The Addison/Ellis Canal
Posted by: 
Markerman62
N 28° 32.033 W 080° 48.179
17R E 519274 N 3156361
In the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary in Brevard County
Waymark Code: WMENGJ
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 06/18/2012
Views: 26
In 1911, Edgar W. Ellis and J.H. Beckwith put together a consortium of developers known as the Titusville Fruit and Farm Lands Company. They acquired 22,500 acres in the western portion of the old Delespine Grant with plans to drain marshland in the St. Johns River Valley, to make the land usable for agricultural purposes. By 1913, 43 miles of lateral canals had been dug and work began on the Addison/Ellis Canal, which led from Addison Creek to the outlying vegetable fields. The canal was intended to relieve flooding in the St. Johns River by diverting floodwaters to the lagoon and to transport supplies and crops from the St. Johns River to the Indian River Lagoon, ending at Addison Point. The company used the coquina rock extracted from the canal to pave roads to their fields. The marshland and sand ridges proved no problem for the equipment used, but a coquina rock ridge that runs north-south proved insurmountable, and the canal was never completed. The consortium went broke and the project was abandoned. The canal never reached a useful depth, and construction ended just east of the scrub/coquina ridge in Addison Creek.
Marker Number: F-602
Date: 2007
County: Brevard
Marker Type: Roadside
Sponsored or placed by: The Brevard County Historical Commission, The Brevard County Tourist Development Council and the Florida Department of State
Website: [Web Link]
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