Fort Drum was a town in

Okeechobee County, Florida Okeechobee County () is a county located in the Florida Heartland region of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,644. The county seat is Okeechobee. Okeechobee County comprises the Okeechobee, FL Micropolitan St ...

, United States, located on

US 441 U.S. Route 441 (US 441) is a auxiliary route of U.S. Route 41. It extends from US 41 in Miami, Florida to US 25W in Rocky Top, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 travels through the states of Florida, Georgia, North ...

, between

Yeehaw Junction Yeehaw Junction is a census-designated place (CDP) in central Florida in Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 240. The area was confused with Buenaventura Lakes CDP in the 2000 census, and the cor ...

and Okeechobee. A service plaza on

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximately along a northwest–southeast axis, the turnpike is in two s ...

is named after the town. The Fort Drum Wildlife Management Area consists of nearly 21,000 acres in southwestern Indian River County and is named for its proximity to the town and is known as the birthplace of the St. John's River. Fort Drum is the only known locale for crystal bearing fossil shells. There is a cemetery in the middle of the town on almost eight acres, in which many of the first settlers of Fort Drum were buried and still remain. It is currently owned and maintained by Okeechobee County.

Geography

Fort Drum is located at . In the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

it was underlain by the now-smaller

Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee (), also known as Florida's Inland Sea, is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the tenth largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest natural freshwat ...

. Vast limestone deposits containing the remains of large bivalve molluscs developed calcite crystallization while still under water. The gemlike crystals were discovered after the hard limestone deposits came to be excavated for aggregate. In 2008 the quarry known as Ruck's Pit was closed and allowed to flood.Dave Lines
"Field Trip Report to Ruck’s Pit"
March 2009

History

After the end of the

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans and ...

in 1842, the US Army built a network of forts across the central part of the state, with military roads that connected them. Of those roads, one was roughly east–west from Fort Bassinger to

Fort Vinton Fort Vinton, also known as "Post #2", was a small Florida military outpost that existed from 1839 to 1858. Location of the fort is approximately a mile south of highway 60 near 122nd Avenue. History The fort existed mostly to help quell the periodi ...

, north of present-day

Vero Beach Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

. The other ran approximately north–south from Fort Kissimmee to

Fort Jupiter A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, and came to be known as the 'old wire road'. Where the two roads crossed, Fort Drum was built. The US Army used it only for a short time and then abandoned it. Settlers began to make their way here in the 1870s, some time after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The area was considered to be potentially excellent

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

country. The area slowly grew. With the completion in 1914 of the Kissimmee Valley Extension, the

Florida East Coast Railroad The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a pro ...

brought changes to the area. They built a small depot in Fort Drum, as well as one to the north, named Osawaw, and south, called Hilolo.

References

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

Former populated places in Florida Former populated places in Okeechobee County, Florida Pre-statehood history of Florida

Geography

History

References

External links