<P> The increasing population in towns near the Everglades hunted in the area . Raccoons and otters were the most widely hunted for their skins . Hunting often went unchecked; in one trip, a Lake Okeechobee hunter killed 250 alligators and 172 otters . Water birds were a particular target of plume hunting . Bird feathers were used in women's hats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . </P> <P> In 1886, 5 million birds were estimated to be killed for their feathers . They were shot usually in the spring, when their feathers were colored for mating and nesting . The plumes, or aigrettes, as they were called in the millinery business, sold for $32 an ounce in 1915--the price of gold . Millinery was a $17 million a year industry that motivated plume harvesters to lay in watch of nests of egrets and many colored birds during the nesting season, shoot the parents with small - bore rifles, and leave the chicks to starve . Plumes from Everglades wading birds could be found in Havana, New York City, London, and Paris . Hunters could collect plumes from a hundred birds on a good day . </P> <P> Rum - runners used the Everglades as a hiding spot during Prohibition; it was so vast there were never enough law enforcement officers to patrol it . The arrival of the railroad, and the discovery that adding trace elements like copper was the remedy for crops sprouting and dying quickly, soon created a population boom . New towns such as Moore Haven, Clewiston, and Belle Glade sprouted like the crops . Sugarcane became the primary crop grown in South Florida . Miami experienced a second real estate boom that earned a developer in Coral Gables $150 million . Undeveloped land north of Miami sold for $30,600 an acre . In 1925, Miami newspapers published editions weighing over 7 pounds (3.2 kg), most of it in real estate advertising . Waterfront property was the most highly valued . Mangrove trees were cut down and replaced with palm trees to improve the view . Acres of South Florida slash pine were cleared . Some of the pine was for lumber, but most of the pine forests in Dade County were cleared for development . </P> <P> Two catastrophic hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 caused Lake Okeechobee to breach its levees, killing thousands of people . The government began to focus on the control of floods rather than drainage . The Okeechobee Flood Control District was created in 1929, financed by both state and federal funds . President Herbert Hoover toured the towns affected by the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to assist the communities surrounding the lake . Between 1930 and 1937 a dike 66 miles (106 km) long was built around the southern edge of the lake . Control of the Hoover Dike and the waters of Lake Okeechobee were delegated to federal powers: the United States declared legal limits of the lake to between 14 and 17 feet (4.3 and 5.2 m). A massive canal was also constructed 80 feet (24 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep through the Caloosahatchee River; whenever the lake rose too high, the excess water left through the canal . More than $20 million was spent on the entire project . Sugarcane production soared after the dike and canal were built . The populations of the small towns surrounding the lake jumped from 3,000 to 9,000 after World War II . </P>

Where are the everglades and why are they important