“The Most Logical Route for the C-44 Canal,” Port Salerno… St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

This 1914 advertisement for St Lucie Inlet Farms shows and artist rendition of the proposed St Lucie Canal at the time going to the Manatee Pocket rather than the South Fork of the St Lucie River. (Courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow historic archives.)

Advertisement in booklet with photo. (Thurlow archives)
Port Salerno canal advertisement in booklet with photo. (Thurlow archives)

The saga continues!

In yesterday’s blog, I quoted a Department of Environmental Protection document stating  that the St Lucie Canal, now known as “C-44,” was originally proposed in the early 1900s to connect Lake Okeechobee to the Manatee Pocket in Port Salerno, rather than the South Fork of the St Lucie River…

So after reading my blog, my mother sends me this awesome historic real estate ad above. Can you believe it? I had heard the tales of “urban legend” for years, but now there is a visual of this historical record!

She wrote: “This was the centerfold for a booklet “Little Journeys to Salerno and the Famous St. Lucie Inlet Farms,” 1914.”

Centerfold?

Funny.

I just blows my mind that those old timers were trying to turn Stuart into Miami. If the 1926  depression had not hit, they just may have been successful…

In any case there was a fight for the now dreaded C-44 canal between Stuart and Port Salerno. Stuart “won” to lose…

The historic ad above reads:

“The bird’s-eye view printed here shows the position of the tract as to transportation–the magnificent and picturesque water of the St Lucie River—the Indian River—the St Lucie Inlet  (where the United States Government has appropriated one-hundred thousand dollars toward the construction of a deep water harbor–the Atlantic Ocean–the automobile thoroughfare, which connects Jacksonville to Miami–and the location of the town of Port Salerno which is clearly destined to become the commercial city and the great shipping point  for the products of the winter gardens of the Everglades—the most logical route for the proposed state ship and drainage canal, which is to employ into the St Lucie Inlet and will deliver most of the products from the vast Everglades, for distribution and shipment, at tis point the proposed shore road and bridge connecting the mainland with Sewall’s Point and many other features which go to prove the enviable location of Port Salerno and the St Lucie lnlet Farms.”

Thanks mom, for another amazing piece of history!

Video showing where the C-44 did connect to the South Fork of the St Lucie River: video Todd Thurlow:

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  • Posted 9 years ago

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