change.
This is a powerful video documentary and I hope people will share it and do all we can together to allow the natural habits to recover.
Thank you for sharing your history and for watching!
I grew up in ocala...moved there when i was 11 in 1984. Its changed so much.
With Ocala becoming a distribution hub and the Roberts turning the area into a winter playground for rich horse people it's only going to get worse. They tried running a turnpike through the Rainbow and failed but they did manage to install a natural gas pipeline which runs parallel to it. It is no more than five miles from the head springs.
Don't worry, your grandchildren would rather be playing video games and watching ticcrap on their cellphones.
We used to deerhunt south of Eureka in the mid 60's.i remember coming back from overseas in 1968 and looking down from the airplane and seeing the canal. Nothing was mentioned about the first attempt to canal the river. Early in 1900s. There is proof of that on 301south of Ocala where the road splits. A wooded area has 2 concrete bridge abutments back from the road.
This is not the only devastation the Army Corps of Engineers wreaked upon the State of Florida. They took a 102-mile winding river, the Kissimmee, and turned it into a 50-mile ditch.
Thanks for watching!
How about draining the swamps around Miami??
Lived in Fl. For 60 years never heard of this issue .glad the word is getting out …..good video!
Thanks for watching!
How can we organize the citizens of Florida to take action in getting this damn removed? I've lived in Melbourne for 30yrs, never even heard of this disaster before this video! Well done, this was a great eye-opener!!🙏
Thanks for watching! Search for the group Free the Ocklawaha, they have the most current resources on the restoration efforts
Get some shovels and dynamite...plenty of good old boys out there with the materials
This is the story of EVERY waterway in florida. We live in a SWAMP. Your house was once a SWAMP. Every new house was SWAMP paved over. Where does all that water that the SWAMP percolated and filtered? Now full of pesticides and fertilizers, straight into the logoons and oceans and no one can figger out why shits all dying.
Save Rodman
Just go down there with some dynamite and knock it down. Nobody is stopping anyone from doing that. Once it's done they won't build it back.
This is fascinating and infuriating at once. I've lived in Florida over 40 years and as others said I've never heard about this. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Im 45yo, I knew of Rodman dam since it's not far away but I didn't know about all this on the video. I always thought people crossed Florida at Lake Okeechobee. That sur is a lot of work, money spent and environmental issues just to cut 400-500 miles out of a trip.
Very good video! Love the song as well. It tells the true story of the canal!
Thanks for watching!
Was born in Florida. Use to do overnight trips paddling down the Ocklawaha River. Beautiful. I left America 20 yes ago for a better world where the people come first not businesses.
Thank you for watching!
Where would that be?
Where do you live now?
Where would that be? Imagination land?
Thank you for leaving.
I fish the inglis barge canal every day... what a monstrosity!!! The fish bite is amazing here, I can only imagine what it would be like if left untouched...
The Ocklawaha is a small piece of the overall hydrology in the region. If Moss Bluff, Rodman and all of the other water control structures are removed, the water from some of the most polluted lakes in Florida will free flow straight into the "restored" Ocklawaha, the St. Johns and ultimately, the Atlantic Ocean. Love it or hate it, the reservoir acts as a settling basin for this polluted water. While I wholeheartedly support the restoration of the natural river, the pollution upstream must be addressed first.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this.
I grew up on the river and my grandmother was a bridge tender just outside of Ocala.
Her partner, Uncle Joe, ran two glass bottom boat tours to Silver Springs and back.
His name was Joe Borden.
Thank you for watching and sharing! I tried to interview a few glass-bottom boat tour operators but was unable to.
After biking hundreds of miles through the everglades I continue to discover more and more evidence of man's interference with our beautiful state's ecosystem :( Thank you for posting this content answers many questions.
Thanks for sharing. The Everglades is an amazing place to grasp our watery state, especially by bike, foot or paddle. Fortunately, the Ocklawaha is an easy fix... once it happens.
The Everglades and several rivers and streams in South Florida have been changed over and over. The Army Core of Engineers did as much as possible to screw up our natural waterways. And now we have monster snakes in the Everglades that do NOT belong there. I am a Floridian! I am 3rd generation born in the same town and my son is 4th generation Floridian. My family has seen a lot done to Florida over the generations. Of course, October 1971 Florida was the final straw for our state to no longer the same again.
