A MEMORIAL--
To the victims of the nation's third largest natural disaster





Estimates for the death toll from a 1928 hurricane that ripped south Florida range upwards to 2,300 but nobody, to this day, knows for sure.

Coastal residents from Miami to Palm Beach were somewhat prepared but inland, largely rural, residents around the south shore of Lake Okeechobee were mostly unaware of the approaching disaster.

The storm was carried by 125 mph winds and immeasurable rain which swamped the shallow lake, crumbled it's dikes and flooded swampy farmland for miles.  Homes and people were swept away with the destructive force of a tidal wave.

Countless of the dead were lost forever by burial in the sawgrass muck of the storm's aftermath.

To this day the storm is regarded as the nation's third largest natural disaster.  Only the Johnstown, PA flood of 1889 and the 1900 Galveston hurricane took more lives.

"Ironically, for all its impact and ecological implications, the storm is anonymous -- it has no official name."

We learned of this mostly forgotten disaster while exploring and logging a virtual geocache with its memorial sculpture now located in front of the library in Belle Glade (above).

Our day of exploration involved a recent, vehicular circumnavigation of Lake Okeechobee beginning and ending at the town of that name located on the lake's northern coast.  It also involved finding eight geocaches along the way.

Our second find also involved a virtual cache in the town of Okeechobee; our first view of this huge lake which is about 30 miles across and 110 miles around.  The lake is about 1/2 the size of Rhode Island and second in size only to Lake Michigan of lakes contained totally within the lower 48 US states.

At this cache we posted photos of the near shoreline behind the viewing pier to help the cache owner document the lake's ever changing water level; his and our tiny contribution to the science of the lake.

We trundled south along the west shore and, except for the palm trees, remarked about the similarity of fish camps and cottage areas commonly seen on the shore of Lake Erie.  Our lunch stop occurred in Clewiston; one of the towns devastated in the 1928 hurricane.

Here we enjoyed finding a geocache in the town's chamber of commerce and having a very informative chat on the lake's hydrology; its dike and canal structures with very friendly officials there.

A highlight of our day's adventure was Sue finding her 500th geocache (left).  It was in a small park along the south shore with a display of aging pumping equipment now retired from the duty of helping maintain lake levels.

The dike itself is visible, often stretching to infinity in straight-line precision.  The lake, with a maximum depth of 13 feet can contain a capacity of a trillion gallons of water and is on the north border of the Everglades.  It is the headwaters of that vast swampy area of south Florida.

During our trip we crossed two high-level bridges allowing traffic to cross the inlet and outlet canals that give salt water mariners a very convenient shortcut through south Florida.  It reminded us of an experience of our long-ago and continuing friend from Bellville, Dave Richardson, who has sailed his large, mostly canvas propelled vessel from his home near Port Charlotte to the Atlantic Ocean and on to a prolonged romp in the Bahamas via this canal system.

(His 50 year old craft is yaw rigged with the fitting name of Essay--Dave being a man of letters, of course.  She was born in England but had her final dress fitted in Holland..., her discovery in Texas and recovery by Dave and modest crew all representing material for a future story, I hope.)

Here and there along the perimeter of the lake and its surrounding canal, a system of locks allow local mariners access from the canal to the lake proper.  Fisherman know the lake as "The Big O", a celebrated Largemouth Bass fishery.

Lock-tender Nancy (right) prepares to move a fisherman and his small craft from the lake to the canal (below) as he returns from a day's fishing.  

Sue and I knew our visit to this caching site was going to be fun.  When we were walking toward this resting and reading lady we noticed her deck chair was from the Cleveland Browns.

Turns out both she and Sue were born in Lancaster, OH.