The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 70

i M-( )(' K. I A River Is Tamed 4 Born os flood control project, the Kissimmee River which snakes north between Lakes Kissimmee and Okeechobee (left) takes on the look of a watery highway as engineers dredge and straighten its channel (above). i0a By GENE BROWN Flood Control And A Vast Recreation Area Are Promised In $42 Million Kissimmee River Basin reaches, by S.R. 60 near the center and by U.S. Hwy.

92 in the northern section. THE BASIN'S upper chain of lakes, linked by canals like beads on a string many years ago by local interests, will have the connecting canals enlarged and some water control structures will be built as a part of the Kissimmee Basin development. Seven navigation locks will be built along the stretch between the town of Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. In addition to providing navigation, the canal improvements keep the ground water level at its natural stage. Shallow depths of two to three feet which now exist in the snake-like Kissimmee River channel will be dredged to 25 to 30 feet as the river becomes a floodway channel.

Oxbows from the original channel will be maintained in many instances and will be developed into recreation sites. The Kissimmee River meanders for a distance of 90 miles from Lake Kissimmee to Lake Okeechobee, but the straight-line distance between those two points is only 52 miles. Work is already underway on enlarging the channel and construction of four of the locks. SUBJECT TO almost annual flooding, the Kissimmee River Basin is inundated for several months during the rainy period from June to October. Substantial flood damages were experienced in 1945, 1947, 1948, 1951 and 1953.

Without the water control, the future flood damages were expected to increase due to expanding agricultural and cattle development of the Central Florida area as well as urban encroachment. Development of the system of canals, levees and water control structures is designed to provide 1) Protection against overflow from the basin's lakes except during the most severe storms; 2) canal capacity to increase removal of floodwaters; 3) maintenance of adequate water levels in the lakes and drainage canals to keep a more desirable ground-water level; and 4) a means of storing water for agricultural use during dry seasons. Army engineers and the FCD envision the (Continued Page 6) THE PICTURESQUE Kissimmee River, a 90-mile-long shallow stream which is barely navigable at dry periods and spills over its ill-defined banks for miles during wet weather, is undergoing a facelifting that will make it a recreation mecca in years to come. Development of the $42 million Kissimmee River Basin, which is fed by a bead of lakes in Central Florida, has been underway for the past 18 months, and completion of the widening, deepening and straightening project by the U. S.

Army Engineers and the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District will take several years. Completion of the canals and water control structures will depend on the availability of money from federal and state Govts. Born as a flood control project, the ribbon of watery highway is watched with anxious eyes by pleasure craft owners throughout the state. SINCE A small navigation project existed on the Kissimmee River between the town of Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee, plans for the vast flood control network developed by the army engineers in the mid-50s included water control structures or locks to maintain navigation on the route. As a by-product of the flood control program, the navigation will be vastly improved.

The Kissimmee River Basin is primarily in Osceola and Okeechobee Counties, but parts of it are in Orange, Polk and Highlands Counties. It is bounded on the north by the lakes of the Orlando area, on the west by the Peace River Watershed, on the south by Lake Okeechobee and on the east by the Upper St. Johns River Basin. Seaboard and ACL railroad tracks traverse a ridge of land on the western side of the basin, U. S.

Hwy. 27 skirts the same ridge, while U. S. Hwy. 441 extends along the eastern edge.

The basin is crossed from east to west by U. S. Hwy. 98 and S.R. 70 in the southern SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 1963 jr i Water control structure on canal from Lake Istokpoga, near Sebring, at intersection with Kissimmee River (background).

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