Like your own. Your own house. Hypocrite!
You biking there is interfering with it as well.
@@mikepalmer2219 Countless microorganisms wiped out by his riding. He only cares about the shiny things. It's like the tree huggers telling foresters in Brazil not to harvest their crops. What about the grass the tree hugger mows in his own lawn? It's all perspective, scale, time. Get off the bike and in an airplane and you'll see that we're just fine.
LBJ was a RAT on so many levels.
Thanks for watching!
I live in this area and all the older people say that the river use to be clear and beautiful. That damn needs to be removed and restore the area.
Thank you for watching!
This land needs to be turned back into a swamp.. We all know what swamp really needs to be drained.
The section of the Ocklawaha from confluence with the Silver to the lake is one of the most magical places on earth. Crystal clear water, big gators, big snakes, otters, bass, gar, bowfin, even monkeys. A must see destination!!
Thanks for watching, I agree that is a special place to visit!
In the little town of Melrose Florida you’ll see signs saying “ free the Ocklawaha river”. The river is one of my favorites to kayak on
Thanks for watching! I made a short film on Melrose called The Lake Santa Fe Story, feel free to check it out on UA-cam. It was a great opportunity to spend time with folks from that community.
@@mattkeene oh I know a lot of people there. I know a guy that plays the dulcimer. David Beede I believe is his name . I’m sending all the videos to my dad who lives there. Thanks!
I was a teen in the 70 and grew up camping hiking canoeing in Ocala national forest and the st Marys river, I remember fishing rod-man dam and never knew of this.
Thanks for sharing your story and watching!
@@mattkeene I love videos of old Florida and this one hit close to home and i never knew of it
I'm taken aback there are not hundreds of thousands of subscribers to this channel .. which could be writing letters to Governor Ron DeSantis office along with all Florida legislators demanding the
Kirkpatrick-Rodman dam be breached, letting the Ocklawaha river run free and return to its natural beauty...The Kissimmee River was restored, so Governor, do the right thing .. Give us back our Ocklawaha river .. 💖
Thank you for watching!
I lived in Ocala right next to one of the trailheads to the Cross Florida Greenway, and I used to ride those mountain bike trails, sometimes daily. I considered it a good day when I had spent 3 hours riding the trails.
Thanks for watching!
Nicely done.......from a 5th Gen Floridian. 20 years ago I met Dixie Holland up there
Thanks for sharing and for watching!
What a surprise that LBJ was involved in this. Where I am in the Georgia coast he visited after a hurricane and ordered these granite rocks to be placed in the sand dunes to prevent damage to property on a couple of barrier islands. Now wherever those rocks are (we derisively call them “Johnson Rocks”) we have some of the narrowest beaches on the coast. At low tide the beach might be 50ft or so and that disappears as soon as the tide starts coming in. Where the rocks aren’t and the sand is allowed to ebb and flow naturally have some of the widest beaches you can see.
Hey, Hey, LBJ! How much of the Southern Environment have you ruined today?!
LBJ was installed to do nothing but screw the USA up. That's why he didn't run for a 2nd term, he did the damage the deep state needed him to do. He was heading off to enjoy his retirement with his fat pockets.
Thanks for watching!
The Army Corps of Engineers destroyed just about every natural water shed system in the name of water control. When US 41 was put in it damaged the natural drainage causing water to back up in Central Florida so dies and levees were done to manage the water. If they had just elevated US 41 to be 100% bridge they could have saved the thousands of miles of dies and levees, but that wouldn't have profited US Sugar at all. Big busines is always in the politicians pockets when it comes to things like the barge canal and the huge sugar cane fields south of Lake Okeechobee and all the dies and levees that were put in in the name of water control, which was more like drain the glades so big sugar can plant more bottom land. Follow the money. Ron DeSantis looks like a squeaky clean governor but just check out who his biggest campaign contributors are and how they profited from from many of the bills that have been passed during his term as governor. I believe our government has seriously gone off the rails with the line your pockets while holding a public appointed office.
Thanks for watching! Bridges allowing water to flow to all the glades and not just past ag and limited channels is needed, I agree.
Another river, like the Kissimmee river, which was ruined by the US Army Corps of Engineers. And how Lake Okeechobee which was also ruined, all in the name of the almighty dollar.
