The Caloosahatchee River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

on the southwest

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed April 18, 2011 It drains rural areas on the northern edge of the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

, east of

Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...

. An important link in the

Okeechobee Waterway The Okeechobee Waterway or Okeechobee Canal is a relatively shallow artificial waterway in the United States, stretching across Florida from Fort Myers on the west coast to Stuart on Florida's east coast. The waterway can support tows such as ...

, a manmade inland

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary ...

system of southern Florida, the river forms a tidal

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

along most of its course and has become the subject of efforts to restore and preserve the Everglades.

Description

The river issues from Lake Hicpochee, in southeastern Glades County, approximately west of

Clewiston Clewiston is a city in Hendry County, Florida, United States. Its location is northwest of Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic coastal plain. The population was 7,327 at the 2020 census, up from 7,155 at the 2010 census. The estimated population in 2 ...

. It flows west-southwest past LaBelle, where it becomes tidal, forming an estuary along its lower . It broadens as it nears the gulf, passing

and Cape Coral. It enters the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

southwest of Fort Myers in

San Carlos Bay San Carlos Bay is a bay located southwest of Fort Myers, Florida, at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It connects to Pine Island Sound to the west and to Matlacha Pass to the north. The bay contains Bunche Beach Preserve, a 718-acre conserva ...

, protected by

Sanibel Island Sanibel is an island and city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,382 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The island, also known as Sanibel Island, constitut ...

. The C-43 Caloosahatchee Canal connecting Lake Hicpochee to

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 freshwa ...

allows continuous

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation ...

from the Caloosahatchee to the

system;

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s mark isolated stretches of the original waterway. In 2013 heavy rains in southern Florida resulted in high runoff into Lake Okeechobee; rising lake levels forced the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

to release large volumes of polluted water from the lake through the St. Lucie River

to the east and the Caloosahatchee River estuary to the west. Thus the normal mix of fresh and salt water in those estuaries was replaced by a flood of polluted fresh water resulting in ecological damage. Until late in the 19th century the Caloosahatchee River was fed by a series of lakes starting from Lake Hicpochee, and including Lettuce Lake, Bonnet Lake and Flirt Lake. A waterfall and set of rapids at the lower end of Flirt Lake marked the beginning of the river. The rapids were close to long, with a drop in elevation of about . Lake Hicpochee, about in area, was only from Lake Okeechobee, but there was no connection between the two lakes before the late 19th century. Water flowed from Lake Hicpochee westward into Lettuce Lake and then Bonnet Lake. When the water was high the two lakes merged. From Bonnet Lake water flowed into Lake Flirt, which was about in area and long. All of the lakes were surrounded by extensive wetlands. In 1881

Hamilton Disston Hamilton Disston (August 23, 1844 – April 30, 1896)"He Died Without Warning", ''The Washington Post'' (May 1, 1896). was an industrialist and real-estate developer who purchased 4 million acres (16,000 km²) of Florida land in 1881, an are ...

, as part of a scheme to drain large areas of wetlands in the interior of Florida, had a canal dredged from Lake Okeechobee to Lake Hicpochee and through the lakes and wetlands to the west. His company removed the rock ledge that formed the falls and rapids below Lake Flirt, and straightened the upper reaches of the Caloosahatchee River. Various state and federal projects have widened and deepened the river since then. The conversion of the Caloosahatchee River into a canal drained Lake Flirt and the wetlands descending from Lake Hicpochee. Since the late 19th century,

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

and channelization of the river, as well as the artificial connection to Lake Okeechobee and its use as a

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

for urban and

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

uses, have substantially altered the

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

of the river. As a result, both the magnitude and timing of water delivery to the estuary have been substantially altered. Recent programs by the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

have attempted to establish minimum flow levels in the river, in part to help restore the water supply to the Everglades. A federal

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

for

manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living speci ...

s has been established at the mouth of the river on San Carlos Bay near Fort Myers.

Crossings

The following is a list of bridge crossings of the Caloosahatchee River and Canal

Gallery

Image:USACE Ortona Lock and Dam.jpg, Ortona Lock and Dam on the Caloosahatchee River, part of the Okeechobee Waterway, in Glades County, Florida Image:CaloosahatcheeRiver.JPG,

Seminole Gulf Railway The Seminole Gulf Railway is a short line freight and passenger excursion railroad headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, that operates two former CSX Transportation railroad lines in Southwest Florida. The company's Fort Myers Division, which ...

spans the Caloosahatchee River near

Tice, Florida Tice is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 4,853. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geo ...

. Image:Midpoint Bridge From Horton Park & Boat Ramp.jpg, The Midpoint Memorial Bridge spanning the river and connecting the cities of Cape Coral and Fort Myers (2008).

References

External links

South Florida Water Management District: Caloosahatchee River and Estuary

GulfBase.org: Caloosahatchee River

* ttp://crca.caloosahatchee.org Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association (Riverwatch)
Caloosahatchee River Watershed - Florida DEP
{{authority control Rivers of Florida Intracoastal Waterway Drainage basins of the Gulf of Mexico Bodies of water of Hendry County, Florida Bodies of water of Glades County, Florida Rivers of Lee County, Florida Canals in Florida Lake Okeechobee Fort Myers, Florida List of place names of Choctaw origin in the United States

Description

Crossings

Gallery

See also

References

External links