rupt and was thrown into the hands of a receiver, land-grabbing came
to an end.

Francis Voso, representing himself and certain holders of
Dutch bonds for building railroads, sued the trustees of the Board.
Land warrants were issued to the bond holders and it was decreed
that no lands could be used by the trustees until the judgment, with
eight per cent interest, had been paid.

It was a complicated affair. The State price of these lands
was 25 cents an acre. Voso land warrants could be bought for 10
cents an acre, but had to be credited by the trustees at par, or 25
cents. The result was that all the lands would have been exhausted
with still a large indebtedness, drawing interest, remaining.

Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia became interested in the
Everglades in 1880. He bought 4,000,000 acres, paid off the
judgment against the Internal Improvement Fund, and agreed by
contract to drain 15,000,000 acres. All the land that had been tied
up before the purchase as released. Mr. Disston engaged R. E. Rose,
Florida State Chemist, to take charge of the Florida Drainage
Enterprise, as resident engineer and builder of dredges, canals and
surveys.

The attempt to lower the level of Lake Okeechobee involved
canal construction at the upper Kissimmee River and another con-