Chapter XII Summary and Analysis

When the Civil War ended slavery, it also ended the white man following the escaped slaves to the Everglades. They were now interested in making a life in other parts of Florida, mainly along the coast. Many men who had fought the Indians now settled in areas where they had contact with them. They didn't worry about land titles. Then they tired of one place, they moved to another.

Mail delivery developed slowly first by foot, and then by wagon and stagecoach. The Indians made a living by capturing birds and selling them to Havana. There was also a business in egrets and other plumes.

William H. Gleason set up a company to obtain land grants in the Everglades. Eventually the first canal was dredged by Hamilton Disston, who purchased four million acres of swampland west of Lake Okeechobee...