Florida’s Big Dig

The story of the Intracoastal and other thoughts on water, waterways, land, and ecology

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about

I am Bill Crawford. I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., bisected by the Intracoastal. I graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, with distinction, concentrating in finance. I obtained my juris doctor degree from Stetson University College of Law. I have practiced law for more than 43 years. I am a professional historian and author of the award-winning book, “Florida’s Big Dig,” (2008) the story of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. I have practiced law in Florida since 1975. Along the way, I developed a keen interest in researching and writing history, publishing numerous scholarly journal articles and one award-winning book, “Florida’s Big Dig,” the story of Florida’s Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, using my legal pbackground to understand legal transactions, deeds, wmortgages, bonds, preferred stock, and legal descriptions of land and water. In recent years, I have maintained a limited practice consulting with other professionals on various historical land and water issues, including sovereign, riparian, and submerged land rights, focusing on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and Florida inland waterways. I maintain a broad regular website here at www.floridasbigdig.me and a website solely on how the book was researched as well as some of the major themes explored. The website on the book itself is at www.floridasbigdig.com. The website on contacts for professional services is at www.floridasbigdiglawyer.com?. A fifteen-page outline of my book

Category: Steamboats

  • The Steamer “Saint Augustine” in the Intracoastal Waterway

  • The Steamboat “Swan” on a run in the Indian River, Fla.

    On runs up and down the Florida East Coast Canal, which later became the Intracoastal Waterway, the flat-bottomed sternwheeler “Swan” was as light as “a dew drop” in transporting passengers, tourists, and commercial fruit and vegetables during the early part of the 1900’s.

  • From Skull Creek over Calibogue Sound to a Sunset over Daufuskie Island

    This sunset view was taken from Skull Creek at Hilton Head Island over the Calibogue Sound. The Sound is a section of the federally controlled Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Waterway extends some 1,400 miles from Miami, Florida, to Norfolk, Virginia. Of all the barrier islands protecting the Atlantic coast, the longest is Long Island, New…

  • From Skull Creek over Calibogue Sound to a Sunset over Daufuskie Island

    This sunset view was taken from Skull Creek at Hilton Head Island over the Calibogue Sound. The Sound is a section of the federally controlled Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Waterway extends some 1,400 miles from Miami, Florida, to Norfolk, Virginia. Of all the barrier islands protecting the Atlantic coast, the longest is Long Island, New…

  • The Steamer “Swan” Schedule of Tolls

    The listing of tolls to travel along what would become the Intracoastal Waterway between several points along the privately owned Florida East Coast Canal in 1911. During its long history, the “Swan” would carry freight and passengers, and often, passengers and their automobiles. Freight included large cargoes of citrus fruit and pineapples in the late…

  • The Steamboat “Courtney”

    One of the older steamboats plying the waters of what was then called the Florida East Coast Canal, the “Courtney” carried mostly passengers on short trips along the Florida East Coast in the 1890’s. Henry Flagler, then president of both the Florida East Coast Railway and the Florida canal company, cruised into Miami on the…

  • Small tourist steamer in the Jupiter Narrows

    A narrow steamer carrying tourists in the Jupiter Narrows section of what was then called the Florida East Coast Canal (now, Intracoastal Waterway), as the Indian River narrowed down into Lake Worth. In some stretches of the Narrows, steamers of ordinary width stopped and started their way through a brush-lined privately owned tollway in the…

  • Steamboat “Swan” about 1900

    The “Swan” plied what was then called the Florida East Coast Canal (later, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway) during the early 1910’s. On the first level, the steamer carried freight, including crates of pineapple, citrus, and fresh winter vegetables. The crew was housed in cabins on the third or upper level. At other times, the “Swan”…