History
The Calusa Indians were probably some of the first visitors to the
Dinner Island/Hendry County area, southwest of Lake Okeechobee. From
A.D. 800 into the seventeenth century, these skilled hunters and
fishermen inhabited the coastal regions of southwest Florida and
traveled up the Caloosahatchee River in dugout canoes to reach interior
wetlands associated with Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River. The
Caloosahatchee, which means “River of the Calusa,” flows southwest to
the Gulf of Mexico (near present-day Fort Myers) from Lake Okeechobee.
The river lies north of Dinner Island close to the Hendry/Glades County
border.
Later visitors to the area included soldiers of the Seminole Wars,
cattlemen, hunters, trappers and traders. By the 1880s, settlements such
as LaBelle, northwest of Dinner Island, sprang up where forts had been
built. Hendry County was named for Captain Francis Asbury Hendry, a
cattle baron and Civil War hero.
The Caloosahatchee River was once a meandering river with its
headwaters near Lake Hicpochee, northwest of Lake Okeechobee. To provide
flood control for surrounding counties and a navigable channel for steam
boats from the lake to the Gulf of Mexico, dredging began on the
Caloosahatchee in 1881. A canal was built to connect the river with Lake
Okeechobee. This new connection opened the area to increased development
and growth, but created significant flooding problems downstream.
Florida Photographic Collection
A field loader loading cut cane into tractor train: Clewiston,
Florida.
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During the 1920s, the town of Clewiston blossomed and sugar cane and
citrus became important local industries. Southern Sugar, which became
The U.S. Sugar Corporation in 1931, established a sugar mill in
Clewiston. After 2,400 residents around Lake Okeechobee died in floods
from hurricanes in 1926 and 1928, flood control began in earnest. A dike
was built around Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosatchee and St. Lucie
rivers were dredged and channelized to create the Okeechobee Waterway,
which connected the lake to the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Lock-and-dam structures controlled water flow. The construction of this
man-made waterway and a sprawling network of canals diverted much needed
water to agriculture and urban uses and away from the surrounding areas
and sensitive ecosystems of the Florida Everglades and Florida Bay.
Hydrological restoration at Dinner Island will take into account these
manmade alterations and the WMA’s location immediately adjacent to the
publicly-owned, 35,000-acre Okalaocoochee Slough, a wetland that runs
north to south between the Caloosahatchee River and the Fakahatchee
Strand and Big Cypress National Preserve.
Florida Photographic Collection
Cattle herding on the United States Sugar Corporation range:
Clewiston
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Agriculture and cattle ranching operations have flourished in the
area since the 19th century. Today, agriculture is the base of Hendry
County’s economy. Sugar cane and citrus, followed by cattle and tomato
farming are the county’s most important commodities. Dinner Island was
operated by the Hilliard family primarily as a cattle ranch; citrus and
sugarcane production were much smaller enterprises on the property. The
property came into public ownership in July 2003.