Thanks for watching! The Kissimmee is also a testament to the power of natural systems to recover.
Yup... I had a fish camp home on the south side of Lake Kissimmee, for 20 years. After they built the Kissimmee river dam across the lower end on Highway 60, The government came in and took it all for pennies on the dollar, saying it was all now a floodplain. Entire communities of people were robbed of their property there as they rerouted the Kissimmee River creating real-estate farther south. All while ignoring already endangered wildlife all along the way to Okeechobee and beyond.
BEING A HEAVY CONSTRUCTION
WORKER AND A NATIVE FLORIDAN
I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO
WORK ON THE 1ST PHASE OF
THE RESTOREAL OF THE RIVER
BUT THAT WAS DURING THE
JEB BUSH GOVERNOR DAYS
AROUND THE 1999 TO 200O
WE NEED PHASE 2 OF THE
RESTORATION TO BE PUT ON
THE DESK OF THE GOVERNOR
AND TO FINISH THE RESTORATION
OF THIS BEAUTIFUL RIVER...
An interesting presentation on a piece of history that influenced so many in so many ways. I talked to the surveyor who had a significant role in laying out the route and procuring the land. He told me how he had an office that was always kept locked and no way to see in windows. He was made to keep his role secret at the time. I don't think government has changed much.
Thanks for sharing your story and watching!
just one of many great ideas in the name of progress that destroyed florida's rivers, like the fenholloway river, the peace river, the kissimmee river etc, and countless springs reduced to muddy seeps, there was a artesian spring right on the beach at daytona beach,, gone, the springs at indian rocks beach,, gone, there was a spectacular artesian spring near orlando that was geyser like in nature,, gone forever, florida state regulators have welcomed the destruction of countless bodies of water for over one hundred years, great documentary on the subject, fight for your water florida.
Wonderful work and revealing story of Floridas destruction, waterway by waterway.
Thanks for watching!
great video! very interesting! sad to see one of our nations greatest ecological areas undermined by a failure. i hope they execute the plan to fix!
Thank you! There are strong efforts underway to breach the dam. Visit freetheocklawaha.com to learn more and, if you're interested, check out the short film I made a few years after this called Lost Springs.
Great video
Beaver have been changing the landscape for thousands of years
Beavers know what they are doing. Corporations do not. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.
Very interesting 🤔
Thanks for watching!
It would have been pretty amazing to have a waterway for boaters to transit the peninsula of Florida.
Thanks for watching!
I grew up by the lochs on the Ocklawaha river... lived in eureka, Florida, right across from hog valley.
Thanks for watching!
hog valley-----biggest dump in Florida-------the wild west wasn't this bad-
51 year Florida native and always researching stuff online, this is new to me??
Thanks for watching!
We are still working to get the Ocklawaha restored. The economy of the area will boom. We could paddle from Silver Springs to the Atlantic Ocean. Salt water intrusion would be reduced for Jacksonville and the great St. Joe River system. I'm headed out to the Ocklawaha this month. I hope the ashes of Whitey Markle have been sprinkled on the Ocklawaha as he told me he wanted.
@Cerceify I grew up in ocala, me and my brother have homes now in ocklawaha. I want to help restore the ocklawaha. What can we as people do to get all the dams and locks off of the ocklawaha
Blow blow Seminole Wind. Chief Osceola still has tears.
Thanks for watching!
unfortunately living in Florida we always have a front row seat to urban sprawl..I wish we had public servants who would reign in the overdevelopment it is disgusting!!
Thank you for watching!
What is there to say...... sad 😢
It will never stop. I am not supporting it I am just stating facts.
Run for office. Get people out to vote, especially young people. If you don’t like this shit. You can change it.
@@mattwhaley1865 yes because that’s how it works. Lol. Your delusional.
I grew up 1 mile from this dam place. I used to go to the dam bait shop and the dam dinner there.
Thanks for watching!
Man, I have a shovel. I'm going to come up there and get a head start on digging!
Thanks for watching!
The folk song played in the video sounds like "cats in the cradle" by Harry Chapin.
Thanks for watching!
This is life!
We live in Inglis on the Withlacoochee. Story here, and there are pictures, that it started in the ‘20s as a depression era project. As the economy rolled so did the project. Economy up - work stopped, economy down - work started.
Thanks for watching and sharing!
The Oclawaha looks pretty good today. 2023.
