New River (Broward County, Florida)
| New River | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The New River as seen from Fort Lauderdale's Riverwalk | |
  | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| County | Broward County |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 26°06′39″N 80°06′44″W / 26.1109199°N 80.1122665°W |
The New River is a
Origin of name
According to a legend attributed in 1940 to the
The English name is derived from early explorer's maps. The mouth of the river was noted for its tendency to continuously change its entry point into the Atlantic Ocean through the shifting sand of the barrier island. Each time the coast was surveyed and charted the entry point would have shifted. So the location of the mouth would not be on any previous maps, and from off the coast would appear as if it had just developed. With each charting, the location would be recorded with the notation "new river". Since that was the name used on the maps, that was the name by which the first settlers came to know it, so the name stayed.[citation needed]
History
The area along the New River was occupied in prehistoric times by people of the
Prior to the 20th century, the New River originated as two streams, the North Fork and South Fork, which merged and connected directly to the Atlantic Ocean via the now defunct New River Inlet. The river was heavily modified in the first half of the 20th century. The North Fork was extended as the C-12 Canal along present-day Sunrise Boulevard, while the South Fork was extended by two canals, one of which was the C-11 or South New River Canal, which connects to the Miami Canal.[4] The South New River Canal also connects to the Dania Cutoff Canal, which leads eastward from the C-11 canal to the Intracoastal Waterway.[3]
North New River Canal
The most significant extension of the New River, however, was the first, an extension of the South Fork called the North New River Canal (also known as the G-15 canal). Dredging for the canal began in 1906, not long after Napoleon B. Broward won the governorship of Florida on a promise to drain the Everglades. The canal extended approximately 42 miles south-southeast from Lake Okeechobee, then turned east-southeast and proceeded for approximately 16 miles to the former terminus of the river near what would become the Riverland section of Fort Lauderdale. The canal was completed in 1912 after construction of Lock No. 1, North New River Canal, in the southeast corner of what is today Plantation, Florida, just under 2 miles west of the current Fort Lauderdale city border.
The North New River Canal served as a significant transportation route to and from the state's interior section south of
The canal itself became one of South Florida's major water control systems. It is currently managed by the South Florida Water Management District. Lock No. 1 was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[7]
See also
References
- ^ "Seminole Indian Legends". Works Progress Administration. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
- ^ Will, Lawrence E. (1965). Okeechobee Boats & Skippers. St. Petersburg, Florida: Great Outdoors Publishing Co. p. 73
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56164-400-1.
- ^ "Facility and Infrastructure Location Index Map" (PDF). South Florida Water Management District. July 26, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
- Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
- ^ Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. p. 3. Archived from the originalon 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
- ^ Werndli, Phillip A.; Kirk, Cooper (June 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Lock No. 1, North New River Canal" (pdf). National Park Service.
External links
Media related to New River (Broward County, Florida) at Wikimedia Commons
