OKEECHOBEE, LAKE

third largest freshwater lake wholly within the U.S. (after Lake Michigan and Iliamna Lake, Alaska). The lake lies 40 mi (65 km) northwest of West Palm Beach, Fla., at the northern edge of the Everglades. A remnant of the prehistoric Pamlico Sea, which once occupied the entire basin including the Everglades, it bears the Seminole Indian name for Big Water. The lake is 35 mi long with a shoreline of 135 mi and, including three small islands, covers an area of 700 sq mi (1,813 sq km). The surface is 12.5 to 15.5 ft (4 to 5 m) above mean sea level, depending upon the water level in the lake; the mean depth is 7 ft, and the maximum depth is 15 ft. The chief source is the Kissimmee Valley watershed, immediately to the north, which drains into a chain of lakes that in turn empties into the Kissimmee River as it flows 100 mi southward to Lake Okeechobee. Before the construction of adequate levees and a regulatory outlet system, the overflow produced by the rainy season flooded surrounding areas and spilled over southward into the Everglades. Private and state drainage attempts, all unsuccessful, date from 1881. The last effort failed when hurricane winds flooded the area in 1928. State and federal flood control and reclamation projects were subsequently begun, and a levee more than 80 mi long was constructed along the southern shore and at other low stretches. In 1937 a 155-mi cross-state waterway, from Stuart on the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lucie Canal across Lake Okeechobee and down the Caloosahatchee River to the Gulf of Mexico, was completed. Lake communities include Pahokee, Belle Glade, Lake Harbor, Clewiston, Okeechobee, and Canal Point. Seminole Indians still dwell on the northwest shore of the lake.