Chapter I Summary and Analysis

There is no other place on Earth like the Everglades of Florida. It is the southernmost part of the United States, one degree away from the tropics. It lies below Lake Okeechobee, the second largest fresh water lake. The first white men arrived on the shores surrounding the Everglades.

The name 'Everglades' first came into use in the early eighteen hundreds. The Indians referred to the area as Pahayoke, which meant Grassy Water. The Everglades begins at Lake Okeechobee, the Indians meaning of which is Big Water, and is approximately seven hundred fifty square miles. The area is covered with saw grass that extends for the one hundred miles between Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico. It ranges in width from fifty to seventy miles.

There are rivers and other small creeks that flow into Lake Okeechobee. They...