You have no idea how wrong you are .
I grew up in Palm bay/Melbourne FL and i've never heard of this. I would definitely say its forgotten, hell i didn't even know Florida HAD a canal system, the state is a swamp surrounded by ocean on all sides is it really that long of a journey around Florida? Next your gonna tell me there built a canal through a barrier island so they didn't have to boat around it.
Thanks for watching!
From the title, before watching this, I am assuming this is the story of the Oklawaha.
Yup.
It is such an interesting story of Federal travesty.
Thanks for watching!
As someone from ocala im glad the canal wasn't finished as it would be millions of times more destructive than what it is now, so as terrible as it sounds im glad ocklawaha is the only affected area but the state needs to hurry up and get rid of the dam as doing so would near fix the situation.
Thanks for watching!
Look the damage government did by straightening the Kissimmee River back in the 60s. Just a straight flow from Orlando to Lake Okeechobee.
Born in ft.luarderdale been in hernando County since 82. Im all for removing the damn dam
Matt Keene... great video....In 1969-70 I recall my grandfather (working for the Fl Audobon Society) taking lots of pix of the Crawler/Crusher in action....he showed them to me as a kid...they were appaling......in any event, here we are today...... by the way is there any way you can send me or publish the full video of Gov Haydon Burns segment on the PR video release on the advantages of the new "ditch".... Many thanks!!!
Thank you for sharing! The archive footage was provided from the Florida State Archives. You can see that entire video (called "Florida's Canal Main Street") here: floridamemory.com/items/show/245871
Would you have felt better if they had used a chain saw?
@@mattkeene Thanks Matt.
save the wild life
I have seen mullet so thick in these creeks that feed the rivers in South Florida that the water looks black where if you were drunk you might try to walk on them .
Wah !
Unfortunately, my uncle was instrumental in the construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. Even as a child I thought it was a disaster and I was right.
Thanks for sharing and for watching!
All stories have two extreme sides and the truth is somewhere in the middle. This video presents just one of the sides. I grew up in Florida when all this was put into motion; it goes far, far beyond the Evil Big Texas Oil. Don't buy into the hype.
Thank you for watching! There were a lot of moving parts and motivations towards the construction of the Cross Florida Barge Canal you are right!
A slice through the Florida aquifer screwing everything south of it.
Thanks for watching!
Been fishing at the Rodman dam.many times....I don't think they used the canal many times
Thank you for watching!
I have canoed the Ockalawaha three times. Each time the lake has got more overgrown above Rodman Dam. The part that has kept its wild character is cool. The lake part and the canal part are uninteresting. That is a derelict dam..
Thanks for watching!
The only thing that outshines our arrogance is our stupidity.
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But yet you benefit from all kinds of modern things.
@@mikepalmer2219It's great! Alexa, how much mercury is in 8lbs, of bass?
@@russell3380 that was not even close to the point I was making.
@@mikepalmer2219 Well, I'm sorry about that.
Great project people of the 50s.
Thanks for watching!
After this long of a period now, tearing down the rodman dam would do even more damage. So might as well leave it in place. Big sugar down south really messed up that place, that wont ever change back to the old flood plains.
Thanks for watching!
It’s gone from a low hazard failure rate to recently they declared it has a high hazard of failing. So they need to do something soon either way or it might fail and kill a bunch of people. This is Florida though where 85% of the population wants it removed but the politicians just ignore the voters and we’ll probably hear about it failing in a few years.
I don’t understand how it could cause more damage to remove it, can you elaborate as to why? I realize some properties would get flooded that have been built since the dam, but usually the property owners will be compensated by the government if it’s a planned dam removal.
I don’t see the downsides of restoring it to how it was, it would help migrating fish and birds and the people would benefit from getting the springs back which would help against saltwater intrusion into the drinking water supply.
Currently there’s issues where people can’t use their local water if the ocean water has intruded, if it keeps going at this pace it’s conceivable property values will drop significantly in areas where the groundwater has been contaminated by salt and can no longer be used in homes.
It’ll cost way more money to pipe water to people than whatever it costs to restore the water balance by removing the dam. Selling a house with no fresh water supply is probably really difficult.
The dam is much farther north than the everglades. You are wrong. Stay out of Florida, don't even come to visit...
@@jiveturkey365 Don't tell me what to do .
