chiefly by private enterprise. In 1882 the Florida East Coast Line Canal and Transportation Co. was organized to develop a waterway from Jacksonville to Biscayne Bay by connecting with canals the St Johns, Matanzas, and Halifax rivers, Mosquito Lagoon, Indian river, Lake Worth, Hillsboro river, New river, and Snake Creek; in 1908 this vast undertaking was completed. The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1927, passed by Congress, authorized the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, using the route planned out by the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers. The Waterway was valuable during World War II, after German submarines sank numerous merchant ships off the East Coast. The Corps continues to maintain the navigation channel today, conducting dredgings as needed. Wildlife Gallery See also List of Florida rivers List of crossings of the Halifax River References External links Halifax River Audubon Society Halifax River Federal Manatee Refuge (US Fish & Wildlife Service) Tomoka Marsh Aquatic Preserve (Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection) Lagoons of Florida Rivers of Florida Intracoastal Waterway Rivers of Volusia County, Florida