I have friends who live in Florida and I will visit them at anytime I want.
@bak-mariterry5180 I just spoke with your "friends" they said to tell you stay home.
Get rid of the stupid dam and give us back our beautiful Oklawaha
Doesn't the river flow constantly still? With a flooded area above the dam.Where Dams create a large backwaters with a river in and river out?
Thanks for watching! Like most dammed rivers, the flow is controlled at a gate. When the gates were lowered, a large backwater was created along nearly 16 miles of river. This backwater slopes deeper towards the dam where more water piles up and spreads lower miles upstream from the dam, impacting thousands of acres of wetlands. Thats why trees 12 miles upstream from the dam are sickly... kept in a state of permanent, low floodwaters.
If it was ordered years ago that the dam would be removed ,what stopped it?LBJ was the precessor to the current opportunist in the White House,everything he did politically was to enrich he and his buddies at a critical cost to the nation.Remember Vietnam?Most supplies and equipment non-military were shipped to Vietnam at taxpayer cost via Sea Land shipping.Sea Land shipping was owned by Ladybird Johnsons' family.
Probably the widespread destruction that would be caused by the restoration. Activists care about their cause but often ignore the consequences of getting what they are asking for. It isn't a simple thing to reverse what they have done. The area has had many decades to heal itself. It will never be what it was before we made a mess of it and trying to reverse it will only lead to the deaths of millions more fauna and flora. That is before we even consider the impact to humans.
I remember My GF changing her pad in that parking lot next to the dam back in 2010 during our visit.
Why after being ordered to be destroyed is the dam still there?
Thanks for watching! Although the majority of state and federal agencies support restoration, money from the state needs to be directed towards an approved restoration project.
And meanwhile, silver springs is choked by green algae destroying the eel grass, there are hardly any native species of fish there anymore. Last time I was there in my kayak, I saw tilapia, mullet, several species carp, armored catfish, etc. Just a handful of bream and bass. I can remember feeding the fish from a glass bottom boat when I was a kid. I'm 49 years old and I am the 5th generation of my family to call Ocala/Marion County home. The unmanaged growth and overpopulation of this area deeply disturbs me. Just more good ole boy politics and old money carrying out their self serving agendas...
The destruction of the Ocklawaha is enjoined with the MIll Cove in Fort Caroline area. The concept of "progress" is a very subjective topic and the "Florida of Today" beckons more progress, to restore these waterways.
That canal would have been great
Thanks for watching!
What's the song called?
Thanks for watching! Rodman Dam by Lonesome Bert and the Skinny Lizards: ua-cam.com/video/BJX2blFsTng/v-deo.html
Sorry, I live near the Ocklawaha. I know the history. I'm not defending the decisions of past politicians or companies. Here's what I know: nature cannot be controlled. It adjusts. As part of nature, it has already accounted for us. These people, though seening sincere, have a political agenda. The first speaker at the very beginning let it slip.
Here in Florida, we are not short on fish, water and manatees.
Some people need a cause.
Thanks for watching!
There's always two ways to look at this. The tree huggers don't want the dam. The bass fishermen don't want to live without it. It's true baitshops struggle. Too many in too small an area and Walmart sells everything except shiners and minnows.
The river is still there and the fish still swim in it.
@markdalton3834 nobody said they deleted the river. Of course it's still there, but it's restricted by the dam. Imagine someone tied a rope around your neck, you could breath still but not much. Eventually you'd fall over dead, maybe a few days maybe a year. But it would not be comfortable...
Not sure how old you are . I'm assuming by your comment not as old as I am . I lived in the Ocala National Forrest and I remember every and I mean every trip going up the ocklawaha you would see many 10,12 and 15 lb bass swimming . In April and May you would 20 to 30 catfish 25 to 40 lbs easily swimming together to find those white sand bottoms to make their beds to spawn . As it sits now you will never see that again . The fish and wildlife don't care what you or I think when it comes to their existence . I watched one of the most beautiful places I've seen in this country be destroyed by outsiders and the love of money . Fla as whole .
It is done, leave it be. The battle will rage and the dam will stay until it crumbles of old age. For every argument for its removal there is one to leave it. Why it's still there.
Thanks for watching!
Finish the canal....
Lived there in the 90's... or early 2000's Sparr, Fl. Fished that river almost daily with my Cherokee brother-in-law... What fishing! OMG!... and from the other peninsula water wonderland. It literally was like a scene out of a Tarzan movie with Johnny Wasemiller... Literally because that is where they filmed it... Crossing that bridge almost daily 'World's longest something or other. Where we launched our bass boat dwarfed by some of those gators. There were the locks... A Man-Made behemoth skyscraper rising above the jungle. I did not know the history then... and now do. Florida has a mischievous place in history. One from the Mayans, Incas to Aztec to Andrew Jackson's genocidal march and mass murder... Runaway slaves to black Indian Tribes. Strewn across the rivers shore are dugout canoes more like ships made of swamp cedar that does not decay and every single one sawed in half by Jackson where they have laid hundreds of years... Burial mounds of shell scattered along the shores... You cannot imagine the artifacts in pristine condition found daily without even looking for them five to ten thousands of years old... Intact colorful pottery to spearpoints. Ponce de leon and the Fountain of Youth... To which 'The Government' has laid claim! You are not even to touch them! Florida has quite the evil history and continues to this day... i.e. Kirkpatrick (Rodman) Dam. Ronald Dion DeSantis: A sad story yet to end...
Thanks for sharing your story and for watching!
Florida is my home.....ive been to that area.....I worked at the crystal river nuclear plant and stayed in inglis. Beautiful area ruined by man.
Mitigation bank!
If there was no migration how is it that I can catch striped bass in the dams spillway.
Land locked striped bass maybe? Many of them in lakes all over not connected to the ocean. They have them in Tennessee and there is no ocean there.
Thanks for watching! Hybrid striped bass are a managed fishery in the area! Striped bass can be caught right up to the spillway, you're right, but good luck seeing one upstream towards Silver Springs!
It's just the Rich people, not the rest of us.
Just a suggestion lol. One of you ol timers should take it to the other side with you when you're done.
No you need to remove your humor and look at the facts . It is so simple . I'm sure you are not likely from Fla. .
I miss Whitey.
Thanks for watching, I agree
Wow, just to save the manatee!!
I just saw this,five years late. Ok somebody, what happened?
Thanks for watching! Check out my other short film Lost Springs for more perspective on the river!
I’m always skeptic of these restoration projects, in my state they where funded by the power companies now they have a monopoly on power. When the original projects we restored wasn’t hurting anything actually making things worse restoring it.
I don’t know anything about this Florida project but red flags go up whenever I see something like this
Caloosahatchee River
River and St. Lucie river are the same thing.
2:46 notice what he said! why can’t they open the dam gates all the way?
Thanks for watching!
Dems. And they're still ruining the country now.
Family land was taken for the Rodman Dam. Got a front row seat to this. "Freeing" the river will bring back the flooding. Leave it alone.
The canal also cut the Florida aquifer…..
Thanks for watching!
Catchy song! Florida needs to build a 20,000 foot mountain so we can have glaciers and steal business from people wanting to summit Mt. Everest, but need a more affordable option.
Now if they drain the reservoir they will put in a million people in condos
👀
Tear down the dam!
Thanks for watching!
Yes, SO many barges needing to cross Florida. /s
If the dam is removed the home building will move in and you will have bigger problems
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The three richest man in Leesburg built that giant swamp destroyer, it had a big water tank in the center for adding weight.
They were in it to get richer.
Thanks for watching!
Yankees moving to Florida cause far more damage than this canal. Disney
Thanks for watching! The canal was never completed. Disney
Lmao
Sorry to offend you Native Americans
Yankees built and maintain Florida.
Yankees built and maintain Florida.
Well, I don't mind breaking some of these peoples pride of what they think they know. But that big machine got disassembled and torn down for a FACT! There was a hydraulic company out of Leesburg that helped with the dismantling. Ashamed some of these people are right about some of the stories but my grandfather was there first hand and watched it get torn apart out of eureka.
Thanks for sharing your story and history. That machine was quite the assembly and it must have been a thing to see.
These people need a proper spokesperson. The general public will not take some dork snorkler hat wearing grey haired hippie anthropomorphisizing a River seriously. The message is there and powerful but the spokes persons are all wrong. I loved that damn dam too had a lot of good times out there
Wow, it was not what they wanted you to believe it would be. But it never is when there's money involved.
Thanks for watching!
Developer's will never let it happen?